95: Chapter 95 Blue, Superior Quality!

Game Notification: You have crafted [scorching sharp longsword], [Forging] experience +1200.

Game Notification: Your [Forging] skill has increased to level 5.

Game Notification: Through long-term Forging, you have gained some insights into the use of hammers and comprehended [Hammer Mastery].

The string of notifications left Hu Gualing stunned for a moment.

An increase of 1200 experience points... did it mean this longsword was something special?

Hu Gualing stared at the longsword. With a thought, the item's attributes appeared before his eyes—

[scorching sharp longsword (Superior Quality)]

It was actually blue-tier equipment!

Seeing the blue color that represented Superior Quality, Hu Gualing held his breath.

Item qualities were divided into:

Grey—Poor/Crude Quality.

White—Common Quality.

Green—Excellent Quality.

Blue—Superior Quality.

...

As for higher quality items beyond that, Hu Gualing hadn't seen any yet, so he had no way of knowing.

However, based on all his current game experience, Superior Quality was likely already quite rare.

In fact, many of the items he had come across in the village these past few days hadn't even reached white tier; they were merely grey, representing Crude Quality. For instance, the many farm tools he had forged himself were all grey-tier without exception.

Wang Dachui's blacksmithing skills were certainly top-notch, but even so, the weapons placed on the racks in the courtyard—intended for sale to passing merchant caravans—seemed to be only of white quality. Not a single green one could be seen.

This showed just how precious this blue equipment he had personally forged truly was.

With that in mind, Hu Gualing looked down excitedly at the longsword's specific attributes.

[scorching sharp longsword (Superior Quality)]: One-handed sword, Attack 9-13, Durability 25/25.

Equipment Description: A one-handed sword crafted by blacksmith apprentice Hu Gualing through an extraordinary performance. It seems to utilize some kind of advanced craftsmanship...

Trait 1: Scorching. When attacking, there is a small chance to inflict Burning damage for 10s. Does not stack.

Trait 2: Sharpness. When attacking, there is a chance to ignore 30% of the target's defense.

“Holy crap!” Hu Gualing cried out in surprise.

Attack power of 9-13—what kind of concept was that?

The bracer he had already melted down was at least made of pure iron, yet it only had 3 points of defense. In front of this longsword, it might as well have been non-existent.

The sickles and hoes he had forged himself only had 1-3 attack power. Even the proper sabers and swords Wang Dachui made only had 4-5 attack power. None of them could compare to this longsword.

Not to mention that almost all other equipment were plain items, while this longsword had two traits.

And these two traits clearly weren't simple.

The [Sharpness] trait was easy enough to understand. After all, it was forged from steel and the blade had been meticulously sharpened; it would be strange if it wasn't sharp.

As for this [Scorching], it seemed pretty impressive, directly granting the sword magical damage.

It was likely a trait produced by embedding that Liaohuo Stone?

Hu Gualing admired the [scorching sharp longsword] over and over. Even though it was meant for Tang Yao and not himself, he felt a great sense of accomplishment from crafting such a piece of equipment.

Wang Dachui also hurried over immediately.

Although no blue equipment had ever been born from his hands, he had years of blacksmithing experience and could still distinguish between good and bad equipment.

The moment he stepped up and saw the longsword, he was startled.

Frowning as he observed it carefully, he asked in a shocked and uncertain tone, “It's actually Superior Quality?”

Hu Gualing held the longsword up to Wang Dachui's eyes so he could see it more clearly, saying with absolute certainty, “Of course it's Superior Quality.” The equipment attributes were clearly written, so it couldn't be fake.

At that moment, a knock came from outside the courtyard.

Still shocked by the longsword before him, Wang Dachui had no mood to go out and greet guests. He just admired the sharp longsword in the forge room and shouted “Come in” toward the outside without even turning his head.

A moment later, a young man walked in.

“Gualing, have you already finished Forging the equipment?”

The visitor was none other than the owner of the Xiao Huang Trading Firm, Xiao Niao.

Knowing that Hu Gualing would inevitably start Forging once he had gathered the Materials, he saw the two of them huddled around a longsword and stepped closer with curiosity, asking casually.

“Xiao Niao, you've come at just the right time. Quickly, take a look at this blue longsword I just forged!”

Hu Gualing had no intention of keeping it to himself and quickly invited Xiao Niao to see the equipment fresh from the forge.

Although Xiao Niao didn't understand blacksmithing, as a player, he could see item attributes.

So, upon looking, he was immediately astonished.

Blue quality, 9-13 attack power, and it even had two special effects.

This [scorching sharp longsword], in the Novice Village, wouldn't be an exaggeration to call a Divine Artifact!

One could even say that such equipment shouldn't exist in the Novice Village! According to the settings of other games, this kind of minor top-tier equipment should at least drop from a boss outside the Novice Village.

“You're really something!” Xiao Niao praised sincerely.

He didn't doubt whether the longsword was forged by Hu Gualing, as the maker's name was already written in the equipment description.

It seemed that Hu Gualing's claim about having special blacksmithing techniques was indeed true...

It was just as well; he had come to have some arrowheads forged. He had originally been a bit uneasy about Hu Gualing's skills and planned to ask Wang Dachui, but since Hu Gualing had such skill, it was for the best.

Xiao Niao stated his purpose for coming.

Originally, he hadn't planned on adventuring outside the village, nor did he really intend to find Head Manager Xie Dongdong's father. Thus, he had no pursuit of skills or equipment. Shooting arrows alone in the fields was just to exercise his body.

However, after comprehending Archery on his own, Xiao Niao suddenly became interested in the activity and was no longer satisfied with shooting flimsy wooden arrows.

Moreover, wooden arrows were only for practicing Archery and weren't of great quality. Even if he picked them up one by one after every session for reuse, their durability was slowly decreasing. Thus, it was necessary to prepare some new arrows.

Arrows weren't hard to make. Thinking that he had to continue Forging Gauntlets anyway and could just make some arrowheads for Xiao Niao while he was at it, Hu Gualing readily agreed.

Putting away the longsword and tidying up the area, Hu Gualing began to forge a weapon for himself.

Since he wanted it to complement his Fist Technique, the type of weapon he envisioned was a pair of Gauntlets.

Although Hu Gualing hadn't learned how to forge Gauntlets, thanks to Wang Dachui's detailed explanation, the relevant knowledge had entered his mind, and a new skill branch called 'Gauntlet Forging' appeared under his [Forging] skill tab.