Chapter 26: Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Switched From Arrogance To Humility

An Attribute Equipment, it was an Attribute Equipment!

Even if it was the worst Attribute Equipment, it was much more precious than a White Slate Equipment.

If Ou Yangming had forged only one Attribute Equipment instead of five in just two days, Old Craftsman would still be extremely overjoyed. Therefore, when the old man saw the five pieces of Attribute Equipment laid in front of him, the shock he felt was indescribable.

“Ah…” Old Craftsman sighed. “Young fella, didn’t I tell you to rest a few days before smithing another Attribute Equipment? Why did you do it again so soon?”

“Old Man, you can’t blame me. After Sir Kang arranged a smithing workshop for me, he gave me enough raw materials, and sent ten precious ores over so that I could smith some pieces of Attribute Equipment as soon as possible.” Ou Yangming paused for a while before he continued, “He gave me a courtyard and a smithing workshop, and the arrangements made were great, so I should repay his kindness.”

“You’re repaying too much.” Old Craftsman scoffed, then continued after some thoughts, “Forget it. After all, Kang Weibo is the Armament Camp’s supervisor. I’m guessing that he was pressured by the task index, so he had no choice but to be thick-skinned to ask you for help.”

Ou Yangming chuckled. He naturally knew what was going on since he was a member of the military camp.

The Armament Camp was an exceptionally special part in the military camp, and it probably spent the most money a month, because the cost of precious ores was not of the common run.

Hence, there was an assessment criterion in the Armament Camp.

However, the criterion was not for the smithing and restoration or normal armaments. Honestly, while Military Fire Blacksmiths could smith normal armaments in a large amount and at a high speed, the main source of armaments was the munition factories in the empire.

It was said that the munition factories had an assembly line operation that increased a normal blacksmith’s efficiency by a few times, and a collaboration would be similar to the Military Fire Smithing Art in terms of speed.

With that, the main job of Military Fire Blacksmiths in the military camp was to smith Attribute Equipment. Needless to say, the smithing of top-notch equipment was time- and energy-consuming, so one needed to have sufficient energy and patience.

Under normal circumstances, a Military Fire Blacksmith would take a month to use ten precious ores, but the success rate this month had been terribly low.

Taking their military camp as an example, apart from Old Craftsman and two experienced Military Fire Blacksmiths, the others had a one-in-ten success rate. Sure enough, a two-in-ten success rate would be an unexpected joy, but it would be impossible to maintain that for a long time.

Being the Armament Camp’s supervisor, other than managing daily tasks, Kang Weibo paid special importance to supervising the amount of Attribute Equipment smithed.

Since Old Craftsman had been focusing on smithing a weapon for General Chen Yifan lately, he stopped forging Attribute Equipment.

With that, Kang Weibo had three less Attribute Equipment for the month, and he was so anxious that he simply wanted to remove a few pieces of equipment from a Military Fire Blacksmith to report on his task.

Despite that, he dared not put it into action, but he managed to seize Ou Yangming who made a timely appearance. As such, Kang Weibo would do anything to flatter the new and young blacksmith who agreed to the two-in-ten condition.

Old Craftsman tapped the armaments as he mentioned, “Kang Weibo may be snobbish, but he’s a decent man. Take these armaments to him, and tell him that three of them are to make up for what I owe him last month.”

Ou Yangming nodded. “Yes.”

“Ask for twenty more precious ores from him, and…” Old Craftsman paused for a moment, then continued, “Your control of the Military Fire is qualified, so you may use steel now.”

“Old Man, can I use special grade steel?” Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed.

“Hmph, in your dreams.” Old Craftsman stared at him. “Start with normal steel, because you’ll have to forge Fine Grade armaments using normal steel first before you can use special grade steel!”

Ou Yangming nodded. He quickly packed the armaments he smithed into a bundle wrapped in cloth, then hurried away.

Old Craftsman yelled at him, “B*stard, seal your lips, and don’t simply say anything!”

“Don’t worry, I know what to do,” Ou Yangming shouted back at him from far.

He was obviously not going to tell Kang Weibo the truth. If Kang Weibo knew that he used ten precious ores in two days, and had a fifty percent success rate, it would only cause him unnecessary trouble.

Ou Yangming did not want to bring trouble upon himself.

He arrived at the equipment depot with the armaments.

There were two big depots in the Armament Camp. One was an abandoned depot, which was treated as a dumpster, whereas the other one was an equipment depot, which was heavily guarded by soldiers.

The former could be accessed by anyone as it was a place where many blacksmiths and helpers picked usable items from. Nobody would be stopped from entering, because it was an open secret and a benefit for everyone.

On the opposite, the latter was the most important place in the Armament Camp. Normal Military Fire Blacksmiths might not even be allowed to enter, let alone a helper.

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Ou Yangming noticed Xiong Gaoan as soon as he arrived at the depot.

He immediately slowed down, and was hesitating if he should enter.

At that moment, Xiong Gaoan happened to see Ou Yangming standing there when he looked up, so he quickly put his work aside to approach him with a smile. Even from a distance away, he was already cupping his hands together to greet Ou Yangming in a friendly manner, “Oh, isn’t that Brother Ouyang? Quick, quick, come in!”

Ou Yangming smiled embarrassedly. Though he knew why Xiong Gaoan switched from arrogance to humility, he was reluctant to deal with him. Nevertheless, since Xiong Gaoan was willing to humble himself, he should not leave in displeasure, because one should never slap a smiling face.

“Officer Xiong,” Ou Yangming replied helplessly, “you’re wrong.”

“Huh? What?” Xiong Gaoan was puzzled.

Ou Yangming answered, “My surname is Ou, not Ouyang.”

“I see. Brother Ou, I was wrong.” Xiong Gaoan slapped his forehead after being stunned for a while, but he thought to himself, ‘Since your surname is Ou, why is it followed by Yang? Isn’t that just a trap…’

Although he knew that Old Craftsman’s helper was called Ou Yangming, he did not take the time to understand him better since he was just a helper. If Ou Yangming had not pointed out the mistake, he would never know.

“Brother Ou, you’re here to…” Xiong Gaoan asked when he looked at Ou Yangming’s bundle.

Ou Yangming revealed his visitation purpose without keeping Xiong Gaoan in suspense. “I’m here to deliver some armaments, so please help me store them.”

“Okay, okay.” Xiong Gaoan was dumbfounded and confused. ‘He was just given a smithing workshop two days ago, and only retrieved the materials yesterday, so why does he have something to hand in already? Did he smith armaments of a better grade? Hmm, if these armaments are of Good Grade, they’re qualified to be stored.’

At the outer court of the equipment depot, someone was there to collect the armaments.

Even though Ou Yangming had been there before to hand in armaments, it had been on Old Craftsman’s behalf. This time, he represented himself, hence people at the equipment depot stole a glance at him from time to time to see what he was going to store in the depot.

Five armaments were revealed when he opened his bundle.

Xiong Gaoan would not attend to the matter personally if anyone else brought armaments to the depot, but since it was Ou Yangming whom Kang Weibo valued, he dared not neglect him.

He lowered himself to retrieve one of the military sabers, then flicked it with his fingers, causing a loud and clear buzz to be heard.

“Nice, the saber is of Good Grade indeed, and it’s at the peak of Good Grade,” Xiong Gaoan exclaimed as he looked at Ou Yangming. “Brother Ou, your skills are truly unordinary.”

While the munition factories produced a substantial amount of military sabers, their claims to perfect the sabers were empty talks.

Soldiers in the military usually used Common Grade military sabers, and unless one had a way, it was difficult to obtain a Good Grade military saber.

“Officer Xiong, look at them closely.” Ou Yangming shook his head, and was slightly dissatisfied. “If they’re just Good Grade military sabers, will I hand them in?”

“Oh.” Xiong Gaoan was startled, and his heart skipped a beat when an unbelievable thought crossed his mind.

‘Are these five armaments…’

Nonetheless, he dared not think about it further, because it was definitely impossible, but…

After taking a deep breath, Xiong Gaoan cast his thoughts aside, then channeled a hint of essential Qi into the military saber. He was instantly elated.

‘An Attribute Equipment, this is actually an Attribute Equipment!’

He could not be bothered about etiquette at the moment, and he picked up a greave after putting the military saber down carefully.

In a flash, he inspected the five pieces of equipment, and was so overjoyed that he felt dizzy.

Xiong Gaoan stammered when he looked up at Ou Yangming, “Ou, Brother Ou, you… No, what’s the meaning of this?”

Ou Yangming responded, “What do you mean what’s the meaning of this? I brought them here for storage!”

“Ah, storage, yes, they should be stored!” Xiong Gaoan came to a sudden realization, and he turned to yell at the other men, “B*stards, why are you still standing there? Can’t you see that Brother Ou… Master Ou is here? Quick, bring some good tea, the ones that Sir Kang values very much. You, ask for Sir Kang, and tell him that Master Ou’s here to store some equipment. Five, a total of five Attribute Equipment!”

The equipment depot was dead silent for a while as if the sound of a dropping needle could be heard.

Subsequently, everyone started working.

Upon seeing the chaotic scene, Ou Yangming knew even better how much thought Old Craftsman had put into this.