Chapter 2019

Is this it...?

He almost couldn't resist pulling again, Lin An looked somewhat dazedly at the hammer that floated out in front of him.

It was utterly ordinary, not to mention the oppressive aura of previous high-rank Equipment—this hammer that looked like a blacksmith's tool even had several chips.

It was pitch black all over, with a thin red line wrapped around the handle.

Obviously, this is an Auxiliary-type Prop, and Lin An also noticed that the attached rewards were plentiful.

【Ding, obtained special-type Props: Starforging Hammer】

【Ding, obtained point reward: 10000 points!】

【Ding, obtained permission: A-rank!】

Hearing the system prompt, Lin An instinctively turned his head toward the big-eyed one, the doubt in his eyes seemingly asking: Is this what you want?

Although this hammer had no level indication and was even marked with the word 'special', after pulling so many rewards Lin An had already figured out the system's tendencies.

(The total reward is roughly twenty thousand points, not counting the permission. Either give two silver-star Equipment, the system counts as fifteen thousand, then give five thousand points; or give one dead-star Equipment, and the point reward is hardly given.)

Simply calculated, the hammer's actual value is roughly equivalent to one and a half silver-star items; according to the big-eyed one's theory, it falls short of the hardest-to-draw dead-star Equipment by more than one tier.

In Lin An's imagination, what he was supposed to draw should at least be in the dead-star range.

At the very least it should be mysteriously unfathomable, clearly some extremely rare special artifact.

【That's right, it's this hammer.】

【Lin An, don't underestimate this hammer; you'll understand after seeing it.】

Seeing Lin An's confusion, after the stone in his heart settled, No. 77 feigned mystery by blinking, indicating Lin An could just take the reward without overthinking.

Out of trust in the big-eyed one, Lin An didn't waste words and simply grabbed the hammer.

The next second, with a bang, Lin An's whole body felt as if he had caught a planet, and he was instantly pulled to the ground by the hammer.

Damn! This thing is heavy!

Before Lin An could even be startled, a series of system prompts sounded one after another:

【Ding, draw complete, reward confirmed.】

【Ding, obtained special-type Props: Starforging Hammer!】

【Starforging Hammer: Auxiliary-type Props (forging, damage, fantasy)】

【Props effect: Starforging, energy smash-in】

【Starforging: Consume corresponding materials and energy, you can forge stars!】

【Note: The forging process requires planetary blueprints; current blueprint count is 0, random forging has an extremely high chance of failure.】

【Equipment smash-in: You can smash in any Equipment of level+1 into your current Equipment, raising its level and effect. Each smash-in consumes 100 Apocalypse points.】

【Note: During the smash-in process, if you want to protect the original Equipment, the required Equipment ratio is 1:10, and the Equipment upgrade ratio is 1:100.】

【Props description: This hammer was originally designed to turn stone into stars, and it does, but it requires ten stars. Compared to its forging ability, it's more suited as a hammer to smash people.】

The description was short, and Lin An almost read it three or four times within a second.

That's it? Nothing else?

Even more puzzled than before, Lin An instinctively looked at the big-eyed one, as if asking No. 77 what the hell he was up to.

Star forging sounds awesome, but what use is it to him?

Is he supposed to forge a star for humans to relocate? Or does the big-eyed one intend for him to forge a dead star? But he doesn't have any blueprints...

【Big-eyed.. Overseer sir, are you sure you want me to redeem this?】

【What does this second explanation mean? If I take ten battle-star Equipment and smash them into Fourth Stage Equipment, can I turn ordinary Fourth Stage into elite Fourth Stage? With a hundred pieces, can I upgrade Fourth Stage Equipment to battle-star?】

Saying this, Lin An couldn't help but laugh angrily at the hammer.

Although he realized the hammer was indeed useful to him, in the short term he couldn't change his Equipment, yet the hammer could strengthen his gear and boost his power.

【But.】

【With this money, why not exchange resources?! Why not exchange dead-star-level weapons?! At worst, he's hoarding all this money—can't he exchange Equipment later?!】

Lin An never imagined wearing a full Fourth Stage set, especially progressing from Fourth Stage to five, six, seven, eight, nine! Just thinking that he might someday become a dead star while still wearing a death god set, Lin An could imagine those top-tier experts seeing him and thinking he's got a screw loose!

What's the difference between a kindergartener squirting people with a water gun and a war god still holding a water gun?!

【Pretty much, in practical effect this hammer can turn gold to stone, wasting Equipment.】

No. 77 laughed, openly admitting.

This hammer is indeed trash, no matter from which angle. In fact, they pulled so many times not because the hammer is precious, but because it's too trash—trash to the point of extremely low probability.

Seeing Lin An frozen in place, No. 77 unhurriedly extended a tentacle, grabbed Lin An, and slowly said:

【No need to guess.】

【The hammer's effect is to strengthen the Equipment on your body.】

【Kid, if you take off your Equipment you'll die, and I can't do anything about that. With your current strength entering there, I can't help you either. So if you want to strengthen your Equipment, you can only rely on this thing.】

As the words fell, Lin An moved his mouth, barely suppressing the urge to curse, and had no choice but to accept this.

To be honest, he really wanted to tell No. 77 that he actually didn't need to strengthen his Equipment—just give him a sword would do! At worst, exchange a ring for a powerful Prop wouldn't be bad!

Unable to comprehend the big-eyed one's intention, Lin An took a deep breath, clinging to the last sliver of fantasy:

【Overseer sir, what about the first one?】

【Do you have planetary forging blueprints? I noticed in the previous redemption options that some planets can be directly used as weapons. Is it..】

【Oh, none.】

【It can't be done; if you wanted to forge a planet with this hammer, the resources spent could buy ten of them—not counting your wasted time and success rate.】

Before Lin An could finish speaking, No. 77 cut him off, seeing Lin An's expression suddenly change, the smile in his eyes growing wider.

It was just like watching Lin An's wilted expression—quite interesting.

Lin An fell silent.

Looking at the hammer in his hand, he suddenly felt that No. 77 was very unfamiliar, and really wanted to smash that guy to death with a hammer.

(Perhaps, perhaps for beings of the big‑eyeball tier, sixth‑or‑seventh‑rank Equipment is also all junk, so if we waste a bit, we waste a bit.)

(Anyway, anyway it's not spending his "money".)

In silence, Lin An forced an ugly smile on his face, only intending to resign himself.

Letting him waste so many resources just to increase a bit of combat power—he'd have to be brain‑damaged to do that. Moreover, if he later changes his Equipment, all his earlier investment will go down the drain.

However, just as Lin An put away his Equipment, No. 77 suddenly let out a soft laugh and said in a faint voice:

"How do you really think letting you swap this thing is that simple?"

"You don't intend to try this hammer's effect? Maybe it'll give you a huge surprise."