Kill one monster, stack one poison, and I alone will poison my way across the world!

Takayama City, that unassuming blacksmith shop.

The fire in the stove continued to burn quietly, and the air was filled with a pungent metallic smell and a faint aroma of alcohol.

When Su Chen and Linglong pushed open the door and walked in, Jiang Buyu was holding a strange piece of ore and examining it carefully.

Hearing the door open, the old man didn't even lift his eyelids, and said in a hoarse voice, "Forgot something? Or did you think it was too scary inside and came back to admit defeat?"

In his view, less than two hours had passed since the two set off.

Aside from the travel time to and from the destination, these two little guys probably didn't even get to meet the patrol team in the secret realm before they came back.

"Master!"

Linglong threw the crossbow on her back onto the table with a loud thud.

She strode to the rocking chair, her voice trembling with excitement, "What do you mean, 'give up'? We've broken through!"

"Clang—"

The craftsman lost his grip and dropped the ore, creating a shallow crater.

He whirled around, his eyes wide as he stared at his apprentice: "You cleared it? A Nightmare-level dungeon? Did you take the wrong medicine today, girl?"

Why would I lie to you!

Linglong presented the ancient dragon bone as if it were a precious treasure.

The craftsman's eyelids twitched, and he took the dragon bone.

It really is an ancient dragon bone!

Linglong gestured wildly, her face flushed red. "Master, you have no idea, this guy is too freakish! He just casually threw out a few skills, and those monsters' health bars dropped like they were leaking! That old dragon didn't even have time to fart before it melted into ashes!"

Linglong chattered on and on, embellishing her account of what happened in the dungeon.

The craftsman remained silent, not interrupting his apprentice's incessant chatter.

His gaze passed over Linglong and landed intently on Su Chen, who was standing at the door.

The old man's eyes sharpened, as if he were assessing a rare and exquisite mineral.

"No wonder..."

Jiang Buyu stroked his messy beard and muttered under his breath, "No wonder that old bastard Zhan Wuji thinks so highly of you..."

Su Chen: "..."

Do these old guys have a small group?

Is there no privacy left in this world?

Su Chen gave a speechless twitch of the corner of his mouth and asked, "Do you know Elder Zhan?"

The craftsman snorted coldly: "That 'Zhenyuan' sword in his hand was forged by me, hammer by hammer, back in the day. Every time that old man got his weapon chipped, he would come to me for repairs. How could I not recognize him?"

"I admire you, I admire you."

Su Chen gave a dry reply.

"Alright, stop flattering me."

The craftsman stood up and walked to the workbench. His languid air vanished instantly, replaced by absolute focus.

"Now that you've brought back the materials, tell me, what kind of weapon do you want?"

He looked at Su Chen: "For mages, the mainstream approach is to pursue high base mental power bonuses or cooldown reduction. You're a poison mage, so do you want stats that extend the duration of poison or increase spell penetration?"

"My requirements aren't high."

Su Chen thought for a moment and said, "It's fine as long as I can equip it around level 30. It doesn't matter how much it adds to the base attributes."

"I want it with the 'Explosive' affix, and preferably with skill affixes like 'Damage Spread' or 'Contagion'. In short, the attributes don't matter, the more trigger-related affixes the better."

After these words were spoken, the blacksmith shop fell silent for a few seconds.

Jiang Buyu frowned, looking at Su Chen as if he were a spendthrift.

"Kid, do you know what you're saying?"

The craftsman tapped the ancient dragon bone on the table. "This is an extremely rare material! You're going to use it to craft this kind of crappy affix? This kind of area-of-effect trigger affix has extremely low base damage. If a mage doesn't stack base stats, how are you going to fight high-level monsters?"

"..."

Su Chen sighed, and was about to explain when Linglong spoke up first.

"Oh dear, Master, don't look at him with conventional eyes!"

Linglong slapped the table. "His poison is different from others! As long as his attacks can touch the monster, even if it only forcibly reduces its health by a little bit, as long as it's coated with his poison..."

She paused, swallowed hard, and said, "Once it's activated, it deals over two hundred million true damage per second! Ignores defense! Ignores magic resistance!"

"Bang!"

The craftsman slammed his hammer heavily onto the ground, creating a dent in the bluestone floor.

The old man stared blankly at Su Chen, then looked at Linglong.

"Two...two hundred million?"

Even the craftsman's voice trembled as he asked, "True damage? Per second?"

Su Chen did not deny it.

A full half minute passed before the craftsman finally picked up the hammer from the ground.

The old man took a deep breath, and a surprising light burst forth from his previously cloudy eyes.

"I see……"

The craftsman's breathing became heavy as he murmured, "As long as the frequency and range are right, as long as I can spread out the attack, as long as I can touch the monster's skin..."

"In that case, this old man understands!"

He suddenly ripped off his tattered shirt, revealing a muscular physique as strong as rock.

"Girl, close the shop! We're not seeing anyone for the next few days!"

The blacksmith's shop door was slammed shut.

With a loud "boom," the fire shot up three meters high, illuminating the entire room in a bright red glow.

Production has officially begun.

Craftsman Buyu threw the enormous ancient dragon bone into a furnace engraved with mysterious runes.

The terrifyingly high temperature instantly enveloped the skull.

"Ding!"

The first hammer blow fell.

A visible, fiery red shockwave exploded inside the blacksmith's shop.

Su Chen retreated to a corner and watched the old man frantically swinging the hammer.

There are no fancy magical effects, only the purest power and skill.

With each hammer blow, the incredibly hard dragon bone would undergo a slight deformation that was barely perceptible to the naked eye.

As the hammering continued, the craftsman kept adding all sorts of strange and unusual materials to the furnace.

Time passed day by day.

On the first day, the huge dragon bone was forcibly hammered into a black staff-shaped embryo as thick as an arm.

The next day, Jiang Buyu melted all the dozens of dragon scales and poured them layer by layer onto the staff blank, as if he were coating the staff.

The temperature inside the blacksmith's shop was so high that even Su Chen had to stay dozens of meters away to avoid the heatwave.

The craftsman's eyes were bloodshot and he was covered in sweat, but he did not slow down his hammer swings at all.

On the seventh day...

The staff's basic form has fully emerged.

It is dark red all over, and the staff is covered with vein-like pulsating patterns.

At the top of the staff was a miniature, phantom dragon head that emitted a painful roar.

"The final blow—"

The craftsman roared, his muscles bulging, and the giant hammer in his hand slammed heavily onto the top of the staff with a piercing sonic boom!

"BOOM!!!"

The entire blacksmith shop trembled violently.

A beam of golden light mixed with scarlet shot up from the workbench, piercing the roof of the blacksmith's shop and soaring into the sky.

The clouds in the sky were instantly shattered by this beam of light.

The light lasted for a full ten seconds before slowly receding and returning to the worktable.

The craftsman, leaning on his hammer, was panting heavily, looking as if he had just been pulled out of the water.

But his old face was filled with fervor and satisfaction.

"It's done..."

The old man laughed in a hoarse voice.

As the light completely faded, a staff exuding a terrifying aura lay silently on the workbench.