The Fourth Period: Journey to Metal City

Flender had just turned to leave when Qin Yun called out to him.

"Dean, I've reached Level 40."

"I'm ready to add my fourth Soul Ring."

Flender slowly turned back. His face registered shock before breaking into unconcealed delight.

"That's wonderful!"

"What do you need for your fourth Soul Ring?"

"Just tell me. I'll pull every favor I have to get it for you."

Flender knew Qin Yun added Soul Rings to his Martial Soul differently from everyone else.

He had also helped Qin Yun gather elements for his second and third Soul Rings.

The Fourth Period contained eighteen elements:

Potassium, calcium, scandium, titanium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, gallium, germanium, arsenic, selenium, bromine, and krypton.

The first few, such as potassium and calcium, were relatively common in nature.

But some of the later ones would be troublesome.

Qin Yun looked up at Flender.

"Gallium and germanium are rare metals found in extremely low concentrations in nature. I need ores containing those elements. Even trace amounts will do. As long as I can come into contact with the elements themselves, I can use them as a catalyst to activate them."

Flender frowned at first, then his brow gradually eased.

"I don't really understand this gallium and germanium you're talking about."

"But if you need rare metals, I know where to look."

"There's a place on Douluo Continent devoted to working with lumps of metal."

"Metal City!"

"The Blacksmith Association is headquartered there. More than ninety percent of the continent's rare ores pass through it."

"Chances are you'll find what you need there."

Qin Yun paused as details about Metal City from the original story surfaced in his mind.

Metal City, also known as Blacksmith City, lay in the southwest of the Star Luo Empire. It was the continent's mecca for blacksmiths.

"Get ready," Flender said.

"We'll leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"All right." Qin Yun nodded.

At the first glimmer of dawn the next day, Qin Yun packed his belongings and waited on the training ground.

Flender dumped the new students' daily training, including Tang San's, on Zhao Wuji.

Before leaving, he clapped Zhao Wuji on the shoulder and told him,

"Just don't work the children into the ground."

Zhao Wuji rolled his eyes but said nothing more.

The two sped southwest.

Flender's flying Soul Skill was hardly top-tier, but it was more than enough to carry Qin Yun. They swept over towns and mountains as the plains below gradually gave way to hills.

Before long, a city unlike anything around it appeared on the horizon.

Countless towering chimneys, iron frameworks, and steam pipes traced the outline of Metal City. From afar, it looked like a giant steel beast crouched upon the earth.

A thirty-foot-tall sculpture of an anvil stood at the city gate. A crossed hammer and pair of tongs were cast onto its face.

It was the emblem of the Blacksmith Association.

Flender led Qin Yun through the gate.

The mingled smells of rust, charcoal fires, coal smoke, and ore dust struck them at once.

Blacksmith shops crowded both sides of the streets, more than a thousand of them packed together in rows.

The clang of hammers striking anvils rose and fell around them, while steam pipes overhead sent out occasional bursts of white mist.

The whole city pulsed to the rhythm of heat and colliding metal.

Qin Yun walked along the main street, stopping every few steps to check for the elemental traces he needed.

Common metals such as potassium and calcium were relatively easy to find. He spotted them in blacksmith shops along the way.

With a slight movement of his fingers, he drew out minute traces of the elements with his Soul Power.

The invisible energy slowly flowed into the Elemental Chart in his palm, becoming two tiny points of light that settled into their places in the Fourth Period.

But rare metals such as gallium and germanium were another matter.

He searched the city for two full hours, passing through more than a dozen streets and alleys.

Though the shops were piled high with all kinds of metal stock, he found no trace of either element he needed.

"Dean, this is too slow."

Qin Yun stopped at the mouth of an alley.

"Ordinary blacksmith shops probably won't have gallium or germanium. I need to go to the heart of the city—the Blacksmith Association's headquarters."

"They should have some there."

Flender nodded.

They turned onto a broad street. At its end stood an imposing gray stone building.

A huge Blacksmith Association emblem was carved into its front wall, and its two cast-bronze doors stood over thirty feet high.

They entered the hall, where the smell of machine oil, metal, and old paper met them.

Dozens of rows of wooden shelves displayed ore specimens from across the continent.

Qin Yun's gaze swept over the ores, and a faint excitement stirred within him.

Following what he sensed through his Soul Power, he reached a corner at the far end of the hall. His eyes settled on a palm-sized piece of ore.

Its surface was grayish brown, threaded with fine silver-white veins that gave off a dull sheen beneath the lights.

Sphalerite, also known as Zinc Blende, was one of the main ores used to extract germanium and gallium.

"This one..."

Qin Yun reached out. His fingertips could already sense the faint pulse of gallium and germanium within the ore.

He was about to lean closer for a better look.

Suddenly, a thin old man behind the counter thrust out a bamboo ruler, blocking him from the ore with a smack.

"Sorry!" The old man did not look up. He was still working the beads of an abacus.

"If you're not buying, you can't touch it."

"How much?" Flender planted both hands on the counter.

"Name your price. I'll buy this stone."

The thin old man's hand paused over the abacus. He studied Flender's seasoned face, then slowly quoted a price.

Flender's mouth twitched.

He glared at the old man. "Is this stone made of gold?"

"You want that much for a drab little thing no bigger than my palm?"

The thin old man adjusted his glasses, his expression unchanged.

"This is Sphalerite. It's the only specimen of this quality in the entire association."

"Yeah, right."

They haggled back and forth for a good fifteen minutes, arguing first over the ore's quality, then the association's pricing rules, and finally its origins and what favors were owed to whom.

In the end, Flender bought it for just under seventy percent of the asking price.

"Here."

Flender glanced back at Qin Yun and muttered under his breath.

"Listen here, kid. If that fourth Soul Ring of yours turns out weak, I'm coming back to collect what I spent."

His words were fierce, but he could not quite hide the smile at the corners of his eyes.

Flender loved money, but he was still willing to spend it on Qin Yun.

Qin Yun took the ore.

He answered quietly, then looked up at Flender.

His voice was clear and certain. "Don't worry, Dean. This trip was worth it."

Flender grunted, turned away, and strode out with his hands behind his back, urging Qin Yun along as he went.

"Come on, come on. We need to get back."