Chapter 468: Chapter 232: Will Master Punish Me?

The quality of these independent forges varied greatly. Some only catered to low-level Adventurers, forging affordable, Ordinary-grade weapons. Others specialized in high-quality wares, with the weapons they sold starting at the Excellent Level.

Many of them also took custom forging orders: you provided the requirements and materials, and the shopkeeper would handle the forging, charging only a customization and forging fee.

Overall, though, the biggest problems with these independent forges were their inconsistent quality and relative lack of high-end equipment.

Some shops might have one or two pieces of Excellent Level equipment, but the variety was lacking, and they were mostly weapons. Going to check them one by one would be a complete waste of time. Fajade City was huge, and with so many Adventurer’s Commercial Streets, visiting them all would likely take several days.

So, Lin Mo decided to go directly to a large chain forge. The prices might be slightly higher, but the convenience and time saved would be worth it.

There were far fewer chain forges; only three major ones existed in Fajade City.

Their names were the Copper Hammer Silver Axe Forging Shop, the Adventurer’s Cottage, and the Preston Forge.

The last of these had the most impressive background. The name Preston came from the family business of Duke Nathaniel Preston of the Doria Kingdom—a famous Extraordinary Level expert hailed as the Kingdom’s Sword.

This Duke was one of the few figures in the Kingdom who could be compared to Duke Sed Morin.

The other Dukes in the Kingdom, while holding the title and corresponding status, couldn’t even begin to compare to these two in terms of actual wealth and power.

Lin Mo was quite interested in this Duke hailed as the Kingdom’s Sword. Furthermore, his forge was said to have the largest quantity and widest variety of High Level equipment among the three major chains.

Although the prices were slightly higher, they were still within a reasonable range.

As for the other two, the Copper Hammer Silver Axe Forging Shop was the most no-frills chain. The items sold there were the cheapest, not much different from ordinary independent forges. The downside was that it had the fewest high-quality items of the three, and its decor and service were also relatively poor.

The second, the Adventurer’s Cottage, had a name that sounded friendly but was, in reality, the biggest trap.

The prices in this shop weren’t particularly expensive, and its facade was bright and flashy. Many newcomers from out of town would be drawn in by the shop’s superficial appeal and buy weapons there.

But the shop’s quality control was abysmal. Some of its weapons were decent, while others were of inferior quality. Those who got lucky were fine, but if you were unlucky enough to buy a bad weapon, you were in for some serious trouble.

A shop like this could never last long in a city with a stable Adventurer population, but in a place like Fajade City, with its massive transient population, it could continually prey on wave after wave of newcomers.

Even though the shop’s poor reputation was recorded in the Adventurer’s Handbook, not every Adventurer would go out of their way to buy one, let alone read it carefully and analyze its contents.

There were always lazy or foolish people who would see it was an old, established shop and go right in to buy something. Only after they "opened their blind box," failed, and suffered a great loss would they begin to regret it.

Lin Mo weighed the pros and cons and ultimately chose the one that seemed most reliable: the Preston Forge.

The forge was a bit far from their lodging, but luckily, they had nothing else to do today. They were in no hurry and could take a leisurely walk there.

Along the way, they could also take in more of the city’s scenery, buy some snacks, and eat as they explored.

Feney and Lena were the happiest at times like this. They looked left and right in excitement, dragging Lin Mo to any shop that caught their interest and buying quite a few things.

Some of their purchases were actually useful, but many were just useless "fashion trash," like character figurines from the famous Continent Minstrel Vinci’s work, *Minstrel’s Adventure Record: Continent Race Characteristics and Differences Log*.

Lin Mo had never read the book, but he had heard of it.

His fellow Minstrels had apparently reviewed it as "nothing more than the delusions of a failure on the verge of starvation."

The figurines were admittedly a bit interesting, though. For example, there were voluptuous Elves—a type that didn’t actually exist in this world—and bratty, tsundere dragon-girls...

From a character design standpoint alone, for a Minstrel of this world, he certainly had a vivid imagination.

Before they knew it, they had wandered for the better part of the morning and finally arrived at their destination.

Lin Mo looked up at the massive forge before him.

Just as the handbook described, the scale of the shop was astounding. From the outside, however, it wasn’t particularly ornate, giving off a rustic and unpretentious feeling instead.

Walking inside, there were no clerks at the entrance to greet them, but the interior layout was neat and orderly, giving it a very pleasant and comfortable feel.

In the most conspicuous area on the first floor stood a sign that read: Ordinary Equipment Zone.

So, Lin Mo wasted no time and went straight to the second floor.

The quantity of equipment on the second floor didn’t seem much different from the first; there was just as much. A sign was also placed in a conspicuous spot: Excellent Equipment Zone.

’That means the third floor must be the Excellence Equipment Zone.’

Lin Mo continued up the stairs to the third floor.

Compared to the first two floors, the amount of equipment on this level was significantly smaller—only about a tenth of what was on the floors below.

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