Blacksmith Assessment

"President! Didn't I suddenly take on another assignment before?"

Mang Tian laughed awkwardly.

The truth was, when he had called Lin Xuan back then, he found that they were too busy with school, so he had turned it down.

Now that Mang Tian had two genius disciples, he felt like he was walking on air.

Even if Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua himself showed up, Mang Tian would dare to declare, "My disciples have the makings of Divine Craftsmen!"

"Wow! Two adorable little brothers."

Mu Xi ran over from the side, her eyes sparkling.

Though Lin Xuan's face still retained a trace of childishness, the contours of his handsome features had already begun to emerge.

Perhaps because he practiced swordsmanship so often, he did not possess Tang Wulin's almost girlish beauty. Instead, he had the traditionally handsome, cool features of a boy.

His graceful bearing was tinged with a cold aloofness that kept others at a distance, making people admire him while instinctively staying away.

Tang Wulin's fair, delicate face, on the other hand, was especially popular with young girls.

Sure enough, Mu Xi stared fixedly at Tang Wulin's tender little face, her hand halfway raised but stopping short.

It must be so bouncy and smooth to pinch, just like jelly.

Mu Xi's heart stirred. Before anyone had dealt her a blow, she was still very much like an ordinary little girl.

"Xixi!"

Mu Chen called out to Mu Xi, sounding annoyed. She had no manners at all, especially with their master standing right there!

Then his gaze fell on Lin Xuan and Tang Wulin behind Mang Tian.

"These two must be my disciple's nephews, right? What fine young men! I often hear your Teacher talking about you."

"Xiao Xuan, Wulin! This is Mu Chen, President of the East Sea Blacksmith Association. Hurry and greet the President. The President is a Rank 8 Saint Craftsman, renowned across the entire continent."

Mang Tian introduced him to the two boys.

"President!"

The two spoke in unison.

Tang Wulin looked at Mu Chen with admiration. This was a Rank 8 Saint Craftsman, while he had only just begun Thousand Forging.

Lin Xuan, however, remained quite calm. So long as nothing unexpected happened, becoming a Divine Craftsman would be easy enough for him.

"Mm! I won't waste words. Let's conduct your blacksmith assessments first!"

Mu Chen nodded with a smile, then spoke somewhat impatiently.

Earlier, Mang Tian had boasted extravagantly in front of him—talking about the makings of a Divine Craftsman and once-in-ten-thousand-years talent. Mang Tian had gone on for half the day.

Mu Chen had nearly suspected that the spiritual backlash from Mang Tian's failed Spirit Forging had fried his brain.

Today, he would see for himself whether these two were really as extraordinary as Mang Tian claimed!

Blacksmith assessment...

Mu Xi blinked her large, adorable eyes. These two were blacksmiths too?

"Then I'll go to the front desk and bring an Evaluator over!"

Mang Tian nodded and made to head outside.

"Hey! Old Mang, wait! I've already called an Evaluator over. There's no need to go to the Evaluation Room—we'll test them right here!"

Mu Chen stepped forward to stop Mang Tian. The Evaluation Room was too small, only a few square meters in total. Once the Forging Table was inside, it could barely fit anyone else.

Besides, with so many people crowded in there, they might easily affect the two boys' performance.

"Since the President is willing, that would naturally be even better."

Mang Tian readily agreed. Mu Chen's equipment was all top-notch, and it would improve the forging results somewhat as well.

Before long, a man in his thirties entered the room.

"President! Master Mang Tian!"

The male Evaluator bowed slightly to the two men.

"These two young friends are here for blacksmith assessments."

Mu Chen pointed to Lin Xuan and Tang Wulin beside him. The male Evaluator nodded without asking any questions.

Mu Chen first pressed a button on the left wall. A blue Soul Guidance Array lit up, covering the entire left-side area, including the Forging Table.

"Which of you will go first?"

Mu Chen turned back to ask the two.

Every blacksmith had their own rhythm while forging. Forging together made it easy for them to disrupt each other's pace, and there was only one Forging Table here anyway.

Lin Xuan and Tang Wulin exchanged a glance, and Tang Wulin stepped forward.

"I'll go first!"

Tang Wulin took a deep breath. His forging skill was a little below Brother Xuan's, so he would serve as an opening act.

"On the Electronic Light Screen inside, you can choose the material you wish to forge. This is connected to the association's warehouse. For First-Class, you only need to perform one Hundred Refinements purification on a metal. For Second-Class, you also need to craft one intermediate component. For Third-Class, you'll need to perform Thousand Forging..."

Mu Chen explained slowly.

He did not have Tang Wulin take the assessments one level at a time. For Mang Tian, a Sixth-Grade Blacksmith, to praise him so highly, Tang Wulin had to be at least a Second-Class Blacksmith.

As for Thousand Forging, Mu Chen honestly did not quite believe it. Even his senior brother, Divine Craftsman Zhen Hua, had only mastered Thousand Forging in his teens.

The Evaluator stepped forward and placed a portable Soul Guide Camera in front of the array. The association had to retain video records of every assessment.

Once everything was prepared, the Evaluator allowed Tang Wulin to begin.

Tang Wulin walked into the array, and the sounds outside instantly vanished. The only sound in the entire area was his footsteps.

He stepped forward and swiped his finger across the light screen. In the end, he chose deep silver. It was the metal he was most skilled with, and the one he was most confident forging.

On the way here, Mang Tian had already instructed them to give it their all.

A few minutes later, the center of the Forging Table suddenly split apart, and a round platform slowly rose up. At its center lay a silver metal block.

The people outside moved to sit on a nearby sofa, while Mu Xi squeezed in beside Lin Xuan.

"Deep silver."

Mu Chen frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed. It seemed this would be Hundred Refinements.

Deep silver was a Rare Metal, and forging it was far more difficult. Being able to Thousand Forge deep silver would place one at least in the upper-middle ranks among Third-Class Blacksmiths.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

After skillfully heating the deep silver, Tang Wulin raised the Thousand-Tempered Deep Silver Hammer in his hand and began forging.

A brisk, rhythmic series of hammer strikes rang out from inside. The Isolation Array only blocked sound in one direction, and the moment the three crisp strikes sounded, Mu Chen's eyes lit up.

Consecutive Hammer! This kid's deep silver hammer was Thousand-Tempered!

The corners of Mu Chen's mouth curled upward. Tang Wulin had given him a pleasant surprise right from the start.

"He looks pretty decent."

Mu Xi pouted at the side. From the beginning until now, everyone's attention had been stolen by Tang Wulin.

"Hey! Is this little brat really that good?"

Mu Xi nudged Lin Xuan with her elbow. She could naturally sense how seriously her father was taking Tang Wulin, and she felt a little unconvinced.

"Not especially good. Also, my name isn't 'hey.' I'm Lin Xuan."

Lin Xuan thought for a moment before answering honestly.

Tang Wulin had only just entered Thousand Forging. There was still the tiniest bit of a gap between him and an old hand like Lin Xuan.

"Then which one of you is better?"

Mu Xi leaned closer to Lin Xuan and asked curiously. A faint, girlish fragrance drifted over, and Lin Xuan quietly shifted his butt backward.

They were sitting a little too close.

"Um... I'm just a tiny bit better than him."

Lin Xuan raised his hand and held his thumb and index finger a small distance apart.

"It's okay! You can come find me later. I'll become a Second-Class Blacksmith soon. I guarantee I'll help you surpass him!"

Seeing Lin Xuan hesitate, Mu Xi assumed he was too embarrassed to admit that he was inferior to Tang Wulin.

The little girl slung one arm around Lin Xuan's shoulder and thumped her chest with her other hand, brimming with confidence.

Mu Chen glanced at the two of them. Seeing that they made no further moves, he silently withdrew his gaze.

He looked back at Tang Wulin's rhythmic movements. With his discerning eye, he could naturally see Tang Wulin's peculiar state of becoming one with the metal.

More than an hour later, Mu Chen's expression suddenly changed.

The deep silver on the Forging Table had already shrunk considerably, yet Tang Wulin continued bringing down hammer after hammer. Faint glimmers of light began appearing on the deep silver.

Thousand Forging Spirit Attraction!

A trace of surprise flashed through Mu Chen's eyes. Tang Wulin really was preparing to perform Thousand Forging. From the beginning, Tang Wulin's state had looked as though he was aiming for Thousand Forging, but Mu Chen had not expected it to be true.

This fellow had really found a treasure!

Mu Chen glanced at Mang Tian, who remained calmly composed beside him, and thought to himself.

"Xixi, can you do Dad a favor?"

Mu Chen spoke to Mu Xi, who was still chatting away with Lin Xuan nearby.

A nine-year-old Third-Class Blacksmith was simply too shocking. For a newly initiated blacksmith like Mu Xi, if her confidence was crushed, she could easily fail to recover from it.

Out of selfishness, Mu Chen planned to keep his daughter away from the spotlight for now and wait until she was more mentally mature.

"Okay, Dad."

Mu Xi answered, then happily waved to Lin Xuan. She had spent an hour here teaching Lin Xuan little forging tricks.

"Wait until I come back, then I'll tell you about some of the key points of Hundred Refinements."

She, Mu Xi, had studied forging for years. At last, her knowledge had somewhere to be useful.

Lin Xuan blinked. Whenever this little girl started talking about forging, she chirped nonstop like a sparrow in the sky. Her fiery enthusiasm was impossible to stop.

Still, when she thought back on this later, wouldn't it be a little too cruel?

"Dad, what do you need me to do?"

Mu Xi walked over.

"Uh."

Mu Chen pondered for a moment. He truly had nothing for her to do right now. He scanned the room, and his gaze finally landed on the fruit plate in front of the sofa.

"Xixi, go buy me a few oranges."

"Oranges? Okay..."

Confusion appeared on Mu Xi's pretty face, but she obediently went anyway.