“Hello, are you here to see Teacher Suodiya?”
At Number 332, East District, it wasn’t until Li Si arrived that she suddenly realized what this place was.
The Soronwell Royal Blacksmith Association.
The receptionist inside the grand entrance had already received word in advance and was waiting eagerly behind the counter by the door.
The moment she spotted Jian in the group, she became visibly excited.
“Thank goodness! Jian, I’m so glad you’re back!”
The receptionist appeared to be around the same age as Jian.
The moment she saw her, she rushed out from behind the counter.
She probably intended to wrap her in a hug, but upon noticing the purple-haired little girl in Jian’s arms, she froze for a moment.
After apparently mulling it over in her head, she blurted out, “Jian… did you have a child?”
Li Si wondered if her ears were malfunctioning.
How did she arrive at that conclusion?
Even at the fastest, pregnancy took nine months, and Yadana looked about the same age as a six or seven-year-old.
How could anyone deduce she was Jian’s child?
Though she had no idea how the receptionist had made that judgment, Li Si knew exactly what the lunatic would do.
“Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Nana wants to suckle!”
Yadana instantly bit her thumb, gazing longingly at the perky chest behind her.
Even Jian, whose face had been stiff for two days, couldn’t help but twitch at the spectacle.
Li Si had originally planned to scold Yadana—she’d already figured out that Jian’s sister, the blacksmith named Suodiya, was no ordinary person.
Being able to arrange a meeting here was itself a display of influence but seeing a bit more life return to Jian’s face, she decided to let it go.
“Jian? Where’s your bag? Didn’t you become the vice-captain of the Gold and Silver Flower Team?”
“Hey, that’s strange. Why aren’t you wearing the Honeysuckle dress anymore? And you’re not wearing your hat either…”
The receptionist seemed to have a close relationship with Jian, noticing all sorts of unusual signs the moment they met.
Then, as if running through her thoughts once more, she looked at the three people before her with a strange expression.
A warrior in a black dress with a completely expressionless face; a mage with a big bag on her back grinning foolishly; a priest clutching a staff with clear, innocent eyes.
These three looked odd no matter how you examined them.
“Jian… could it be that they…”
Li Si’s eye twitched. Spotting an extraordinary woman walking over from the corridor across the way, with a nameplate bearing the title “Vice-Chairman Suodiya,” she quickly interrupted the girl’s runaway imagination and stepped forward to formally complete the coordination.
She knew Jian’s condition would invite misunderstandings—after all, when a obsessive fan suddenly stops being obsessive, it’s even more unbelievable than a goddess vanishing.
But the situation wasn’t as bad as she’d imagined.
The person emerging from the corridor was indeed the client for this job, Jian’s sister Suodiya.
She showed absolutely no concern about Jian’s change, simply confirming briefly before having someone escort Jian away.
Then, with great solemnity, she invited Li Si to a private room for a detailed discussion.
Inside the private room sat an extremely long black box.
“Milady, the item you requested—I have forged it. However, this weapon is extremely complex. You asked for level 10 usability, but the magic circle for the dual-form transformation is too massive. I could only manage to cap it at level 15. Rest assured, though—the additional constitution attribute you requested has been fully embedded.”
Li Si opened the black box.
Inside was a staff two meters long.
The staff was pitch black throughout, with no difference in shaft thickness from an ordinary staff—only the length was thirty centimeters longer.
Li Si wanted to inspect the staff, and seeing this, the client took the initiative to demonstrate.
But her demonstration was only superficial.
She explained with some helplessness, “Normally, I shouldn’t accept commissions for custom weapons like this, because there’s a high chance they won’t be usable. But at the time, to get my sister to come back, I had no choice but to withhold that information.”
Most of the time, the biggest problem with custom weapons wasn’t making them—it was that they couldn’t be used once completed.
Clearly, this blacksmith had a premonition before forging that this weapon would likely end up as a display piece.
Bringing it up now, she was fully prepared.
Li Si noticed a weapon rack in the corner of the room, holding weapons of various classes.
“If you truly can’t use it, there’s no need to force it. You’re welcome to pick any weapon from those level 15 ones.”
Li Si shook her head and turned to gesture for Lili Ya to come try it.
Lili Ya stepped forward and lifted the staff.
She could pick it up, but the level and attribute restrictions prevented her from wielding it fully.
Li Si nodded in satisfaction.
Being able to lift it meant the staff was usable—it was just that the level and attributes weren’t high enough yet.
She didn’t take the client up on her goodwill by picking an extra weapon.
She had Lili Ya strap the black box onto her back and promptly took her leave.
“Um… would you really not stay for a meal?”
The client accompanied them all the way to the entrance, a hint of embarrassment on her face.
After all, for a normal long-distance escort mission, a single blue level 15 staff was far from sufficient compensation—not to mention this staff hadn’t even consumed much of her materials.
Li Si shook her head.
There was still much to do, and she didn’t want to waste time.
Most importantly, she didn’t want to be eating when someone suddenly ran up and invited her to some manor or other.
The client had clearly prepared multiple contingencies.
Seeing that she truly couldn’t persuade them to stay, she pulled out a money pouch instead.
Direct payment was much easier to deal with.
Li Si accepted it without hesitation.
As they exited the entrance, a blonde figure suddenly appeared at the corridor corner.
She made no move, only silently watching from a distance.
Honestly, Li Si had originally despised obsessive fans but seeing one scared into such a state, she felt a bit guilty.
Still, not knowing how to make amends, she simply waved in that direction.
“Boss! Boss!”
Yadana, hanging from Lili Ya’s back up ahead, twisted her head around, her big purple eyes sparkling.
Those eyes radiated a childlike, hopeful gaze.
Regarding Jian’s matter, Yadana had played the role of an undercover agent.
If not for her tip-off, Li Si wouldn’t have known what Jian was planning in time but at the very end, Yadana deliberately pulled her stunt, scaring Jian so badly she couldn’t keep up, which led to the subsequent mishap.
It was a considerable mistake on her part.
Still, despite the fault, she had ultimately rendered a service.
“One barrel.”
“Damn it! You promised two! But! Boss! Even so, I’ll always be your most loyal servant!”
With that, Yadana launched herself from Lili Ya’s back in a flying tackle toward Li Si, arms and legs spread wide, aiming for a massive bear hug around Li Si’s head.
Li Si delivered a direct headbutt, sending her crashing to the ground.
“Ow~!”
Yadana landed in agony, hands shielding her lower body, legs clamped together, hopping around frantically.
Li Si’s eye twitched.
This lunatic could really act—in any other world, she’d be winning gold statues left and right.
“So… Li Si, you’re going to do your class advancement now, right?”
Lili Ya held the staff in her hands, the box strapped to her back.
She’d been silent since receiving the weapon, but now she suddenly spoke with a serious expression.
Li Si nodded.
The next step was indeed class advancement, but after the Crimson Moon’s descent, advancing immediately wouldn’t be possible.
Since the Crimson Moon had fallen, dungeons had experienced massive disturbances due to the Dungeon’s influence.
The Beginner Village dungeon, for instance, still hadn’t recovered.
Over here in Soronwell, though the magical noble families’ power offered some protection, the dungeons had been inevitably affected as well.
If she remembered correctly, following the plot progression, there were three Middle-rank Dungeons near Soronwell at this time.
One of them had its spatial energy sealed by miasma.
Only by successfully clearing each floor’s lord in that dungeon would the spatial energy be released, allowing the dungeon to reopen.
Based on the front-line progress reports on the public channel, the next floor’s clear should be completed within a day or two.
That meant there was still some time before then to boost the team’s overall combat power.
Li Si first went to the guild to confirm the dungeon’s status.
Once she was certain her judgment was correct, she led Lili Ya and Liewata toward the eastern wilderness.
But just as they reached the eastern city gate, a message nearly knocked her flat.
[Friend Message]
[Jian: Do you… need a fan club?]
What the hell?
Wait, was this woman trying to repay kindness with revenge?