The next morning, I logged into the game and appeared inside my tent at 8 am sharp.

I felt much better after a full night’s sleep. Yesterday’s instance was one of the most difficult experiences I had had since the game began, and none of the bosses were pushovers. Having to constantly maintain good positioning, technique, and so on throughout the instance was extremely taxing to say the least.

……

As I walked among the Black Cavalry Scout Camp, I noticed that its building layout had changed significantly. The human resource that was Godkiller provided the camp with a steady influx of high-quality resources every day. For example, 10 stones per player every day was enough to turn the camp into a stone fortress with much wider walls. The smithy, potion shop and more had been moved into actual structures and no longer needed to withstand the battering of the elements anymore.

Standing in front of me was a tall camp office. I went in to check it out, but there was nothing inside it besides dozens of guards.

Curiosity sated, I stepped back out of the building and walked to the smithy. I then passed the Brave General Horseshoe to the sweating, muscular blacksmith and asked him, "Can you identify this for me?"

However, the blacksmith took one look at the horseshoe and sneered, "It’s just a piece of trash metal. Why have you brought this to me, young warrior? You’re not looking down on Ula the old blacksmith, are you?"

I curled my lips. "My apologies…"

It was at this moment a beautiful woman carrying a bunch of broken weapons stepped out of the smithy. When she looked up and saw me, she exclaimed in pleasant surprise, "It’s you? Why have you come to the smithy?"

I asked her, "I thought you’re an archer, Mona? Why are you forging weapons?"

Mona giggled. "It’s simple. I’m both an archer and a famous swordsmith of the empire. What’s wrong? Do I not look like a swordsmith? I’ll have you know that most of the royal guards’ weapons are made by me. Commander Ziyan’s Crimson Flame and Commander Stark’s Black Fire were made by me too…"

Beside her, the blacksmith greeted her respectfully, "Captain!"

Mona gave him a nod of acknowledgment before resuming, "You still haven’t told me why you’ve come to the blacksmith. Wait, have you come to see me in person?"

Me: "..."

Mona played coy for a couple of seconds until she saw the Brave General Horseshoe on the table. She abruptly snatched it for a closer look while exclaiming in shock, "Ah? Who… who brought this here? Where did it come from?!"

The blacksmith looked surprised by his superior’s reaction. "It’s this boy’s trash, actually."

"Trash!?"

Mona’s eyes widened at her blacksmith’s assessment. "This thing is anything but trash, uncle! This is the legendary Brave General Horseshoe, a must-have accessory for every war mount in ancient times! The reason it is not known by the people today is because both its forging technique and its blueprint have been lost to time. I wouldn’t know of the Brave General Horseshoe myself if my master hadn’t told me about it!"

My heart started beating wildly. "Well, I can tell you with certainty that this is definitely a bonafide Brave General Horseshoe. Would you like to research it, Mona? Maybe you can find out how to duplicate it and make more of this stuff for me?"

Mona frowned slightly. "I… don’t know if I have the ability to recreate this horseshoe, but I’ll give it a try. Come find me again in an hour. I need to research its forging method and necessary materials first…"

"Okay!"

……

I had nothing to do in the meantime, so I exited the camp and took 4 Viking Cavalrymen with me to grind the A4 instance. They didn’t need to do anything besides leeching experience and picking up the equipment. I single-handedly took over the role of main tank, damage dealer, healer and everything else. A bit over an hour later, I successfully gathered the Godkiller’s first ever complete A4 set, delighting the four Viking Cavalrymen to no end. They literally rode around the entire Black Cavalry Scout Camp seven times before they finally calmed down.

I went to the smithy again after I returned to the camp.

Mona was standing there holding a hammer and tapping the horseshoe I gave her here and there. Seeing as she was sweating like crazy, I tenderly wiped away some of the sweat covering her face before asking, "How did it go, Mona?"

Mona smiled. "I’ve redrawn the blueprint for the horseshoe and found out the materials necessary to make it. However, the materials used to produce it are pretty rare, so you’ll have to gather them yourself if you wish to mass-produce them. Is that okay with you?"

"Mn. Tell me what I need to gather."

"To forge 1 Brave General Horseshoe, you will need 1 Crystal and 10 chunks of Obsidian Metal with quality above 85. The key material here is the Obsidian Metal. If the quality isn’t high enough, the horseshoe that is produced will only be a common horseshoe…"

"Understood. Will you still be here by the time I return?"

"Yes, I’m not going anywhere for the foreseeable future, so you don’t have to worry about me being away from the camp for some business. Now go gather the materials."

"Will do!"

……

I was brimming with excitement when I exited the camp. Just think of the possibilities! The Brave General Horseshoe was already an incredibly powerful item, but now it had been confirmed that I could mass-produce it! If I could equip every Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalryman with a Brave General Horseshoe, I bet they would be able to 1v10 almost any enemy!

I immediately summoned the top players of Godkiller and Gui Guzi over for a meeting.

Ten minutes later, Gui Guzi, Hickey, Warscar, Bloodthirsty Demon and everyone else gathered around me at the forest clearing directly in front of Black Cavalry Scout Camp’s entrance.

Once everyone was ready, I showed them the stats screen of the first Brave General Horseshoe Mona created. I was satisfied to see everyone’s jaw hitting the floor with a resounding thunk—

Brave General Horseshoe: Embed Item

Introduction: The Brave General Horseshoe can be slotted into any land mount that is Level 150 or above. Increases all mount stats by 15%. Increases user’s Attack and Defense by 35%, and max HP by 50000.

……

Gui Guzi exclaimed with fully round eyes, "Holy shit, where did you get this, Boss Broken Halberd? 15% stats, along with mount tenacity, 35% Attack and Defense, and 50k HP? This is just absolutely bonkers! Is this an extra horseshoe you have no need for? Can I have it?"

I shot him a glance. "You really need to think bigger, man. What’s the point if only you grow stronger?"

Hickey’s mouth opened even wider. "Wait, wait. Is it just me, or are you suggesting that you have a lot more of these Brave General Horseshoes? Now that’s bonkers!"

I nodded affirmatively. "Hehe, that’s right. When the girls and I killed the first boss of War God Academy, we managed to get him to drop this Brave General Horseshoe. After I spoke to Mona, she confirmed that the horseshoe can be mass-produced. Therefore, I’m planning to have all our Dragonlight and Zephyr Cavalrymen embed their mounts with the Brave General Horseshoe. It will improve our cavalry’s power by at least 25% and ensure that the Dragonlight Cavalry retains its throne as the strongest cavalry in the world!"

Gui Guzi gripped his fists in excitement. "It’s an instance drop? That’s amazing, haha! So, tell us what we need to do to mass-produce this horseshoe already! I’m sure something this good cannot be free."

I smiled. "That is correct, we’ll need to gather the materials ourselves. The only reason I managed to get Mona to produce the horseshoe for us and without additional costs is because I had saved her party at Iron Skull Wilderness before. Anyway, the materials to make a Brave General Horseshoe is 1 Crystal and 10 Obsidian Metal above 85 Quality. So? Does anyone have a clue where to get them?"

Hickey replied, "Crystals are common materials that are literally sold in this very camp, so that obviously won’t be a problem. I’ve never heard of Obsidian Metal though…"

Gui Guzi had nothing to offer. Heaven’s Rain, though, raised her hand excitedly and said, "I know, big brother!"

I smiled wider. "Oh? Tell us, Little Rain!"

"Mn!"

She said seriously, "Diamond Dust and I once grinded at the foot of Dragonbone Mountain Range close to White Rose Fortress, and we discovered a lot of caves somewhere between White Rose Mountain and Sky Ridge. The map is called Obsidian Cave, and it’s a dozen or so caves with a ton of Obsidian Metal joined together. Even better, the Mining skill isn’t necessary. It can be mined by anyone as long as they have a Mining Pick. However, barely anyone frequents the map and mines them at all because there is no forging recipe that requires it…"

Overjoyed, I said, "Wonderful! We shall head there right away! Little Gui, I want you to muster 10000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen right away. Hickey, you should muster 10000 Zephyr Cavalry as well. Once everyone has bought a Mining Pick, we’ll travel to Obsidian Cave and mine the Obsidian Metal right away! Hopefully, we’ll be able to forge at least 10000 Brave General Horseshoes in a day to enhance our cavalry!"

"Mn!"

While saying this, I tossed the Brave General Horseshoe I was currently holding to Gui Guzi so he could use it to upgrade his Dragonscale Beast. The others could wait until later.

……

After I bought my Mining Pick at the smithy, I descended on the camp entrance on the Ancient Divine Dragon. After all 20000 cavalrymen had bought their Mining Picks and were ready to go, we let Heaven’s Rain lead the way to Obsidian Cave.

The forest was crawling with beast-type monsters, so the players at the forefront switched back to their weapons and cut them all down. We didn’t encounter any notable resistance whatsoever.

Half an hour later, we got close enough to Obsidian Cave that I could see it on my map screen. As Heaven’s Rain had mentioned earlier, they were right at the foot of the mountain range.

"It’s over there…" Heaven’s Rain pointed to the distance.

"Alright, let’s go!"

I unsheathed the Purple Ying Sword. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I could see that there were a couple of red dots inside the caves. They were obviously all monsters.

In fact, right as I parted the maple leaves blocking my vision, I saw a group of Greedy Wolves directly ahead of me.

"Kill!"

Gui Guzi waved his Spear of the Knight God, and his people charged forward to tear the monsters to pieces. The Dragonlight Cavalry’s stats were so amazing that the Zephyr Cavalry of Godkiller could only stare at them in shock. It was a given. Thanks to his Knight God and the Spear of the Knight God, he buffed his party members’ Attack and Defense by a whopping 225%. Warscar’s Knight General was nothing compared to that.

……

After we arrived, I canceled the Ancient Divine Dragon and entered the caves first. Immediately, Level 245 fiend-rank Cave Bears rushed toward me for invading their home. Of course, they were no threat to us whatsoever.

While Heaven’s Rain and Diamond Dust rushed forward to tear the monsters to pieces, I switched my weapon to the Mining Pick and swung it at a pile of ores growing out of the wall.

Pa!

System Notice: Congratulations, you have obtained "Obsidian Metal (Quality: 91)" x4!