I Became the Blacksmith NPC

The +1 enhancement had everyone's blood pumping.

Watching Big Dumb Duck and the crowd behind him with their tense expressions, Liu Kongkong couldn't hide his disdain. He glanced at his inventory — 36 silver coins had been added.

The System only took a 10% cut?

Liu Kongkong had originally figured keeping 50% would be a good deal, yet the System turned out to be surprisingly generous.

"Want to go again?" Liu Kongkong pointed impatiently at the Sword of Radiance on the counter. The others were craning their necks trying to spot any difference in the weapon.

The attack was now 22! The others could only see the appearance and couldn't tell much, but Big Dumb Duck could see it crystal clear — the other stats hadn't changed much, but the most important one, Attack, had gone up by 2 points.

40 silver for 2 Attack points — totally worth it!

"Again!" Big Dumb Duck didn't even look at the price; he just hit confirm!

Clang! Enhancement successful again.

"Hiss… what a terrifying weapon." After the second successful enhancement, the Sword of Radiance's Attack had reached 26 — already higher than the [Deadly Strike of a Single Stick +5], and that one was a single-use weapon on top of it.

"Want to go again?" Liu Kongkong didn't want to give him too much time to think. Some things, once a person comes back to their senses, they stop — you had to force a decision while they were still riding the high.

Sure enough.

"Again!"

Clang. Success again, and 1 gold 44 silver dropped into Liu Kongkong's pocket.

"Holy crap!"

Big Dumb Duck's hands were trembling slightly. Staring at the Sword of Radiance with its Attack now at a staggering 32, this was without a doubt the strongest weapon in Starter Village No. 0113 — no, it would rank at the top across the entire server!

Night's Gentle Chill and the others wore grave expressions. Though they couldn't see the weapon's stats, they could tell from Big Dumb Duck's face that the weapon in front of them had reached some kind of godlike state.

"Want to go again?!"

The sudden shout made Big Dumb Duck's whole body jolt!

"Again!!"

"Now that's courage!" Liu Kongkong finally cracked a smile, giving Big Dumb Duck a thumbs-up. Proper emotional reinforcement had to be delivered at the right moment. Then, without another word, he brought the hammer down!

Clang! Success again!

Big Dumb Duck saw the weapon was still intact, then checked the Attack — a full 40 points! His legs nearly gave out.

It was exhilarating — not because of how much money he'd spent, but because the Sword of Radiance's value could no longer be measured in gold.

"Want to go again?!"

"No more!"

"Good… wait, no more?" Liu Kongkong had expected him to keep going, but this guy actually stopped! Well, no matter — 5 gold 40 silver had landed in his account. No complaints there.

Big Dumb Duck wasn't an idiot. The higher the enhancement level, the greater the chance of the weapon shattering. With Attack at a clean 40, he forced himself to stop.

He let out a long breath, then grinned at Night's Gentle Chill and the others. "Everyone, you'd better watch out for me from now on."

"This is bad," Heart and Soul muttered with a grave expression. After four consecutive enhancements, that weapon's Attack must be absolutely insane — for a squishy class like himself, one hit would almost certainly mean instant death.

"Hmph. His weapon just had a good base — we can enhance ours too!" Night's Gentle Chill turned and bought 10 [Skull-Cracker Hammers] from Liu Kongkong. "Master Liu, can these be enhanced?"

"They can," Liu Kongkong nodded. "Though the enhancement requirements for regular weapons are a bit different."

"Doesn't matter." Night's Gentle Chill had made up their mind. Without a weapon that could match Big Dumb Duck's, going out in the future would mean living in constant fear. They checked the enhancement material requirements — one stone and five pieces of wood? Pretty cheap. They immediately handed over 2 gold coins and bought a large pile of stones and wood from Liu Kongkong.

"Let's begin, Master Liu!"

"On it!" Liu Kongkong picked up the hammer and started swinging furiously, while Night's Gentle Chill frantically kept hitting confirm!

+1, +2, +3, +4, +5! Crack — shattered!

"Again!

…+6! Shattered again!

Half an hour later!

The ten [Skull-Cracker Hammers] had long since been destroyed. They'd bought 20 more after that — but this one in front of them was the very last.

"Stop!" Staring at the [Skull-Cracker Hammer] that had finally reached +7, Night's Gentle Chill shouted.

Thirty hammers, and only one made it to +7. That was brutal… Still, the weapon's stats were at least passable. 38 Attack should barely be enough? Between the materials and the weapons, the whole ordeal had cost 11 gold — at today's exchange rate, that was 110,000 yuan!

Big Dumb Duck looked on with relief. Good thing he hadn't lost his head, or the Sword of Radiance might not have survived.

As for the hammer's Attack, Big Dumb Duck did a quick mental calculation — if he was right, it should be a bit lower than the Sword of Radiance, but not by much.

Heart and Soul and the others, seeing the terrifying results of enhancement, pulled out their own weapons. But from what they'd witnessed, the risk was relatively low up to +5, so they each enhanced to level 5 and stopped.

"Let's go — we're definitely getting the first clear this time!" Night's Gentle Chill declared confidently, urging Heart and Soul to rush to the entrance of the Path of Samsara dungeon. Big Dumb Duck also realized the gravity of the situation. While silently praying that his people inside the dungeon would hold on a bit longer, he handed a +5 refined iron longsword to Lonely as a Song. The latter accepted without ceremony — after dying all night, his original gear had all been lost, and everything he was wearing now had been given to him by Big Dumb Duck.

"Let's go. We're heading in too." Not wanting to enter the dungeon but unwilling to leave Night's Gentle Chill's group unchecked, Big Dumb Duck gritted his teeth and decided to keep grinding.

Off they went, all of them.

Liu Kongkong watched them leave. Between selling equipment and the enhancement fees that morning, he'd made over 23 gold. Noticing the exchange rate seemed to be trending downward, he quickly sold off his in-game currency.

He had to go home tomorrow. After checking his shop inventory — there was plenty of stock — he figured he might as well keep busy since he had nothing else to do.

He hammered away for an hour when a system announcement suddenly rang in his ears.

"Congratulations to players Big Bear, Second Bear… Fifth Bear for completing the first clear of Path of Samsara! Reward…"

"Hahahahaha!" Liu Kongkong couldn't hold it together the moment he heard those names. All that buying equipment and enhancing, calling in so many people — and the first clear got snatched by some nobody team!

Inside the dungeon, Big Dumb Duck froze. Where did these bears come from? He immediately disengaged from combat and led his team out of the dungeon.

Outside the entrance, a crowd had gathered. The five Bear brothers were surrounded on all sides.

"Gaming is about skill and strategy — about teamwork… not spending money on gear!" Big Bear stood tall and proud in the middle of the crowd, and when he spotted Big Dumb Duck coming out, he taunted him directly. The five of them were dormitory roommates, and none of them had much money for equipment. The refined iron weapons they carried had only been bought after everyone pooled together and steeled themselves. The two big-spender factions of Starter Village No. 0113 were well known to everyone, and plenty of players resented them — including these five.

Second Bear chimed in: "This is a victory for free-to-play players! Pay-to-win players can eat dirt!"

The crowd erupted in cheers!

"You. Go kill him." Big Dumb Duck's face darkened. He traded the Sword of Radiance to No. 1 standing beside him. After Big Dumb Duck had joined the party, No. 1 had left the group to level up on his own and was now Level 10 as well. Upon receiving the weapon and checking its stats, he blanked out for two full seconds — then immediately equipped it and pushed his way into the crowd.

A few seconds later, a -371 burst out from within the crowd. Big Bear instantly respawned at the respawn point…

The players around them fell completely silent.

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