Starting with the goblin extermination

The training ground is located behind the guild building. It is a large open space enclosed by a wooden fence, with several wooden stakes inside.

When Logan went in, there were already two people waiting inside.

He glanced at the two people, a man and a woman, both young, well-equipped, with tired faces and delicate, smooth hands.

He was clearly a young master sent by some wealthy merchant or minor nobleman in town.

The entry barrier for the adventurer profession seems low, but if you really want to go far, the barriers pile up one after another: combat skills cost money, equipment costs money, life-saving potions cost money, and most people don't have these things at the beginning. They can only work hard to complete quests to make up for it, and they might just collapse in some corner of the forest at any time.

However, I've already passed that stage.

Thinking of this, Logan nodded to the two of them and gave them a friendly smile.

But there was no response. The two men merely glanced at his striking blond hair before looking away in disgust.

He touched his hair helplessly.

It's understandable that not everyone shares Thorin's goodwill towards the refugees from the north.

But it doesn't matter, he's here to learn skills, not to make friends.

Instructor Soben finally arrived.

He was a tall, middle-aged man, rather thin, with half-white hair, and missing an ear on his left side, leaving only an ugly dent.

Although he was not particularly handsome, Logan could sense the professional aura emanating from him, just like Slank, whom he had met not long ago.

Soben glanced coldly at the three of them, said nothing, simply asked each of them their names and the combat skills they currently possessed, and then began today's lesson.

After the lesson began, Logan finally understood why the goblin Kruger had described class as "getting beaten up."

boom!

The wooden stick slammed down hard on the blunt sword that Logan used for practice.

The immense force made Logan's hand go numb. He tried to deflect the force, but the wooden stick kept hitting his forearm solidly.

Once, ten times, fifty times, Logan's arms ached so much he could barely lift them.

As for the two men beside him, they were already sitting in the mud, wailing and crying. Logan glanced at them out of the corner of his eye; judging from their distorted expressions, if they hadn't already paid, they would have probably already run away.

"Lean to the right," Soben said to Logan, brandishing his stick and speaking sparingly.

Logan did his best to withstand the attacks from the wooden stick, without uttering a sound.

"good."

After being whipped countless times, Soben finally gave a two-word evaluation.

He studied very diligently. Soben's direct, practical teaching method suited him very well. Although the parrying technique had not yet appeared on the panel, Logan already felt that his understanding of defense, deflection, and other related techniques in combat had significantly deepened.

This money was well spent.

As the sun set, Logan dragged his aching body away from the training field.

Soben nodded at Logan's departing figure, then turned to look at the orc who had just walked up to him.

"Soben! The guild has a new quest!"

"Um."

......

Learning new combat skills is on the agenda, so Logan wants to visit the [Giant Hammer Blacksmith Shop] next.

He remembered the ring armor he had tried on before, and now that he had some spare money, perhaps he could buy it.

Logan pushed open the door of the blacksmith's shop, but there was no sound of hammers striking inside.

Blacksmith Dalak leaned back in his recliner, smoking his pipe. This time, however, he wasn't holding a pornographic magazine; instead, he was frowning and looking at a newspaper.

What day is it today? Why is everyone reading the newspaper?

Logan glanced at the newspaper. The text on the front page was a little hard to read from a distance, but he recognized the words "Northern Nordland" in large letters.

"Still fighting?" Logan asked casually, sniffing the air. He'd been beaten up all afternoon, and the smell of smoke was making him feel a bit uncomfortable.

Dallak exhaled a smoke ring, his face somewhat gloomy.

"War? You've all been fighting to the death in the north, and even our few small dwarf settlements there have been slaughtered! What's wrong with you?!"

"The world is in turmoil..."

Logan didn't respond.

He knew very well how warlike the people of North Nordland were. In the past, under the old king's iron-fisted rule, they had been somewhat restrained, but once a large-scale war broke out like this...

If the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up; you should worry about yourself first.

Dallak snapped out of his thoughts and looked Logan up and down.

This kid just changed into leather armor, and it doesn't look worn out. He's obviously not here to fix anything.

"What are you doing here today, kid? I'm not offering free tea or keeping you company."

Logan smiled, pondering to himself.

He has 166 gold coins. He spent 51 gold coins learning combat skills today, leaving him with 115 gold coins. He should reserve 60 gold coins for the next six lessons, and 5 gold coins for daily lodging and food, leaving him with 55 gold coins.

He would deduct another 10 gold coins for emergency funds. This was a small habit of his; he always kept some money in reserve for emergencies and couldn't spend it all at once, since no one knew what kind of accident might happen to him in the future.

So right now, Logan actually has 45 gold coins at his disposal.

There's more than enough money to buy ring armor.

"Buying things, huh? Aren't you happy to see that?" Logan's gaze passed over Dalark and landed on the steel ring armor on the display shelf. "I'll take that ring armor."

Blacksmith Darak froze, the old dwarf's pipe-clamped hand hanging in mid-air: "You rascal... it's only been a few days! You didn't rob some nobleman's caravan, did you?!"

Logan twitched the corner of his mouth but didn't answer; he himself found it somewhat unbelievable.

Blacksmith Darak wisely refrained from pressing the matter further: "Alright, alright, I can polish your leather armor and resell it for 4 gold coins as depreciation fee, okay?"

After saying that, Dalark walked over and stripped Logan of his leather armor without saying a word. "I'll have to modify that ring armor to fit your body shape. It'll be quick. You stay here for now."

"Is there any tea?"

"Get lost!"

Logan shook his arm, which ached from blocking for so long, and turned to walk toward the weapon rack.

Ring armor costs 25 gold. After deducting the 4 gold cost of the leather armor, that's 21 gold. So you can still spend 24 gold. If possible...

Logan glanced at the longsword at his waist, then at the weapons on the shelf.

Can the weapon be replaced?

Logan drew his longsword and compared it to the weapons on the shelf.

The result was somewhat disappointing.

The longswords on the shelf were not as good as the one in his hand in terms of overall quality.

My father did indeed leave me something good.

"Stop looking."

Dallak snorted coldly beside the forge.

"That thing you have is a bit old, but it's already reached the pinnacle of forging techniques for ordinary steel. Want to find something better on the shelves? You'll have to consider magical weapons."

"You're not going to tell me you can afford magical weapons now, are you?"

"Not yet."

Logan sheathed his longsword. He knew all too well the price of magical items; he had just sold one himself, and a good enchanted longsword certainly wouldn't be cheap.

"So this sword can't be improved any further?"

"No, not exactly."

Dalark stopped what he was doing, turned around, and gave a mysterious smile.

"Enchanting is too expensive, you definitely can't afford it right now, but... you're lucky."

Logan pricked up his ears and walked up to Darlach.

"How do I do it?"

"Then we'll have to rely on our dwarven secrets." Dalark pointed to a bag in the corner. "Twenty gold coins, using the spikes from the spiky boar that you and Thorin got a few days ago."