Chapter 50: Shield

Xia Nan was very cautious about his choice of armor.

After all, with his current physical strength, even under the effect of the 【Copper Tendons and Iron Bones】 specialty, he possessed a certain degree of physical damage reduction.

But if he were to take a direct hit, as long as the attacker's weapon was sharp enough and the force used was great enough, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it.

A set of suitable armor could be said to be a second life for a low-level adventurer.

Therefore, the moment he realized he couldn't make the right choice between the two sets of medium armor.

Xia Nan took the initiative to ask Ba'en, the blacksmith shop owner beside him, about the pros and cons of the two sets of equipment and asked for his advice.

"Hmm, first of all, weight is something you need to consider," Ba'en reached out and stroked the braided beard on his chest, saying to Xia Nan. "Although they are of the same type, the scale armor is heavier overall."

"Defensive performance is important, but it shouldn't affect your normal mobility."

To this, Xia Nan naturally went along with it.

After getting the other party's approval, he took both sets of armor down and tried them on.

No impact.

With his current physical fitness, his perception of the weight of this kind of medium armor was only slightly heavier than the leather armor he bought before his second mission.

It was far from the point of affecting daily activities.

"Then, you have to combine it with your own actual situation."

Ba'en reminded.

"If you are a bounty hunter who mainly takes bounty quests in the Association, targeting various robbers and bandits, then I recommend scale armor more."

"After all, it has a wide coverage area and can effectively block attacks from bows, spears, and similar weapons, which is exceptionally useful in battles with intelligent creatures."

As he spoke, this burly man glanced at the decapitation longsword on Xia Nan's back.

"But if you usually rely on hunting monsters in the Mist Forest for a living, a chain shirt is clearly more suitable."

"It makes less noise when moving, making it less likely to attract the attention of monsters, and its relatively simple structure makes daily maintenance easy to do. Even if you stay in the forest for ten days or half a month, you don't have to worry about its defensive strength dropping significantly."

After Ba'en said this, Xia Nan, who had been a bit conflicted, immediately knew what to do.

Compared to being enemies with vicious bandits who would use all kinds of traps and insidious items, he still preferred dealing with those green-skinned goblins in the Mist Forest that he could kill in one strike.

"I'll take the chain shirt."

He didn't need any packaging, and he had already sold the tattered leather armor to the other party.

After paying the gold coins, he put the chain shirt on directly.

Feeling the weight unique to metal against his skin.

Xia Nan felt a faint sense of security welling up from his heart.

"Not considering dodging, if I were to trade blow for blow head-on, I wonder how many hits I could take from a Bugbear."

He pondered inwardly.

Having completed the armor update, Xia Nan didn't leave "Rock Hammer."

He still had one most important thing to resolve.

"Eh? This is..."

Ba'en looked at the pitch-black scales reflecting a ghostly light under the sunlight, a trace of surprise appearing on his rugged face.

Years of forging experience allowed him to recognize at a glance that this was the scale armor of some kind of monster, but—

*Ding! *

A delicate, small hand hammer tapped lightly on the surface of the scale, and a crisp sound like metal colliding followed.

Even without careful testing, those rough hands that had touched countless forging materials could feel the astonishing hardness and toughness coming from the surface of the scale.

"Where did you..." Ba'en looked up subconsciously, his gaze toward the black-haired youth before him, opened his mouth, and suddenly stopped the question he had asked halfway.

He swallowed the question that had reached his lips back into his stomach.

In their line of work, especially when the client is an adventurer, it's better to talk less.

"How about it, if I use this scale as the main material, can you forge a piece of equipment?"

Xia Nan kept his expression tight, asking the other party calmly.

He naturally wouldn't forget this snake scale he found in the cave.

To some extent, its priority in his heart was even higher than the scabbard and armor.

After all, back then, he had used all his strength, even using 【Spinning Slash】, and still couldn't leave a single trace on that big snake.

The exaggerated defensive performance that exceeded his imagination made him think about how to use it to make a piece of equipment suitable for himself almost as soon as he returned to River Valley Town.

"Wait a moment, let me study it."

Entering his professional field, Ba'en's expression became serious.

Suppressing his inner curiosity, he pinched the snake scale, faced the sunlight outside the shop door, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Maybe it can be embedded in the center of the breastplate as a defense for vital points, so even if it's a plate armor model, it can reduce weight while maintaining performance."

"But it seems a bit of a waste."

"Or should I cut it apart and make it into scale armor?"

"The sharpness of the edges is also good; small weapons like daggers or short swords?"

"No, no, too wasteful."

Suddenly, looking at the long diamond shape of the scale in his hand, wide on both sides and narrow in the middle, Ba'en's eyes lit up.

With the enthusiasm unique to a craftsman in his tone, he asked:

"Arm shield! How about an arm shield?"

As he spoke, he walked quickly to the shelf and flipped out a small, exquisite metal round shield that shimmered with silver light.

"Just like this!"

"Of course, if this scale is used as the main material, the arm shield made won't be round, and the color should also be different."

Hearing this, Xia Nan couldn't help but be moved.

He knew a little bit about defensive equipment like "arm shields."

It was roughly like a small shield worn on the arm.

Small in volume and light in weight, even if his main weapon right now was a decapitation longsword that required two hands to hold, it would basically have no impact in battle.

Only when defense was needed would he block the arm shield on the outside of his arm in front of him, and at the same time, his other hand could even take the opportunity to attack.

To a certain extent, it also avoided the embarrassing predicament where he needed to use the sword body to block the opponent's attack at times.

In short, with the long diamond structure of the snake scale in his hand, combined with his combat style, making it into an arm shield seemed to be the best choice.

"Okay, let's go with an arm shield." He nodded toward Ba'en.

However, the other party's expression seemed a bit regretful.

"It's a pity, there have been many orders from the Association recently, and many materials have been used up."

"Otherwise, with the strength of this scale of yours, if I check it carefully again, maybe I could rub out a piece of magic equipment."

"Magic equipment!?"

Xia Nan was stunned for a moment, then suddenly reacted.

"It's okay, I can wait!"

"How much will it cost?"

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 51 =====