Supplementing the System

"Alright, Ah Yi is right, you should rein in your impatience."

Beside him, Tie Futu, with his aged but profound eyes, glanced at Lou Gao and echoed Ling Yi's words, saying:

"You're already the president, yet you're still so impulsive. With you like this, who knows when something will get on your mind and you'll abandon the association altogether..."

Lou Gao, having been reprimanded by the Tie Futu, dared not argue back. He gave an embarrassed smile, picked up a piece of spiritual metal in front of him, and pretended to be studying it intently.

Tie Futu glared at Lou Gao, who didn't even look up, then turned to Ling Yi, who stood there calmly with a warm smile on his face, and said with a smile, "Ah Yi, we have now made preliminary progress in the theoretical system of ' Spirit Refinement ' and have turned it into practical results. In your opinion, what should be the next step?"

Although he just criticized Lou Gao, Tie Futu is also extremely concerned about the reform of the blacksmith system, no less so than Lou Gao.

Upon hearing this, Lou Gao stopped studying and immediately raised his head, looking intently at Ling Yi, waiting for his response.

In response, Ling Yi smiled slightly at their gazes, then turned his attention to the workbench between the three of them, looking at the twenty-six pieces of thirteen different types of spiritual metal. His clear voice said:

"Uncle-Master, Senior Brother, as you can see, the success of these thirteen spiritual metals means that after the original Hundred Refinement and Thousand Refinement, the ' Spirit Refinement ' level is indeed feasible."

"In terms of the strength of the metal itself, whether it is hardness, toughness, wear resistance, corrosion resistance... it has not only reached a new level in the current forging results, but it can also perfectly enable the transmission and amplification of Soul Power."

Most importantly, that spark of spirituality allows it to exert an effect comparable to Martial Soul in the hands of Soul Master of the corresponding attribute!

"Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, Wind, Thunder, Ice, Poison, Light, Heavy."

"Uncle-Master, Senior Brother~" Ling Yi's gaze swept over the thirteen different colored metal blocks on the table, and he couldn't help but exclaim in amazement, "It's hard to imagine that you actually managed to develop these thirteen different properties! In the forging process, you not only preserved the properties of the metals themselves, but also amplified and activated them! I originally thought..."

Ling Yi originally thought that if Lou Gao and the other person could thoroughly understand the "Heavy Dark Steel" theory he sent, and then develop three or five different types of spiritual metal techniques based on this case, it would be a great success!

To his surprise, these two delivered an unexpected and explosive result.

In a very short time, Ling Yi mastered all the research results of Lou Gao and Tie Futu, astonishing the master and apprentice. Little did they know that the fruitful results and corresponding detailed theories presented by the master and apprentice also astonished Ling Yi.

After a pause, Ling Yi continued under the expectant gazes of the two pairs of people, "As the saying goes, what the superiors do, the inferiors will follow. Change must begin with ourselves."

"Start with ourselves?" Lou Gao repeated, a subtle stirring within him, and pressed, "What do you mean?"

Ling Yi didn't keep him in suspense and answered directly, "In the current Douluo Continent, the blacksmith levels, from low to high, not counting apprentices, start from novice blacksmith, intermediate blacksmith, advanced blacksmith, Master Blacksmith Blacksmith, Grandmaster Blacksmith, and finally, you, my uncle and senior brother, are Divine Craftsman."

"Mastering the art of Hundred Refinement is enough to be considered a high-level blacksmith. But mastering the Blacksmith Thousand Refinement is the dividing line between true blacksmiths!"

"There are over 100,000 blacksmiths on the Douluo Continent! But fewer than 1,000 can become Blacksmith!"

"The ratio is less than one in a hundred!" Ling Yi shook his head, his face showing some regret. "Because of the current Douluo Continent's philosophy that 'all other professions are inferior, only Soul Master are superior,' almost all promising talents don't focus their energy on forging. As a result, it's difficult to find even one Blacksmith out of a hundred, let alone Master Blacksmith or Grandmaster Blacksmith..."

Is forging difficult?

It's difficult, but not that difficult either.

Becoming Divine Craftsman may require a significant threshold and a great deal of talent, but successfully forging metal to the Thousand Refinement level is not difficult for many powerful Soul Master, as long as they spend a certain amount of time and effort.

"Why are Soul Master so sought after?" Ling Yi: "Strength is the most important factor."

"In the end, the strong rule the world, and only the strong can possess everything."

"This is also a kind of 'what the superiors do, the subordinates follow' phenomenon. What everyone pursues is not only the glory of the Soul Master profession, but also the strength after becoming Soul Master, and the wealth and power that come with it!"

"Given the current size of our Blacksmith Association, neither wealth, power, nor strength can satisfy them."

Even if the Blacksmith Association is developed and can provide wealth and power, without sufficient strength to protect it, it will still be like a flower in a mirror or the moon's reflection in water, and may even attract the covetousness of outsiders...

"Therefore, what we need to do now is not to launch the ' Spirit Refinement ' system, but to treat ' Spirit Refinement ' as a gateway for a blacksmith to become a Divine Craftsman, and to use the same evaluation criteria as forging and metal alloy formulas."

"Determining this starting point is very important!"

"Based on the current understanding of the Douluo Continent, our actions only increase the difficulty of becoming Divine Craftsman, rather than allowing the blacksmith, a 'commoner,' to Battle Soul Master, a 'noble.'"

At this point, Ling Yi stopped, because Lou Gao and Tie Futu both had the same bewildered expression on their faces.

Clearly, even the over-eighty-year-old Tie Futu was somewhat bewildered by Ling Yi's words, let alone Lou Gao.

Shaking his head, Ling Yi looked up at the Lou Gao and asked, "Senior brother, do you remember the question I asked you before?"

Lou Gao looked completely bewildered. "Huh?"

"Back at the Cold Wind Grand Camp," Ling Yi continued, "I asked you whether you wanted to elevate the status of the blacksmith profession, or the status of every blacksmith. You told me then that you hoped the identity of a blacksmith would no longer be despised and looked down upon by Soul Master..."

Hearing this, Lou Gao nodded quickly and said, "That's right! Although I am now the president of the Blacksmith Association, I dare not expect every blacksmith to be respected by everyone, not even Soul Master can achieve that..."

"That's right." Ling Yi nodded and said, "Therefore, we need to be clear about one concept: our reformed blacksmithing profession is not intended to become another system outside of Soul Master, much less to shake the status of Soul Master on the Douluo Continent!"

"The transformed blacksmith will not become an appendage of Soul Master, nor will it replace Soul Master position. Like the Food System and Healing System Soul Masters, it will be a supplement to the Soul Master Soul Master system, a part of it!"