I Contracted Myself

The next day, Zhang Ping made a special trip to the school library.

He first searched for the history of Pearl City, but did not find any information about 'Wulian' and 'Nanyue', which showed that these two words were not old place names.

If it's not a place name, then what is it?

Zhang Ping returned to his dormitory, filling out his graduation application and thinking in his mind.

"Could it be that the two words are read in reverse order?"

In the afternoon, Zhang Ping put down his pen and suddenly had a new idea.

Although it felt impossible, he wrote the two words on the paper in reverse.

Moon South.

Practice martial arts.

Zhang Ping looked at the reversed text and his eyes widened.

It turns out the puzzle isn't that difficult.

But there are definitely not many people who know, and the other party knows him very well!

wrong.

It should be said that the other party knows the original owner very well.

There used to be a brisket ramen shop not far from the orphanage in Pearl City.

Because the word "belly" for "beef brisket" on the sign is split in half, it looks like the word "月南".

Behind this brisket ramen shop is a small park, which is a paradise for orphans.

Before Zhang Ping entered Mingzhu Ability Academy, he often practiced martial arts alone in that park, doing blind punches.

Times have changed, and the beef brisket ramen shop closed down four years ago. Now it has been turned into an armor workshop. Therefore, the probability of Tian Changhu knowing this information is extremely low, and people who know that he has practiced martial arts in that small park will definitely not More than one palm.

It can be inferred from this that the person who appeared behind him last night definitely knew the original owner!

Zhang Ping tore up the words written on the paper and threw them into the toilet, then picked up his graduation application and walked out.

After knowing the answer, he felt much more relaxed.

Judging from the literal meaning, the other party should have asked him to meet at the small park behind the brisket ramen shop on the 23rd.

The reason why the numbers do not need to be understood in reverse is because there are no 32 days in a month, so it must be the 23rd.

Graduation application went very smoothly.

After all, he is just a useless awakener who has awakened useless abilities, and is not taken seriously.

evening.

Zhang Ping packed his luggage and left the school directly.

When he arrived at Iron Soul, Shang Piqiang, who was taking care of Uncle Liu in the store, suddenly smiled. Seeing that Zhang Ping was carrying his luggage, he already knew Zhang Ping's answer.

"Little brother, you came just in time. I have a mission tomorrow and it will take about five days to come back. I am worried that no one can take care of Uncle Liu. Come on, come on. I will take you upstairs first." Stinky Fart Qiang He held Zhang Ping's hand and said happily.

This store has three floors. The first floor is a shop, the second floor is a residence, and the third floor is a studio.

The second floor was very large and had many rooms. Zhang Ping chose a room. After putting away his luggage, he went downstairs with Xiangpiqiang. When he went downstairs, he found out that Xiangpiqiang’s real name was Qiu Qiang, but because his neighbors had called him Xiangpiqiang since he was a child. , so he didn’t care if he was called Smelly.

Uncle Liu's name is Liu Tiefeng. He is 79 years old this year. He originally had a son named Liu Dashan, but he disappeared some time ago.

I probably had a bad feeling in my heart.

Liu Tiefeng's mental state has been deteriorating recently. Not only is his reaction getting slower and slower, but he is also a little confused. That's why Qiu Qiang hopes to find a reliable person to take care of Liu Tiefeng.

The main reason why he chose Zhang Ping was because Zhang Ping was both a student and an orphan, unlike people who came out to join society with complex thoughts and complicated interpersonal relationships.

In addition, Qiu Qiang himself would often come to take care of Liu Tiefeng, so he was not afraid that Zhang Ping would have extra thoughts.

Of course, Qiu Qiang didn't say anything in the second half, it was Zhang Ping's own guess.

A student who wants to be an adventurer.

No need to guess.

Must be an orphan.

This is too easy to judge in Pearl City.

At night, Qiu Qiang took advantage of the time and decided to teach Zhang Ping some basic blacksmith skills.

After he goes on a mission, Zhang Ping can

Watch over Liu Tiefeng in the store and practice basic skills at the same time, so you won't have nothing to do.

The blacksmiths in this world are somewhat different from the blacksmiths in Zhang Ping's imagination.

Before learning, Zhang Ping thought that forging weapons was to hit the red-hot iron with a hammer, then quench and polish it.

But the forging skills in this world are not that simple.

"Xiao Zhang, let me demonstrate it first, so you can watch first." Qiu Qiang put on fire-proof gloves and then said to Zhang Ping beside him.

Zhang Ping nodded, then concentrated and carefully watched the movements of Qiu Qiang's hands.

I saw Qiu Qiang picking up a few iron ingots and putting them on a wooden plate, and said, "These are processed refined iron. You can usually buy them at iron ore wholesale stores. A 10-jin iron ingot costs about 6,000." About a dollar.”

"So expensive!" Zhang Ping said in surprise.

Qiu Qiang put several kinds of scales on the wooden plate and said with a smile: "You have to know that the iron ore in Pearl City is mined in the wild, and going outside the city is equivalent to gambling with your life. Every piece of fine iron It may be stained with the blood of miners and adventurers. Is 6,000 yuan expensive?”

"..."

Zhang Ping had nothing to say.

Next, Qiu Qiang prepared the materials and said: "This kind of scales is called Red Snake Scales. It comes from the alienated beast Red Snake. Under high temperatures, these scales will gradually melt and emit extremely high temperatures. At the same time, there is a A substance called 'red ash' can be incorporated into fine iron, which not only enhances the hardness and toughness of fine iron, but also enables it to have self-healing capabilities."

"Therefore, once the red snake scales are added, the weapon must be forged in one go. Otherwise, when it cools down, the shape of the iron ingot will be whatever it is, and it will be difficult to forge it again."

As he spoke, Qiu Qiang took the wooden tray and put the iron ingots and materials into the fire. At the same time, he reached out and stirred quickly in the fire. It didn't look like he was making weapons, but more like kneading dough.

"Many of these materials need to be stirred evenly by our own hands, so this weapon forging method is also called dough forging." Qiu Qiang didn't care about the high temperature at all. He stared at the fire with his eyes and kept stirring with his hands.

Zhang Ping swallowed, and he saw that although Qiu Qiang was wearing fire-proof gloves, the flames had actually burned Qiu Qiang's arm, but Qiu Qiang didn't care at all, and not even a hair was burned off.

"Look carefully, the next step is very critical." Qiu Qiang said at this time.

He took a ball of red 'dough' out of the fire, immediately stood up and put it into a black rectangular mold next to him. Then he picked up a huge hammer and beat the bulges on the mold crazily. The bulges gradually became smaller and smaller. getting flatter.

"Bring me the red oil over there!" He took a breath and then said to Zhang Ping.

Zhang Ping immediately picked up a one-meter-high oil drum on the counter, and then carried it to Qiu Qiang's side with great difficulty.

"Yes, being able to hold the fire oil means that your physical fitness is not bad." Qiu Qiang said with a smile in his eyes. He was actually just testing Zhang Ping's strength.

Although the dough kneading and forging technique does not require particularly high strength, it cannot be done without strength.

Qiu Qiang opened the lid of the kerosene and poured a small amount of kerosene on the mold. There was a loud bang and a lot of steam came out of the mold. Then Qiu Qiang pressed the switch next to the mold and pulled it hard. The mold slowly opened and A dark knife with red lines appeared in front of them.

"This is the most basic step in forging a weapon. The name of this knife is the Pearl Knife. It is regarded as the standard knife of Pearl City. All blacksmith apprentices first learn to forge this weapon. Only after they become familiar with the changes in materials, they may not need to use molds. You can make various weapons according to your own wishes." Qiu Qiang picked up the knife from the mold, walked to the knife testing table, and then said to Zhang Ping.

The next moment, he raised his knife to chop at the stone on the knife testing platform. With a flash of light from the knife, the stone was immediately cut in half, and the cut was smooth and flat.

"This is the most common knife in Pearl City!"

Zhang Ping really had an eye-opening feeling at this moment. This was something that the Pearl Ability Academy could not learn. At the same time, it also gave him a preliminary understanding of the weapons in Pearl City.

But he soon came to his senses. Pearl City, which had such weapons, was still infiltrated by Tianchang Fox.

no doubt.

Tianchanghu is even more terrifying and dangerous.

"Can this kind of standard weapon cause damage to intermediate alienated beasts?" Zhang Ping thought for a while and asked.

Qiu Qiang put the knife aside, and after listening to Zhang Ping's question, he immediately smiled and said, "It depends on what kind of alienated beast it is. Some alienated beasts have strong physical defenses, some are extremely agile, and some are good at attacking. , so there is no 100% absolute answer.

However, the Pearl Sword is generally only used to deal with primary alienated beasts, and even primary alienated beasts with strong defenses can still withstand the attack of the Pearl Sword. "

Most of the alienated beasts are stronger than humans themselves, and the higher the level, the stronger they become.

Even if the ability of the alienated beast is not of the physical enhancement type, after the level is high, the physical strength is not inferior to that of the awakened person of the physical enhancement type.

This is also one of the disadvantages of humans facing alienated beasts.

"Okay, let's give it a try. Don't be nervous for the first time. You will have a long time to practice the basics in the future." Qiu Qiang saw Zhang Ping thoughtful, took off the fire-proof gloves on his hands, and took a picture Flat shoulders, he continued.

Zhang Ping nodded, took the fire-proof gloves from Qiu Qiang, put on the fire-proof gloves and walked to the stove.

He had already memorized Qiu Qiang's technique just now, and now he only needed to follow the steps Qiu Qiang used to forge the Pearl Sword just now.

The first step is to prepare all the required materials.

The second step is to put the materials into the stove and calcine them over an open flame.

Zhang Ping put the wooden tray into the stove. When he put it in, his arm that was not protected by fire-proof gloves already felt a burst of heat. Moreover, when the material burned in the flame, it would also release heat. This heat spurted out from the stove. , his eyebrows immediately became curled, and he could faintly smell the smell of burning hair.

"Don't step back, carefully feel the changes in the material, and don't let go, otherwise the combustion accelerant mixed with the material into the firewood will be wasted." Qiu Qiang reminded him.

Zhang Ping originally wanted to step back, but after hearing this, he could only grit his teeth and persist. As the wooden plate burned out, he immediately felt an unknown heavy object in his hand. It was obviously the mixed material after burning.

"It's almost time. The material in your hand is not evenly distributed. Rub it slowly and feel its weight." Qiu Qiang said.

Zhang Ping nodded, then slowly rubbed his hands together.

Although he was wearing fireproof gloves, he did feel that this ball of material was similar to flour but harder than flour. Different areas felt different.

At first, he really thought it was no different from kneading noodles, but now after experiencing it personally, he realized that the force required for kneading was much greater than that of kneading noodles, and it was not something that ordinary people could do.

Very strenuous.

But he still gritted his teeth and continued to stir and rub.

"This step is very critical. It can't be too slow. If it is too slow, some materials will be completely burned." Qiu Qiang said with a smile as he saw Zhang Ping gradually sweating.

Zhang Ping gritted his teeth and persisted. Gradually, he felt that the 'dough' in his hand had melted into one. He glanced at Qiu Qiang. Qiu Qiang did not say yes or no, but said that it was up to him to judge.

"It should be OK!"

Zhang Ping thought about it, and immediately took the red 'dough' out of the stove, and then quickly put it into the mold and closed the mold.

He bent down to pick up the hammer, and then found that the weight of the hammer was heavier than he expected, and he couldn't lift it with one hand.

Finally, he picked up the hammer with both hands, and he quickly hit the mold with the hammer.

With the sound of ding-dong, the raised part of the mold was gradually flattened.

After making sure that he had done his best, he picked up the kerosene and poured it on the mold.

Boom!

With a loud bang, a large amount of steam gushed out from the gap of the mold.

Zhang Ping put down the kerosene and did not rush to check the knife he had forged. Instead, he sat down on the ground, feeling completely exhausted.