"You really are an exceptional young man, with the whole world in your heart. Hearing your promise put me much more at ease. It even makes me want to help you curse those bastards out." The shopkeeper gave Chuan Wenwu an admiring look. "But ambition alone won't do. You need strength worthy of a hero, too."
Chuan Wenwu immediately replied, "That's why I'm here to pick up my equipment, so I can go grind monsters and get stronger! Boss, are the needles I asked you to reforge yesterday ready?"
"Who do you think you're talking to?" The shopkeeper patted his chest and turned toward the small door behind the counter-it led to his forge.
A little while later, the shopkeeper came out carrying several objects wrapped in black leather. He set the bundle on the counter. "Here you go. Just as you requested, I melted down that Magic Iron Sword and reforged it into these needles."
Beneath the leather lay a dozen or so long, slender iron needles gleaming coldly. Their shafts were even and their tips sharp; one glance was enough to see the fine craftsmanship.
"As you asked, I melted that Magic Iron Sword down and cast it into these things. They hardly count as weapons, since there's nowhere convenient to grip them. They're more like individual spikes taken off the fences around noble estates, the kind that stop people from climbing over. I reckon your fighting style is about the only one that could make use of them."
The shopkeeper picked up a magic iron needle and explained in detail, "Still, their material and shape have their advantages. Magic iron naturally has some ability to pierce magical defenses, and the needle shape improves that penetration further. If you could secure them somewhere suitable, they'd make a pretty decent trap."
Chuan Wenwu picked up a needle to examine it as well. Feeling the sharpness of its tip with his fingertip, he couldn't help praising the shopkeeper. "Boss, your craftsmanship really is impressive. You finished them so quickly, and they're so finely made."
"Haha, this is nothing! Forging a sword takes real work. Casting these needles is much simpler-melt the metal, pour it into a mold, then polish it once it's cooled. There's not much skill involved." The shopkeeper waved a hand dismissively.
"Either way, thank you. These needles will make dealing with those Balloon Monsters much easier," Chuan Wenwu said with a smile-just imagining popping balloons with needles felt satisfying.
The shopkeeper pictured the scene and laughed too. "You really have it in for those Balloon Monsters, don't you, kid?"
"Well, they're easy targets." Chuan Wenwu was about to put the needles away, but as his arm touched them, the Shield of the Hero on it suddenly lit up.
"Huh? These needles... can the Shield of the Hero absorb them?" Chuan Wenwu's eyes lit up, and he immediately tried "feeding" the needles to his shield.
Three needles instantly dissolved into motes of light and were absorbed by the gem at the shield's center. A moment later, a notification from the Book of Weapons appeared-
Magic Iron Needle Shield requirements met. Successfully unlocked! [Magic Iron Needle Shield] [Equipment bonuses: defense +2; thorns +2 [ability not unlocked]]
With a thought from Chuan Wenwu, the plain Small Shield instantly transformed-its surface bristled with densely packed spikes, like a cactus with every spine extended. Just looking at it made his scalp prickle.
"Hey, hey, hey! What's going on? Your shield can change shape?" The shopkeeper's eyes widened in shock-in all his years, he had never seen a transforming shield.
"Oh, that's a special ability of a hero's weapon. It can absorb different materials to unlock different forms. You didn't know, boss?" As Chuan Wenwu spoke, he cycled through the Small Shield, the Orange Balloon Small Shield, and the Magic Iron Needle Shield before returning to the needle shield. "The shield just told me it could absorb these needles, so I gave it a try. Sure enough, it unlocked a new form. The effects seem pretty good."
"Gulp..." The shopkeeper swallowed, staring at the needle shield with a tremor in his voice. "Good heavens, how can a shield look so terrifying? If someone crashed into it, wouldn't they end up full of holes?"
Chuan Wenwu considered that, then shook his head regretfully. "Probably not. It looks scary, but it's still the Shield of the Hero. My attack power is too low. Even if I attacked with this needle shield, I probably couldn't get through anyone's defenses, let alone punch holes in them-boss, how about letting me try it on you?"
"Get out of here!" The shopkeeper went pale and waved him off repeatedly.
Who would be crazy enough to let someone smack them in the face with a cactus?
"All right, then." Somewhat disappointed, Chuan Wenwu put away the remaining needles. Then inspiration struck, and he asked, "By the way, boss, do you take custom equipment orders?"
"Hm? What do you want made?"
"I'd like you to make another batch of needles like these using different materials-preferably in different lengths and thicknesses, too. I want to see if I can unlock more needle shield forms," Chuan Wenwu explained.
"That's no problem. Casting needles isn't much trouble anyway. But even though my shop isn't very big and I don't stock that many kinds of ore, making a batch of needles from every material I have would still cost quite a bit..." The shopkeeper gave Chuan Wenwu a doubtful look. "Do you have that much money?"
"..."
Chuan Wenwu fell silent. His funds were indeed rather limited: he only had a little over five hundred silver coins. If he really wanted needles made from "every material," that would be nowhere near enough.
After some consideration, he said, "Then let's skip the rare materials for now. Just make a batch each from iron, magic steel, and silver iron. If they work, I'll come back for the other materials once I have more money."
"Sure. That'll be 100 silver coins," the shopkeeper quoted.
"That cheap?" Chuan Wenwu was a little surprised.
Seeing Chuan Wenwu's puzzled look, the shopkeeper explained, "Making needles and making swords are on completely different levels of difficulty. I'm only charging you for the materials and a little labor, so naturally it's cheap. If you find any rare materials yourself later, you can bring them here and pay me a small fee to process them for you. That would be even cheaper."
"You really are an honest man, boss!" Chuan Wenwu praised him and promptly handed over the money.
Then his gaze drifted to the other goods in the weapon shop, a thoughtful expression on his face.
"What is it? Do you want to buy some more equipment?" the weapon shopkeeper asked enthusiastically. "Would you like a few recommendations?"
"Boss, could I try handling these weapons and pieces of armor?" Chuan Wenwu asked. "I want to see whether my shield can absorb other equipment to gain corresponding forms-of course, I won't do anything reckless. If I find any equipment it really can absorb, I'll buy it before trying."