I Became the Blacksmith NPC

The gap was just too massive — everyone was around the same level, so how was a one-shot kill even possible?

Second Bear had been taunting moments before, but the moment he saw that damage number, he snapped his mouth shut. No. 1, however, clearly wasn't about to let him off the hook, raising his hand and slashing at him with another strike.

-163!

Everyone knew No. 1 had used a skill to one-shot Big Bear, but the second strike was obviously a basic attack. Second Bear was an Archer, and when he saw his HP bar nearly bottoming out, he immediately shouted, "His weapon has insane Attack — everyone kill him! Whoever loots the drop is set for life!" With that, he bolted, and the rest of his teammates scattered right behind him.

They had a rough idea of how many people Big Dumb Duck had under him, and they'd considered joining his team before. But after seeing Night's Gentle Chill — or more accurately, Ye Weinuan — they'd decided to join Night's Gentle Chill's team instead.

Working for money in a game? That's barely anything. Finding a rich girl to latch onto was the real play! Ye Weinuan already had a boyfriend? That just meant she hadn't met the right guy yet! Big Bear and the others were supremely confident — their group had solid game skills, and they'd flirted with and carried plenty of girls before. Today's little performance was their calling card. Of course, not everyone was there for Ye Weinuan — the fourth one had his eye on Night's Gentle Chill...

That was precisely why No. 4 got along well enough with the others, yet deliberately kept a certain distance.

"Fourth, your competition is lighter — we're rooting for you, bro."

By the time Night's Gentle Chill and the others emerged from the dungeon, the players outside had already been dispersed by Big Dumb Duck's crew. A mob with no unified command was no match for them.

"Looks like neither of us came out ahead." As long as the first-clear team wasn't Night's Gentle Chill's group, Big Dumb Duck could live with it. He then noticed that the other party's equipment seemed to have changed.

Night's Gentle Chill smiled faintly. "We may not have gotten the first clear, but we still won this round."

After upgrading their weapons, Night's Gentle Chill's party had successfully cleared the Path of Samsara. Without the first-clear bonus, the three equipment drops from the dungeon were still decent, and combined with 2,000 EXP, three members of the party were now Level 8.

"Hmph." Big Dumb Duck let out a cold snort. Losing the first clear of the Path of Samsara stung a little, but at least he didn't have to go back in and suffer through it again. The dungeon dropped three pieces of equipment, sure, but other dungeons dropped gear too — no point banging his head against this one. He turned and called a few people over, heading off to other dungeons to level up. As for the equipment loot box, he'd already seen what was inside — nothing interested him except the S-rank reward.

Ye Weinuan, on the other hand, was in a hurry, urging the others to keep running the dungeon. Based on her experience, one box was never going to pull anything good — farm more and open them all at once!

"Alright, let's go." Night's Gentle Chill said with a smile. With their Attack up, grinding felt noticeably easier than before. At their current level, roughly two runs per level-up — not bad at all.

Meanwhile, back at the Starter Village.

With a resonant clang, Liu Kongkong took a deep breath — finally Level 9. He'd sold a steady stream of equipment throughout the day, and today's payment quota was covered. He continued putting skill points into [Life Needs Miracles], bringing it to Level 5.

The skill effect had improved from producing one masterwork per one hundred items to one per twenty. The cap, however, hadn't changed — crafted equipment still topped out at green quality. He glanced at the time: thirty minutes until closing.

Should he push a bit more and hit Level 10 today? Liu Kongkong was mulling it over when he glanced toward the doorway and spotted five men standing there — the five Bear brothers.

They'd been standing there for a while now, not buying anything. As an NPC, he had no real reason to chase them off, so Liu Kongkong left them alone.

Eventually, Night's Gentle Chill and the others came rushing over as well. Ye Weinuan was still urging them along — the blacksmith shop would be closing soon, after all.

The moment the five Bear brothers spotted the figures they'd been waiting for, they immediately dropped their lazy postures. Big Bear, leading the group, suddenly bellowed at the top of his lungs: "Boss! I'm Big Bear, from the first-clear team of the Path of Samsara — I've got a mystery equipment loot box here, please redeem it for me!"

Liu Kongkong had been swinging his hammer when Big Bear's shout nearly sent him to an early grave. Watching the group sneak glances at Night's Gentle Chill and the others, he instantly understood their angle. He'd been willing to give them something decent, but they'd just scared the life out of him!

The box in his hand vanished into his inventory in an instant, and he placed a [Deadly Strike of a Single Stick +5] in his hand instead. He'd practiced this sleight of hand many times in private — no one would ever notice the switch.

Just a wooden stick? We're a first-clear team, shouldn't the loot box drop something good?! Big Bear stared blankly, dumbly accepting the item. He'd heard of this weapon before, but what use was just one stick...

"Master Liu, don't close up yet! We've got more!" Ye Weinuan jogged the last two steps to the blacksmith shop entrance and hurriedly pulled three loot boxes from her inventory.

That many? The five Bear brothers froze. They'd cleared the Path of Samsara, but it hadn't been easy. They looked up at the levels of Night's Gentle Chill's party — without exception, every single one of them had reached Level 10!

Liu Kongkong took the loot boxes and repeated the process.

Three pieces of equipment appeared on the table: a crude staff, a crude longbow, and the Thorn Visor.

The first two had been sitting in storage for ages — this was a good chance to clear out the backlog. The last one was meant to encourage the group to keep running the dungeon. Of course, he wasn't going to give Ye Weinuan what she actually wanted — he was still counting on her to push the team to keep farming.

"Oh? That's Ah Ling's equipment — the odds aren't bad at all. We should run it a few more times." Ye Weinuan handed the Thorn Visor to Night's Gentle Chill without a second thought. Night's Gentle Chill glanced at Hit Me Please with a hint of embarrassment, since both of them were Warriors at heart. Hit Me Please didn't mind — it wasn't expensive, and you could buy it anyway, though it seemed to be out of stock today.

Not just today — tomorrow too. Liu Kongkong checked the time: exactly five o'clock. He casually shut the blacksmith shop. Outside, the five Bear brothers had already started introducing themselves to Night's Gentle Chill's group, and from their expressions, both sides seemed fairly pleased with each other.

He brought the five of them into his team. The first clear of the Path of Samsara had proven their ability, so he offered the five Bear brothers a solid salary — fifteen thousand a month, with additional bonuses if they secured any future first clears. For some reason, though, after taking them on, Night's Gentle Chill kept feeling an inexplicable itch on the top of his head and on his backside.

After closing up shop, Liu Kongkong headed to the usual meeting as always. Dungeon grinding had been heavy lately, equipment consumption was high, and business was booming across all the shops in the village. The quest NPCs, on the other hand, had gone idle — the main and side quest EXP in Hunt Heaven was simply too low, so those NPCs had all drifted to the far end of the long table.

He handed over today's earnings with a few flirtatious glances exchanged with Wang Xiuqin.

"1 gold 30 silver? Excellent, excellent — Little Liu is really putting in the work. Come on, move up a bit." The Village Chief was thoroughly satisfied.

Liu Kongkong hadn't originally planned to hand over that much, but remembering what Wang Xiuqin had mentioned about a System reward, he was curious.

After the meeting, he declined Wang Xiuqin's suggestion to come over and keep her company. Tomorrow was the first day he'd be leaving the shop in the manager's hands — he couldn't afford any mistakes.

"Level 5 weapons and equipment don't have much demand right now — 1,000 pieces should be enough. Level 7, 3,000 pieces. For pre-Level 10, 1,000 pieces definitely won't cut it, but with dungeon drops in the mix, buyers might be fewer — better to prepare a bit more just to be safe."

His inventory was mostly basic equipment, with some green-quality pieces whose Attack was only one or two points higher than normal. He set the prices with a few quick adjustments, then switched the shop manager's mode from semi-managed to fully managed.

"Time to craft more — tonight's sprint to Level 10!"

The frantic sound of hammering rang out once more from the blacksmith shop.

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