Level Six Grandmaster, Vice President Gains One

The so-called test room was, in fact, a forging room.

The forging level test naturally had to be conducted here.

The person conducting the assessment was none other than Mu Chen himself; there was no one in the entire Blacksmith Association more qualified than him.

"I am a few years your senior, so I hope you don't mind if I take the liberty of calling you Brother Long. May I ask what level of blacksmith qualification you wish to test for?"

Upon entering the forging room, Mu Chen seemed to become more talkative. He spoke while taking a pair of forging hammers from the side and handing them to Long Yuan.

"What level? I'm not sure myself." Long Yuan shook his head.

He had only watched the forging scenes of Tang Wulin and Mang Tian, relying on the power of his divine sense to memorize the process. As for what he could actually achieve, he truly did not know.

Long Yuan took the forging hammers. This was a pair of Thousand Refinement steel hammers; they were heavier than Tungsten Steel, yet still felt light as a feather in his hands. Still, they would barely suffice.

The first step of forging is the purification of metal.

Most raw metal materials available on the market were not of high purity. While they were sufficient for simple casting, a blacksmith pursuing excellence had to purify them; otherwise, it would be impossible to proceed with high-level forging such as Thousand Refinement or Soul Refinement.

Long Yuan selected a piece of Tungsten Steel and placed it on the heating furnace of the forging table.

Once the heating was complete, Long Yuan directly probed the Tungsten Steel in front of him with his divine sense.

Purification was a task that posed no difficulty for him at all.

He swung the forging hammer and struck the Tungsten Steel before him, then, with the speed of a thunderbolt, followed up with two more strikes.

Because the speed was so fast, to Mu Chen's ears, it sounded as if there had been only a single strike!

Mu Chen stared, dumbfounded, at the Tungsten Steel, which was now faintly glowing with fluorescence; it had shrunk by nearly a third.

Three strikes for Hundred Refinement!

That was right; these three strikes had not only completed the purification of the Tungsten Steel but had even finished the Hundred Refinement process!

Mu Chen asked himself, and he knew for certain that he could not have achieved this.

In an instant, the way he looked at Long Yuan changed. Such a genius deserved to join his Blacksmith Association.

Long Yuan sensed Mu Chen's burning gaze, but he pretended not to notice.

If it came to forging technique, he certainly couldn't hold a candle to Mu Chen, but his stats were simply too high!

Purification and Hundred Refinement were, in plain terms, the process of using hammer force to remove impurities from metal. Under the precise control of his divine sense, his immense strength was enough to complete this process in a single strike.

Of course, this was only because he had held back his strength; if he had let loose, he would have smashed right through the forging table.

Following that, Long Yuan precisely controlled his strikes to perform Thousand Refinement bit by bit. With the precise guidance of his divine sense, even though his speed wasn't as monstrous as before, it took him less than twenty minutes.

The light radiated outward—a top-grade Thousand Refinement.

Mu Chen's eyes widened.

After that came Soul Refinement, which was somewhat difficult, taking Long Yuan half an hour.

Long Yuan stopped swinging the forging hammer and wiped away his sweat; he didn't know how to proceed beyond this.

It wasn't that he couldn't learn, but rather that there was nowhere to learn it. Mang Tian was only a master craftsman, and he didn't know how to perform Soul Refinement either.

Mu Chen was at a loss for words; what had happened today had completely overturned his worldview.

This person had actually completed the Soul Refinement of a piece of Tungsten Steel in less than an hour. It was truly terrifying.

Compared to him, I'm the one who looks like a greenhorn, Mu Chen thought with a sense of sorrow.

"President Mu, does my forging technique meet your standards?"

Mu Chen gave a wry smile. "Oh, please don't mock me. In my opinion, you are likely still holding back."

Long Yuan shook his head. "I really am not. I truly don't know Soul Refinement."

"Heh, what's difficult about that? I know it. If you have any questions, you can come and ask me whenever I'm free."

Mu Chen thought for a moment and added, "How about this: as long as you are willing, you shall be the Vice President of our East Sea City Blacksmith Association!"

Long Yuan was somewhat surprised. "I am the Vice Tower Master of the East Sea City Spirit Pagoda. Is it appropriate for you to do this, President Mu?"

"Pah! In our Blacksmith Association, we respect strength above all else. With your formidable forging level, no one will have anything to say about you being a Vice President."

Long Yuan nodded. "Then I shall accept your offer."

Mu Chen was overjoyed and immediately took Long Yuan to his office, personally bringing out a token and a badge shaped like a hammer with a silver base and six purple stars.

Long Yuan accepted them gladly.

As he toyed with the token in his hand, a bold idea suddenly occurred to him.

Since his divine sense was so powerful, could he try to level up the other three sub-professions and secure positions in those as well?

That way, when he attended certain events in East Sea City in the future, he could introduce himself like this:

Standing before you now is the Vice Tower Master of the East Sea City Spirit Pagoda, the Vice President of the East Sea City Blacksmith Association, and the Vice President of the East Sea City Mecha Master Association—Long Yuan.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, he shook his head and extinguished the thought.

The situation in the Mecha Master Association was far more complex than in the Blacksmith Association. It was rife with factions, and the sub-professions alone included Mecha Designers, Mecha Manufacturers, and Mecha Repairers—not to mention the existence of Mecha Masters themselves.

In any case, it certainly wouldn't be as worry-free as the Blacksmith Association.

"Clang, clang, clang—"

A rapid knocking sounded from outside.

Before Mu Chen could speak, the door was pushed open with a "swish." Standing in the doorway was a young girl who looked to be thirteen or fourteen years old. She was tall and very beautiful, with a pair of large, bright, and spirited eyes. Her golden hair was tied into a ponytail, and her tight-fitting outfit made her look exceptionally sharp and agile.

Yun Xiaoling stood beside her with a helpless expression; it was clear she hadn't been able to stop this little ancestor.

Seeing that there was an outsider present, Mu Xi, who had been somewhat relaxed, immediately straightened up. Her entire temperament shifted, becoming elegant and refined.

"Sigh," Mu Chen said, covering his forehead with an apologetic expression. "This is my daughter, Mu Xi. Her mother and I have spoiled this girl rotten, and she lacks manners. Please don't take it to heart, Brother Long."

After saying this, he beckoned to Mu Xi. "Mu Xi, come here. Let me introduce you. This is your Uncle Long Yuan, the Vice Tower Master of the East Sea City Spirit Pagoda and the new Vice President I just recruited. Don't let his youth fool you; he is a Level 6 Blacksmith. If you have anything you don't understand in the future, feel free to ask him for guidance."

"Yes, Father, I understand."

Mu Xi replied calmly, but a massive storm was brewing in her heart.

A Level 6 Blacksmith! How could that be possible? Just how old was he?

However, seeing that her father did not appear to be lying, Mu Xi chose to believe him.

Long Yuan looked at the golden-haired, tsundere young lady before him and nodded. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

If he remembered correctly, in the original story, Mu Xi had given Tang Wulin quite a hard time because he had become a Level 2 Blacksmith at a younger age than her.

However, Long Yuan was not worried. The gap between Level 2 and Level 6 was a chasm, enough to ensure she wouldn't even be able to muster a shred of jealousy.

Long Yuan recalled that Mu Xi's martial soul was the Radiant Sun, right?

But unfortunately, in front of him, a mere Radiant Sun was nothing more than a firefly compared to the blazing sun.