Starting Unlimited Evolution from Grinding Chapter 114: The Black Sword

"There are so many people."

The flow of pedestrians gave Lin Mo a brief flashback to rush hour in his previous life—most of them were adventurers shopping, along with a few delivery helpers. The vendors lining the street shouted their wares, making the place lively.

Lin Mo bought two at pies from a roadside stall—supposedly a Silverstream City specialty.

He tried a bite. The crust was pleasantly chewy, while the filling was fairly ordinary. Overall, not bad but nothing spectacular.

"Not as tasty as the burgers Lin Mo makes," Ellie comnted.

They pushed through the noisy street and arrived at their destination: Shop No. 27. The signboard bore a hamr, and beside it five crooked characters read: Dwarf Forging Shop.

A painfully cliché na.

There weren't many people lingering outside. Inside, there were a few custors picking through equipnt.

The owner was a middle-aged dwarf, looking roughly one hundred and fifty years old, with a very long beard—much longer than Edgar's.

Lin Mo suddenly found himself missing the dwarf blacksmith who had invested in him before. He wondered when that dwarf might open a shop here.

"Hey, old coot, how much for this sword?"

A custor waved the weapon in his hand. The dwarf owner glanced up and said, "5 gold."

"That expensive? Can't you go cheaper? I've been a regular, you know?"

"If you want it, pay. If not, get lost!"

The owner's response was blunt—barely rchant-like at all.

"Tch, old man, you ought to change that temper of yours..."

The custor wasn't angry. He slapped his sword onto the counter, pulled out five gold coins and said, "Here. Also, please do so maintenance on this armor."

The owner took the armor and tossed it aside casually. "Pick it up tomorrow."

Lin Mo glanced at the five-gold sword.

[Flawless Iron Sword]

Weapon type: One-handed sword

Rank: Common (White)

Stats: Durability 50%, Solidity 30%, Sharpness 30%

Hidden effect: Keen I: Piercing damage 5%

Not bad at all—five gold wasn't expensive; it was actually cheap.

The dwarf noticed the two new custors but couldn't be bothered to greet them. He left a curt "look yourself" and turned back to his work.

Lin Mo did a quick walk-through. As expected for a big city's forging shop, the overall quality exceeded Edgar's work by a bit, and, interestingly, swords of similar quality were priced roughly the sa.

He'd thought city swords would cost more than those in a town.

"Boss, how much for this sword?"

Lin Mo picked up another blade and asked.

"Three gold... are you buying or not? If not, stop asking!"

Lin Mo checked prices for many swords. The owner grew impatient and snapped.

Because the owner spoke so bluntly, Lin Mo didn't bother with extra politeness either. Rembering the earlier custor’s nickna, he fired back, "Old man, don't get so worked up. If I find sothing right, I'll buy it."

"Hmph."

The owner snorted but said nothing further.

Rather than being rely ill-tempered, it seed this shop had its own way of interacting with custors.

Lin Mo put the sword down, having ford a rough impression of the owner's forging skill.

As the guidebook had said, the quality here fluctuated. Yet, the pricing was unexpectedly reasonable…

Lower-quality items were cheap; higher-quality ones were expensive. That was fair, but few places actually practiced that honestly.

Most custors didn't know equipnt quality. Even seasoned adventurers usually couldn't judge a weapon well until they'd used it for so ti. Professional smiths, if not the item's maker, could only give rough assessnts; precise quality required extended observation and testing.

So most forging shops priced similar-quality gear roughly the sa, and dishonest rchants would still sell poor-quality goods at high prices.

This dwarf, however, was unusually straightforward—money's worth for money. That explained the gruff speech paired with steady business.

"Hey, Old Deng, don't you have anything better? The stuff out front looks awful."

The dwarf looked up and glared at Lin Mo. "Kid, you better be buying for real."

Lin Mo was done with small talk. He pulled a crystal coin from his pocket, tossed it lightly, and caught it.

The owner was speechless for a mont, then turned and headed inside, muttering, "This brat's got money..."

Following him into the backroom, Lin Mo noticed the dwarf's typical habit: a few racks in the forging room displayed weapons—each one a fine piece.

"These shelves over here are ten to fifty gold, the ones over there are fifty and up. Look for yourself."

The dwarf said that and imdiately went back to his work.

Lin Mo surprised him by walking to the wooden rack and inspecting each weapon carefully for a long ti without speaking.

He was seriously choosing.

His Wolf Bone Sword was an Excellent-grade weapon, so any replacent couldn't be worse. But the shop didn't seem to sell Superior-grade weapons, and those would be too expensive anyway.

He didn't want to spend all his money on this upgrade. He aid to reasonably buy a better piece now and save the rest for skill scrolls and mithril gloves later.

So his goal was to get an Excellent-grade weapon superior to the Wolf Bone Sword.

Although the Wolf Bone Sword was Excellent, among Excellent weapons it was on the lower end—not because Edgar's technique was poor, but due to material limits.

The Bloodthirsty Wolf was an elite monster, but of the sa tier as Minotaurs and Mutated Goblins. Compared to elite creatures like the Earth Bear or Crimson Fla Tiger, it was clearly inferior.

Weapons in the ten-to-fifty-gold area were unlikely to be much better than the Wolf Bone Sword, so after a quick scan and finding no hidden gems, Lin Mo moved to the fifty-gold-and-up section.

These weapons were serious.

Each shelf held only one weapon across five tiers; Lin Mo inspected them one by one.

The first was a large cleaver with a thick spine—solid and typically requiring two hands. Not his style, so he skipped it.

The second was a spear made from so monster's bones, the tip fused with precious tals. Polearms excel at mid-range combat but were impractical for adventuring—hard to carry and slower in ergencies. Their true stage was the battlefield.

The third was a heavy axe—also unsuitable. The final two tiers, however, held the one-handed swords Lin Mo preferred.

One was a slightly longer blade—about four feet; the other around three feet, entirely gray-black.

Lin Mo's gaze was imdiately drawn to the gray-black sword.

"Old Deng, why is that sword black?"

The dwarf didn't even look up. "That sword was forged with gray steel. If you touch it without buying, don't co crying—it's expensive..."

Lin Mo focused and the weapon's attributes appeared before his eyes.

[Black Sword]

Weapon type: One-handed sword

Rank: Excellent (Green)

Stats: Durability 30%, Solidity 30%, Sharpness 40%

Hidden effect: Edge II: Slashing damage 10%

Equipnt boost: Black Sword: 2 Strength when using attack skills; 10% release speed when using slashing-type skills.

A fine sword!

Lin Mo felt a quiet shock. This blade seed designed for him.

First, the craftsmanship looked solid—durability, solidity, and sharpness all fine.

Both the hidden effect and the equipnt boost were powerful.

Lin Mo's strongest skill now was Accumulated Sword Combo. Skills like Cross Slash and Slash all counted as slashing-type. This sword increased slashing damage, boosted Strength, and even sped up slashing skill release.

Slashing moves are usually a bit slower than thrusts, but the Black Sword's boost could offset that.

In real combat, especially against opponents of similar strength, even a slight speed advantage could decide the outco.

Without question, this was the ideal weapon for him!

Lin Mo suppressed his excitent and kept his face calm, then glanced at the other four-foot one-handed sword.

Its stats were good—better than the earlier weapons—but it paled compared to the Black Sword.

"How much are these weapons?"

Lin Mo asked the price.

"Cleaver and heavy axe fifty-five gold, spear sixty-five gold, the two swords one is seventy gold, the other one is one hundred and ten."

"The black one is seventy gold?"

Under the dim light, the dwarf's face grew as dark as the Black Sword. In a muffled voice he said, "What do you think?"

"I think so."

Seeing the dwarf roll up his sleeves as if ready to fight, Lin Mo held up his hand. "Just kidding. Don't get worked up. How about a discount?"

One hundred and ten gold was not cheap. Lin Mo could afford it, but spending that much at once stung.

The dwarf opened his mouth to curse but suddenly stopped. "My shop doesn't bargain, but you have a crystal coin. Listen: one crystal coin and you can take this sword."

"That's possible, but why?"

Lin Mo was puzzled—he'd confird a crystal coin was worth one hundred gold.

"No special reason. Think of it as a personal preference."

The dwarf seed to notice his confusion and added, "Or you could say it's a dwarf thing. We dwarves have a strong fondness for this kind of valuable currency."