Level-Two Blacksmith

Xia Yi did not have his own forging hammer, so he could only borrow one from the Forging Room.

To better control his strength, he chose a twenty-kilogram forging hammer identical to Wu Qian's.

He heated it for ten minutes as well.

Ding!

The hammer fell, far more lightly than Wu Qian's had.

Xia Yi stared intently at the Crimson Flame Copper, glowing red from the heat.

The metal's texture and the echo of each hammer strike.

Those were what he needed to judge.

With no one to guide him, he could only rely on himself.

After the first strike, an entire minute passed before he delivered the second.

The third strike was the same, and so was the fourth. It continued like that all the way to the tenth strike.

The evaluator was left dumbfounded. Xia Yi's strikes had absolutely no rhythm or pattern to them. He did not look like someone who had learned Forging at all.

Even an apprentice who had merely worked under a blacksmith would have possessed forging skills far superior to his.

Wu Qian looked at Xia Yi with even greater disdain.

Just as expected, he was a country bumpkin.

At this rate, never mind improving the purity—he would not even be able to complete the most basic Hundred Refinement.

However, just as the evaluator was about to stop Xia Yi, Xia Yi suddenly sped up.

He tossed aside the twenty-kilogram forging hammer in his hand and picked out two new fifty-kilogram ones.

Wu Qian's mouth fell open at the sight. Two fifty-kilogram forging hammers weighed a full two hundred jin altogether. Xia Yi held one in each hand, and before the evaluator could even react, the entire Forging Room erupted with forging sounds like a violent storm.

Bang, bang, bang!

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang bang bang!

The dense yet rhythmic hammering carried the graceful beauty of rain striking banana leaves.

At that moment, Xia Yi had completely entered the zone. The two fifty-kilogram forging hammers in his hands seemed weightless, and he swung them faster and faster.

Gradually, only two blurred hammer shadows could be seen flashing through the air. The dense impacts poured forth like spilled mercury.

This intense hammering lasted only about two minutes before ending.

Clang! With the final strike, Xia Yi drew back both hammers.

His chest rose and fell slightly, but that was all. His face was not red, his breathing was steady, and not a drop of sweat had fallen. The contrast with Wu Qian was striking.

The two fifty-kilogram forging hammers were nothing to Xia Yi. Instead, the fully focused Forging had drained a considerable amount of his mental energy.

The Forging Room fell into brief silence.

The evaluator was already stunned. Where had this sickly-looking boy gotten such incredible strength?

"Crimson Flame Copper. A total of one hundred and thirty-eight strikes. Its purity exceeded Hundred Refinement, with uniform purification and a ten percent reduction in volume. The purification effect is roughly four times that of Hundred Refinement." After taking a deep breath, the evaluator gave the precise figures, then said solemnly, "Overall score: ninety-five! Assessment passed!"

The evaluator looked at Xia Yi as though he were a freak. Such results appearing on a child of only ten, whose body had yet to fully develop, seemed utterly unbelievable.

Four times the purification of Hundred Refinement—perhaps even Ao Chuang, Wu Qian's Level-Four Forging Master teacher, would need half an hour to achieve that.

As for Xia Yi, if he had not wasted so much time on those first ten strikes, he probably could have completed it in around thirteen minutes, including the ten minutes of heating.

The evaluator turned to glance at Wu Qian and Forging Master Ao Chuang, then said flatly, "You may leave. Also, the Blacksmith Rank Test is among a blacksmith's highest secrets. No one is permitted to disclose it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes!" Wu Qian and Ao Chuang hurriedly voiced their agreement, then fled as though escaping for their lives.

At that point, how could they still care about losing face? It was already good enough if they could keep their lives.

If they did not leave soon, the Blacksmith Association might keep them here forever to ensure that Xia Yi's matter did not leak out.

Xia Yi watched his two introductory teachers of metal heating leave and quietly mocked to himself, That was way too easy! It ended before it even started.

The reason he had finished so quickly was entirely because of Ao Chuang. He had carefully mulled over every word Ao Chuang had said to Wu Qian several times.

He clearly remembered what kind of echoes required how many additional strikes.

That was why he had truly been so fast.

Only after Wu Qian and Ao Chuang had left did the evaluator turn to Xia Yi and ask solemnly, "Can you make components? Forge any small component you like. If you succeed, you will be directly rated Level Two."

"Components?" After pondering for a moment, Xia Yi asked in a deep voice, "Do you have models?"

In Xia Yi's view, there was no need to learn how to forge simple components. He could simply copy the shape from a model.

"Pick one yourself!" The evaluator opened a drawer on the Forging Table, which was filled with all kinds of components.

Xia Yi nodded and selected a model that looked slightly simpler.

This time, it took him nearly an hour before he handed the component to the evaluator.

The evaluator examined the component Xia Yi had forged again and again. Though it had a few flaws, they were not a problem at all. "Go back first. Come to the Blacksmith Association in two days to collect your Level-Two Blacksmith badge. Also, do you want to sell this component to the Blacksmith Association, or keep it for yourself?"

"How many Federal Coins is this worth?" Xia Yi's face brightened. He had not expected that something forged using the Blacksmith Association's metal would still belong to him.

"If you sell it to the Blacksmith Association, we will pay you fifteen thousand Federal Coins. If you take it with you, you only need to pay us thirty thousand Federal Coins for the raw materials," the evaluator said.

"I'll sell it to you." Xia Yi's mouth twitched slightly. He finally understood why the Blacksmith Association was so absurdly wealthy.

A component casually forged by a "Level-Two Blacksmith" like him, someone who barely knew how to forge at all, was worth this much.

If he studied for a while longer, he could eat Grade A Meals every day too.

The evaluator watched Xia Yi leave with a smile, holding fifteen thousand Federal Coins. He smiled as well.

The Eastsea City Blacksmith Association had truly found a treasure.

First Tang Wulin, and now Xia Yi.

"Hello, have the two receptionists at the front desk report to the chairman's office immediately and wait there." As soon as the evaluator ended one Soul Guidance Communicator call, he immediately made another.

"Hello! Chairman, we found a treasure."

"What treasure?"

"A ten-year-old boy just took the Blacksmith Rank Test. Level Two—he passed!"

"Ten years old, a Level-Two Blacksmith! Hurry up and tell me what happened!" On the other end of the Soul Guidance Communicator, Mu Chen instantly jumped up in excitement. Tang Wulin had also become a Level-Two Blacksmith at the age of nine last year, and Mu Chen's face was filled with excitement.

He had not expected another one to appear.

This time, the Eastsea City Blacksmith Association would rise whether it wanted to or not.

The evaluator fell silent for a full minute before slowly speaking, word by word. "He has never learned Forging!"

As an evaluator, his discerning eye was naturally exceptional. Whether Xia Yi was forging Crimson Flame Copper or making the component, his technique had gone from awkward to practiced.

This evaluator dared to guarantee that Xia Yi had absolutely never learned Forging.

"How could someone who has never learned Forging possibly pass the Level-Two Blacksmith test? Stop pulling my leg!" Mu Chen's heart instantly sank by more than half.

"This cannot be explained clearly over the Soul Guidance Communicator. I'll come to your office and tell you," the evaluator said solemnly.

"Fine, I'll return to my office immediately." Mu Chen's urgent voice came through the Soul Guidance Communicator.

Although he still did not understand what had happened, a ten-year-old boy who had never learned Forging had somehow passed the Level-Two Blacksmith Rank Test. That talent was enough to terrify anyone.

"Alright!" After ending the Soul Guidance Communicator call, the evaluator went to where Xia Yi had filled out his form and told the staff solemnly, "Immediately retrieve the surveillance footage from the testing room just now, along with Xia Yi's information, and send them all to the chairman's office."