Chapter 11: Creation

The original owner had lived since childhood in a place rich with spiritual energy, and had used many spiritual medicines to temper her body. Her physical constitution was far superior to Yun Qing in the modern day, whose thinking, cultivation, and environment were all limited, leaving her unaware of the true extent of this body's strength.

After finishing her tasks at the slaughterhouse, Yun Qing did not go to practice archery; instead, she went to the blacksmith's shop. She wanted to learn to make more things and become familiar with her body's strength.

Yun Qing was already a frequent visitor at the blacksmith's shop, often stopping by to see which weapons suited her and how much silver they cost.

Master Li, the proprietor, was accustomed to Yun Qing's habit of browsing and asking questions without making purchases.

But this time, Yun Qing did not look at the weapons. Instead, she asked the burly, dark-skinned shop owner, "Master Li, do you need any helpers here? Someone to do odd jobs, no pay required."

No pay? Did she want weapons instead? This plain-looking girl had coveted his shop's weapons for quite some time. Master Li looked at Yun Qing doubtfully, "You don't want wages or anything else?"

Master Li's tall stature was imposing, but Yun Qing met his suspicious gaze with determination, "That's right. I don't know much, but I'll do what I can."

Master Li stared at Yun Qing for a long time, making her nervous, and just as she was about to leave, he finally spoke in his deep voice, "You can work as a helper here, but you can't just show up one day and disappear the next. You must work for a period of time."

It felt almost like even a free laborer was being rejected—after all, a young girl offering to work for free at a blacksmith's shop seemed more likely to cause trouble than to help.

To her surprise, Master Li didn't ask many questions and was willing to keep her. Yun Qing quickly assured him, "No problem. Your shop is open at night too. If I'm busy during the day, I'll come in the evening."

"Good! Give it a try then!"

Unexpectedly, it went so smoothly—Yun Qing silently made a victory gesture in her heart.

Master Li had his own reasons for keeping Yun Qing. First, the plain girl truly seemed to like the weapons in his shop. Second, Old Liu from the slaughterhouse had told him Yun Qing was strong and diligent. If she could actually help out, he wouldn't give her the best weapons, but letting her refurbish a broken one for herself wouldn't be out of the question.

The work Yun Qing was assigned was simple. Pickaxes would suffer varying degrees of damage during mining, and the blacksmith's shop had a batch in need of repair. Her job was to restore these damaged pickaxes.

Pickaxes were composed of wooden handles and metal parts. To repair them, the two parts had to be separated—a task requiring strength, and Master Li's first test for her.

Without any guidance from the system, Yun Qing gripped the wooden handle in one hand, the pickaxe facing downward, and held a hammer in the other. Following Master Li's instructions, she hammered the pickaxe head off.

It was somewhat difficult, but for Yun Qing, who had raw strength she hadn't fully used before, it was still a success.

Master Li nodded quietly—her conditions were quite decent.

After she separated several pickaxes in succession, Master Li instructed Yun Qing on the next step.

She lit fine charcoal in the forge, placed the pickaxe heads in it, and heated them until they were red-hot and malleable. Yun Qing, doing this for the first time, followed Master Li's guidance.

Yun Qing held a pair of refined iron tongs in her left hand, pulled out the heated pickaxe head from the furnace, clamped it tightly on the anvil, and wielded a heavy iron hammer in her right. She referred to a brand-new pickaxe as a model and hammered the retrieved pickaxe head.

Her left hand had to firmly hold the pickaxe in place during hammering, while the right hand raised a hammer weighing over thirty pounds and struck with sustained force. The strength required wasn't simply the greater the better—it had to be suitable.

Only when Yun Qing realized she could manage this task did she truly appreciate how exceptional this body was.

During the hammering, a crosshair appeared, but as this was Yun Qing's first time in such a job, she fumbled for a while before she finally managed to restore a damaged pickaxe.

She tossed the repaired pickaxe into a nearby pool to cool it, thus completing the restoration.

No system notification for crafting experience appeared upon completion, which Yun Qing had anticipated, but she still felt a pang of disappointment.

She consoled herself—it's fine, not everything can rely on the system. Forging could be considered a way to train her body.

After nearly an hour, Yun Qing had repaired five pickaxes. With each one, her technique improved little by little. She shut down the forge, drenched in sweat from working before its blazing heat.

After a brief rest, Yun Qing hammered the wooden handles into the repaired pickaxe heads.

Just as she finished, the system prompt appeared:

Crafting experience +10;
Pickaxe repaired *1;

Yun Qing: ...

A total of fifty crafting experience points—a belated surprise. She had finally found a good way to level up her crafting skill.

Taking the five repaired pickaxes, Yun Qing found Master Li, who was busy, and said, "Master Li, I've finished all of them. Take a look at how I did."

Master Li picked them up, inspected them one by one, and said, "Not bad!"

"Can I repair some more?"

Master Li pointed to a pile of broken pickaxes, axes, medicine hoes, and hoes. "No pay, so feel free to repair as many as you like."

Yun Qing smiled, "No pay needed. I'll repair some more today."

"Good!"

As Yun Qing approached the pile of damaged tools, the system's pleasant notification sounded:

"Li Iron Hammer's favorability +1."
"Li Iron Hammer's favorability toward you has risen to 'acquainted.'"

Li Iron Hammer was certainly Master Li. Yun Qing mused in her mind, "Liu Liu, do you think Master Li is of the Postnatal Realm, or is he someone with a fortuitous encounter?"

"He must be someone with a fortuitous encounter."

"Why? He's already middle-aged and just the owner of a blacksmith's shop."

"Without a fortuitous encounter, one cannot attain the Postnatal Realm."

Yun Qing: "You make a good point, difficult to refute. Master Liu has no favorability for me, so he probably lacks any fortuitous encounter and can't reach the Postnatal Realm."

Liu Liu: "Not reaching the Postnatal Realm might not be a bad thing."

Yun Qing: "You're a dog, so you're always right."

Liu Liu: ...

Master Li's favorability was easier to gain than Ye Little Wolf's. Ye Qiao Qiao certainly hadn't reached the Postnatal Realm. Once Master Li's favorability rose higher, Yun Qing planned to ask him about matters concerning the Postnatal Realm.

Yun Qing picked out another five pickaxes to repair.

This time, she could finally use Crafting Technique—the system corrected her unnecessary and inefficient movements, making the restoration process flawless. Though still a bit inferior to a master craftsman, she was now comparable to a skilled blacksmith.

Yun Qing's rapid improvement made Master Li's favorability rise by another point.

Although the system assisted her in using the Crafting Technique, it was still her own strength. After repairing ten pickaxes, Yun Qing returned to her lodgings utterly exhausted, took a quick shower, and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Yun Qing arrived at the slaughterhouse half an hour earlier than usual. The sky was just beginning to lighten, and Master Liu was already there.