Lord of the Myriad Worlds

Chapter 314: Enchanting Blacksmith

One o'clock in the afternoon.

Bright sunlight had fully chased away the night's chill. On the sunny slopes and sheltered spots, the plants were still green and vigorous — giving the illusion that winter was still far off, that autumn hadn't quite left, that life was still good, that one could still enjoy a lazy afternoon nap.

But on the training ground outside the walls, no one dared to doze. No one dared to blink.

Because this was Li Wei's special training session. Today's subject: how to handle an Agility-type opponent.

Li Wei stood in full kit, wielding a Three-Star heavy wooden sword one-handed, holding off a simultaneous assault from Benjamin, Santiago, Grant, Mark, and Javier.

These five had grown to a level where even Thomas and Leon would address them as equals. What they lacked were Destiny Grid points, titles, and equipment.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

"Mark — your footwork stepped out of position just now."

"Benjamin — remember to coordinate."

"Grant — your combat awareness is solid. That's the way. Organize another offensive. Remember — I'm a Level 5 Magic Zombie right now, and I'm running an Agility build. Against an opponent like this, anticipating movement and reading patterns in advance is critical.""You might feel like it's too fast to react to — but don't let that thought take hold. Remember: every movement leaves a trace. No matter how erratic the attack pattern, there's always a trajectory. If a Magic Zombie suddenly shifts or repositions in a way you can't understand, pay attention — that may be where its life core is located."

Li Wei explained and demonstrated simultaneously, patient and thorough.

Training had no shortcuts. You just ran it into the ground, over and over.

"Again. Ready — begin!"

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Li Wei had already launched himself across twenty meters and driven straight into the formation Benjamin's five had assembled. Two seconds later, all five were on the ground.

"Good, good. This time Benjamin landed two hits on me, Javier landed one, Grant landed one. Mark's defense was solid — just too slow to react."

"Rest up. Next group!"

Li Wei's voice was full and clear, his energy seemingly inexhaustible. With the Flame Baron title equipped, he had 540 Stamina and 20 Spiritual Power — it would take a genuine equal to tire him out.

Names could be wrong, but nicknames never lied.

Strangely, he had also noticed over the past few days that his Stamina and Spiritual Power seemed to be recovering faster than usual.

A minute later, all five squads had been put down.

Not a single one could hold out.

But that was fine — they could get back up and go again.

"Old Zhao — come get some practice in."

Li Wei looked around and called out to Zhao Guozhu, who had been watching from a distance.

The old man shook his head vigorously and made a hasty retreat.

Not a chance he was volunteering for that.

"My Lord — the newly arrived Freemen have all been screened. They're currently in the quarantine zone. Psychological counseling and background interviews are underway. They should be ready to formally join the territory in two or three days."

Isabel's mother came to report. The hundred Freemen brought from the small city base to the west had arrived around ten in the morning — but the situation was rough. Many had been beaten. They were crying like children, emotionally unstable, still convinced the Frost Duke was going to use them to make Blood Plague antidotes.

Even with Grant and others speaking from personal experience, it would take time to recover.

In short, the western underground base was a festering problem. Li Wei could tolerate its existence for now — there wasn't enough housing yet, and absorption wasn't feasible at this scale.

He'd deal with it in time.

Oh — Adai was back. A bit late today.

"Alright, everyone continue training on your own."

Li Wei excused himself and returned to the camp building. Liang Yuzhi had certainly sent back important intelligence.

A flutter of wings.

Adai landed on Li Wei's shoulder the moment he arrived, impatiently rubbing his beak against his talons. Something was tied to them.

"Adai — good work. Go play."

He shooed Adai off and carefully opened the message. Inside, as expected, was Liang Yuzhi's detailed advice. Reading it through, everything clicked into place — so there had been that much going on behind the scenes.

Though — Night Owl had said his territory would collapse within six months?

That didn't sound like something said in anger. It didn't sound like the kind of thing someone like her said carelessly. It sounded more like a veiled warning.

She might be ruthless, but she wasn't stupid.

So he had genuinely stepped on someone's toes. Taken someone's piece of the pie.

He found himself looking forward to it.

He tore the note into small pieces and ate it — the safest option. Anyone determined enough could still reconstruct it, but at least it would be unpleasant for them.

He went to find Zhao Xuanxuan, but she wasn't in the smithy — she had gone down to the first basement level, to the electric truck assembly workshop. Nelson and Linus had actually gone and asked Master Zhao for help.

He followed, and from a distance he could already hear the rhythmic sound of Zhao Xuanxuan's hammer — steady and measured, not too loud, not too soft. A crowd had gathered around her, staring wide-eyed, as if watching a magic trick.

Li Wei didn't announce himself. He stood at the back and stretched his neck to see.

Inside was a welded truck chassis — complete, but not yet fitted with anything else. Zhao Xuanxuan was working with her Four-Star Enchanting Hammer, tapping carefully left and right, occasionally pressing her hand against the metal to feel it. After a long while, she straightened up and shook her head. "Too many problems. Flaws everywhere. This chassis is fine for paved roads, but if you want serious off-road capability, you need to do more — and that's not easy."

"Two main issues to solve. First, the weld points. Hard impacts and collisions will stress the welds. And now, unlike before, chaotic magical particles accelerate the degradation of weld integrity. You could lower your standards, of course."

"The second issue — actually, let's solve the first one first."

"Master Zhao — could we use a single-piece die-cast chassis instead?" someone asked.

"It's not impossible, just very difficult. If only I could solve the enchanting problem." Zhao Xuanxuan frowned. She had run countless experiments over the past month, and progress could only be described as a long road ahead.

"Maybe I can help with that?"

Li Wei smiled and spoke up. The whole group turned — they'd been so absorbed they hadn't noticed him. Laughter rippled through the room.

"Everyone keep working, don't mind me. Xuanxuan — come with me. I want to show you something."

Li Wei passed along the method Liang Yuzhi had described.

Zhao Xuanxuan froze for a moment, then suddenly turned and ran back, calling out to Linus and the others: "Your design is too conservative. What we actually need is a small armored vehicle — no, a mountain armored vehicle. Limited cargo capacity, but usable for patrols. On paved roads it should hit 120 kilometers per hour, on gentle mountain terrain at least 60. Keep it compact — two or three crew. Leave the chassis to me!"

Zhao Xuanxuan was suddenly radiating authority. Li Wei wasn't entirely sure.

"Xuanxuan — can you actually pull that off? This is an apocalypse setting. You think you can build a mountain cat?"

"Ha! Li Wei, you have no idea what magical energy can do. Theoretically, this could spark a magical industrial revolution. I honestly don't understand why Weir City is still using horse carts for transport."

"Maybe because magical energy is so hard to obtain? Too scarce to use on anything but the essentials."

"Oh — you're right, I hadn't thought of that. Come on, come on — let's go do the enchanted iron ingots first. I've been dreaming of forging enchanted equipment. My Enchanting Hammer has been starving for too long—"

Zhao Xuanxuan grabbed Li Wei's arm and broke into a jog. Li Wei went along willingly. This kind of total absorption was meaningful — especially for Destiny Grid development.

Which made him think: how could he help the full-time Freeman soldiers improve their Destiny Grid alongside their overall combat strength?

He didn't need all of them to develop their Destiny Grid — just two specific professions would do.

Patience, though. That couldn't be rushed.

"By the way, Xuanxuan — what's your Destiny Grid at now?"

"Artisan 34, Blacksmith 44, Miner 23. Not bad, right? But Li Yue suggested I bind a Scholar Card as my fourth, while Second Aunt suggested a Cavalry Card. Both are Rare cards. Li Wei — what do you think?"

"Impressive. I can't really advise you on that — what do you want?"

"I don't mind either way. I'm following your lead. Whatever you need, that's what I'll bind."

Said completely naturally.

Li Wei had nothing to say to that. He asked instead: "Why did Li Yue suggest the Scholar Card?"

"For the Enchanting Blacksmith path. She said it accelerates Destiny Grid growth, and eventually you can go to headquarters and upgrade the Profession Card to Rare quality."

"As for Second Aunt — she said if you don't have a mount, running around with a giant hammer is too slow. But if you got a fully armored cavalry mount, that hammer on the battlefield would be one-hit-eighty, one-hit-eighty. The Cavalry Card is Rare too, though. I actually like the image Second Aunt described — forging iron in peacetime, charging through everything in battle. Honestly, if life got to that point, I'd consider it a small kind of fulfillment."

"I didn't realize you had a violent streak," Li Wei laughed. The atmosphere without the constant threat of elimination was genuinely wonderful — before, even casual conversation had required careful calculation.

"Ha! I'm not violent at all. You're the violent one, Li Wei. All quiet and unassuming normally, then absolutely ferocious the moment a real fight starts. I still remember that time with your fiancée going to negotiate with the bandits — I had no idea you were that capable. Though I got used to it eventually. I've been numb to it ever since."

Zhao Xuanxuan was animated and cheerful. Li Wei listened quietly beside her. The Magic Ore Vein was just ahead, faint blue light playing across the stacked iron ingots.

Their lives had genuinely gotten better. But thinking back to those early days in that barren valley — it hadn't felt that hard at the time. What he remembered most was everyone scheming against each other, plotting and maneuvering. He found himself oddly nostalgic for it.

"Li Wei — if I ever get the chance, I'm going to pick a codename called Peppa."

"Why?"

"Because then I can call you little pig George. Ha!"