Chapter 86: A Stomping Match
Under the 'watchful send-off' of Bubu Wang and Amu, Su Xiao left the exclusive room.
As soon as Su Xiao left, Amu turned to look at the flowerpot. Bubu Wang gave his calf a bite, and Amu became much more well-behaved.
A few minutes later, the door was suddenly pushed open. Amu's body twitched in fright, and he looked at Bubu Wang with eyes full of reverence.
After finding nothing unusual, Su Xiao closed the door and left.
Over ten minutes later, Bubu Wang, who had been dozing, twitched his ears. He suddenly sat up, quickly ran to the flowerpot, his eyes full of curiosity.
Under Bubu Wang's astonished gaze, a tender sprout pushed up from the soil inside the flowerpot.
Amu's big head leaned in; he was clearly considering whether this sprout was edible.
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang barked loudly, stopping Amu's appetite. If he ate this thing, although Su Xiao wouldn't do anything to him, he would definitely be depressed for a few days.
The tender sprout in the flowerpot grew slowly, but after a moment, it gradually withered. This terrified Bubu Wang. If this damn thing hadn't sprouted, it would have been fine, but if it sprouted and then withered, he would be the prime suspect.
"Owww~"
Bubu let out a long howl. As if sensing Bubu Wang's mood, the withered sprout perked up a bit, looking half-dead.
...
Reincarnation Paradise, a secluded street.
There were few pedestrians on the street. In front of a blacksmith's shop was a wooden rocking chair, on which lay a stocky man covered in iron armor. Although he was only about one meter fifty tall, he had the aura of a five-meter-one giant.
"This is the life."
Liede crossed his legs, a cigar in his mouth and a cup of clear tea in his hand.
Since entering Reincarnation Paradise, Liede had gradually come to understand the situation here. The more he understood, the more he felt how foolish he had been before. This vast world was there to be explored, and he had been stuck guarding a broken ancient tomb, forging iron?
In fact, Liede was secretly glad that Su Xiao wasn't an extremely powerful contractor. If he were, Liede would most likely have turned into a treasure chest by now.
"So, how long are you planning to sit here?"
Su Xiao stood in front of the blacksmith's shop; he had already been waiting for a few minutes.
"Just feeling a bit sentimental. What's the matter this time?"
Liede made a move to toss Su Xiao a cigar, but Su Xiao waved his hand to indicate he didn't smoke that stuff.
"Identify some equipment. No problem?"
"Of course. Identification is just the basics. If you don't understand equipment, you can't forge it."
"Good."
"Let's talk inside."
Liede stood up. After their last negotiation, he and Su Xiao had established a long-term and stable cooperative relationship.
Entering the blacksmith's shop, although Liede wasn't short on Paradise Coins, his sloppiness was innate. If he were to forge equipment in a spotless environment, whether he could even forge Legendary-grade equipment was questionable.
Su Xiao took out two necklaces from his storage space. These were what he had extorted from the Big Mom Pirates.
Taking the necklaces, Liede observed them for a moment, then tossed one back to Su Xiao.
"This one's average. You might consider selling it to someone who doesn't know what they're doing."
Liede walked over to the S-grade furnace. He opened the lower part of the furnace and immersed the necklace in his hand into a certain extremely low-temperature solution.
After several complicated processing steps, Liede handed the necklace back to Su Xiao.
[Secret Treasure Pendant]
Origin: One Piece
Quality: Blue
...
Seeing the quality of this necklace, Su Xiao frowned. He continued to check the pendant's attributes.
Overall, this item was quite good for first to second-rank contractors. It had no special abilities, but it had an equipment effect of Stamina +4.
This was useless to Su Xiao. If it were True Stamina +4, it would be a very strong piece of equipment, with a quality of at least Gold.
"You came all the way here just to identify this thing?"
The necklace Liede had identified was Blue quality. As for the one he had disdained to identify, it would definitely be even worse.
This situation was within Su Xiao's expectations. He had been extorting Big Mom at the time, and Big Mom wasn't stupid. Why would she take out good things for him to choose from? He was just trying his luck.
"I came to ask you to forge a Legendary-grade weapon. A blade type."
Su Xiao's purpose in coming to Liede was to inquire about the cost of forging a Legendary-grade blade-type weapon.
"For a blade-type weapon, you'll need at least 20 or more Legendary Medals, plus a sufficient amount of Legendary-grade metal ore, and also..."
Liede listed a large number of required materials. Su Xiao's head began to ache just listening.
"The cost is that high?"
"Of course. Forging is different from buying. Forged equipment can maximize the user's needs."
"What's the cost for forging a pendant?"
"A pendant..."
Liede stroked the short stubble on his chin with his thumb, thinking for a long time.
"To ensure quality and save costs, 12 Legendary Medals should be enough. As for the main material, that depends on your personal needs."
"Blade technique enhancement."
"Blade technique enhancement... Ronis metal is not bad, or you could consider using 'Selfless Stone'. Of course, in most cases, I'll use whatever materials you can get your hands on, and I'll try my best to ensure the equipment matches you."
Liede was indeed a forging master. After saying a lot, it all boiled down to one sentence: bring Legendary Medals and Paradise Coins.
Su Xiao took out ten Legendary Medals from his storage space.
"I'll leave them with you. How many Paradise Coins will it cost roughly?"
"No more than 800,000."
Su Xiao deposited the Legendary Medals with Liede for two reasons. First, he wanted to forge a Legendary-grade pendant. Second, it was because of their long-term cooperative relationship.
Since they were cooperating long-term, he needed to show some sincerity. For example, when Liede had identified the equipment earlier, he hadn't even mentioned the fee.
Su Xiao drew the Dragon-Slaying Flash from his waist. Liede took it and began using forging tools to check if the Dragon-Slaying Flash had any damage.
Two hours later, under Liede's reluctant gaze, Su Xiao sheathed the Dragon-Slaying Flash, stood up, and walked out. He was going to test the power of the Dragon-Slaying Flash.
...
[You have entered the Arena. Please select a mode.]
[Arena Mode / Spectator Mode.]
[Spectator Mode: You can watch other contractors compete. Costs 5 Paradise Coins per hour. You can choose which matches to watch.]
[Ongoing matches: 2354.]
...
As soon as Su Xiao entered the Arena, a large number of prompts appeared. He chose Arena Mode: Individual Battle, and was teleported to a rest room.
It was still that luxurious rest room. This was one of the rewards for Su Xiao reaching first place in the third-rank arena. After he advanced to fourth rank, this treatment was not revoked.
[Hunter's arena ranking has been refreshed. Detected that the Hunter was the first place in the third-rank arena. The Hunter's fourth-rank arena ranking has been significantly increased, now raised to 15000th place.]
[Competitor: Su Xiao.]
[Status: Good.]
[Ranking: 15000th (Fourth Rank).]
[Consecutive Wins: 0.]
[Top Five Reward: Not obtained.]
...
The fourth-rank arena was different from the third. Only the top five could receive rewards.
[Matching an opponent for the Hunter.]
[Matching complete. Opponent's ranking: 14850th.]
A teleportation sensation appeared. When Su Xiao's vision cleared, what met his eyes was a circular stone arena, surrounded by a ring-shaped spectator stand. There were quite a few spectators in the stands, and they were all looking at Su Xiao with great interest.
This was indeed the first time Su Xiao had encountered this situation. The gazes of those spectators were too peculiar, as if they were guessing how he would die.
"Another victim."
"Don't knock it. Coming to watch Oliver stomp noobs is surprisingly fun."
"Of course it's fun. An extra 200 Paradise Coins per match."
"Isn't Oliver afraid of making enemies?"
"With his strength, of course not. Besides, he has a way to deal with it."
"Won't he be penalized for throwing matches to lower his rank?"
"There's no betting in the fourth rank. The penalty isn't strong."
Su Xiao vaguely heard the discussions from the spectator stands. This time, he understood the situation. He had been matched into a 'stomping match'. He had encountered this situation back in the second rank.
"Hey there, friend. If you lose, remember to contact me. 20,000 Paradise Coins as compensation."
Su Xiao's opponent spoke. This was a burly man with pitch-black skin.