Final Lord

Chapter 90 Old Blacksmith Hal

In the dim black forest, the old blacksmith, covered in scars, saw Wang Buzhi and shouted hoarsely.

"Lord Kate! Is that Lord Kate? It's me, Uncle Hal!"

"Uncle Hal?" Wang Bufu recalled. In Kate's memory, Hal was an old man who had followed old Gru a long time ago. He was an ordinary third-level iron smelter who was good at blacksmithing.

Before the Gru Territory was established, the weapons he forged provided great help to old Gru.

Later, when Gru County was established, Old Gru specially granted Hal a prime location near Gru Castle as his shop. In Gru County, Hal was a middle-class man with a house, a shop, and a wife, and he lived a very comfortable life.

When Kate was a child, she loved to go to Hal's blacksmith shop to play, and she had a very close relationship with Hal.

"Uncle Hal, why are you here?" Wang Bufu approached Hal and asked in confusion.

Hal's calloused hands tightly gripped Wang Bufu's boots, fragments of Black Forest mycelium embedded in the cracks between his nails. Trembling, he pulled a bloodstained piece of linen from his bosom and shook out half a finger—a rough-looking one, its fingertips thick with calluses, a hand that bore the marks of frequent labor.

"Master, look at this!"

The old blacksmith's turbid tears mixed with blood dripped onto his fingers. "This is your sister-in-law's finger. That beast Lincoln sent people to my blacksmith shop and threatened my sister-in-law's life to force me to join the militia. He also stole all the weapons I forged.

Lincoln also got the body of a villager he had killed, and in front of the whole village, said that this was evidence that you colluded with Chaos to massacre the people.

"He said you joined a cult and sacrificed your subjects to monsters, and also said..."

Hal told Wang Bufu everything that happened in the territory. Perhaps because he talked too much, he started coughing violently as soon as he finished speaking, coughing up blood clots with spore fragments.

"More than 2,000 of us were forced into the Black Forest to die! Little Tom, the straw sandal seller, was eaten alive by a grass-ball-like monster. Old Nick, the furniture maker, had his brain eaten away by flies. A large number of villagers were crushed to death by stone men."

The old blacksmith ripped open his shirt, revealing the festering arrow wound at his waist. The distinctive three-toed claw marks of the Crow Assassin were faintly visible between the acid-scorched flesh.

He said painfully:

"They used poisoned daggers to force us to charge. None of us dared to retreat. Only the baker at the village entrance refused to believe in evil and insisted on charging forward. Then, the Crow Assassin poured a bottle of acid on him, and he was reduced to a skeleton!"

"What's even more vicious is..." Hal suddenly knelt on the ground and pulled out a roll of blood-stained parchment from his boot. The moment he unfolded it, Wang Bufu frowned.

It contains detailed information about the families of many militiamen.

"They've captured all our relatives! My wife and three daughters are still locked in the cellar."

"I understand." Wang Bufu's knuckles cracked. When he helped the old blacksmith to his feet, he found his right leg twisted unnaturally—it had been broken by the mushroom-stone beast and then forcibly reattached. The place where the broken bone pierced the skin was bleeding profusely and already showing signs of suppuration.

Wang Bufei asked seriously, "How many militiamen have you sent into the Black Forest? How many soldiers are there in Lincoln? Do you have any more accurate data?"

"There are 2,500 militiamen. I'm quite sure of that. But I'm not sure how many crows there are.

Those crow assassins can switch back and forth between human and crow. They all look the same when they turn into crows, I can't tell them apart."

Crow Assassin...

Wang Bufu fell into deep thought.

It was also the Crow Assassin who attacked Ghost Leaping Cliff.

I'd never seen this type of soldier before. In Kate's memory, these Crow Assassins, after transforming into crows, moved very quickly and were able to reduce their presence to avoid being detected by monsters. Logically, these Crow Assassins should be scouts, so how could they be so powerful?
Could it be that Lincoln has helped them advance to the extraordinary level?

That doesn't make sense. Where would Lincoln get so many resources to help those Crow Assassins advance to Transcendent? The resources needed to advance to Transcendent are completely different from those required for ordinary advancement.

Never mind, let’s treat those Crow Assassins as extraordinary people first.

It is a fine tradition of Wang Bufu to be lenient with the enemy.

In his previous life, when he was conducting exercises, the imaginary enemies he set for his troops were all top-level legendary legions such as the Spacetime Dragon Legion and the Seraph Legion, completely ignoring the fact that there was only one legendary Spacetime Dragon in the world.

Wang Bufu thought for a moment and asked Hal, "So what's your situation now? How did you end up here alone? And how did you end up falling into the hole?"

"As soon as our militia entered the Black Forest, they were targeted by monsters. Most of them were dispersed and fought on their own.

There were too many scattered militiamen for the crows to keep an eye on, so I took the opportunity to take some of them and escape to this area.

We encountered many monsters on the way out, and some died, but there are still more than 80 people alive.

Hal's eyes sparkled with hope. He grabbed Wang Bufu's hand and said anxiously, "They are all hiding in a big mushroom tree in the southwest. Please, Master, save us."

Wang refused to accept the offer and instead shook Hal's hand and asked, "Uncle Hal, do you believe me?"

"Of course I believe you! I don't believe a single word Lincoln said to frame you."

I'm sorry, you believe me, but I don't believe you. What if you're a spy sent by Lincoln? Hey, let me see!

Wang Bufu glanced around and checked Hal's attribute panel.

Name: Hal Anvil
Race: Human (common)

Human inherent racial talent: fast learning

Occupation: Iron smelter

Rank: Ordinary 3st rank

Professional skills:

Molten Fire Control: Ability to control the core of a high-temperature furnace, increasing forging efficiency by 30% and the basic attack power of forged weapons by 5%.
Soul of the Blacksmith: Durability recovery is doubled when repairing equipment, and there is a 15% chance of granting a temporary "Sharpness" effect (Attack +3, lasting for one week)
High temperature adaptation: long-term contact with the furnace, fire resistance +20%
Level: Ordinary 3rd level 7 (3 levels left to advance to the next level)
Attributes:
Life: 22/55
Attack: 6
Defense: 18 (basic 8, leather apron +10)

Speed: 4
Special status:
Muscle Strain: Movement speed permanently reduced by 1, life recovery efficiency reduced by 30%
Bait Potion: It will emit a special smell that will attract monsters. The remaining time is 58 hours.

Personal exclusive talents:

Forge Master (B-level talent):

When working within a 50-meter radius of the furnace, forging critical hit rate increases by 25% and rare material utilization rate increases by 10%.
Description: The roar of the forge has been engraved into your soul, and wherever sparks fly is your territory.

Wow, that's really detailed.

Wang Bufu was immediately relieved. Seeing such a detailed attribute panel showed that Hal's favorability towards him was no less than that of Wei Yi and Butler Ming. He treated him like half a family member.

(End of this chapter)