Chapter 31: Forced Promotion

After the meal, Su Ning led the two of them to the blacksmith shop.

Watching Su Ning move with such familiarity, they silently admired how wild and resourceful Su Ge was. Everyone started at the same time, from the same point, yet he was clearly doing the best.

“Uncle, we want to customize a long sword this time. But I’ll only take the blade; I’ll make the hilt myself. Is that okay?”

Su Ning asked politely.

“That’s possible, but doing it this way will create a lot of extra trouble.”

The burly blacksmith didn’t quite understand. Seeing a young girl insisting on making her own hilt, he wasn’t worried about damaging his fine blade; he worried the hilt might be unstable and end up injuring the user.

“It won’t. I’m planning to give it to my friend, so it’ll be a meaningful gift.”

Su Ning casually lied. There was no need to give a gift to Huoyang or make it “meaningful”—pfft! If it weren’t for the blacksmith’s low skill points, she wouldn’t bother adding another step and spending money on extra tools.

“Then what style do you want? The wall’s got plenty; pick one yourself.”

After speaking, the blacksmith went into the back room.

Outside, Huoyang was ecstatic. Finally, he would have a weapon! Left and right, he examined everything, grinning from ear to ear.

Actually, Huoyang earned a decent amount from monster hunting each day, but at first, he had to buy medicine and pay for lodging. After leaving the newbie village, his wife needed to rent a room, and he had to hand over silver.

Now, with a healer helping and saving some medicine costs, his wife didn’t make him hand over everything, leaving a few coins as pocket money.

Besides money, the other problem was equipment scarcity. Weapons in shops were low quality, so he wanted to save up for something good.

Sure enough, when his wife took charge, it was clear who was in charge. Su Ge really was someone who didn’t show all his cards.

Huoyang chose a long-handled broadsword. As the saying goes: “The longer it is, the stronger; the shorter, the riskier.”

Qiao Duoduo was also satisfied. Whether Huoyang could dominate in battle wasn’t as important as seeing her clumsy husband healthy and safe.

Seeing their selection, Su Ning bargained with the blacksmith: 2 silver coins, to pick up tomorrow morning.

Back at their lodgings, Su Ning took out a full sheep-leather outfit.

“This set is my latest creation. The design is a bit strange, but the stats are excellent.”

“Su Ge, this is too awesome! But this set is mainly made from sheep bones?”

Qiao Duoduo’s sharp observation quickly identified the essence of the set.

“Yes, sheep bones and leather mainly boost Constitution, so this set primarily adds Constitution.”

“Then tomorrow, when we slaughter the ox, we shouldn’t damage the hide?”

Huoyang thought about it—preserving the hide would be a bit tricky.

“Yes, but no rush. We can wait until we level up a bit more.”

Su Ning prioritized safety first.

“No, tomorrow it has to be done. Su Ge, start by making gloves for me! Like in the game—leather, half-finger, looks really cool.”

Huoyang was excited just thinking about it. Slaughtering an ox and making a set like that would boost his attributes significantly.

Su Ning looked at Qiao Duoduo.

“Half-finger?”

“Yes, half-finger, it’s convenient.”

Qiao Duoduo nodded. Su Ning took out a tape measure.

“Measure yourselves. Either way, you’ll need them eventually.”

After taking measurements, Su Ning grabbed rabbit leather and began crafting. Qiao Duoduo went to help in the restaurant kitchen, and Huoyang naturally followed her.

Unknowingly, the bright moon quietly rose.

“Beep, congratulations player, item creation successful. Item detected: Clothing: Gloves. Assigning attributes.”
“Beep, attributes assigned successfully. Please name the item.”

“Huoyang’s Gloves.”

“Beep, naming successful.
Item: Huoyang’s Gloves
Grade: Green
Level Requirement: 8
Attributes: Constitution +4, Strength +2
Crafter: Su Ning”

“Beep, congratulations player, item creation successful. Item detected: Clothing: Gloves. Assigning attributes.”
“Beep, attributes assigned successfully. Please name the item.”

“Duoduo’s Gloves.”

“Beep, naming successful.
Item: Duoduo’s Gloves
Grade: Green
Level Requirement: 8
Attributes: Constitution +5, Strength +1
Crafter: Su Ning”

Six points for gloves—Su Ning was delighted at her improved craftsmanship.

For tomorrow’s ox, she also took a log and made a makeshift staff for Huoyang—temporary but usable. Unlike carefully crafted weapons, this staff, though green quality, only added 5 Strength, far less than Su Ning’s meticulously made staff.

Anyway, mission accomplished—Su Ning washed up and rested.

The next day, the three-person team headed to the northern grasslands.

Qiao Duoduo and Huoyang were pleased with their new gloves. Huoyang also had a staff, freeing him from bare-handed combat.

More people were hunting monsters on the grassland now—it had been several days since they entered Xinxijie Street.

During this time, other players were also working hard. Even those who slacked off didn’t want to stay trapped in the newbie village forever. So every day, new players arrived in the streets.

At this moment:

“Beep, system notice: 50% of global players have left the newbie safe zone. Newbie safe zone will begin a 10-day countdown. After 10 days, all players will be forcibly promoted.”

“Global announcement?” Su Ning asked.

“Seems so. We better hurry—more people means tougher competition for monsters.” Huoyang replied.

The global notice wasn’t just troublesome for them.

Far away in another district, Luo Nanchuan furrowed his brows.

“Yán Hán, we’re hunting ghosts tomorrow.”

“Chuan’er, Chuan Ge, I’m only level 11! That’s a level 14 ghost! How can you be so cruel? Is it even human or ghost? I’m the only child at home!”

Before Yán Hán could answer:

“You started fighting cockroaches at level one.” The implication: they’ve been over-level hunting all along, so whining now is pointless.

Luo Nanchuan was anxious. In ten days, a flood of new players would arrive. These newcomers weren’t like those who leveled through hard work.

Those who leveled themselves had goals—some wanted to go home, some wanted companions, some wanted power. People with goals still behaved reasonably.

The latecomers were mostly troublemakers—scoundrels, the weak, sick, or elderly, surviving with difficulty, with no real limits.

Luo Nanchuan had no time to deal with them. He focused on leveling quickly, to get as far from trouble as possible.