Looking at the houses in front of him, each one requiring people to lower their heads and stoop to enter, and the short, sturdy people passing by him one after another, even if Tom hadn’t said anything, Unknown already knew he had arrived at the dwarf village.

　　“Tom is back!”

　　A dwarf standing at the entrance of the village was the first to spot Tom in Unknown’s arms, and soon the surrounding dwarves crowded around, encircling Unknown and Tom.

　　“Tom, how did your trip to the city go this time?”

　　“Tom, did you manage to trade for all the supplies the village needs?”

　　“Is the war outside still raging? Are the human nations still fighting each other?”

　　Everyone bombarded Tom with questions. Only then did Unknown understand why Tom had been so far from the village, over two hundred li away. When he heard Tom talk about the war outside, Unknown suddenly felt a surge of excitement in his body, as if his blood was boiling, but along with the excitement came a strange sense of nausea. It was as if there were two different thoughts inside him—one filled with a longing for war, the other with a deep aversion to it.

　　Tom dismissed all the dwarves, then pulled Unknown deeper into the village, saying, “Uncle Sam is the apprentice of the legendary hammer master Gomez. Back in the day, Uncle Sam left the village to learn the finest forging techniques at Ironforge, the birthplace of the dwarves, and stayed there for sixty years. When he’s drunk, he even brags that on the whole continent, only the nine great master smiths can match his skills.”

　　Legendary hammer? Gomez? Ironforge?

　　Unknown shook his head. In the past two years, aside from hunting, this was his first time leaving the village, and he had no idea what those words from Tom’s mouth meant.

　　“Uncle Sam, I’ve brought you a guest—a warrior!”

　　Facing the red-bearded dwarf who was reading an ancient book, Tom pointed to Unknown beside him: “This warrior wants to have a set of hunting tools made.”

　　“A warrior?” The red-bearded dwarf chuckled without even looking up: “If he’s a warrior, he should be forging weapons for killing, not hunting tools. Little Tom, you’ve studied forging with me for a few years now—this time, you make him a set of tools. Take the materials from my storeroom. Since you brought him, I’ll only charge the cost…”

　　“Uncle Sam, I have my own materials.”

　　The parts Unknown had taken from the ogre and the raptor were taken out of the bag he’d brought, one by one.

　　Red-bearded Sam glanced at the materials on the ground, a flash of surprise in his eyes, but then his gaze returned to his book: “Since you have your own materials, I’ll just charge a labor fee—one gold coin.”

　　“One gold coin? What’s that?”

　　Unknown’s question finally made the red-bearded dwarf put down his book. He sat up, a slightly mocking smile on his face: “Human, we dwarves aren’t idiots, don’t play dumb with me. Gold coin! That’s money! Of course you have to pay when you buy something.”

　　“Money?” Unknown frowned slightly, muttering softly: “Money… money… Oh right! Money is currency, a special commodity used to exchange for other goods…”

Chapter 3: Astonishing Strength Leaves All Speechless (Part 2)

　　“Since you know, then pay up!” Sam stretched out his big hand: “One gold coin.”

　　“I don’t have any money.”

　　Unknown gave a wry smile. In the two years he’d spent hunting for the village, if it weren’t for Uncle Sam’s words, he wouldn’t even have remembered that you need to pay for things.

　　“No money?” Uncle Sam rolled his eyes: “If you don’t have money, you can go steal some! Aren’t you humans the best at stealing things?”

　　“Steal?”

　　Unknown was truly stunned. The dwarves the villagers talked about were always kind and pure, yet here was a dwarf actually encouraging robbery—hard to believe anyone would accept that if told.

　　“Uncle Sam! You’re insulting a noble warrior! This warrior once saved Tom’s life!” Tom angrily gathered up the materials Unknown had taken out: “How could you treat someone who saved Tom’s life like this? Unknown, let’s go. Tom’s skills may not be great, but I’ll do my best to make you the best quality tools!”

　　“If it’s hunting tools you want, just pick any set from the rack. Consider it a thank-you gift for saving Tom’s life.” Sam waved his hand and turned to walk toward his house.

　　Crack…

　　Sam stopped in his tracks. As a master smith, he could easily tell that was the sound of a bowstring snapping.

　　Unknown, with an apologetic look, took the second hunting bow Tom handed him. After the first one broke, he didn’t dare use his full strength this time—he only used ninety percent.

　　Crack…

　　Sam slowly turned around, his eyes wide in surprise as he looked at the two broken bows on the ground. He knew very well—even if those were hunting bows he’d made while drunk from poor materials, they could still withstand three hundred jin of force. Even an excellent soldier couldn’t fully draw such a strong bow, let alone break it—that was unheard of.

　　Before Sam could recover from his thoughts, he heard that familiar sound again—crack…

　　The third bow Tom handed to Unknown had also become scrap.