Chapter 28
In the end, Instructor Yu still gave Su Wangchuan a final reminder:
“Wangchuan, do not forget the contract you signed with the company. Your task is to help the company make money, not to experience the game or play it. This game is not as simple as you think. Once you die, the game character will be completely erased and the account deleted. So at all times, do not forget your original intention for joining the company.”
“Thank you for the reminder, Instructor Yu. I will be careful.”
Holding his phone, Su Wangchuan ended the call with Instructor Yu. After calming down from the excitement of his account balance breaking through a major threshold, he logged into the game.
“So hungry.”
After sleeping for so many hours straight, even though Hunger decreased slowly while resting, he could still feel his stomach growling, urging him to eat.
Without another word, he headed out to buy flatbread.
However, today the flatbread stall did not carry the usual aroma of baked bread. Instead, a rich scent of meat rushed toward him.
“Ding!”
System notification: “Mandatory task ‘Assist in Defending the Village Against the Wolf Pack’ completed.”
“Blackstone Village Reputation has increased by one level, rising from Unknown to Somewhat Notable. Relationship with all Blackstone Village villagers has improved.”
Su Wangchuan froze, stopping in front of the flatbread stall.
Wang Dalang happened to come out holding a string of lotus-leaf-wrapped dried meat, his face beaming as he said, “Wangchuan, you’re here! Come, come, come. You must be starving. Freshly made wolf meat jerky—here!”
Wang Dalang’s intimate attitude left quite a few players standing nearby, drawn by the smell of meat, completely stunned.
Blatant favoritism, was it not?
Su Wangchuan took the wolf meat jerky Wang Dalang handed him and took a couple of bites. It was soft and tender, almost like eating a steak.
“Mm, not bad!”
“If it tastes good, have another piece. Eat more—you’ll need the strength.”
Wang Dalang wore a delighted expression.
“How much?”
“Listen to yourself. Just eat. You have a share in this.”
Wang Dalang then turned to another player who wanted to buy jerky and said, “Five Copper Coins per piece.”
It was not outrageously expensive, but the difference in attitude was truly hard for the players to accept.
Still, considering that Wang Dalang was the only person in the village taking care of their food, the group of players could only swallow their grievances.
“Brother Wang, you’re not selling flatbread anymore?”
“No time these days. I need to make jerky and dried meat. The flatbread will have to wait a few days…”
“Alright.”
“Give me one piece too.”
“Wangchuan.”
At this moment, Chen Feng quietly pulled Su Wangchuan aside.
“What’s going on?”
“Why is Wang Dalang treating you so nicely? Give your brother a hint.”
After all, Chen Feng had once been in a senior–junior relationship with Su Wangchuan, so it was easy to talk. He also wanted to get the same kind of free food privilege from Wang Dalang.
Twenty Copper Coins a day in expenses added up to no small sum.
Su Wangchuan naturally understood what he was thinking and did not plan to hide it.
“I did not do much. I just killed a few more wolves last night when we were defending against the wolf pack.”
Chen Feng’s eyes lit up.
“You killed wolves!”
Then he gave a fierce thumbs-up. “Impressive!”
Chen Feng knew that back at the blacksmith shop, Su Wangchuan was always the last to log off. He must have run into the village defense task.
That kind of luck really was something else.
“If I had known, I would have stayed with you until night.”
“Weren’t you training with the militia? How did it go?”
Su Wangchuan asked.
Chen Feng’s face turned bitter.
“Do not even mention it. The captain had us hold spears and stand in horse stance all day, from morning to night, like stupid wooden posts. It is not that tiring, but it is unbearably boring.”
Su Wangchuan’s heart stirred. He thought that once he forged enough iron arrowheads, he could come over and train with them as well, mastering entry-level spear techniques.
Although leveling up was difficult, even entry-level spear techniques were still very powerful.
After witnessing the strength of entry-level 《Archery》 on the battlefield, he admired Captain Zhao Heiniu even more. So he said to Chen Feng, “Brother Feng, Captain Zhao is very capable. Learn properly under him.”
That was all he could say. Whether Chen Feng took it to heart was his own business.
When Su Wangchuan returned to the blacksmith shop, he saw his master, Blacksmith Sun, rushing to make iron arrowheads, with Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui helping at the side.
“Master, let me do it.”
Su Wangchuan hurried over to take over.
Blacksmith Sun was truly exhausted. Without hesitation, he handed over the hammer and said, “I am going to sleep for a bit. You three brothers hurry up and work. Although we repelled the wolves last night, there is more than one wolf den in the mountains, and there are other tigers and leopards as well. We must stockpile enough arrows for the village.”
“Ding!”
“Accept manufacturing task ‘Crude Iron Arrowheads’? One hundred Copper Coins per one hundred pieces.”
“Accept.”
Su Wangchuan took the task.
Then, with the help of Hong Kaibao and Bai Yuhui, he went all out forging.
Ding ding! Ding ding!
Sparks flew everywhere!
Using One-Breath Triple Strike to forge iron arrowheads was unbelievably fast.
Twelve arrowhead molds were working at the same time!
Bai Yuhui was responsible for controlling the bellows furnace and pouring refined molten iron.
Hong Kaibao handled cooling and swapping out the red-hot iron blocks.
Su Wangchuan’s job was simple—hammer!
At the Practice Makes Perfect stage, his control of strength and rhythm was exceptionally precise.
After dozens of rounds of folded hammering, the iron arrowheads quickly took shape, were cooled, and then tossed into the basket beside him.
As time passed, the pile of iron arrowheads grew larger and larger.
From time to time, hunters carrying bows would come in, haul the arrowheads away, and take them out to assemble complete arrows.
“Wangchuan, thanks for your hard work.”
“Keep it up.”
Compared to their usual aloofness, everyone now showed a bit more closeness and recognition, greeting Su Wangchuan on their own initiative.
Over the course of the night, aside from Captain Zhao Heiniu, Su Wangchuan had killed the most wolves and made the greatest contribution to the village.
This was the benefit of increased Reputation.
Su Wangchuan nodded back to each of them in acknowledgment, then continued to bury himself in hammering iron, sweat pouring down.
Bai Yuhui and Hong Kaibao looked on with envy.
“Senior Brother.”
“When do you think we will be able to learn blacksmithing from Master like you?”
“Yeah.”
“Every day it is just miscellaneous work. It is so boring.”
“I heard that Chen Feng and Heitan used to have chances to touch the hammer. Why is it that when it comes to us, it has been almost a month and we have not even gotten a chance to touch it?”
Both of them earned forty Copper Coins a day working part-time at the blacksmith shop. Seeing that Su Wangchuan was making two to three taels of silver per day after winter began, they naturally had all kinds of thoughts.
Whenever this happened, Su Wangchuan could only brush it off with the excuse of it being a “special period.”
He knew very well that Master Blacksmith Sun would never train a second disciple. As long as Su Wangchuan stayed in Blackstone Village, they would only ever be apprentices, doing miscellaneous work for the rest of their lives.
But he could not say that.
He was not a saint.
There was no other reason.
They were convenient to use.
If new helpers were brought in, they would probably slow things down and affect his earnings.
Fortunately, Bai Yuhui and Hong Kaibao also knew how to come to terms with it themselves.
After all, compared to the other villagers, they at least still had this source of income. Unlike everyone else, who had now been forcibly dragged off to practice spear techniques and stand in formation all day, with nothing guaranteed except two meals a day.
They might not compare to those above them, but they were more than comfortable compared to those below.