The Self-Cultivation of a Liver Emperor (II)

"Old man, I'm here!"

When Le Bai arrived at the Blacksmith Shop, he happened to see the old man preheating the furnace, so he immediately walked in and stood to the side, carefully observing the old man's technique.

After a while, the old man suddenly spoke up: "Did you memorize all of that?"

"I did."

Le Bai nodded affirmatively.

"Then you give it a try."

The old man decisively stepped aside to make room.

Le Bai recalled everything he had learned yesterday in his mind, compared it with the old man's movements he had just observed, and while maintaining the circulation of Soul Power within his body, he began to push and pull the bellows.

"Hmm!"

The old man, who was observing Le Bai, couldn't help but widen his eyes: "This... he learned eighty percent of it in just half a day?!"

The remaining twenty percent had to be accumulated through practice; it wasn't something that could be taught.

"Child, I still don't know your name."

The old man asked.

"Huh?"

Le Bai's attention had been entirely on the bellows and his Soul Power, so he hadn't heard the old man speak: "What did you say, old man?"

The old man smiled and repeated: "I asked what your name is."

Le Bai: "My name is Le Bai. Le as in music, Bai as in the color white."

"Well, Le Bai, you..."

The old man paused, organizing his words: "Do you still want to learn blacksmithing from me now?"

"I do want to."

Le Bai nodded, looking a bit helpless: "But during the day, I have to go to Shrek Academy to audit classes, so the time I have to come here and learn blacksmithing will decrease."

"Hahaha, what does that matter!"

The old man laughed heartily: "I'm an old man, I'll be right here, I'm not going anywhere. Those people at Shrek Academy are all esteemed Soul Masters, so attending classes must come first! Just come by and learn whenever you have free time. With your talent, I reckon it won't be long before you surpass an old fogey like me!"

After thanking the old man, Le Bai temporarily stopped the circulation of his Soul Power and devoted all his attention to learning blacksmithing.

...Four days later...

"Damn, I forgot about money."

Le Bai looked at the last remaining Silver Soul Coin in his hand, wondering if he should go find Oscar to borrow some money: "He should have already gone to the Martial Soul Hall to register and received his one Gold Soul Coin. If I just borrow ten Silver Soul Coins, it should..."

This thought lingered in Le Bai's mind for five seconds.

"Forget it."

Le Bai shook his head and found the last piece of wood he had left over: "Shrek doesn't have any cultural classes this morning, so there should be enough time."

The tools he had previously borrowed from Flender had already been returned. The tools Le Bai was using now were ones he had paid for himself, having the old man help make the metal blade parts, while he handled the wooden parts and assembled them himself.

The newly made tools weren't as easy to use as the old ones, but the item Le Bai was about to make was relatively simple, lacking the complexity of the Kongming Lock or the Luban Ball he had made before. Furthermore, Le Bai's own woodworking skills were high enough that the tools were only a minor issue.

After finishing the item, Le Bai brought it to the home of the only Carpenter in the village: "Uncle Carpenter, I have a little something here that can make money. Would you like to spend some money to buy it?"

"Isn't this Le Bai? What's this, thinking of another good idea?"

The Carpenter put down the Luban Ball he was working on, looked at the box in Le Bai's hand, and revealed a smile that wasn't exactly simple-minded: "The things you sold to my brat last time were really great! Several kids in the village want them, and my business has been much better lately!"

"This is different from the last one, but it's also something for children to play with."

Le Bai glanced at the Luban Ball parts the Carpenter had just made; he already had about seventy or eighty percent of his skill: "I'm short on money right now, and I don't have much time to make them myself to sell, so I thought I'd sell this idea directly to you, Uncle."

"Sell an idea?"

The Carpenter didn't understand at first, but after thinking for a moment, he caught on: "You mean, you teach me how to make it, then I give you money, and you won't make them to sell yourself?"

"That's the idea."

Le Bai nodded: "However, this thing is easy to imitate, so you'd better make a few and sell them quickly, but don't make too many, otherwise, once others copy it and drive the price down, yours won't sell well."

"I see..."

The Carpenter rubbed his stubbly chin and pondered for a while before asking: "How much do you plan to sell it for?"

"Ten Silver Soul Coins."

Le Bai quoted a low price: "Each finished piece can be sold for ten to twenty Copper Soul Coins. If it's a wealthy person in Suotuo City, you could even sell it for one Silver Soul Coin. Either way, you'll definitely make your money back. If I didn't have such a tight schedule, I'd really want to make them myself..."

"Fine!"

The Carpenter also felt the price was quite low, so he walked into the house, took out ten Silver Soul Coins, and handed them to Le Bai: "Now, can you show me the item?"

"Of course."

Le Bai put the money away and opened the box: "I call this 'Flying Chess', and the rules are like this..."

Ten minutes later:

"Uncle, I really have to go."

"Hey, hey, play a little longer! My last flying-type Soul Master is almost at the Martial Soul Hall!"

"I still have to go back and cook. Can't you just have your son play with you?"

"Uh, that's true! Alright then, take care."

Back in the house, Le Bai began to ponder while staring at ten Silver Soul Coins, and with the support of Parallel Thinking, he did so in a "single-core dual-thread" state:

"I underestimated the food expenses before; these ten Silver Soul Coins can only last for about thirty days at most. Although I can still produce similar 'toys,' continuing like this clearly won't be enough to support me until I become a Soul Master."

"Learning basic blacksmithing shouldn't be a problem, but that's just the basics; there's no way to turn that into money in a short amount of time."

"If I could be like Tang San and create high-end products that only I can make, I could adopt a supply-and-consignment model, or otherwise, I could just sell them directly to Flender."

"Or I could drop my pointless pride and just go ask Oscar to borrow money... asking Oscar for a loan will be my final backup plan."

"Let's think carefully about what 'cards' I have in my hand—the civilization of another world, the Panel, and... the martial soul and Soul Power of this world."

"Which one could potentially be turned into money... no, I shouldn't limit myself to just one; I should combine them freely!"

A flash of inspiration struck, and Le Bai thought of something, but it wasn't clear enough yet.

"Panel, martial soul, Soul Power, the civilization of another world... precision processing... tools... Soul Power... Panel..."

He tightly grasped the few elements that appeared in his mind during that flash of inspiration, pondering them repeatedly until his train of thought finally began to clear.

"Found it!"

Le Bai looked at the Soul Power swirling around his fingers, wearing the joyful expression of someone who had finally discovered a strategy after grinding a game for over a dozen hours: "This is it!"

Ten days had passed since Le Bai discovered his "strategy," and more than three of his ten Silver Soul Coins had already been spent, leaving him with six Silver Soul Coins and over forty Copper Soul Coins.

"When class ended yesterday, Flender said there wouldn't be any academic classes all day today."

Le Bai locked the door and headed toward the Blacksmith Shop: "It's time to test the results of these past few days of practice."