"Ah, material enchantment. The hunter's best and cheapest friend." Stephen stated casually, as he finished his own hog as well and put the last pin on the small pin pile in front of them.

  "Do you think these will be enough?" Soren asked curiously, as was counting the pins in the pin pile and putting them in his inventory.

  "Maybe? Judging by the size of the pile, it's probably a bit under 110 pins, so maybe you should process another one, just in case." Stephen guessed, as Soren quickly finished his counting of his pins, as the total amount of pins was 107.

  "It should be enough either way. Thanks by the way and don't worry, as things will be just fine." Soren thanked, as the two of them shook hands, with Stephen responding curtly. "Not a problem Soren. Good luck with your hunt and do be careful if you happen to see them. Don't start any trouble with the others."

  Once he left the Hunter's Guild, Soren quickly made his way towards the smithy, where Maybelle was currently examining the weapon displays. Upon seeing him enter her smithy, she quietly beckoned him to follow her towards the back of the shop. The back of the shop itself was essentially the forge of the shop, where all of the metalsmithing was happening, with an inactive furnace, a metal anvil next to a water pail and various tools strewn around. Aside from those, there was also a magic circle, drawn on a solid rock disk. with pedestals placed on each of the four cardinal directions.

  "Place the weapon you wish to enchant in the middle of the enhancement circle. Afterwards, spread equally all of the materials on the four pedestals." Maybelle ordered in an unnaturally cold manner, a far contrast from her usual behavior. Soren wondered if her current behavior was because of the work she would need to perform, but chose to leave that topic for later, once he managed to get his enhanced weapon.

  Once he split the pins in four groups of twenty six and placed his iron sword in the middle of the magic circle, the door of the forge suddenly closed, enveloping the room in complete darkness. As he was about to ask what happened, he suddenly felt a force in his mouth, as it had forcefully sealed his mouth shut and the magic circle suddenly started glowing with a pale blue light. Afterwards, the sword in the middle slowly started to float a few centimeters above the ground and the pins were slowly starting to float around it. Soon, the pins were slowly being turned into small grains of sand, which then were being absorbed by the sword and as all of that was happening, a faint mumbling could be heard in the room, but its direction couldn't be pinpointed.

  Once all of the pins were absorbed by the sword, Maybelle slowly flew near the sword and coldly chanted. "Oh, great goddess of the world. Creator of life, bringer of knowledge and judge of the fallen. I pray for your great blessing and request your benevolence. Please bring forth a miracle that will change the world!" Once she finished her chanting, the sword shook for a moment, before a bright flash of light exploded in the room, completely blinding the two of them for a few moments, before the light slowly subsided. When the light had completely disappeared, the door was slowly opening up, revealing the floating sword, as well as Maybelle's fatigued figure, as she was taking deep breaths and wiping the sweat off her forehead.

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  "Here's your order... Maybelle requests to pay her with ten bronze coins..." Maybelle stated weakly, as she grabbed the sword and brought it in front of Soren.

  "Are you alright Maybelle? You don't look so good..." Soren asked worriedly, as he examined her pale and tired complexion.

  "Hah... Don't underestimate Maybelle... I can do enhancements all day and still won't break a sweat!" Maybelle stated proudly, as she handed him the sword and pulled out her hand, requiring her payment.

  "But..."

  "Like I said! I! Can! Do! It! All day!"

  "Alright, but don't overdo it." Soren suggested her, as he handed the ten bronze coins and stopped pushing the issue, as he figured that she was probably used to the process and it was just routine for her. After paying her and saying goodbye, Soren made his way towards Manny's shop to buy more health potions and decided to make his way towards his main target, the Rugged Boar. As he was slowly making his way towards the target, by making use of the compass on his hand, he decided to check out his new and improved weapon.

  "Improved quality, increased Strength and a piercing effect... Material Enchantment is certainly something else..." Soren commented casually, as he swung around his improved sword, as he wanted to get a bit of a feel for it. While swinging it a bit around, he was suddenly ambushed by a squire, as it managed to get a clean hit on his shoulder, but he quickly responded with a quick slash, which cut the squire cleanly in half.

  'Jeez... Like a hot knife through butter. Is this the effect of the weapon's strength or its piercing effect?' Soren wondered, as he examined the sword's sharpened blade. Seeing the effect it had on a weak enemy, he felt a wave of relief, as he'd be more than capable of piercing through the boar's hide and maybe, he could try his luck against a cutter.

  While making his way towards the boar, he made sure to hunt down any squires and hogs he came across, as those were also his targets for today, but also made sure to keep an eye out for any human activity, as Stephen did tell him the hunters were making their way back towards the settlement. Fortunately for him, he didn't come across any of them, as he was notified by Nicolas for the lunch break.

  "Welcome back to the realm of the living." Nicolas stated casually, as Soren took off his helmet and looked at his smug grin.

  "Glad to be back..." Soren then turned his head around to look for the others, but was unable to find them.

  "If you're wondering about where those two have disappeared to, they've already gone ahead of us to eat at the cafeteria." Nicolas stated, as he finished sending the data and picked up his empty coffee cup.

  "Good to know..." Soren stated, as he drank his cold coffee and asked. "Did I miss anything interesting while I was pulling the pins out of those rats?"

  "Nothing much, aside from awkwardly staring at the man in black down the corner." Nicolas then subtly moved his hand pointed it towards the same mysterious figure he'd been seeing through his entire morning shift, as that person had barely moved an inch.

  "How long has he been there?"

  "All day. Can't say if they're awake, asleep or alive at this point."

  "Why didn't you tell them to go away or call for someone to make them leave?" Soren asked curiously, as he took a glance at the mysterious person.

  "Dr.Vale ordered us to ignore them completely. I guess so long as no one bothers her, she couldn't care less, even if an entire crowd decided to watch us work." Nicolas explained, as he got off from his chair and Soren quickly followed with his own cup on hand.

  'Let's hope Murphy's Law doesn't decide to screw us over this time.' Soren mentally noted, as he took one final glance at the figure, before making his way towards one of the cafeterias with Nicolas.