Chapter 148: Porcelain-Smashing and Bone Club Handling

"And you call this a boutique shop? Look at the quality of the equipment coming out of your shop!"

"I haven't even bought this leather armor for three months, and I haven't been to the Mist Forest many times, and it's already broken like this."

"You must give me an explanation today!"

Xia Nan, who was walking on the street carrying a bottle of "Rock-Heart Black Beer" he had just bought, hadn't had time to walk into the shop.

When he heard a series of reprimands coming from inside the "Rock Hammer" shop.

Listening to the content, it seemed that the blacksmith shop's quality control had gone wrong, causing a certain adventurer to buy inferior equipment, and now they were coming to the door to ask for an explanation.

He felt inexplicably strange.

He had been in Hegu Town for a while, and he was a regular customer of "Rock Hammer," and almost all the equipment on his body was bought here.

Naturally, he was clear about the quality of this shop.

Just like what the tavern drunks said:

"Rock Hammer, the only problem is that it's expensive."

After so many years, under the dedicated management of the shop owner "Ba'en," Rock Hammer had become a boutique blacksmith shop recognized in Hegu Town.

It was even listed in the 【Adventurer's Handbook】, with excellent reviews, and very few negative ones.

Even if there were occasional complaints in the tavern, they would never be about "quality."

And given Xia Nan's understanding of Ba'en, the other party was absolutely not the kind of unscrupulous merchant who would throw conscience to the wind for money and deliberately sell defective goods to fool guests.

Just now, the 【Decapitation Longsword】 on his back, the material itself was "Gray Steel" from "Flame-Cast Peak," which could be said to be quite expensive.

Wasn't it because of a tiny, negligible flaw during forging, where it wasn't even certain if it truly affected the quality, that it was thrown into the scrap pile by Ba'en, waiting to be re-smelted?

That was how he, who was strapped for cash at the time, got to pick it up.

On the other hand, at least in Xia Nan's subjective perception.

That reprimand, which sounded quite harsh, didn't actually have the feeling of someone who had saved money for a long time, carefully selected a boutique piece of equipment in the blacksmith shop, only to find it was a defective product.

Feeling deceived, his

Instead, he sounded rather sarcastic, deliberately raising his voice as if he intended for the sound to carry out to the street outside, for passersby to hear.

With a touch of confusion and a slight desire to watch the spectacle, Xia Nan did not shy away and walked straight into the shop.

What met his eyes was an adventurer in crude equipment and the "Rock Hammer" shopkeeper, Ba En, standing before him.

"Customer, could it be that you remembered wrong?"

"Our shop has never sold this style of leather armor, and the tanning process of the cowhide on this piece of equipment is not a method I use at all."

"If you don't mind, perhaps you could let me take a look, maybe..."

Before he could finish speaking, the middle-aged adventurer with shifty eyes standing before Ba En shrank back as if reacting to a stimulus.

The leather armor he had been holding was hidden behind his back, and he tilted his neck, threatening with a show of bravado:

"I'm warning you, don't try anything!"

"Today, without 100 gold, this matter isn't over!"

"You wouldn't want the rumor that your shop sells defective goods..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Ba En, whose attitude had been sincere and friendly, suddenly confirm something from the other's words and behavior.

He sighed suddenly.

He straightened his body, letting the shadow of his burly frame loom over the man in front.

"A newcomer, are you? How long have you been in Hegu Town?"

"How did you kno—" The middle-aged adventurer's expression faltered, then he suddenly reacted, "Don't change the subject, I..."

Bang—

An arm as thick as an ordinary person's thigh swept through the air with a violent sound, and a massive fist, capable of covering the man's entire face, was suddenly swung out amidst the sound of breaking air.

Just as it was about to smash into the other's cheek, it suddenly pulled back the force the instant before the knuckles touched the tip of the other's nose.

Beneath the rushing wind, the man's pupils constricted and his face turned abruptly pale.

"Get lost."

"Ah... ah!"

The middle-aged adventurer couldn't help but step back twice, his legs went soft, and he fell to the ground.

Perhaps the impact of that punch was too great, leaving him not even daring to utter harsh words; he scrambled up on all fours in a panic and fled toward the door.

Because his movements were too hurried, he didn't pay attention to what was in front.

He collided head-on with Xia Nan, who was standing at the shop entrance.

It was like hitting an immovable iron wall, and he immediately fell to the ground with a cry of pain.

Rubbing his nose, which was sore and numb from the direct collision with the iron armor.

His eyes widened, his lips parted slightly, and he was just about to say something.

His gaze couldn't help but catch the iron-grey longsword strapped to the back of the person in front.

His expression changed abruptly.

Almost forcibly swallowing the words that had reached his throat, he lowered his head, hunched his body, bypassed Xia Nan, and fled toward the shop exit.

Glancing at the back disappearing rapidly on the street.

Xia Nan withdrew his gaze, not caring too much in his heart.

"Came to pick a fight on purpose?" He joked to Ba En in front.

After multiple visits over several months, the relationship between the two had gradually grown closer, and they could be considered friends.

Seeing that the visitor was Xia Nan, "Rock Hammer" Ba En also revealed a helpless smile and shook his head.

"Don't worry about it."

"This kind of thing happens a few times every year, I'm already used to it."

Unlike the mage apprentices in those magic academies, or the students and teachers in the city's schools.

The adventurer profession has almost no threshold.

Theoretically, you could just put on pajamas, grab a kitchen knife, walk around the grass at the edge of the forest twice, and come back calling yourself an adventurer.

And because of the high income widely circulated among the public, the bottom-tier adventurers who have not yet been filtered by monsters can be said to be a mixed bag of good and bad.

There are all kinds of people.

And as the owner of the most famous blacksmith shop in town, Ba En has to deal with a large number of customers every day.

In this situation, occasionally encountering one or two weirdos is actually normal.

Come to think of it, this is only in Hegu Town.

If it were really moved to dwarf settlements like "Flint Bridge Town" or "Dumb Iron Fort," facing such framing regarding equipment quality.

His brothers and sisters, whose temperaments are more fierce than furnace fires, would not let the other walk out of the shop with all four limbs intact.

Thinking this, Ba En suddenly felt that after so many years in town, his temper had been smoothed out a lot.

If it were his younger self...

"Forget it." He pulled a rag from his waist and wiped the countertop twice, "It's been a while, hasn't it? How about it, Hunting Day..."

Ba En only managed to say half a sentence before suddenly closing his mouth.

Seeming to have noticed something, his brows furrowed tightly, and his eyes scanned Xia Nan's body up and down.

"You... really became a professional?"

Although he had heard rumors related to the "Grey Sword" before, he only thought they were exaggerated by the spread of gossip.

He didn't expect that when Xia Nan stood before him, he could actually feel the same aura as his few veteran adventurer regulars.

"Just lucky."

Not deliberately hiding that he had obtained a professional level, Xia Nan nodded and replied.

"There was a bit of a hitch during the mission, I have to trouble you to take a look at these two pieces of equipment on me again."

The expression on his face still retained surprise at Xia Nan's promotion to a professional, and hearing him say this, a familiar strangeness immediately appeared.

"Broken again?"

"Yeah."

Looking at the two pieces of armor Xia Nan handed over, which clearly had signs of damage on the surface.

At this moment, Ba En actually began to doubt whether his forging level had really gone wrong.

Seeming to notice the other's thoughts, Xia Nan placed the "Rock Heart Black Beer" he had just bought at White Tit on the counter.

Handling a bit of social etiquette.

"The armor is excellent, it helped me a lot in battle."

"The reason it's damaged... has nothing to do with the quality of the equipment itself."

Ba En had only been surprised because of the frequency of Xia Nan's equipment damage, and had no other extra thoughts.

Seeing the other's gesture, his originally kind attitude couldn't help but become a bit more enthusiastic.

He took the black beer and leaned over to tuck it inside the counter.

—Not drinking during working hours was his habit.

Then he helped to carefully check the extent of the armor's damage.

His fingertips traced the iron rings on the surface of the chain mail, his gaze carefully scanning several imperceptible details on it.

He frowned again.

"What's wrong? Can it be repaired, or should I replace it with a new one?"

Seeing the other's expression, Xia Nan scratched his head and asked.

"You should know that the reason chain mail is enduring among adventurers is because of its special structure composed of metal rings; even if part of it is damaged in battle, without considering other aspects of durability, you only need to replace the iron rings in the corresponding positions to quickly repair it."

Ba En held the chain mail by both sides with his hands, spread it out in front of him, and explained carefully to Xia Nan.

"I have no intention of prying into anything, but this chain mail of yours, although it looks like only the area near the chest is severely damaged, the other positions, especially the connections between the iron rings, have also been eroded by some kind of power."

"If you have any doubts about this, you can also take this piece of equipment to other blacksmith shops in town to ask; I believe most of them will give the same conclusion as I do."

Hearing the other say this, Xia Nan couldn't help but recall the dark red energy aura that came from the Bugbear's bone club during their previous fight.

He pondered in his heart that perhaps this was the cause.

"So it cannot be repaired, right?"

"If you want to ensure defensive strength, repairing it is indeed..."

"Then help me replace it with a new one." Xia Nan waved his hand and said.

He believed the other wouldn't ruin the good reputation he had accumulated over many years for this bit of money.

According to past practice, he had already prepared for a full replacement before coming.

And the total cost, which did not exceed one hundred gold, was something he could easily afford, given that his current savings had reached seven hundred and fifty-six gold.

Unexpectedly, perhaps because the chain mail shirt blocked most of the energy impact, the studded leather armor worn underneath was not affected much by the energy erosion.

It only needed simple repairs to be put back into service.

Saving Xia Nan 45 gold.

Just as he was planning to pick another piece of armor to wear on the outside, he saw Ba En behind the counter scan his hands.

He pointed to the arm shield on his left hand and asked:

"It's been a while since you used it, right? How is it, still okay?"

"Of course." Xia Nan gently stroked the dark snake-scale arm shield, feeling the cool touch from his fingertips, "The craftsmanship is great, the equipment is very reliable."

Hearing this, Ba En couldn't help but laugh out loud.

In his heart, he knew that he had only done some fitting work, and ninety-nine percent of the arm shield's defensive performance came from that scale whose origin he couldn't fathom.

"You are a professional now, you should get one or two pieces of enchanted equipment."

"The strength of this scale is very high, more than enough as the main material for equipment, and it can save a lot of money."

Xia Nan nodded in agreement, but he wasn't very excited inside.

The gold coins he had on him now were perfectly fine for daily life and simple equipment replacement.

But if it came to the level of magic equipment, it would just be a drop in the bucket.

His current situation was nowhere near the point where he needed to exchange high-level equipment at the cost of bankruptcy or even debt.

Saving money slowly, leaving himself enough room for error, and letting things take their natural course was fine; there was no need to rush at all.

As for Ba En's suggestion that he get one or two pieces of enchanted equipment...

It could only be said that with his attribute panel cheat, he was the least lacking in this regard.

【Dead Line】 ring, wooden sword 【Green Pine】, 【Fate Coin】...

To some extent, although the 【Decapitation Longsword】 was only a normal quality weapon, it also possessed "durability" and "decapitation damage" bonus entries, making it no different from ordinary enchanted equipment.

Xia Nan didn't think there was any other level-one professional in all of Hegu Town with more equipment than him.

Thinking of this, seeing that there was no one in the blacksmith shop hall.

He took out the pale bone club from the Red-maned Hobgoblin and handed it to the other.

"Also this, I have to trouble you to help me identify it."

"Sure, let me see." Ba En took it with both hands, showing that he took it very seriously.

If it were any other ordinary adventurer, he might not have had such a reaction.

Bizarre stories from bards often led those dream-prone adventurers to pick up a bone or a rusty weapon in the forest, thinking it was dragon bone or an artifact fragment, and bring it to him.

Xia Nan was different.

On one hand, it was his status as a regular customer and a professional;

On the other hand, it was also because of that snake scale before, which made Ba En believe he possessed a certain ability to identify things.

Feeling the weight of the bone club with both hands, he gently tapped the surface of the bone with his knuckles, carefully listening to the crisp sound that erupted.

Ba En raised an eyebrow.

Sure enough!

"Although I still cannot judge the identity of the bone itself, through its hardness and quality, I can determine that this is likely not some ordinary animal bone."

His gaze looked toward Xia Nan in front:

"How do you plan to handle it?"

"Sell it directly, or forge it into equipment?"

As he spoke, as if suddenly remembering something, his gaze scanned the temporary snake-scale arm shield Xia Nan was using on his left hand.

"Wait!"

"I have an idea."

(End of chapter)