44: Chapter 44 You're looking for the Shadow Core?

Starfall Camp.

Camps were spontaneous gathering areas formed outside Mystic Realms. Initially, they had no names, only numerical designations, but over time, more catchy names were formed based on the characteristics within the Mystic Realm.

The Starfall Camp Gu Changming had arrived at was one such place. The output of the Mystic Realm here consisted of scrapped high-tech items and some specialty metals.

Gu Changming came here thinking that the probability of finding someone with Blacksmith skills in such a camp should be significantly higher.

And indeed, as he expected, there were indeed craftsmen here who had learned forging techniques.

However, those were just people who had happened upon or exchanged for a few techniques for forging weapons; simply put, they only knew how to make one or two types of things.

Therefore, they did not meet the criteria for the Blacksmith Gu Changming was looking for.

He needed a Blacksmith who could help him smelt the crystals dropped from the Shadow Devourer into his own Tang sword, not those half-baked amateurs.

...

At a stall within the camp.

Gu Changming's finger lightly tapped on a rusty metal block, his expression hesitant.

The stall owner was a scruffy middle-aged man with his arms crossed, wearing an "either buy it or leave it" look.

"Two hundred points, not a single one less," the stall owner repeated, his eyes fixed on Gu Changming.

Gu Changming didn't speak, continuing to tap that piece of metal. When his hand touched it, a prompt for [omega alloy] popped up; when he pulled away, the prompt disappeared.

This thing, omega alloy, could absorb the impact of attacks hitting it, making it an excellent material for crafting armor. Its true value was actually more than two hundred points; at special moments, it could even be worth several times that.

But Gu Changming hadn't come specifically to buy this; he had just passed by and wanted to see if he could score a bargain.

However, while this boss didn't know the exact value of the omega alloy, he could sense it wasn't cheap, so he stubbornly stuck to two hundred points without budging.

Gu Changming hesitated again. Buying it would definitely be a profit, but he couldn't use it right now.

This kind of thing would only have forging value once human systems had roughly taken shape. Currently, most people were still using weapons bought from the mall.

Sub-classes were also basically non-existent.

Otherwise, Gu Changming wouldn't have spent so long looking for a Blacksmith.

Just as Gu Changming was hesitating, suddenly, a voice rang out from a distance behind him.

"Does anyone have shadow crystal cores? I want to buy some!"

Gu Changming turned his head to look.

shadow crystal cores were the crystals dropped after slaying a Shadow Devourer. Upon touching them, a prompt box would pop up, displaying the name: [shadow crystal core].

After Tang Ningfei and the others reported the video, government officials quickly confirmed the validity of the rules and broadcasted them through push notifications.

Subsequently, some strong or bold individuals began to form groups to hunt Shadow Devourers in reverse. Thus, while things like shadow crystal cores were still rare, they were not unknown.

The person speaking was a young man wearing a sleeveless vest, with distinct muscle lines and a darker skin tone, exuding a sunny aura.

...

After Qin Lie finished shouting, he stood in place and waited for a while.

Quite a few people around turned to look, but after their gazes converged for a moment, no one stepped forward to talk.

He waited for a few minutes, and seeing that there was still no response, he scratched his hair in disappointment.

"As expected, it's a bit difficult." Qin Lie shook his head, turned around, and walked toward the direction of his shop.

His shop was in another area of the camp, in a location that wasn't very good, near the edge of the camp.

This was the area for processing and forging metal blocks brought out from inside. After the materials came out and were processed by them, the quality would be significantly better, and they could be resold for more points.

Or they could be forged further into weapons or armor and then sold to those squads, which earned more money. It just wasn't as stable as the former.

Qin Lie's shop was a small shed built from old metal plates and waterproof cloth, very crude. The inside of the shed wasn't large; a few simple tools hung on the wall, and metal blocks and semi-finished products were piled on the ground.

A simple forging furnace was placed in the corner, next to an anvil and several hammers, and at the very back, there was a Blacksmith's furnace that hadn't been extinguished.

After returning, Qin Lie walked to the anvil and, bored, picked up an unfinished small knife, idly playing with it.

As he was looking down at the knife, a figure stopped in front of his shop.

Qin Lie looked up. The newcomer wore a black jacket with a hood, making his features hard to see clearly, but his temperament was exceptionally peculiar, giving off an indescribable feeling.

"Need to look at some weapons?" Qin Lie put down his work and stood up to greet him. "Everything here is forged by myself, good quality and low price. If you want a custom piece, we can discuss that too."

In this area, these weapons were all crafted by people like them who had forging skills.

As for quality, while they couldn't compare to the high-end items in the mall, they had the advantage of being cheap. Moreover, because different materials were used, their hardness and strength were much better than the ordinary iron weapons from the original Earth.

Therefore, most of the squads adventuring into the Mystic Realm here would choose these weapons they forged.

As for how they learned to forge weapons, that involved vocational skills related to inheritance.

For example, people like Gu Changming and Tang Ningfei could learn Psychokinesis and Elemental Magic after spending points to exchange for them.

Naturally, someone like Qin Lie could also learn forging-related skills, and those skills contained both knowledge and special abilities; otherwise, they wouldn't even be able to process and refine metals.

And the special abilities within the skills were unique to each profession.

For instance, on the path of a Blacksmith like Qin Lie, striking metal blocks could purify them and enhance the metal's performance.

But if replaced by someone like Gu Changming who hadn't learned it, even if he learned all the knowledge, it would be useless; no matter how many times he struck, it wouldn't have any effect.

Gu Changming nodded and stepped inside.

His gaze swept over a row of finished weapons specially placed on a wooden table by the wall.

He casually picked up a uniquely shaped clawed scimitar, held it lightly, and examined it before his eyes.

The blade was evenly forged, the edge was sharp, and the handle was firmly wrapped with cord. It was clear that the technique was steady and the forging method was part of a proper inheritance, unlike the half-baked amateurs he had seen before.

Qin Lie stood to the side without saying much, just observing the other's reaction.

"Are you able to fuse new materials into weapons?" Gu Changming turned and asked.

In fact, this was the most basic skill of a Blacksmith, with various enchantments and inscriptions coming later.

It was just that in this early stage, finding someone who could fuse materials to forge weapons was truly not easy.

Qin Lie was somewhat surprised but still nodded. "Yes, I can do that too."

"Mhm." Gu Changming nodded and looked at him.

"But what material do you want to fuse?" Qin Lie's gaze flickered to the Tang sword behind Gu Changming, knowing the weapon he wanted to smelt was likely this one.

He was just thinking about giving Gu Changming some advice based on his knowledge of the metal blocks produced in this Mystic Realm...

When Gu Changming suddenly asked, "I just heard you say you're looking for shadow crystal cores?"