The so-called testing room was really just a Forging Room.
The Blacksmith Association's rank tests were, of course, held here.
Mu Chen himself was the examiner. There was no one in the entire Blacksmith Association more qualified than him.
"I'm a little older than you, so I'll presume to call you Brother Long. What level of blacksmith qualification would you like to test for?"
Once they entered the Forging Room, Mu Chen seemed to have more to say. He took a pair of forging hammers from the side and handed them to Long Yuan as he spoke.
"What level? I don't know either." Long Yuan shook his head.
He had only watched Tang Wulin and Mang Tian forge. He had memorized the process with the power of his divine sense, but as for how far he could go, he truly had no idea.
Long Yuan took the forging hammers. They were a pair of Thousand Refinement steel hammers, heavier than the tungsten steel ones, but still feather-light in his hands. They would do, at least.
The first step in forging was purifying the metal.
Most of the raw metals sold on the market weren't very pure. They were good enough for casting, but for blacksmiths who were striving to improve, purification was essential. Otherwise, they couldn't proceed to higher-level forging techniques like Thousand Refinement and Spirit Refinement.
Long Yuan picked out a piece of tungsten steel and placed it on the heating furnace atop the forging table.
Once it had heated, Long Yuan immediately examined the tungsten steel in front of him with his divine sense.
Purifying it was no challenge for him at all.
He swung the forging hammer and struck the tungsten steel in front of him once, then brought it down twice more, as fast as lightning.
The blows came so quickly that Mu Chen almost heard them as a single sound!
Mu Chen stared, dumbfounded, at the tungsten steel before him, which glimmered faintly. It had already shrunk by nearly a third.
Three strikes, Hundred Refinement!
That was right. Those three strikes had not only purified the tungsten steel, but had also completed Hundred Refinement!
Mu Chen asked himself honestly: he couldn't have done that, even if he'd tried.
In an instant, the way he looked at Long Yuan changed. A genius like this belonged in the Blacksmith Association!
Long Yuan felt Mu Chen's scorching gaze, but pretended not to notice.
When it came to forging skill, he was nowhere near Mu Chen's level. But his stats were off the charts!
Purification and Hundred Refinement were, in essence, processes of using the hammer's force to drive impurities out of metal. With his divine sense controlling every movement precisely, his immense strength was enough to complete the process in a single strike.
Of course, he was still holding back. If he'd really let loose, he would have smashed straight through the forging table.
Next, Long Yuan controlled his blows with precision and gradually carried out Thousand Refinement. With his divine sense guiding every movement, it took him less than twenty minutes, even at a more reasonable pace.
Radiance burst forth: Thousand Refinement First Grade.
Mu Chen's eyes nearly popped out of his head.
After that came Spirit Refinement. This one proved a little difficult, and it took Long Yuan half an hour.
Long Yuan stopped swinging the forging hammer and wiped away his sweat. He couldn't go any further.
It wasn't that he couldn't learn it; he simply had nowhere to learn it. Mang Tian was only a Grandmaster and didn't know Soul Refinement or anything beyond it.
Mu Chen didn't know what to say. What had happened today had completely upended his worldview.
This man had completed Spirit Refinement on a piece of tungsten steel in less than an hour. He was truly terrifying.
Compared to him, I'm the rookie here, Mu Chen thought miserably.
"President Mu, what do you think? Is my forging skill up to your standards?"
Mu Chen gave a wry smile. "Oh, don't make me sound like an expert. If you ask me, you're still holding back."
Long Yuan shook his head. "I really am not. I honestly don't know Soul Refinement."
"Heh, what's so hard about that? I know how. If there's anything you want to ask, just come to me whenever I'm free."
Mu Chen thought for a moment, then added, "How about this: if you're willing, you can be the vice president of the Eastsea City Blacksmith Association!"
Long Yuan looked surprised. "I'm the Vice Tower Master of the Spirit Pagoda in Eastsea City. Wouldn't that be inappropriate, President Mu?"
"Come on, our Blacksmith Association values strength above all. Your forging skills are so impressive that no one could object to you becoming vice president."
Long Yuan nodded. "Then I'll accept."
Mu Chen was delighted. He immediately took Long Yuan to his office, where he personally brought out a plaque and a silver-backed, hammer-shaped badge adorned with six purple stars.
Long Yuan accepted them gladly.
As he toyed with the plaque in his hand, a bold idea suddenly occurred to him.
Since his divine sense was so powerful, could he try leveling up in the other three subsidiary professions and secure another position for himself?
Then, whenever he attended certain events in Eastsea City, he could introduce himself like this:
The person standing before you is the Vice Tower Master of the Eastsea City Spirit Pagoda, Vice President of the Eastsea City Blacksmith Association, and Vice President of the Eastsea City Mecha Master Association—Long Yuan!
But after thinking it over, he shook his head and let the idea go.
The Mecha Master Association was far more complicated than the Blacksmith Association. It was riddled with factions, and even the subsidiary professions alone included Mecha Designers, Mecha Manufacturers, and Mecha Repairers—not to mention the Mecha Masters themselves.
It was definitely more trouble than the Blacksmith Association.
"Knock, knock, knock—"
A rapid knock sounded from outside.
Before Mu Chen could say anything, the door was flung open. A young girl stood in the doorway, looking about thirteen or fourteen. She was tall and slender, with strikingly pretty features and bright, lively eyes. Her golden hair was tied in a ponytail, and her fitted outfit gave her a sharp, capable look.
Yun Xiaoling stood beside her, looking helpless. Clearly, she hadn't been able to stop this little tyrant.
When she saw there were outsiders present, Mu Xi immediately straightened up. The air of casualness vanished from her, replaced by an elegant bearing.
"Sigh." Mu Chen covered his forehead and said apologetically, "This is my daughter, Mu Xi. Her mother and I have spoiled her, so she's forgotten her manners. Don't take it to heart, Brother Long."
Then he beckoned Mu Xi over. "Mu Xi, come here. Let me introduce you. This is your Uncle Long Yuan, the Vice Tower Master of the Eastsea City Spirit Pagoda, and the vice president I just recruited. Don't be fooled by how young he looks—he's a Level 6 Blacksmith. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask him."
"Yes, Father. I understand."
Mu Xi answered calmly, but inside, a storm was raging.
A Level 6 Blacksmith! How was that possible? How old was he?
But seeing that her father didn't seem to be joking, Mu Xi chose to believe him.
Long Yuan looked at the golden-haired, arrogant young lady before him and nodded as well. "It's nice to meet you."
If he remembered correctly, in the original story, Mu Xi had given Tang Wulin a hard time for quite a while because he'd become a Level 2 Blacksmith before her despite being younger.
But Long Yuan wasn't worried. The gap between Level 2 and Level 6 was a chasm, enough to leave her with not the slightest trace of jealousy.
Long Yuan thought back. Mu Xi's Martial Soul was Radiant Sun, wasn't it?
Unfortunately for her, before him, a mere Radiant Sun was nothing more than a firefly beside the blazing sun.