Chapter 148 A Shakedown and Handling the Bone Club

"Some boutique shop! Look at the quality of the gear coming out of your store!"

"I bought this leather armor less than three months ago. I've barely been to the Misty Forest a handful of times, and it's already torn to shreds."

"You're giving me an answer today!"

Carrying a newly bought bottle of Rockheart Dark Beer, Xia Nan hadn't even stepped into the shop when he heard a string of harsh reprimands ringing out from inside Rockhammer.

From the sound of it, the smithy's quality control had slipped, leaving some adventurer with defective gear who was now demanding an explanation.

Xia Nan found it strange.

He had been in Rivervale Town for a while now and was a regular at Rockhammer himself; almost all the gear he wore had been bought here.

Naturally, he knew the shop's quality.

As the tavern drunks liked to say:

"The only problem with Rockhammer is the price."

Over the years, under the dedicated management of its owner, Barn, Rockhammer had become the town's acknowledged premier smithy.

It was even listed in the Adventure Manual with an excellent reputation and rarely a bad review.

Even when people occasionally grumbled in the tavern, it was never about quality.

And from what Xia Nan knew of Barn, the man was certainly not an unscrupulous merchant who would throw away his conscience for money. He would never intentionally sell defective goods to cheat a customer.

Take the Decapitating Longsword on Xia Nan's back. Its material was Gray Steel from Flameforge Peak, which was quite expensive.

Yet over a flaw during forging so microscopic it wasn't even certain to affect the weapon's quality, Barn had tossed it onto the scrap pile to await re-smelting.

That was the only reason Xia Nan, who had been short on cash at the time, had been able to pick it up cheap.

On the other hand, at least to Xia Nan's ears, those grating shouts lacked the grief and pain he would expect—the grief of someone who had saved up for a long time, picked out a fine piece of gear in the smithy, and discovered it was defective, feeling cheated, their blood and sweat wasted, wanting to kill the shopkeeper.

Instead, the tone sounded slightly mocking, deliberately raised so passersby on the street outside could hear.

With a bit of curiosity and a mild desire to watch the drama unfold, Xia Nan didn't hang back and walked straight into the shop.

He saw an adventurer in crude gear facing Rockhammer's owner, Barn.

"Customer, could you be mistaken?"

"Our shop has never sold leather armor of this style, and the tanning on this cowhide isn't my usual technique at all."

"If you don't mind, perhaps you could let me take a look, and maybe—"

Before he could finish, the shifty-eyed middle-aged adventurer in front of Barn shrank back as if triggered.

He hid the leather armor behind his back and thrust out his chin, threatening with false bravado: "I'm warning you, don't get handsy!"

"Without a hundred gold today, this isn't over!"

"You wouldn't want word getting out that your shop sells defective goods—"

Halfway through the sentence, Barn, whose tone had been sincere and friendly, seemed to confirm something from the man's words and behavior.

He suddenly sighed.

Straightening up, he let the shadow of his burly frame fall over the man.

"You're new, aren't you? How long have you been in Rivervale Town?"

"How did you kn—" The middle-aged adventurer paused, then violently reacted. "Don't change the subject! I—"

Bang!

An arm as thick as a man's thigh cut through the air with a sharp crack, and a massive fist large enough to cover the man's face swung out in a rush of wind.

It looked ready to smash into his cheek, but in the split second before the knuckles touched his nose, the force was suddenly pulled back.

In the gust that followed, the man's pupils shrank and his face went instantly pale.

"Get out."

"Ah... ah!"

The middle-aged adventurer stumbled back two steps, his legs giving out as he hit the floor.

Perhaps the shock of that punch was too great; he didn't even dare leave a threat. Scrambling on all fours, he scrambled to his feet and fled for the door.

In his haste, he didn't watch where he was going and ran straight into Xia Nan standing at the entrance.

It was like hitting an unyielding iron wall. The man cried out in pain and slumped back onto the floor.

Rubbing his sore, numb nose after the head-on collision with iron armor, his eyes widened and his lips parted to speak.

Then his gaze caught the Iron-Gray Greatsword strapped to the man's back.

His expression changed sharply.

Swallowing the words that had reached his throat, he kept his head down, stayed low, slipped past Xia Nan, and bolted out the door.

Glancing at the figure rapidly disappearing down the street, Xia Nan looked away, not taking it to heart.

"Here to pick a fight?" he teased Barn with a smile.

After many visits over several months, the two had grown closer and could be called friends.

Seeing that it was Xia Nan, Barn gave a helpless smile and shook his head.

"Don't mind him."

"This happens a few times a year. I'm used to it."

Unlike mage apprentices in magic academies or students and teachers in city schools, the adventurer trade had almost no barrier to entry.

In theory, you could wear pajamas, carry a kitchen knife, walk two laps on the grass at the edge of the forest, and come back calling yourself an adventurer.

And because rumors of high pay were so widespread, the bottom tier of adventurers who hadn't yet been weeded out by monsters was a motley mix of fish and dragons, good and bad intermingled.

You could find all kinds.

As the owner of the town's most famous smithy, Barn had to deal with a great many customers every day.

Under those circumstances, meeting the occasional oddball was normal.

For that matter, this was Rivervale Town.

In a dwarven gathering place like Flint Bridge Town or Mute Iron Keep, faced with slander about their gear's quality, his loud-mouthed brothers and sisters—whose tempers burned hotter than a forge—would never have let the man leave the shop with all four limbs intact.

At the thought, Barn realized that after so many years in town, his own temper had been smoothed out quite a bit.

If he were still his younger self...

"Never mind." He pulled a rag from his waist and wiped the counter twice. "Haven't seen you in a while. How is it going? The Hunting Day—"

Barn got out only half a sentence before closing his mouth.

Sensing something, he frowned tightly, his eyes scanning up and down Xia Nan's body.

"Did you... actually become a Class Holder?"

He had heard the rumors about Greysword before, but he had assumed they were exaggerated gossip.

Now, with Xia Nan standing before him, he genuinely felt the same presence as his veteran adventurer regulars.

"Just good luck."

Xia Nan nodded, not hiding that he had gained a Class Level.

"A small problem came up on the mission, so I need to trouble you to look at these two pieces of armor."

The surprise over Xia Nan's advancement still lingered on Barn's face, but hearing this, his expression turned strangely familiar.

"Damaged again?"

"Yeah."

Looking at the two pieces of armor Xia Nan handed over, which clearly showed surface damage, Barn briefly wondered if there really was a problem with his smithing.

Sensing what the man was thinking, Xia Nan placed the Rockheart Dark Beer he had just bought at the White Titmouse onto the counter.

A little bit of worldly wisdom and social tact.

"The armor is excellent. It helped me immensely in battle."

"As for the damage... it has nothing to do with the quality of the gear."

Barn had only been surprised by how often Xia Nan's gear broke; he had no other doubts.

Seeing Xia Nan's gesture, his friendly attitude grew even warmer.

He took the dark beer, bent down, and tucked it inside the counter.

Not drinking during work hours was his habit.

Then he helped inspect the extent of the damage.

His fingertips rubbed against the iron rings on the Chainmail Shirt, his gaze carefully tracing a few imperceptible details.

He frowned again.

"What is it? Can it be repaired, or do I need a replacement?" Xia Nan asked, scratching his head at the blacksmith's expression.

"You should know that chainmail remains enduringly popular among adventurers because of its structure of interlocking metal rings. Even if part of it is damaged in battle, without considering other aspects of durability, you can repair it quickly just by replacing the iron rings in those spots," Barn explained, holding the chainmail up by both sides and spreading it out to inspect it closely.

"I don't mean to pry, but while this chainmail only looks heavily damaged near the chest, the rest of it—especially where the rings join—has been corroded by some kind of power."

"If you doubt it, you can take it to other smithies in town and ask. I'm sure most of them will give you the same conclusion."

Hearing this, Xia Nan recalled the dark red energy aura that had radiated from the Bugbear's bone club during their fight.

That was likely the cause.

"So it can't be repaired, right?"

"If you want to ensure its defensive strength, repairing it really..."

"Then replace it with a new one for me," Xia Nan said with a wave of his hand.

He trusted that Barn wouldn't ruin years of hard-won reputation for a bit of money.

Following his usual habit, he had come prepared to replace everything.

A total cost under one hundred gold was something he could easily shoulder, given his current savings of seven hundred and fifty-six gold.

Surprisingly, perhaps because the Chainmail Shirt had absorbed most of the energy impact, the studded leather armor worn underneath hadn't been affected much by the corrosion.

It needed only a simple repair to go back into service.

That saved Xia Nan 45 gold.

He was about to pick out another piece of outer armor when he saw Barn's gaze sweep over his hand from behind the counter.

Pointing at the Arm Shield on Xia Nan's left arm, Barn asked, "You've used that for a while now. How is it?"

"Of course," Xia Nan said, gently running a hand over the dark surface of the Snake-Scale Arm Shield and feeling the cool touch under his fingertips. "Great craftsmanship. Very reliable gear."

Hearing that, Barn laughed out loud.

In his heart, though, he knew he had only done the fitting work; ninety-nine percent of the Arm Shield's defense came from that scale whose origin he couldn't figure out.

"Now that you're a Class Holder, you should get a piece or two of enchanted gear."

"This scale is extremely strong, more than enough to serve as the primary material for gear, and it will save you a lot of money."

Xia Nan nodded in agreement, though he didn't feel particularly excited.

The gold coins he had were fine for daily living and simple gear replacements.

When it came to Magic Equipment, however, they were a drop in the bucket.

His current situation didn't require him to go broke or take on debt for high-tier gear.

Saving up gradually and leaving himself plenty of room for error was enough; there was no need to rush.

As for Barn's advice to acquire enchanted gear...

With his Attribute Panel golden finger, that was the one thing he didn't lack.

The Deathline ring, the Green Pine wooden sword, the Fate Coin...

Even his Decapitating Longsword, while categorized as ordinary gear, possessed built-in attribute modifiers for durability and decapitation damage, making it practically equivalent to an enchanted weapon.

Xia Nan doubted there was another level-one Class Holder in all of Rivervale Town carrying as many magical items as he was.

Seeing that the shop was quiet, Xia Nan pulled out the Pale Bone Club taken from the Red-Maned Bugbear and set it on the counter.

"I also have this. Could you appraise it for me?"

"Sure, let me take a look," Barn said, taking it with both hands and examining it carefully.

If an ordinary adventurer had brought in a random bone, Barn wouldn't have given it a second look.

Thanks to tall tales spun by roving bards, starry-eyed greenhorns were always picking up odd bones or rusted iron in the forest, convincing themselves they had found dragon bones or relic fragments.

Xia Nan was different.

He was an established regular and a Class Holder, and after seeing that serpent scale before, Barn trusted that the young man had a decent eye for materials.

Barn tested the weight of the bone in his palms, then tapped it lightly with his knuckles, listening closely to the crisp, dense ring that echoed back.

His eyebrows raised in surprise.

Just as he thought!

"I can't tell what beast this came from just by looking, but judging by its density and hardness, this definitely isn't from any ordinary animal."

Barn looked up at Xia Nan. "What do you want to do with it? Sell it outright, or have it crafted into gear?"

Before Xia Nan could answer, Barn's eyes drifted down to the temporary Snake-Scale Arm Shield on the young man's left arm.

"Wait!"

"I have an idea."