After dining at Xia's Restaurant, Su Xiao headed straight for Reid's forge.
As soon as he arrived at the forge, Su Xiao saw Reid hammering metal at the forging table. The stocky Reid was exceptionally focused while forging equipment.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Su Xiao disliked being disturbed while practicing swordsmanship, so he did not call out to Reid. He simply found a chair in the forge and sat down to wait. Reid's "adopted daughter," Ohoh, was squatting in the corner. Her dirty little face was streaked with tears, and she occasionally sniffled. She had clearly been scolded by Reid again. However, the bracelet on her wrist and the ruby pendant around her neck were obviously no ordinary items.
After waiting for nearly an hour, Reid placed the bar of metal in his hand into the Furnace.
"When did you get here?"
Reid fished two cans of ice-cold beer out of the coolant and casually tossed one to Su Xiao.
"Fifty-nine minutes and forty-three seconds ago."
"Cough, cough..."
Reid wiped the beer foam from his beard and sat down beside Su Xiao.
"Is something major about to happen recently?"
"Be more specific."
"I've received a lot of orders lately, all from the Void. Most are from races with moderate influence. Orders for weapons and armor are the most common—at least ten times more than usual. If you're going to the Void soon, you'd better be careful."
Reid set down the ice-cold beer in his hand and let out a long breath.
"The strong are fighting for..."
Su Xiao stopped halfway through his sentence.
"Hm? You mean... it's like that?"
Reid understood and stopped asking about it. Su Xiao removed most of his equipment and had Reid repair it.
"This long leather coat armor..."