Elder Qian, Mad for Forging

August 15.

After several days of training, Shi Fen had finally mastered his surging strength. That morning, he called Elder Qian.

"Master, I've more or less gotten my strength under control. Let's start forging!"

"Good. I'll be right over!"

Elder Qian's voice was clearly full of excitement. Anyone could hear the anticipation and eagerness in his tone.

Elder Qian had waited nearly ten days, and at last he would get to see Shi Fen's forging skills. To save time, he had specially sent Shi Fen his own forging manuals, the most representative video materials, and all the instruction manuals for the equipment in the Forging Room ahead of time, so Shi Fen could study and watch them during breaks from training. That way, once Shi Fen had adjusted to his strength, the two of them could get straight to work.

Just like Hong.

Elder Qian was also teaching him everything he knew.

Elder Qian hadn't considered the consequences at all. He had sent Shi Fen all of his insights from years of experience and everything he knew about forging. His thinking was simple: if you trusted someone, use them; if you used them, trust them. He believed Shi Fen would bring him a surprise.

When Shi Fen's Spiritual Master abilities had shot straight up to the Invincible War God level,

Hong and Elder Qian had trusted Shi Fen even more.

Geniuses deserved to be given enough trust!

Elder Qian's forging insights had given Shi Fen some inspiration. Compared with Extreme Forging, Elder Qian's lifetime of knowledge fell far short. The two were on completely different levels; comparing them was practically unfair.

Extreme Forging had been created by the mighty Treasure Refiner Yi, a figure who stood at the pinnacle of the Treasure Refining Realm. Even a small creation from someone like him was beyond the reach of ordinary people. What was more, Extreme Forging was Shi Fen's Qualification Trial inheritance—it clearly wasn't something its creator had casually thrown together.

The comparison really was unfair to Earthlings.

Elder Qian's lifetime of knowledge wasn't truly all his own. A great deal of it consisted of techniques gradually developed and compiled by generations of forging masters and scientists on Earth, who had poured their entire lives and talents into their work.

Techniques like hammering and drawing out steel, folding and forging, forge welding, quenching, annealing, tempering, normalizing, steel cladding, laminated steel, and powder metallurgy had each been discovered and refined through the painstaking efforts of human geniuses. Generation after generation of practitioners had continued to summarize and improve these techniques. It had taken the efforts of countless talented people to lay the foundation for human forging technology.

Elder Qian was one of the most talented scientists of this era, as well as one of the greatest forging geniuses.

During the monster crisis, he had drawn on the experience and lessons of those who came before him, constantly pushing beyond his limits to achieve what he had today. Rather than calling it Elder Qian's lifetime of knowledge, it would be more accurate to call it the accumulated experience of the Earth Lineage over several thousand years.

How could several thousand years of civilization on Earth compare to Extreme Forging?

Therefore,

Shi Fen quickly mastered the materials Elder Qian had given him, and he understood them thoroughly, all the way down to the underlying principles.

Elder Qian's forging techniques and the quality of the weapons he made relied heavily on the base materials. Compared to the materials themselves, forging only served to enhance them. The biggest problem was the lack of strength.

Ordinary people with a bit of muscle could hammer ordinary steel into all sorts of shapes. It could also be cut freely and forge-welded into patterned steel, so the strength required for forging it was minimal.

But top-grade SS-Grade Kro Alloy—or even the extremely rare, highest-grade SSS-Grade Kro Alloy—

remained unbelievably hard even when heated to forging temperatures. Even if it was heated until it approached its melting point, a high-level War God still couldn't perform fancy forging techniques on it.

A master smith had very little room to work with and very few forging techniques they could actually use.

At best, they could perform "purification forging" and simple techniques like steel cladding and lamination. Trying to fold and forge the metal would take many days, and failure was extremely likely. If it failed, remelting the weapon blank would probably downgrade the alloy by one grade.

Most of the materials Elder Qian had given Shi Fen covered the production of top-grade Kro Alloy, purification forging, specialized steel cladding and lamination techniques, special shaping techniques, and, most importantly, quenching.

With such difficult conditions for forging, there was surprisingly little room to work with when it came to making Earth's top weapons.

It was a very awkward situation.

Shi Fen's arrival had broken the deadlock.

Elder Qian thought that if they tested just a few of Shi Fen's ideas and they worked, they would be able to produce large quantities of SSS-grade metal. With enough SSS-grade metal, they wouldn't need fancy forging methods. They could simply shape it into weapons and make SSS-Grade Weapons.

This was a leap forward for an entire era!

Elder Qian had been swamped these past few days because of Shi Fen's idea. He had contacted and gathered a large group of technical staff, who were using Shi Fen's design sketches to plan and build a massive High-Temperature Furnace.

It was intended to melt small fragments of the Alien Spaceship!

Shi Fen had hastily drawn up the design after his abilities were revealed. The goal was to build a furnace that could reach extremely high temperatures.

His design was very "rough"—basically an outline, along with some of the most basic yet complicated calculations to prove that the plan was feasible. Shi Fen wasn't an expert in this field, after all. What he had managed was already a work of genius.

While discussing it with Elder Qian, Shi Fen had offered a few hints, and Elder Qian had immediately turned his attention to the spaceship fragments. They couldn't be cut, but some of the broken-off pieces could be melted down and forged.

Shi Fen had been very concerned about the project during the days he spent improving his strength. Elder Qian had told him that, even with the technology team working overtime and doing everything they could, it would take at least six months to make anything—not to mention a finished product, they wouldn't even have a prototype before then.

Shi Fen had come up with this purely so he could forge some weapons in the future, sell them after entering the universe, and earn his first pot of gold for exploring it. Waiting until Luo Feng reached Star Level and inherited the five-star account would take far too long.

If they relied entirely on Luo Feng, they would go hungry for a very long time. If they planned ahead, they could start enjoying the universe's resources sooner.

With his current strength and Brain Domain Width, Shi Fen could easily go to the Australian Continent and take Luo Feng's opportunities for himself. With the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror's detection ability, he could easily find Mist Island, locate the Black Ink Star Ship and Babata, and immediately soar to success.

But Shi Fen had his own principles.

He had no intention of taking any of Luo Feng's opportunities. With the inheritance of the mighty Treasure Refiner Yi, stealing Luo Feng's opportunities would be far too despicable!

After ending the call, Elder Qian briefly explained what was going on, then hurried toward the Forging Room as fast as he could.

For nearly ten days, Elder Qian had barely slept. He had been running around for Shi Fen's furnace, contacting people and gathering resources. His eyes were streaked with fine red veins, and he had huge dark circles beneath them. He looked utterly haggard.

Shi Fen waited obediently for Elder Qian at the entrance.

When he saw Elder Qian, Shi Fen was startled. The man looked a bit like a "vengeful ghost," and his condition was alarming.

"Elder Qian, are you in any shape to forge?" Shi Fen asked uncertainly, looking at Elder Qian's bloodshot eyes, which gleamed with excitement.

"I'm not the one doing the forging. Why wouldn't I be?" Elder Qian grabbed Shi Fen and headed straight for the forging workbench, urging him on impatiently.

"All right."

Shi Fen felt helpless. He felt sorry for Elder Qian and didn't dare resist, so he obediently let himself be dragged over to the forging workbench.

"You've read the equipment manuals, right? Forge the Youquan Blade again first. Let me have a look." Elder Qian issued his orders anxiously.

Shi Fen sighed, took the three bottles of Spirit of Vegetation liquor from his pocket, and set them on the table in front of Elder Qian. In a gentle voice, he said, "Master, have some of this to replenish your strength. Otherwise, I'm afraid you won't be able to see the finer details clearly in your current condition."

While Elder Qian stared at the liquor in a daze, Shi Fen's figure flashed like lightning. He hurried to the public lounge and fetched a teacup, then respectfully brought it over to Elder Qian.

"You reached the high-level War God level without drinking this liquor?" Seeing the teacup Shi Fen handed him, Elder Qian's heart gave a sudden jolt. He stared in disbelief.

"Ah, yes. But the solid Spiritual Force in my mind has almost completely dissolved," Shi Fen answered hurriedly.

When Shi Fen saw Elder Qian frozen in place without reacting, he took it upon himself to open one of the bottles. Each bottle contained about half a jin of liquor. He poured out roughly one-tenth, just enough to fill the teacup. The dark liquor was clear as amber, and a rich aroma of aged wine and herbs wafted from it.

In his previous life, Shi Fen hadn't dared to drink much because of his illness.

That didn't mean he didn't like wine.

As he got older, he had gradually developed a taste for it. He loved the feeling of getting tipsy and forgetting his worries and troubles. It was wonderful. In his previous life, he'd rarely had a chance to enjoy that feeling. If he couldn't drink it, he could still buy it. Shi Fen had spent a lot of money on good wine, especially aged wine.

Just by smelling and looking at it, Shi Fen could tell this wine had been aged for at least twenty years. Aged wine infused with Spirit of Vegetation seemed like a fitting combination.

Shi Fen held the cup in both hands and carefully offered it to Elder Qian.

Elder Qian watched quietly as Shi Fen poured the wine. He didn't stop him. A gratified smile appeared on his face, and if you looked closely, you could see his pupils slowly dilating.

Dilated pupils were a sign of relaxation.

Elder Qian took the cup Shi Fen offered him and drained it in one gulp. Then he threw his head back and laughed.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Shi Fen looked at Elder Qian in confusion, unsure what he was laughing about. How could he have known that, by sheer coincidence, he had not only presented his master with a "wine to mark his apprenticeship," but had also shown off his talent as a Spiritual Master right in front of him?

Elder Qian set down the teacup. After drinking the herbal liquor, his body felt much better. He exclaimed in astonishment, "Your talent for Spiritual Force really is amazing. I thought you must have drunk at least one bottle of the liquor to reach the high-level War God level. I never expected that the combination of Dragon Blood, Jade Marrow, and Spirit of Vegetation would give you high-level War God strength outright.

"An ordinary Martial Artist starting at Elementary Warlord Level, even with the Extreme Martial Arts Hall's special support and a combination of Dragon Blood, Jade Marrow, and Spirit of Vegetation, would need a long time training just to reach the peak of Beginner War God. Someone like that would already be an extremely rare talent.

"The speed at which a Spiritual Master's strength increases really is enviable."

Shi Fen smiled faintly and said nothing. He gently took the teacup from Elder Qian.

"Master, get some rest and clear your head. I'll prepare the materials for forging," he said respectfully.

After drinking the Spirit of Vegetation liquor, waves of warmth flowed through Elder Qian's body, soothing his exhausted muscles. He had been keyed up for several days straight, and the sudden comfort made him feel extremely tired. Seeing Shi Fen preparing things, he closed his eyes wearily, intending to rest for a little while.

He had barely shut his eyes when Elder Qian leaned back in his chair and quickly fell into a deep sleep. Overcome with exhaustion, he began snoring without realizing it, his snores like thunder.

After pushing his body too hard for so long, once the excitement wore off, there was no resisting the wave of drowsiness.

Shi Fen was preparing the Blue Gold for forging when he heard Elder Qian's snores. He immediately stopped what he was doing, stepped aside, and quietly waited for Elder Qian to wake up.

Shi Fen looked over at Elder Qian and noticed his strange sleeping posture. His gaze grew a little distant. The scene felt strangely familiar.

"He really does remind me of my master from my previous life."