Space Ring

As for the dinner knife in his hand, he didn't think it could serve as a weapon.

The short woman saw through his intentions.

Hunched over, she moved with incredible speed and blocked Su Li's path.

The dagger swept across, forcing Su Li to stop.

Gritting his teeth, Su Li lunged forward and slammed into her.

His shoulder crashed heavily into the short woman's chest.

She grunted and staggered back five or six steps from the tremendous force. A trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth.

She had underestimated Su Li's brute strength.

But she had also delayed him for those crucial few seconds.

The tall woman had already reached his back.

Su Li's ear twitched. He heard the rush of air behind him.

He turned and raised his left arm to block.

The blade sliced through his sleeve, leaving a deep gash in his arm that exposed the bone. Blood poured out.

Su Li gritted his teeth.

Who were these women, anyway?

He stared intently at the rise and fall of their chests.

Two long breaths and one short one. Perfectly regular.

With this peculiar breathing rhythm, the free-floating spirit energy, or aether, in the air surged wildly into their bodies.

The aether clung to their muscles, granting them terrifying explosive power and resistance to blows.

It was completely different from the Sword Spirit Root's subtle, gentle absorption. This was an extremely crude form of plunder and compression.

The Knight Breathing Technique!

Two prostitutes who had practically delivered themselves to his door were actually knights who wielded aether!

Su Li's heart raced.

He had never managed to grasp the threshold of this world's power system.

Now, a living example stood right before him.

The Sword Spirit Root surged into action. Su Li tried to imitate their two-long-one-short breathing rhythm.

He inhaled.

Aether surged into him with ferocious force.

A stabbing pain shot through his meridians.

The fight gave him no chance to learn through trial and error.

The short woman wiped the blood from her mouth and charged at him again.

Her two daggers struck high and low, their movements perfectly coordinated.

Su Li was in serious trouble now.

He had brute strength to spare, but zero combat experience.

In his previous life, he had spent sixty years forging iron in Wading Village. The most he'd ever done was beat up a few drunks and hooligans.

Even when he fought those bandits earlier, he had relied entirely on overwhelming strength.

Now, facing two well-trained assassin knights, the gap in skill was laid bare.

His defenses crumbled completely.

He staggered backward again and again until his back slammed hard into the wall. There was nowhere left to retreat.

The tall woman's dagger thrust straight for his throat.

Su Li tilted his head aside. The blade grazed his neck, drawing a thin line of blood.

The short woman's attack followed right after.

Her dagger's tip swept upward from below, heading straight for his abdomen.

Su Li lifted his foot to kick her wrist.

The tall woman twisted her wrist, changing the dagger's trajectory. It stabbed downward toward Su Li's collarbone.

Attacked from both sides. There was no way to dodge.

Su Li watched as the blue-glinting dagger pierced his robe.

Thwack.

The sound of metal entering flesh was piercing.

The dagger plunged precisely into his left chest.

The blade cut through his muscles and pierced his beating heart.

Excruciating pain overwhelmed every nerve.

Su Li opened his mouth. A gush of blood spilled out.

His strength drained rapidly away.

Leaning against the wall, he slowly slid downward.

Was this really it?

Su Li's body fell beside a redwood chest.

Its lid was open. Golden coins lay scattered across the floor.

They were stained a glaring red.

Pain.

So much pain.

Su Li watched the blue-glinting dagger plunge into his chest. A cold draft poured through the wound.

The two damn women couldn't even be bothered to look at him again. They simply pulled out their blades, then casually wiped the blood on his fine linen shirt.

He fell over.

His last glimpse was of the chest full of gleaming gold coins.

His blood stained them.

"Damn, my luck really couldn't get any worse."

That was the only curse Su Li managed to think before his consciousness left his body.

The world around him changed completely. The warm carriage chamber, heated by silver-thread charcoal, disappeared. So did the two curvaceous assassins.

Everything around him was gray and white.

The familiar settlement space.

Su Li plopped down into the void and looked down at his chest. It was smooth and unblemished, without even a red mark.

He rubbed his chin, cursing inwardly.

Those two women had definitely been cheating knights. That speed of aether absorption, that inhuman explosive strength...

All his brute strength, enough to hammer sparks from raw iron, wasn't worth a damn against them.

What a massive loss!

That had been a whole chest of gold coins! He hadn't even gotten to enjoy them!

Before he could finish complaining, a deep blue screen appeared in front of him. The system's icy prompt struck directly into his mind.

[Host's life signs have disappeared. This life's Reincarnation has ended.]

[Beginning comprehensive evaluation settlement.]

Several lines of large text appeared on the screen.

[Survival duration: 60 years. Rating: E (White).]

Su Li rolled his eyes.

At least it had calculated his lifespan accurately. He had spent a full sixty years tucked away in Wading Village in this life.

He had barely been out of the village a few days when he reached Blackstone Fortress and got himself killed.

What was the point of immortality? Get stabbed once and he'd still end up here.

[Accumulated wealth: 957 Gold Coins. Rating: C (Blue).]

Seeing this line made Su Li even more depressed.

He had spent sixty years forging iron in Wading Village and only managed to save this much.

He had died too quickly to even warm the chest of Gold Coins the fortress's damned count had given him. The system didn't count it at all.

Over nine hundred Gold Coins sounded like a lot, but in the eyes of the truly wealthy, it probably only bought a few nice outfits.

[Social status: S (Dark Gold).]

[Explanation: The longsword you forged contained a remarkably high concentration of aether. Count Remington, supreme commander of Blackstone Fortress, has secretly confirmed to the highest-ranking military officers that you are a "Magic Forger." This is an exalted title held by only three people in the entire kingdom.]

"What the hell?"

Su Li's eyes widened. He nearly leaped to his feet in the void.

Magic Forger?

That made him a Magic Forger? He'd only tapped raw iron a few times with a little hammer in that lousy shed at the Armory. He hadn't even sharpened the blade properly. He'd just been going through the motions.

And yet, that lump of scrap iron had earned him an S-rank rating?

So the count had been practically throwing money and women at him because he'd been treating him like a national treasure! Those two assassins had probably attacked him to snatch him for their own side—or to keep him from falling into someone else's hands.

Could it be because of his [Sword Spirit Root]?

Su Li wondered, remembering how, while forging the sword, he really had felt a trace of spiritual energy in his body, much like what he sensed in the blade.

If he'd known blacksmiths were so sought-after in this godforsaken world, why had he wasted his time hiding away in Wading Village?

He should've gone straight to the Royal Capital, latched onto the king, and enjoyed good food and drink every day, sleeping in the softest bed around. Then he wouldn't have had to serve as a conscript and suffer that indignity.

The text on the screen continued to scroll.

[Progeny: None. Rating: F (Gray).]

[Legendary status: None. Rating: F (Gray).]

[Overall rating: D+.]

Su Li pursed his lips.

That was to be expected. He and Saina hadn't had any children in this life.

They'd spent sixty years practically glued to the bed, but Saina's belly had never shown the slightest sign of a baby.