Blacksmith

Peeking at the top 100 rankers on the leaderboard, I let out a sigh. When will i, Wang Lao, be a top ranker too.

Gob!

[Gobno wants to give you something!]

I closed the holographic leaderboard screen.

The Goblin in front of me eagerly extended its hands, offering a handful of coins.

Taking the coins a message popped.

[+10 coins]

[Gobno gave you coins].

Just 10 coins? Well, that aligns with what the forums suggested about employing a goblin for gold mining.

Eyeing the Goblin's beat-up pickaxe, I sighed again. Short on mobs and, turns out, short on decent gear too.

The pickaxe's durability was already down to 50%.

"Hey, Gob, pass me that pickaxe of yours."

I've got to patch it up; can't afford it going kaput on me again.

Exiting the dungeon. I doubted anyone invading my humble dungeon for a mere 4 gold.

I lamented. Truly unlikely. Perhaps i should quit this game already.

Knowing a budget-friendly blacksmith, I headed to his shop, where sweet-talking him secured me an 80% repair discount.

In just 10 minutes, I reached the blacksmith bazaar. Setting up a shop here was truly expensive. A meter costing 1400 gold in rent.

However, his establishment wasn't on the main street; it nestled within the embrace of an alley.

I Finally arrived at the shop, it's tilted sign hinting at the quirkiness within.

As I pushed the door open, the bells chimed, the forums mentioned that the npc's had it as a security measure to ward off potential robbers.

"Malfurd!?" I called, expecting the blacksmith to be diligently refining ore in the back. After a short wait, a figure emerged – a dwarf, or at least someone who bore a striking resemblance. Malfurd, short in stature with a classic dwarf beard.

Swoosh!

With practiced ease, I retrieved the pickaxe from one of my item slots.

I waited patiently for the repairs to finish; it didn't take long for a low tier pickaxe.

[repair done!]

[+1 simple pickaxe]

Once done, I headed back to the dungeon, handed the now fixed pickaxe to Gobno, and logged off.

Removing my helmet, I glanced at the time on my phone—it was almost time for school. I fetched my laptop and prepared for online classes, though I dreaded the upcoming English sessions, especially since I had two of them today.

After enduring two hours of English classes, the much-needed one-hour break arrived. Opting for a brief escape, I decided to log back into Dungeon Crawl. It's a game I enjoy, boasting an impressive following of over 500 million players and holding the second spot as the most popular game for 15 consecutive years.

[WELCOME BACK! WANG LAO!]

The customary welcome greeted my return to the game.

[-4 Gold]

[Please Upgrade Your Defenses]

[Repairing Damages]

[Reviving Mobs]

Wait a minute!

I'd been raided.

But why?

I opened the holographic screen, eager to discover the audacious player who dared to attack me.

[Mae San – LV 40]

You've got to be kidding me. Why would a level 40 player invade me? My level isn't even in the double digits.

Intrigued, I scouted her dungeon.

A 3D model of her base appeared on a table infront of me.

She boasted over 300 goblins, about 40 golems, and hold on, what! A dragon!?

Those cost over 10 million gold!

Gob!

[Gobno wants to give you something!]

To be continued

Rate this book

INDEX