Chapter 358: “The Master Craftsman’s Forge and Grandmaster Xavier” |
Along the way, Lin Mo naturally wasn't idle. Just like before, most of his time was spent on meditation and practicing his [Spatial Creation] skill.
After several days, the gains were quite substantial.
Furthermore, regarding [Dual Cultivation], they had basically hit a bottleneck period.
Or rather, Ellie and the others' levels had basically caught up to Lin Mo's, so the improvements [Dual Cultivation] could bring naturally became increasingly limited.
Ellie's level was still stuck at 19, though she was getting quite close to level 20.
Finnie and the others' levels had all caught up, including Flora. With Lin Mo's recent special attention, she had also progressed rapidly. Everyone's level had reached 19.
It could be said that any one of them, if placed in the outside world, would be a top-tier genius.
And Lin Mo could be said to possess the ability to mass-produce geniuses of this caliber...
Even though she had gradually grown accustomed to the wonders and absurdities about him, Flora still couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Apart from these things, they naturally encountered some magical creatures along the way. Although the numbers weren't particularly large, and some were of relatively low level, adhering to the principle that even a mosquito's leg is meat, whenever they encountered a magical creature of decent level, Lin Mo would basically return to the carriage, fire an arrow, and collect proficiency.
Added together, these experiences also allowed several of his Ranger profession skills to level up. His base Agility attribute consequently increased by 13 points, reaching a level similar to his Strength and Mana.
The sky was already getting late. After reviewing the various bits of information gathered along the journey, Lin Mo finally checked the current scale of his Portable Space.
It had expanded from 200×500×500 to 300×700×700.
However, Lin Mo now didn't know how to use the newly added space. He could only leave it there for now. Later, he could let Lena use it all as planting areas, planting more trees with longer growth cycles, which would also serve as decoration.
The time was about right. Lin Mo withdrew his focus. Although continuing to practice now wouldn't bring significant improvements, there were still some gains.
Moreover, during the communication process, it could also provide proficiency for skills learned from the other party, as well as proficiency for the [Dual Cultivation] skill itself...
In short, it was another day of busy travel and exertion.
The morning in Nasadok Town was exceptionally lively.
After finishing washing up in the Portable Space and eating breakfast, Lin Mo pushed open the door. Losing the protection of the soundproof barrier, he immediately heard the clamorous noise from outside.
Looking out the window, a continuous stream of adventurers had already come over from the Black Iron Bronze District, flooding into the Adventurers' Association.
This number...
The corner of Lin Mo's mouth twitched. Thankfully, the Association had set up different areas based on adventurer rank. As a Silver Level adventurer, his situation should be slightly better.
Furthermore, before going to explore the dungeon, they needed to first visit Andre's father at the Master Craftsman Forge. This was the main purpose of this trip.
As expected, when they arrived at the hall, Andre was already there, hands behind his back, pacing back and forth with an anxious look on his face.
He looked like he had been waiting for a while. Beside him, Edgar, who had been dragged out of bed early, was slumped on the sofa, looking sleepy with some bloodshot eyes in his sockets, yawning repeatedly.
"You guys are finally here..."
Xavier, seeing them, couldn't help but grumble, "Young people these days, really, getting up so late."
The corner of Lin Mo's mouth twitched again. In all fairness, he had gotten up quite early today. It wasn't even 9 AM yet, and he had gotten up before 8:30 AM.
Even for the inhuman lifestyle of a high school student, they would only get up about half an hour earlier than him.
However, for adventurers in this world, if it was a day requiring a mission, that time was indeed when they should be getting up and preparing to go out adventuring. Most adventures required long journeys. If they didn't get up early, they wouldn't get very far before the sky darkened.
Back when Lin Mo first arrived in this world, he also got up very early.
It was only as his strength increased and conditions improved that he actually became more lax...
Of course, Lin Mo wouldn't reflect on himself because of this. He was long past being the kind of person who would engage in self-torment. Improving strength and earning money were both for a better life. If he made himself suffer for them, wouldn't that be putting the cart before the horse?
It was just that special situations like today had to be considered separately.
If Lin Mo had come out half an hour later, Andre probably wouldn't have been able to resist breaking down the door.
Andre's father's Master Craftsman Forge was naturally located in the town's True Gold Silver District, and in a position very close to the entrance of the Nasadok Dungeon.
This could be said to be the prime location of the entire town. All adventurers heading to the dungeon for adventures would inevitably pass by here. If they had a need to purchase or repair weapons and equipment at that time, they would mostly choose a nearby place.
Of course, occupying such a good location also required strength. Without the ability, occupying the spot without delivering results would definitely draw the collective disdain of the vast majority of blacksmiths and adventurers.
But obviously, even in such an adventurer's holy land, no one would doubt a skilled forging grandmaster.
Early in the morning, the Master Craftsman Forge was extremely busy.
Adventurers coming and going swarmed in. The entire shop was packed with people. Even though the Master Craftsman Forge had undergone several rounds of expansion, it still couldn't accommodate so many customers, resulting in a long queue forming outside.
Andre, looking at the long line in front of him, couldn't help but facepalm. "I told you guys we needed to come earlier..."
Fortunately, adventurers came quickly and left quickly. After the peak morning period passed, the adventurers all entered the dungeon, and the number of customers at the Master Craftsman Forge plummeted dramatically.
Lin Mo and the others entered the shop, found a staff member, and informed them of their purpose.
"You want to have equipment custom-made by a blacksmith in the shop?"
The young lady staff member in front of them wasn't surprised. In a place like Nasadok Town, there were plenty of powerful adventurers with astonishing wealth. The conventional weapons sold in the shop couldn't satisfy them, so they naturally chose customization.
"So, which blacksmith are you looking for?"
As she spoke, she cast a curious glance at Andre and Edgar.
These two dwarves also looked like blacksmiths.
"Xavier."
Andre gave the answer in a deep, muffled voice, then patted his chest and continued, "He's your shop owner... my old man!"
His words were full of pride, which was normal. As a blacksmith, having a father who was a grandmaster was certainly the most worthy thing to be proud of.
The staff member in front of them clearly paused for a moment, unsure of the truth of the matter for a second, but still quickly found the responsible personnel and asked them to help relay the message.
Thus, a moment later, a short, stout old man who bore some resemblance to Andre walked up from the forge's basement.
As soon as he saw Andre, he glared, his beard seeming to bristle, and strode over menacingly, grabbing Andre's beard. "You little brat, you dare come back! See if I don't beat you to death!"
Andre immediately put on an expression full of grievance. "Don't hit me, Dad! I really didn't mean it back then..."
Lin Mo quietly moved closer to Edgar and whispered, "What's going on here?"
Edgar glanced at Andre, who was getting beaten, and whispered back, "It was probably a few decades ago. Grandpa finally found a piece of scarce material, planning to forge it into an Upper Epic Level piece of equipment. But while preparing other auxiliary materials, my dad happened to see that material, and then..."
He didn't continue, but the meaning was clear.
Most likely, Andre secretly took that material, wanting to try forging it to prove himself or to improve his skills, and then ruined it.
"Stop, stop..."
Andre over there had already started wailing. Finally unable to withstand it, he could only play his trump card. "Stop hitting me, old man! I came this time bringing you a heaven-shattering surprise!"
"Oh?"
Hearing this, Xavier's hand, raised mid-air, paused. He glanced somewhat suspiciously at the group watching the show over here and waved at them. "Follow me."
Following Xavier to the underground forging room—dwarves seemed to prefer building forging rooms underground—compared to Andre's, Xavier's forging room was obviously much larger. At a glance, one could see many scarce materials, among which were not a few materials from Epic Level magical creatures.
After all, this was a grandmaster-level blacksmith! As long as he had the materials, he could easily mass-produce Epic Level equipment!
The small, white-bearded old man sat on a chair, looking at the group in front of him. His gaze directly skipped over Edgar and settled on Lin Mo. "And these are?"
Different from the irritable tone when speaking to Andre, when facing Lin Mo and the others, this old man's tone was quite calm, even seeming somewhat amiable.
"Grandpa, these are my friends. You should have heard his name... he's called Lin Mo."
"Oh?"
Sure enough, Xavier immediately raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised, and widened his eyes. "You're Lin Mo?"
Lin Mo's reputation nowadays was indeed loud enough that most adventurers in the Violet Empire knew of him.
After all, the recent Academy Grand Competition was held in the Violet Empire, and the fact that the Violet Empire Academy didn't win the championship was itself an incredibly shocking event, so the waves it caused were especially large.
As a blacksmith who had considerable contact with adventurers, Xavier had heard this name and related deeds from who knows how many adventurers.
Although those rumors mentioned that this Lin Mo was very young.
But seeing him in person, Xavier still couldn't help but feel deeply astonished.
He's not even 20 yet, right? To accomplish such astonishing feats at such an age is indeed an unprecedented genius.
However, this rumored genius actually knew his grandson?
This was something Xavier hadn't expected, and they seemed to be on quite good terms. When did Edgar become so promising?
After hearing Lin Mo's name, Xavier's originally peaceful attitude became even more courteous.
But he still remembered what Andre had just said.
A surprise... and a heaven-shattering one at that.
Although Andre was considered relatively average in talent among his many children, he was still a forging master. His vision and discernment were still quite sharp. What exactly could it be that he would call a heaven-shattering surprise?
Xavier was very expectant, so he looked at Lin Mo with shining eyes.
Obviously, the so-called surprise was also related to this young genius in front of him.
Seeing this grandmaster-level old man looking so expectant, Lin Mo felt it was impolite to continue keeping him in suspense. He directly took out the Pseudo-Titan Heart from his Portable Space.
The moment he brought out the material, Xavier's gaze froze.
He stared unblinkingly at the stone heart in Lin Mo's hand, emitting a faint, magnificent light, at the vivid veins on its surface, at its slight trembling. His whole body trembled along with it.
"This, this is..."
He stood up and quickly walked to Lin Mo, carefully examining the heart. "Titan?!"
There was no mistake. This aura was exactly the same as the descriptions in the books passed down from ancient times within the clan.
Although it wasn't a true Titan Heart, this kind of Pseudo-Titan Heart was undoubtedly equivalent in value to a Legendary Level material!
"Good, good, good!"
He said "good" three times in a row, looking like his mood was indeed exceptionally good.
"Little Brother Lin Mo, what kind of equipment are you planning to have this Pseudo-Titan Heart forged into?"
He asked impatiently.
"What does Grandmaster Xavier think this material is suitable for forging into?"
Lin Mo didn't give a direct answer but asked a question in return.
After all, he was a forging grandmaster. His advice was still very worth referencing.
Xavier pondered for a few seconds before replying, "The ancient Titan race was called the God Race, a very balanced race, even stronger than today's Dragons. They possessed powerful physiques, terrifying strength, and vast mana simultaneously. So theoretically, forging it into any equipment is possible, whether it's armor, weapons, or a staff; it could handle the task."
"But if you want me to say, this is, after all, just a Pseudo-Titan Heart. Although it possesses some characteristics of a Titan Heart, its main advantage lies in the Titan aura contained within it. So the material's own strength isn't that outstanding. I'd more strongly suggest making it into magical equipment."
"Would a staff be better, or gloves?"
Although Lin Mo preferred gloves, now that he had the Portable Space, making it into a staff wasn't really out of the question either. It would still be quite convenient to use. So what specific type of magical equipment to make it into still depended on the effect.
Xavier fell into thought again. "Given the size of this material, if used to make a staff, it would be completely sufficient. However, I more strongly suggest making it into gloves... This way, we can remove some redundant parts, amplifying to the greatest extent the aspects originating from the Titan race within it. The final resulting effect might instead be better than a staff."
Lin Mo smiled. "That completely aligns with my own thoughts. That couldn't be better... However, forging equipment shouldn't require just this one material, right?"