Zhu Huoyang was the president of the Shrek Blacksmith Association, and a Forging Grandmaster as well.
At that moment, he sat in his office and sighed. Although he was the president of an association, the truth was that nobody in Shrek City—or even across the entire continent—really took the Blacksmith Association seriously.
The blacksmithing profession was in a truly awkward position on the continent.
To Battle Soul Masters, were divine weapons and sharp blades really more useful than their own martial souls?
No!
That was even more true for Soul Masters whose martial souls were already Tool Martial Souls.
It was only in the past century that the three kingdoms on the continent—especially Shrek Academy—had begun paying more and more attention to Soul Tools. The standards for the metals used to make them had risen, which had raised blacksmiths' status somewhat.
It was easy to foresee that the more powerful Soul Tools became, the more blacksmiths' status would rise along with them.
But in Zhu Huoyang's eyes, that still wasn't enough.
Zhu Huoyang had always had a dream: to make the blacksmithing profession great again.
Zhu Huoyang missed the days before the Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent more than anything.
Back then, the Tang Sect was still the greatest sect in the world.
Back then, the Hidden Weapons made by the Tang Sect were all the rage across the continent, and blacksmithing had become an extremely popular profession as a result.
Unfortunately, everything changed after the Sun Moon Continent collided with theirs.
Of course, Zhu Huoyang only missed that era, not the Tang Sect—unless the Tang Sect could rise again, in which case that would be another matter.
The reason Zhu Huoyang was so troubled was that a few days ago, he'd received word from the Star Luo City Blacksmith Association.
They said a boy who could perform Hundred Forgings Purification on his own at the age of twelve would be applying to Shrek Academy.
Once he enrolled, he would definitely come to register with the association.
But Zhu Huoyang had waited for several days, and the person the Star Luo City association had mentioned still hadn't shown up.
Just then, Zhu Huoyang suddenly heard a commotion downstairs...
By now, Lu Lin's forging was nearing its end.
The certification test for a First-Level Forging Master was simple: all he had to do was independently forge a piece of Hundred Forgings-grade metal.
For Lu Lin, who had started forging at six and mastered Hundred Forgings at eight, forging a piece of Hundred Forgings metal now was as easy and pleasant as eating or drinking.
If only Lu Lin's Soul Power Level were higher, he could even try Thousand Forgings.
Clang—
Lu Lin brought down the final hammer, then put his Forging Hammer into his Storage Soul Tool and turned to the middle-aged man in gray standing closest to him.
"I'm done. Please inspect it."
The middle-aged man in gray was, of course, Zhu Huoyang.
From the moment he saw Lu Lin, Zhu Huoyang had been certain that this was the genius the Star Luo association had told him about.
As it turned out, his guess had been right.
Zhu Huoyang had watched Lu Lin's entire forging process. It had been as smooth as flowing water, flawless from start to finish.
And after forging, Lu Lin looked as if he hadn't broken a sweat.
It was hard to connect his appearance with that of a blacksmith.
More importantly, Lu Lin was only twelve.
Zhu Huoyang had never even heard of anyone who could perform Hundred Forgings at twelve.
He didn't even look at the metal Lu Lin had forged. Instead, he smiled warmly at him.
"No need. Our test isn't that strict."
Lu Lin: "...??"
Was that really how it worked?
He remembered Zhao Shiyan saying that the blacksmith certification test was pretty difficult.
Frostwind City might be a major city, but the Blacksmith Association wasn't wealthy enough to establish a branch in every city. So Lu Lin's registration had been put off until now.
Still, why was this big shot being so excessively friendly to him?
He wasn't the only one thinking that. The people in the association were looking at Zhu Huoyang with alarm too. Was this really their familiar president?
Lu Lin followed the big shot to complete the paperwork. During their conversation, he learned that the man was actually the president of the Blacksmith Association, and was instantly taken aback.
Not for any other reason.
Lu Lin just felt that President Zhu was a really good person, without the slightest bit of airs.
With President Zhu accompanying him, Lu Lin's paperwork went exceptionally smoothly, and he was soon registered as a First-Level Forging Master.
After joining the association, Lu Lin could collect two Gold Soul Coins for free each month at his current level.
He could also come by to take forging commissions. The blacksmith kept most of the earnings, making the association a sort of platform for finding clients.
Generally speaking, a piece of ordinary Hundred Forgings-grade metal sold for anywhere from sixty to a hundred Gold Soul Coins.
The better the quality of the Hundred Forgings, or the rarer the metal, the higher the price.
However, in this day and age, only Soul Engineers had any use for Hundred Forgings metal.
To Lu Lin's surprise, President Zhu bought the piece of Hundred Refinements Ink Iron he'd forged for the certification test outright, paying a hundred Gold Soul Coins.
And so, along with his blacksmith's badge, Lu Lin somehow ended up with a hundred Gold Soul Coins.
He couldn't help but marvel that everyone at the Blacksmith Association was so nice.
Lu Lin had accomplished everything he'd set out to do on this trip.
Only after Lu Lin left the association did President Zhu pick up the Ink Iron he'd forged and inspect its quality.
While Lu Lin had been forging, Zhu Huoyang's attention had been entirely on him. He hadn't so much as glanced at the Ink Iron in Lu Lin's hands, nor had he been in the mood to.
In his view, it was already impressive enough for Lu Lin to perform Hundred Forgings at the age of twelve. How could he expect the quality to be any good?
That was why Zhu Huoyang hadn't even looked at the finished piece after Lu Lin was done forging.
Now that he actually held the Ink Iron in his hand, Zhu Huoyang realized he hadn't understood Lu Lin nearly well enough.
The Hundred Refinements Ink Iron felt cool and solid, its surface smooth as a mirror with a faint glow flowing across it.
More importantly, the patterns on the metal's surface were even and dense, utterly flawless. In fact, the Ink Iron had nearly reached the threshold of Thousand Forgings.
This was a piece of Hundred Refinements Ink Iron of perfect quality!
Zhu Huoyang was incredibly excited. Lu Lin's appearance seemed to have shown him the true future of the blacksmithing profession.
But he didn't know that Lu Lin had no interest in forging at all. He had first taken it up by chance to improve his physique, and now he did it to make money...
Just then, a handsome man in his thirties walked in from outside.
If Lu Lin had still been there, he would have recognized him at a glance: it was Xu Ting.
Xu Ting needed to stay in Shrek City for a few days.
As a Rank 3 Soul Master who needed plenty of metal to make Soul Tools, the Blacksmith Association was naturally the first place he thought of when he came to Shrek City looking for metal.
As Xu Ting walked in, Zhu Huoyang happened to be turning the Hundred Refinements Ink Iron over in his hands.
Xu Ting glanced over at it and froze.
Huh, why did this piece of Ink Iron look so much like something that kid Lu Lin had forged?
Ever since Lu Lin had obtained his First Soul Ring and become capable of Hundred Forgings, Xu Ting had sent him every order of this kind. In other words, all the metal Xu Ting had used over the past three years had been forged by Lu Lin.
Xu Ting knew Lu Lin's work like the back of his hand.
"Is there something wrong with this piece of Hundred Forgings metal?"
Zhu Huoyang asked expressionlessly.
Quite a few Soul Engineers who came here to buy metal liked to criticize its quality first, hoping to haggle the price down. Zhu Huoyang had seen it all too often—and the worst part was, most of those Soul Engineers weren't even high-ranked. He had no idea where they got that bad habit.
Only Shrek's Soul Engineers were wealthy enough not to pull that sort of trick.
Zhu Huoyang eyed Xu Ting warily.
If he dared to say one bad thing about the Ink Iron, Zhu Huoyang would throw him out on the spot—even though he had no intention of selling it in the first place.
He planned to put it on display!
Xu Ting shook his head slightly, looking thoughtful.
"There's nothing wrong with it. It's just that this piece of Ink Iron feels familiar, a bit like something forged by someone I know."
"Familiar?"
Wasn't that Lu Lin?
Zhu Huoyang raised an eyebrow at that, but asked without betraying his thoughts.
Xu Ting nodded, his expression a little strange.
"That's right. I've been using metal he forged for almost three years. This piece of Ink Iron feels a lot like his work... President Zhu, who forged it? If you don't mind, could I have it?"
In truth, Xu Ting didn't really want to bring up Lu Lin.
After all, that kid had refused to take him as his master back then. It had been downright ungrateful of him.
The speaker hadn't meant anything by it, but the listener took it to heart.
Zhu Huoyang was startled by Xu Ting's words. Did that mean Lu Lin had been able to perform Hundred Forgings three years ago?
He would have to confirm it.
Xu Ting's pupils contracted. Why did he suddenly have a bad feeling?
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