Although Shi Feng could afford the loss if the forging failed, no one wanted to throw money away, so he felt a little nervous.
When Shi Feng clicked to check the stats, the words "Detecting" appeared on the armor's display.
The red progress bar slowly began to fill. The system was assessing the equipment's stats.
Three seconds later, the system finished reading the data and displayed the armor's stats.
Guardian Armor, Bronze plate armor. Requires 10 Strength. Level 3. Defense +22, Strength +2, Stamina +3, HP +150. Durability 35/35. Additional ability: Power of Defense, reducing damage taken by 3%. Restricted to Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights.
System: You forged Guardian Armor successfully. Forging proficiency increased by 2 points. You gained 800 experience.
"Great, it even has Power of Defense." Shi Feng was delighted as he looked at the additional ability.
He hadn't expected to successfully forge a piece of Bronze Equipment on his first try, and the experience reward was so high. No wonder many forging masters in his previous life didn't need to kill monsters to keep their levels up. This Guardian Armor not only met the stat requirements, but also came with an additional ability.
Guardian Armor normally didn't have Power of Defense. However, a blacksmith could forge it with an exceptional result, and the presence of Strange Fire made an additional ability possible, further increasing the equipment's value.
Shi Feng took a good look at the Guardian Armor. Its silvery-gray metallic finish and stylish design made it far superior to ordinary Bronze Equipment. He was very satisfied with his work.
Ordinary equipment was still the mainstay for players. Even later, when players had reached levels five or six, it wouldn't be unusual to see them wearing a full set of ordinary equipment. Bronze Equipment was simply too hard to obtain. Even high-level players in elite teams would be thrilled to get one or two pieces.
If he put the Guardian Armor, which both Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights could wear, up for sale, elite teams would surely be interested. After all, a well-equipped MT made clearing dungeons much easier. Even at a price of 4 Silver, those teams would buy it at any cost.
As for Guardian Armor with Power of Defense, its value to an MT was obvious. Shi Feng wouldn't sell it for less than 5 Silver.
With his first successful forging behind him, Shi Feng continued making Guardian Armor.
This time, however, he took out some Hundred-Refined Steel. He wanted to see what kind of equipment he could make with it.
In less than ten minutes, the second piece of Guardian Armor was complete.
Its color differed from the previous piece. It was dark black rather than silvery gray.
After the system inspected it for three seconds, the stats appeared again.
Guardian Heavy Armor, Bronze plate armor. Requires 14 Strength. Level 3. Defense +25, Strength +2, Stamina +4, HP +150. Durability 40/40. Additional ability: Power of Defense, reducing damage taken by 5%. Restricted to Shield Warriors and Guardian Knights.
System: You forged Guardian Heavy Armor successfully. Forging proficiency increased by 2 points. You gained 1,000 experience.
System: You gained an additional 2 points of forging proficiency from the Forging Genius talent.
Shi Feng had already forgotten the extra proficiency his forging talent had granted him. He stared intently at the Guardian Heavy Armor. Its stats were already comparable to level 3 Mystic Iron Equipment, and it was worth at least 10 Silver.
He hadn't expected Hundred-Refined Steel to make such a difference. The forging master's gift really was extraordinary. Unfortunately, he had only nine pieces of Hundred-Refined Steel left.
Since Hundred-Refined Steel had such an effect, Shi Feng wouldn't waste it. He would save it for forging other valuable equipment in the future.
Two hours passed quickly. Shi Feng kept forging Guardian Armor and ended up with twenty-three pieces, though four attempts had failed.
Still, Shi Feng was quite satisfied. He could make back the cost of the four failed pieces with just one successful Guardian Armor.
At the same time, Shi Feng reached level 3. He wasn't far behind the expert players anymore, and his forging proficiency had risen to 44 points—more than four or five times faster than the guild's other forgers.
Shi Feng left the Intermediate Forging Room and headed to the Auction House.
He put up the eleven pieces of Guardian Armor without Power of Defense, with a starting price of 4 Silver each. As for the Guardian Armor with Power of Defense and the Guardian Heavy Armor, he would hold on to them for now. He wanted the guilds and elite teams to get a taste first; then he could sell the remaining Guardian Armor for a better price.
Afterward, Shi Feng set up a stall in the Trade District. He only had to shout once, and a large number of players came running to sell him stone and Magic Essence. After buying stone and Magic Essence for half an hour, Shi Feng checked the time. It was nearly night in God's Domain. Monsters would be much stronger at night, making them several times harder to kill. It wasn't a good time to level up, and he needed to rest as well.
He was still using a Virtual Helmet, not a Virtual Rest Pod. It could provide his body with the energy and nutrients it needed and stimulate his muscles, preventing his health from deteriorating after playing God's Domain for too long.
Shi Feng swiped his finger, bringing up the system interface, and chose to log out.
By then, sunlight had already streamed through the windows of his cramped rental apartment, and the room was beginning to warm up.
Shi Feng took off the Virtual Helmet, sat up slightly, and stretched.
After more than ten hours without moving, his body had gone numb from lying in bed the whole time. He needed to get some exercise.
Shi Feng started doing basic exercises like push-ups and sit-ups.
In today's highly materialized society, physical exercise had become an essential part of life.
Decades ago, many scientists had achieved great success in researching ways to strengthen the body and extend people's lives. These advances allowed all of humanity to stay young for longer and raised the world's average life expectancy to one hundred. They also highlighted the importance of physical exercise.
And so the era of fitness for all had arrived.
Nowadays, sports competitions and martial arts tournaments drew widespread attention.
Universities had many sports and martial arts clubs, all of which were popular with students.
In this society, anyone without a few skills was looked down on. Sports stars and martial arts experts were especially admired. Students on athletic scholarships or those who regularly competed in sparring tournaments were never short of women surrounding them. The pretty-boy era of centuries past was no longer in fashion.
In his previous life, Shi Feng had neglected his health and nearly ruined his body. By the time he decided to start exercising, he was already getting on in years. No matter how hard he trained, the results were limited.
In this life, Shi Feng wouldn't make the same mistake and focus entirely on God's Domain while neglecting his physical fitness.
After exercising for half an hour, Shi Feng took a shower, drenched in sweat. He had just gotten ready to eat the instant noodles he'd prepared when his phone rang.
Shi Feng checked the caller ID. It was Zhao Ruoxi, the class monitor, whom he had barely spoken to before.
"Class monitor, what's up?" Shi Feng asked after answering the call.
As far as he could remember, he'd never interacted with the class monitor outside of class. In four years, they'd spoken fewer than a hundred words to each other.
"Shi Feng, get to school as soon as you can. You're the only one we couldn't notify because you're not in the boys' dormitory, so I'm telling you now. There's an important announcement at eleven in Room 401 of Teaching Building No. 3."
Shi Feng glanced at the electronic clock on the table. It was already half past ten. "Okay, I'll be right there."