Rank Two

The so-called fusion was a kind of harmony that arose between a Blacksmith and the metal beneath his hands.

It was not simply understanding the sounds, nor was it relying solely on experience to judge where the next hammer blow should land. It was a state that only emerged when the Blacksmith's strength, rhythm, and emotions began to truly mesh with the metal's internal grain.

Once that point was reached, the finished work was rarely poor.

Mu Chen stood outside Testing Room Three, listened for a while, and did not enter.

Even as the president of the Blacksmith Association's Eastsea City branch, he could not simply open the door during a rank assessment. Forging was easily thrown into disorder if interrupted by an outside force. At best, the assessment would be invalidated. At worst, it could leave a shadow in the Blacksmith's heart, making it difficult to enter that state again for a long time afterward.

He turned and returned to the front desk.

"Who's being assessed in Room Three?"

The receptionist immediately lowered their head to check the records.

"His name is Tang Wulin. Grandmaster Cen Yue personally took him there."

"Tang Wulin?" Mu Chen took the copy of the registration form. His gaze moved down, and a moment later, his brows shifted slightly. "Nine years old?"

The receptionist nodded.

"Yes, that's what his information says. We were just wondering why such a young child would come for a rank assessment."

Mu Chen did not speak immediately.

Nine years old.

At the Blacksmith Association, it was already quite rare for someone that age to take an assessment. Moreover, the hammering he had just heard from Room Three did not sound remotely like something a child merely trying his luck could produce.

His interest had already been stirred.

Before he could think further, however, the Soul Communicator at his waist rang.

"Dad, I'm ready. Aren't you coming over yet?"

Mu Xi's voice came from the other end.

Mu Chen glanced down at the information in his hand, then looked toward Room Three again. In the end, he answered first, "I'll be right there."

His daughter's rank-two assessment clearly could not be delayed.

He handed the form back to the receptionist and turned toward Testing Room Six.

Meanwhile, the hammering continued in Testing Room Three.

Time crept steadily onward.

Tang Wulin had become completely immersed.

The two hammers rose and fell continuously in his hands. Impurities were pressed out of the heavy silver's surface little by little, while its edges steadily drew inward. At that moment, the weight of the Thousand Refinement Tungsten Steel Hammer felt perfectly suited to his hands. Every blow landed solidly, making the returning vibrations all the clearer.

His ears kept twitching faintly.

He listened to the hammer blows, to the heavy silver, and to the tiny changes within the metal after each strike.

The Evaluator had not lowered her head to write anything for a long time.

At this stage, basic judgments no longer meant much. All she needed to do now was watch and see how the final result turned out.

Cen Yue stood to one side, equally silent.

Originally, he had only wanted to see how far Mang Tian had trained his disciple. After watching this much, he already understood very clearly—

Rank one certainly would not hold this child back.

The only question was how he would finish this round of forging.

Finally, the assessment timer gave a soft chime.

"Time's up."

Just as the Evaluator spoke, Tang Wulin's final hammer blow fell.

Clang—

This strike sounded deeper and steadier than every one before it.

Then he withdrew both hammers. A dark gleam flashed, and he had already returned the pair of Thousand Refinement Tungsten Steel Hammers to his Heavy Silver Ring.

The forging room fell quiet.

Tang Wulin stood before the Forging Platform, breathing somewhat faster than he had an hour earlier. Sweat beaded at his temples, and heat had flushed his face red. But that was all. He showed no signs of exhaustion. His shoulders and back remained steady, and his gaze was still composed.

The Evaluator's gaze first settled on the heavy silver atop the Forging Platform.

Cen Yue, however, first glanced at Tang Wulin's eyes.

The concentration in those eyes had not entirely faded. It was as though the hammers had stopped, but he was still caught in their earlier rhythm. Such a state did not look feigned, and it certainly could not have come from luck.

He could not help sighing inwardly again.

Mang Tian had truly found a treasure this time.

"The heavy silver's purification exceeds the standard for hundred refinement," the Evaluator finally said, her voice far more serious than at the beginning. "Its volume has decreased by approximately seven percent. Both the removal of impurities and the preservation of its internal grain are excellent. By rank-one standards, this isn't merely a pass. It will earn a very high score."

At this point, she raised her head to look at Cen Yue.

"This child has no problem qualifying for rank one."

Cen Yue neither nodded nor spoke immediately. He simply looked at the piece of heavy silver on the Forging Platform before murmuring a moment later:

"That fellow Mang Tian really did this on purpose."

The Evaluator looked at him.

"You mean he already knew this child was beyond rank one?"

Only then did Cen Yue smile, though there was something complicated in that smile.

"If he really only wanted his disciple to try for rank one, he would never have sent him to me." At this point, he turned to Tang Wulin. "Little fellow, what else can you do besides purification?"

Only now did Tang Wulin slowly emerge from that earlier state of almost self-forgetting ease.

In truth, he had not had his fill yet.

If he had been given a little more time with that piece of heavy silver, he was even confident he could have pushed it further. At the very least, he would never have stopped within the bounds of rank-one purification.

"I can make some components." He thought for a moment, then answered honestly, "I've made both small and medium-sized ones."

As soon as he said this, the Evaluator's expression changed again.

A rank-one Blacksmith was only required to perform basic purification.

Medium-sized components, however, were already the threshold for rank two.

Cen Yue was not surprised.

Ever since Tang Wulin had first said, "My teacher told me to take the assessment, then pick up some work," he had already formed a judgment along those lines. Now it had merely been confirmed.

The Evaluator considered for a moment, looking at the heavy silver on the Forging Platform, then at Tang Wulin.

"Would you like to continue and try for rank two?"

Tang Wulin's eyes immediately lit up.

"Can I?"

"Yes." The Evaluator nodded. "But let me make this clear first: rank two is different from rank one. Besides purification, rank two requires you to independently complete a qualified medium-sized component. If you don't succeed, your rank-one pass will still be recorded. It won't be affected."

Tang Wulin barely hesitated.

"I want to try."

Seeing him like this only strengthened Cen Yue's certainty.

This child was not putting on a brave front.

He genuinely wanted to keep hammering.

"Then continue," the Evaluator said decisively. "Use the same piece of heavy silver from before. You can decide what medium-sized component to make. As long as the finished product meets the requirements, you'll pass rank two."

"Yes."

Tang Wulin answered and immediately stepped back to the Forging Platform.

He did not rush to bring down his hammers. Instead, he first examined the heavy silver that had already undergone a round of purification. With its volume compressed, its internal grain was much clearer than at the beginning. There was more than enough material left to make an ordinary medium-sized component.

The only question was what would be most suitable.

Tang Wulin looked for just two breaths before making his decision.

A joint component.

More precisely, a protective component inside a Mecha's knee joint.

Heavy silver had good conductivity and ample density, making it highly suitable for a medium-sized component that needed to withstand pressure, transfer force, and maintain a stable grain.

Once he had thought it through, he paused no longer.

Both hammers returned to his hands.

The hammering rang out again.

This time, it was faster and more direct than during purification. Now that purification was complete, what remained was no longer "hammering through," but "shaping."

The Evaluator had intended to remind him that ordinary metal would suffice for the rank-two assessment; there was no need to keep working with heavy silver. But her lips had barely moved when a look from Cen Yue stopped her.

At a time like this, it was best to say nothing.

Tang Wulin was in far too smooth a state.

He clearly liked this piece of heavy silver. Or, more accurately, he was intimately familiar with it. That round of purification had not "disconnected" him from the metal. Instead, it had made their harmony even more pronounced.

Thus, the hammering that followed flowed even more smoothly.

Blow followed blow, without the slightest hesitation in where they landed.

Under the Tungsten Steel Hammer, the heavy silver began to change shape. Its edges tightened, its form rounded under pressure, and its rim gradually drew together, while its curvature and thickness were continually adjusted. The entire process contained no flashy movements, only the most straightforward hammering. Yet precisely because there was nothing flashy, every strike seemed all the more accurate.

The longer Cen Yue watched, the deeper the gleam in his eyes became.

His fundamentals were exceptionally solid.

Such solidity could not be developed in a day or two. It was a foundation painstakingly built, bit by bit, over long hours before a Forging Platform. How to raise the hammer, how to direct his strength, when to move quickly, and when to remain steady—this child knew almost all of it.

Moreover, he had not simply memorized it.

It had already been hammered into his body.

More than another hour passed.

When Tang Wulin withdrew his hammers for the final time and gently placed the heavy silver component on the Forging Platform, the forging room fell quiet once again.

It was a semicircular, medium-sized joint component.

Its contours were rounded, its edges cleanly finished, and almost no unnecessary flaws were visible on its surface. Most importantly, it had not merely been "hammered into shape." It was genuinely usable.

The Evaluator stepped forward and bent her head to examine it for a long time. She even ran her fingers lightly over it, as though checking for tiny deviations her eyes might have missed.

Finally, she straightened and looked at Cen Yue.

This time, even she remained silent for several breaths.

Cen Yue did not urge her on.

The result was already quite obvious.

A moment later, the Evaluator looked back at Tang Wulin.

"This component meets the requirements."

She paused, then added more clearly:

"It doesn't merely meet them. By the standards of a rank-two assessment, it's very well made."

Only then did Tang Wulin finally release a little of the breath he had been holding.

"Then... does that mean I passed?"

The Evaluator looked at the child before her, his head covered in sweat, absurdly young, yet somehow capable of hammering heavy silver into something like this. At last, she nodded.

"You passed."

"Rank one and rank two. You passed both."

Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

That brightness was neither boastful nor smug. It was simple, unreserved joy. As though only now had he truly realized that, after coming to Eastsea City, he finally had one thing firmly settled.

Standing to one side, Cen Yue watched him and could not help smiling as well.

"Little fellow," he said, "from today onward, you're an officially registered Level Two Blacksmith."