Chapter 391: Forging a Shield (2/2)
Vanished God City was much quieter in comparison. Unlike Sky City or Wind City, they weren’t ruled by one or a couple of super guilds. Instead, they had a dozen or so middle-rank guilds who shared more or less the same strength as each other. All of the top guild leaders of Vanished God City were fairly passive, refusing to reveal their hand at all as they accumulated strength. They reminded me of old foxes biding their time to claim supremacy in one fell swoop.
Yeah, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls definitely still had a long way to go before they could become the best guild in all of China’s servers. But it wouldn’t be fun if that wasn’t the case, would it? One of the biggest points of gaming was to fight in a world of sword and fire alongside your brothers and sisters and enjoy this process to your heart’s content.
I surfaced from my thoughts and looked in front of me. A major city—the major city of the Violet Empire—was right ahead of me. Just outside the city walls, I could see squadrons of undead riders blitzing past the empty fields in training or patrol. The Violet Empire was slowly but surely growing stronger day by day, and it was only a matter of time before they reached the same level of power as the three major cities!
……
Countless undead glared at me when I entered the city and arrived at the palace hall. It was only after I revealed my red eyes and my identity as an Asura that they withdrew their hostility and showed me the respect I deserved. Clearly, there were perks to being an Asura, especially when you were facing an undead.
Inside the hall, I saw Queen Sophia standing proudly beneath the banner of the Violet Empire with twenty or so military or court officials gathered in front of her. Judging from the serious looks on their faces, they seemed to be discussing some important military business.
Before I could enter the hall though, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side. It was none other than Shadow Dancer Xue Wei. I couldn’t help but notice that the beautiful NPC assassin was wearing heavy armor, however. If I didn’t know better, I would say that the NPCs were trying to hurt the players’ delicate feelings...
”Long time no see. Why are you here?” Xue Wei shot me a look of surprise and a smile. ”Let me guess, you’re here to meet Lady Wind Singer, aren’t you? Unfortunately, you came at the wrong time. Wind Singer left for the Lost Lands just three days ago to search for the divine bones. I don’t think she’ll be returning anytime soon.”
I shook my head and smiled back. ”No, no, I haven’t come for Xinran. I’m here to see you!”
At the same time, I praised myself in my mind: Wag that silver tongue more you handsome bastard!
Shadow Dancer Xue Wei turned a little red before asking, ”You’re here to see… me? What for?”
I asked seriously, ”Xue Wei, Violet Empire must have a Master Blacksmith, am I right? I need one to forge me a shield right now!”
”Oh? A Master Blacksmith…” Xue Wei pondered for a moment before her eyes lit up. ”We actually do have a Master Blacksmith! It was a wandering blacksmith who came to our city just a month ago. Come, I’ll take you to him right away!”
”Oh, thank you very much, Xue Wei!”
”You’re welcome!”
Xue Wei moved so quickly that she disappeared around a street corner in almost the blink of an eye. Despite running after her at top speed, I still couldn’t catch up to her. The good news was that the blacksmith’s residence wasn’t too far away. I spotted a muscular middle-aged man swinging his iron hammer at the royal smithy almost immediately. In fact, he was a human, not an undead!
Noticing my look of astonishment, Xue Wei smiled and said, ”Your eyes aren’t fooling you. Your Majesty announced to the world a long time ago that all races are welcome to join us during the reestablishment of the empire as long as they submit to our laws and management as a matter of course. As a result, countless bards, fugitives, deserters and so on came to the Violet Empire to contribute their skill and strength.”
I nodded and walked up to the blacksmith. I asked, ”Master Blacksmith, can I ask you to forge me a shield?”
”What?”
The blacksmith shot me one glance and rejected me immediately. ”Go away. I won’t work for a dog from Sky City. Since the day Duke Luke took my wife from me, I’ve sworn to destroy all the corrupt nobles and royal members of Sky City.”
I hastily took off the insignia on my shoulder and persuaded, ”Look, I’m actually a member of the Blood Dance Legion! I… I’m spying on Sky City on behalf of the Violet Empire, you see…”
Xue Wei looked at me with strange eyes. I could almost hear them saying, ”Fuck, where is your shame, man?”
I glanced at her and asked, ”Why are you looking at me like that?”
”Nothing…”
Xue Wei smiled and vouched for me. ”He is a member of the Blood Dance Legion. He’s even the trusted aide of Queen Sophia herself.”
”Oh, really?” the blacksmith exclaimed in astonishment before apologizing. ”I’m sorry, my lord.”
”Can you make my shield now?”
”Of course!”
The blacksmith’s eyes lit up like a pair of light bulbs when I put the blueprint and the materials in front of him. ”Heavens, I can’t believe someone actually managed to gather all these precious materials… I thought I would never see them again in this lifetime!”
He then looked at me with determined eyes. ”I promise to forge you a divine shield like nothing the world has ever seen, my lord! But before that, please pay me 100k gold!”
Money again?!!!