When Durin found Instructor Rokoeff, he was counting the materials that had been delivered.
Then, after the northern strongman accepted the cracked rune stone and 8 silver lun coins as a deposit for the processing fee, he began to understand Durin's specific requirements for the shield, such as style, size, dimensions, whether it had patterns, and so on.
The final confirmation was: a standard round shield form, a small metal shield, thick enough to easily deflect enemy attacks.
As for the leather-covered round shield Durin was carrying on his back, in the eyes of this master blacksmith, it could only serve as scrap material. Furthermore, he told Durin to come and pick up the shield on Sunday afternoon and pay the remaining processing fee then.
Thus, for the next three days, Durin basically stayed at home.
Only on Saturday afternoon did he take the time to visit Seraphine's house, where he unexpectedly learned a piece of news.
Due to the emergence of Hextech, their family's speaker factory had been revitalized. These past few days, Seraphine's dad, Daniel, had been busy to the point of exhaustion, often not resting until after three in the morning.
During this time, Durin's talk therapy had clearly made Seraphine's mood improve quite a bit, and her personality had gradually become more lively, no longer as cold and unapproachable as before.
She also excitedly told Durin that she was trying to tentatively control the magic power within her.
During these two hours of interaction, Seraphine played the guitar and sang songs again, sharing her worries and explaining to Durin whose soul voices she had heard recently.
Naturally, Durin also received a system text prompt: [ Favorability with Seraphine +4, Charm +1, Current Charm Proficiency: 19/25 ]
He was only 6 points away from the 25 max value for the first stage of Charm, and Durin was looking forward to the passive specialty of Charm. He estimated it wouldn't be too far off; presumably, once he met Powder, as long as he gained her trust, his Charm value would definitely grow rapidly, like taking a rocket.
However, it is worth mentioning that Durin sold the crudely made hand cannon seized from the Shurima Mercenary and the nomad seal, which had become an ordinary ornament, to a goblin merchant. The former was a low-quality hand cannon from a pirate, full of barbaric modification styles and too many unstable factors, so the price was heavily discounted.
The latter, due to severe wear and loss of magical energy, was just an ordinary ornament. In total, it only gave Durin 6 silver lun coins, with the former accounting for two-thirds of the price. From this, Durin realized that once a magic item loses its magical energy, the price difference is like heaven and earth.
Time flowed until Sunday afternoon. When Durin went to see Instructor Rokoeff again, the other party handed him a small metal round shield with a diameter of fifty centimeters. The surface of the shield had a pattern of olive branches framing a shell above and below, and the center had a magic circuit constructed of complex lines, shimmering with a faint green light, which filled the rivets in the surrounding circle.
The entire small metal round shield looked simple and elegant, and it had a streamlined design. The greatest advantage of this design was that most attacks could not hit the center at a ninety-degree angle; they were basically blocked by the center, and the center was the hardest part.
It could perfectly disperse the force, making it easy for the enemy's weapon to slide off, making it difficult to exert force.
When Durin tentatively held this small metal round shield with his left hand, he felt that most of the weight was distributed on the strength of his forearm, with only a small portion on the five fingers of his palm.
Moreover, the hand grip also allowed for convenient swinging and turning of the shield, feeling many times easier to use than before. As for the weight, thanks to the special passive specialty [ Shieldbearer ], the impact on movement speed was basically significantly reduced.
Therefore, it didn't feel very heavy at all.
As for the remaining processing fee, Instructor Rokoeff told Durin that he could pay 1 silver lun coin less, only needing to pay 15 silver lun coins. Because there were still some materials left over, and Durin thought he couldn't take them away anyway—his storage ring only had half a square meter of space, and he was afraid that even stuffing a block of iron would be tough—he readily agreed and paid 15 silver lun coins.
Currently, his total assets were: 2 gold couzeri coins, 3 gold cogwheels, and 84 copper circle coins.
After getting the enchanted shield he wanted, Durin immediately took the tram to the cable car area in the southern part of Piltover.
This method of taking a shortcut was, in fact, running down layer by layer from the tops of various buildings, skybridges, railings, and billboards.
As long as he was fast enough, he could basically arrive in half an hour. Furthermore, this path would not be seen by anyone, nor would it leave any official records.
By then, Durin could return to Zaun quietly without alerting Silco, and no one would tip him off in advance.
However, Durin planned to wait until nightfall to set off; it was too easy to attract the attention of Zaunites in broad daylight. Only with the help of the pitch-black night could he really show his skills.
The question was, where should he run to?... Until night fell.
Durin finally determined his destination. His gaze crossed the underground city illuminated by moonlight, and he quickly looked at a conspicuous tower in the distance. This tower was one of the symbolic buildings of the College of Techmaturgy.
The College of Techmaturgy was located in the southern district of the Entresol Level in Zaun, not far from the indoor market.
Thinking of this, Durin took a deep breath, fastened the backpack containing the Darkin Harp, ensured the enchanted scimitar at his lower back wouldn't fall off, and tied the small round shield behind the backpack with a rope.
As for the mage robes, Durin had folded them up and stored them in his storage ring beforehand; he was now wearing a clean, sharp outfit.
Walking along the cliffside streets, Durin finally stopped at a blue-green stainless steel platform. He lowered his head, eyeing a thick, rusted, orange-red steel pipe. He tentatively stepped onto the pipe, but as he looked down at the city far below, which seemed like an bottomless abyss, fear welled up within him, and he gripped the rocks on the cliff face tightly.
Only after finding his footing did he slightly loosen his grip on the rocks, though his palms were already slick with sweat from fear. Although he was a bit unsteady at first, he quickly regained his balance and let out a few hearty laughs, fully immersing himself in the sound of the whistling wind by his ears.
Then, he set off again, quickly selecting the lowest building nearby. With a leap, he crossed the pitch-black void and landed lightly on the flat roof of the grey mansion slightly below.
Durin let out a breath and rushed to the wall, climbing the rough stone surface as nimbly as a lizard, quickly reaching the roof. Once there, he paused for a moment before sprinting toward the rooftop of another, taller building.
Accelerating, he leapt with all his might. As his body soared through the air, he caught sight of the granite street far below, illuminated by the moonlight.
For a split second, Durin worried that his judgment had been off, as the solid grey wall seemed to be rushing toward him. But somehow, it suddenly dropped away, and he landed on the roof; his landing wasn't very graceful, but he was at least standing.
Durin's breathing was slightly rapid, but he was in high spirits.
Encouraged, he set off again without a word. The excitement of extreme parkour and the frantic chase made Durin forget his fear, even with more abysses ahead.
Some were just narrow alleys, while others were wide avenues. But none of that mattered; Durin had become a shadow, darting swiftly between chimneys, billboards, overpasses, and railings.
Before long, Durin vaulted over an overpass and landed steadily on a sloped awning roof.
However, his weight caused the already precarious awning to detach, nearly making him lose his footing. The plastic awning slid down the roof, and a few seconds later, it shattered against the hard cobblestone street below.
But Durin had already regained his balance. He stood up straight, panting, yet a bright smile hung on his face.
As he caught his breath, he looked down at this Alchemy punk city.
With every breath, a pungent smell of burning metal entered his lungs—toxic gases emitted by the various factories. The smell was incredibly choking, and Durin found it unpleasant and somewhat difficult to adjust to.
After all, having spent a month in Piltover, he had grown accustomed to the fresh air there.
Bright yellow Alchemy streetlights illuminated the entire Entresol Level, reflecting creative combinations of stained glass, while polished steel wheels cast light into every dark corner.
With steel grates as the main structural component, crisscrossing steel overpasses and boiling furnaces were everywhere, and hissing steam technology constantly recycled waste from the Upper City.
Most miraculously, a large number of buildings were built primarily with bolt-and-rivet structures, providing only the most primitive functions, yet the residents here had still created astonishing architectural wonders that pierced through the thick fog and reached toward the sky.
These peculiar buildings were filled with green and purple Alchemy light. Even though Durin had lived in Zaun for over half a year since transmigrating here, seeing it again after a month-long absence, he couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia.
The next part would be the most difficult: he needed to navigate the Entresol Level discreetly until he reached Room 604 of Building 31 on the Sixth Street of the South District.
Durin put on the mask he had prepared and quickly wove through the streets.
Along the way, he saw all sorts of strange things: Zaunites dressed in bizarre punk styles, scavengers from the Sump carrying Alchemy devices and walking on mechanical stilts, rock beetles kept in cages by the roadside, and vendors selling mushrooms larger than a human head.
Furthermore, he saw that many street corners and the entrances to certain buildings hung the iris flag of the Silco Family, which was nothing less than a declaration to the people of Zaun of his status as the ruler of Zaun.
Seeing this, Durin narrowed his eyes. He realized that the Entresol Level of Zaun had completely fallen under Silco's rule.
After exerting every ounce of his strength, he finally arrived at his destination—Room 604, Building 43, Sixth Street.
Durin stopped in front of the iron door covered in fluorescent graffiti, which bore a few crooked words: "Voice of Zaun."
Knock, knock!
After waiting for a moment, the rusty door hinges turned, and the iron door opened.
Creak—!
A familiar girl with short blue hair appeared before Durin. She wore black and white headphones around her pale neck, a black and white hooded jacket on her upper body, and blue denim shorts on her lower body. Her straight, slender legs were wrapped in black silk stockings, and she stood there nonchalantly, wearing a pair of slippers.
"Hello, what business are you here for?"
"Hmm... Damn! Why are you here!?"
The blue-haired girl, named Linsey, immediately yanked Durin into the room and quickly closed the door, saying in shock, "Damn it, are you crazy? Why did you come back after going to Piltover? Let me tell you, Silco has sent people here to ask about you, but I didn't leak your private information. So get out of here quickly; I don't want to offend Silco because of you..."
Durin took off his mask, pointed at the missing person notice posted on the wall, and said with a serious expression, "I know the whereabouts of Vi Olay, I have specific information! I want to see the person who posted that missing person notice!"
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