Soft Skin, Tender Flesh of the Blacksmith

The bearded man stepped forward, the stench of sweat rushing straight into Su Li's nose.

"Since you're a commoner, that makes things easy."

He reached out with a large, black-haired hand and slapped Su Li heavily on the shoulder.

"Congratulations, kid."

The bearded man grinned, smiling like a wolf that had just spotted a fat sheep. "You're in luck; you've been chosen by the lords of our patrol."

Su Li raised an eyebrow.

"Chosen?"

He reached out to brush some non-existent dust off his shoulder, his tone indifferent. "Chosen for what? A beauty pageant?"

"Chosen for your mother's leg!"

The bearded man was incensed by Su Li's nonchalant attitude.

He slammed his spear against the ground. "Chosen to be a soldier! To go to the front lines! To serve the kingdom!"

The tall, thin man beside him also closed in, his hand resting on the hilt of the blade at his waist, looking at Su Li with a mocking expression.

"What? You're not willing?"

The thin man sneered. "This is an honor bestowed upon you by the kingdom. The front lines are tight right now, and every free citizen of Grey Gull Port has an obligation to... to serve the country."

Su Li understood.

Press-ganging.

These two were just out here to round up bodies.

Su Li had originally intended to strike.

With these two, he didn't even need to draw his sword; he could pierce them through with just two fingers.

But just as he prepared to exert force, a thought flashed through his mind.

He hadn't yet grasped the power system of this world.

In his previous life, he had been a blacksmith for sixty years, dealing only with farmers, butchers, and at most, a few passing wandering knights.

As for the true core of power—the so-called breathing techniques and battle qi—he hadn't even seen a hair of them.

Although his [Sword Spirit Root] was overbearing and allowed him to directly absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, this was, after all, a low-magic world where spiritual energy was as thin as air.

If he could get his hands on that knight's breathing technique...

Even the lowest-level one would provide a reference, perhaps allowing him to draw parallels and break through the bottleneck that had held him back for forty years.

Besides.

Drifting through life in a military camp was better than being a headless fly outside. They provided food and shelter, and he would have access to the violent apparatus of this world.

Thinking of this, Su Li dispersed the sliver of energy he had just gathered.

He feigned fear and shrank back.

"Officer... can I choose not to go?"

Su Li's handsome face displayed a timely look of panic. "I... I don't have the strength to truss a chicken; I'll just be throwing my life away if I go."

"Who cares if you die or not!"

Seeing the pretty boy cower, the bearded man became even more emboldened.

He grabbed Su Li by the collar and dragged him close.

"Either you go be a soldier, or I'll pin a charge of 'treason' on you right now and hang your head on the city wall to dry!"

The bearded man threatened viciously, "Choose for yourself!"

Su Li shivered.

"Then... do I get any benefits?"

Su Li asked weakly, "I heard that if you become a soldier, you can learn those... those skills of the knight lords?"

The bearded man and the thin man exchanged glances and suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahahaha! This idiot actually wants benefits?"

The thin man laughed until tears almost came to his eyes. "Fine, fine, fine, there are benefits! As long as you can survive three battles on the front line, never mind knight skills, our lords will even teach you that breathing technique!"

This was, of course, complete nonsense.

How could such a precious breathing technique be taught to cannon fodder like him?

But Su Li seemed to believe it.

His eyes lit up, and he played the part of a greedy, foolish person to perfection.

"Really? Do you provide meals?"

"Of course! White bread for every meal!" The bearded man spouted nonsense.

"Then I'll go!"

Su Li gritted his teeth, looking as if he had staked everything on this. "As long as I can learn a trade, I'll go!"

The bearded man patted Su Li's face with satisfaction.

"Good lad, you know what's good for you."

He let go and pointed toward the west side of the city.

"Go report to the training grounds over there yourself. Don't even think about running; I have your identification papers. If you run, you'll be an unregistered vagrant, and you'll be beheaded on sight if caught."

After saying this, the bearded man glanced at the black horse.

"Not a bad horse."

He unceremoniously snatched the reins from Su Li's hand. "Confiscated. Consider it your enlistment fee."

Su Li watched as the horse, which had cost him ten gold coins, was led away. A look of feigned heartache crossed his face, but his heart remained completely calm.

"Alrighty then."

Su Li tucked his empty coin purse into his tunic, shouldered the pack containing his small iron hammer, and obediently headed toward the west side of the city.

Watching Su Li's retreating figure, the tall, thin man sidled up to the bearded man.

"Boss, this kid looks so delicate... sending him to the recruit camp might cause trouble."

The thin man wore a wicked grin. "Those old veterans haven't seen such a fresh, pretty thing in a long time."

The bearded man mounted the black horse and chuckled.

"None of my damn business."

"He's just cannon fodder meant to die anyway. Letting him vent the frustrations of those big shots is just making the best use of him."

The west side training grounds.

This place was originally a vegetable market, now temporarily requisitioned as a gathering point for new recruits.

Rotten vegetable leaves were trampled into the mud, and the air was thick with the stench of sweat and despair.

Several hundred ragged, unlucky souls were squatting on the ground, surrounded by a circle of overseers holding whips.

Among them were teenagers barely into their youth and old men with graying hair. Each one looked ashen, their eyes dull and vacant.

When Su Li walked in, the training grounds fell silent for a moment.

Everyone looked up, staring at this young man who seemed so out of place.

Clean.

He was far too clean.

It was like a white swan landing in a pigsty.

The officer in charge of registration was a one-armed veteran.

He was sitting behind a dilapidated table, drinking, and when he saw Su Li hand over the wooden tag (the temporary pass the bearded man had tossed to him), his cloudy eyes narrowed.

"Name."

"Su Li."

"What can you do?"

Su Li thought for a moment.

"I can forge iron."

The pen in the old officer's hand paused.

He looked up, a strange expression crossing his scarred face.

"Forge iron?"

The old officer looked at Su Li's fair, slender hands, which didn't even have a single callus.

"Kid, you'll get the whip for lying."

The old officer's cloudy, single eye stared at Su Li's hands as if trying to find something extraordinary about them.

These hands were indeed ridiculous.

White, soft, with slender knuckles and neatly trimmed nails—forget holding a hammer, people would believe he held embroidery needles.

In this training ground filled with filth and calluses, these hands were so clean they felt like a provocation.

The old officer didn't speak. His single eye swept over Su Li's face, looked at those soft, white hands again, and finally landed on Su Li's long robe, which, despite being dusty, was clearly of good quality.

He was weighing his options.

In times of peace, a liar spouting such nonsense would have been dragged out and beaten long ago.

But what time was it now?

Official documents demanding men arrived three times a day. Never mind a blacksmith; even if he were just a pig gelder, as long as he was male, he had to be sent up.