Chapter 104 Scrapped

Clang!

A metal forging hammer flashed in the firelight and crashed down onto the anvil.

Sparks burst outward.

The red-hot iron billet hissed beneath the heat.

With each heavy strike, the metal compressed and changed shape. Its loose internal structure gradually became denser, tougher, more resilient under the steady rhythm of the hammer.

“Stop!”

A displeased voice cut through the room.

Barn stood nearby.

A “dwarf.”

At least technically.

With knotted muscles, a towering frame, and a build that looked two sizes larger than an average bugbear, there was very little about him that matched Xia Nan’s old image of a dwarf.

Barn folded his thick arms across his chest.

Veins stood out beneath his skin.

His bulging arm muscles pressed against his chest, radiating sheer physical power even while he stood still.

His brows were tightly furrowed.

Most adventurers who visited Rockhammer had probably never seen him look this serious.

“Wrong again!”

“How many times have I told you to watch the rhythm? Feel the pulse between the steel!”

“And keep your breathing steady!”

A young man stood in front of him.

His features resembled Barn’s, but his face was noticeably softer and more youthful.

He lowered the forging hammer and bowed his head slightly.

He did not argue.

“People in our profession have to put their hearts into the work!”

Barn’s frustration was obvious.

“Then put their hearts into it again!”

“You control the quality. You make every part as close to perfect as you can.”

He grabbed the still-glowing billet with a pair of tongs and plunged it into water.

Steam rose.

The metal cooled rapidly.

Barn pulled it out and tossed it onto the scrap pile.

“Every second you lose focus while forging is an act of disrespect toward the [Soul Forger].”

“Every mistake can cost a life that should have survived.”

“And any laziness or carelessness could get us thrown out of this shop. If that happens, even begging in the street won’t save us from being looked down on.”

“You…”

His scolding came down like a storm.

Then the front door of the shop opened.

A customer’s puzzled call drifted in from outside.

Barn’s chest rose and fell.

Whatever anger or frustration had been building inside him made his breathing heavier than usual.

“Continue. Don’t stop!”

With that, he turned and headed toward the front of the blacksmith shop.

The oppressive atmosphere in the room slowly eased.

A long silence followed.

Then came an almost inaudible sigh.

Clang!

The hammer resumed its steady rhythm.

…

…

Xia Nan stood at the counter of the Rockhammer blacksmith shop and watched Barn hurry out from the inner room.

He could not help feeling puzzled.

First Farlio at Fey Wind.

Now Barn.

Why did everyone seem too busy to watch their own shops today?

Was there some special occasion he had missed?

“Sorry, sorry.”

The heat of the forge had left sweat on Barn’s rugged face.

Even his usual smile looked less natural than normal.

Xia Nan did not pry.

Instead, he handed over the two pieces of armor he had already removed.

“Take a look. Can they be repaired?”

One was the light plate armor that once belonged to Ingram, the former sheriff of Kalanfor.

Xia Nan had worn it as his outermost layer.

The other was the chain shirt he bought from Rockhammer for fifty gold.

During his battle with the spined devil, both pieces had been pierced by a flaming bone spike.

Thankfully, the double layer of armor had done its job.

It weakened the spike enough that the actual wound Xia Nan suffered was far less severe than it could have been.

Without that protection, even the half bottle of healing potion he had left might not have restored his combat ability quickly enough.

And if he had not recovered his ability to fight…

There would have been no final breakthrough.

No complete mastery of the combat technique.

No dead spined devil.

Armor was an adventurer’s second life.

Repairable or not, Xia Nan needed to know what he was dealing with as soon as possible.

Barn accepted the two pieces of armor with both hands.

Then he looked at Xia Nan.

His expression became strange.

For a moment, he seemed unsure what to say.

Rockhammer was one of Rivervale Town’s most reputable equipment shops.

It had even earned a place in the [Adventurer’s Handbook].

Plenty of adventurers came through every day.

Translated by Bcatranslations. Read it at bcatranslation.com

New faces were everywhere.

No matter how good Barn’s memory was, he could not possibly match every name to every face.

Usually, he only remembered longtime customers or adventurers who had already gained class levels.

Under normal circumstances, Xia Nan should have been nothing more than vaguely familiar.

Barn should never have remembered his name.

And yet the instant Xia Nan’s sharp-featured face appeared in front of him, Barn recognized him.

Xia Nan.

As for why…

Barn’s gaze traveled over the damage on the armor in his hands.

He understood better than anyone how quickly adventurers went through equipment.

The Misty Forest was saturated with magical particles that accelerated the deterioration of common materials.

Then there were the monsters.

Constant battles.

Constant damage.

That enormous demand was exactly why so many blacksmith shops could survive in Rivervale Town.

Even so…

Xia Nan’s equipment replacement speed was absurd.

From the wear marks and details on the armor, Barn could roughly estimate how much fighting it had seen.

One battle?

Two?

At most three.

Which meant Xia Nan had reached the point where he practically returned from every mission needing either a major repair or a complete replacement.

In a way, Barn’s old joke had somehow become legitimate advice.

“Since you’ll be buying new equipment every time you come back, save yourself the effort and stop maintaining it. Just replace everything after each mission.”

And that was not even the strangest part.

Armor breaking was normal.

Xia Nan’s armor never broke the same way twice.

The leather armor he bought on his first visit looked like it had been trampled by a forest elephant.

The padding inside had practically shattered.

Its remains were still somewhere in Barn’s scrap pile.

Then came the chain shirt.

That one looked as though someone had roasted it over a bonfire several times.

Even the fasteners beneath the outer covering had melted.

Barn had spent half a day hammering it back into shape.

Now, after blunt-force damage and fire damage, Xia Nan had somehow added piercing damage to the collection.

Barn genuinely could not tell whether the kid was just absurdly lucky…

Or actually capable.

There were holes through both layers of armor large enough to see pedestrians walking on the opposite side of the street.

And Xia Nan was still standing here.

Completely alive.

[He’s not even a class holder. Ordinary adventurers hack at goblins and catch a few gray rats. Where does this kid keep finding all these bizarre attacks?]

Barn muttered inwardly, but his inspection remained meticulous.

His eyes moved over every inch of both pieces.

Compared with squeezing another dozen gold coins out of a customer, Rockhammer’s reputation mattered far more.

So Barn gave his honest judgment.

“The chain shirt has already gone through one major repair. Its defensive ability didn’t drop much, but its durability took a serious hit.”

“Now it’s suffered another penetrating wound…”

He shook his head.

“I recommend scrapping it.”

Xia Nan’s heart sank.

Barn moved on to the plate armor.

“This light plate armor is in better shape. It has a large hole too, but the internal structure is barely intact.”

“It can be repaired.”

“But it won’t be cheap, and I can’t guarantee its defensive strength afterward.”

Barn looked up.

“What do you think?”