The Forging Prodigy

As expected, no sooner had Long Yuan stepped out of the awakening room than the Spirit Master regained consciousness.

"Damn it, what happened to me? My head hurts so much." The Spirit Master clutched his head, but upon seeing Na'er watching him, he immediately pretended that nothing was wrong.

"The martial soul awakening ceremony is over. Quickly, take a look at your martial soul."

His memory was still stuck at the moment he activated the Soul Guidance Array, and since the array had now stopped running, he subconsciously assumed the awakening ceremony had concluded.

Na'er held out both hands to check, but there was no soul mark representing a martial soul on either of them.

"Um, I don't think I awakened a martial soul."

"What? No martial soul!"

The Spirit Master could no longer concern himself with his headache or maintaining a dignified demeanor.

He grabbed an instrument and hurried to Na'er's side, signaling for her to place her hand on it.

Yet, after a series of checks, the Spirit Master eventually gave up.

Every test indicated that this little girl possessed neither a martial soul nor soul power.

He had intended to restart the Soul Guidance Array to try again, but once activated, the array had no further effect on her whatsoever.

In other words, Na'er truly did not have a martial soul.

"Forget it, you can head out now."

Na'er nodded obediently and left the room quietly.

After she left, the Spirit Master paced the room, deeply puzzled, pondering why such a situation—one he had never encountered before—had occurred.

Of course, this situation was not unique, but it was certainly rare; it was generally only mentioned in large-scale statistical reports, which were not something a common Spirit Master like him could access.

Seeing Na'er emerge, Tang Ziran and the others hurried to greet her.

"How did it go, Na'er? What martial soul did you awaken?"

Na'er twisted the hem of her skirt with her fingers and replied in a low voice, "The Spirit Master said I didn't awaken a martial soul."

"No martial soul..." Tang Ziran was silent for a moment before taking her hand and comforting her, "Not having a martial soul is fine, too. At least you can live a stable life as an ordinary person. In this society, it's not as if ordinary people can't get by."

Tang Wulin felt a bit disappointed; after all, in his view, not having a martial soul was a great pity.

"It's alright, let's head back first. You've been out for so long, you must be hungry. I'll make you a big meal when we get home," Lang Yue suggested first.

Na'er rubbed her hungry stomach and whispered, "Okay."

After lunch, Tang Wulin returned to his room to cultivate.

Over the past year, his soul power had improved rapidly, reaching level six. In at most another year, he would reach level ten.

This was a full year ahead of the original timeline, thanks not only to the higher-tier breathing technique Long Yuan had given him but also to the essence of the Golden Dragon King that he occasionally released for Tang Wulin to absorb.

However, the biggest problem was that because his soul power was rising too quickly, Tang Wulin's ability to earn money had not kept pace. At least in the short term, he could not save up the 30,000 Federal Coins required to draw a random spirit soul.

Still, with another year to go, he could only take things one step at a time.

Tang Ziran and Lang Yue left the house together without mentioning where they were going.

Na'er was the only one left in the living room, watching television.

But she was clearly distracted, and the programs on the screen failed to pique her interest in the slightest.

"What are you daydreaming about?"

A familiar voice rang in her ear, and the next moment, Na'er felt herself being picked up.

She turned her head to look at that familiar face, sitting quietly without the slightest struggle.

"I don't know..."

"Alright, since you don't have anything to do, shall we chat?"

"Okay."

"Oh? Don't you have anything you want to ask?" Long Yuan raised an eyebrow.

"Is there something I should ask?"

"...Asking nothing is fine, too."

In truth, Long Yuan didn't know what to talk about either; after all, Na'er was just a child who had lost her memory and was instinctively drawn to him.

Of course, it was the same for Long Yuan.

Now, in the absence of any outside interference, being in such close contact again, Long Yuan felt as if he had developed some kind of instinctive... craving?

He had never felt this way before; it was only this morning, after Na'er awakened her martial soul, that this sensation had emerged.

Could this be the attraction between the bloodlines of the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings?

"How do you feel about living in this home? Have you ever thought about recovering your lost memories?"

"I think living like this is quite nice. As for recovering my memories, perhaps they will return naturally when the time is right."

Na'er thought for a moment before answering.

This intuition was quite accurate; according to the original work, if no variables occurred, her memories would be completely restored in another two years, after which she would contact Di Tian and the others to come and take her away.

Following this, Long Yuan chatted with Na'er about many aspects of daily life, especially about which places had the best food, as told by Na'er.

It was not until Long Yuan's divine sense perceived that Tang Ziran and his wife had returned that the two of them said their goodbyes.

"Wulin? Are you still cultivating?"

Hearing someone call him, Tang Wulin immediately stopped his cultivation.

"Dad? I'm here, I'm coming out right now!"

As he spoke, Tang Wulin put on his shoes and walked out of his room.

"Wulin, we ran into your Uncle Mang Tian on the way back. He said if you have time now, you should head to his workshop early, so you should go quickly."

Although he did not know what had happened, Tang Wulin still packed up and set off.

The two-hour time slot he spent forging every day was fixed, and there were still two hours left before the scheduled time.

"Yo, Wulin, you're here early today." A tall young man in his twenties stopped the forging hammer in his hand, wiping away sweat as he greeted Tang Wulin.

"Brother Long, Uncle Mang Tian asked me to come, though I don't know what for."

"I see. Teacher is in his office right now, go find him yourself."

"Alright."

Mang Tian's workshop was called a workshop, but in reality, there were only three people: Mang Tian and his direct disciple, Brother Long.

Tang Wulin himself was just a handyman; Mang Tian generally taught him personally once a week, and for the rest of the time, he mostly just assigned him tasks to tinker with on his own.

"Knock, knock."

"Uncle Mang Tian, it's Tang Wulin. Are you in?" Tang Wulin knocked on the door and asked politely.

"Just come in."

Pushing the door open, the first thing one could see upon entering was the muscular Mang Tian.

"Uncle Mang Tian, did you need me for something?"

"Wulin, you've been here for a year now, haven't you?"

Looking at the child before him who still seemed somewhat immature, Mang Tian's eyes were full of emotion.

Originally, he had only taken the child in due to his friendship with Tang Ziran.

Later, upon discovering the boy's innate supernatural strength, he began to cherish his talent.

When he first started learning to forge, he had originally planned for Tang Wulin to strike iron blocks for three months to familiarize himself with various striking and force-application techniques.

However, he learned very quickly, and it only took him two and a half months to master the various techniques he had taught him to perfection.

Later, it took him only another two and a half months to learn simple metal refinement, and following that, he spent seven months learning the forging of small parts, which he was now also very proficient in.

He truly is a natural-born forging prodigy, Mang Tian sighed to himself.

"I asked you here today because I want to teach you some real skills."

"Real... skills?"