I am the Arcane Archer, and all my skills are self-created.

When Hua Zitong returned to the garden with the knight "Steel Shield", the mage "Arcane Light" and the summoner "Friend of the Beast", Li Wu was sitting on a stone bench, watching Lin Hai sketch out the shop's decoration plan in his notebook.

Old Wang and Xiao Fang listened attentively to Lin Hai's explanation.

They were all somewhat surprised when they saw Hua Zitong return with three people.

How long has it been since they poached people?

Is this a recruitment drive?

Could they have gone to rob someone?!

"Li Wu." Hua Zitong walked up to Li Wu with a smile on her face. "I'm back, and I've brought him with me."

Li Wu nodded, his gaze sweeping over the three newcomers.

"Hello, I'm Wuli Kanhua," Li Wu greeted the three with a smile.

The three of them were all a little excited when they heard Li Wu's words.

They knew that the person in front of them was the famous "Seeing Through the Fog" master, known throughout the entire server.

"Greetings, Master Fog-Seeing-Flowers!" Knight "Steel Shield" spoke first, his voice low but full of respect.

The mage "Arcane Light" and the summoner "Friend of Beasts" quickly greeted them as well.

Li Wu nodded and said, "Now that you've joined my team, we're a collective from this day forward. I hope that in the future, we can work together to create even greater achievements."

"Boss, give us the mission. What do you need us to do?" Iron Shield nodded and asked.

"Okay." Li Wu nodded again. He knew that only with a clear division of labor and everyone performing their duties could things be done well.

"Now, Lin Hai, you go over the detailed plan for the shop with Lao Wang and Xiao Fang again. Especially the publicity and rules for the auction, you need to finalize them as soon as possible," Li Wu instructed.

"For the next three days, everything in the shop is in your hands."

Lin Hai and the other two nodded repeatedly, promising to do their best to complete the mission.

"Let's go then." Li Wu looked at Hua Zitong and the other three. "The Lost Foundry shouldn't be so easy to find, right?"

Hua Zitong nodded; she knew Li Wu was telling the truth. In her previous life, this dungeon had given many players a headache before it was discovered.

Steel Shield, Arcane Light, and Beast Friend immediately stood up and followed Li Wu and Hua Zitong, leaving the small garden.

Night was falling over Ironforge, but for Li Wu's team, this was just the beginning—a beginning full of challenges and opportunities.

Their first task was to find the "Lost Foundry" hidden in the mist.

"Hua Zitong, where exactly is this instance? Are there any clues?" Li Wu asked softly as they walked.

Hua Zitong's expression was somewhat solemn, and she shook her head:

"The location of this instance is very hidden. I only know that it is south of Ironforge, and you need to complete a prerequisite quest to find it."

She remembered that in her previous life it was discovered by a medium-sized guild by chance, and it wasn't until a whole month later that other people found out about it.

"South..." Li Wu repeated, gazing into the distance.

The area south of Ironforge is not flat. From the city walls, one can see rolling hills and some abandoned mine entrances.

"This area to the south has many mines and complicated roads." Steel Shield looked a little tense as he carried his tower shield. "But there is a miners' camp there."

"Boss, should we go to the nearby miners' camp and ask around?"

Li Wu stopped and looked at the map.

"Let's go take a look."

Hammerfall Camp, south of Ironforge, is the only supply point for players in the vicinity. It is filled with makeshift tents and piles of slag, and most of the NPCs are covered in dust and dirt, sitting by the fire eating hard bread.

"Let's split up and search." Hua Zitong assigned tasks. "Steel Shield, go to the center of the camp; Arcane Light, go to the herbalist; Beast Friend, go to the blacksmith. Ask if they have any information about 'lost' or 'abandoned' buildings."

The three men accepted the order and left.

Li Wu didn't move.

He leaned against a broken wooden stake, watching the NPCs coming and going.

Half an hour later, the three of them returned one after another.

"No leads." Steel Shield wiped his sweat. "The camp commander only told me to clear out the ghouls nearby, and said he wouldn't care about anything else."

"It's the same with the herbalist; they're only concerned that his Peacebloom was stolen." Arcane Light shrugged helplessly.

The friend of the wild beasts put it even more bluntly: "The blacksmith found me annoying and almost hit me with his hammer."

Hua Zitong's brows furrowed.

She approached an old miner at the edge of the camp, attempting to use the reborn's experience to guide the conversation.

"Old man, I've heard there's a cursed foundry deep in this valley?"

The old miner didn't even lift his eyelids, continuing to puff on his pipe: "You misheard. There's only slag and poor bastards here."

Hua Zitong tried several different ways of asking the question, and even offered to pay in gold coins, but the old miner remained unmoved.

She stepped back and looked at Li Wu.

"That's a bit strange. Logically speaking, for a hidden dungeon of this level, there should be a guide NPC in the camp."

Li Wu straightened up.

"I'll give it a try."

Instead of looking for those NPCs who seemed to be in high positions, he went to the farthest corner of the camp.

There sat a beggar with a missing leg, scribbling something on the ground with a sharpened stick. In front of him was a broken bowl containing only a few rusty copper coins.

Li Wu walked over, but didn't squat down or bend over.

He took out a piece of black bread he had bought in the beginner village from his backpack and threw it into the broken bowl.

The beggar raised his head, his cloudy eyes staring at Li Wu.

"This job is not easy." Li Wu pointed to the wooden stick in the beggar's hand, "The wood is too soft and can't be sharpened."

The beggar didn't speak, but grabbed a piece of bread, took a bite, and mumbled, "As long as it kills rats."

"Want to kill the big guy?" Li Wu continued to ask.

The beggar stopped what he was doing and spat out a mouthful of food residue.

"Everything's underground, in that smokeless furnace. Do you have a fire?"

Upon hearing this, Li Wu took out a flint he had bought in Ironforge from his pocket and handed it over.

The beggar took the flint, rubbed it in his hand for a long time, and then suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly.

"It's been thirty years. That stove has been out for thirty years. No one has ever brought a fire inside."

[System notification: You have triggered the hidden clue "Lao Can's Obsession".]

Hua Zitong and the others were stunned when they saw this from behind.

They had all passed by the beggar several times, but no one paid him any attention.

"Where is the stove?" Li Wu asked directly.

The beggar pointed with his stick to a barren hill directly south of the camp.

"There's a crooked tree at the foot of the mountain, and there's a hole under its roots. Go inside and keep going down until you smell rust; that's when you've arrived. But without this flint, you can't get in."

The beggar shoved the flint back into Li Wu's hand and lowered his head to continue drawing his circles.

[Quest Hint: You will receive the prerequisite quest "Reigniting the Flame".]

[Mission Objective: Proceed to the Dry Mountain Cavern and locate the entrance to the lost foundry.]

"Received it," Li Wu said, turning to the others.

Steel Shield's eyeballs almost popped out.

"That's it? I asked the camp commander three times, and all he told me to do was get lost and go kill monsters."

"You're asking too deliberately." Li Wu put away the flint. "NPCs in the Origin Realm are people too. They don't owe you anything."

Hua Zitong looked at Li Wu, a strange glint in her eyes.

She had seen many such operations that defied conventional logic in her previous life, but one as casual as Li Wu's was truly rare.

Hua Zitong led the way south.

"Let's go, let's hurry."