The Man Called Lou Gao
In the Cold Wind Grand Camp, in the forging area of the military industrial camp.
Ling Yi stood in front of a huge workbench, his expression solemn and his eyes serious, meticulously assembling the parts on the workbench.
One after another, dark gold metal scales are joined together by snaps and mortise-and-tenon joints.
Shoulder capes, armor body, leg skirts, falcon tail, helmet... one by one, the parts took shape in Ling Yi's hands. When these parts were placed in their corresponding positions, a full set of armor full of oriental fantasy style gradually took shape.
This is a set of full metal armor similar to the Song Dynasty infantry armor in Ling Yi's previous life. The overall design draws inspiration from the classical aesthetics of handsome men and dashing women in some TV dramas from his previous life, with dark gold as the main color and red and black patterns as the secondary colors.
Beneath its art-like appearance lies a powerful defensive capability.
Ling Yi can confidently tell Jiang Yuan, who is about to wear this armor, that once he puts on this "Thousand Scale Armor," attacks from ordinary Power Attack System Soul Master below the Third Soul Skill can be ignored.
Even for Power Attack System Soul Master's Third Soul Skill, this all-metal "Thousand Scale Armor" can withstand more than three frontal attacks!
The 1,825 armor plates are all made of an alloy of various rare metals, which Ling Yi then Ling Yi. In terms of toughness alone, even an ordinary Grand Soul Master wielding a weapon forged to Five Hundred Refinement could only leave a shallow mark on these armor plates, the kind of mark that can be wiped away with a single touch.
In December of the 2604th year of the Douluo Calendar, it was another cold winter month. More than half a year had passed since Lou Gao came to the Northern Cold Wind Grand Camp of the [Water Wood Duchy].
Seven months ago, Lou Gao initially only intended to pass on the complete "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" to Ling Yi, to fulfill his teacher Tie Futu's entrustment and to complete the remembrance between his teacher and his senior brother who had not seen each other for decades.
However, during the teaching process, Lou Gao discovered that Ling Yi was indeed a super genius in forging, just as his senior master, Grandpa Jin Gang, had said!
Therefore, in order not to bury such a rare natural blacksmith, Lou Gao decided to put in some effort to guide this "junior brother".
Lou Gao never expected that what happened next would be like a wild horse breaking free of its reins, completely exceeding his expectations and slipping out of his control.
Genius! A true genius!!
This is Lou Gao's assessment of Ling Yi after spending less than three days together.
On their first day together, Lou Gao demonstrated the complete "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" to Ling Yi, including all eighty-one moves.
Then, after Ling Yi had asked Lou Gao about each move as he disassembled and practiced them one by one, he immediately demonstrated the eighty-one moves of the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" on the spot!
Although the later movements were a bit stiff, and the power transfer in some places was a bit immature.
But!
He actually learned the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique," which had stumped tens of thousands of blacksmiths on the Douluo Continent, after only reading it once and asking about it once?!
The first day passed in a daze high up in the Lou Gao, with Ling Yi pondering and practicing the entire "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique".
The next morning, after Lou Gao inquired with the guards at the military industrial camp and rushed to the forging area, he saw Ling Yi wielding his perfectly round forging hammer.
The "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique"—you've mastered it already?!
However, when Lou Gao asked this question, he received the following answer from Ling Yi:
"Beginner, first glimpse, mastery, slight progress, comprehensive understanding, consummate skill, pinnacle, return to simplicity!"
"At most, I can only be considered to have achieved some minor success. I am still far from the great mastery of the art. As for the perfect state of consummate skill, and the later states of reaching the pinnacle and returning to simplicity, I am even further away from those."
At that time, Lou Gao was in a state of confusion.
What... what are all these things?
It's just a set of "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique," why are there so many intricacies?
No matter how chaotic Lou Gao's mind was, Ling Yi continued to practice the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" on his own. By constantly forging metal materials, he tried to understand the power flow of each hammer blow. The rebound force of each strike on the metal had subtle differences, all of which were reflected in Ling Yi's mind. This made him more and more proficient with the forging hammer in his hand, and he eagerly absorbed the principles and effects of each hammer blow.
As Ling Yi wielded the 81 moves of the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique," he seemed to transform into a high-speed spinning top, becoming a unique sight in the forging area.
It must be said that the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique" truly lives up to its reputation as the blacksmith's most powerful forging technique for removing impurities from metal. Ling Yi, who mastered the complete set of eighty-one hammering techniques, improved his ability to forge metal materials from six hundred and twenty-five to seven hundred and ninety in just one day!
Just one step away from reaching the level of 800 forgings. And a giant leap towards the Thousand Refinement- Blacksmith!
When he was tired and needed to rest after practicing the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique", Ling Yi would use the "Soul Skill - Abundant Vitality" to slowly recover his strength. He would then walk to a huge workbench in the forging area and begin to study the metal ingots that were similar or different in size, color and shape.
The second requirement for Blacksmith is to forge metal alloys that can withstand Thousand Refinement forging hammer blows, enhancing rather than weakening the material's properties.
The hard becomes harder, the tough becomes tougher, or a balance of both...
This involves the melting points of different metals, the reactions when the temperature exceeds or falls below the standard, the properties between different metals, whether they are complementary or cancel each other out... Many variables that need to be considered are the thresholds that stand in the way of a master blacksmith.
Of course, nowadays, the Douluo Continent has metal formulas that have been explored by predecessors, which has greatly reduced the difficulty of the second step of smelting metal alloys.
Almost all skilled blacksmiths, if they sincerely seek instruction, will learn one or two alloy formulas published by the Blacksmith Association.
Once they learn the recipe, they only need to master it, practice, observe, and eventually become proficient in controlling all the details to overcome one of the hurdles to becoming Blacksmith.
Unfortunately, even with this "low barrier to entry" of having the recipe in hand, it still stumped more than 70% of skilled blacksmiths.
The smelting of different metals also requires talent.
Just like chefs, even with the same ingredients, seasonings, and stoves and utensils, the dishes cooked by different chefs can be worlds apart!
Fortunately, Ling Yi is a talented chef who can accurately control the combination of ingredients, the amount of seasonings, and the intensity of the heat. The dishes he cooks, although they don't shine, perfectly achieve the best results recorded in the recipe!
Lou Gao is currently one of the most authoritative figures in metal research on the Douluo Continent.
Furthermore, Ling Yi, who possesses memories of the original timeline of the current world from his previous life, knows that the word "one of" can be removed.
Leaving aside Tie Futu, the Weiyi Divine Craftsman in the Douluo Continent at present, whom Ling Yi is unfamiliar with, let's look at the three Divine Craftsman in the original work: Tang Hao, Tai Tan, and Lou Gao.
Tang Hao is Titled Douluo, Tai Tan is Soul Douluo, and Lou Gao is Soul Saint. Tang Hao, the strongest, is the youngest, while Lou Gao, the weakest, is actually a few years older than Tai Tan.
Tai Tan once told Tang San, "Lou Gao is the president of the Blacksmith Association; calling him the King of Divine Craftsman wouldn't be wrong. With your father retired, in the field of forging, we're evenly matched. I'm better at refining and forging various metals, while he excels in more delicate techniques."