The next day, Zhang Ping made a special trip to the school library.
He first looked up the history of Mingzhu City, but found no information about "Martial Training" or "Southern Moon," which showed that these two terms were not old place names.
Since they were not place names, then what were they?
Zhang Ping returned to the dormitory. As he filled out his graduation application, he kept thinking about it.
Could it be that the two words are meant to be read in reverse?
That afternoon, Zhang Ping put down his pen and suddenly had a new idea.
Although it seemed unlikely, he still wrote the two words in reverse on a piece of paper.
Southern Moon.
Martial Training.
Zhang Ping stared at the reversed words and suddenly widened his eyes.
So the riddle was not difficult after all.
But very few people would know the answer. The other party understood him extremely well!
No.
It would be more accurate to say that the other party understood the original owner extremely well.
There had once been a Beef Brisket Ramen Shop not far from the orphanage in Mingzhu City.
Because the character for "brisket" on the sign had split in two, it looked like the two characters "Southern Moon."
Behind the Beef Brisket Ramen Shop was a small park, which was paradise in the eyes of the orphans.
Before Zhang Ping entered Pearl Ability Academy, he often practiced martial arts alone in that park, throwing wild, sloppy punches.
But times had changed. The Beef Brisket Ramen Shop had gone out of business four years ago, and the place had since become an armor workshop. Thus, the odds of the Heavenly Fox knowing this information were extremely low. As for the people who knew he had practiced martial arts in that small park, there were absolutely no more than a handful.
From this, it could be inferred that the person who had appeared behind him last night definitely knew the original owner!
Zhang Ping tore up the words on the paper and flushed them down the toilet. Then he picked up his graduation application and walked out.
After learning the answer, he felt much more relaxed.
Judging from the literal meaning, the other party probably wanted him to meet them at the small park behind the Beef Brisket Ramen Shop on the twenty-third.
The reason the number did not need to be read in reverse was that no month had thirty-two days, so it had to refer to the twenty-third.
The graduation application went very smoothly.
After all, he was merely a useless Awakened who had awakened a Useless Tier ability, so no one paid much attention to him.
Evening.
Zhang Ping packed his luggage and left the school directly.
When he arrived at Iron Soul, Stinky Qiang was taking care of Uncle Liu inside the shop. He immediately broke into a smile. Seeing Zhang Ping carrying luggage, he already knew Zhang Ping's answer.
"Young brother, you came at just the right time. I have to go on a mission tomorrow and probably won't be back for five days. I was just worried that no one would be able to take care of Uncle Liu. Come, come, I'll take you upstairs to have a look first." Stinky Qiang pulled Zhang Ping by the hand and spoke happily.
The shop had three floors in total. The first floor was the store, the second was the living quarters, and the third was the workshop.
The second floor was very spacious and had many rooms. Zhang Ping chose one, put away his luggage, and then followed Stinky Qiang downstairs. Only while going downstairs did he learn that Stinky Qiang's real name was Qiu Qiang. However, since the neighbors had called him Stinky Qiang ever since he was a child, he did not mind being called that.
Uncle Liu's name was Liu Tiefeng. He was already seventy-nine years old. He had originally had a son named Liu Dashan, but Liu Dashan had gone missing some time ago.
He probably had a bad feeling about it.
Liu Tiefeng's mental state had been deteriorating recently. Not only were his reactions becoming slower and slower, but he was also growing somewhat confused. That was why Qiu Qiang wanted to find someone reliable to take care of Liu Tiefeng.
The main reason he had chosen Zhang Ping was that Zhang Ping was both a student and an orphan. Unlike people who had been out there struggling in society, his thoughts and interpersonal relationships were not complicated.
Besides, Qiu Qiang would often come over to take care of Liu Tiefeng himself, so he was not worried that Zhang Ping might have ulterior motives.
Of course, Qiu Qiang did not say the latter part. Zhang Ping had figured that out himself.
A student who wanted to become an adventurer.
There was no need to guess.
He was definitely an orphan.
That was easy to determine in Mingzhu City.
At night, Qiu Qiang decided to take advantage of the available time to teach Zhang Ping some basic blacksmithing skills.
After he left for his mission, Zhang Ping could watch over Liu Tiefeng in the shop while practicing his basic skills, so he would not have nothing to do.
The blacksmiths of this world differed somewhat from the blacksmiths Zhang Ping had imagined.
Before learning, Zhang Ping had thought that forging weapons meant taking a hammer and repeatedly striking a red-hot piece of iron, then quenching, polishing, and sharpening it.
But the forging techniques of this world were not that simple.
"Little Zhang, I'll demonstrate it once first. Watch carefully." Qiu Qiang put on a pair of fireproof gloves and then spoke to Zhang Ping, who was standing beside him.
Zhang Ping nodded, focused his attention, and carefully watched Qiu Qiang's movements.
Qiu Qiang picked up several iron ingots and placed them on a wooden tray. "These are all processed refined iron. You can generally buy them at an iron ore wholesale shop. An ingot weighing ten pounds costs around six thousand yuan."
"That expensive?" Zhang Ping exclaimed.
Qiu Qiang placed several kinds of scales on the wooden tray and said with a faint smile, "You have to understand that the iron ore in Mingzhu City is all mined in the wilderness. Going outside the city is equivalent to gambling with your life. Every piece of refined iron may be stained with the blood of miners and adventurers. Is six thousand yuan really expensive?"
"..."
Zhang Ping was speechless.
Next, Qiu Qiang prepared the materials and said, "These scales are called Crimson-Tempered Snake Scales. They come from the Mutated Beast known as the Crimson Refining Snake. At high temperatures, these scales gradually melt and give off extremely high heat. At the same time, there's a substance called Crimson Ash that can fuse into refined iron. It not only strengthens the refined iron's hardness and toughness but also gives it the ability to repair itself."
"Therefore, once Crimson-Tempered Snake Scales are added, the weapon must be forged in one go. Otherwise, once it cools, the ingot will remain in whatever shape it has at that point, making it very difficult to forge a second time."
As he spoke, Qiu Qiang carried the wooden tray and placed the iron ingots and materials into the furnace. He then reached into the flames and quickly stirred them. It did not look like he was forging a weapon at all. Instead, it looked more like he was kneading dough.
"Many of these materials have to be stirred evenly by hand, so this method of forging weapons is also called the Dough-Kneading Forging Technique." Qiu Qiang did not care at all about the high temperature. His eyes remained fixed on the flames as both hands continued stirring.
Zhang Ping swallowed. He saw that although Qiu Qiang was wearing fireproof gloves, the flames had actually already reached his arms. Yet Qiu Qiang did not care in the slightest. Not even a single hair had been burned off.
"Watch carefully. The next step is crucial," Qiu Qiang said.
He lifted a lump of red "dough" from the fire and immediately stood up to place it into a black rectangular mold beside him. Then he picked up a huge iron hammer and frantically struck the raised parts of the mold. Gradually, the raised sections became flatter and flatter.
"Bring me that red oil over there!" He caught his breath, then called out to Zhang Ping.
Zhang Ping immediately lifted a one-meter-tall oil drum from behind the counter and laboriously carried it over to Qiu Qiang.
"Not bad. Being able to carry fire oil means your physical fitness isn't poor." Qiu Qiang's eyes held a smile. He had merely been testing Zhang Ping's strength.
Although the Dough-Kneading Forging Technique did not have particularly high strength requirements, one still could not be completely powerless.
Qiu Qiang opened the fire oil and poured a small amount onto the mold. With a tremendous boom, the mold released a large amount of steam. Then Qiu Qiang pressed down on the switch beside the mold and yanked it hard. The mold slowly opened, revealing a dark blade streaked with red patterns.
"These are the most basic steps for forging a weapon. This blade is called the Pearl Saber. It's considered Mingzhu City's standard-issue blade. All blacksmith apprentices initially learn to forge this weapon. Only after becoming familiar with how the materials change can they possibly forge various weapons according to their own wishes without using molds." Qiu Qiang picked up the blade from the mold and walked toward the blade-testing platform as he spoke to Zhang Ping.
The next moment, he raised the blade and chopped down at the stone on the testing platform. A flash of blade light passed, and the stone was immediately split in two, the cut smooth and even.
"This is Mingzhu City's most ordinary blade!"
At that moment, Zhang Ping truly felt as if his horizons had been broadened. These were things he could not learn at Pearl Ability Academy, and they also gave him his first basic understanding of Mingzhu City's weapons. But he quickly came back to his senses. Even with weapons like these, Mingzhu City had still been infiltrated by the Heavenly Fox.
Without a doubt.
The Heavenly Fox was even more terrifying and dangerous.
"Can this kind of standard-issue weapon injure an Intermediate Mutated Beast?" Zhang Ping thought for a moment before asking.
Qiu Qiang set the blade aside. Hearing Zhang Ping's question, he immediately smiled and said, "That depends on the Mutated Beast. Some Mutated Beasts have powerful defenses, some are extremely agile, and some excel at attacking. So there's no absolutely certain answer.
"However, Pearl Sabers are generally only used against Basic Mutated Beasts. And even among Basic Mutated Beasts, some with powerful defenses can still withstand attacks from a Pearl Saber."
Most Mutated Beasts were naturally stronger than humans, and the higher their Level, the stronger they became.
Even Mutated Beasts whose abilities were not related to physical enhancement would, after reaching a high Level, possess physical strength no weaker than that of physically enhanced Awakened.
That was also one of humanity's disadvantages when facing Mutated Beasts.
"All right, now you try it. Don't be nervous the first time. You'll have plenty of time to slowly practice the basics later." Seeing Zhang Ping deep in thought, Qiu Qiang removed the fireproof gloves from his hands, patted Zhang Ping on the shoulder, and continued.
Zhang Ping nodded and accepted the fireproof gloves Qiu Qiang handed him. After putting them on, he walked to the furnace.
He had already memorized all of Qiu Qiang's techniques. Now he only needed to follow the steps Qiu Qiang had just used to forge the Pearl Saber.
First, prepare all the required materials.
Second, place the materials into the furnace and heat them with an open flame.
Zhang Ping carried the wooden tray into the furnace. As he put it in, his unprotected arms already felt a wave of scorching heat. The materials also released heat as they burned in the flames, and the heat surged out of the furnace. His eyebrows immediately curled, and he could faintly smell something burning.
"Don't retreat. Carefully sense the changes in the materials. Don't let go, or the materials will be ruined once they mix with the accelerant in the firewood." Qiu Qiang reminded him.
Zhang Ping had originally wanted to step back, but after hearing this, he could only grit his teeth and endure it. As the wooden tray burned away completely, he immediately felt an unknown heavy mass cupped in his hands. Clearly, this was the material formed after the mixture had burned.
"The timing should be about right. The materials in your hands aren't evenly distributed yet. Knead them slowly and feel their weight," Qiu Qiang said.
Zhang Ping nodded, then slowly kneaded the material with both hands.
Although there were fireproof gloves between them, he could indeed feel that the material resembled flour yet was harder than flour. Different areas felt different to the touch.
At first, he really had thought it would be no different from kneading dough. But only after experiencing it himself did he discover that kneading this material required far more strength than kneading dough. It was simply not something an ordinary person could do.
It was extremely strenuous.
But he still gritted his teeth and continued stirring and kneading.
"This step is extremely important, and you can't be too slow either. If you're too slow, some of the materials will be burned away completely." Seeing Zhang Ping gradually covered in sweat, Qiu Qiang said with a smile.
Zhang Ping gritted his teeth and persisted. Gradually, he felt the "dough" in his hands fuse into one. He glanced at Qiu Qiang, but Qiu Qiang gave no indication of whether it was acceptable. Instead, he left the judgment to Zhang Ping himself.
"It should be ready!"
Zhang Ping thought for a moment, then immediately lifted the reddened "dough" from the furnace. He quickly placed it into the mold and closed the mold.
He bent down to pick up the iron hammer, only to discover that it was even heavier than he had estimated. He could not lift it with one hand.
After much effort, he picked up the iron hammer with both hands and hurriedly began striking the mold.
Amid the clanging sounds, the raised parts of the mold gradually flattened.
After confirming that he had done his best, he picked up the fire oil and poured it over the mold.
Boom!
With a tremendous boom, a large amount of steam sprayed from the gaps in the mold.
Zhang Ping set down the fire oil. He did not hurry to inspect the weapon he had forged. Instead, he dropped onto the floor, completely exhausted.