Yellow-grade Low-tier Battle Weapon, Water Pattern Gold Dagger! Please Support!

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Inside the forging room, Jiang Lin placed a fist-sized ore that glimmered with golden light into a small blast furnace he had painstakingly built by hand from clay and bricks. He then added some coal stones collected from the market, sealed the furnace, and continuously worked the crude bellows with his arms, steadily raising the temperature inside.

Under the scorching heat, beads of sweat slid down Jiang Lin's cheeks, and before he knew it, his back had already been drenched through.

Legend has it that there is a miraculous flame in this world called Heavenly Flames, possessing immensely powerful might. Settling for less, there are also strange flames like Beast Fire, far superior to ordinary flames. If I could obtain one, perhaps it would greatly aid my forging? Sweat kept dripping from Jiang Lin's forehead as his arms continuously pulled the bellows without pause. It was hard to imagine that such a small body contained such tremendous strength!

This body's talent for cultivating Dou Qi is also quite good. If I didn't want to stand out too much, I should be able to complete Dou Qi Enters Body and reach Dou Qi Stage One within a month.

But... no. Before I have enough strength to protect myself, being too outstanding will only invite unnecessary trouble.

My Dou Qi attribute is Fire-Gold. My fire-attributed Dou Qi contains a trace of Geng Metal aura, making it the most suitable Dou Qi attribute for artifact forging.

In my previous life, I was just a materials science graduate student muddling through life. I only remember pulling a few all-nighters, then waking up and somehow ending up here. I nearly starved to death in that valley too. If I hadn't picked up a few handicraft skills while slacking off, I really might have kicked the bucket.

The best Dou Qi attribute for an Alchemist was Fire-Wood, fire-attributed Dou Qi carrying a trace of verdant wood attribute. However, that did not mean Jiang Lin's Fire-Gold Dou Qi could not be used to refine medicine. In this world, there were Alchemists who borrowed the flames of heaven and earth to refine pills. Fire-Wood was the finest innate aptitude, but it was not the sole requirement for becoming an Alchemist.

After half a year of feeling my way around Qingshan Town at the foot of the Monster Mountain Range, I still haven't seen this world place much importance on "artifact forging." Only by developing in the field of Artifact Forgers can I improve my strength without drawing attention.

Jiang Lin continuously smelted the golden metal in the furnace. During this sort of repetitive work, his mind would unconsciously begin pondering other things.

The exalted status of Alchemists reflects this world's view of power. It reveres individual strength, the strength of the self. External things such as weapons and armor are instead regarded as minor paths.

What is above form is called the Way; what is below form is called a tool. If a tool can also carry the Way... then it is the prototype of a "magic treasure."

As a materialist materials science graduate student, Jiang Lin's worldview had always been plain and practical: if something existed, it was reasonable; if it was reasonable, it could be replicated!

Ordinary weapons had little use in this high-martial world where people could move mountains and chase the moon. Yet Jiang Lin always remembered something his advisor had said: "Basic materials are the foundation that shapes civilization. This includes its view of civilization, development, and the universe. The only difference between technological civilization and fantasy civilization is whether extraordinary materials have been discovered!"

Professor... the underling you so often exploited was the first to discover extraordinary materials. It's just that I got sent abroad—no, to another world.

After an unknown amount of time, the sunlight outside gradually grew scorching. Jiang Lin fetched a pair of tongs, endured the heat, opened the small blast furnace, removed the liquid within that had already turned red as water, and poured it into a rectangular mold prepared beside him.

Mother's books say that pills of the sixth tier and above begin to develop faint intelligence. If the rules of alchemy could be applied to artifact forging, I wonder whether it would eventually be possible to forge magic treasures?

Jiang Lin skillfully placed the solidified, forearm-sized metal block into several liquids in succession to cool it down. He then removed it with the tongs, raised a small iron hammer in his other hand, and began the hammer-forging process of Hundred Refinements steel.

Human physical constitutions in this world were far stronger than in Jiang Lin's previous life. The strength contained in his current ten-year-old body basically crushed that useless body of his that had spent every day cooped up in a laboratory.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Clear, rhythmic sounds rang out without pause. Jiang Lin was in no hurry. He seemed to have entered a state akin to meditation, saying nothing as he silently used the iron hammer in his hand to repeatedly strike the fiery red metal clamped in his tongs. If not for the fact that every blow landed exactly where it should, gradually shifting position bit by bit, an outsider might have thought he was spacing out.

Jiang Lin's mind was clearest when he performed repetitive work. His advisor had often said that if he could just get rid of his habit of slacking off, then with his talent for entering a meditative state at any moment, he would surely become a master in some field one day.

What... beautiful flowing patterns. Even with a young man's vigorous energy, Jiang Lin could feel his forearm aching. Yet when he saw the Azure Gold Ore in his hands gradually thinning, and exquisite patterns appearing upon the blade after repeated folding and hammering, his spirits lifted at once.

The youth's energy enjoyed one final burst of vitality. Jiang Lin immediately began gradually shaping the metal in his hand into a dagger twenty centimeters long and two fingers wide. Including the handle he had planned, the dagger would be roughly twenty-five centimeters long.

Sizzle!

The fiery red dagger rapidly cooled in the specially prepared liquid, and its blade began reflecting a cyan-gold radiance beneath the sunlight.

Sharpening!

Quenching!

As his work grew ever more complete, Jiang Lin's energy became increasingly vigorous.

Then a light, pleasant voice came from outside. "Little Linzi! Are you still hammering away? Dinner's ready. Why aren't you as eager for food today?"

"Ah! Y-you... why aren't you wearing any clothes?!"

Following the sound of metalwork, Xiao Yi Xian, dressed in white, pushed open the door to Jiang Lin's forging room. She then saw the sweat-soaked Jiang Lin, his sturdy upper body bare, standing beside the furnace and polishing something with complete concentration.

Hearing her, he looked up and smiled faintly. "Is it mealtime? Give me a moment. I'm almost done polishing it."

Xiao Yi Xian stood at the doorway, looking at the bare-chested Jiang Lin. She could neither enter nor leave. While she was hesitating, Jiang Lin stood up, holding a dagger whose blade shone with a cyan-blue glow. Near the blade were golden patterns resembling flowing water, exquisitely beautiful!

"What is that?" Xiao Yi Xian's gaze was instantly drawn to the beautiful dagger in Jiang Lin's hand.

"A Yellow-grade low-tier battle weapon, the Water Pattern Gold Dagger."

As he spoke, Jiang Lin faced an arm-thick wooden stick nearby and poured the only trace of Dou Qi in his body into the Water Pattern Gold Dagger. A faint current of air emerged around its cyan-blue blade, then—

Slash!

One strike, severed in two!