Forging Prodigy?

"Have you finished eating?" Feng Wuyu looked at Gu You, whose mouth was glistening with grease. The child had gotten up early and said he was hungry and wanted food. Feng Wuyu had thought that a child could not possibly eat much, so he gave Gu You his own breakfast. To his surprise, Gu You ate every last bit. The ingredients used for cooking were all century-old heavenly treasures packed with energy. Feng Wuyu had no idea just how enormous the child's appetite was.

Gu You nodded as he rubbed his stomach.

"Today's task is to hammer this piece of Tungsten Steel one thousand times. You may use Soul Power. As you hammer, listen closely to the sounds and distinguish the purity of the impurities. This kind of insight can only come from yourself, and it will determine your talent for forging." The scene shifted as Feng Wuyu pointed at a piece of silvery-white steel.

"Okay!" The two Life Gold Hammers from yesterday quietly appeared. The wounds on Gu You's arms had long since healed completely. Even Feng Wuyu had been shocked when he saw Gu You full of vigor that morning. His recovery ability could simply be called a humanoid medical machine.

Gu You immediately went all out, activating Martial Soul Possession. Purple scales covered his palms as the booming sounds of his strikes rang out without pause.

Seeing this, Feng Wuyu curiously examined Gu You's Martial Soul. His own Martial Soul was trembling, which meant Gu You's Martial Soul was definitely of a higher rank than his.

No wonder he was so strong. It might be a True Dragon Martial Soul focused purely on strength, Feng Wuyu thought to himself.

"Done! I've finished hammering it." Gu You shook the sweat from his head and feet.

"Got it... What? You're done? It's only been five minutes. Are you sure?" Feng Wuyu spat. He had only been thinking for five minutes, and Gu You had already finished? Even one hammer per second would not have been enough!

"I really finished. The hammers were so light—I could hit three or four times a second." Gu You looked somewhat wronged.

Feng Wuyu turned to inspect the Tungsten Steel Gu You had hammered a thousand times, and his gaze instantly froze. Thousand—Thousand Refinement? Although it was the lowest grade, the impurities in this piece of Tungsten Steel had indeed been removed, and it even possessed an ascension effect!

How was that possible?

A child who had never learned any Thousand Refinement techniques had simply hammered it randomly and achieved Thousand Refinement?

So-called Thousand Refinement was absolutely not as simple as striking a piece of metal one thousand times. It required constant, meticulous hammering to remove impurities and increase its density. At the same time, the greatest hallmark of Thousand Refinement was ascension.

Only when an ascension effect was produced during the forging process could it be considered true Thousand Refinement.

For example, a piece of Tungsten Steel was already extremely strong to begin with. After Thousand Refinement, its volume would shrink by one-third while its strength increased by two hundred percent. Its ascension trait would be a thirty-percent increase in weight.

Only when the same piece of metal underwent a qualitative transformation could its weight increase, thereby demonstrating its extraordinary strength.

Ascension in a metal like Tungsten Steel was the simplest kind. Exceptional Thousand Refinement could even produce special ascension effects. The better the ascension effect, the higher the price of the resulting metal.

At the Thousand Refinement level, one first had to refine the metal itself through Thousand Refinement, then use the same methods to forge it into shape.

Therefore, items made from Thousand Refinement metals were hundreds of times more valuable than Hundred Refinement items that ordinary people could forge. Only upon reaching this level could a blacksmith truly be considered to have entered the field.

Yet for ninety percent of blacksmiths, this level of Thousand Refinement was something they could never attain in their entire lives.

Thousand Refinement required more than strength and Soul Power. What mattered even more was comprehension, especially one's understanding of metal.

Gu You had studied forging for only two days, yet he had randomly hammered out a piece of Thousand Refinement metal. That was enough to show his terrifying talent for comprehending forging. Although its ascension effect was rather useless, increasing its weight by only two percent, it was still beyond what Hundred Refinement metal could compare to, and it even contained a certain amount of life energy.

"So this is Thousand Refinement?" Gu You looked utterly confused. While forging, he really had just been smashing it at random. It was only that whenever he heard a different sound, he changed positions. Meanwhile, the two Life Essence Hammers had continuously emitted faint life energy.

Feng Wuyu shook his head. "It was merely a lucky coincidence. The life aura within the Life Essence Hammers was absorbed by the ore, creating the ascension effect. Combined with your slight insight into purifying metal through forging, it took shape."

So that was how it was. Gu You seemed to understand, and at the same time, he felt that forging really did seem that simple.

"Looks like we'll have to move things ahead. I'll teach you Thousand Refinement directly." Faced with a monster like Gu You, Feng Wuyu truly felt there was nothing left to teach below the Thousand Refinement level. He might as well take advantage of today's situation and teach Thousand Refinement right away.

"Are there any techniques for Thousand Refinement?" Gu You asked.

Feng Wuyu shook his head. "No."

"What? You're the teacher, and you don't have any? How am I supposed to learn?" Gu You said speechlessly.

"I'm not your teacher yet." Feng Wuyu grinned wickedly.

Fine, so that was how he wanted to play it?

Gu You had already guessed what Feng Wuyu was thinking.

"Master, from now on, you'll be my master for my second profession. How about that? Is that enough?" Gu You said irritably.

"Now that's more like it, my good disciple. Thousand Refinement is not without techniques, but most of them can only be explained verbally. What I can tell you now is this: do more, listen more, and feel more. Doing means hammering continuously. Listening means quietly hearing the sound of every strike and sensing the differences in impurities throughout the metal. Feeling means not treating metal as something lifeless. When forging, treat the metal as a living thing. Do everything you can to communicate with it through the forging process. Only through perfect communication can it acknowledge you, allowing you to find its mysteries and its grain. This is why Thousand Refinement is called Intent Forging. Every blacksmith uses different methods when forging Thousand Refinement. You must forge with your heart and comprehend it with your heart." Feng Wuyu rattled off a long speech in one breath, leaving Gu You dazed.

"Do you understand?" Feng Wuyu asked.

"I'm starting to get a feeling for it. I'll give it a try." Gu You propped up his cheek.

He had originally thought Feng Wuyu would demonstrate it, but unexpectedly, Feng Wuyu did not even have that idea. He really treated Gu You like some peerless monster who understood everything the moment he heard it.

Walking up to the forging table, Gu You looked through the contents of the book beside it, then placed a piece of Ice Crystal Ore into the forge to begin heating it.

This piece of Ice Crystal Ore was about a foot long and glimmered with an icy cold light. After placing it in the forge, Gu You searched through the book for its properties.

Ice Crystal Ore came from the distant Far North. It was an exceptionally rare ore, the sort that countless people would fight over outside. Yet in Feng Wuyu's forging room, it could be found everywhere. Ice Crystal Ore itself was extremely brittle, but under high-temperature burning, it became highly pliable. It was an excellent Soul Guide Extension Body. High-quality Ice Crystal Ore could even produce a five to ten percent amplification when extending the transmission of Soul Power.

However, Ice Crystal Ore also had its flaws. It was extraordinarily difficult to forge into a finished product. Under normal forging conditions, it was too easy to shatter, while after being heated to high temperatures, it became difficult to shape.

Ice Crystal Ore was not only rare in inland cities; even in some cities along the edge of the Far North, it was an invaluable treasure.