Chapter 84: This Bankrupting Profession is Bleeding Me Dry

Wang Dachui rubbed his hands together, the thick calluses he’d developed from years of forging iron making a loud rasping sound. Embarrassed, he tried to decline, “This won’t do, it’s too generous of you!”

Huang Yunshuo waved it off with ease. “It’s settled then, Brother Wang. How about this? You take a look at these two blueprints and get familiar with them. When I bring the materials, you can help me forge the equipment.”

As he spoke, Huang Yunshuo jotted down the materials needed for the alloy armor and the propulsion unit, then left the blueprints with Wang Dachui for the time being.

Wang Dachui’s spirits soared. Forging high-level equipment was demanding, but it was crucial for honing his craft. Not only had Huang Yunshuo brought him flawless Eternal Crystal fragments, but he also entrusted him with the challenge of crafting intricate, high-end gear. Wang resolved to find a way to show his gratitude to this young man.

After leaving the blacksmith shop, Huang Yunshuo first bought eighty-one low-grade Eternal Crystal fragments, then began searching for the materials required for the alloy armor. Fortunately, the SkyNet’s universal shop had just opened—otherwise, he’d have had no idea how to collect these materials.

“Cloud-patterned stone, Windflow stone, and Memory metal. What on earth are these?” he muttered. He spent a total of nineteen thousand copper coins buying every material except those three. With only ninety-five hundred coins left, he realized he couldn’t find those last three items anywhere.

Utterly exasperated, he thought, “Just great. I was even hoping to have the propulsion unit forged as well, but looking at these material prices, I was far too naive.”

“Memory metal is a top-tier rare material used extensively in the real world’s military—how could it appear in-game too? This is absurd! I can’t even imagine what monster would drop something like that. Maybe a mech?”

“At this stage, players can barely survive fighting a rabbit, let alone a mech…”

Frowning, Huang Yunshuo returned to the blacksmith shop. First, he handed the flawless Eternal Crystal to Wang Dachui and watched as the man, visibly excited, began setting it in the furnace.

Huang Yunshuo settled into a chair, ignoring the curious stares and whispered comments from the other waiting players, and traced the intricate cooling matrix etched into his rocket launcher. The looping patterns beneath his fingertips only made his anxiety worse.

The universal shop was open to all players worldwide, with untold numbers trading items, yet he still couldn’t find those materials. Was it possible he wouldn’t be able to create the alloy armor today?

He’d already checked the system’s materials shop, but it was equally fruitless.

“So, have you got all the materials together?” Wang Dachui asked. “I’ve looked at your blueprints—the propulsion unit is pretty tricky, about a sixty percent success rate. As for the alloy armor, thanks to the two Eternal Crystals, I can get the success rate up to eighty percent!”

Whenever Wang Dachui got excited, his bare arms would flex instinctively, the biceps thicker than most men’s waists making the other players in the shop wince.

“I’m still missing these three.” Huang Yunshuo recited the names of the materials.

Wang Dachui burst out laughing. “Is that all? I’ve got Cloud-patterned stone and Windflow stone right here!”

With a gesture for patience, he lumbered off and brought back two finely crafted small boxes. Their exquisite workmanship suggested a hefty price tag. When they were opened, Huang Yunshuo saw two unusual stones resting inside.

True to its name, the Cloud-patterned stone was a soft-hued white, streaked with delicate bands. It felt strangely alternately soft and hard in the hand, an indescribable oddity. The Windflow stone was slick and slippery, so much so that even gripping it firmly, it seemed liable to slide away at any moment; only by holding it with both hands could one keep it from falling.

These two stones were clearly worth a fortune. Huang Yunshuo couldn’t help but worry if his meager balance of ninety-five hundred copper coins would be enough to buy them.

“Damn it, why does this profession burn through so much money?” The thought brought a wave of frustration.

Other classes could deck themselves out in the best gear for a mere thousand or two copper coins at most. But him? The rocket launcher alone had nearly bankrupted him, and he’d only just scraped together enough for a single flawless low-grade Eternal Crystal fragment earlier that day. Now, the alloy armor demanded even more—nineteen thousand copper coins spent already, and that didn’t even count these three priceless materials. Where was he supposed to get all this money?

“Am I really going to have to buy copper coins on the black market?” Huang Yunshuo’s expression soured. His rate of spending was enough to make anyone call the police, yet he still couldn’t keep up. It was madness.

“How much for them?” he asked nervously.

“I’ll give you a good deal—” Wang Dachui began, but Huang Yunshuo quickly interrupted, pulling out his chunk of seventh-grade iron ore, large as a human head. Wang Dachui’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he stared at the ore, not daring to blink.

“Twelve thousand copper coins!” Wang Dachui declared, looking at Huang Yunshuo with eager anticipation.

Huang Yunshuo’s face fell, and inwardly he cursed Old Song roundly.

See how honest Brother Wang is? He offered a price two thousand higher than what Huang Yunshuo had in mind—now that’s integrity! When Old Song had asked for just two thousand, did his conscience not ache?

With a regretful shrug, Huang Yunshuo said, “I plan to use this seventh-grade iron ore to substitute for some eighth-grade ore. That should work, right? Will the alloy armor have improved attributes because of it?”

Wang Dachui, realizing Huang Yunshuo didn’t intend to sell, sighed in disappointment, but rallied himself. “Absolutely. That piece of seventh-grade ore is five times the size of an eighth-grade one; it can replace ten eighth-grade iron ores. The attributes will see a significant boost.”

With Wang Dachui’s confirmation, Huang Yunshuo was overjoyed.

“In that case, I have forty-one eighth-grade iron ores left. Would you be interested, Brother Wang?”

“So many eighth-grade ores?!” Wang Dachui nearly burst out laughing.

Judging by Old Song’s desperate, almost theatrical hunger for materials, high-grade iron ore was in hot demand. Missing out on the large chunk of seventh-grade ore, to now be offered such a windfall of eighth-grade ore—Wang Dachui could barely contain his glee.

“Four hundred copper coins each! All of them, four hundred each! That’s sixteen thousand four hundred, but I’ll round it up to seventeen thousand for you!”

Right now, Huang Yunshuo was the apple of Wang Dachui’s eye, his very own god of fortune.

In this little town, even ninth-grade iron ore was scarce—eighth-grade was practically unheard of. Getting so much at once would make all his peers green with envy.

“Deal, deal, deal!” Huang Yunshuo’s grin nearly split his face. With the sale, his copper reserves, which had just dipped below ten thousand, rocketed up to twenty-six thousand five hundred—he was suddenly flush with wealth once more.