I Became the Blacksmith NPC

After finishing his meal and saying goodbye to Wang Di, Liu Kongkong jogged all the way home. He settled into his chair in front of the computer, lit a cigarette with satisfaction, and opened the forum.

"Good News! Big Dumb Duck's Team from Starter Village No. 0113 Has Achieved the First Clear of the Void Space!" Liu Kongkong glanced at the poster — it was Long Wind, the one who had previously said he was quitting the game. Opening the thread, he found that this guy had somehow transformed himself into a gaming journalist.

"Breaking news, hot off the press — follow me to stay in the know! Hello everyone, this is Long Wind, the little megaphone of Starter Village No. 0113! According to the latest system announcement, our village's player Big Dumb Duck led a team to achieve the first clear of the 30-player dungeon Void Space just one minute ago! However, as of this post's publication, the team members have yet to appear back in the Starter Village…"

Liu Kongkong glanced at the post time — over an hour ago, back when he was still chatting idly with Wang Di.

He wasn't particularly surprised by the first clear. He had only built three stages in the Void Space: the first one was a personal indulgence, and the latter two were meant to let players get a feel for the rhythm ahead of time, so they wouldn't be completely helpless when they finally faced the Void Lord. Of course, when it came to the Void Lord itself, all he knew were those two skills of its…

"…Due to today's [Golden Server] incident, the guild leader of Divine Twilight is currently offering 8.4 million to purchase the first Guild Establishment Permit. However, I have learned from an insider that Big Dumb Duck's team intends to form their own guild and may not choose to sell…"

8.4 million — the price had gone up? Liu Kongkong raised an eyebrow. Still, that price probably held little appeal for Big Dumb Duck and Night's Gentle Chill. Over the past few days, the two of them had already invested over a million in Hunt Heaven, so getting their hands on the Guild Establishment Permit meant they'd register it the moment it dropped. Even so, thanks to the news of Big Dumb Duck's first clear, he had become something of a celebrity overnight.

He scrolled through the comments. The most upvoted ones were from various guild leaders, all of them posting offers. The top spot still belonged to the Divine Twilight guild leader's 8.4 million bid, which even included a note offering 50,000 to anyone who could provide Big Dumb Duck's contact information. The comment section promptly exploded, and people even started posting separate threads.

"My Brother Big Dumb Duck!"

"Offering 10,000 for Big Dumb Duck's contact info!"

And then things started going off the rails.

"I'm a player from Starter Village No. 0113 — Big Dumb Duck is my best bro. Send me 50 yuan and I'll tell you the untold story of me and Big Dumb Duck."

"Exclusive scoop: What really caused the two Village Wars in Starter Village No. 0113? Was Ye Weinuan the spark that lit the fuse?!"

Threads like these were getting quite a few replies.

What a mess, Liu Kongkong thought. He genuinely couldn't understand what these people were doing with their free time. What was the point of writing this stuff? Chasing eyeballs for a few more followers?

He casually opened the forum's trending rankings. Long Wind's thread was sitting at number one. Clicking on his profile, Liu Kongkong saw that over the past few hours, the guy had already posted over ten threads — all text-based coverage of events in Starter Village No. 0113. His follower count had already broken 100,000!

"Long Wind's Top Picks?" Liu Kongkong was dumbfounded. He was already selling products? And apparently moving quite a few of them!

But wait — shouldn't I be preparing something too?

The current price of the Guild Establishment Permit was genuinely tempting, but how could he possibly get his hands on one? The Guild Establishment Permit dropped from the final boss, and once players cleared it they'd exit the dungeon — there was no way it would end up in his possession.

If I could enter the dungeon myself…

Liu Kongkong replayed the dungeon layout in his mind, and a hypothesis began to take shape — along with a plan.

He logged on at once and came to the shop, peering out through the window.

"Well, would you look at that… everyone really has gone off to run dungeons…" The Starter Village, usually bustling with activity, was now completely deserted. Even the scalpers who normally hawked equipment by the roadside had vanished.

But that was perfect!

Tonight, he had a bold plan.

Liu Kongkong took a deep breath, then slipped out through the side gate of the courtyard, sneaking and weaving through the streets from memory until he spotted a familiar door sign. He knocked.

"Who's there?" A gruff voice came from inside.

"It's me, Liu Dameng."

"Liu…" The door swung open. Warrior class trainer Ding Dazhuang stared blankly at Liu Kongkong. "You — wait, I mean — what can I do for you, sir?"

If the person standing before him were still the original Liu Dameng, Ding Dazhuang wouldn't have been so deferential. But this person was now the Divine's puppet, which made all the difference.

"I have a few things I'd like to ask you." Liu Kongkong had been a little unsure of himself at first, but seeing Ding Dazhuang's eager-to-please expression gave him considerably more confidence. He nudged his way inside.

"What would you like to ask about, sir? Is it about the Village Chief? Widow Wang? Or…"

"Skills."

While Liu Kongkong was genuinely curious about the first two topics, the real reason he'd come was to learn something about skills.

"Skills? Has something gone wrong with the skills I've been teaching the visitors lately?" Ding Dazhuang looked visibly anxious.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just a little… puzzled about skills in general. I see you're the teacher for this sort of thing?" Asking an NPC directly to teach him skills felt a bit abrupt — after all, why would a blacksmith want to learn Warrior skills?

"Puzzled? Oh, I see! Are you perhaps… still not quite accustomed to this body, having just arrived?"

Liu Kongkong was stunned. How do you know I just arrived?!

"I apologize — that was out of line of me!" Seeing Liu Kongkong's expression shift, Ding Dazhuang assumed he'd said something wrong. "If you'd like to understand how Mana works on the Xingye Continent, please follow me~" With that, Ding Dazhuang walked over to a wooden post in the courtyard.

Did he know Liu Kongkong was a player? But it didn't quite seem that way — he'd never seen Ding Dazhuang act this reverently toward other players. Still, it appeared Ding Dazhuang was willing to teach. Liu Kongkong gave a nod, signaling for him to begin.

"After receiving guidance from the Divine, all native inhabitants of the Xingye Continent can see how much Mana they possess." As he spoke, Ding Dazhuang displayed his own HP bar and Mana bar. Liu Kongkong took a look — Ding Dazhuang's HP was a full 5,500 points, and his Mana sat at 2,400. Compared to ordinary players, this Warrior class trainer was clearly far stronger.

"And Mana itself functions as an amplifier. For example—" Ding Dazhuang threw a punch at the wooden post. Thud. A number popped up on the post.

-880!

That's a massive hit! Liu Kongkong was inwardly alarmed.

"That's the damage without any Mana amplification. But if I channel 10 points of Mana…" Ding Dazhuang threw another punch at the post. Thud!

-1,760!

Just 10 points of Mana doubles the damage?! Liu Kongkong watched as Ding Dazhuang's Mana bar dropped from 2,400 to 2,390 — then recovered back to 2,400 a second later. He suddenly felt a lot less confident about his own HP. If Ding Dazhuang poured all 2,400 points of Mana into a single punch, wouldn't that deal over 200,000 damage?!

"However, one must never channel too much Mana at once. Once it exceeds the limit your body can bear, it becomes life-threatening." Ding Dazhuang continued, "For instance, my current single-use maximum is 5% of my total Mana — that's 120 points." He channeled 120 points of Mana and threw a powerful punch! A dazzling -10,560 flashed before Liu Kongkong's eyes.

That's terrifying too!

"So what about the visitors?" Liu Kongkong had seen combat between players before, and the damage numbers hadn't seemed nearly that extreme.

"Please rest assured, sir. We strictly follow the Divine's requirements and teach according to level…" Ding Dazhuang explained the entire level system in careful detail, as if facing a great trial.

After listening to Ding Dazhuang's explanation, Liu Kongkong understood.

Simply put, when players learned skills from a class trainer, they were essentially unlocking a fixed Mana template. For example, the Warrior skill Heavy Strike: at Level 1, it consumed 10 Mana points — doubling damage. At Level 2, it consumed 15 points for 2.5x damage. Level 3 consumed 20 points, and so on. The maximum learnable level was 5, consuming 30 points of Spiritual Energy and dealing 4x attack damage. The more Mana consumed, the longer the body needed to recover — which was what created the skill cooldown.

"The visitors' physical makeup is different from ours. They cannot freely adjust the amount of Mana they output. But for you, when using it in practice, always pay close attention to your body's feedback. The moment you feel pain while drawing Mana, stop immediately."

Ding Dazhuang continued his explanation, then turned his head — only to find Liu Kongkong had already thrown a punch at the wooden post.

-10!

"The body you're currently using belongs to a blacksmith, so it's perfectly normal for Strength to be low. That attack power is already quite…"

Thud!

-100!

Ding Dazhuang was instantly speechless. Ten times the damage? That meant 100 points of Mana had been channeled! If the same 5% rule applied to him, that would mean Liu Dameng's body had 2,000 points of Mana on its own. Why would a blacksmith have such high Mana?!

Meanwhile, Liu Kongkong was frowning, staring at his Mana — now at 0.01.

Pain? Even after draining 100 points of Mana, he felt nothing. The only thing he noticed was that for a second or two after the punch, he couldn't sense his Mana at all — that was probably his skill cooldown.

Still, he'd gotten the answers he came for. Liu Kongkong said his goodbyes to Ding Dazhuang and turned to leave.

"By the way — you know who I am, right?" Liu Kongkong paused at the doorway.

"Yes. Liu Dameng willingly gave himself to be buried in the Void Space for the sake of the village. You are here to help us in his place."

Hearing that, Liu Kongkong's expression darkened instantly. He now understood exactly what "just arrived" had meant.

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