73: Chapter 73 The Harvest of the Second Ring

After hearing what Morpheus said, Richard spoke in a low voice:

"After everyone finds special items, do not touch them directly; just call me over."

"I have mastered a unique Appraisal method that can distinguish whether an item has been cursed."

In reality, it was just the Appraisal skill that came with Richard's system.

Jinbao clapped his hands excitedly:

"Really? Captain, I know your knowledge in Appraisal is very impressive, but I didn't expect you to be able to detect curses too. We are going to make a fortune!"

Richard explained:

"Believe me, I just didn't have the opportunity to encounter such items before, so I didn't mention it."

On the other side, the Silver Leaf Sentinels and Gray's temporary team seemed to have reached a tacit understanding; these two groups did not stop in the Second Ring.

Selan and Vera walked side by side at the front, their strides synchronized, moving purposefully toward the Third Ring.

Their warlock, Evelyn, followed behind. When passing through the Second Ring, she turned her head to look at the abandoned Enchantment workshops, but did not pause her steps.

The scholar Gray came over to say goodbye to him, and the entire temporary team continued to move inward.

Before leaving, Gray kindly said:

"If we encounter danger inside, we will release a signal flare so you can be prepared."

Richard shook hands with him to say goodbye:

"I understand, thank you. I hope your operation goes smoothly."

The Silver Leaf Sentinels' target was the Third Ring, the Ring of Research.

The windowless black tower in the distance was likely the primary destination of their trip.

"Captain, aren't we following them?"

Jinbao pushed his goggles onto his forehead, his round face stained with a streak of black ash wiped from the workshop wall, his expression filled with obvious confusion.

Richard stood on the circular avenue, watching the backs of the Silver Leaf Sentinels as they drifted further and further away.

He withdrew his gaze and scanned the workshops and Enchantment workshops on both sides of the Second Ring street that had not yet been searched.

He said in a calm tone:

"No rush. You have seen the scale of this city."

"The workshop district of the Second Ring alone is several times larger than Blackwater City."

"Those who arrived first must have headed straight for the core area; they likely didn't have time to thoroughly search the outer buildings."

"Furthermore, those core areas will definitely not be looted clean so easily."

"So, it's better to search this layer first. After we have some gains, we can consider whether to go inside."

Cecilia said:

"I agree with the Captain's idea. Among those who went ahead, there are powerful pirate groups and Gold-ranked Adventurers..."

"I have no objections."

Selina hung the eye of the storm holy emblem back on her waist and made a gesture of invitation toward the workshop district.

The Black Cat said nothing and immediately slipped into the nearest Enchantment workshop.

A moment later, it poked half of its body out from the door and used sign language to signal "temporarily safe."

Richard smiled, planted his halberd on the ground, and walked toward the gate of the first workshop.

This workshop covered an area about four or five times that of an ordinary blacksmith shop in Blackwater City.

Half of the roof beams had collapsed, and sunlight leaked through the holes, shining on the metal fragments piled on the workbench.

There were many fragments of various shapes; some looked like broken mechanical parts, while others looked like debris that had fallen off a large device.

They were scattered on the workbench and the ground, covered by a thick layer of silt.

But after Richard wiped the silt off the surface of one piece with his glove, the surface of several pieces of metal revealed a dark golden luster.

This was not the reddish-brown of rust; after soaking in the seabed silt for a thousand years, they had not corroded at all.

He picked up a piece, turned it over, and then activated Appraisal.

[Arcanite Fragment] — A special alloy smelted by the Aorian Kingdom, extremely stable in nature, leaving no traces after a thousand years of erosion.

Can be sold as high-grade alchemy material to knowledgeable buyers, or used as spellcasting material for metal-type spells; about fifty fragments can be smelted into one kilogram of Arcanite, with the value increasing accordingly.

"Valuable stuff, I can even craft equipment for myself."

He put the fragments back on the workbench and began loading them into his dimensional bag.

Jinbao darted over from behind him, gasped when he saw those metal fragments, and then said in an awe-struck tone:

"It's actually Arcanite! I saw it in the chieftain's collection room when I was a child."

"It's a special metal smelted with demonic fire; even a tiny bit can raise the corrosion resistance of weapons and armor by several tiers."

"These fragments are also very valuable, no, I should say extremely valuable."

"The amount here is enough to forge a dagger! My new invention is lacking this material, Captain, can you..."

"I'll give you two pieces. Let's keep looking; there must be a lot more here."

Richard continued loading fragments into the dimensional bag.

Jinbao joyfully wrapped the two Arcanite fragments carefully in oilcloth.

Then he stuffed them into the safest compartment of his tool bag and continued to search the corners of the workshop for other things.

The Black Cat found several pairs of metal gloves in a storage room of the neighboring Enchantment workshop.

The gloves were neatly arranged on a stone shelf, their surfaces covered with a layer of dark gray oxide film, but the overall structure was intact.

Richard walked to this storage room and continued to activate Appraisal:

[Heat-Insulated Gloves] Enchanted equipment. After wearing them, one's hands can reach into ordinary flames or molten metal without injury, enough to grab an item that has fallen into a furnace or hold down the body of a fire elemental.

This was another very valuable piece of equipment, and it was suitable for those Rune Smiths.

He first put the gloves into his dimensional bag, intending to distribute the money from the sale later.

"We'll sell two pairs when we get back and keep one for Jinbao; it might come in handy next time he makes alchemy bombs."

Jinbao made a dark joke:

"What's the use of that? If it really explodes, is it so I can keep a pair of intact hands?"

The Black Cat rolled its eyes and turned to continue searching deeper into the storage room.

Some items and metal objects indeed carried curse effects; some would lower a person's constitution, and some would even damage the strength of their soul.

Fortunately, Richard's Appraisal skill was effective, allowing his teammates to avoid any curse damage.

In one of the large workshops, next to the workbench, lay a furnace sealed solid by solidified molten iron.

The surface of the furnace was covered with a thick layer of cooled iron shell, as if someone had deliberately sealed something inside before evacuating.

Richard struck the iron shell several times with the back of his battle axe's hammer head before he managed to break it open. Inside the furnace lay several heavy metal ingots.

The surface of the ingots was deep blue, and under the light, one could see faint feather-like textures, as if feathers had been pressed into the metal.

The information popped up by Appraisal made him very excited.

[Thunder-Forged Steel Ingot], a special steel material forged by the Aorian people by quenching with the magic power of lightning-type demons.

Using it to craft weapons adds lightning damage upon hit; crafting armor grants the wearer lightning resistance; it is extremely difficult to melt and requires magical flames to be heated for Forging.

"After I go back and raise my blacksmith level, I can use these materials to craft my own equipment, haha."

He collected all five steel ingots into his dimensional bag, his movements even more careful than when he had picked up the Arcanite fragments earlier.

The dimensional bag was now filled with Arcanite fragments, along with many other valuable odds and ends found earlier from the workshop storage rooms.

Once these supplies were taken back to Blackwater City and converted into cash, the total amount would be no less than three thousand gold coins.

And this was just the result of looting the Second Ring for the better part of a day.