Chapter 58

5 hours later...

Outside Old John's blacksmith shop, there were already layers upon layers of people surrounding it, not just the newbies from Difia Outpost, but also many players who had already changed professions and were rather curious, who had heard that Brother Lame was forging iron at Difia Outpost and had specially come from Silvermoon City to watch the spectacle.

Even with such a crowd, Alpha, who had already smelted nearly a thousand sets of [Native Iron Ore], showed no signs of stopping, and Brother Lame was once again in the spotlight.

"Brother Lame? Brother Lame?"

"Damn, acting all high and mighty?"

"Really a big spender, smelting [Native Iron Ore] for 5 hours and still going, how much does he have?"

"Brother, please, take care of me, wrap me in iron blocks."

"Make me an iron coffin?"

"Build me an iron house instead."

"Damn, not saying a word? What kind of high and mighty act is this?"

Alpha remained unmoved, and those with short tempers started cursing.

"** What, it's obvious he's AFK..."

Someone noticed the issue.

"Damn!!! Not even a word..."

Those with short tempers started cursing again...

...

...

The crowd finally realized that Brother Lame wasn't even there, and the character was being controlled by the system to forge iron while he did other things.

Indeed, the main character of this show was no longer in the game.

—Actually, after less than 10 minutes, Alpha was too lazy to watch and didn't care what kind of pattern the smelting would produce; at most, it would just produce a few more lumps of iron. So, he let the system take over and went offline to do other things.

According to the calculation of 2 seconds to smelt one ore and 10 ores per set, it would take 20 seconds to smelt one set. For 3000 sets of [Native Iron Ore], it would take a total of 60,000 seconds, which is over 10 hours. Standing there for 10 hours would definitely drive anyone crazy.

Actually, Qin Yu didn't plan to go online at all today. He let the system do the work and planned to check the results before going to bed, then log out the character.

With plenty of time, Qin Yu made a special trip to the supermarket to buy some fresh ingredients and prepared a good meal for lunch.

Today, Qin Yu picked some nice beef brisket and fresh tomatoes, planning to make a mildly spicy tomato beef brisket stew. Wen Xiaodao is from Yunnan, and sour and spicy is her favorite.

As for the side dishes, Qin Yu's first choice was the beautiful radish, cut into small pieces and mixed with aged vinegar and peanuts, which is both sour and refreshing, perfectly complementing the richness of the beef.

Of course, eating too many sour dishes would be uncomfortable, so a few pieces of tender tofu, coated in egg batter and fried, served with pepper salt or seafood soy sauce, would be a delicious side dish that also prevents heartburn from eating too much sour food.

For Wen Xiaodao and Old Li, who are often exposed to electronic radiation, tofu products are also the healthiest food.

—To reach this level as a home cook is already the limit.

What makes Qin Yu different from other home cooks is that he genuinely enjoys cooking, and when his beloved person is a foodie, his motivation reaches an unparalleled height, to the point where taking care of Wen Xiaodao's meals and drinks has become a habit for him, three times a day.

This also benefited Old Li, who enjoyed a feast.

Garlic was sautéed in the pot, the beef brisket was stir-fried until it was no longer raw, then seasoned and simmered in a clay pot. The choice of seasonings was also very particular, and Qin Yu had his own methods:

First, the seasonings must be well wrapped, not allowing the meat, cloves, and tangerine peel to leak out. Second, the amount must be appropriate; too much would change the flavor of the meat, and too little would prevent the stew from becoming tender. As for the soul of the sour and spicy beef brisket stew—the tomatoes—Old Li had tried to learn the timing several times, but Qin Yu never told him.

"Eat your meal, do you want to steal my secrets too?"

Facing Old Li, who was peeking through the kitchen door, Qin Yu lifted a ladle and hit him...

...

...

"Can't eat anymore, can't eat anymore..."

Swallowing the last piece of beef in the large bowl, Old Li patted his stomach and looked at Wen Xiaodao, who was still holding a spoon and chopsticks.

"Xiao Yu, is this your third bowl?"

"Xiao Yu" is the term Qin Yu used to get Wen Xiaodao called after he convinced Old Li, even though Old Li is a few days older than Qin Yu.

"Ah, just the third bowl."

Wen Xiaodao didn't even look up, focusing on a piece of tender and fatty brisket, which is her favorite part. Qin Yu had put most of this kind of meat in her bowl, not eating any himself, and even added another piece while talking.

"Damn, you're spoiling her, what will you do when you can't carry her... She really can eat..."

Old Li, watching Qin Yu and Wen Xiaodao show affection, said resentfully.

"My woman can eat as much as she wants without gaining weight, envy and jealousy, go away."

Qin Yu glanced at Old Li, picked up a piece of tofu and chewed it slowly, while Old Li continued to grumble, crunching a piece of radish peel in his mouth as if he were biting Qin Yu and Wen Xiaodao.

"See, your Xiao Yu is being raised like a daughter."

"Even a son."

Wen Xiaodao still didn't look up, now nothing could make her look away from the meat in her bowl, even when retaliating against Old Li.

"Great!!!"

Qin Yu gave a thumbs up, and Old Li, who was speechless, looked miserable, pointing at Qin Yu and Wen Xiaodao with both hands.

"You two are a pair of terrors... By the way, did you learn forging?"

"Learned, forging iron blocks to increase proficiency... Hey, is it okay to AFK and log out? Will anything be stolen?"

Thinking about his character still in the blacksmith shop at Difia Outpost, Qin Yu suddenly asked.

"Yes, if a thief with [Thievery] wants to steal from you, but it's not a big deal, the success rate is low, at most they can steal one or two iron blocks. Anyway, you don't have anything valuable—did you bring everything with you?"

"Uh... brought..."

Old Li's eyes widened.

"[Divine Power]?"

"Brought."

"Formula?"

"Brought."

"[Touch of Glory]?"

"Brought."

"Why didn't you store them?!"

Old Li's face turned green, and Qin Yu scratched his head.

"Planned to give them to you together, but forgot."

"Damn, you're a complete noob!!! Hurry up, log in!!!"

"But what about the dishes?"

Seeing that Wen Xiaodao had finished eating, Qin Yu was about to clear the table, but Old Li shouted.

"I'll wash them!!!"

...

...

As soon as Alpha logged in, he saw that almost two [Spatial Backpacks] were full of [Iron Ingots], with over 1000 sets of [Native Iron Ore] left to smelt.

There were also nearly 100 sets of [Cat's Eye] and [Garnet], which Alpha had previously looked up and found to be byproducts of [Native Iron Ore]. He couldn't use them, but they could be sold.

In theory, nearly 2000 sets of [Native Iron Ore] in two [Spatial Backpacks] should produce enough [Iron Ingots] to fill one and a half [Spatial Backpacks]. Now, both backpacks were almost full, clearly due to the extra production from [Forging Technique].

Looking at [Forging], it had already reached the intermediate level, and [Smelting Iron Ingots] had turned gray, no longer increasing [Forging] proficiency.

The surrounding players had dispersed; no one would be interested in watching someone forge iron for nearly 10 hours.

Taking advantage of the absence of people, Alpha quickly opened his mailbox, took out the [Ruby] and [Mithril] that Lancelot had sent, and carried a large bag, fortunately, there was an empty [Spatial Backpack].

After tidying up, Alpha remembered why he logged in and quickly opened his main backpack.

[Level 1 Divine Power], [Level 2 Divine Power], [Formula: Forging Basic Light Arrows]... Good, they were all there, not missing a single one... Wait, wasn't there something else important?

Alpha quickly counted again, [Level 1 Divine Power], [Level 2 Divine Power], [Formula: Forging Basic Light Arrows]...

"Uh, [Touch of Glory]..."

Alpha realized what was missing.

—Everything was there except [Touch of Glory].

Lancelot also logged in:

"How is it? Are they still there?"

"Everything is there except [Touch of Glory]."

Alpha replied calmly, as if it had nothing to do with him. The most valuable items, except for [Touch of Glory], were still there, and Lancelot was somewhat relieved, but [Touch of Glory] still hurt, it was an epic set piece!!!

"Who stole it?"

"Don't know."

"Check the logs, there will be a record of the thief's name if the theft was successful."

Lancelot reminded him, and Alpha, still a noob, didn't know this.

"Damn, it took over 100 attempts to succeed, what a lousy thief."

"Shut up, [Thievery] is rare and hard to learn. Those who can learn it are either experts or rich. The success rate of [Basic Thievery] is only 1%, [Intermediate Thievery] is 2%, and [Advanced Thievery] is 5% after level 60. Also, heroes can't steal from players below hero level, so this is a rich person—check the name, stop wasting time."

Lancelot rambled on, and Alpha thought he was the one wasting time, flipping through over 100 theft records.

Until Alpha's eyes were sore, he finally saw a record different from the many "Someone used [Basic Thievery] on you, [Basic Thievery] failed":

"Time Steam used [Basic Thievery] on you, [Basic Thievery] succeeded, your [Touch of Glory] x1 was stolen."

Time Steam?! The 34D female rogue who was killed by Alpha in the Blackwater Marsh?

"Damn, it's her?"

Alpha muttered to himself, and Lancelot was almost panicking.

"Who, quickly."

"Time Steam."

"Who is Time Steam?"

Lancelot was confused, and Alpha rolled his eyes.

"Time Steam!!! Ah is a particle, intelligence..."

"Which Time Steam? How is the name written?"

"Time, as in seconds, Steam, as in steam from water."

"What steam from water... Damn, how is it him..."

Page AD starts

Page AD ends