295 Preparations (1/2)
Chapter 295: Preparations
Translator: WQLEditor: EbonyFrost
After smoothly passing the test on Yaksha in the sea, being close to the Long Wind Pearl Field, Zhang Tie returned to Hidden Dragon Palace. After eating lunch in the Breaking-Heavens Department, Zhang Tie returned to his own residence before going to the Items Department with money.
Previously, when Zhang Tie came to the Items Department, he was here to submit navy-blue iron ores. This time, he was here to prepare for the first evolution of his ancestral bloodline. He needed to order something here.
It was boisterous in the Items Department. The blast furnace in the department was emitting hot waves. Over 100 people were here. Zhang Tie could hear the sound of knocking iron instruments everywhere. Some of those people were his senior brothers in the Breaking-Heavens Department.
”It's not that easy to be a craftsman apprentice. Do you think that it's like girls' embroidery?” The moment he entered the second gate of the Items Department, he had already heard a loud,rude shout. ”Hold the heavy hammer and maintain your strength and rhythm. Have you seen the steam-driven forging hammer? When you can keep outputting a steady level of strength for twelve hours straight like that machine, I will teach you something new. If you cannot even match a machine, how can you dream to be a rune manufacturer...”
Although he didn't know who was being scolded in the courtyard, hearing the acrid words, Zhang Tie was also frightened as he shrugged his shoulders. ”It's so difficult to be a rune manufacturer, what about being an alchemist then? As is expected, each step towards the top professions is pretty difficult.”
After passing the exterior of the Items Department, Zhang Tie directly came to the weapons store in the the core area. It was a 5-floor pavilion. The higher the floor was, the more expensive the items being sold would be. Because Zhang Tie didn't need very expensive items, he just took a look around the first floor in the weapon store.
When he was in the Iron Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had visited the arsenal of the Iron Horn Army twice, therefore, he knew weapons well. Only after a look around on the 1st floor, Zhang Tie had been surprised as even the common weapons on the 1st floor were obviously better than those lieutenant-level weapons in the arsenal of the Iron Horn Army of the Norman Empire. Each item here was of top quality in the Iron Horn Army.
The 1st floor of the weapons store covered several hundred square meters, which was filled with rows of weapon hangers. On the hangers, there were all sorts of weapons like sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, tomahawks, hooks, forks, soft whips, hard (iron) whips , hammers, claws, tangs(a weapon that was composed of a stick handle and a half-moon like head with a pike between the two wings of the half moon), sticks, shuos (a heavy weapon for cavalry, which is the heavy- and elite-type of long spear), maces, iron or wooden crutches and bolas. Zhang Tie didn't even know some of their names. Perhaps it was a man's nature, as when Zhang Tie saw the sparkling weapons, he felt his adrenaline surging heavily as his eyes started to shine.
When Zhang Tie stood in front of a 2-m longer weird, horrible battle sword which was hung on a hanger and recalled his ”Man's Certificate”, one person had already walked in front of him.
”Junior brother, are you choosing weapons?”
Zhang Tie looked at him and found it was a senior brother in Breaking-Heavens Department, ”Yes, I want to buy something here!”
”Hehe, take a look slowly. If you have enough money, you can choose something better on the 2nd floor. Each weapon over there is more than 100 gold coins. Each item on the 3rd floor is worth more than 500 gold coins. Each on the 4th floor is worth more than 3000 gold coins. As all the items on the 5th floor are rune weapons, I don't suggest you to take a look there, as they are so expensive they'll make you lose your passion for life...”
Hearing the senior brother's words, Zhang Tie burst out laughing, ”Senior brother, are you also here to be a rune manufacturer?”
”Not that easy...” The youth then forced a bitter smile, ”I'm not even a craftsman apprentice now. I've just hammered in the ironware processing workshop for half a year. After passing the test, I was dispatched here to be familiar with the quality, duration, material, forging techniques, design ideas and styles of each weapon on the 1st floor. At the same time, I can also look after the store for the manager. Not just being a waste!”
”You are so modest, senior brother. Many people are not even qualified to look after this store even if they wanted to!”
”Oh, junior brother, which weapon do you want? I can provide some suggestions for you!”
”I want to have a look at the long spears or javelins!”
”Thrown weapons? Come here, I will show you these weapons...” The senior brother then led Zhang Tie to another hanger, on which some javelins were displayed. Zhang Tie casually took one and had a try. That familiar sense reappeared. These javelins were definitely of the best quality that Zhang Tie had ever seen. The body of the javelin was designed in terms of aerodynamics. It consisted of several sections, each of which had different thicknesses, giving it an obscure but beautiful look.
”Senior brother, what's the price of these javelins?”
”The javelins here are all sold by group. Each group contains 9 javelins and is equipped with a backpacked metal container. Each group weighs 116 kg in total. They are very powerful. The price of each group of javelins is 34 gold coins. You can also have a look at this one...” Saying this, the senior brother took out a short javelin. With a casual handshake, the 30-cm javelin instantly became longer than 1 m, ”This is the hidden type telescopic javelin. It is more portable. When you don't use it, you can carry it with you. When you use it, only by shaking the handle, you will see its body. A group contains 42 javelins. They are suitable to fight enemy within short distances!”
Zhang Tie took it and realized this telescopic javelin is really of a delicate structure. Although being very portable, it was not his target here.
After putting that hidden telescopic javelin onto the hanger, Zhang Tie asked, ”Senior brother, can I customize javelins here?”
”Of course, the items workshop can produce all the items you require!”
”That's great. I want to customize a batch of special javelins. Here's are the requirements...” Zhang Tie took a common javelin and started to talk about the requirements with this senior brother.
The javelins required by Zhang Tie were divided into different groups. Those that were normal size were placed in one group; those that were 1 inch smaller than normal size were placed in one group; those that were 2 inches shorter than normal size were placed in one group; and those that were 3 inches shorter than normal size were placed in one group; Likewise, the size of the javelins gradually reduced by 1 inch one group by another. The last group was only 3-5 inches. To tell truth, these items could not be called javelins any more as they were even much shorter than the head of a javelin.
Hearing Zhang Tie's requests, the senior brother was really shocked as he had never been met with such a request. However, he didn't ask why, because everyone in the Breaking-Heavens Department had their own secrets. It was not good to be too curious here.
”Junior brother, as you've ordered 40 groups here, it will cost you a lot!”
”Hmm, I know it will cost me a lot. Therefore, I only need 6 javelins for each group. This way it'll be much cheaper.”
”Yes, you can save on one-third of the price this way. Follow me, I will calculate the price of these items for you!”
Zhang Tie and the senior brother came to the counter on the 1st floor. After that, the senior brother took a pen and started to record these items before calculating the price of them on paper.
”Junior brother, if your requests are met, you need to pay 418 gold coins at least!”
Hearing the figure, Zhang Tie also became a bit hesitant as it was truly not a small amount of money for a newbie in the Breaking-Heavens Department. He had to save money. When he was picking up navy-blue iron ores from the sea, he could only make a few silver coins for one day's hard work. Although he had money now, he knew that he should be frugal in preparation of worse scenario.