Equipment upgrade

Chen Xu knew Gretka would have a hard time holding on to that emerald. Sooner or later, she would lose it.

He simply hadn't been in the mood to deal with it earlier, but since he had run into it:

"What day did you buy it? Who sold it to you? Who were you with? Where did you get fifty crowns?

"Should I take you to Philip to confront him?

"A jewel of this quality would fetch at least 140 crowns in Velen, and even more in Novigrad. Please, tell me what genius sold it to you. I'll buy my things from him from now on."

The old woman went pale and bowed in panic. "I found it! My lord, please don't report me!"

If you found it, what would I report you for, old lady? Chen Xu was speechless for a moment. He couldn't be bothered to make things difficult for a wretched old woman.

"Give it to me. I'll help you find its 'owner.'"

Gretka immediately looked at Chen Xu with hopeful puppy eyes, as though saying:

I'm the owner! I'm the owner!

"What day did you lose it? Where did you lose it? Who can prove it's yours?"

The little one's utterly baffled expression nearly made Chen Xu burst out laughing.

"Hide it well. If you lose it again, you won't find it."

He pulled the gem off its cord, put it into an empty potion bottle, and tucked it into the little bag Gretka held against her chest.

Then he gave an enormous yawn and walked into his guest room.

He set up his warning devices as usual. Bong had been a potent dose of medicine; even with his reaction up to twenty points, he didn't dare relax for a moment.

Early the next morning, Geralt knocked on his door.

He and Fringilla were ready to set off for Novigrad.

"Take care."

Chen Xu spread his arms for a hug and handed him a small piece of Wyvern hide and some Endrega carapace.

Neither of them had brought up their little unpleasantness at Tree Heart afterward, but he knew the White Wolf was already on his guard.

Still, that didn't matter. Novigrad was the King of Cities' territory, a small pond full of big trouble. Going there himself could easily end in disaster.

The help the witcher could currently provide was negligible, and the cursed elven sage-Uma-had yet to appear at Crow's Perch.

"Remember! If women you truly love ever make you choose between them, whatever you do, don't pick 'I want them all,' White Wolf."

Geralt left in bewilderment. Chen Xu opened his palm, revealing a wolf-head witcher's medallion.

A sly grin crept onto his face. A silver chain for a piece of priceless advice. You're not losing out.

He hoped that lecher would take it to heart.

As for stealing the School of the Wolf's witcher medallion, it wasn't merely to guard against magical attacks. Most importantly:

It was actually what the panel called a [Regional Monster-Hunting Permit].

This résumé requirement varied from person to person:

Someone with a medallion might only need a fine silver sword.

Someone with a silver sword might only need a fine suit of armor.

For someone who had everything but still wasn't qualified, hooking up with a sorceress might help.

Chen Xu was already preparing to advance to [Witcher].

Bong's main class, [Blood and Qi Fighter], had clearly only borrowed the cultivation methods of [Body Cultivation].

It was a basic principle: the higher the résumé requirements, the greater the class's advantages and benefits would surely be.

Otherwise, why would witcher be the career path recommended by the panel?

In short, there was no harm in trying.

The Wyvern, Tree Heart, the werewolf, and Weavess counted as four Qi Sense Tier monsters, while the Botchling and lifting Anna's curse counted as two Qi Sense Tier curses.

With a few bottles of potion on top of that, his dark energy capacity had reached twenty-three.

The only two résumé requirements still outstanding were hunting two Qi Sense Tier monsters and lifting one Qi Sense Tier curse.

Fringilla said her farewells too. It looked as though the White Wolf's romantic whirlpool would become even more perilous.

The sorceress hesitated before leaving, as though she had something to say. What Chen Xu didn't know was that she had reported her progress to the false Emhyr through a megascope last night. When asked whether there were any suspicious individuals, she had reported only Zhaotian Zhi's abnormalities, stating that he had already been killed on the spot.

For some inexplicable reason, she had left out Chen Xu, an unwitting repayment for protecting her several times.

Most importantly, when Geralt left, Chen Xu hadn't followed, dispelling her last trace of doubt.

"Waaah, Pro, my gem broke..."

After seeing Geralt's party off, Chen Xu turned around and found Gretka standing behind him, clutching a potion bottle and crying.

It was the one Chen Xu had tucked into her little bag yesterday, which should have contained a magnificent emerald.

Now, only a pile of emerald dust remained.

"How did that happen? Here, let me fix it for you."

After a good deal of work, he finally used a blended plant adhesive to "restore" it into a gem. Gretka thought it was ugly and still looked miserable.

But the consolation of a little cake finally turned her tears into smiles.

After coaxing the child away, Chen Xu discussed things with the baron in the reception room and set aside a fund of two hundred crowns for Gretka.

It could pay for her schooling after the war subsided, or serve as her dowry when she came of age.

He had indeed switched out the emerald. May the goddess Melitele forgive him.

Perhaps such a valuable object wasn't suitable for Gretka to keep. Philip liked children and was willing to take on this responsibility.

He went straight to the smithy. Since his constitution had grown stronger, his sleeping schedule had become extremely erratic.

Chen Xu intended to take advantage of his daytime energy. He couldn't waste the dragon hide in his storage space.

When Yoana heard he wanted to make armor, she once again asked to observe and waived the rental fee for the smithing tools as usual.

He had no experience tanning dragon hide, but mastery-level Forging touched briefly on the subject:

Raw hide with such tremendous toughness couldn't be made directly into armor immediately after being skinned.

It had to be cured to remove moisture, protected against insects and damp, then stripped of residue and tanned with a special tanning agent...

The process was complicated, and Yoana's tools were somewhat crude. Chen Xu could only cut out the pattern with Gram first.

Thanks to the elemental resistance this lesser dragon possessed, he could forcibly dry it with the Igni Sign!

He turned the elemental flame's output down to its lowest setting and passed it back and forth over the small piece of dragon hide. The scent of meat wafted into his nose.

It was the smell of fat. Carnivores' flesh wasn't tasty; it was sour.

He tore a sliver off the hide to give it a try. Pah!

After scraping the residue off the leather, he took the Wyvern brain out of his storage space. This would be the main ingredient in his tanning agent-using the original broth to digest the original food.

It took him the whole morning to prepare the material for the inner armor. Then he took out a pile of carefully selected Endrega carapaces.

These were the finest back or head plates taken from each carapace. His storage space had limited capacity, so he had only been able to pick out the best at the time.

These would form the outer armor. The material was light, and he planned to layer the armor three times, using the heaviest anti-magic metal plates for the middle layer.

"Are you going dragon hunting, or are you going to take on that so-called 'strongest weapon on the continent'?" Yoana couldn't help quipping.

The full suit would probably weigh close to thirty kilograms. Its wearer would die of exhaustion before the fighting even began.

She simply couldn't see Chen Xu's attributes. He had already drunk [Sage Decoction] and [Blood Fiend Decoction] before bed last night, and this morning's [Diluted Dragon's Strength] had been digested too.

His six attributes had now reached:

Constitution 15, strength 6, reaction 20, soul quality 3, spirit 5, will 1.

His stamina was astonishing. Only he could afford to be so extravagant as to take all six top-tier attribute potions.

To successfully forge this suit of armor, he had to spend five hundred points in exchange for five hundred crowns.

Only after working until nearly sunset did Chen Xu walk out of the smithy in his new equipment, thoroughly satisfied:

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Item: Wyvern armor

Quality: Rare

Defense: 29-32

Durability: 42

Special bonuses: Intermediate elemental resistance, 36% Aard Sign bonus, low-tier impact resistance

Equipped with a complete energy circuit and three rune slots, bringing out every material's effectiveness to its utmost!

Crafted by Chosen One Chen Xu with mastery-level craftsmanship, using lesser dragon hide, insectoid chitin, and element-disrupting metal. Its close-fitting, three-layer design grants it extraordinary durability.

If only it weren't so heavy...

Sale price: 630 points

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Thanks to the three rune slots, its quality had just barely reached rare.

As for his original Temerian guard armor, he had melted it down and reforged it into knee guards and leg armor, following his principle of wasting nothing.

During the breaks while tanning the dragon hide, he had also worked on some other little things:

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Dragon horn bow

Quality: Fine

Attack: 26

Durability: 28

Crafted by Chosen One Chen Xu with mastery-level craftsmanship, using Wyvern horn, Wyvern sinew, and a silver-copper alloy.

The metal bow frame, combined with the dragon horn's specific deformation zones and pretension, and the biological fibers of a Qi Sensing Level lesser dragon, gives it a quality infinitely close to that of a rare weapon.

The five-ridged spinal sinew was simmered in draconid oil and dried with elemental flames, affecting the bowstring's durability.

Its material is hard enough to serve as a melee weapon when no arrows are available.

The extravagant silver-copper alloy has good ductility and reeks of money.

Are you sure you can draw this bow?

Sale price: 237 points

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