Goblin Dependency

"Ding."

The fingertip gently tapped on the surface of the bone armor on the thigh, making a crisp sound smoother than metal.

Xia Nan stood still, his expression showing little emotion. However, he was particularly satisfied with this first piece of enchanted equipment he ordered through "official channels," using gold coins and materials at the blacksmith shop.

Though it wasn't cheap, its defensive performance was outstanding, and the additional effects were particularly useful. Moreover, it didn't overlap with the functions of his other equipment, so there was no need for extra replacements.

The 500 gold coins spent were undeniably worth it.

Standing in front, after being informed of the additional effects of the leg guards and seriously thanking Xia Nan.

The burly "Barn" Rock Hammer, as massive as a small mountain of meat, squatted on the ground without a care for his image.

He closely examined the details on the leg armor, as if trying to determine with his naked eyes the reason behind the equipment's additional changes.

Rich forging experience, combined with the inherited knowledge from the Dwarf "Steel Beard" clan, seemed to really show him something.

With Xia Nan's clear and detailed description, countless possible changes burst forth in his mind.

He just had to wait until later, after closing the store, to try them out one by one on the anvil in the back room.

"By the way, have you been to the association's second floor?"

As if remembering something, Barn moved his gaze from the leg guards and looked at Xia Nan, whose aura was more solid, and asked.

"Mm." Xia Nan nodded, "I just came from there."

The second floor of the adventurer association is almost a must-visit place for professionals in River Valley Town, so there was no need to hide it.

"There are a lot of good materials available for exchange on the second floor of the adventurer association."

Barn stood up, and his fingers, as thick as carrots, untwisted two entwined braids of his beard.

"For example, some special metals or rare demon materials."

"If you have any equipment needs in the future, such as armor or magic accessories, and you can't find suitable options in the market..."

He glanced at Xia Nan's thin shirt, and his expression became somewhat subtle again.

"Ahem."

"If you trust me, you can place an order at 'Rock Hammer.' I will list the required material list, and you can exchange accordingly."

"After all, many materials in the association are extremely expensive outside, and some are not even available for purchase."

"Exchanging with points is very convenient."

"I have many clients who exchange materials on the second floor and then come to me for equipment."

For the middle-aged, stout man in front of him, who claimed to have dwarf lineage, Xia Nan undoubtedly had great trust.

With his character, it's like when he first crossed over; after having the first hearty dinner at White Sparrow, he decided to settle his meals there every day.

Unless there was some kind of rift between them, or the purchased equipment showed some abnormal quality issues, he was already used to shopping at the "Rock Hammer" blacksmith shop.

There's no question of trust or mistrust.

He didn't say much more.

He just smiled and pointed to the two longswords on his back and raised the arm shield on his left forearm toward Barn.

The Beheading Longsword was the first weapon he purchased at the Rock Hammer Store, and the sword sheath for the Wooden Sword [Green Pine] was also customized by them.

There's no need to mention the Snake Scale Arm Shield; initially, they spent a long time discussing what kind of equipment to make with that piece of snake scale.

Almost all of his equipment came from "Rock Hammer," which was enough to show his trust in the counterpart.

Obviously, Barn understood the meaning Xia Nan wanted to convey.

As a blacksmith, having his creations recognized by the user made this man, who always upheld the dwarven forging tradition, laugh heartily.

He said he would take two more sets of maintenance tools suitable for bone equipment as gifts for Xia Nan.

As they chatted and laughed, he suddenly sighed.

A look of regret appeared on his face.

"What a pity, the material of the Bone Stick doesn't match the snake scale on your arm shield, so they can't be combined."

"Otherwise, with the defense strength of the scale and the bone material, it should be possible to create a quite good-quality equipment."

Initially, when Xia Nan killed the Red haired Bear Goblins in the level-up battle, he intended to use its weapon, the bone stick, as an auxiliary material for the snake scale to upgrade the temporary arm shield.

However, after Barn inspected them, he found the materials were incompatible, leading to the current leg armor.

"It's fine, such opportunities will come, just go with the flow."

Thus, Xia Nan didn't have any extra thoughts in his mind. He waved his hand and just followed the conversation with another question.

"So for this scale I have, if I really want to upgrade it to magic equipment, what type of auxiliary materials would be suitable?"

"Why don't you give a few examples, so I can have some reference when I go out on missions."

Upon hearing this, Barn, with his massive reservoir of knowledge, almost needed no pause to think and effortlessly listed a series of names.

"Deep Sea Melting Crystal, Iron Tree from the Nangel Region, Snowman Platinum, Smoked Rock over a thousand years old near the volcano..."

"There are many that can be paired, though they're quite rare in River Valley Town, or even in Pan Yun Province. Whenever they appear on the market, high-level professionals snatch them up, and it's rare for them to fall into my hands."

"You can also pay more attention to the second floor, if unsure about the names in the exchange list, you can note them down and ask me, maybe it'll work out."