First Gestation

The next day, Tianhai First Hospital.

Liu Tianran walked through the hospital alone. As the son of Tianhai First Hospital's vice director, he had often been brought here by his mother since childhood.

Thus, the doctors and nurses were accustomed to seeing him. But this time, Liu Tianran had come for another purpose.

After avoiding all surveillance cameras and everyone's line of sight, Liu Tianran arrived at the hospital morgue. Since the Black Market Explosion a week ago, a pile of unclaimed corpses had been stored here. They were said to be scheduled for cremation and disposal tomorrow, which was precisely why Liu Tianran had come.

Looking at the mangled, bloodied corpses, Liu Tianran silently activated his Sea of Consciousness Space and began collecting their Soul Power, spiritual power, and memory fragments, hoping to find a suitable target for a clone.

The Soul Masters among these corpses were not particularly strong, but there were still several Soul Elders among them. Liu Tianran selected a suitable target.

This person was named Li Ziming. He was fifteen years old, possessed the Crimson Flame Hammer Martial Soul, was a level 32 Soul Elder with three yellow Soul Rings, and his father had once been a level-four forging master. His family had also possessed some modest savings.

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Ever since his parents had both died in an accident six years ago, he had lived alone. Relying on the inheritance his parents left behind, he had supported himself until reaching the Soul Elder rank.

His talent as a Soul Master could be considered genius-level among commoners. As for his secondary profession, perhaps influenced by his father, he had chosen to follow in his father's footsteps and become a forging master as well.

However, his talent for forging was truly nothing exceptional. Having studied since childhood, after ten years of forging training, he was still only a level-two forging master.

He had kept a relatively low profile within the Forging Masters Association. He had officially become a level-two forging master two years ago, but because of his young age, he could barely be considered a minor genius there—the sort with some talent, but not enough to deserve special attention.

When the explosion occurred, he had been planning to visit the black market to purchase some cheap Rare Metal and forging masters' notes in order to challenge the level-three forging master examination. Yet he had never expected to encounter such terrible misfortune and have his life end so hastily.

In Liu Tianran's eyes, this was an exceptionally suitable target for his first clone. His face had been completely destroyed in the explosion.

No one had come to claim his body in the past week, and his social circle had been extremely small. No one would deliberately notice that he had died in the explosion.

Moreover, he had been low-key to the point of being somewhat solitary. Living alone in the suburbs, he had simple interpersonal relationships and was unlikely to expose any flaws.

Furthermore, his identity as a forging master suited Liu Tianran's needs for accumulating starting capital and selecting his initial direction.

After all, in Soul Land III, outstanding forging masters held extraordinary status. This also meant they could possess high-quality connections and broad channels for acquiring rare resources.

Once he developed, he could facilitate the future identities of Liu Tianran's clones and the accumulation of funds to nurture them. His status as an ordinary commoner genius could also provide some cover for his future "progress."

Besides, it would be more reassuring to entrust the metals needed for Liu Tianran's and his clone's Battle Armor and Mecha to one of their own.

In every respect, he met Liu Tianran's requirements.

Thus, after gathering enough energy, Liu Tianran took a piece of flesh from each Soul Master, then quietly went to the hospital's blood storage center. He found the vial of blood labeled "Mu Chen," collected a drop of blood, and left the hospital.

Skysea City, suburban residential district. Avoiding the eyes of others, Liu Tianran followed Li Ziming's memories to his home. He opened the door according to those memories and entered.

Although a week had already passed and some dust had settled inside, it was still clear that this was the home of a craftsman devoted to forging. Several pieces of metal and tools could still be seen in the corners. The home's owner had clearly been obsessed with forging. Though the items were piled together in a cramped, somewhat messy fashion, the dust covering them made the place seem especially desolate.

After sighing for a moment, Liu Tianran began his great "clone project." Entering the Sea of Consciousness Space, he placed Li Ziming's flesh and Mu Chen's blood on the experimental table. Then he activated three large energy storage tanks. As energy flowed in, a new "Li Ziming" was gradually born.

However, this "Li Ziming" possessed far greater talent than the original. To enhance his potential and future prospects, Liu Tianran had specifically gone to the hospital's blood storage center and stolen blood taken from the Seven-Star Saint Craftsman Mu Chen during his last physical examination.

The results were extremely gratifying. Not only had it greatly enhanced his cultivation and forging talents, but it had also allowed him to acquire some forging knowledge.

Using the characteristics of Mu Chen's Blazing Sun Martial Soul, Liu Tianran further purified the fire attribute of the Crimson Flame Hammer Martial Soul, causing it to evolve. Its flames became more powerful, and its Martial Soul quality evolved from a high-grade Martial Soul into a top-grade Martial Soul. Compared with its original name, it was now more fittingly called the Blazing Sun Hammer.

His spiritual power and Blood Qi had improved the most. The infusion of spiritual power and Blood Qi from nearly a hundred people had raised Li Ziming's spiritual power to the Spirit Sea Realm, while his Blood Qi was no weaker than that of a five-ringed Spirit King.

Next, using the energy he had collected, Liu Tianran raised his cultivation to level 39. Li Ziming now possessed the ability to perform Thousand Refinement. As long as he settled down for a while longer, he could challenge the level-four forging master examination. Even a Saint Craftsman who saw such talent would be tempted to take him as a disciple.

By then, he would be able to draw the attention and receive the nurturing of the Forging Masters Association's upper ranks, allowing him to grow even faster.

Even in a first-tier Federation city like Skysea City, a twenty-year-old level-four forging master was already an astonishing forging genius.

A fifteen-year-old level-four forging master was a genius rarely seen once in a century in the forging world. With proper cultivation, he could hope to become a Saint Craftsman in the future.

At the Saint Craftsman level, even Seven-Star Saint Craftsmen were already among the people standing at the apex of the forging world's pyramid. They could serve as decision-makers at the Forging Masters Association headquarters or as presidents of major branch associations.

Even if they took positions at top forces such as Shrek Academy, the Spirit Pagoda, the Tang Sect, or the War God Hall, they would undoubtedly be treated as honored guests.

Fundamentally, Saint Craftsmen could already perform Soul Forging and provide Titled Douluo with the metals needed for Three-Word Battle Armor.

In this era where Divine Craftsmen were unique and the output of divine-grade metals was limited, Four-Word Battle Armor was almost exclusive to those in power within top factions. Three-Word Battle Armor was already the ultimate pursuit of most Titled Douluo and even Super Douluo.

As for someone like Tang Wulin in the original story, becoming a level-four forging master at eleven or twelve years old was simply monstrously overpowered.

As long as Li Ziming entered the field of vision of the Forging Masters Association's upper ranks, he would certainly bring Liu Tianran even greater returns in the future.