Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

Hearing Rein's refusal, Count Habs helplessly shook his head and said, "Very well! Then, in accordance with the glorious traditions of the Empire, the two of you will resolve your grudges in the dueling arena."

"Is the time set for next Sunday? Today is also Sunday. Seven days later, I will personally attend."

"During these seven days, you prepare well for the duel, and as for Fishing Port Town, I will arrange for others to handle it first. Everything else can wait until after the duel is over."

"Thank you, my lord!" Rein bowed slightly to express his gratitude.

...
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One hour later.

Rein arrived at the Crowley family blacksmith shop.

In a separate smelting room, there was already a good amount of clay and a large stack of chrome iron ingots, while there were only four or five ice iron ingots. However, there was no immediate need for the ice iron, so Rein was not in a hurry.

Because he had previously attempted to continue making the Cavalry's breastplate when he was promoted to Armor Caster, and only gained 5 Professional Experience Points for Armor Casting, Rein now planned to try making parts of the chrome iron set.

With an integrated molding approach, the chrome iron set's breastplate was a layered, exquisite chest armor, whose crafting was far more complicated than the previous Cavalry chestplate and naturally was not Rein's first choice.

This time, Rein chose to make the chrome iron greaves, which included the lower leg part and was made of two chrome iron plates hinged together.

That is to say, relying on the witchcraft "Scorching Touch," Rein could imitate the forging process of the Cavalry chestplate and, in a short time, quickly make the chrome iron greaves.

This also meant that he could quickly gain a considerable amount of Armor Casting Professional Experience.

At this moment, seven or eight chrome iron ingots glowed red-hot within the blacksmith's furnace.

And Rein raised his hand, quietly chanting the incantation for the witchcraft "Scorching Touch."

Soon, a rich crimson glow began to appear in front of Rein's palm. For a time, the surrounding stray particles of fire energy quickly gathered in front of his palm.

With the continuous output of his spiritual power, the flames in the forge suddenly leaped up significantly!

And the seven or eight ingots began to redden and soften at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into molten iron within minutes.

Immediately, Rein opened a small gate on the blacksmith's furnace and poured the scorching chrome iron liquid into the clay molds he had prepared in advance.

After cooling down, Rein took two shin armor pieces out of the clay molds and picked up a blacksmith's hammer to start hammering.

Due to the improvement in Strength, Agility, and Constitution, Rein found it much easier to work than before, and soon, he joined the front and back chrome iron parts together to form a complete piece of greave.

Then, a system prompt appeared:

[You have carried out the forging of the chrome iron greaves, and your comprehension has improved!]

[You have understood a new Skill — Greave Forging]

[Your Skill in Greave Forging has improved, Experience +24]

[You focus on the forging of chrome iron greaves, Armor Caster Profession Experience Points +28]

...

Rein was thrilled by what he saw!

Just as he had expected.

After choosing the chrome iron set from "Crowley's Armor Casting Manual Volume One," which was one level higher than the Cavalry chestplate, the experience gained as an Armor Caster increased substantially.

In addition, Rein sensed an inexplicable intuition about the current success rate of armor casting.

This must be the effect of 'Armor Casting Specialization lv1', which slightly increased his success rate in forging armor.

After some thought, Rein quickly asked the people in the blacksmith shop to help him make about ten pairs of matching clay molds (left and right greaves).

Then, Rein began to cast "Scorching Touch" repeatedly, entering a continuous cycle of melting and forging!

And the system prompts nearly spammed the screen.

...

Throughout the day, aside from returning home for meal times, Rein spent all his time at the blacksmith shop.

Although it was exhausting, the rewards were significant; within one day, Rein's Profession Level as an Armor Caster had risen from lv1 to lv2.

And as a result, Rein received one attribute point and one Skill Point as a level-up reward.

After dinner, the beautiful matron who had been busy outside nearly all day came to the blacksmith shop to find Rein.

"Jennifer, by the look on your face, it seems things haven't gone very smoothly?" Rein, who was in the midst of forging greaves, looked up and noticed the discontent on the beautiful woman's face.

""Hmm, there's a bottle of ready-made beast essence at the Yakesen Auction House, but the person in charge, Lenon, said that it was just reserved by someone yesterday."

"I negotiated for half a day, and even with a 30% surcharge, I couldn't secure it." The beautiful lady spoke, her spirits slightly dampened.

"Oh?" A thought flashed through Rein's mind, and he already had an idea of who the reserver might be, likely not Norman, but Alonso.

However, that didn't matter.

"What about Master Holland?" Rein asked.

"He did agree to take on the work, but Master Holland received a batch of urgent orders yesterday and said he wouldn't have time to craft for us until after half a month," the beautiful lady said helplessly.

"I see, no problem, let's continue to have Master Holland do the work." Rein thought for a moment, and then said.

"Hmm?" Jennifer's beautiful eyes showed a hint of surprise as she looked at Rein.

She had thought Rein would choose to give up since this timeline couldn't meet the blood duel by a whole week.

"Don't worry, I have a plan!" Rein said with a smile.

Rein had anticipated this situation the day before.

After learning from Hamilton that the combat power of a Sword Master was comparable to that of a Great Knight, Rein had made his plans.

If, for instance, he were to raise his Giant Bear Sword Technique and the Tokkal Hammer Technique both to lv10, his strength would not only surpass that of a Sword Master, perhaps the term 'provisional Great Sword Master' would be more apt.

No, to be precise, 'provisional Weapon Master'.

With the addition of the Transcendent trait 'Iron Skin lv3' and the trump card 'healing with every attribute point addition,' Rein felt that even if Norman became a Great Knight, he still had faith in himself to defeat him!

It wasn't overconfidence, but rather, from his encounter with Giovanni, whose transformed strength was comparable to a Great Knight and who was still defeated by him, it was evident.

-----------------

"What? Are you saying Rein spent the whole day at the blacksmith shop?" Alonso was astonished when he heard this news.

"Yes, many people saw it, so it can't be fake." The butler, Michel, didn't understand either.

"Thud, thud, thud!" A lean man dressed in leather armor entered promptly and reported:

"Sir, you instructed me to keep a close watch on Baroness Crowley's wife, and this morning, she just went to the Yakesen Auction House and stayed there for a long time. However, I have no idea what they discussed specifically."

"Moreover, in the afternoon, she took a detour to Master Holland's place."

"Hmm?" Baron Alonso immediately turned his head to look at Michel by his side.

After exchanging glances, both burst into laughter; Baron Alonso said, "Look, it turns out this Rein intentionally baffled us, while secretly having the Crowley family accomplish his true objective."

"Michel, what do you think, what did Rein want to buy at the Yakesen Auction House?"

Michel chuckled and replied, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be 'beast essence.'"

"Exactly!"

"Good thing you contacted the Yakesen Auction House ahead of time yesterday."

"As for Master Holland, naturally, he can only attend to them after he's done making the beast potion for us."

The thought of having anticipated Rein's plan made Alonso laugh heartily!

And Michel too looked confident of victory.

Because he had a hand in managing both affairs.

-----------------

On the third day, Rein's Armor Casting Technique reached lv3.

...

On the fifth day, it advanced to lv4!

As a result, the remaining attribute points on the system panel reached 6, and the remaining Skill Points were 5.

However, after his profession level as an armor caster reached lv4, the experience points from crafting chromium steel greaves began to plummet dramatically.

Rein knew that he needed to switch to a higher-tiered Knight plate armor set if he wanted to continue advancing quickly.

The snag was the quantity of ice iron ingots at hand seemed insufficient; he barely had over ten blocks, and coupled with the unsmelted ice iron ore, it doesn't seem enough for Rein to raise his profession level as an armor caster to lv5.