59: Chapter 59 The Free Lunch of the Broken Army

Li Zhengyang flipped through two pages of the store before exiting.

He couldn't afford anything.

An Eighth-Rank Heavenly Origin Fruit costs twenty million, and an SS-Rank heavy shield costs ten million.

His pockets were emptier than his face right now; never mind twenty million, he would have to count on his fingers even for two thousand.

"Finished looking?"

Zhao Yi was waiting nearby.

"Finished."

Li Zhengyang closed the interface. "Let's go get my weapon first."

Zhao Yi led him toward the Equipment Department, his mouth not idle along the way.

"The equipment at the Pojun Division is indeed good, but it's also truly expensive. The things you saw in the store just now are basically exclusive items that can't be bought outside."

"The problem is, those old geezers in the Forging Group are more unscrupulous than the next. For weapons of the same grade, the internal price at the Pojun Division is thirty percent higher than on the black market."

Zhao Yi shook his head, his tone tinged with helplessness.

"But then again, there's a reason for the high price; the things they forge are truly tough."

"Last time I ran into a Seventh-Rank Crustacean Beast outside the wall, my blade didn't even chip after hacking at it dozens of times. If it had been A-Rank gear from outside, it would have been scrap after ten strikes."

Li Zhengyang listened without interjecting.

The forging room of the Equipment Department was on the west side of the base, a standalone building with outer walls made of a special high-temperature resistant alloy.

Before they even got close, they could hear the dull sound of hammering coming from inside.

The door was open.

Heat waves billowed inside, and several giant furnaces were in operation.

At a workstation near the entrance, a burly man with a bare chest was using tongs to hold a piece of glowing red alloy while hammering it.

The muscles on his arms were bulging with each strike, and sweat beads were flying all over the floor.

Zhao Yi walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Old Zheng, work's here."

The burly man didn't even look up, hammering even more vigorously.

"What grade of order?"

"New recruit free allowance."

The hammer stopped.

Old Zheng turned his head, tossed the tongs onto the workbench, and looked Li Zhengyang up and down.

His gaze shifted from eager to disappointed in an instant.

"Oh, free."

He wiped his hands on his apron and pursed his lips toward the warehouse inside.

"Pick whatever you want from the A-Rank shelf over there, just find Little Zhou to register when you're done."

After saying this, he turned around and continued hammering.

Zhao Yi patted Li Zhengyang's shoulder: "Go ahead, I'll wait for you outside."

Li Zhengyang walked into the warehouse.

The warehouse wasn't large and was several grades below the forging room outside.

The weapons on the shelves were arranged neatly, but their quality was uneven.

Some were clearly prototypes, while others were retired second-hand goods.

There were mostly blades and swords, with fewer other types of weapons.

Li Zhengyang walked over to the spear rack.

The first one was an alloy silver spear with a slender shaft. The label read: A-Rank Blazing Sun Spear, suitable for Martial King Rank Qi-Blood infusion.

He picked it up and weighed it; it was too light.

The second was a black gold heavy spear with a thick shaft. The label read: A-Rank Heavy Assault Spear, suitable for Martial King Rank high-intensity combat.

It was okay, but the feel wasn't right; the center of gravity was too far back, which would cause a loss of force during thrusts.

The third one.

Li Zhengyang's gaze fell on the shelf in the very corner.

That spear was different from the first two, half-buried behind a pile of clutter.

The shaft was dull gray and covered in a layer of dust, looking as if it had been forgotten for a long time.

He pushed aside the clutter in front and pulled the spear out.

The first sensation upon holding it was its weight.

It was even heavier than the dragon gall golden spear.

The shaft was entirely dark gray, without any decorative patterns, simple to the extreme.

The spearhead's design was very unique, an uncommon flat leaf-blade shape with a slight curve on both sides, the edge extremely thin.

Li Zhengyang turned the shaft over, looking for a label.

None.

There was no label on the shaft indicating its grade.

He looked at the end of the spear.

It was clean; there was nothing.

"Old Zheng!"

Li Zhengyang called out loudly.

The hammering outside stopped, and Old Zheng's head poked in from the doorway.

"Picked one?"

"What grade is this spear?"

Old Zheng took a look at what was in his hand, and his brows furrowed.

He put down his hammer and walked into the warehouse, taking the gray spear from Li Zhengyang's hand and examining it over and over for a long time.

"This thing..."

Old Zheng placed the gray spear on the workbench, took a cloth to wipe the dust off the surface, and leaned in to inspect the seams on the shaft.

"I remember now."

"This is Old Xu's stuff."

"Old Xu?"

"Xu Zhushan."

Old Zheng straightened up, his eyes filled with a hint of melancholy as he looked at the spear.

"An old master forger for the Pojun Division, he died outside the wall ten years ago."

He touched the seam of the shaft with his hand.

"This was his final piece, unfinished. I heard he was halfway through forging it when he received an emergency support mission outside the wall, saying he'd finish it when he got back, but he never returned."

Old Zheng laid the spear horizontally on the workbench and patted the end of the shaft.

"According to his design blueprints, this thing would be at least S-Rank once completed, but for now, it's just a semi-finished product."

"If you really want it, just take it; nobody touches it sitting here anyway."

Li Zhengyang didn't speak immediately.

He reached out and gripped the spear again.

The moment it was in his hand.

[Incomplete weapon detected: dragon tooth spear (Semi-finished)] [Quality Assessment: Currently A-Rank (Unfinished state)] [Full Quality: SS-Rank] [System can perform restoration forging] [Required Consumption: 5,000,000 great xia currency]

Li Zhengyang stared at these lines of text.

An A-Rank spear, upgradable to SS-Rank.

And the system could restore it directly, no need to find a forger, no need for materials.

Five million, a huge bargain.

On the market, an SS-Rank weapon costs at least tens of millions; being able to get an SS-Rank weapon for five million is a massive profit.

"This is the one."

Li Zhengyang slung the spear onto his back.

Old Zheng glanced at him, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

"Are you sure? This is just a semi-finished product."

"Sure."

"Suit yourself."

Old Zheng shook his head and turned back to continue hammering his iron.

"Little Zhou, register it for him, one spear, serial number... forget it, no serial number, just write 'Xu Zhushan's Legacy'."

Little Zhou in the corner looked up and acknowledged, scribbling a few lines on the form.

Li Zhengyang took the spear and walked out.

Zhao Yi was leaning against the doorway waiting, and when he saw the dull gray spear on his back, he was taken aback.

"You picked that one?"

"Yeah."

"That one is a semi-finished product."

"I know."

Zhao Yi opened his mouth, wanting to offer some advice, but seeing Li Zhengyang's expression, he swallowed his words.

Forget it, Venerable Lei said this guy is a Martial Emperor; a Martial Emperor Rank person naturally has their own considerations when choosing a weapon.

"Fine then, let's go, I'll take you to your accommodation."

Zhao Yi led him through a path next to the training ground, walking to a row of independent villas on the east side of the base.

"The treatment at the Pojun Division isn't bad; those at the Martial Emperor Rank and above all get their own villas."

Zhao Yi pointed to the third one.

"This one is yours. It has everything inside; if you need anything, tell logistics."

Li Zhengyang pushed the door open and went in.

The villa wasn't big, a small two-story building with a small courtyard in front.

The furnishings inside were simple, but everything necessary was there.

"Tomorrow morning at seven, meet at the Command Center."

Zhao Yi stood at the doorway.

"For your first mission outside the wall, there will be veterans to guide you. Get some good rest tonight."

"Captain Zhao."

"Hm?"

"How often are the mission bonuses for the Pojun Division settled?"

The corner of Zhao Yi's mouth twitched.

"...Settled upon return."

"Good."

After Zhao Yi left, Li Zhengyang got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Hot water poured down from above, and the patterns on his body shimmered slightly in the steam.

A Martial Emperor Rank body doesn't need to rest for too long, but his brain needed to clear its thoughts.

After showering, he rummaged through the storage cabinet and found a clean set of black combat gear to change into.

Then he lay on the bed and closed his eyes.

He went through tomorrow's plan in his head.

Go outside the wall, kill magical beasts, make money, restore the weapon, kill again, earn again.

A loop.

Not complicated.

As for what the scene was really like behind that hundred-meter-high wall, and how troublesome those Sixth and Seventh-Rank magical beasts were, he would know tomorrow.

Li Zhengyang turned over, and a few minutes later his breathing became steady.

He was asleep.

The tactical watch on his wrist was still lit up. On the holographic panel, the status bar for number 1001 displayed:

[Resting] [Tomorrow's Mission: First sortie outside the wall] [Note: Please carry sufficient storage equipment; excess loot weight will affect retreat speed.]