An Astonishing Weapon

"Hm?" Zhang Ruofeng saw Jiang's brow furrow and couldn't help feeling puzzled. "Did you notice something?"

"Who gave you this weapon?" Jiang asked with a frown.

"Our Familia's goddess," Zhang Ruofeng replied. He realized his worries hadn't been unfounded. "I heard it was a relic left behind by an adventurer from the previous Familia, who died last year."

"She died last year?" Jiang looked at Zhang Ruofeng, then fell into thought again. "An adventurer from your Familia died last year? Why does that sound so familiar? No, wait—I remember because she was a beauty."

"..." Zhang Ruofeng was speechless at Jiang's muttering.

"Your Familia's people, your Familia's people..." Jiang kept repeating, then suddenly his eyes lit up. "Is this the weapon of that adventurer from your Familia who killed herself at Babel Tower?"

"Killed herself?" Zhang Ruofeng had never heard anything about that. The goddess didn't want to remember her Familia members who had passed away, so Zhang Ruofeng had never heard her tell stories about the former members of her Familia.

"Yeah. They said that beautiful, tall Amazon walked across Babel Tower's plaza covered in blood, then punched her own head clean off. It was a horrible sight. I don't know what could have driven her to it." Jiang described the scene vividly, leaving even Zhang Ruofeng confused. Adventurers almost never killed themselves. Having grown up in this complicated era of monsters, war, hunger, and gods descending to earth, people in this world were far more resilient than those in Zhang Ruofeng's. He had hardly ever heard adventurers even talk about suicide.

"And then?" Zhang Ruofeng asked. He felt there was more to the story, but couldn't figure out what.

"Of course, they covered it up. Quite a few adventurers saw it, but an adventurer's suicide was upsetting to the others, so they didn't mind much when the Guild warned them not to spread the story. A year's passed, and I'd already forgotten I'd heard the rumor." Jiang shrugged. If Zhang Ruofeng hadn't belonged to Flower Goddess Flora's Familia, he really wouldn't have remembered it.

"Let's leave that aside for now. Are you sure your Familia can afford this weapon?" Jiang had spent a long time handling and examining it before asking in a daze. Zhang Ruofeng knew nothing about metals or craftsmanship. Though he could tell his bracer was a fine piece of work, both in design and practicality, he had no idea how much it was worth. From the sound of it, Jiang thought the weapon was extremely expensive.

"Putting everything else aside, this was made using the Folded Steel forging technique. Only a smith at level 4 or higher has the magic and stamina needed to make a weapon blank like this. Add in all the complicated work that came afterward, and the fact that bracers that cover the hand like this aren't commonly used, and the cost gets even higher." Zhang Ruofeng couldn't help seeing Jiang in a new light. The man always had an irritating air about him and seemed frivolous and unreliable, but when it came to smithing, he knew his stuff. "And based on what you just told me, a white mark appeared on the outside, then disappeared when you wiped the weapon, right?" Jiang stared closely at the metal plate on the outside of the bracer, which was meant to protect against damage. There wasn't a single scratch on it.

"That's right." Zhang Ruofeng remembered it clearly. It had been the first time he'd been seriously injured in this world. "And you should remember what caused it—the Great Barking Dog you brought over did it." Zhang Ruofeng pursed his lips pointedly and glared at Jiang.

"Haha... ha..." When Jiang realized he was the one who'd caused the trouble, he quickly laughed awkwardly, then said, "But you can see for yourself that the weapon's surface has no scratches at all. That means it repaired itself." Jiang tapped the bracer with a hammer, then listened carefully to the sound it made. "Weapons made of self-repairing materials can only have this property if they're made with a special metal like Blue Silver. But weapons or equipment made with Blue Silver are always pale blue—that's one of the telltale signs of self-repair. Yours is so strange, though. It's bright red."

"It was dark red at first, but lately it's been getting brighter," Zhang Ruofeng added. He had come to Jiang precisely to solve the mystery of the weapon.

"Let's put that aside for now." Jiang clearly wasn't too concerned about the question. He clicked his tongue as he examined the bracer. "This bracer was forged using the best method for working steel: Folded Steel. Only smiths who've advanced to level 4 or higher can use that technique. Do you know how much this thing costs?" When Zhang Ruofeng shook his head, Jiang continued, clearly pleased with himself. "You might not believe it, but a bracer like this is worth about four million."

"What?!" Zhang Ruofeng thought he'd misheard. Four million? Was Jiang kidding? If he won the lottery, he might be able to come up with that much, but this world had neither sports betting nor a lottery. Even if he worked himself to death, there was no way he could get his hands on that much Faris.

"Do you think Folded Steel is easy to work with? As far as I know, there are fewer than a hundred smiths at level 4 or higher in all of Orario. The city and the surrounding towns have a combined population of over a million. Do you really think four million is too much?" Jiang mocked Zhang Ruofeng's stunned expression, but even he was secretly taken aback. His own Familia, one of the Three Dwarf Master Smiths and a Familia devoted entirely to smithing, had only five level 4 smiths. There was just one level 5 smith, a senior who had always looked out for him. This weapon was beyond anything Zhang Ruofeng could imagine.

"Don't be surprised. If you added Blue Silver and Mithril, then used Folded Steel to forge the materials into a weapon, the price would probably double." Jiang's stomach hurt just thinking about it. Ten million Faris—that was ten million Faris! Just thinking about it made him envious. "Most weapons used by adventurers above level 5 have both the 'self-repair' and 'steel-cutting' properties. Yours is unusual. If Fire Spirit Ore Vein had been added, it shouldn't be able to repair itself. And it should have been added to give the weapon the 'unbreakable' property. But your weapon still got scratched when the Great Barking Dog attacked it. That's really strange."

Zhang Ruofeng watched Jiang clutch his head and shake it again and again. He, too, was baffled. Why had an adventurer who was only level 1 inherited a weapon used by first-rate adventurers? Zhang Ruofeng couldn't shake the feeling that there was some kind of conspiracy behind it.