Even Zhang Yanhang’s crude forging technique was certain to pose no issue, as the material’s quality was there for all to see, and green quality was the baseline.
No matter how Zhang Yanhang forged, even if he crafted a pockmarked, broken sword, that pockmarked, broken sword would still hold the original material’s value. Just one melting down, and it would immediately revert to green quality Crimson Iron. Google seaʀᴄh NoveI★Fire.net
Therefore, rather than fusing two white quality weapons, it would be more beneficial for Zhang Yanhang to forge two green quality weapons with Crimson Iron and then fuse those. If he did that, the gains would be much higher than fusing white quality weapons.
So, although the green quality Crimson Iron Ring seemed to be of little use, Zhang Yanhang still chose it, mainly because he was interested in the ring’s Additional Attributes.
[Origin: Ashen World, Crimson Iron Ore Vein, Small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, Nameless Blacksmith.]
[Defensive Power: 22]
[Additional Attributes: Flame Resistance +1%.]
[Additional Attributes: Acid Resistance +1%.]
[Usage Requirements: Charm 5 points.]
[Score: 15 (Green quality items score between 11 and 30.)]
[Introduction: I never reveal the source of the Crimson Iron to those joyful buyers who wear Crimson Iron Ant excrement on their bodies and even hug and kiss it—it comes from a Nameless Blacksmith who just wants to quietly make money.]
Zhang Yanhang couldn’t help thinking about certain matters as he looked at the list of attributes labeled with the Origin, "Small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dala Gu, so this Ant Nest actually has a name? Then comes the question, if there’s a Small Crimson Iron Ant Nest, could there be a Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest in this ore vein?"
Zhang Yanhang reasoned based on normal logic that if there were only one Ant Nest, it definitely wouldn’t have a name, let alone prefixed with ’Small.’ After all, without other reference points, how could you know whether the Ant Nest is large or small?
"I was wondering why there are so few monsters in this nest, it doesn’t seem like a proper Ant Nest. So there are larger Ant Nests behind this one?"
Now Zhang Yanhang was very interested in this Large Ant Nest because if he couldn’t find other monsters after clearing the Small Crimson Iron Ant Nest, the new transmission channel would be considered wasted.
After all, if there were no other monsters to hunt, Zhang Yanhang wouldn’t waste time coming to an area that had already been cleared.
But now, having discovered a new direction to move toward, he could proceed to the Large Crimson Iron Ant Nest to continue hunting monsters even after the Small Crimson Iron Ant Nest had been cleared. This way, he would need to frequently use the transmission channel, preventing it from being wasted.
"Additional Attributes, huh? I feel like I’ve never seen this thing before..." Zhang Yanhang remembered seeing only Special Attributes on equipment before, but now, a new concept of Additional Attributes had suddenly appeared.
"But these Additional Attributes provide such low Resistance, just 1% for both Flame Resistance and Acid Resistance."
However, it was fortunate that even though the resistances provided by the Crimson Iron Ring were low, Zhang Yanhang had ten fingers, and if each finger wore a Crimson Iron Ring, he should be able to raise both Flame Resistance and Acid Resistance to 10%, which would be a considerable amount.
Moreover, Zhang Yanhang could later enhance the quality of the Crimson Iron Ring through Alchemy, potentially further increasing its Additional Attributes.
"So, I choose ’Ant Power,’ ’30 Soul Points,’ ’30 Soul Points,’ ’30 Soul Points,’ ’Crimson Iron Ring.’" Once he made his choices, a crimson little light ball and a crimson-colored ring appeared before Zhang Yanhang.
Zhang Yanhang took off his puncture-resistant gloves from his left hand, slipped the crimson-colored ring onto a random finger, and after confirming it was successfully equipped, he put his gloves back on and picked up the crimson little light ball, crushing it directly.
After using the E-grade Talent "Ant Power," Zhang Yanhang glanced at its Talent Effect.
[Ability One: Double Strike—There is a 0.1% chance to trigger an extra attack when launching an attack.]
[Ability Two: Powerful—Power Effect +10%.]
"The upgrade requirement for ’Ant Power’ is indeed the same as ’Slow Corrosion;’ it requires three Talents of the same Quality to upgrade. Moreover, based on previous experience with ’Slow Corrosion,’ ’Ant Power’ might gain an additional enhancement effect after reaching D-grade."
Zhang Yanhang felt that if he went out to hunt monsters later, he could at least collect enough E-grade Talents in three hours to raise ’Ant Power’ to C-grade or even B-grade.
"Power Effect +10%, this ’power’ shouldn’t refer to the Strength Attribute, right? After all, it’s hard to imagine an E-grade Talent achieving such strength."
Zhang Yanhang quietly opened the Attribute list to check.
[Constitution: 25(+3[-4])]
[Intelligence: 25(+3[-3])]
"The Strength Attribute hasn’t increased indeed; it’s still the original 22 points. Does this ’power’ refer simply to physical strength?" Zhang Yanhang pulled out a large chunk of concrete wall brick from his Waist Bag and lifted it, only to find that his strength had indeed increased a bit.
Since his Strength Attribute had frequently increased before, Zhang Yanhang always carried different sizes of concrete wall bricks from various buildings in Raccoon City in his Waist Bag to test his strength. Although this testing method was rudimentary, it was quite effective.
As for testing speed, it was much simpler, not particularly dependent on various equipment. He just needed to set a fixed distance to the finish line in advance and then use the stopwatch function on his watch to measure how many seconds it took him to reach the finish line.
"It seems that it really is just a simple increase in physical strength, no wonder there’s this type of percentage enhancement..." Zhang Yanhang closed off the Talent Effect and Attribute list, then sighed in disappointment.
"Next, it’s time to start monster hunting in earnest." Zhang Yanhang had found during his exploration of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest that the density of monsters near his current location was quite high, while further away, the density was sparser or, to put it another way, gradually became normal.
This unusual discrepancy made Zhang Yanhang recall the Dulda Apartment in Raccoon City.