After going into the sea, I met the witch.

Even though the other party seemed to have no spirituality whatsoever, and no prompt appeared in gray text, Ryan never relaxed in the slightest.

Judging strength based on spirituality is unreliable.

If he himself is like this, then he cannot allow others to have secret methods to conceal their own spirituality?

The weakest of those who could pose a threat to him were at least top-tier first-order individuals, or even possibly second-order elites.

"The murky waters of the Whirlpool Islands are getting deeper and deeper..."

Shaking his head, Ryan kept the matter in mind and, following the map he had obtained from Caius, arrived at a rather large stone house halfway up the mountain.

As soon as you approach this place, a thick heat hits you, and through the cracks in the door, a bright crimson light bursts out.

Ryan looked up at the wooden sign above the stone house.

——Silver Hammer Blacksmith Shop.

According to "Master of the Copper Hammer" Orucci, his senior apprentice "Master of the Silver Hammer" runs a blacksmith shop in the Whirlpool Islands.

With the voucher, Ryan can come here to collect the hand crossbow that "Master of the Copper Hammers" Orucci forged and transported through special channels.

Of course, due to a series of reasons, Ryan arrived at the Whirlpool Islands a few days earlier than expected, so the crossbows should not have been delivered there yet.

Ryan wasn't there to retrieve equipment, but rather to complete a quest.

Unlike Orucci, the "Master of the Copper Hammer" who was skilled at crafting weapons, his senior apprentice, the "Master of the Silver Hammer," was more adept at crafting protective gear.

Protective gear is something Ryan desperately needs right now.

After several encounters with the Rathalos leader during his travels over the past few days, Ryan has come to realize the importance of protective gear.

His current situation when facing the Rathalos leader is this: one hit will severely injure him, and the second hit will kill him instantly, leaving him with a pitifully low margin for error.

Under these circumstances, it would be absolutely impossible to hunt the Rathalos leader.

He needs stronger defense.

However, the natural limitations of human flesh and blood meant that while Ryan's strength increased, his defense, though not entirely unaffected, was still no match for true armor.

If one possesses rare protective gear that can withstand two more attacks from the Rathalos leader, then one is qualified to hunt the Rathalos leader.

Pushing open the wooden door, a wave of heat rushed in, and Ryan's gaze fell on the young woman sitting at the front desk with a professional smile on her face.

"Welcome, sir. What would you like to order?"

“Uh.” Ryan was taken aback.

The girl in front of me, apart from her clothes, looked almost exactly like Xiaoyun, the daughter of "Master Copper Hammer".

"Xiaoyun is yours?"

Subconsciously, he blurted out the question.

"It seems the guest has seen my sister before." The girl gently smoothed the ends of her hair tied with blue ribbons. "You may call me Bingyun."

“Miss Bingyun, hello.” Ryan understood. “I have a request and would like to find Master Silver Hammer.”

"What type of request is it? Weapons, protective gear, or special parts, such as necklaces or rings?" Bingyun asked.

“Armor,” Ryan said. “I have some rare monster materials and I want to forge a set of armor that suits me.”

“Rare monster materials? Would you mind showing them to me?” Bingyun blinked. “My father has been receiving a lot of orders lately. If things were to proceed in the normal order, it would be at least a month before it’s your turn. But if the materials you provide are novel enough, my father might be able to craft them ahead of schedule.”

“It is quite novel, though. Master Silver Hammer probably hasn’t seen it before,” Ryan said with a smile.

"I've never seen him before?" At this moment, a cold snort came from the back of the shop. As the curtain was lifted, a burly figure more than two meters tall walked out.

He wore a thin short-sleeved shirt, and his bronze muscles gleamed. He was almost a carbon copy of Master Copper Hammer. The only difference was that the tattoo on his forehead was painted with a dark silver pigment.

Upon seeing Master Silver Hammer and Bingyun's appearances, Ryan couldn't help but think to himself: Your family's genetic inheritance is just too stable!

"Kid, show me your materials. I want to see what kind of materials give you such confidence."

Master Silver Hammer crossed his arms.

Ryan smiled, and a flash of light appeared in the spatial ring on his hand. The next moment, he released the corpse of the Fire Umbrella Bird.

The manifestation of the Fire Umbrella Bird's corpse cost Ryan 2000 spirit points, but for him now, this amount of spirit points was no big deal.

"what?"

Looking at the Fire Umbrella Bird on the ground, Master Silver Hammer's eyes showed surprise. After examining it carefully, he exclaimed, "It is indeed a monster I have never seen before. Very interesting. Kid, my name is Orto. What kind of protective gear are you planning to have made?"

Upon hearing this, Ryan replied without hesitation, "While it doesn't significantly hinder movement, use low-tier artifact armor with the strongest possible defense, preferably with sufficient resistance to fire attacks."

"The requirements aren't low." Master Ortó of the Silver Hammer stroked his smooth chin.

"The materials used in this unknown monster are primarily fire-based, so the armor made from them has a natural resistance to fire attacks."

"Alright, come pick it up in two days."

"The payment will be made using the leftover materials from crafting the protective gear."

"Take this receipt."

“Okay, then I’ll trouble you.” Ryan took the round silver metal piece as proof, glanced at the number “3241” on it, and smiled.

After Ryan left, "Silver Hammer Master" Orto couldn't wait to drag the Firebird's corpse towards the forging table at the back.

Seeing this, Bingyun, who was standing next to her, raised her eyebrows and asked, "Are you going to stay up all night again?"

"The last time, the last time," Master Silver Hammer chuckled.

Seeing the burning desire in her father's eyes for the unknown materials, Bingyun sighed.

She had lost count of how many times her father had told her "the last time."

……

After leaving the Silver Hammer Blacksmith Shop, Ryan did not go anywhere else and returned to the Black Rose.

In the captain's cabin, he reported all the intelligence he had gathered to Freya.

Looking at the map of the Whirlpool Islands spread out on the table, Freyne rested her chin on her hand, lost in thought.

"The three major pirate crews, and countless first-tier pirate crews... the Forest of Roaring Gold..."

"Let's ignore them for now."

"After we finish resupplying tomorrow at dawn, we will immediately begin the monster hunting operation."

"Here, here, and here..."

"The monsters inhabiting these three areas contain the main ingredients for our second-tier magic potions."

Ryan's gaze fell on the three areas Freyne pointed to. Two of them were sea areas, located around North Island 1 and East Island 4 respectively. The last one was the western outer area of ​​the Golden Forest.

“I understand,” Ryan said in a deep voice.

Freyne's strength is at the limit of the first tier, and she only needs a magic potion to enter the second tier. If Freyne can enter the second tier before hunting the moon wolves, their team's combat power will increase significantly, and their safety will also be greatly improved.

As for Ryan himself, he didn't care.

Currently, his professional compatibility is far from sufficient, and even with a second-tier magic potion, he cannot complete the advancement.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Ryan." Freyne bowed her head apologetically.

Because of her outstanding appearance and special status, she cannot appear openly in public, so she has to trouble Ryan to do many things for her.

Tonight, I must win as many spirit points as possible and exchange them for [Tier 1 Spirit Enhancement Crystal] to help Mr. Ryan improve his combat power.

The witch thought to herself.

“It’s what I should do.” Ryan smiled. “Then I’ll go back and prepare.”

"Well, go to bed early."

……

When the Black Rose arrived at the Whirlpool Islands, it was around 7 or 8 p.m. After this series of inquiries, it was now past 11 p.m., and it would soon be the next day.

As the hour hand of the clock on the wall struck "0", Ryan, who was lying on the wooden bed, closed his eyes.

"Travel, start!"

Meanwhile, in the captain's cabin, Freya, who had been eagerly waiting, also entered the [Viewing Area] immediately.

Chapter 71 Forest Thugs, the First Battle of a "Lower-Rank Three-Star"!

When the flickering light and shadows before his eyes returned to normal, Ryan found himself on a raft in the land he had been traveling through.

He glanced at the mast beside him.

The six trophies gleamed with a hazy bronze sheen, a testament to the bravery of their hunters.

"Unbeknownst to me, I've already defeated six different special species. There are only four requirements left to awaken the [Azure Medal]..."

Ryan smiled slightly, then went to the campfire and chose to teleport to [Campfire Point - Gap in the Giant Tree].

When he opened his eyes again, he was greeted by towering, lush trees, and the fresh scent of earth after the rain filled his nostrils.

Clearly, there must have been a moderate rain in the ancient woodland area last night.

After stretching his body briefly, Ryan carried his greatsword and walked out of the campfire.

Stepping onto the slightly damp ground covered with fallen leaves, Ryan headed west.

In the first three days, he had figured out the approximate habitats of some monsters in the ancient forest area.

Similar to the natural world, powerful monsters have a concept of "territory".

The owner of a territory will not hesitate to launch an attack on any monster that invades its territory after failing to drive it away.

Without a doubt, as monsters among monsters, "special species" all have their own territories.

Ryan is about to head to the habitat of a very powerful alien species.

When he first encountered this monster, he saw it from afar and, knowing he was no match for it, retreated. Now, having hunted the Firebird and the Great Boar King, and with his Traveling Clone level increased, he is even stronger and has decided to try to defeat it.

Of course, the main reason is that there are no longer any special species of the "lower-level one star" and "lower-level two star" grades in the ancient forest area.

The remaining special species, each one according to its own strength ranking, is at least "lower-level three stars".

Although not as powerful as the Rathalos leader, it was still far superior to any monster he had previously defeated.

The light was dappled through the dense forest. Ryan made his way carefully, and after about half an hour, he arrived at the edge of a small basin.