"Six-Star Grandmaster, Six-Star Grandmaster..."
Lan Ruobing walked ahead, still muttering under her breath.
She was a blacksmith herself, and she was only Level Three. Yet her student was already Level Six.
The gap between people was practically greater than the gap between people and dogs.
Before long, Lan Ruobing had brought Tang Heng to the dean's office.
"Come on in by yourself, Tang Heng. If you're leaving campus later, I'll notify the dorm supervisor for you."
Then Lan Ruobing left ahead of him.
Watching his homeroom teacher walk away, and remembering how respectfully she had just spoken to him, Tang Heng couldn't help sighing.
"Have we already become separated by a thick, lamentable wall?"
Shaking his head, Tang Heng knocked lightly on the redwood door. A deep, middle-aged man's voice came from within:
"Come in."
Pushing open the wooden door, Tang Heng spotted Zhen Hua seated beside the main desk.
He looked utterly ordinary, yet there was an inexplicable air of composure about him. As expected of the Blacksmith Association's central pillar—the only Divine Craftsman of the age.
"You must be young Tang Heng. Please, have a seat."
Zhen Hua didn't put on the airs of an elder. Instead, he was courteous and polite, as though treating Tang Heng as an equal.
Tang Heng didn't bother with formalities either. He went straight over to the sofa and sat down.
As expected of something in the dean's office, the sofa was good quality—quite soft.
"President Zhen Hua, I know why you're here, so let's lay our cards on the table."
Zhen Hua was taken aback. He hadn't expected Tang Heng to be so direct, but soon he accepted it. After all, the boy was no ordinary child.
A seven-year-old Six-Star Spirit Forging Grandmaster, with Twin Martial Souls, Innate Full Soul Power, and a unique Enchanting craft—who wouldn't feel at least a little proud in his shoes?
Zhen Hua took out the metal component Tang Heng had enchanted and set it on the table.
"As a Divine Craftsman, I won't claim to surpass the masters of old. But as far as forging goes, I feel there's no one on the continent who can match me at present."
"Yet this component has shattered the common knowledge I've built up over the years."
Rare metals acquired certain properties after being mined and smelted. Some became harder, for instance, while others gained better conductivity.
But for most metals, their true properties could only be brought out through Thousand-Refinement forging or higher.
Yet this Tungsten Steel component of his was merely a flawed piece made from scraps by a Level One blacksmith in his spare time.
After Tang Heng enchanted it, its durability had surpassed that of an ordinary Thousand-Refinement-grade Tungsten Steel component.
Zhen Hua and Mu Chen had once studied under the same master. They had learned forging together and improved together. They had even both fallen for Yuan Bao'er.
But to stay true to his convictions, Zhen Hua had devoted himself heart and soul to forging, becoming the Divine Craftsman he was today.
Mu Chen had married Yuan Bao'er and settled in Eastsea City, content to live in seclusion.
It could be said that, in Zhen Hua's heart, the pursuit of better craftsmanship had even surpassed his longing for love.
From this, Tang Heng felt that Zhen Hua was pretty impressive. He'd actually managed to defy the basic rules of this romance-obsessed world. No wonder he was the only Divine Craftsman of the age. He really did have some ability.
"Of course. I'm the only one who knows how to enchant right now. There's no one else." Tang Heng picked up the Tungsten Steel component from the table and turned it over in his palm.
After several rounds of testing, its durability bar had only dropped by one point. It seemed Enchanting III was doing its work.
"That's why I came here specifically—to learn from you."
Zhen Hua spoke solemnly. His eyes held nothing but longing and yearning for this entirely new craft.
His unwavering pursuit of the Dao reminded Tang Heng of Lou Gao, the Divine Craftsman from Douluo I.
Tang Heng sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry, President. I don't know how to teach you the principles behind it. The conditions for Enchanting are closely tied to my Martial Soul."
The main tools for Enchanting were the Enchanted Book and the Enchanting Table, after all. Douluo Continent didn't have those. He had to take them out of the Minecraft Plane himself, so this wasn't exactly a craft that could be taught.
He didn't know how to pass it on to Zhen Hua in words.
Zhen Hua gave a slight nod. He didn't doubt Tang Heng much; he just felt a little regretful.
"Although I can't teach you the principles, I can let you use this craft."
"Oh? Tell me more." The light in Zhen Hua's eyes, which had dimmed, flared up again. Even if he didn't understand the principles for now, as long as he could use it, perhaps his own ingenuity would let him work them out.
Just as Fang Yuan, the protagonist in that novel Great Love Immortal Venerable, had said:
Heaven leaves no road cut off. As long as I want to walk, the road is right beneath my feet!
Zhen Hua watched as Tang Heng stood up without a word and walked around the office, seemingly measuring the available space.
Next, Tang Heng took out a table-like object with a pitch-black base and blue trim. An open book floated above it. He placed it on the carpet in front of the desk.
"Young friend, what is this...?"
"Just watch quietly. I'll show you how to use it in a moment."
After working out the distance between the Enchanting Table and the bookshelves, Tang Heng took out a pile of bookshelves and arranged them in the standard max-level enchanting layout.
"Come over here and give me a component or some kind of tool."
"Oh, right away."
Zhen Hua hurried over, took out a Level Three Soul Tool curved blade from his Storage Soul Tool, and handed it to Tang Heng.
Tang Heng took the curved blade and swung it twice, making the air whistle.
"This is made of Cold Iron?"
"I think so. I just took one out without choosing a specific one."
"No matter. This will do."
Holding the curved blade, Tang Heng walked over to the Enchanting Table.
Zhen Hua stood to one side, staring fixedly at Tang Heng, afraid he might miss even the smallest detail.
It felt just like back when he'd been an apprentice. Whenever his teacher passed on forging techniques, he'd watched just as intently from the side.
Suddenly, the closed book opened. A stream of mysterious tadpole-like writing drifted out of the bookshelves and flowed into the Enchanting Table.
Zhen Hua felt Tang Heng's Soul Power suddenly drop by a considerable amount, as though something had drained it away.
"All done. Take a look."
Tang Heng exhaled, turned around, and handed the enchanted curved blade to Zhen Hua.
That was it?
Zhen Hua couldn't quite believe it, but he still took the blade and examined it closely.
"The blade's sharpness has improved enormously. Its offensive power is close to that of a Level Five close-combat Soul Tool."
"And its durability is just like that Tungsten Steel component..."
Zhen Hua gripped the curved blade, then took a straw dummy out of his storage ring.
With a horizontal slash, he cut the Soul Tool Test Dummy clean in half at the waist. There were even obvious scorch marks along the cut.
"It even gained an additional fire-element attachment effect. So Enchanting can add different attributes to an item?" Zhen Hua asked excitedly.
"What's the upper limit? Do you know how many attributes Enchanting can add at most?"
Tang Heng scratched his head. The Minecraft Plane currently had a mod that added more Enchantments built into it. On top of that, merging with the Douluo Continent Plane had added plenty more Enchantment attributes. He genuinely had no idea how many there were.
But he was certain that, as long as you turned them into Enchanted Books and hammered them onto an Anvil—
With enough Soul Power, there was theoretically no limit to how many Enchantments an item could have.
"Uh, as long as you have enough Soul Power, I think you can keep stacking them indefinitely."
At that, Zhen Hua froze in place, and it took him a long time to recover from his shock.
"Then can this kind of device be mass-produced?"
"Sure, if I want to." Tang Heng thought it over, then added, "As long as you can afford it, I can set one up at every Blacksmith Association branch."
"Buy it. We have to buy it!"
Before you continue