Douluo: The Chosen Ones Gathered, but the Era Was Misaligned — Chapter 24

The difference in tools had bridged the gap in strength, raising his skill to a whole new level.

Chapter 41: Blood Sacrifice

Clap, clap, clap...

As he finished forging, applause rang out as well.

Zhen Hua looked at Bai Chen with immense satisfaction and said sincerely,

"Truly remarkable. You are undoubtedly the most talented person I have ever seen. Even I am far inferior to you by comparison."

In the original story, Tang Wulin had already broken the entire Blacksmith Association's record when he completed Thousand Forging at the age of nine.

But Bai Chen was now a full three years ahead of Tang Wulin.

Moreover, as the finest blacksmith in the forging world today, Zhen Hua could tell at a glance that what Bai Chen had forged was no ordinary Thousand Forging.

This piece of metal was Second-Grade Thousand Forging.

Forging at the same level was also divided into grades. Hundred Forging was only divided into upper, middle, and lower grades, while Thousand Forging was divided into five grades. First grade was the highest, while fifth grade was the lowest.

Generally speaking, fifth-grade products were made by blacksmiths who had only barely reached the Thousand Forging level. As long as one could steadily produce Thousand-Forged Metal, the grade of those metals would reach fourth grade or even third grade.

But second grade was already exceptional. If one's success rate for forging Second-Grade Thousand Forging exceeded twenty percent, one could even receive the badge of a Level-Four Blacksmith from the Blacksmith Association.

As for First-Grade Thousand Forging, it was known as Half-Spirit Forging. The higher one's success rate with First-Grade Thousand Forging, the greater the chance of breaking through to become a Level-Five Blacksmith.

Since Bai Chen could now forge second-grade Thousand Forging, it meant that even among Level-Three Blacksmiths, he was considered quite outstanding. In fact, after some time, he could try to challenge the threshold of a Level-Four Blacksmith.

For the first time, Zhen Hua felt that his vocabulary was so lacking. Every word he could think of to describe Bai Chen seemed somewhat inadequate in his heart.

He let out a long breath and said seriously,

"Your talent has truly astonished me. Become my disciple. I am confident that under my guidance, you can become a new generation Divine Artisan in twenty years at most."

If anyone else had said such words, they would certainly have been mocked.

But the one saying them was the continent's only Divine Artisan. His words carried tremendous weight.

At the same time, they also demonstrated his determination.

To become a Divine Artisan within twenty years, the most basic requirement was for Bai Chen to become a Title Douluo before the age of twenty-six.

Although there had been people in their era who became Title Douluos before turning twenty-six, who were they? Yun Ming, the Nether Emperor, and the Dark Blood Demon. All of them were experts at the Limit Douluo level, and the latter two were Evil Soul Masters who had risen rapidly through evil means.

Even Yun Ming, known as the most talented person of this era, had only become a Title Douluo at the age of twenty-three.

For Zhen Hua to say such things meant that he would spare no expense in pouring resources into Bai Chen and raising his strength.

Bai Chen respectfully bowed to Zhen Hua.

"I'll be in your care."

"Haha, good, very good!"

Zhen Hua immediately smiled in satisfaction and said to Bai Chen,

"You should have felt it too. The forging hammers in your hands were made from the Thousand Forging metal you forged last time. Come, hold out your hand and prepare for the blood sacrifice."

Blood Sacrifice was a special method used by blacksmiths. It could be carried out during the forging process or after the forging was complete.

Performing a blood sacrifice during forging could greatly increase the chances of success, while carrying it out after forging could improve the metal's quality to a certain extent.

At the same time, regardless of whether the blood sacrifice was performed during or after forging, the metal that underwent it would belong entirely to that blacksmith. If someone else tried to use it by force, it might even self-destruct.

However, using Blood Sacrifice brought considerable negative effects upon the blacksmith. Excessive use could even leave irreversible damage. Therefore, aside from the first Thousand Forging product every blacksmith made, they rarely used this special ritual.

The most important reason Duan Xuan had not allowed Bai Chen to undergo a blood sacrifice last time was that Bai Chen had been far too weak then. He was afraid that using Blood Sacrifice at that time would ruin the child, who was only six years old.

But things were different now. Even after forging such a finished product, Bai Chen showed no obvious exhaustion. Even if he underwent a blood sacrifice now, there would be no major problem.

Bai Chen obediently held out his hand. With a swift cut from Zhen Hua, a wound appeared on it. Blood flowed out and dripped onto Bai Chen's forging hammers.

As the blood fell, the pair of golden forging hammers underwent entirely different changes.

Blackish-purple patterns slowly emerged on the forging hammer in his left hand. The patterns gradually outlined a bewitching shape that faintly gave off an ominous aura.

The forging hammer in his right hand, meanwhile, became inexplicably more illusory. It seemed as though an invisible force had wrapped around it, making even Zhen Hua somewhat unable to see through it.

Even without actually testing the two forging hammers, Bai Chen could tell that they had respectively inherited the powers of his evil attribute and time attribute.

Both supreme attributes stood above ordinary ultimate attributes. His other attributes could not compete with these two at all.

"Mm..." It was not only Bai Chen; Zhen Hua also noticed something. "It seems your two forging hammers have developed two different characteristics. That is truly rare. Do you want to test them now?"

"Mm."

Bai Chen nodded lightly and picked up the forging hammers once more.

A powerful sensation of blood connection immediately surged through him. In Bai Chen's perception, the two forging hammers were like extensions of his arms, without the slightest awkwardness when used.

He first tried casually striking a piece of metal with the forging hammer in his left hand.

Bzz—

Astonishingly, after this single strike, the metal's luster instantly weakened considerably.

"Stop!"

Zhen Hua hurriedly stopped him and moved closer. After observing it for a while, he muttered,

"Strange. This metal's material seems to have worsened. Could the effect of your forging hammer be to damage metal?"

By the end, he could not help feeling somewhat disappointed.

In truth, this characteristic was very powerful. Especially in this era, where Battle Armor and mecha were everywhere, a weapon capable of effectively damaging metal could be said to be extremely useful.

But that was judging it by the standards of a weapon. As a blacksmith, Zhen Hua naturally hoped that Bai Chen's forging hammers could better serve forging.

Yet now, let alone forge metal of a higher level, a single strike from this hammer could even lower the metal's grade.

How could Zhen Hua not be disappointed?

However, Bai Chen shook his head.

"Wait a moment, Teacher. Let me try again."

As he spoke, he lightly struck the piece of metal once more.

A flash of blackish-purple light passed by. Then, beneath Zhen Hua's shocked gaze, the metal's luster recovered considerably.

Although it had not returned to its previous state, it had undoubtedly changed in a positive direction.

"So that's how it is."

Bai Chen sighed.

"Teacher, this forging hammer's characteristic is Devouring and Bestowal."

Chapter 42: Devouring and Echo

The core of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's evil attribute was the ability to devour. As a characteristic derived from the evil attribute, the effect of Bai Chen's forging hammer naturally could not be separated from Devouring Power.

When his hammer had fallen just now and the metal's color dimmed, it had not simply damaged the metal. Instead, it had absorbed the energy within the metal into the forging hammer.

And as long as he wished it, he could release that energy to improve the metal's properties.

There was a certain loss of energy between devouring and releasing it. Therefore, this ability could not be used on the same piece of metal, or it would only have the opposite effect on that metal.

But conversely, Bai Chen could also use other metals, devouring their energy and releasing it onto the metal he wanted to forge.

He could sense that, as a forging hammer made from Thousand-Forged Metal, this hammer had a limit to its storage capacity. Once it reached a certain threshold, it could no longer absorb additional energy. Forcing it to do so might instead damage the forging hammer.

Fortunately, as a forging hammer that had undergone his Blood Sacrifice, it was similar to an External Soul Bone. It could gradually evolve as Bai Chen's strength increased. As the hammer's material evolved, the limit of energy it could store would certainly rise as well.

Forcibly devouring and stripping away the power of other things, then using it to strengthen the target—one had to admit, the characteristic carried by this forging hammer truly had the style of the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger.

After he explained all this to Zhen Hua, Zhen Hua could not help drawing in a breath.

"What an incredible characteristic..."

Tyrannical. That was the first word he thought of to describe it.

Destruction and sublimation were separated by a single thought. It could be said that the fate of any metal that encountered Bai Chen's forging hammer would be drastically rewritten.

"Then what characteristic does the other one have?"

Zhen Hua had become rather curious by now.

Just as the strength of Twin Martial Souls was usually similar, since Bai Chen had managed to awaken different characteristics in both forging hammers, the strength of those characteristics was likely comparable as well.

Bai Chen picked up the hammer in his right hand and struck the metal before him once.

Ding—

A crisp sound rang out, but the metal itself showed no changes.

Bai Chen's expression shifted slightly. As the owner of the forging hammer, he seemed to have already understood its characteristic.

He gently pressed the forging hammer against the metal. Soon afterward, another crisp sound unexpectedly rang out from the metal's surface.

Ding—

This sound was no different from the one that had just sounded, making Zhen Hua and Duan Xuan both think for a moment that they had misheard.

As major figures who had dominated the forging world for decades, there was no need to question their sensitivity to forging sounds. Bai Chen had merely pressed the hammer against the metal; logically, it should have been impossible for the metal to make such a sound.

Bai Chen removed the forging hammer from the metal and said to Zhen Hua,

"Teacher, I think I understand this forging hammer's effect. What it inherited is the power of my time attribute."

"Time?"

Upon hearing that, Zhen Hua's eyes widened in astonishment.

In order to give him a surprise, Duan Xuan had not told him Bai Chen's detailed information.

Now that he heard Bai Chen actually possessed a time attribute, he felt that he had vaguely guessed the ability of Bai Chen's second forging hammer.

Bai Chen explained,

"This forging hammer's characteristic is to copy and store the effect of strikes within a period of time. Just now, it copied and stored my first strike. As long as I want to, I can release that stored strike at any time. Unfortunately, with its current material, it seems unable to store it for very long. After storing it for around three seconds, it can no longer continue storing. It must be released first."

"That is already very powerful!"

Zhen Hua immediately said.

What Bai Chen had was a recreation of the scene. In other words, the force it reproduced was completely identical to the force he had used at the time.

If used properly, it could reduce the difficulty of forging by a full half.

And it was not limited to forging. It could also play a powerful role in battle.

Zhen Hua said excitedly,

"Child, this forging hammer's characteristic has never appeared before. According to the rules of the forging world, you can give it a suitable name yourself."

Bai Chen shook his head.

"Teacher should name it instead. You helped forge this hammer for me, didn't you?"

"Hehe, all right!" Warmth entered Zhen Hua's eyes. He did not refuse, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "How about calling this characteristic Echo?"

When Bai Chen had demonstrated it just now, the second sound had resembled an echo of the first sound. Zhen Hua thought the name suited it very well.

Bai Chen nodded lightly, indicating that he had no objection.

Over the following period, Zhen Hua began his first lesson.

Having accepted such an exceptionally gifted disciple, and with that disciple's forging hammers possessing such excellent characteristics, Zhen Hua was clearly in high spirits. As he taught, he seemed positively animated.

What excited him even more was that Bai Chen's comprehension ability was unexpectedly outstanding. He could absorb and understand all the knowledge Zhen Hua taught him with remarkable speed, making Zhen Hua find his newly accepted disciple increasingly pleasing to the eye.

While the two were in the middle of the lesson, Duan Xuan quietly left.

As the president of the Skysea City Blacksmith Association, his schedule was also extremely tight. Since he had already settled the matter of having Zhen Hua take on Bai Chen as a disciple, there was no reason for him to remain in the room.

This lesson lasted a full two hours before finally ending. When it did, both Zhen Hua and Bai Chen felt somewhat reluctant for it to end.

Zhen Hua patted Bai Chen on the shoulder and said with emotion,

"I thought I had already evaluated your talent highly enough, but you still exceeded my expectations."

Zhen Hua was not usually someone who liked praising students so much, but ever since the lesson began, his praise for Bai Chen had not stopped.

Excessive praise could make a child arrogant, but toward the child before him, he felt that he was merely stating the facts.

If one was unwilling to acknowledge even the most basic facts, it would only have the opposite effect.