Wei Wen knew that Shi Fen was trying to comfort him.
His talent was actually about the same as Shi Tian's. Still, he couldn't help feeling proud of himself. He was in high school, already in his senior year, and had made tremendous progress in forging with only a little free time on the weekends.
Because Shi Fen was "in seclusion," Shi Tian had taken over as Wei Wen's main instructor. Changing teachers hadn't hindered Wei Wen's rapid progress.
A few weeks ago, he had followed Shi Tian's instructions and used refined steel to learn how to forge weapon blanks. While practicing on his own, he had unexpectedly succeeded once.
Shi Tian had taken over the weapon blank Wei Wen had gotten lucky and forged, then continued working it until he had made a beautiful short knife. Although the knife had no "birth certificate," it was still sold for the high price of 600 Huaxia Currency at "Three Stones."
Shi Tian hadn't kept the 600. He had transferred it directly into Wei Wen's account.
The unexpected income had made Wei Wen even more determined to learn forging.
In Shi Tian's eyes, his "apprentice" Wei Wen was very clever. And since he was Shi Fen's good friend, Shi Tian taught him with particular care. Wei Wen was getting much better instruction than Shi Tian had received back then. He had a "master" to guide him from the start, so how could he not improve quickly?
Shi Tian's forging skills were nowhere near Shi Fen's level. But his skills were still much better than Shi Tie's had been when Shi Tie taught him to forge as a child.
The importance of a good teacher was beyond compare.
Two teachers, one strong and one weak, taught apprentices with the same talent.
Naturally, the more capable teacher would produce the more capable apprentice.
That was how Wei Wen was able to make rapid progress, far faster than Shi Tian had at the same age.
Wei Wen was not only talented, but also hardworking. He practiced diligently and came here to learn forging whenever he had free time. He often practiced until his hands were trembling so badly that he couldn't even hold his chopsticks.
Seeing how hard Wei Wen trained, Shi Tian took charge of his meals during training and made him plenty of beef to help him replenish his nutrients and take care of his health.
The more Shi Tian taught him, the more he admired this younger boy. When he discovered that Wei Wen had accidentally forged a weapon blank, he was shocked.
After that, he no longer saw Wei Wen as an "apprentice." Instead, he saw him as a future partner, a future forger for "Three Stones," and a pillar of the future "Three Stones."
Shi Tian told Shi Tie about this idea.
Shi Tie wholeheartedly agreed, believing it was a good idea to plan for the future in advance. The two of them made the rather unscrupulous decision to treat Wei Wen as a "guinea pig" and use this opportunity to plan ahead for "Three Stones'" future.
So, without Wei Wen knowing, he became "Three Stones'" test subject—an apprentice they would pour resources into and train as quickly as possible to become a forger for "Three Stones."
With abundant resources, guidance from a great teacher, excellent talent, and his own hard work, Wei Wen's blacksmithing skills improved by leaps and bounds.
Shi Fen knew about this.
That was why he was curious about why Wei Wen had ordered so much pig iron.
Shi Fen saw that his comforting words seemed to have really put Wei Wen in a "dazed with pride" state.
He couldn't help but chuckle to himself.
Shi Fen nudged Wei Wen's arm and said with a smile, "By the way, weren't you learning to forge with refined steel? Why did you order so much pig iron?"
Wei Wen stopped basking in his own progress and smiled slightly. "I just felt my fundamentals weren't very solid, so I ordered some pig iron to focus on building a strong foundation.
"For someone like me, pig iron is the best material to practice forging with. Refined steel is too advanced for me right now.
"I plan to use the vacation after the college entrance exam to practice with all these tons of pig iron. By then, my forging fundamentals will have improved a lot."
He had spoken without thinking, but Shi Fen listened with intent.
Those words rang through Shi Fen's mind like thunder.
Shi Fen had a revelation!
He understood.
He understood why he had been stuck at the eighth stage. For two years, he hadn't made the slightest progress.
It was all because of one sentence in the third major stage.
"To gain the ability to compress metal a hundredfold, you must use the finest iron as your raw material and hammer it until it reaches the Star Sea Pattern level. Only then can you continue compressing the metal."
Because of the influence of his past life, Shi Fen had misunderstood that sentence.
He had thought it meant using the finest high-quality steel as the raw material, hammering it until it reached the Star Sea Pattern level, then continuing to forge it. For this purpose, he had used all kinds of materials from the Raw Material Platform to make 52 kinds of high-quality specialty steel. He had painstakingly tried to forge them and mastered the ninefold compression forging of 52 kinds of metal.
Now that he understood, Shi Fen felt like an idiot.
The third major stage was clearly the forging of transcendent materials. Didn't "ordinary" refer to pig iron?
The pig iron produced in the Virtual Trial Space was an alloy of iron and carbon, without any other impurities. But Shi Fen had stupidly gone and made 52 kinds of high-quality specialty steel.
He only needed to forge a two-element alloy, yet he had made things harder for himself by forging multi-element alloys. Wasn't he just making trouble for himself?
Shi Fen had forced himself to increase the difficulty of the trial.
Although wrought iron contained only iron, it was too soft and unsuitable for forging. Extreme Forging usually started with pig iron.
You could call Shi Fen stupid: he had forged all 52 multi-element alloys to the "ninefold metal compression" level, and had become extremely proficient at it. Or you could call him clever: he just hadn't figured out something so simple.
Shi Fen stood there in a daze for a few seconds.
Once he understood the key issue, Shi Fen dropped a sentence and hurried off.
"Wei Wen, eat whatever you want for lunch. You can even go to a five-star hotel. It's on me!"
Regardless of Wei Wen's reaction, he grabbed his short sword and ran back to the Forging Room.
Wei Wen was dumbfounded. He had no idea what had happened. He knew a little about Shi Fen's "eccentricities" and vaguely suspected that something he had said had given Shi Fen an idea, which was why Shi Fen had acted that way.
So Wei Wen stopped worrying about it and continued directing the unloading.
After they finished unloading, Wei Wen took the workers to the little restaurant he often visited. The food there was delicious and affordable, and his parents occasionally brought him there for a good meal.
Wei Wen ordered a lot of hearty dishes and enjoyed a satisfying meal with the workers.
Wei Wen wasn't the sort of person who let being doted on go to his head. He had his own principles.
His parents had always placed great importance on teaching him good manners. From a young age, they had taught him that the most important thing was to know his place, and that he should always remain humble and cautious, never becoming conceited or complacent.
Wei Wen did his best to live by their words.
"Three Stones" had already helped him so much. As an "apprentice" there, he got all his meals and supplies for free. The people at "Three Stones" were all very friendly to him, and even the camera operators treated him courteously.
Wei Wen was already a member of "Three Stones." As long as he worked hard, he would certainly become one of its forgers in the future.
Wei Wen had no idea what he had done to help Shi Fen, his buddy, get so excited. That was why he had received such an inexplicable "reward" from Shi Fen.
A high-end five-star hotel was an absurd place to Wei Wen. Shi Fen had indeed given him permission to go, and he really could have gone. But his conscience wouldn't let him!
How could he spend like that when it came to his own family?
He didn't want "Three Stones" to pay for this meal, either. The 600 he had earned earlier was enough. He felt better spending money he had earned himself.
Still, he didn't feel entirely comfortable spending that 600. After all, it was Shi Tian's skill that had made it possible. He was just a layman who had gotten lucky.
After entering the Forging Room and locking the door from the inside, Shi Fen went into the small rest area. He lay down on the bed, ready to enter the "Virtual Trial Space."
He lay there, feeling incredibly excited. It took more than ten minutes for his mind to settle down enough for his consciousness to enter the Virtual Trial Space.
He picked up a square block of pig iron, 30 centimeters on each side, from the Raw Material Platform.
The block weighed more than 200 kilograms. But with the strength of a body capable of delivering over 800 kilograms of punching force, Shi Fen moved it onto the forging platform without much effort.
He activated the forging platform. The lifting platform carried the block slowly down into the machine, where it was heated evenly.
Shi Fen held the enormous "Vibration Hammer" and paced back and forth in front of the forging platform, his excitement on full display.
The red-hot block of pig iron slowly rose onto the forging area. Shi Fen had been waiting anxiously at the side, pacing back and forth. The moment the block had fully risen, he struck it with a heavy blow.
With just one strike, all the oxide scale and residue fell off the surface. The block hadn't changed shape at all; it had simply become brighter.
Shi Fen lightly struck the upper part of the block's side. The block turned over. Once it had settled completely, he struck it hard again. It grew a little brighter.
Then he gave it another light strike, turning the block over once more.
When it had settled, he struck it hard again.
Following the sequence he remembered, Shi Fen used the Vibration Hammer to strike all six sides of the block, one after another, again and again.
The Wisdom of the forging platform chose the right moments to sweep away all the residue that fell from the block. Shi Fen didn't need to worry about anything else. He only had to keep swinging the hammer, focusing on the forging.
Blow after heavy blow landed in turn. The block grew brighter and brighter, radiating more and more heat and light. It seemed to be "sweating" from the heat, as residue kept appearing on its surface and being shaken off.
Its shape remained unchanged, but its volume was gradually shrinking.
Shi Fen was using one of the most advanced forging techniques. With the Vibration Hammer, he didn't need to follow the usual steps. He could forge the pig iron directly to the "Star Sea Pattern" stage.
It saved a great deal of time.
When the pig iron shone like a "star," Shi Fen changed his forging method.
He began striking the block's eight corners one by one. As the block changed shape, its volume gradually shrank and its brightness dimmed.
Shi Fen focused on sensing the changes in the metal and listening to "its thoughts," swinging the hammer again and again without thinking.
The pig iron block gradually shrank.
It shrank by half.
It shrank to a quarter of its original size.
It shrank to a third of its original size.
It shrank to a tenth of its original size.
Shi Fen didn't yet know that the block of pig iron in front of him had already been compressed to one-ninth its original volume.
He was completely immersed in the forging. Following his instincts, he stared fixedly at the block of metal and swung the hammer without conscious thought.
The hammer fell, and the volume shrank to one ninety-third.
At last, the bottleneck that had troubled him was broken through.
But this wasn't his limit.
He kept swinging the hammer furiously.
It shrank to one-tenth its original volume.
It shrank to one-eleventh.
It shrank to one-twelfth.
With each strike, the block grew darker and smoother. Shi Fen seemed to be forging a solid metal sphere.
Shi Fen had completely given up on consciously guiding the process. He let go of himself entirely and allowed this strange sensation to control his body.
The forging now relied entirely on his unconscious hammer swings. At that moment, Shi Fen was like a bystander. His consciousness had completely "clocked out," and he didn't need to worry about the forging at all.
Shi Fen felt that this state was even more precious than compressing metal a hundredfold. He was now doing everything he could to remember it.
Once Shi Fen had completely entered this state,
the metal began compressing at an astonishing rate.
It shrank to one-twentieth its original volume.
It shrank to one-twenty-first.
It shrank to one-thirty-third.
When the metal's volume had been compressed to one-thirty-third, the block had become a perfect sphere.
The Vibration Hammer struck the sphere, but it no longer changed shape. No matter how it was struck, it remained a perfect sphere.
The sphere grew darker and darker, and its volume began shrinking faster.
It shrank to one-fortieth its original volume.
It shrank to one-fiftieth.
It shrank to one-sixtieth.
Until it had shrunk to one-hundredth.
Shi Fen abruptly stopped swinging the hammer. The arm holding it dropped limply at his side, without him realizing it.
The metal sphere had cooled completely, as though compressing its volume had consumed all its heat. It had turned pitch-black and sat quietly on the table, as if it had grown there.
Shi Fen's consciousness frantically tried to remember the sensation from before. He had fallen completely into a state of "enlightenment," his consciousness sealed off and his awareness of the outside world gone.
Shi Fen didn't know that he had completed the most difficult part of Extreme Forging: compressing the metal a hundredfold. Right in front of him was the "Hundred-Fold Iron" he had dreamed of.
But Shi Fen just stood there blankly, without reacting at all. His consciousness was completely immersed in his enlightenment... His mind was entirely absorbed in the forging process from before.
Shi Fen found himself in a strange place, repeating the forging process again and again, as if it would never end...
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