What kind of girl would travel to another world?

Wei Qingping was shocked when she asked for directions. The villagers looked like Europeans, yet spoke like she did. Feeling a little relieved, she first went to the village tavern. Once inside, she was again struck by the incomprehensibility of the people there. They spoke like she did, yet the writing was completely incomprehensible.

Normally, there are few tourists in this village, and now it is the off-season, so only local drinkers patronize the tavern. Although the tavern here is a single-story one, it has three vacant guest rooms. She wanted to rent a room but had no currency to trade with. Even if those people in the mountains were really crazy, it was impossible for them to carry money with them as a "gift" to nature when they were about to die. She rummaged through her bag and finally found that there was only a fur blanket that could be exchanged. The shop owner agreed and gave her a few coins in change. At first, she was a little reluctant to part with the fur blanket because it was quite useful when camping in the wild. Finally, the owner saw that she was a young girl traveling alone, and kindly said: "It is the off-season now and there are not many tourists, so I will only charge you one coin. You can stay here until autumn comes, and there is no extra charge."

After politely thanking the innkeeper, she returned to her room and ate the few remaining food items in her bag, treating them as dinner. It had been ages since she'd had a good night's sleep. Lying on her bed, she took the few coins she'd just collected and examined them for a long time. The people here certainly looked European, but she couldn't tell which European country's currency they were holding. She had so many questions: what kind of place was this? Why did the language sound like her own? Did such a country exist in Europe? And this village was so retro, with its windows devoid of glass, just wooden planks to block the sun and wind.

Many questions swirled in her mind, but she was gradually distracted by sleep and finally fell into a deep sleep...

The next day. Although she could faintly hear the chirping of birds in the morning, Wei Qingping didn't wake up until the evening, having slept all day. It was then that she heard the noisy voices of the pub patrons, and she finally woke up. She didn't leave the room, but instead moved a chair over and put her ear to the door, listening to the conversation outside...

Drinker A: "We don't have dungeons or monsters here, it's a bit boring."

Drinker B: "Be content, peace is so good. If those things really exist, you will fight the monsters, or the monsters will fight you." The drinkers in the tavern laughed after hearing this.

Drinker A: "Don't say that. Other countries have quite lively stories. Look at how deserted the Adventurer's Guild in our capital is. All the adventurers in the guild have run away, leaving only the president as the commander-in-chief. If a monster really comes, he will definitely run away before everyone else!" The drinkers in the tavern laughed again after hearing this.

Drinker B: "Just be happy. If he finds out, he'll beat you up!" The atmosphere in the pub was lively.

After hearing the conversations of the patrons in the tavern, Wei Qingping finally realized that she was in a different world. There were mages, adventurers, dungeons, monsters, and so on—definitely things that only exist in a different world. She couldn't tell for a moment whether it was as described in the novel, "the player's consciousness entered the game," or "the protagonist became a vegetable and lay in the hospital," or "the gods allowed the dead to be reborn in a different world." But the only thing she was sure of was that she could feel the cold and heat of this world, the pain of injury and the dizziness of hunger, and the feeling of fullness and happiness after eating and drinking. With so many real experiences over the past two weeks, she concluded that she was definitely in reality. But then she thought again, maybe her brain wasn't working properly. Maybe she was in a mental hospital, but she was imagining herself in a different world.

Drunkard A went on to say, "About a month ago, a powerful man appeared in the country of Stilas Odin to our east. He conquered five dungeons in a row." The drinkers were talking about Qi Xinyang.

Drunkard B suddenly raised his voice and said, "I heard from people who returned home a few days ago that it was summoned from another world. I heard that three were summoned at once, and the other two must have been hidden by them! Once a war breaks out, those two hidden ones will be secret weapons!" Everyone in the tavern exclaimed in shock.

Drinker C hadn't spoken before, but his speech was clearly slurred from his drunkenness. He said, "What secret weapon? War? Nations haven't fought a war in ages. They're all preoccupied with monster hunting and dungeon clearing. I guess one day, those armies will disband and all go off to fight monsters."

The shop owner also approached and asked, "Do you know what species those summoned ones are from? What are their names?"

Drinker B: “I don’t know.”

Drinker C remained silent. Drinker A said, "I don't know the other two. The dungeon crawler is called 'Qi Xinyang'. He's also from our Gaoren tribe, but it's a strange name I've never heard of."

After listening to the conversation between the drinkers, Wei Qingping was first surprised that the other three girls also came to this strange world. Then she felt a little disappointed with the strange world. She blamed herself in her heart with loss, "It turns out that they were the three who were summoned, and I was just an innocent person affected? But if I hadn't been affected at the time, I would have died after being shot." Her mood suddenly fell to the bottom.

It had been exactly thirty days since she arrived in the other world. On the thirty-first day, Qi Xinyang's "map" was complete, and she planned to leave the palace the next day. However, on the day of her departure, she was summoned by the king again.

The king pointed to the five crystal boxes and said to Qi Xinyang, "After discussion among the mages, we have determined that these 'mysterious objects' you brought with you can be safely stored in these crystal boxes. Could you please describe the specific origins of each of these 'mysterious objects'?"

Qi Xinyang answered immediately, "Simple! The one that looks like a key was dropped by the 'Snow Doll'. That guy lives in a very cold place. The furry one was dropped by the 'Six-Eyed Demon Wolf'. Its six eyes are very scary. The blood-red one was dropped by the 'Blood Fairy'. It's a big blood-sucking moth. The one covered with pinholes was dropped by the 'Fire Poison Spider'. It's full of fire. The heaviest one was dropped by the 'Ten-Faced Earth Drilling Beast'. It looked very scary when it suddenly emerged from the ground."

Then, Qi Xinyang gestured and explained the details of the dungeon strategy. The king and several mages listened attentively, and the maid beside him took notes on paper.

Finally, Qi Xinyang said goodbye to Yang Mingyi and left the palace.

As soon as Qi Xinyang returned to the B&B, he went to look for Xiaojiao.

When Xiaojiao saw Qi Xinyang, she immediately said, "Big sister! A lot of handsome guys have come to see you these days, but you're not here. Look at all the flowers in your room."

Qi Xinyang immediately interrupted the conversation and said, "Shut up and don't talk about that. I heard in the palace that you dwarves are the best at using daggers. And you still say you're only at the entry level?"

With a helpless look on her face, Xiaojiao replied, "It's indeed the entry-level level. I don't know why it's so slow to level up."

Qi Xinyang shook his head and thought, "It seems this guy is just like Mingyi, just stupid. Fortunately, this guy can carry a lot of heavy things, which makes him much more useful than Mingyi."

Qi Xinyang then instructed Xiaojiao: "Go and ask where the 'Magic Prop Shop' and the 'Forging Master' are."

Little Foot replied, "I'll be there right away!"

The next morning, Qi Xinyang, led by Xiaojiao, first came to the magic props house.

Qi Xinyang asked as soon as he entered the room: "Is anyone there?"

A half-elf emerged from the inner room, holding a booklet. He looked like he had just finished taking inventory. He said, "I'm the shopkeeper. What would you like to buy?"

Qi Xinyang had seen half-elves before in the palace, so he wasn't surprised at all. Most of them had black or brown hair, golden skin, and long, pointed ears.

Qi Xinyang asked: "Do you have 'magic crystals'?"

The shop owner replied, "The goods just arrived yesterday. We have energy storage and energy expansion. Which one do you want?"

Qi Xinyang said, "I want both. One each."

Looking at the two magic crystals that the shopkeeper took out, Qi Xinyang asked, "How do you tell the difference between the two crystals?"

Shopkeeper: "They're easy to tell apart. The ones with a smooth, flat surface are 'energy expansion crystals.' The ones with a rough, grainy surface are 'energy storage crystals.'"

Qi Xinyang asked again: "This energy storage crystal can also be used to make magical tools, right?"

The shop owner explained, "That's right. The most common magical instruments used for identification must be made with energy storage crystals. Energy storage crystals glow when charged. As soon as they stop glowing, it's time to recharge."

Qi Xinyang muttered to herself, "Oh, I see. No wonder something always glows inside my 'Appraisal Eye'; it turns out it's the energy storage crystal." Suddenly, she thought of the most important question and asked, "What's the quality of these two crystals?"

The shop owner replied, "The quality is absolutely flawless. Even the magic props in the palace are supplied by us."

Qi Xinyang asked, "Oh? I know a lot of people in the palace. Who's here to buy the goods?"

The shop owner replied, "It has always been the court mage 'Sjidje'."

Hearing this, Qi Xinyang secretly cursed Si Jijie for not leading the way. Si Jijie knew that as long as he told Qi Xinyang where the magic props house was, Qi Xinyang would definitely let him lead the way, so he deliberately concealed it.

After leaving the magic tool shop, the two of them came to the forging workshop where the forging master was. The forging master was a tall human, but the forging workshop was his own, and several dwarf craftsmen and other craftsmen in the workshop were his employees.

Qi Xinyang came to the counter and got straight to the point, asking, "Can I customize it here?"

The forging master lay in his chair and said slowly, "The ready-made ones are all on the shelves. We don't accept custom orders from outsiders."

Qi Xinyang directly pulled out the short sword from the waist of his bound feet and presented it to the master forger.

The forging master looked at the dagger he had presented to the palace, straightened up, and asked, "Are you from the palace?"

Qi Xinyang replied: "You can say that."

The forging master continued, "Customization costs a lot of money. If rare materials are required, the customer must provide them themselves. The drawings should be very detailed to avoid deviations in the final design. The most important thing is to pay half the deposit upfront. Even if the finished product does not satisfy the customer, the deposit will not be refunded." After this brief explanation, he asked Qi Xinyang, "What do you want to order?"

Qi Xinyang was now incredibly wealthy from the bounties she'd earned from taking guild quests. She asked directly, "Can you make a custom staff?"

Xiaojiao immediately raised her hand and answered, "Big Sister, I've said it before, only the elves can customize magic wands."

The forging master then answered Qi Xinyang's question, saying, "Your follower is only half right. It's true that only the elves make the best staffs, and it's true that only the elves have mastered the complete production method for the 'living staff.' Even if some people know how to make a living staff, they can only produce a defective product. But the 'crystal staff' is different from the living staff. The crystal staff is made by inlaying an 'energy storage crystal' or 'energy expansion crystal' on the top of the short staff." After a pause, he continued, "Thanks to the years of research by many craftsmen back then, we have long mastered the structure of the short staff, and we also have the process for inlaying crystals. Although the final quality is still a bit inferior to that of the elves."

Qi Xinyang thought that what she said was similar to the plan she had envisioned in advance, and immediately said, "Then I'll leave it to you!" Then she placed the blueprint she had drawn in the palace and the "energy expansion crystal" she had just bought on the counter, and took out a bunch of rare materials from the bag on the back of her little foot and placed them on the counter. Finally, she took out a bag of currency from her pocket and handed it to the forging master as a deposit.

The forging master took the bag of currency, looked at the blueprint again, and said, "Come back in a week to pick up the finished product."

A week later, Qi Xinyang came to the forging workshop again with her bound feet.

The master forger carefully placed the forged weapon on the counter. It turned out that the blueprint Qi Xinyang gave was not a simple 'crystal staff', but a combination of a dagger and a crystal staff.

The forger said, "You must be extremely careful when handling this custom-made 'crystal dagger.' It's perfectly fine when used as a 'staff.' However, when wielding it as a 'dagger,' be sure not to cast damaging spells. The 'energy-enhancing crystal' is too close to the hilt, and using damaging spells will injure you."

After hearing this, Qi Xinyang asked, "So what?" She wanted to ask the forging master why he didn't tell her directly after looking at the blueprint, but had to wait until he had forged it and made money before telling her.

The forger was a bit irritable. "So, there's no need to customize this 'crystal dagger'!" Then, his tone softened slightly, he continued, "I really don't understand your fighting style, sir. The more intense the battle, the more likely you are to accidentally injure yourself with this 'crystal dagger'."

There are two types of crystal staffs. One is used directly to amplify damaging spells, crafted by half-elves using a wooden staff inlaid with energy-amplifying crystals. The other is used by dwarves to charge the energy-storing crystals with damaging spells before using the staff to strike. These two types of short staffs differ in their construction, and Qi Xinyang's design forges a combination of both, then combines them with a short sword.

Little Foot was stunned by the sight of the "crystal dagger." It was the first time he had seen a magic crystal embedded in the hilt. Not only was the copper hilt a bit short, but the steel blade was also too thin. He then examined the scabbard closely. Aside from the metal buckle at the scabbard's opening that locked the metal guard on the hilt, the rest of the scabbard was crafted from a mixture of metal, wood, and leather. He had never seen such a bizarre sword before. After a long moment of contemplation, he couldn't help but exclaim in admiration, "As expected of a forge in the capital's forge, this 'finished product' looks truly unique!"

Master Forger: "It's not just the appearance. Our workshop has also mastered the weight of this 'finished product' perfectly. When this 'crystal dagger' is sheathed, its center of gravity is the same as that of a 'crystal staff' used for power expansion. When the sheath is removed, the center of gravity of this 'crystal dagger' is exactly the same as that of a swordsman's 'dagger'. Furthermore, the girl's original design didn't quite fit the structure of a short staff, so we made several revisions to ensure it could be used as a staff."

Qi Xinyang's custom-made "crystal dagger" not only resembles both a staff and a dagger, but also bears a resemblance to a traditional Chinese sword, though it's shorter, less than half a meter in length. From an alien perspective, the finished product's appearance is incomprehensible. When used as a 'dagger,' it's simply a dagger. When sheathed, the dagger can be held in the hand, and the "energy-expanding crystal" at the hilt amplifies the energy of damaging spells.

Qi Xinyang was delighted with the finished product from the forge, but she was now wondering where to find something to block out "magical energy." Otherwise, as the forge master had said, using it incorrectly in the heat of battle could be "suicidal." As she pondered this, she suddenly remembered the crystal box in the palace. "Could that crystal box actually block out magical energy?" she thought. "Forget it, I'll just use it as a staff for now." Since she wouldn't be returning to the palace for a long time, she had no choice but to look outside for a solution.

After leaving the workshop, Xiaojiao asked, "Big Sister, if you use this as a dagger, aren't you afraid that the crystal will break?"

Qi Xinyang didn't answer him, instead focusing on imitating the cool twirling of her scabbard like in martial arts dramas. She always had all sorts of fantastic ideas, but every time she executed them, she realized the results were different from what she had envisioned.

How to use such a weapon and where will she use it?