Faerburg, located over seven hundred miles from the imperial capital of Lyon City, was a major city with a population of two hundred thousand. Due to its strategic importance, it served as a secondary military stronghold on the western border of the Lyon Alliance while also acting as a barrier against monsters from the Demon Domain Forest flooding into the fertile Puse Plains.

The area surrounding Faerburg was mostly flat, with the Pus River flowing around the city. Just over a hundred miles to the south lay the Demon Domain Forest, making Faerburg the most crucial supply hub for many adventurers and monster hunters. The Demon Domain Forest spanned nearly the entire size of the Lyon Alliance, extending west to the Pyrenees Mountains, south to the sea, and east across the entire Red Rock Peninsula, covering a total area of almost one million square kilometers. Due to the scarcity of large magical beasts near the forest's edges and the presence of numerous trade routes passing through, it had also become a haven for bandits.

"The Hammer of the War God" weapon workshop had been open for a month. Originally, the name chosen for this workshop, rich in dwarven character, was merely meant to bask in the glory of the naturally gifted dwarven craftsmen. However, there was now a dwarven artisan named Jin, along with his four apprentices, actually working at the workshop. The workshop occupied a three-story building located in Faerburg's most prosperous district. The ground floor housed the weapons store, the second floor was the Adventurers' Haven, and the third floor, which Fess had initially wanted to use as a laboratory but was vetoed by everyone, was instead used as a VIP lounge for important clients, displaying some of Fess's finest creations.

Not far from "The Hammer of the War God," a separate building served as Rogue's usual residence and also housed Fess's workshop and laboratory. The largest laboratory spanned over two hundred square meters, with a massive and intricate magic circle drawn on the floor, its rainbow-hued glow shimmering brightly. From the center of the magic circle, pale white magical flames spewed forth, heating several pieces of fine steel knight armor crafted by Jin to a glowing red.

Fess carefully lifted a piece of armor with tongs, placing a magic symbol cast from magic silver into a specific position. A burst of flame flashed, and the symbol was firmly welded onto the armor piece. Rogue quickly handed him a small vial of blue liquid—blood from an adult wyvern. Wyverns were fierce, swift, and possessed decent magical defenses, making them among the more challenging mid-tier magical beasts. Many parts of their bodies could be used as magical ingredients, with their blood capable of slightly enhancing magical defenses. Magic silver, due to its excellent malleability and superb mana absorption, was indispensable for crafting magical artifacts. However, being relatively rare, it was also quite expensive. Typically, magic silver cost about ten times the price of an equivalent weight in gold.

The blue wyvern blood dripped onto the finished armor piece and was absorbed as quickly as a sponge soaking up water, turning the piece into a softly glowing pale blue. Rogue took the piece and thrust it back into the magical flames. After all the pieces had been treated, Fess chanted a spell toward the magical flames. A pair of light blue wings of wind gradually formed and flew toward the flames. The wind wings began circling the flames, spinning faster and faster. With a thunderous "BOOM," the flames surged like a tidal wave, and a flash of white light appeared on the ceiling as a barrier blocked the eruption of the magical flames. The firestorm came and went as quickly as it had arrived, leaving behind several blue-tinted armor pieces on the floor. After integrating this wind magic, the weight of each piece was reduced by sixty percent due to the constant support of wind magic energy.

At Rogue's request, a bit more mithril was added to each piece, and Fess cast a simple illumination spell on it. This time, the entire piece turned into a translucent pale blue, with the magic symbols formed from mithril emitting a brilliant azure glow.

Heh, heh, it looks much prettier now. Jin! You're just in time; I was looking for you. Craft these pieces into a half-body knight armor—the style that's most popular this year for Saint Knights. The chainmail connections must be made of gold! Also, add more golden floral decorations along the edges of the armor. Go fetch that youngster Fraggio; he knows his way around art!" Rogue exclaimed gleefully.

The dwarf Jin was unimpressed. "That won't do! The chainmail should be made of high-quality steel wire! Armor's most important feature is protection! Protection! I don't want to ruin my reputation!"

"Then wrap a layer of gold wire around the steel! That should be acceptable. In any case, all the chainmail must be covered in gold! What matters most for this armor is money! Adding this layer of gold will cover your ale for ten years! Tell Lance to pick out the best matching cape for this armor! Jin! You must have this armor ready by the day after tomorrow! No armor, no ale for you! By the way, call it the Blue Crystal Battle Armor. But don't engrave the name yet—whatever name the client comes up with, you engrave it! Ten gold coins per character."

Grumbling, Jin carried the armor pieces downstairs, ultimately choosing ale over conscience. Muttering under his breath, he cursed, "Bloodsucker!! Man-eating pig!! Miser! Human dragon!!"

Rogue insisted on selling only high-quality, high-priced products, with a very solid rationale: "The people who can afford this equipment don't care about money! As long as the product is good, they don't mind a few extra coins. Who are our best customers? Not the adventurers who have money and know quality, but rather those noble brats with too much money to spend—that is, people like Lance. Don't get violent! If we don't make money from them, who should we make it from? So we don't sell what's right; we sell what's expensive."

Secondly, all of Rogue's armor placed heavy emphasis on aesthetic decorations and some impractical gimmicks. Take this Blue Crystal Battle Armor, for instance—it's incredibly lightweight, weighing no more than heavy leather armor, and offers excellent physical and magical defense, making it a masterpiece among magical armors. However, the illumination spell, once integrated, merely gave the magical armor a translucent crystal effect with softer, more alluring light, offering no practical benefits whatsoever. As for the decorations designed by Fraggio, apart from adding weight, they provided no combat advantages. Nevertheless, Rogue argued, "This armor clearly looks like what Saint Knights should wear. Are we selling it to real Saint Knights? Of course not. Which Saint Knight would wear this? We're selling to the sons of great nobles who want to be Saint Knights. Do you expect them to actually go adventuring in some dangerous cave? They'll only wear it while hunting! So style and taste matter more—they need to look like heroes in front of naive young ladies. The Hammer of the War God doesn't aim to be a major arms dealer but rather a noble brand like Purple Angel Jewelry or Shangri-La Hot Springs."

After hearing this, everyone was speechless. From then on, the nickname "Bloodsucker Rogue" spread like wildfire.