Chapter 115: The Wisdom of the Ancients

Heaven Everdark ultimately couldn’t resist his curiosity—or rather, he harbored an inexplicable confidence in the human ranger before him. So, he had Old Zhou bring a full supply of forging materials and headed to the busiest blacksmith shop.

“Old Lu, it’s not easy for me to save up these forging materials, so don’t mess with me, alright?” Heaven Everdark half-joked to Lu Kuan.

Forging was different from alchemy. The latter only required buying some materials to produce dozens of potions, but forging a piece of decent-quality equipment consumed far more valuable materials.

Even with Dark Heaven’s strength, gathering materials to forge dozens of sets of blue-grade gear was already pushing their limits. Moreover, these materials weren’t intended for guild members’ equipment but for smiths to practice their skills.

When a blacksmith’s skill reached a bottleneck, such as 2.99% or 5.99%, using blue-quality gear to increase proficiency was undoubtedly more effective than crafting ordinary equipment.

“Don’t worry, you’ll thank me soon enough,” Lu Kuan said confidently.

After renting an anvil and furnace, Old Zhou looked toward Lu Kuan. While Heaven Everdark and Old Zhou busied themselves, Lu Kuan kept scribbling on a sheet of paper. Now finished, he handed the note to Old Zhou.

“Brother Zhou, let’s forge that level 10 blue plate armor we talked about earlier, but adjust the ingredients slightly according to what I’ve written,” Lu Kuan said with a smile.

Old Zhou glanced at the paper, then exchanged a questioning look with Heaven Everdark. Seeing him nod, he began the work.

Forging, like alchemy and cooking, involved specific recipes. The quality of raw materials, the proportion of various components, and the smith’s skill level all influenced the final product’s quality.

Heaven Everdark glanced at the note and began to understand what trick Lu Kuan was hiding up his sleeve.

“Do you have a way to increase the forging success rate by changing the recipe’s proportions?” Heaven Everdark asked in surprise.

Lu Kuan shook his head with a smile. “You’re on the right track, but my method is even better than just improving success rates.”

Now even more curious, Heaven Everdark, realizing he couldn’t squeeze more information out of Lu Kuan, moved closer to Old Zhou to watch the forging process.

With Old Zhou’s forging skill, crafting a level 10 fine-quality piece was a breeze. Fifteen minutes later, a fresh plate cuirass gleamed silver-white, emblazoned with a vivid red bird on the chest.

Seeing the equipment’s stats, Old Zhou’s face revealed a rare look of astonishment, as if witnessing something incredible.

“Let me see that,” Heaven Everdark said, stepping forward and snatching the cuirass from Old Zhou’s hands.

“Silver Scale Cuirass (Fine Plate Armor)
Chest Armor
Bind on Equip
Requirement: Level 10
Durability: 100%
Weight: 6
Armor: +40
Strength: +1.4 (Enhanced Quality)
Curved Surface (Passive): When hit by ranged attacks, there is a 5% chance to trigger a deflection effect, reducing damage taken by 50%.
‘As a discarded standard-issue chestplate, it can be found on the second-hand market for 5 gold.’”

Noticing the words “Enhanced Quality” next to the Strength attribute, Heaven Everdark raised an eyebrow instinctively, then looked back at Lu Kuan, who was smiling enigmatically. He asked suspiciously, “Don’t tell me you already knew this.”

Lu Kuan grinned broadly. “You mean enhancing Strength?”

At Lu Kuan’s words, Heaven Everdark’s excitement became impossible to conceal. So that was it! That kid Old Lu actually knew how to control the direction of enhancements!

And not just the direction of enhancement!

To have an enhancement effect appear on the very first forge—Heaven Everdark was certain that Lu Kuan’s subtle adjustments to the recipe also increased the chance of enhancements!

The special effect of the Black Iron Hammer was explicitly stated: it increases the chance of “enhanced quality, additional excellent quality, and extra armor.”

Extra armor was straightforward. Additional excellent quality referred to gaining an extra attribute line on the equipment, such as bonus Strength or Accuracy.

Enhanced quality meant strengthening the existing attributes—like armor, Strength, Accuracy—or even enhancing durability or equipment special effects.

Such equipment slightly stronger than the same-level blue gear was colloquially called “semi-purple gear,” with similar terms like “semi-blue” also used.

Undoubtedly, among equipment below relic grade, increasing or enhancing the six main attributes yielded the greatest benefit. Blue and green gear’s special effects were generally mediocre; the worst was enhancing durability, which was a real loss.

“How high’s the chance?” Heaven Everdark leaned toward Lu Kuan, his eyes burning with interest.

“Seventy to eighty percent, at least,” Lu Kuan smiled.

After a moment’s thought, Heaven Everdark turned to Old Zhou. “Go to the guild bank and get materials for three more sets of Silver Scale Cuirasses. Also grab two other blue pieces. Hurry.”

Old Zhou immediately obeyed, while Lu Kuan relaxed nearby, smiling to himself. He thought this deal was about to close.

What followed was simple. Old Zhou brought the materials, repeated the process according to Lu Kuan’s specified quantities and sequence, and forged three more Silver Scale Cuirasses. Two enhanced Strength, and one enhanced the armor.

For the two other blue items, Lu Kuan slightly tweaked the number of gems used in the enhancement recipe. Within five minutes, Old Zhou finished, and both blue items gained between +0.5 and +0.8 in their main attributes.

“I’ll buy them!” Heaven Everdark said decisively.

As long as most enhancements targeted the main attributes, buying the Black Iron Hammer was a steal, because enhancing gear was easier and far cheaper than forging it.

The effect of enhancing a single item might seem limited, but take the mages in Dark Heaven, for example—each had an average of five blue items. If all were successfully enhanced, each would gain at least 2.5 points of Intelligence!

That was like wearing an extra purple-grade item—though without the special effects, it was still powerful enough.

With that thought, Heaven Everdark continued, “And this method of modifying the recipe...?”

Only then did Lu Kuan rise and shake Heaven Everdark’s hand with a smile. “Whenever you want to enhance any equipment, just contact me. Hand over the money, and I’ll hand over the recipe.”

Though Heaven Everdark had long suspected this, seeing Lu Kuan’s expression of complete control, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

“You’re something else. Selling a hammer is just the start. The real money’s in the future info fees,” Heaven Everdark said helplessly, pointing at Lu Kuan.

Lu Kuan chuckled. Indeed, the first time he saw the Black Iron Hammer, he had already thought of this.

How to increase forging success rates, enhancement chances, and control enhancement direction was something millions of smith players in the previous life had slowly discovered. Lu Kuan was simply enjoying the fruits of their labor.

Players in this life would also persistently explore these mysteries, but by the time they made progress, Lu Kuan would already have earned a fortune.