The Magical Blacksmith - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Loophole Reward

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“Huh? Owner Zhang, aren’t you an honest businessman? Your price is fixed right? Why should I pay extra?!” Tang Tang was confused.

“Your Mystic Fire Sword has a crack on the blade. If you want to refine it, you must restore it first, so it will cost you another 100 low-tier spirit stones.” Zhang Zhi spoke the truth, he did not take advantage of the girl.

Only a working flying sword could be refined. 

After some thought, he added, “Or do you think I’m charging a lot for restoration? If so, you can fix it somewhere else and come back when it’s fixed.”

Tang Tang understood what happened. Zhang Zhi was not taking advantage of her, she knew a flying sword could only be refined when it was working but she had sold everything she had to get enough mid-tier spirit stones for the refinement. She did not have any extra money left for the restoration.

An idea popped up in her mind. She clenched her teeth and kept her tough side away before she looked at Zhang Zhi with an affectionate gaze, “Owner Zhang, it’s just a little crack, why don’t you fix it for me, pretty please~”

Tang Tang might be a girl but her physique was bigger than a strong man.

Ugh!

Zhang Zhi and the other inner disciples could not handle the situation and retched together. Being feminine was not suitable for the tough and rugged Tang Tang.

“YOU GUYS!” 

Embarrassed, Tang Tang got angry, but she did not give up. Since showing affection did not work, she quickly grabbed one of her peers who retched the loudest, “What’s wrong with my looks? Why are you retching! You better compensate me with 100 low-tier spirit stones for ruining my image!”

Tang Tang was practically robbing the poor guy in broad daylight. 

The disciple was lifted up in the air by the collar. He was crying and begging like a terrified chick, “Brother Tang please! I had to borrow money from others to get the funds for refinement! Spare me, Brother Tang!”

Tang Tang then glared at the others. 

The others nervously held their magical pouches tightly, they were afraid that Tang Tang would rob them.

In the end, Tang Tang looked at Zhang Zhi and bellowed, “Owner Zhang, if you don’t give me a discount, I’ll…I’ll… strangle him to death!”

The poor guy cried bitterly. It was up to Zhang Zhi whether to give Tang Tang a discount, why was she threatening to strangle him to death if she could not get one?

‘Brother Tang? More action, less talk I see…’ 

Zhang Zhi sighed in his heart and when he saw the poor guy was passing out, he voiced a kind reminder, “Uhmm, you can actually also pay with other items of the same value.”

Tang Tang finally released the poor guy after hearing what Zhang Zhi said. She then tried to think of what else she could use to trade for the restoration fee. 

After all, in order to gather enough money for the refinement fee, she sold all her valuable possessions.

It was then that Tang Tang thought of something. She quickly searched her pouch.

A while later, she took out a piece of black tortoise shell out. The shell had suffered some bad cracks and she was rather embarrassed to show it to Zhang Zhi, “Owner Zhang, I’ve sold everything valuable to pay for the refinement fee, all I have left is this tortoise shell, maybe it’s worth something?”

The atmosphere turned silent for a moment. Tang Tang was embarrassed because she wanted to trade a tortoise shell for 100 low-tier spirit stones, and on top of that, the tortoise shell had cracks on it.

Zhang Zhi frowned, he did not even want to touch the dirty tortoise shell but since they were all acquaintances, he reluctantly took it to have a quick look. 

He wanted to use the system to give him some proper insight into the tortoise shell. 

The moment he held the tortoise shell, Zhang Zhi’s eyes almost popped out of his eye sockets. He was in utter shock when he saw the description from the system.

Name: Defense Guard (Broken).

Type: Tortoise Shell.

Rank: Low-tier Spirit Artifact.

Material Used: The shell of a thousand year old spirit tortoise.

A spirit artifact, as its name suggested, was a higher tier artifact than the common ones. Only cultivators of Golden Core stage could get their hands on one, therefore spirit artifacts were regarded as precious treasures.

Even though the tortoise shell was broken, if Zhang Zhi gained new restoration or repair skills in the future, he might be able to fix it and earn a fortune!

“Owner Zhang, if it’s really not enough, I’ll come back when I have the money.” 

Tang Tang might be rough to her peers but she was quite obedient when she was in front of Zhang Zhi. She did not try to force Zhang Zhi. Noticing that Zhang Zhi kept quiet after he inspected the tortoise shell, she thought it was not enough, hence the defeated tone.

“It’s okay. This tortoise shell is worth 100 low-tier spirit stones.” 

Zhang Zhi then took Mystic Fire Sword to the rear and started his work.

Due to the fact that the tortoise shell was broken, amateurs failed to see the true value of the shell. 

Everyone thought the sun was coming up from the west when Zhang Zhi took the shell as payment.

Ever since their first visit, the disciples had labeled Zhang Zhi a scrooge, a stingy person who would not give discounts to customers, but Zhang Zhi just took a tortoise shell as the restoration fee. Something which he would charge 100 low-tier spirit stones for! 

It was a surprising and strange scene to the group.

“I heard every master has their own quirk, I wonder if Owner Zhang likes to collect broken stuff…”

“I think I should take all the broken stuff from my pouch and let him inspect them. If he finds anything he likes, I’ll earn big time!”

“My grandfather left me a chamber pot, I should let Owner Zhang have a look at it some other day.”

The group lost interest in watching Zhang Zhi smith, instead they checked their magical pouches for any potential valuable scraps in the hopes that they could be as lucky as Tang Tang.

As for Tang Tang, she was petrified on the spot. She picked up the broken shell from a certain training ground and even though she did not know the true value of it, she kept it nonetheless. 

She too had a feeling that the shell was not something ordinary.

Zhang Zhi was a known scrooge, he would never give anyone a discount, not even people he knew, therefore there could be only one explanation: Zhang Zhi identified the value of the shell, and it was something valuable.

Tang Tang felt sour at the thought of it. She did not know whether she was on the losing side or the winning side but the feeling ruined her mood in watching Zhang Zhi smith.

On the other hand, Zhang Zhi had restored the flying sword and was proceeding to refinement. The system also provided him with the necessary material. 

This time around, though the material might not be as rare as Sky Crystal, it was not something that one could buy from the market.

After the refinement and quenching, Mystic Fire Sword glowed red, it even raised the temperature in the blacksmith. 

When Zhang Zhi passed Mystic Fire Sword back to Tang Tang, the group of disciples surrounded her for a closer look. They wanted to know if it was true that refinement could rank up a flying sword.

“Tang Tang, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and test it!”

Tang Tang was also anxious in testing the newly refined Mystic Fire Sword. She channeled her spiritual power into the sword and blistering flames burst from the blade, as if it could burn everything to the ground.

The power that they felt was indeed of a mid-tier artifact!

The group were bathing in jealousy. They were all Foundation Building cultivators without a mid-tier artifact, except for Tang Tang. 

With the new sword, Tang Tang had surpassed her peers and risen to a whole new level in terms of strength.

The group swiftly realized that in a few days, they would be able to refine their flying swords with Zhang Zhi and would be able to catch up to Tang Tang, which calmed them down for a moment.

Everyone of them looked at Zhang Zhi with a blistering gaze.

A few of them once thought Zhang Zhi was skilled only in restoration, he was nothing when compared to the inner sect’s Elder Ouyang. 

Now, after witnessing Zhang Zhi rank up a low-tier artifact to mid-tier artifact, they suddenly had a feeling that Elder Ouyang was no one.

“Huh? Owner Zhang, did you add in Scarlet Flame Essence during the refinement?” Tang Tang soon noticed the difference with her flying sword.

“Scarlet Flame Essence? How is it possible? It’s a high grade material, why is it added into a low-tier artifact?”

“Tang Tang, you should go to the medicine hall and get some medicine for your eyes.”

“Come on, just think about it, why would Owner Zhang use such a high grade material in the flying sword?”

The others were making fun of Tang Tang’s comment but when they had a closer inspection of Mystic Fire Sword, they gasped in shock and cursed out loud, “Holy sh*t! Scarlet Flame Essence!”

The group looked at Zhang Zhi as if they were looking at a ghost.

Was he being generous? He was a scrooge in terms of payment and never gave anyone a discount.

Was he stingy then? 

Not exactly because he used a high grade essence, the Scarlet Flame Essence, to refine the flying sword and the amount he used was quite generous, at least 80% of the fee was used on the material.

Everyone exclaimed that Zhang Zhi was a mysterious man.

Zhang Zhi smiled without saying a word. The customers got what they paid for and since they paid a high price, it was his responsibility to satisfy them.

Of course, the system also played a ‘small’ role in this.

The group admired the newly refined Mystic Fire Sword for a while before they remembered they had scraps in their pouches, waiting for Zhang Zhi to inspect them. 

They took their scraps out and said, “Owner Zhang, have a look at these, are any of these worth anything?”

Zhang Zhi did not even need the system to tell him that he was looking at broken pails and other trash, he put on a gloomy look and said, “Go away!”

The group was embarrassed as they took their broken pails and other trash back.

As for Tang Tang, she had forgotten about the heartache of losing the potentially valuable tortoise shell because even if the tortoise shell was worth more than 200 low-tier spirit stones, it was not as valuable as the refined sword and Zhang Zhi’s service.

Therefore, the group left happily and promised they would be back for more sword refinement.

Zhang Zhi nonchalantly saw the group off. Then, he took the tortoise shell out and wiped it clean.

He thought he had earned a windfall with the tortoise shell. 

“A low-tier spirit artifact? I’d need at least high-tier spirit stones to evaluate its value!”

“System, how do I restore this low-tier spirit artifact?” Zhang Zhi asked.

“The host’s forging skill must reach Level 5 before learning restoration skills for spirit artifacts.”

Zhang Zhi’s current forging skill was Level 2, he was three levels away, meaning he would soon be able to restore the low-tier spirit artifact and sell it for a fortune!

“Oh right, system, why didn’t you take any commission when customers paid with trade-ins?”

Starting from Han Ling’er’s talisman, even though the system would take a 90% commission of all payments, the talisman, and now the tortoise shell, were still in Zhang Zhi’s possession.

Could it be that the system could not take commission from items?

If it was true, Zhang Zhi would want to accept items in the future instead of spirit stones. He would still receive the same value and the system could not take any commission from him.

“Ding Dong, loophole detected! Loophole fixed! New rule implemented!”

“Since the items are traded in as payment, the items will be temporarily placed in the host’s possession. When the host uses or consumes said items, the system will deduct an amount of spirit stones of equivalent value from the host.”

Zhang Zhi’s laugh was frozen. He would not have lost anything if he had not asked the question, he could have stayed quiet and earned a fortune.

After ruining his mood, the system added, “In order to reward the host’s effort in discovering a loophole, cultivation rank is raised by 1 as a reward.”

Zhang Zhi had reached Veteran Qi Refining stage without going through any bottleneck.

He did not know whether he should be happy or sad.

“Whatever. I guess I have to evaluate the profit first before I tell the system about any potential loopholes…”