Chapter 56 (1/2)

Ou Yangming looked at Jiang Chengwei snappily. The man’s impoliteness was truly infuriating.

“Squad Leader Jiang, there’s no harm.” Yu Hailiang chuckled. “He can stay since he’s here, but he can only watch from afar to broaden his experience.”

Jiang Chengwei sighed. “Captain Yu, you’re too kind and generous.”

Yan Haobo and Ou Yangming looked at each other, and were both filled with pent up anger.

Based on Jiang Chengwei and Yu Hailiang’s tone, it was clear that they treated Ou Yangming as a young fellow who was here to freeload.

When Ou Yangming looked around him, he noticed the soldiers looking at him scornfully without hiding their expressions at all.

Jin Tao and the two archers looked at each other. In actual fact, if they had not seen the dagger’s powerful might, as well as Ou Yangming’s miraculous performance throughout their journey, especially his accomplishment of stabbing the forest leopard through the rear with his saber, they would not have obeyed him.

Additionally, they had progressed from knowing Ou Yangming to getting more familiarized with him, thus they accepted him.

However, it would simply be nonsense for the other soldiers present to respect a fifteen-to-sixteen years old teen.

“It looks like Captain Yu doesn’t need my help. Okay, I’ll be leaving!” Ou Yangming scoffed as he was furious, then turned around to leave without hesitation. Though he was really eager to see what exactly a half-spirit breast was, he hated the feeling of being treated coldly. After all, he was no longer the little helper he once was, and had become an official Military Fire Blacksmith.

“Master Ou, wait!” Yan Haobo’s face changed right away. He quickly pulled Ou Yangming’s hand to beg him, “They only misunderstood because they don’t know your ident.i.ty. It’ll be fine once I explain everything.”

Yu Hailiang and the others were slightly startled. Upon seeing Yan Haobo’s behavior, they realized that they might have made a mistake.

The seemingly young teen was not Yan Haobo’s junior, and was not here to gain credit by doing nothing.

Nevertheless, Yu Hailiang and the others could not figure out how the young fellow could contribute in any way against the half-spirit beast. Ultimately, it was a half-spirit beast that they were facing.

“Master?” Jiang Chengwei smiled disdainfully. “What master? A boasting master?”

Yan Haobo turned around to reprimand him, “Squad Leader Jiang, if you’re still going to be so disrespectful, I have no choice but to withdraw from the hunt!”

Jiang Chengwei’s face reddened as he quickly replied, “Squad Leader Yan, I was just being frank and outspoken, it’s nothing personal. Please don’t misunderstand.”

Yu Hailiang cleared his throat. “Squad Leader Yan, this is…”

Yan Haobo answered, “Captain Yu, this is Master Ou Yangming, a Military Fire Blacksmith from the Armament Camp. He followed us into the forest because he wanted to find some rare ores.

He dared not mention that Ou Yangming’s purpose was to hunt, so he made an excuse that the master was here to look for rare ores.

Sure enough, Yu Hailiang and the others did not suspect anything because such cases were not rare in the military camp. Nonetheless, there were very few who entered so deep into the dense forest.

“Oh, so it’s Master Ou…” Yu Hailiang pondered for a while. “Master Ou’s indeed an excellent logistics member. How about we let him stay here, so he can restore our pieces of equipment if they’re damaged.”

Ou Yangming raised his eyebrows. “Captain Yu, thanks for your kind words, but I’m not here to restore any equipment.”

Yu Hailiang was a little displeased but he was shrewd enough to keep a straight face. “Oh, why did you come then?”

Ou Yangming turned to scan Yan Haobo from head to toe.

After a brief moment, he mentioned, “Squad Leader Yan, remove your armor for me.”

Yan Haobo would not have bothered if anyone else said something like that without rhyme or reason. While he had many comrades around, it was a dangerous place in the forest, hence it was not wise to remove his armor.

Despite that, Yan Haobo, who knew Ou Yangming very well, was elated, so he removed his armor without any hesitation.

Yu Hailiang and the others quivered a little. A squad leader was not an outstanding figure in the military, but one was a basic-level officer. As such, they knew that the teen was not as simple as he seemed since Yan Haobo trusted him so much.

Once Ou Yangming accepted the armor, he turned his wrist to activate his Military Fire, instantly engulfing the armor.

“Refining with the Military Fire?” Yu Hailiang and the others looked at one another, and noticed that they were not very impressed.

It was true that refinements done using the Military Fire were rare, but it was a compulsory ability for Military Fire Blacksmiths. Even though the soldiers could not do it, they more or less knew the reason behind it.

Not only did Ou Yangming not impress them by doing what he did, but he also disappointed them.

Ou Yangming suddenly mentioned, “Squad Leader Yan, your armor is of Good Grade Rank One, am I right?”

Yan Haobo nodded. “Yes.”

“There aren’t any materials here, so I can’t upgrade your armor’s quality,” Ou Yangming responded.

Yu Hailiang and the others thought to themselves, ‘You don’t say! Keep boasting if you can!’

The upgrading of an armor’s quality was a change made with the precondition that the armor’s exterior and its other aspects were unaffected. It was worth noting that it was a much more difficult process than smithing armor from scratch.

That being said, the crowd was in an uproar after hearing what Ou Yangming said next.