Chapter 325 Armor Orders and Financial Pressure

"A devil?"

Barn's expression faltered at the keyword in Xia Nan's sentence.

His gaze instinctively shifted from the bundle on the floor to the black-haired young man, who stood there wearing nothing but a shirt.

"No wonder..."

No wonder his armor was completely scrapped and his weapon damaged after this trip.

Yet Barn remembered their first meeting last year. Back then, the guy had been a destitute adventurer who couldn't even afford basic gear. How much time had really passed? He was already fighting devils in earnest?

Barn marveled at the young man's rapid growth, but his professional ethics kept his curiosity in check. He didn't pry.

After a questioning glance and a nod of permission from Xia Nan, he leaned over, pulled a steel pitchfork from the bundle, and examined it closely.

As a professional blacksmith from a Dwarven Clan who had run a shop in this frontline adventurer town for years, his experience was vast. He had handled his fair share of weapons and gear stripped from the devils of Purgatory.

Barn knew the exact characteristics of this Purgatory equipment and exactly how to process it to extract its maximum value.

His fingertips, toughened and calloused by forge fires, traced lightly along the cold, gleaming metal of the pitchfork, drawing a faint rasp in the quiet room.

He began explaining the specifics of these weapons from the Baator Nine Hells to Xia Nan.

"The second layer of Purgatory, Dis, boasts some of the richest mineral veins in the entire multiverse. If you claimed just a single peak from those endless mountain ranges, the ore hidden within would make you one of the wealthiest men alive."

"It's barely an exaggeration to say you wouldn't even need a survey or a specific spot. Just walk over with a shovel, dig twice into the dirt, and you'd likely strike ore."

A look of yearning washed over Barn's face as he spoke.

For a dwarven blacksmith who lived and breathed forging and ore, a geographical marvel like that held the same allure as a lush oasis to a man dying in the desert.

"Of course, the quality of the ore from those infernal mountains varies. It isn't all suited for high-tier enchanted gear. If some of it appeared here in the Material Plane, it would be considered such low-grade trash that it wouldn't even be worth the effort to mine."

"But for Dis, that isn't a problem..."

The contrast was jarring to even think about.

Here in the Material Plane, commoners in remote regions still scratched a meager living from barren soil. They struggled to feed themselves and considered hitching a ride on a merchant's mule cart a luxury for travel.

Meanwhile, Dis already boasted a semi-complete industrial system. Massive factories and workshops lined practically every street.

A chunk of ore followed a strict, standardized process from mining and transport to smelting, forging, and eventual sale.

They couldn't compete with master craftsmen when it came to high-end gear—the kind of work that took years of meticulous, hammer-by-hammer manual labor.

But when it came to sheer production volume and the baseline quality of low-tier equipment, they vastly outstripped almost every nation in the Material Plane.

Take the steel pitchfork currently in Barn's hands. It certainly wasn't a masterpiece.

An Imp was the absolute lowest rung of infernal cannon fodder; naturally, their weapons were absolute garbage.

Yet the inherent durability of this pitchfork still far surpassed any hoe or shovel wielded by a farmer, and even outclassed the primary weapons of some bottom-tier adventurers.

"You looted these four pitchforks from Imps, didn't you?"

Xia Nan nodded.

"You might not know this, but the ore used to forge this standard-issue gear for low-tier devils is incredibly poor quality."

"The only reason they have this much structural strength is because of the specialized processing in those infernal factories."

"A destitute adventurer who couldn't afford proper gear—and who knew how to wield a pitchfork—might keep these to use."

"But for you? They're completely useless."

"I could melt them down and reforge them, sure. But like I said, the base material is thoroughly mediocre. Even if I personally reforged them, the best I could do is match the durability of the original pitchfork. The time and effort required... you'd be better off just paying for standard materials and a normal forging process."

"It's a thankless endeavor all around."

Barn always grew intensely focused when discussing his craft. His intricately braided beard swung back and forth across his chest as his deep, resonant voice echoed through the shop.

"So my advice is to just sell these four Imp pitchforks as raw loot. Don't waste time or energy trying to get them processed."

Xia Nan had zero forging experience, but his outstanding Perception as an adventurer allowed him to vaguely sense the material limits of the Imp pitchforks.

If they ever clashed with the [Ember Fall] sword in his hands, they would snap in half on the spot.

Hearing Barn confirm it gave him peace of mind.

He nodded slightly.

"I'll follow your advice. We'll just sell them."

"But what about this Barbed Devil Longblade? It feels pretty sturdy to me. Is there a better way to handle it?"

Xia Nan wasn't about to ignore the weapon that had successfully hacked a chip out of his transitional two-handed sword.

The veteran blacksmith, having worked with him many times before, had a ready answer.

"Of course!"

"A Barbed Devil might not rank very high in the infernal hierarchy, but their combat style and humanoid build mean they're usually issued decent weapons."

"This poleblade is forged from infernal metal as well. It's a shame about the shaft, though. It's metal too, but the quality is atrocious—practically the same grade as those Imp pitchforks."

"The only salvageable part is the blade itself."

Barn paused mid-sentence, his gaze darting to the [Ember Fall] straight sword resting on the table behind him.

"When I say salvageable, I mean it has uses, but if we forged a weapon out of it, it wouldn't hold a candle to that straight sword of yours."

"Personally, I suggest..."

Barn suddenly hesitated.

His impression of Xia Nan had grown increasingly complicated with every collaboration.

—A young adventurer with phenomenal talent and outstanding combat prowess.

That was the baseline.

Rising from a bottom-tier adventurer to one who could drop three thousand gold coins on a custom main weapon in just over a year was proof enough of his meteoric growth.

As for his "outstanding combat prowess," his growing reputation around town as "Greysword" was only half the proof. The other half was the sheer volume of armor he burned through, treating defensive gear like disposable consumables.

Barn had forged every single piece himself; he knew exactly how resilient they were.

Under normal circumstances, even intense combat would only inflict wear and tear that he could easily repair in the shop.

Yet based on Xia Nan's stories and the few mangled scraps he actually managed to bring back, his armor was always ruined beyond salvation. They were reduced to chunks of scrap iron, utterly beyond repair.

Initially, Barn had merely been stunned by how quickly Xia Nan destroyed his gear.

But as Xia Nan kept showing up at his counter time and again, ordering replacement after replacement with a perfectly intact body...

Barn had finally realized something—

The armor was constantly being pulverized, but how was Xia Nan himself perfectly fine?

He hadn't ever seen him take a severe injury. At worst, he sported a few light bandages—a jarring contrast to his astronomical armor mortality rate.

In a way, it was why Barn had grown increasingly fixated on how often Xia Nan destroyed his gear.

Now, as Xia Nan handed him the Barbed Devil Longblade and asked for his professional opinion...

His views on Xia Nan influenced his thoughts.

The blade wasn't particularly long. It was broad and thick, but it didn't possess nearly enough raw volume to forge a half-plate.

If Barn wanted to save himself some effort, he could simply suggest melting the blade down into a spare Short Dagger, or maybe some armguards or bracers.

Given the black-haired youth's trust in his expertise, Xia Nan would undoubtedly agree.

Of course, his professional pride wouldn't allow him to cut corners on the forging itself.

It would just be a simpler project, perfectly reasonable and mutually beneficial.

Yet the dwarven blacksmith found his thoughts running in a different direction.

From the perspective of a shop owner and businessman, Barn naturally wanted as many customers like Xia Nan as possible.

A client who needed to buy brand-new, high-tier armor every few missions generated hundreds of gold coins in profit every month. Who wouldn't love a customer like that?

But from the perspective of a dedicated artisan who dreamed of becoming a grandmaster blacksmith?

Having his creations obliterated at such an absurd frequency was a heavy blow to his pride.

This couldn't go on!

A resolute gleam flashed through Barn's eyes.

He swallowed the suggestion to forge bracers just as it reached his lips.

"Armor," he suggested, looking right at Xia Nan. "We'll use this blade as the main material for the vital spots and build a new suit of armor out of it."

Without a doubt, this was a thankless choice on Barn's part.

Forging a custom piece of armor from the salvaged blade required far more mental energy than hammering out bracers or a spare dagger. He would have to design the armor, figure out how to integrate the blade material, and source the proper auxiliary materials to bind it all together.

He might make slightly more profit off the final price, but it wouldn't come close to covering the sheer amount of time and labor he was investing.

He wouldn't exactly be operating at a loss, but he wouldn't be far from it either.

Yet for the sake of his own obsession, Barn still firmly offered this proposal.

"Oh? Armor?"

Completely unaware of the intense internal debate the blacksmith had just waged in a single breath, Xia Nan only saw the burly man hesitate for a second before giving his advice.

He had no objections.

As the one wearing the gear, he obviously wanted something more durable to save himself some coin in the long run.

And armor suited his current needs much better than the bracers and daggers Barn had secretly elected not to mention.

But...

"With just a single blade to work with, won't forging a whole suit of armor be a stretch?"

Xia Nan asked, glancing at the Barbed Devil Longblade in Barn's hands.

"It's definitely not enough material on its own!" Barn replied, stroking the metal thoughtfully. "But there are ways around that."

"It's like the Plate-Chain Composite Armor you bought before. The suit doesn't need to be a single, solid mold. We reinforce your vital points with this high-grade metal, and link the rest of it together with sturdy, slightly lower-grade materials."

Of course, this also meant Barn would have to custom-design the entire structural layout from scratch, rather than relying on a standard template from his shop shelves.

Catching the subtle implication in the blacksmith's words, Xia Nan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"How much will this cost?"

After all, he was currently so broke that he wouldn't even be able to pay off the remaining balance for the [Ember Fall] straight sword until the Association handed out his quest rewards in a few days.

If another massive expense hit him right now, he wouldn't even be able to afford a bowl of creamy mushroom soup.

Thankfully, Barn's response was a relief.

The blacksmith patted the blade and cracked a smile, explaining:

"Relax. The material grade of this Barbed Devil Longblade isn't nearly as high as those silver ingots you brought me before, so it won't require exorbitant auxiliary materials like Solar Grain Iron Plating Powder."

"Because the blade is small, we'll just need to pad it out with more standard metal auxiliary materials."

"Forging the complete suit shouldn't cost you much more than that set of leg armor you're wearing right now."

"Probably around... five or six hundred gold?"

Xia Nan breathed a sigh of relief.

The good news was that this expedition's loot would cover [Ember Fall]'s remaining balance with enough left over to replenish his empty wallet.

The bad news was that this new armor order was going to instantly drain those recovered savings dry again.

It was highly likely he would be plunging right back into debt.

Money! He needed more money!

His only short-term goal right now was making gold.

If he wasn't careful and ended up unable to afford his food and lodging at the tavern, he'd be in real trouble.

Forging a custom suit of armor would take a considerable amount of time. Since his pockets were empty, Xia Nan couldn't just sit around in town waiting. He would have to use this time to pick up some low-risk quests and farm some pocket change.

After confirming the order, letting Barn take his measurements, and hashing out a few details for the forging process, he prepared to depart.

He spent another 50 gold coins on a set of Fine Chainmail to use as transitional gear, and then took his leave.

"Creak..."

The wooden door shut behind him, the stiff hinges grinding together.

The [Ember Fall] straight sword was slung across his back, taking the place of his old Decapitating Longsword and returning Xia Nan to his "dual-sword form."

He had barely been back long enough to catch his breath, and the heavy pressure of debt was already crushing down on him again. It made him irritable.

Plus, he had a brand-new sword, and his hands were itching to test it out.

"I've been under a lot of stress lately..."

"Well, I guess the goblins will just have to suffer for it."