"Good, then I'll use sinking silver." Su Chen barely hesitated before extending his small hand and pointing directly at the chunk of sinking silver.
The burly old man froze.
Choosing sinking silver—did this kid really not know any better, or was he recklessly bold?
"Kid, sinking silver isn't something to fool around with. It requires tremendous strength, and purifying it is difficult..."
Before the burly old man could finish, Su Chen had already stepped forward. He reached out with his right hand, spread his fingers, and gently gripped the edge of the sinking silver, lifting it with ease and casually turning it over in his hand.
"Hiss—!"
The burly old man sucked in a sharp breath, his eyes widening instantly.
"What terrifying strength! This is three hundred kilograms of sinking silver. Is this kid a Ferocious Beast in human form???"
The burly old man was completely dumbstruck.
Su Chen weighed it in his hand a few times, feeling that the sinking silver's density and heft were indeed exactly as advertised.
He casually set the ingot down on the anvil in the middle of the forging table.
Just then, he seemed to remember something and turned to the examiner, asking in a perfectly natural tone, "By the way, do you have any forging hammers here? I didn't bring one."
"You didn't bring a hammer!"
The burly old man was utterly bewildered. "You're taking the exam without your own hammer?"
A forging hammer was a blacksmith's hands and feet, an extension of the body.
Every blacksmith had at least one forging hammer they were accustomed to using.
Taking an exam without a hammer was as absurd as a soldier going to war without a gun!
Did this kid know anything about forging?
Was he really here to take the exam, and not just to cause trouble?
The burly old man felt his blood pressure rising.
Su Chen looked at him innocently, his expression as if to say: Is it really that strange not to bring a hammer?
After freezing for a moment, the old man pointed at the rack beside them. "There are standard hammers here. See which one feels right."
Su Chen glanced over. The hammers on the rack were all standard forging hammers, weighing anywhere from ten to three hundred kilograms.
Without the slightest hesitation, Su Chen chose the heaviest one: a three-hundred-kilogram Sinking Silver Hammer.
"This kid... is he even human..."
The old man was completely numb by now.
"Begin!"
He took a deep breath and pressed the timer beside him.
Su Chen nodded and said nothing more.
Without wasting any time, Su Chen placed the sinking silver on the forging table and adjusted the temperature to heat it.
Half a minute later.
Su Chen hefted the great hammer and immediately began pounding.
The ideal forging temperature range for sinking silver was narrow. If the temperature was too high, its internal structure would be damaged and it would become brittle.
If the temperature was too low, it would be difficult to shape, and forcing it under the hammer could make it crack.
Su Chen paid none of that any mind. When it felt about right, he raised the hammer and got to work.
"Boom! Boom! Boom—"
A series of deafening crashes suddenly erupted through the forging room.
The thunderous sound pounded their eardrums, and the entire forging table seemed to shudder.
Sparks burst from the hammer striking the anvil like fireworks, scattering in every direction.
No technique, just stats.
"This technique!! Kid, have you ever even studied forging? What kind of lousy technique is this!"
The old examiner finally couldn't hold back and started tearing into him.
Su Chen was a complete beginner! He had no technique whatsoever. It was absurd—utterly absurd!!
The old man was so furious that his hands trembled. This wasn't forging; it was smashing metal!
No, even smashing metal had more method to it. This was the work of a complete layman!
"You can't work sinking silver like that! You're wasting a treasure!!"
The old man shouted in anguish. He could already picture the precious sinking silver being battered into a heap of scrap by that brute force.
"Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!"
The terrifying blows were the only answer the old man got!
Other blacksmiths forcibly purified the metal and shaped it into whatever they wanted.
But Su Chen had Metal Affinity. He only needed to hammer the metal casually, and it would turn into whatever shape he wanted.
As Su Chen hammered away, the sinking silver visibly shrank. Its impurities were steadily removed, and it was clearly becoming purer.
"No... th-that's not right!!! The sinking silver hasn't cracked. It's even been purified! That's impossible!!"
The old man's eyes nearly bulged out of his head.
With such crude technique and such terrifying strength, the sinking silver should have been beaten into scrap iron.
And yet, the sinking silver really was being purified. It completely overturned his understanding of the world.
Meanwhile.
Outside the Examination Room.
Mu Chen, Mu Xi, Cen Yue, and quite a few staff members hurried over.
"A genius who came to take the blacksmith exam at seven? Where did they find him?" Mu Chen asked, his hands behind his back and curiosity in his voice.
"Seven... I don't believe it. Either they're lying about their age, or they came here to cause trouble!" Mu Xi huffed indignantly.
She was nine this year and had worked incredibly hard just to barely become a Level 1 Blacksmith.
If the other person could become a Level 1 Blacksmith at seven, wouldn't that make her, a nine-year-old Level 1 Blacksmith, look completely useless?
She refused to believe that such a monster existed in this world!
"Boom! Boom! Boom—"
They had only just approached when they heard hammering coming from the forging room. It was faint, but perfectly clear.
Mu Chen and Mu Xi both furrowed their brows.
"Which examination room is that candidate in? With technique that dreadful, they still dare to take the exam!" Mu Chen said coldly.
It was like a calligraphy master seeing a pile of messy scribbles. It was as revolting as looking at dog shit.
This was a complete insult to the Blacksmith Association!
"Uh... I think that room belongs to the seven-year-old kid..." one of the staff members said quietly.
"Hmph! I thought it was some kind of genius. Turns out he's an idiot!" Mu Xi scoffed at once, the weight on her heart lifting.
A seven-year-old Level 1 Blacksmith—she'd almost believed it. What a false alarm! The other person was just a useless fraud!
"Come on. Let's take a look."
Mu Chen quickened his pace, clearly annoyed.
This damn kid was absolutely here to cause trouble!
The group soon reached Su Chen's forging room and used an access card to enter directly.
"President, Master Cen, Miss Mu Xi, what brings you here!"
Seeing Mu Chen and the others, the old examiner hurriedly bowed in greeting.
"What's going on? Does this kid even know how to forge?" Mu Chen asked with a frown.
"Uh, President, why don't you take a closer look?"
The old man cautiously pointed at the sinking silver beneath Su Chen's hammer.
By then, Su Chen had also stopped forging. He felt that this round was already over.
Mu Xi and Mu Chen turned their gazes over at the same time, looking at the chunk of sinking silver on the forging table.
Then everyone's eyes suddenly narrowed.
What were they looking at?
The chunk of sinking silver lay quietly on the forging table.
Its shape was irregular, but its surface was covered in patterns.
They weren't cracks from being smashed. They were Hundred-Refinement Patterns!
Hundred-Refinement Patterns!
They formed naturally on the metal's surface after it had been repeatedly folded and hammered, its internal structure compressed to the utmost and its impurities effectively removed!
They were the clearest sign that a forging technique had reached the Hundred-Refinement level!
And these patterns... were superior Hundred-Refinement Patterns!
They meant that every impurity had been removed from the sinking silver, leaving it completely purified!
"Th-this... how is this possible?!!"
Mu Chen stared fixedly at Su Chen, as if he were looking at a monster.
This was superior Hundred-Refinement!
It meant that this chunk of sinking silver had the potential to reach Thousand-Refinement, or even Spirit-Refinement, with one hundred percent certainty!
Mu Chen felt as if a bolt of lightning had struck him out of a clear sky.
With such dreadful technique, he had still produced superior Hundred-Refinement!
It was like throwing the finest ingredients into a battered iron pot, tossing everything together in a chaotic stew, and somehow producing the world's finest cuisine!
He felt that the forging skills he'd spent decades mastering had all gone to the dogs. Su Chen's technique had completely overturned his understanding of the world!
"President, take another look at the time..."
The burly old man pointed at the timer.
Everyone looked and saw that only five minutes had passed on the countdown.
"Impossible!! Superior Hundred-Refinement in five minutes! Is this kid even human? Is he really only seven?!"
No matter how strong Mu Chen's composure was, no matter how much he'd seen of the world, his expression changed at that moment.
The other blacksmiths who had followed them were just as shocked. Their mouths hung open, and not a word came out.
"Boom—"
As everyone stood there in shock, Su Chen hefted the hammer again and continued forging.
Clearly, Su Chen intended to take this chunk of sinking silver through Thousand-Refinement!
Before you continue