Chapter 106: Production Orbs

The guild member led them through the entrance.

The inside was much larger than they had expected. Several blacksmiths were working around the hall, while others stood near the walls and watched a goblin working at a large forge in the middle of the room.

There were also several finished pieces of equipment placed on tables nearby. Some people were examining them, while others were discussing their quality.

However, most of the attention was focused on the goblin at the forge. He was clearly the centre of attention.

He was a little shorter than an average human, with green skin, pointed ears, and a large nose. His arms were covered in muscles, and he wore a thick leather apron over his clothes. Sweat covered his forehead as he worked on a piece of equipment.

"Is that Grandmaster Doran?" Gareth asked.

"Yes. That’s him," the guild member replied.

The others looked at the goblin in surprise. They had expected a human blacksmith.

"He’s a goblin?" Lydia asked.

"Of course. Goblins are known for their skills in technology and production. Grandmaster Doran is one of the most famous blacksmiths in the western territories."

Ethan didn’t find it surprising. He already knew that goblins were among the leading races when it came to technology and production.

He turned his attention towards the equipment Doran was working on.

It was a piece of armour, but it didn’t look like ordinary armour. Several small crystals had been embedded into its surface, and strange lines ran across the metal. There were also a few small devices attached to the back and shoulders.

"What’s he making?" Gareth asked.

A man standing nearby heard him and answered.

"That’s a special defensive armour. It has a damage reduction effect. From what I’ve heard, the finished piece should be able to reduce incoming damage by twenty percent."

"Twenty percent?" Gareth repeated, looking a little taken aback. He couldn’t help comparing it to his own talent, which allowed him to transfer fifty percent of the damage he received into the earth.

"That’s right. It doesn’t matter whether the damage comes from a sword, an arrow, or a spell. As long as the armour works as intended, it should reduce the damage received."

Another blacksmith standing nearby joined the conversation.

"That’s why so many people are interested in it. Armour with that kind of effect isn’t easy to make. Even if you have the materials, there’s no guarantee that the forging will succeed."

"Then why is Grandmaster Doran making it here?" Lydia asked.

"Because he’s one of the few people capable of doing it. His success rate is much higher than most blacksmiths, even when he’s working with rare materials."

The others looked towards Doran again.

He was still working on the armour. His hammer struck the metal several times, and each strike produced a loud sound that spread throughout the workshop.

A few minutes later, the strange lines on the armour began to glow.

Doran gave it a final strike before putting his hammer down.

"Another batch done!"

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve before picking up the finished armour. After checking it briefly, he tossed it towards a small mountain of equipment beside him.

The pile wasn’t made up of armour alone. There were several pairs of boots, helmets, gloves, and other pieces of equipment. Some of the boots even had strange devices attached beneath them, which looked like small boosters.

They were probably designed to help the wearer move through the air.

However, before anyone could take a closer look at the equipment, several transparent spheres appeared around Doran.

There were three of them.

Each sphere had a small image of a hammer inside it. Beside the image were percentages. Two of the spheres displayed 10%, while the remaining one displayed 20%.

The moment the spheres appeared, the expressions of the surrounding blacksmiths changed.

Their eyes brightened as they stared at the three spheres. Some even took a step forward, unable to hide their excitement.

"Three of them!"

"Look at that! One of them is twenty percent!"

"How lucky. I wonder if he’ll give one away this time."

The blacksmiths couldn’t help but become excited.

Production Spheres were extremely valuable to people with lifestyle professions. Getting even one could make a noticeable difference in their future work.

Unlike Essence Buffs, which were obtained from the essence left behind by monsters after their deaths, Production Buffs were created through successful production.

Essence Buffs mainly improved the four basic attributes: Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Spirit. The attributes they provided depended on the monster’s strongest attributes. A monster with exceptional strength was more likely to leave behind an Essence Buff that improved Strength.

Production Buffs worked differently.

Instead of improving basic attributes, they provided various bonuses related to production. Some could increase the chance of successfully creating an item, while others could improve the quality of the finished product, reduce material consumption, or make the production process faster.

The percentages displayed inside the spheres represented the bonuses they provided.

For example, a Production Buff with a 10% success rate bonus would increase the user’s original success rate by 10 percentage points. If a blacksmith had a 50% chance of successfully producing an item, absorbing the buff would raise it to 60%. A 20% bonus would raise it to 70%.

Of course, success rate wasn’t the only effect a Production Buff could provide. Some could improve the quality of finished products, reduce material consumption, or make the production process faster.

However, there was an important difference between Production Buffs and Essence Buffs.

Production Buffs couldn’t be obtained by killing monsters. They were only created when someone with a lifestyle profession successfully completed a production process.

There was also a restriction on who could use them.

The image inside a Production Sphere represented the profession it belonged to. A hammer meant the buff was for blacksmiths. A pill or potion meant it was for alchemists. Other professions had their own symbols.

A blacksmith couldn’t absorb an alchemist’s Production Buff, and an alchemist couldn’t use one meant for blacksmithing.

Furthermore, a lifestyle profession could only produce Production Buffs related to its own field.

That was why the three spheres around Doran had hammer symbols. They were all blacksmithing buffs, and only people with the appropriate profession could absorb them.

Ethan glanced at the three spheres before looking back at Doran.

He wasn’t surprised by their appearance. He had seen Production Buffs countless times in his previous life.

However, he could understand why the surrounding blacksmiths were so excited. A 20% success rate bonus was not something they could easily obtain.