I'm Not a Gacha God

The final hammer blow landed steadily, and the number on the instrument's screen froze completely.

Chen An gently set down the forging hammer and bent over slightly, panting. He looked utterly exhausted, as though his strength had been drained, yet his expression remained exceptionally resolute.

Mang Tian's eyes were filled with surprise and approval.

He had thought this frail child would give up completely after two or three hundred strikes at most. He had never expected him not only to endure the entire process by sheer force of will, but to maintain perfect form and an unbroken rhythm throughout. His endurance and temperament far exceeded those of ordinary children.

"Not bad."

Mang Tian nodded, his expression growing more serious as he fully acknowledged this newly arrived child.

"Your will is tough, and your endurance is outstanding. You pass."

He stepped forward and began patiently explaining the fundamental principles of forging to Chen An.

"On the path of forging, temperament comes first, vital energy and blood come second, and skill comes last. Never be impatient or reckless, nor swing wildly with brute strength.

"A thousand hammer blows are not merely for tempering metal; they also temper your physique, patience, and focus.

"With every hammer strike, keep your posture upright, your strength steady, and your mind calm. Let the force land evenly, allowing the vibrations to permeate the metal's texture rather than merely skimming its surface.

"Come here on time from now on. First solidify your foundations, then gradually learn the techniques that follow."

Mang Tian's calm explanation echoed through the workshop. Chen An listened attentively with his ears lowered, nodding obediently as he silently committed every point to memory.

From then on, Chen An's daily life no longer consisted solely of school and cultivation. Grueling forging practice had been added to it.

His quiet, peaceful days progressed in an orderly fashion.

Ever since he had formally begun learning forging and started spending more time with Tang Wulin, Chen An keenly noticed subtle changes in his body.

Sitting at the dining table, he found that the bowl of food that had once been just enough to fill him no longer satisfied him. His appetite had not increased drastically, but the change was particularly obvious.

Was it because he was growing?

Chen An silently remembered this physical change and quietly added another half bowl of rice to his meal.

Not long afterward, Tang Wulin and Chen An both turned seven.

Late at night, Chen An sat cross-legged on his bed with his eyes closed in meditation. Soul power flowed warmly around him as he steadily reached the fifteenth-rank soul power realm.

The familiar Roulette interface quietly appeared, followed by a new prompt: Reached level 15, one draw unlocked.

Chen An focused on the event refreshed in the Roulette section this time—[Obtain a special growth experience?].

The Roulette's face was clearly divided into two major sections.

Yes: 11%. No: 89%.

The vast disparity in probability was obvious at a glance.

Chen An was in no hurry to draw. The initial probabilities of the sections were not important.

Since the Roulette changed in real time according to his surroundings and experiences, drawing rashly while the odds were so low would be a complete waste of an opportunity.

Over the following days, Chen An deliberately observed with patience, testing the pattern behind the probabilities.

While studying at school or cultivating in his daily life, the proportion of [Yes] only fluctuated slightly, always lingering between 11% and 15%. The increase was negligible.

But once he entered Mang Tian's forging workshop, immersed himself in its forging atmosphere, and devoted himself fully to hammering practice, the probability of [Yes] steadily rose, climbing directly to 24%.

Yet as soon as he left the workshop and exited the forging state, the probability rapidly fell again, dropping back to around 11%.

Chen An had completely figured out the pattern.

The greater the developmental potential of something nearby, the stronger the Roulette's reaction.

The initial effect when he had bathed in the river had been similar in terms of bloodline compatibility, but it could only occur once.

Chen An did not want to waste any precious draw opportunities. He would wait until the probability was at least half before choosing.

Time flew by, and another year passed in the blink of an eye.

Chen An was eight years old, and his true soul power had already reached level 17.

He had long since mastered the methods of concealing his aura and soul power. Whenever he was outside, he kept his soul power firmly suppressed at level 8.

This level was neither high nor low, just right. Watching Chen An steadily grow and continuously improve his soul power, the Tang couple felt immensely gratified.

As long as he cultivated steadily, he would soon break through level 10, absorb his first Soul Spirit, and officially step across the threshold of becoming a Soul Master.

And with Chen An, this diligent and steadily advancing younger brother, constantly before her, Tang Wulin became even less willing to slack off.

Burdened with the useless martial soul Bluesilver Grass, she already needed to work harder than others.

Now, she took Chen An as her goal, cultivating day and night, honing her forging, and doing everything she could to catch up with her younger brother. Her temperament and perseverance grew ever tougher.

In the blink of an eye, he was nine.

Chen An's true soul power had already broken through level 20, steadily entering the realm of a Grand Soul Master. His spiritual power had also quietly surpassed one hundred points, far exceeding the standards of Soul Masters his age.

To the outside world, Chen An still completely suppressed all of his aura and soul power.

He kept it firmly fixed at the threshold of level 10, while also restraining his spiritual power to around 30 points.

The Tang couple believed that Chen An's overly introverted personality had delayed his cultivation, resulting in his slow progress.

As for forging, he had shed his initial clumsiness and skillfully mastered the Hundred-Forging Purification technique. He could independently produce all kinds of intermediate forging components, with exquisite skills and solid fundamentals.

However, in Mang Tian's eyes, although Chen An's martial soul was much better than Tang Wulin's and his talent for forging was decent, he was always overshadowed by his extraordinarily gifted elder sister.

Open panel.

[Identity: One Hundred Thousand-Year Soul Beast in Human Form]

[Age: 9 years old (human form)]

[Appearance: D+ (child)]

[Bloodline: Carp (special dragon species)]

[Talent: Luck (Level 3)]

[Martial Soul: Verdant Crimson Fish Scales]

[Soul Power: Level 20]

[First Soul Ring: 800 years]

[Second Soul Ring: 900 years]

[Spiritual Power: 115]

[First Soul Skill: Ripple]

[Second Soul Skill: ?]

[Available Draws: 2 (Next draw unlocked at level 25)]

The Soul Beast origin hidden deep within his bloodline had given rise to a second Soul Ring, yet his second Soul Skill was actually blank.

Chen An looked at the Roulette and saw that the option to select a special growth experience had changed into drawing a Soul Skill.

Obtain an ordinary Soul Skill: 70%

Enter the special Soul Skill pool: 30%

The first Soul Skill came with it automatically, but starting from the second, he had to draw them himself. Assuming there would be eight Soul Skills, he would have to use up the draws earned from forty levels.

I hope I get something stronger.

He glanced through the crack in the bedroom door, listened for any movement, and confirmed that everyone was asleep before beginning to draw for a Soul Skill.

Ordinary Soul Skills were probably related to his bloodline martial soul. This random Soul Skill would surely be something strange again.

He pressed the activation button in the center. After waiting a moment, the indicator pointed toward the special Soul Skill section.

Chen An happily sat upright.

Entered the special Soul Skill pool.

On the Roulette, a hundred Soul Skills were randomly distributed across the various sections.

With a quick glance, he found that there were all kinds.

The pale, low-level Soul Skill sections were filled with very common things, such as Blue Silver Pole Vault (0.8%).

"How am I supposed to pole vault when my martial soul isn't even right for it?"

Chen An had a hard time imagining that scene.

Anywhere Door: 0.2%.

"Doraemon? That's kind of interesting."

Sunflower Manual: 0.9%.

"A wuxia technique doesn't seem very suitable here, and isn't this something eunuchs practice?"

Chen An warily looked down at his little brother.

There were very few Soul Skills with a 0.1% probability, but even the highest probability was only 1%. At a time like this, with over a hundred sections, the odds no longer seemed all that important.

He pressed the activation button, and the Roulette began to spin. The colors of the sections gradually blended together. It seemed that the more sections there were, the faster it spun.

About twenty seconds later, the Roulette stopped.