บท 18: Dark Swamp
Han Sen returned to his room and continued to read the article he had found on the Skynet.
It was a post written by a Steel Armor Shelter member from a long time ago. He was once chased by a creature and had to run into Dark Swamp.
Han Sen knew about Dark Swamp. It was more than two hundred miles in the southwest of Steel Armor Shelter and had lots of poisonous creatures in it. Almost no one would choose to go there. Even the big gangs did not dare to set foot in Dark Swamp.
According to the poster, he was in a critical situation and had to escape into Dark Swamp. Fortunately, he eventually passed through Dark Swamp and got out.
It had taken him nearly six months to go through the swamp as one could easily sink into the mud. He also had to constantly change his route to avoid all sorts of dangerous creatures. It was indeed a miracle that he could come out.
The poster shared a lot of his experience in the Dark Swamp.
Once he had walked into a forest where the trees were sparse but very tall and thick, whose trunks would take several people to wrap their arms around. The soil under the trees was covered with a variety of beautiful flowers. As the poster thought he had walked out of the swamp, he found that it was only a strange area in the swamp. Hanging from the trees were a lot of huge hornet's nests, and even the smallest among them were the size of a queen size bed. Each hornet flying from the nests were the size of a bat.
He had killed a hornet so he learned from the voice in his mind that the name of the hornet was black stinger, a type of primitive creature. And he was lucky to get its beast soul, which was in the shape of a sharp and poisonous arrow. The beast soul arrow was later purchased by someone with a high price.
Although he didn't dare to go into the forest but chose to walk around it, he saw from afar a hornet's nest as big as a house hanging on an especially tall tree. The black stinger flying from that nest was in a red color. He guessed that those red hornets should be mutant black stingers.
He had also posted the pictures of the black stinger beast soul that he had taken before he sold it. Indeed, it was a black arrow with an arrow head the size of a mouse, glowing with a dark luster. You'd know it was poisonous from the look of it.
"That would be great to have," thought Han Sen. If it was before, he wouldn't dare to think about going to Dark Swamp, but now he had beast soul wings so he could fly into the swamp.
In case of any danger, he also had his armor and bloody slayer, so this trip shouldn't be too risky.
According to the poster, the poisonous creatures lurking in the mud were the most dangerous ones and there were not many flying creatures there. He himself had only seen a few primitive carrion birds.
"I still don't know where the forest is in the swamp. It would take too much time to search for it after I got in the swamp," thought Han Sen, who then put the trip on hold and dialed the blacksmith's number and asked him to meet.
When they were both at the agreed place, Han Sen showed the blacksmith the broken arrow and asked him if he could repair it. The blacksmith said indifferently, "Nope. You could weld the parts together with any welding machine, but the toughness and stability wouldn't be the same. The arrow is wasted."
"Do you recycle the material? It has 1.2 percent Z-steel, which is worth something, right?" asked Han Sen.
"Five thousand dollars," the blacksmith said.
"I bought the arrow for three hundred thousand, and the Z-steel is only worth five thousand?" asked Han Sen with his eyes wide.
"Or you can keep it," the blacksmith simply said.
"Fine, five thousand it is." Han Sen secretly vowed to gain himself a beast soul arrow, as Z-steel was not economical at all.
He had already known from Su Xiaoqiao that the manufacturing cost of Z steel was in fact not high and it was only expensive because of the monopoly.
Han Sen gave the arrow parts to the blacksmith, who gave him a five-thousand bill in return.
Han Sen put away the money and asked, "Do you have better Z-steel arrows?"
When he shot the arrow at the purple-winged dragon, the arrow only went three or four inches deep and the dragon still died from falling. If they were on the flat ground, he could by no means kill the dragon, so Han Sen was not satisfied with this arrow.
"No. I have a dagger with 5 percent Z-steel though. You want it?" replied the blacksmith.
"How much?" Han Sen knew that 5 percent Z-steel was the limit of the contemporary technology. Alpha alloy would become as brittle as glass if the percentage of Z-steel was higher than that.
"Three hundred thousand," said the blacksmith.
"Three hundred thousand for an arrow with 1.2 percent Z-steel and the same price for a dagger with 5 percent Z-steel?" Han Sen looked at the blacksmith, puzzled.
"It was much more difficult to make the arrow than the dagger," the blacksmith explained.
"Deal." Han Sen handed over the money after inquiring about the size of the dagger.
The blacksmith's price was high, but much more reasonable than the prices in regular stores, where a dagger with 5 percent Z-steel would easily cost a few millions. Also, blacksmith's craft was excellent, as this arrow was a lot better than Starlight arrows.
"I don't have it on me. Come with me," the blacksmith said and went into the alley.
Han Sen followed him through a few blocks and then into a dilapidated underground warehouse, where Han Sen saw a lot of manufacturing machinery and equipment, including a large punching machine, which could crush a small aircraft.
Through the warehouse, the blacksmith showed Han Sen into a room. This room looked like an armory and Han Sen was dazzled.
A variety of weapons were neatly arranged inside, their shining blades exuding a thirst for blood.
The blacksmith grabbed an eight-inch dagger and threw it to Han Sen, "This is the one. Take it and leave."
Han Sen's eyes were attracted to the knife on the north wall of the room. The style of the knife was ordinary, but it was the only weapon on the north wall, while the other three walls were fully covered with different weapons.
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