Besides selling weapons, a blacksmith shop also made all kinds of heavy armor and mail armor!
Technology on the Azeroth Continent was not very advanced. Because of the laws of the world, it had only taken a rudimentary form, and swords and magic still dominated the continent. There were all sorts of combat professionals across the continent, but they could be broadly divided according to the armor they wore:
Cloth classes: these included almost all combat professionals who specialized in magic, including Mages, Priests, and Warlocks. Mages were further divided into Fire Mages, Frost Mages, Arcane Mages, and so on; Priests into Holy Priests, Discipline Priests, and Shadow Priests; Warlocks into Demonology Warlocks, Destruction Warlocks, and Affliction Warlocks. Of course, these divisions were not absolute. Depending on their talents and the paths they cultivated, some could even specialize in two or three branches...
Aige was a Mage too, belonging to... uh! He still didn't know. At tier one, he was still an apprentice Mage and hadn't unlocked any so-called talents at all. Naturally, he hadn't settled on a specialization either!
Leather classes mostly referred to the more agile types, including at least Rogues and Druids. Classes like Shamans and Hunters could choose leather armor or go a step further and wear mail, so let's put them in the mail category! As for the specializations of these classes, those would be discussed in detail later.
Mail classes were the two useless mail wearers just mentioned. Hunters and Shamans, that meant you... Of course, that was only a friendly joke. Although those two were fringe classes, Hunters had legendary heroes like Rexxar, and Shamans had Thrall. Who would really dare think either class was a pushover?
Plate classes were Warriors and Paladins. (Of course, Death Knights and Monks would appear later. Since this was based on early World of Warcraft, there was no need to go into them for now.)
Blacksmith shops made both mail and plate armor. After all, those two types of armor contained a serious amount of metal, and it was questionable whether an ordinary person could even walk while wearing them! The blacksmith shop in Goldshire could forge both mail and plate armor, and most of the equipment used by Goldshire Footmen and Redridge Mountains Warriors came from there. Anything higher-grade was beyond it; for that, you had to go to Stormwind City.
Aige had also seen several leatherworking shops in town that offered decent leather armor. But Young Master Aige belonged to a cloth class and had no interest in it whatsoever. He poked his head in and looked around for a while, then took off the moment the salesperson inside put on a professional smile...
He did go into a nearby tailor shop. It sold not only the linen shirts and trousers worn by ordinary citizens, but also a small supply of basic cloth armor for combat professionals! To be honest, it wasn't much better than the coarse cloth robe His Lordship was wearing, let alone the green Ancestral Hotpants! Presumably, the tailor inside was still at the beginner level too?
Aige had seriously considered becoming a tailor himself. After all, tailoring paired with enchanting had a great future, and he could make his own cloth armor too. It was a fine companion for a Mage! But perhaps unwilling to settle, he decided to wait. He firmly believed his luck would hold and that he could get good cloth armor as drops, so he would save his last precious profession slot for something better!
After spending most of the morning, Young Master Aige finally remembered that he was supposed to help the marshal with a practical problem... So he dawdled away the rest of the morning, then returned to the inn right on time for a good lunch. While he was there, he watched a passing bard perform, and shamelessly settled his bill and slipped away before the bard finished and came around for tips!
"Hey! You there, wait! I'm talking to you!"
Aige had just stepped out of the inn and was about to head for the southern mine when a shout suddenly came from behind him. After being ignored, the caller actually dared grab Young Master Aige by the sleeve?
"Damn it, all I did was watch the performance without paying! I might not have given you money, but I still gave you an audience, didn't I? Did you really have to come after me yourself?"
Flustered and furious, the young master rolled up his sleeves and prepared to fight the man!
"Uh, a gentleman uses words, not fists!" Seeing that he seemed to have stirred up a hornet's nest, the man quickly waved his hands to show he was an honest fellow!
This guy was wearing a top hat and a suit vest, standing there looking all respectable...
Huh? (Read that with a rising inflection!)
Seeing that Aige wasn't about to let the matter go, the man hurriedly identified himself. "You're Mage Aige, right? Marshal Paul sent me. He was also the one who told me that Your Excellency was a Mage who kept his abilities well hidden!"
When Aige heard that someone had introduced the man, he figured there was probably serious business involved, so he lowered his rather scrawny fists...
"Lord Paul told me he asked you to scout the mine, so I thought I'd ask you for a favor while you're on your way! Of course, I won't ask you to do it for nothing. I'll pay you handsomely!" The respectable-looking fellow pulled a small bag of coins from inside his clothes and showed it off!
"Spit it out! Do you think I've never seen money before? If you've got the guts, fill that bag with gold coins. What's there to show off about a bunch of silver coins mixed with copper?" His Lordship Aige was very annoyed!
"Let's talk this over. There's no need for violence! I've been staying in Goldshire recently to collect some gold dust and the special candles Kobolds carry from the adventurers here! Both can be obtained from Kobolds; you can get them once you kill them. As long as you're capable of getting them, I'll buy as many as you have!"
"How are you buying them? How much for a piece of gold dust? How much for a candle? Make yourself clear, and don't try to take me for a country bumpkin!"
The unscrupulous merchant muttered to himself for a while. He really had taken Aige for a country bumpkin...
"All right, then! Since you're a Mage, I'll buy gold dust for two copper coins a piece, and candles for one copper coin each! I'll take as many as you have!" The unscrupulous merchant started showing off again!
"What do you want those things for?"
Aige had wanted to sound him out, but had no luck. The man shut him down directly: "That's none of Your Excellency's concern! If you don't like the price, you can ask around town. I'm the only one buying them, and my prices are fair. I pay every adventurer the same. If you find I've cheated you, you can come settle accounts with me afterward!"
This guy was pretty damn cocky, but judging by what he said, he was somewhat believable. Besides, it was only a side task...
Notice: The merchant Luxiu has offered you the quests to procure gold dust and candles and is willing to trade fairly at a set price. Obtain at least 10 of each quest item from Kobolds. Upon completion, you will receive some experience, and one card will be randomly drawn from the one-star white cards and placed in your Book of Hearthstone.
Damn! With a one-star white card as a reward, His Lordship had to accept! This was another advantage he had over other adventurers from the start. When others did this quest, all they could get was a little combat experience and a small amount of money. Aige was different: he got everything they did, but he could also get a Hearthstone card that they couldn't. It was a completely free bonus... If there were quests like this, wouldn't Aige have to do them even if he had to pay out of pocket?
Confirm acceptance!
There had never been a road here! Once enough people walked a path, it naturally became a road!
There was no road south of Goldshire to begin with. It was a dense forest full of wild animals, mainly boars, wolves, and grizzly bears! Ordinary civilians wandering around here would be courting death. They simply weren't capable of dealing with these fiercely territorial and savage wild animals.
For civilians traveling nearby, the safest option was to follow the main road. Patrols regularly traveled the continent, helping clear out any wild animals that dared approach and keeping the roads safe for traffic. This area was close to Stormwind City and could be considered humanity's backyard and home base. Even if civilians could be ignored, surely the merchants' lives and property had to be protected? Otherwise, if trade routes were blocked, things would get serious!
The patrols had more than wild animals to deal with. There were also the Diafei thieves who infiltrated from Westfall through every opening they could find! These thieves were far more capable in a fight than ordinary civilians and had little trouble hiding and surviving in the forest. Some reports even indicated that many secret Diafei thief camps were scattered throughout the vast Elwynn Forest. Yet these wild animals had instead become the thieves' protectors... Given the current situation, sending large numbers of soldiers deep into the forest just to search for thieves who were so good at hiding was clearly impractical!
The authorities' inability to act emboldened Diafei. Some farms, estates, and homes deeper in the forest suffered harassment to varying degrees, and some were even coerced or enticed into becoming law-abiding citizens on the surface but Diafei informants in reality!
Back in Northshire, Aige could be considered a combat professional with both hands stained with thieves' blood, and his reputation in that area was formidable. But the Diafei thieves were not his target this time. He was going to scout the mine and, while he was at it, complete the baffling quests issued by the unscrupulous merchant.
Even now, Aige still hadn't figured out what the guy wanted all that gold dust and those candles for. The gold dust was understandable: with the right technique, it might be possible to refine some gold from the low-quality dust, so buying it for two copper coins a portion probably wouldn't be a loss. That was assuming he had a way to do it...
But what the hell were the candles for? Buying them for one copper coin each was a sure way to lose money! After all, one copper coin could buy several candles made from tallow or other animal fats for ordinary civilians...
In the world of Azeroth, there were no electric lights, no thermal or hydroelectric power plants, and certainly no even more ridiculous nuclear power stations!