97: Chapter 97 Wooden Pole and Steel Arrow

Under Hu Gualing's somewhat surprised gaze, Wang Dachui fiddled with two clay brass knuckles and explained, "This outermost shell acts as a protective layer. It can block the heat of the fire to prevent the mold from cracking if the fire is too intense, and it also prevents impurities from being melted into the mold."

"Inside, two brass knuckles were fired from yellow clay. They are identical in shape, except one is slightly larger and the other slightly smaller."

"The two are nested together, one large and one small, leaving a gap in between. You pour the molten iron in, and once it cools and solidifies, the brass knuckles are finished."

Hu Gualing listened, suddenly enlightened.

Xiao Niao also nodded repeatedly.

It turned out that the yellow clay mold, which looked quite shabby, had such an ingenious design inside.

'The wisdom of NPCs is indeed not to be underestimated,' Xiao Niao thought to himself.

The way Hu Gualing looked at Wang Dachui also changed slightly.

In fact, the method for making this yellow clay mold was included in the brass knuckles Forging technique that Wang Dachui had taught him.

However, because there was too much knowledge and he had only listened to Wang Dachui explain it once in a dry manner...

So even though the game System had automatically recorded the relevant knowledge in his skill bar, he still couldn't use it proficiently.

It wasn't until now, when Wang Dachui brought out the physical object to explain, that he finally understood.

'It seems that even having a skill in the game doesn't mean one has completely mastered it...'

Hu Gualing reflected as he took the yellow clay mold from Wang Dachui, carefully assembled it, found a tree stump to place under the furnace channel, and then set the pair of yellow clay brass knuckles molds onto the stump.

The reason for doing this was to bring the mold closer, so the molten iron wouldn't stray when it flowed out of the channel later.

After repeatedly confirming that the mold was not misaligned, Hu Gualing finally picked up the fire tongs and carefully manipulated the molten iron, letting it flow extremely slowly from the edge of the channel, almost dropping down drop by drop into the gap between the layers of the yellow clay mold.

Fortunately, whether it is iron or steel, once these types of metals are heated into a liquid state, their heat absorption becomes very strong and they dissipate heat slowly, so taking it slow wouldn't cause any problems.

When he finally finished filling both brass knuckles molds with molten iron, Hu Gualing took advantage of the time while waiting for the iron to cool to forge arrowheads for Xiao Niao using the remaining scraps.

The wooden arrows Xiao Niao used for practice had high shaft integrity and showed no signs of wear, but the sharpness of the arrowheads had been worn down significantly. Even for practice, this would affect the feel and accuracy, which was why he thought of coming to the Blacksmith Shop.

Hu Gualing forged eight arrowheads from the remaining scraps, cut off the original arrowheads of the [Practice Wooden Arrows], and replaced them with the newly forged steel arrowheads, creating new arrows.

Although he wasn't very good at Forging arrowheads and hadn't learned this specific sub-skill, he simply forged and polished them according to the shape of the original wooden arrowheads.

However, perhaps because of the Materials used, the eight arrows assembled with the steel arrowheads he forged were all green in quality without exception, which was clearly quite good.

[wooden shaft steel arrow (Excellent Quality)]: Arrow, Attack 3-9, Durability 12/15.

Item Description: Arrows assembled from birch wood shafts and steel arrowheads. The cold glint on the arrowheads speaks of their sharpness. If used with a suitable longbow, the power will surely be considerable.

Xiao Niao took the bundle of arrows and looked at the attributes, his face beaming with joy.

Although they couldn't compare to the longsword Hu Gualing had forged before and had no special attributes, the maximum attack of 9 points alone was enough to match their green quality.

Besides, arrows aren't counted as separate weapons but are used in conjunction with a bow, so their power would definitely increase by a notch.

He just wondered how the damage values for the bow and arrows were calculated. It probably wouldn't be as simple as a basic addition, right?

Xiao Niao's thoughts wandered as he put the small bundle of arrows into his backpack. Looking at the mere one thousand copper coins in his backpack, his confidence suddenly faltered.

The Trading House had made a little money these past few days, especially with Hu Gualing's large-scale purchases, which barely allowed the Trading House's funds to escape their strained state.

However, considering that the Trading House's development still had a very long way to go, all the money earned was kept as operating capital and handed over to Head Manager Xie Dongdong for safekeeping. Xiao Niao didn't have much money on him; the one thousand copper coins in his backpack were from a Newbie Gift Pack.

Originally, according to the prices he knew, one thousand copper coins would be about enough to buy a small bundle of iron arrowheads.

He hadn't expected Hu Gualing to use steel as the raw material. While the resulting quality was good, the price... one thousand copper coins might be a bit insufficient.

But such good arrows had already been put into his backpack, so it was impossible to take them out again. At worst... he could exchange some fantasy points for silver to pay Gualing? Anyway, these fantasy points could be earned just by being online. Although he still owed a 15-fantasy point game qualification fee, by tomorrow or Acquired, he would surely be able to save up 15 points, so there was no need to worry too much...

Once Xiao Niao had thought it through and regained his confidence, he asked Hu Gualing for the price.

Who would have thought that after he had agonized over it for so long, Hu Gualing would just wave his hand dismissively and say they were made from scraps—recycling waste—and weren't worth much.

Seeing Gualing being so generous, Xiao Niao was naturally happy, but he also knew it wasn't right to take advantage of someone like this; otherwise, no matter how good their relationship was, friction might arise in the future.

"How about this, tomorrow, I'll transfer a sum of money to you?"

The reason Xiao Niao had such a thought was that he used to spend a lot of money on games—a typical pay-to-win player. Although life was tough while starting his business, his economic situation was still much better than that of the average working class. He still had the ability to spend twenty or thirty thousand on a game.

Hu Gualing, on the other hand, was a night security guard and likely wasn't well-off financially. Trading this way would be a fair deal for both.

But as soon as he asked, Xiao Niao regretted it because he realized that Gualing was no longer that night security guard from before, but a positive figure who had made the trending headlines. Not to mention the benefits fame would bring him, just because of his heroic act of saving a beauty this time, would the factory manager whose daughter he saved not give him a raise or promotion?

In other words, money was no longer that important to the current Gualing.

Sure enough, Hu Gualing waved his hand in refusal without much thought, "Forget it, forget it. I don't really need money right now. Besides, what's there to talk about money between us? Xiao Niao, you're really being too much of an outsider."

Xiao Niao was a bit speechless. He and Hu Gualing did indeed have a relationship. Although they had never even met before and only chatted online, their familiarity with each other was not necessarily worse than that between ordinary friends in reality. And now, the two of them had entered this mysterious game together, making this fate even more wonderful.

But to say that they could stop talking about money just because they had a good relationship went against his principles of conduct.

Just then.