Chapter 46: Iron set (blue)

"Still insisting on sending a message, is this out of embarrassment?" Xu Xin laughed.

Then he looked down at the eight blue iron blocks in his hand. These high-grade iron blocks were almost too precious to use.

He sent a message to Li Wenxi: "Aren't you afraid I'll just steal these blue resources from you?"

The reply came quickly: "No way, surely the top-ranked player wouldn't steal such a small amount of resources?"

Such a small amount?

Fine then.

He really couldn't compare to a rich lady.

Xu Xin immediately went to the weapon and armor crafting table and used the iron blocks Li Wenxi gave him to make two sets of blue-grade iron armor.

[Iron Scale Armor (Blue): Can withstand attacks from large beasts. Made with high-grade materials, thinner iron plates provide stronger defense.]

[Iron Greaves (Blue): Despite being iron armor, they're as light as cloth armor!]

[Iron Helmet (Blue): Perfect design that doesn't obstruct vision or head movement.]

[Iron Boots (Blue): Wearing them makes you feel like you can run faster!]

The descriptions had changed. The blue-grade iron armor no longer had iron armor's biggest flaw – heaviness!

At the same time, Xu Xin saw the same small text in the description of each equipment piece.

[Iron Armor Set (Blue) 4-piece set: Enhances Strength]

The blue-grade set actually had a special effect! And it was strength, which Xu Xin needed most!

Not only was the weight reduced, but it also increased the wearer's strength. This truly lived up to being blue-grade iron armor.

Xu Xin traded one set to Li Wenxi and put the other set on himself.

There was no feeling of heaviness at all. The iron armor set was much lighter than imagined. When all four pieces were worn, Xu Xin even felt more relaxed and agile than when wearing the two-piece starter set.

"Is this the effect of a blue-grade set?" Xu Xin was very satisfied.

He felt he could now face off against a single beast head-on, and might even be able to contend with the monsters guarding treasure chests.

However, the iron armor had one problem – it made a crisp sound of metal plates colliding when walking, which wasn't good for stealth. But it wasn't a big issue; wearing iron armor was meant for direct confrontation with beasts anyway.

Xu Xin recalled the dense cluster of red dots in the northwest direction. That area was now within Xu Xin's range of activity after the tree house's protection range expanded.

"There will be a day of adjustment tomorrow. Since I have iron armor now, I'll go take a look over there tomorrow."

Xu Xin planned to go there tomorrow to hunt a few beasts and see if he could obtain some beast tendons to make the tree house's heavy crossbow and his own crossbow.

Without ranged attack methods, it would be much more difficult when the next beast tide came.

After taking off the iron armor set, Xu Xin washed up and lay down on the bed. Although he hadn't slept for two days and a night, his spirit was still decent thanks to Orange's ability, but his physical fatigue had reached its peak.

Stroking the little head of Coco curled up beside him, Xu Xin gradually fell asleep.

"I'll give you a bath tomorrow. Too tired today, I'm slacking off…"

…

Xu Xin was awakened by the vibration on his wrist.

He sat up, rubbed his eyes, and raised his wrist. A phantom screen appeared before his eyes.

"It's only just past 7… Inviting me to join [Explorers]? What's this…"

Xu Xin was about to casually cancel when his mind suddenly cleared: "Is this the organization Ji Chaoyang mentioned?"

Indeed, upon closer inspection, the inviter was Ji Chaoyang.

Xu Xin immediately clicked accept.

Wang Lei: "Welcome, big shot Xu Xin, to our [Explorers] organization!"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Welcome, big shot Xu Xin!"

Wen Guixin: "Xu Xin, who's more capable, you or Boss Ji?"

As soon as Xu Xin joined, several messages immediately popped up in the group chat.

At this point, there were already seven people in the group chat,

only two short of the nine Ji Chaoyang had mentioned.

Xu Xin looked at the member list. Besides him and Ji Chaoyang, there was Wen Guixin ranked third on the leaderboard, Wang Lei ranked fifth, Zhao Xiaochuan ranked seventh, and the sixth and ninth with similar names, Qin Yunlong and Qin Yunhu, who sounded like a pair of brothers.

Ji Chaoyang had mentioned before that the third, fifth, and seventh were his acquaintances, which were the three who spoke up right after he joined.

"Hello everyone," Xu Xin said through voice input.

Ji Chaoyang: "I originally wanted to gather everyone first and then bring you in as the finale, but Li Wenxi, who's ranked fourth, said she'd only join if you did, and Qi Xuefei, ranked eighth, still can't be contacted."

"I know Li Wenxi. I'll invite her in," Xu Xin said as he sent an invitation to Li Wenxi.

Ji Chaoyang: "So you do know her. I was wondering why she didn't even let me finish talking before saying 'Let Xu Xin invite me in' and hanging up on me."

Xu Xin: "Oh, I had told her about this organization before."

[Li Wenxi has joined Explorers]

Li Wenxi: "Hello everyone, hello!"

Wen Guixin: "Finally, a girl! I was getting tired of a group full of men."

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Hello, sister! By the way, Wen Guixin, what's wrong with men? Isn't it nice to have a group of handsome guys around you?"

Wen Guixin: "Handsome guys? You lot? Only Boss Ji is somewhat handsome."

Wang Lei: "Look at my healthy physique, strong wrists, and honest eyes. Am I not handsome enough?"

Li Wenxi: "Haha, you guys are so funny!"

At this point, Qin Yunlong, who had been silent all along, spoke up: "Xu Xin, can you and Ji Chaoyang really provide us with iron armor and iron weapons?"

Xu Xin didn't speak. He didn't know what promises Ji Chaoyang had made to them, but he certainly wouldn't provide them directly. The others would have to offer a price that satisfied him.

To avoid any conflicts, he waited for Ji Chaoyang to speak.

Fortunately, Ji Chaoyang responded directly: "You can trade with us, or if you have raw materials, we can help you craft them, but you'll need to pay an appropriate fee. We're only opening trades within the organization, not providing things for free."

Xu Xin then said: "That's what I meant as well."

"Understood," Qin Yunlong replied and then fell silent.

Ji Chaoyang: "Alright, we're still missing one person with no news. Let's put aside what we discussed earlier for now. You can try to contact Qi Xuefei, ranked eighth on the leaderboard. If she hasn't joined by tonight, we'll discuss our next steps."

"Okay."

"Got it, Boss!"

"Understood."

Xu Xin pondered for a moment, then asked in the group: "Have any of you obtained beast tendons?"

Zhao Xiaochuan: "Big shot Xu Xin is talking about the material for making bows and heavy crossbows, right? I found a beast carcass before, but it didn't drop any tendons."

Wang Lei: "I haven't even seen a beast carcass. I was hiding in the tree house that night."

Wen Guixin: "I killed a wolf, but it didn't drop tendons either."

Ji Chaoyang: "I don't have any either. Afterward, I asked some people, and none of them were able to get tendons from beast carcasses. Perhaps the beast carcasses from that day don't drop tendons. Maybe they don't want us to have ranged weapons so early."

Xu Xin pondered this.

He replied "Okay, I see" in the group chat and then closed the screen projected from his watch, sitting up in bed.

"Mmm…" The little panda Coco beside him also got up.

Xu Xin's plan for today was to check out the dense cluster of red dots in the northwest.

With his iron armor, he could fully take on some medium to small-sized individual beasts. He could go there to hunt some solitary beasts, and perhaps obtain some beast tendons and hides.