Chapter 48: Jiang Lin's Newbie Gift Bundle!
By noon the next day, when Jiang Lin finally awoke from his deep slumber and tried to move, the pain twisted his face in agony.
After a long while of careful breathing and easing his body, he crawled to the entrance and peeked outside. Seeing the Blue Eagle squatting obediently under the shelter like a broody hen, he let out a small sigh of relief. Then, looking down at his battered armor—plates fused to his wounds—Jiang Lin felt conflicted.
After some hesitation, he decided to remove his broken armor carefully, though he left the boots on—just in case the eagle decided to be a bad little coo, he'd still be able to run.
Staring at the crisscross of wounds and dried blood all over his body, Jiang Lin sighed. Almost all of it was from Peso. The earlier attackers only wore down the armor's durability. But it was Peso who took the Black Knight Armor's durability to zero.
As for Yan Hu? His heavy punches just slammed into the Flameburst Cleave Sword. That weapon had great offense but weak defense due to its intricate design. Yan Hu's punches dropped its durability sharply, and later, one of Peso's arrows pierced it from the side, setting up for the explosion that followed.
"All the gear I built up over a year… gone in one night! Damn it! Screw you!"
Inside the cave, Jiang Lin applied medicinal powder to his injuries while cursing nonstop. His armor was ruined, his heavy sword blown to bits—he was no longer the invincible Dou Zhe he once was!
He, who once glared fearlessly at Dou Shi, now had to humbly play servant? Tragic!
But Peso's incident had taught him a valuable lesson: in a world ruled by power, logic and fairness often don't matter.
Betrayal for profit, opportunistic backstabbing, petty greed, and even random lust—none of it was rare. (Wait, was something odd just thrown in there…?)
Peso's murderous intent had come from nowhere. He thought he could kill Jiang Lin, so he tried. No warning, no reason—just a sneak attack, nearly costing Jiang Lin everything.
"If you, you arrogant bastard, didn't drop enough loot to cover my losses, I swear I would've lost my damn mind!"
After bandaging up with strips of cloth and changing into a plain gray robe, Jiang Lin pushed the stone aside and stepped out.
The Blue Eagle glanced back at him, then resumed pretending to be a mother hen.
"Wait—what the hell?! What happened to your little bird junk? Did it melt?! …Is it female? Wait, who flipped you over?"
Jiang Lin walked over to the alchemy pool to inspect Peso's "gift." When he glanced inside, he blinked in disbelief, rubbed his eyes, and cursed. He had seen wrong… but—
His head snapped toward the Blue Eagle and pointed at the rope on its neck. "You were here yesterday, weren't you? That rope isn't that long! You little bad coo! You disobedient coo!"
Blue Eagle: …
Dude. Can you not accuse me like that?
After a good scolding, Jiang Lin finally turned to Peso's "loot."
Still sore over his massive losses, Jiang Lin glared at everything like it owed him money.
Until—he found a faint silver ring.
He raised it above his head, eyes gleaming, voice reverent.
"The most brilliant, most handsome, most magnificent Peso bro! I swear—I'll bring you back to life!"
"Peso bro, you are a divine angel sent to save me!"
"No, you're not an idiot—you're an angel! I'm the idiot! I never saw your true kindness!"
"Don't worry! I'll save you! We'll conquer the world together!"
"Revive, my beloved big bro Peso!!"
The Blue Eagle watched Jiang Lin's ecstatic breakdown, screaming while holding a storage ring, and inched away in fear.
It didn't understand Jiang Lin's emotional rollercoaster from ruin to sudden fortune. That ring—was a storage ring! Something Jiang Lin desperately wanted but never had access to.
Did he love lugging a greatsword and full armor everywhere?
No! He had no choice!
If he'd had a storage ring earlier, would he carry just one sword?
No way—he'd carry two. Or more! He could mix and match all kinds of gear!
With that ring, all of last night's losses were worth it.
Weapons could be remade—but a storage ring? That was a rare treasure far beyond Jiang Lin's reach.
What, you think he could just stumble across one in some random cave? Be serious! Storage rings weren't that easy to find!
This particular ring was the most basic kind—only one cubic meter of space. But for Jiang Lin, it was a dream come true.
Last night, he'd only brought back Peso's body. He hadn't had the time or strength to carry the bow or shield. All he retrieved were Peso's clothes, slightly damaged inner armor, some random stuff—and this ring.
Peso's death, accompanied by Jiang Lin's twisted laughter, had released the ring's restrictions. Now a Dou Zhe, Jiang Lin easily injected his spiritual energy to access it.
The interior wasn't a fixed cube. It was more like a bubble—shifting shape, flexible. Inside, Jiang Lin found three blueprints, several golden arrows, assorted ores, two bottles of pills, one Dou Technique, one handwritten journal, and a badge.
Grinning, Jiang Lin rubbed his hands like a greedy fly and sat beside the alchemy pool, pulling out the blueprints first.
As expected, they were similar to alchemist pill formulas—blueprints that consumed soul energy when studied. Luckily, reading their names didn't cost anything.
They were:
High Yellow-Rank Battle Weapon: Bluefeather BowMid Yellow-Rank Armor: Diamond SoftmailMid Yellow-Rank Shield: Profound Ice Shield
The Bluefeather Bow was the original version of Peso's Goldfeather Bow—something he wasn't skilled enough to craft, so he had made a downgrade. His assistant had a low-rank version, but that poor soul got his head blown off by Jiang Lin.
Seeing these, Jiang Lin almost wanted to skip the puppet-making process and revive Peso on the spot.
Revive, my beloved big bro Peso! You're my long-lost half-brother from another mother!
These three blueprints alone were enough to help Jiang Lin qualify as a High Yellow-Rank Blacksmith!
Overwhelmed with gratitude, he pulled out the rest of the loot.
The two bottles of pills:
Bone Regrowth Pill: a Tier 2 healing elixirQi Gathering Powder: a Tier 3 Dou Qi cultivation pill?! Tier 3?!
If the Blue Eagle weren't watching, Jiang Lin would've knelt and bowed to Peso's corpse on the spot.
Bro left healing pills to help him recover faster—he truly cared! I'm crying!
The Qi Gathering Powder confused him a bit—Peso was a three-star Dou Shi. Why carry a pill meant to help Dou Qi users break into Dou Zhe?
"Wait… maybe he had a nephew?"
Jiang Lin beamed. Perfect! I'll deliver it to your nephew, bro. I'll make sure it's used well!
But then he flipped through Peso's blacksmith journal… and sighed.
Such an amazing guy… and still single. He kept the powder because it was universally useful—something you always kept around just in case.
"Wait, Xiao Yi Xian is still at Dou Qi Stage Eight, right? Guess I'll just give it to her."
He flipped through the journal a bit more, then stored it away to read later.
And only now did Jiang Lin realize—this too was Peso's kindness.
Even though he died single… he was still thinking of my friends. Bro… I'm crying again!
As for the Dou Technique in the ring—it shocked even Jiang Lin.
A Low Xuan-Rank Dou Technique: Bluefeather Archery—a matching technique for the Bluefeather Bow?!
Stunned, Jiang Lin pulled out Peso's guild badge.
The emblem had a flame-shaped outer border, a transparent center showing stars.
Two stars were lit. Below was a line of small text:
Issued by the Blacksmiths' Guild: Tier 2 Blacksmith – Peso
So this "Tier 2" thing… was a new ranking system?
Well then—
Hands together…
Thank you, Big Bro Peso… I've finally found my people.
(END CHAPTER)
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