Chapter 87

Mu Huiyue finally recognized what the little creature was as the identification information appeared on the investigation wristband.

[Name]: Forging Soldier

[Attribute]: Steel

[Race Level]: High-level War General

[Growth Rank]: Ninth Stage of Growth

[Talent Core]: Imagined Alchemy (Steel, C-Level)

**[Race Introduction]: A steel-type supernatural creature discovered in the S-Class secret realm “Heaven and Earth Forge,” with the unique forging ability “Imagined Alchemy,” which allows it to perfectly forge physical objects based on blueprints imagined in its mind. Its body is intrinsically linked to the forging hammer—without it, the creature cannot use its skills and will fall into mental depression after prolonged periods without it.”

[Normal Hidden Energy Value]: 87,896P

Mu Huiyue glanced at the identification information and then at the Forging Soldier, which had reverted to its original state.

It was no wonder she hadn’t recognized it at first—despite being a knowledgeable top student, she had never seen a Forging Soldier outside of its armor, let alone what it looked like in its natural form…

And not only was it intrinsically linked to the forging hammer, but it turned out that the Forging Soldier’s armor was also part of the hammer? If taken away, it would turn into a wrinkled, bare-skinned, unknown humanoid creature…

“Little servant!” A voice urgently called from the crowd behind.

A tall girl struggled through the crowd, finally catching up with her pet. She looked at the Forging Soldier, now back to its original form, and sighed with relief before turning her gaze to the thief trapped in the shadows.

The girl stepped forward and kicked the man, saying, “Who sent you?”

The man who had stolen the hammer lowered his head, remaining silent.

Seeing this, she sneered. “I know without you saying—Han Qi, right? Only he could come up with such a stupid trick of stealing the little servant’s hammer.”

“Kuwa!” The Forging Soldier angrily swung its hammer.

The thief didn’t speak, but the ground mole in his pocket squeaked in fear when it heard the name, inadvertently giving him away.

The man clicked his tongue, and the mole trembled, burying its head deep inside the pocket, leaving its exposed trembling mouse backside visible.

Hearing the commotion, the guards maintaining order during the Harvest Festival quickly arrived.

After briefly understanding the situation, the guards took the Forging Soldier thief away.

The tall girl turned around and looked at the person who had helped her stop the thief, thanking him repeatedly.

“Thank you, really. It’s a good thing someone was here to stop him. Although it was a stupid trick, the little servant would definitely have been affected if it couldn’t find its hammer for too long, uh…”

Her voice trailed off as she realized the person in front of her was someone she recognized.

“…You’re Mu Huiyue?”

Mu Huiyue smiled slightly. Coincidentally, she knew this Forging Soldier’s beastmaster.

“Han Ruoyun.”

She was a star player during the national ranking competition and had also appeared in the Kumaxi highlight reel, ultimately finishing in 6th place.

Han Ruoyun hadn’t been caught up in the incident with the Angry Rock Tortoise and hadn’t encountered Mu Huiyue in the Desert Island Secret Realm either, but Mu Huiyue remembered her. She was the heir to the mysterious blacksmith family from the Western Continent, and her performance in the competition had been impressive.

It was clear that Han Ruoyun also remembered the person who had ranked first in the national ranking competition.

“I see, so it’s a pawn soldier from your family’s monarch species? With that level of stealth, even if it runs out of the crowd, it’ll still get caught. This guy was destined to fail today.”

Han Ruoyun realized with a smile, looking at Mu Huiyue. “Anyway, thank you for helping the little servant get its hammer back.”

“Kuwaa!” The Forging Soldier stood its hammer beside it, giving a formal bow to its benefactor.

And there was that powerful invisible pet in the shadows.

Mu Huiyue couldn’t help but smile at the little creature’s appearance, slightly amused. “It’s no trouble, just a small favor.”

To show her gratitude, Han Ruoyun volunteered to act as a guide, offering to take Mu Huiyue around the Harvest Festival to enjoy the fun activities.

Mu Huiyue gladly agreed; having a local guide would make her journey much easier.

She glanced at the girl beside her, who was dressed in work pants and safety goggles.

Han Ruoyun’s figure was very tall; Mu Huiyue, who was 172 cm, was still half a head shorter than her. She looked to be over 180 cm, almost matching Ellen’s height.

Unlike her cool image in the highlight video, Han Ruoyun was actually a warm and talkative person, quickly becoming familiar with Mu Huiyue.

“Are you here for the contract trial?” Han Ruoyun asked.

Many young beastmasters who came to the Harvest Festival during this period were there for the contract trial.

Mu Huiyue nodded. As expected, Han Ruoyun would be participating too; she had seen this heir to the blacksmith family in the flyer earlier.

Han Ruoyun’s betting odds were among the top, and she was one of the leading contenders for first place.

“That’s perfect! Let’s participate in the preliminary duel together,” Han Ruoyun suggested.

Mu Huiyue was puzzled. “Preliminary duel?”

She hadn’t seen any mention of this type of activity in the flyer.

“It’s probably a small competition set up by the local contestants in the Western Continent. First, they have a preliminary duel, and then the top-ranked participants go on to the contract trial. This way, they can select the stronger candidates to go to the secret realm and contract more powerful beasts.”

Han Ruoyun explained. “Although in recent years, it has become more of a stage for the Western Continent’s aristocratic families to compete with each other.”

“If you have a letter of recommendation, you don’t need to participate in this preliminary duel to go to the contract trial, but it gives you a chance to see some of the competitors’ strength.”

“…Like the one who designed to steal the hammer?” Mu Huiyue asked curiously.

Since the hammer had been successfully retrieved and no one else was hurt or lost any property, the Forging Soldier thief was taken away by the guards, likely to be detained for a few days, and would be released once the Harvest Festival ended.

Han Ruoyun seemed completely unconcerned about this, even knowing who was behind the act.

“Exactly, my good-for-nothing cousin, Han Qi,” Han Ruoyun shrugged and said.

“Within family legacies, there are always some young people who are both foolish and malicious, like this guy.”

“He’s jealous of my talent, boasting that a woman can’t be the heir, threatening to defeat me badly in the duel and make me the laughingstock of all the families in the Western Continent.”

“I’ve been on guard for a while, always wary of him trying something, and it ends up like this.”

Han Ruoyun chuckled, as if she were talking about something ridiculous. “He’s been holding onto this scheme for half a year, and on the eve of the duel, he hires someone to steal the little servant’s hammer… With a mind like that, he can’t even figure out how to forge iron properly. He’s basically given up on competing for power.”

She stroked her chin and sighed. “At least the Han family has me in this generation. Otherwise, how would we compete with the other families?”

Mu Huiyue couldn’t help but chuckle.

She liked Han Ruoyun’s aura of someone who believed the world was hers.

“Kuwaa!” The Forging Soldier nodded vigorously, agreeing with the beastmaster’s words.

The two of them chatted as they walked, exploring the different areas of the Harvest Festival, as per Han Ruoyun’s introduction.

The fair featured a variety of shops, not just local Western Continent businesses, but also products from other well-known companies. It was a grand event that occurred every three years, with promotional stalls set up and star beastmasters invited for publicity.

Mu Huiyue even spotted products from ZH Zenith Super Control Technology.

It seemed to be a chemical fertilizer that suppressed crop growth.

Mu Huiyue stood in front of that store, deep in thought. Should she marvel at how ZH Zenith Super Control’s product line had expanded from home bedding to agricultural fertilizers, or should she comment on the fact that there was actually a fertilizer designed to suppress growth?

As if she had noticed Mu Huiyue’s confusion, Han Ruoyun glanced at the ZH Zenith Super Control store and said, “Ah, that’s basically a special fertilizer used exclusively here in the Western Continent.”

“You probably don’t know the exact effects of the ‘Blessing of Abundant Harvest,’ right?”

“The protection left by the Withering and Flourishing Spirit Deer is said to ensure good weather and abundant harvests every year, but that’s not entirely accurate.”

“The Harvest Festival is held once every three years because the blessing of the Withering and Flourishing Spirit Deer operates on a three-year cycle. It’s not about having an abundant harvest every year, but rather a harvest that follows a pattern like [abundant harvest], [poor harvest], [average harvest] in that sequence.”

“Is it because of the need to preserve the fertility of the land?” Mu Huiyue asked.

She wasn’t an expert in agriculture, but she had some basic knowledge.

Intensive farming can deplete the fertility of the land quickly, and even though modern agriculture uses fertilizers, the yield has also increased significantly.

To mitigate the depletion of the land, different planting methods like crop rotation or fallowing are often used to allow the soil to recover.

Even with the Withering and Flourishing Spirit Deer’s blessing of abundant harvests, it wouldn’t be sustainable to have a big harvest every year. Such a depletion would turn the Western Continent into a wasteland after just a few hundred years of overuse.

“Exactly.”

Han Ruoyun nodded. “The ‘Blessing of Abundant Harvest’ is more like a protective prophecy for the next three years. The Withering and Flourishing Spirit Deer’s blessing ensures that the Western Continent won’t face large-scale natural disasters or other calamities. It also allows the farmers to understand the general harvest conditions for the next three years, helping them prepare and store accordingly.”

“But even so, after cultivating new crop varieties using extraordinary resources, the energy of the Western Continent’s land is being consumed rapidly.”

“The Withering and Flourishing Spirit Deer doesn’t limit what the farmers can grow. They only plant crops that feed everyone, which was supposed to be an unspoken understanding between humans and the guardian deity. But the new crop varieties have broken that understanding.”

Han Ruoyun’s voice paused. “In recent years, the development speed of both farming tools and crop varieties has been so fast that even the Withering and Flourishing Spirit Deer can’t keep up.”

Mu Huiyue pondered for a moment. “So that’s why the ‘growth-suppressing’ fertilizer is needed…”

“By appropriately reducing the yield and energy consumption of crops within a unit, it can actually increase the production rate of high-quality crops. That’s the effect of the ‘growth-suppressing fertilizer,’ and it’s been very popular in the Western Continent these years.”

Han Ruoyun couldn’t help but sigh. “Speaking of which, ZH Zenith Super Control is a foreign company, right? To create a product that fits the local needs of the Western Continent so well, they really know how to do business.”

Mu Huiyue couldn’t help but recall the dividend numbers on ZH Zenith Super Control’s financial report from last year. She didn’t dare to say it out loud, but she figured a portion of the money they made probably came from her share.

After a few brief remarks, the two continued walking forward.

On her first day in the Western Continent, Han Ruoyun took her around most of the events at the Harvest Festival. They tasted a variety of local delicacies, and Mu Huiyue bought a bunch of souvenirs. She had a great time.

She agreed to participate in tomorrow’s preliminary match with Han Ruoyun.

Since the contract trials wouldn’t start until two days later, Mu Huiyue had nothing else to do, so it seemed interesting to watch the competition among the younger generation of the Western Continent’s noble families.

Moreover, she was also curious about the inheritance and training methods of the blacksmith family.