Inside the smithy.
"Uncle Turner, I need a lock set! Do you still have one?"
After entering the smithy and seeing no one in the room, Li Xing called out loudly.
Uncle Turner came out of the back room, wiped his sweat with the towel hanging around his neck, and said,
"You'll have to wait a bit. I'll look in the storeroom. There should be some left! Do you only need one set?"
"Yes, one set is enough for now. Sorry for the trouble!"
After their exchange, Li Xing sat down where they had talked last time and waited for Uncle Turner to return from the storeroom.
He looked at the various implements on the shelves around the room. Most were farming tools, followed by hunting bows and heavy bows. Aside from the weapons hanging on the wall behind the counter, he saw hardly any knives or swords elsewhere. But a brand-new suit of armor in the corner was the most conspicuous sight in the smithy.
Li Xing noticed that Uncle Turner carefully maintained this suit of silver-white full plate armor every day. Leaving aside how the metal plates shone like new, the layer of wax-like substance applied to them alone set the armor apart from the farming tools around it, which had gathered a layer of dust.
Looking at the various forged implements in the shop,
Li Xing also realized that perhaps it was time for him to learn forging. After all, who hadn't dreamed of forging their own sword?
Some time later, just as Li Xing had nearly finished examining the implements in the shop one by one,
An older man who looked remarkably like Uncle Turner entered the smithy from outside.
"Big brother! Big brother! Are you here?"
Watching from the side, Li Xing realized that this middle-aged man, who was about the same age as Uncle Turner, was calling for him, and spoke up.
"Hello! Uncle Turner went to the storeroom. He should be back soon. Please sit down and rest while you wait!"
"Young man, who are you?" the visitor asked, puzzled.
"I'm just a customer here, and I've also newly settled in Hunter Town. My name is Li Xing."
But Li Xing's introduction not only failed to clear things up for the man; it seemed to leave him even more confused.
After the two waited for a while, Uncle Angie Turner returned with a lock set and handed it to Li Xing.
As he handed it over, Uncle Angie Turner began asking him about something.
"I heard from that old man at the lumberyard that you borrowed a tool hammer from him and broke it after using it for one night. Is that true?"
"Yes! I did use it for one night, and it shattered when I used it again the next day!"
Hearing Li Xing confirm it, Angie Turner grew curious.
"Really? Then how did you use it to break a tool hammer?"
Seeing Li Xing's awkward expression, Angie Turner didn't press him further and simply changed the subject.
"That old fellow didn't say much else to you, did he?"
Straightforward as he was, Li Xing answered Uncle Angie Turner's question directly.
"He said you were jealous that he made a lot of money. And that you raised the price on his order!"
"Bullshit!" Angie Turner knew what the other man had said as soon as he heard that, and explained,
"What the hell does he know? All he knows is making money through sales volume. How can he compare to someone like me, who focuses on quality? I made him a batch of good goods, thinking I'd help him save a little, and that old fellow didn't appreciate it at all!"
"Heh! In that case, couldn't you have just followed the order? He said you were jealous, and I think he was right."
The middle-aged man who resembled Uncle Angie Turner was criticizing what Angie Turner had said from the side.
Angie Turner looked toward the voice, saw him, and snapped back, "This is none of your business. Get lost!"
Then he said no more.
Li Xing sensed that something was off with the atmosphere, so he packed up the farming tools and other tools for construction and such that he had picked out earlier, hurriedly paid in gold coins, and left the smithy.
Outside the smithy, after thinking it over and making sure he hadn't forgotten his goods, he headed toward his cabin.
Inside the smithy.
The visitor, having been snapped at, broke the silence in the room.
"Big brother! Who was that kid just now? He said he'd newly settled in our town! How come I didn't know?"
Hearing the question,
Uncle Angie Turner thought for a moment and figured out the situation. Once he understood what had happened, he explained.
"I had that girl Lucy take the newcomer around to meet everyone! She probably forgot about you! Come to think of it, that's only natural. After all, you live so far away!"
Understanding the situation, the visitor continued asking,
"What's that kid like? Where does he live now?!"
Uncle Angie Turner shook his head at that.
"From what I've seen so far, there's nothing wrong with his character. Everything's in line with what I expected. But I can't draw a conclusion yet. We'll see how he does in the future! As for where he lives, I didn't settle him in the center of the village. Just in case, I had him live beside the high ground along the road you take home!"
"Oh, there! That's pretty out of the way too. I'll go see him when I have time, so don't worry!"
Uncle Angie Turner nodded, and the two changed the subject and continued talking!
Inside the cabin.
Li Xing placed the lock set on the front door, gripped the tool hammer tightly in his right hand, and activated Void Construction.
After three successive taps, the lock and the wooden door became a complete whole.
After checking that it worked properly, he brought the other things he'd bought into the room one by one and arranged them.
After tidying up, he prepared to use Void Construction to fix up the interior, so he carried the remaining wood into the room piece by piece. Then he began giving his house a full interior finish.
First, he installed several door bolts on the inside of the front door.
Then he began using the remaining wood for the ceiling, walls, floor, and so on, using the skill to turn the interior into a true cabin of wood! He successfully completed the final touches.
Looking at the finished interior, Li Xing exclaimed,
"This isn't a fully finished house I've made. It's a sauna!"
The room before him looked almost exactly like a sauna in a bathhouse from before he transmigrated.
"If someone sets a fire outside, wouldn't I end up like food in an oven?" Li Xing muttered as he looked at the result. In the end, he said, "I still don't have enough experience. I'll leave it like this for now!" With that, he finished working on the house.
Outside, the sun had already turned red on the horizon.
After tidying up a little, Li Xing set up a stove outside and lit a fire to cook in the glow of the setting sun.
It wasn't because he wanted to admire the beautiful sunset, but because he was afraid of setting himself on fire if he lit one indoors. Without the necessary seasonings and proper tools, Li Xing gave up on Chinese food and could only set up a pot and make meat broth!
Perhaps because of Void Construction, he also realized that his hunger always hit him after he finished using the skill!
"Could it be that my skill uses up food instead of mana?"
Once the meat broth was ready, he put that question out of his mind.
Simply prepared and seasoned with local specialty spices and salt, the meat broth gave Li Xing another filling meal with hard bread.
Feeling uncomfortably full, Li Xing immediately used Void Construction to handcraft the wood in the room into wooden cups, stools, beds, tables, and other common household wooden goods.
After a few simple taps of the tool hammer, his fullness no longer felt uncomfortable.
Looking at what he'd handcrafted, he said, "Am I exercising after a meal to help digestion, or is this the skill consuming energy?!"
After finishing the remaining cleanup,
Li Xing looked out at the night and muttered,
"Sigh~~~ It isn't easy being a newcomer! I still have to go tell people a story. Off I go!" With that, he picked up the stick beside him and headed toward the tavern on the west side of town!