There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

"There are all sorts of strange claims, and it's hard to know how many of them are true."

“I participated in the prayer. Yesterday, an evil spirit disrupted the prayer, but it has been eliminated by the priest.”

As Lu Qing spoke, she took out the mithril ingot that the old priest had given her from her pouch and said:

"Boss, can you use this to forge a weapon?"

"Mithril ingot?" The blacksmith stopped his work and shifted his gaze to the silvery-white metal ingot in Lu Qing's hand.

"The old priest gave this to you?"

"Mm." Lu Qing nodded.

After a moment of silence, the blacksmith asked, "What kind of weapon do you want?"

Do you have any recommendations?

"..."

"Do you know how to use a sword?" the blacksmith asked.

Shaking her head, Lu Qing said, "No."

"A scimitar, or a longsword?"

"will not."

"Where's the hammer?"

"will not."

"So what can you do?"

"I can't do anything."

"......"

Silence fell between Lu Qing and the blacksmith, who stared at each other for a long time. Finally, the blacksmith sighed and said, "Forget it, I'll forge you a dagger. What a waste, using mithril to make a dagger..."

"You probably don't even know how to use a dagger," the blacksmith asked.

"Mm." Lu Qing nodded.

"I knew it. I really don't understand why the priest would give you the mithril ingot."

Lu Qing didn't reply, but instead asked, "How long does it take to forge a dagger?"

"It's just a dagger, half a day will be enough!" the blacksmith snorted confidently.

"Can I watch from here?" Lu Qing asked.

She has nothing to do right now, and wandering around aimlessly could lead to danger.

I forgot to ask the priest before I left if the evil spirit would appear during the day, so it's better to be careful. Until I have the mithril dagger, I should find a safe place to stay.

Her intuition told her that the blacksmith was no ordinary person, so for the time being, Lu Qing considered this place to be the safest place.

"Whatever you want," the blacksmith said after hearing Lu Qing's words.

------------

Chapter 11: Basic Daggers and Dagger Throwing

The blacksmith seems a bit sullen, but his sullenness isn't directed at you; it's at the old priest. If you question him carefully, you might get some new clues...

Lu Qing, who was observing the blacksmith, was taken aback, not expecting the notebook to come in handy at this moment.

"Is this mithril ingot a very precious item?" Lu Qing asked after thinking for a while.

"of course."

The blacksmith, without looking up, said, "This was a reward given to the old priest by the Vatican headquarters after he completed a task. He asked me to forge a mithril sword, and this mithril ingot is the one left over after the sword was forged."

At this point, the blacksmith curled his lip and said:

"Hmph, I went through so much trouble to get this mithril ingot back then, and now it's just being given to you like this."

"call......."

The old blacksmith pulled the bellows of the furnace, and blazing flames rose up. Inside the shed, Lu Qing felt the temperature around her rise rapidly.

After a moment of silence, the old blacksmith spoke up and asked:

"Could you tell me the details of last night?"

"sure."

Lu Qing recounted in detail what happened last night, including her going to the square where Anna was burned to death and encountering the hunter.

However, Lu Qing didn't mention a word about "Anna's heart," preferring that such matters remain a secret to herself.

As for the priest, Lu Qing didn't know why, but after what happened last night, the priest didn't ask her what the glowing thing in her hand was.

"Maybe it was just used as a special prop. After all, my clothes look quite valuable, so it's normal for me to have one or two protective props." That's all Lu Qing could think to herself.

"You ran into that guy, huh?" the blacksmith said after hearing Lu Qing's words.

"That guy... does he mean the hunter?" Lu Qing asked, somewhat uncertainly.

"It's him." The blacksmith nodded, his expression darkening.

"There's one thing that guy didn't tell you: Anna is actually his daughter."

"Anna is the hunter's daughter?!"

Lu Qing was somewhat surprised when she heard the old blacksmith's words; she never expected things to turn out this way.

"Otherwise, why do you think someone would happen to pass by a square that is usually deserted?"

"Ever since Anna was burned to death, he has frequently been to that area, and he is currently the only one who can get close to the rubble without any accidents."

"Do the hunters hate those knights?" Lu Qing asked.

After all, Anna was ultimately burned alive by those knights. A father watching his daughter burn to death must have been incredibly distressing.

“Hate? There should be some, but what the hunter hates most is the monster that drove Anna crazy. Even if those knights don’t come, given Anna’s condition, she will probably be mutated in a few days. The hunter knows this very well, after all, he and the priest are childhood friends.”

Lu Qing completely opened up the old blacksmith's mouth. Anyway, he had nothing better to do, and with his skills, he was just forging a dagger, so there was no need to be too serious.

If it weren't for the mithril ingots used in its forging, the old blacksmith felt he could have forged the dagger with his eyes closed.

He told Lu Qing that the hunters had been going out frequently over the years, searching for the source that had caused Anna's transformation.

Because he was the town's church administrator, the old priest couldn't offer his friend much help, only occasionally providing him with holy water or supplies.

According to the blacksmith, this fog is related to Anna's transformation, and the old priest and the hunter have already begun preparing for this problem.

"So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this fog shouldn't last long. Once it's over, you should head back home and not wander around. Big cities are much safer than our small towns," the blacksmith said, hammering mithril ingots.

"Is it really okay for me to tell you something like this? And why do you know so much, boss?"

Lu Qing watched as the old blacksmith's hammer struck the red-hot mithril ingots, sending up and down, scattering sparks, and said.

"Since the priest has already given you the mithril ingots, it won't hurt to tell you these things, as long as you don't blurt them out. As for how I know..."

After a pause, the blacksmith said, "The whole town knows I'm the priest's older brother, so of course I would know about this."

Lu Qing's lips twitched twice, and she said speechlessly, "Is that so...?"

Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, the blacksmith took out an iron key from his pocket and handed it to Lu Qing, saying:

"Go to my house and look in the cabinet next to the bed in the bedroom. See if there's a notebook about how to use a dagger. If you find it, you can have the book."

"Is it really okay for me to just hand over the room key like this?" Lu Qing thought to herself, somewhat dazed, as she took the key.

Seemingly sensing what Lu Qing was thinking, the old blacksmith said:

“I don’t have anything of value in my house that would be of interest to a noble lady.”

"Oh."

Without explaining that she wasn't some noble lady at all, Lu Qing picked up the key and walked step by step to the blacksmith's door.

She unlocked the door with her key, removed the lock, and pushed the door open to go inside.

The room looked ordinary, but some weapons that looked very sharp were hanging on the walls.

Upon arriving at the blacksmith's bedroom, Lu Qing rummaged through the cabinet next to the wooden bed and, quite luckily, found a worn-out notebook in the first drawer she opened.

The notebook looked quite old, with yellowed pages. Carefully picking it up, Lu Qing placed it on the table beside her and gently turned the pages.

Before she could even look at the contents, the bulletin board in her mind was rapidly refreshing.

[Special knowledge detected, currently being entered...]

The pages of the book on the table opened and closed on their own without any wind, so quickly that Lu Qing was worried the laptop might fall apart.

[Information entry complete. Training has been generated: Basic Dagger, Dagger Throwing.]

[There is currently no training room in the cabin. Players are advised to upgrade their cabin level as soon as possible!]

Coming to her senses, Lu Qing quickly checked the notice board, but apart from the few sentences that had just been updated, there were no other changes.

Based on the information above, it seems that the cabin's data entry function is not useful to her now, at least not before she upgraded the cabin.

Left with no other choice, Lu Qing sat up straight again, turned to the first page of her notebook, and began to read it carefully.

[If your skills can't overwhelm your opponent, never engage in direct combat with an enemy wielding a dagger or long weapon. Ambushes, backstabs, assassinations, and hit-and-run tactics are always the first principles of dagger combat. Of course, this notebook won't teach you these techniques.]

This notebook will only improve your direct combat ability with a dagger, greatly increasing your survival rate when you have to fight enemies. Hopefully, you'll never need to use these techniques, although that's unlikely.

------------

Chapter Twelve: The Mithril Dagger

The basic movements of a dagger are divided into nine types: stabbing, thrusting, picking, slicing, slashing, parrying, gouging, cutting, and carrying. It can be used with both a regular grip and a reverse grip.

Single and dual daggers have different uses; in direct combat, dual daggers are generally recommended.

........

"ha......."

I couldn't help but yawn. Theoretical knowledge is always boring, and that can't be changed no matter what.

Moreover, it's definitely better to have someone teach you how to use weapons; you can't learn them properly just by reading the notes.

Lu Qing could understand how to generate force with her wrist and how to attack the enemy more easily, but she didn't quite understand some of the techniques.