Unbelievable Forging

In a small grove by the sea in Eastsea City, a petite purple figure carried a large pile of leftover metal scraps to her temporary secret base.

She was Yao Lan's first clone, Herta, the one known as a "genius."

"Finally, he caught up."

Herta casually glanced behind her, a smile gradually appearing on her face. It seemed her preparations over the past few days had not been in vain.

While gathering information during this time, she had heard that a forging exchange competition would be held nearby, and that a grand craftsman would be attending.

Originally, Herta had planned to use some means to slip into the competing teams and perform an impressive forging on the field to attract that grand craftsman. Who would have thought she would hook such an unexpected big fish instead?

Mu Chen!

She had never expected to see this Eight-Star Saint Craftsman at such a small competition.

That instantly made Herta discard all her previous plans. Rather than making a minor splash among ordinary people with an excellent forging, she might as well steal the spotlight before this Saint Craftsman alone with a perfect forging!

Not only would that prevent the consequences of attracting too much attention and ensure her safety, it would also elevate her standing in Mu Chen's eyes. Killing two birds with one stone.

And to achieve that, Herta only had one thing left to do...

Spirit Refinement!

Before today, Herta had been a Soul Grandmaster who knew absolutely nothing about forging. Yet now, she could directly perform Spirit Refinement, something only a Fifth Level Grand Craftsman could accomplish. The reason behind it was heartwarming.

Thanks to the students from that forging exchange competition, Herta had gained a clear understanding of forging. Then, the grand craftsman who appeared at the end had further deepened her comprehension!

From knowing nothing to becoming a grand craftsman, Herta had needed only a three-hour forging exchange competition. In this world, she was an utterly terrifying genius!

Yet both Yao Lan and Herta were deeply dissatisfied with this, because it was not Herta's limit. Some faint, intangible restriction seemed to be wrapped around her, preventing Yao Lan from reaching the level of the original Herta...

And that restriction was Yao Lan himself!

Ultimately, Yao Lan's clone had not been created from thin air. It had truly been split off from his own body, so both her understanding and talent were affected by Yao Lan himself.

This kind of clone merely put a Herta skin over Yao Lan. Although it made his mind clearer and sharper, doing what Ms. Herta of Genius Society #83 could do in the original storyline seemed like a fool's dream.

But one should not forget that Yao Lan's abilities were not limited to cloning!

The current Herta clone did indeed have a massive gap compared to the original Herta, but that gap was not impossible to make up for. After all, the original Herta did not have the ability to call upon an Aeon for assistance.

Nous's phantom flashed over Herta's body, and immediately afterward, a gigantic hammer longer than she was tall appeared in her hands. It was precisely the weapon wielded by Herta's in-game model.

However, after taking hold of the hammer, Herta did not immediately begin. She slowly closed her eyes and carefully sensed the pile of metal materials before her.

"Simulation, begin."

When the mechanical voice sounded, figure after figure began to appear in Herta's mind. They were the figures of young men, and upon closer inspection, they were identical to the students who had participated in the earlier forging exchange competition!

"Hundred Refinement... Thousand Refinement..."

"Correction... enhancement..."

With Nous's support, Herta had forcibly raised herself to the standard of a Level Four Forging Master using the techniques of a group of Level One and Level Two Forging Masters.

But it was not over yet!

When the image of a middle-aged man appeared in her mind, Herta herself underwent a complete, all-around improvement. This was the effect brought by that Fifth Level Grand Craftsman.

Although he had only performed an unqualified Spirit Refinement, it was enough for Herta to advance another step!

Neither Yao Lan nor Herta had systematically studied any knowledge related to forging. Yet under Nous's simulation, Herta had, in just a few minutes, observed the forging methods in her memories, directly created her own forging technique, and even reached the level of a Fifth Level Grand Craftsman.

However, this was Herta's current limit.

The quality of the materials before her was ultimately limited. They were leftover scraps from the competition, and Herta herself had never seen higher-level forging methods. Spirit Refinement was already the limit of what she could achieve.

"Then let this Saint Craftsman who's been spying on me get a good look at my Spirit Refinement!"

Meanwhile, Mu Chen, who had been secretly watching, poked his head out. Ever since following this brown-haired little girl, he had felt that something was off. What was this little girl planning to do?

Mu Chen recognized all the metal she had been carrying earlier. Wasn't it just the leftover scraps from the competition? What could possibly be made from that trash?

As a Saint Craftsman, Mu Chen knew full well how important materials were. To forge outstanding metal, one had to use high-quality materials.

Although those scraps contained a tiny amount of decent material, no matter how they were forged, they could never surpass Thousand Refinement. There were simply too many kinds of metal mixed together, too varied and too impure. Forging them into high-grade metal would be even more difficult.

Even Mu Chen himself could, at best, forge them into high-quality Hundred Refinement metal. Going any further was impossible, because materials had that much of an impact.

So what would this girl do?

"Is that a hammer created by a soul skill? How is she supposed to forge with that?"

Most Forging Masters chose forging hammers that suited them. While strength was necessary, speed could not be overlooked either, because impurities had to be expelled from the metal at tremendous speed during forging. That hammer, taller than the girl herself, clearly did not meet the requirement of "speed."

To be honest, Mu Chen was already somewhat disappointed. He had initially thought this girl had some skill, since she could see that the earlier Spirit Refinement was flawed, but now...

"This girl should be a beginner. She probably just wanted to find some materials to practice with; otherwise, she couldn't possibly fail to see how useless this pile of materials is."

However, just as Mu Chen shook his head and prepared to leave, the girl's forging... began!

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

Rapid strikes rang out in a steady rhythm. Though the hammer was longer than the girl was tall, it moved as smoothly as a toy in her petite hands, even faster than the hammers of some Level Three and Level Four Forging Masters.

This utterly unbelievable sight made Mu Chen, an Eight-Star Saint Craftsman, widen his eyes. That scrap metal he had determined could never surpass Thousand Refinement had exceeded Thousand Refinement in the blink of an eye... How was that possible? And it even seemed as though a trace of spirituality was emerging from the metal.

Thousand Refinement with Spirit? A Level Four Forging Master?

"How is this possible? How old is she?"

Yet it was still not over. Just as Mu Chen was shocked by Herta's identity as a Level Four Forging Master, the hammer strikes became increasingly rapid.

"She actually intends to continue?"

But the next stage... was Spirit Refinement!

Countless people had remained stuck at the stage before Spirit Refinement for years. Some could not break through even in their entire lives, yet this girl...

She actually intended to use such chaotic scrap metal to forge the Spirit Refinement that had trapped countless people for a lifetime?

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