A born forging prodigy!

During Deep Meditation,

time flew by.

When Li Zha opened his eyes again, it was already dusk.

And that was only because he was hungry.

Otherwise, Li Zha felt he could have cultivated all day.

Soon,

two days passed in the blink of an eye.

That morning,

Leng Yaozhu appeared again. This time, she wore fitted white casual clothes that perfectly outlined her figure, and her hair was tied into a ponytail, making her look much more businesslike.

Ever since rescuing Li Zha a year ago,

Leng Yaozhu had burned the black uniform she had worn when she met him.

She had also reminded herself never to wear one again.

She was worried it would bring back bad memories for Li Zha.

"How was it? Did your meditation and cultivation go well?"

Li Zha nodded. "Very smoothly, Teacher."

"Good. Da Bai told me too. She said you seem to enter Deep Meditation very easily. It looks like I won't be able to help you much with Martial Soul cultivation."

Li Zha quickly waved his hands. "You've already helped me so much, Teacher."

Li Zha meant every word.

He had already learned that even a continent-spanning colossus like the Spirit Pagoda only had Spirit Ascension Platforms in eighteen major cities. They were known as the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars.

For an ordinary Soul Master to enter a Spirit Ascension Platform,

a single visit cost five hundred thousand federal coins.

And even with such an exorbitant fee, the Spirit Ascension Platforms only offered a thousand slots each month.

In other words,

even if you had the money, you might not get a turn!

But thanks to Leng Yaozhu, Li Zha faced practically no restrictions on entering a Spirit Ascension Platform. He could go whenever he wanted.

What was more, Li Zha had contracted a four-thousand-year-old Blazing Dragon Spirit. Without Leng Yaozhu, he doubted he would have even had a chance to see one.

"Mm."

Leng Yaozhu smiled.

Although she expected nothing in return, hearing Li Zha say that still made her very happy.

"Today, I won't be teaching you Martial Soul cultivation. I'll be teaching you about secondary professions."

"Secondary professions?"

"Yes."

Holding Li Zha's hand, Leng Yaozhu led him to a room.

She pushed the door open and entered.

An enormous space came into view. A huge oval workbench occupied most of the room, covered with tools for forging, molding, stamping, and more, along with all kinds of rare metals.

After entering, Leng Yaozhu deftly changed into work clothes.

Li Zha noticed that as she sat down by the workbench, her expression became much more serious.

In the world of Douluo: The Legend of the Dragon King, Soul Masters had secondary professions in addition to their regular Soul Power cultivation.

Take Leng Yaozhu, for example.

Besides being a level ninety-nine Limit Douluo, she was also a Four-Word Battle Armor Master.

Her secondary professions were ninth-rank mecha designer and eighth-rank Mecha Manufacturer.

Thus,

Leng Yaozhu approached mechas with love and devotion. Otherwise, she would never have reached her current heights.

"Before we discuss secondary professions, I'd like to give you an introduction to Battle Armor."

Li Zha thought for a moment. "Teacher, I've already learned about Battle Armor."

Leng Yaozhu was a little surprised.

"Oh? Then tell me, what is Battle Armor?"

Li Zha quickly recalled what he had read in various books over the past year.

"The origins of Battle Armor can be traced back ten thousand years, when the Sun Moon Empire brought advanced Soul Guidance Technology.

"Back then, Soul Tool technology developed rapidly. Some Soul Engineers designed humanoid Soul Tools to enhance combat power."

"It was also at that time that the founder of our Spirit Pagoda, Spirit Ice Douluo, improved upon humanoid Soul Tools to design and create the Ice Extreme War God Armor-the prototype of today's Battle Armor."

Leng Yaozhu nodded approvingly and motioned for Li Zha to continue.

"After ten thousand years of development, Battle Armor manufacturing technology has fully matured. Battle Armor is divided into four grades, from one-word to four-word."

"The production process can roughly be divided into forging the metal, drawing up the designs, inscribing arrays and assembling the components into a finished piece, and finally, maintenance."

"Teacher, did I get that right?"

Leng Yaozhu was astonished.

She had never expected Li Zha's understanding of Battle Armor to be so thorough.

"Exactly right."

Originally, Leng Yaozhu had only planned to give Li Zha a basic introduction today, exposing him to secondary professions from an early age so that he could make his own choice.

Even that had felt a little hasty to her.

After all, Li Zha was only six.

She had never imagined that his progress would far exceed her expectations, and that he had already learned it all on his own.

"Li Zha, secondary professions essentially correspond to the four stages of producing Battle Armor."

"Compared to ten thousand years ago, today's Battle Armor is far more complex than humanoid Soul Tools."

"As a result, four major professions emerged: blacksmith, mecha designer, Mecha Manufacturer, and mecha mechanic. Each is responsible for one stage."

"Those are the secondary professions."

Leng Yaozhu paused to give Li Zha time to understand.

Then,

she continued, "Blacksmiths depend the most on talent, especially in the middle stages. But once you break through to seventh-rank Saint Craftsman, you immediately become a rare talent that high-ranking Soul Masters compete to curry favor with."

"Mecha designers are responsible for designing Battle Armor. You could say they understand it better than anyone. If you choose this as your secondary profession, you'll be able to create the Battle Armor best suited to you."

When Leng Yaozhu spoke of mecha designers, her preference became obvious.

After all, she herself was a ninth-rank mecha designer. If Li Zha chose that path, she would be able to offer him the best guidance and support.

"Mecha Manufacturers are responsible for inscribing arrays and assembling Battle Armor."

"Mecha mechanics lean toward support work and don't participate much in Battle Armor production. I wouldn't recommend that one."

Having finished,

Leng Yaozhu looked at Li Zha. "Today, I just want to introduce you to secondary professions ahead of time, so you can become familiar with them earlier and make a choice in the future."

"You can try them all and choose the one you enjoy and excel at most."

Leng Yaozhu took out several blueprints. At a glance, they were covered with densely packed annotations and all kinds of diagrams.

"I'm a ninth-rank mecha designer, so you can start by learning about design."

"These are some beginner-level pieces I made in the past. You can take a look."

Li Zha took them.

Even with his arms spread as far as they would go, he found he still could not unfold the blueprints completely.

The bewildering jumble of symbols made his head swim, but he braced himself and began studying them anyway.

Leng Yaozhu sat beside him, propping her chin on one hand as she watched him with a smile.

Naturally, she hoped Li Zha would follow her path.

Leng Yaozhu was even confident that she could train Li Zha to reach her own heights.

That way,

he would be a Four-Word Battle Armor Master on top of having his astonishing combat power.

Leng Yaozhu was certain of one thing:

this disciple of hers

would surely surpass that man from Shrek someday!

That man she loved but could never have!

Hmph.

So what if he's the Sea God Pavilion Master?

So what if he towers over an entire era?

Leng Yaozhu felt that since she could not have him, she could simply raise someone who would crush him.

Who could have imagined

that after studying the blueprints carefully for a while, Li Zha's eyelids would immediately begin battling each other?

Teacher, is this really something a human can learn?

Li Zha rubbed his eyes. It felt like studying advanced mathematics in his previous life.

I'm a warrior,

not a scholar!

"Teacher, how about I try forging instead? I'll put mecha design aside for now."

Unable to endure it any longer, Li Zha finally spoke up.

He had wanted to become a blacksmith from the very beginning.

For Li Zha,

who possessed Samadhi True Fire and whose soul had nothing to fear from backlash,

forging was nothing short of a heaven-chosen profession!

It was only Leng Yaozhu's enthusiastic preference that had made him reluctant to say so.

"A blacksmith?"

Leng Yaozhu was surprised.

Li Zha nodded.

To put it plainly, the latter three Battle Armor professions merely processed metal into Battle Armor.

The true power over life and death still lay in whether a blacksmith could forge good raw metal!

By becoming a blacksmith,

especially a Divine Craftsman like Zhen Hua, Li Zha would be able to hold sway over all the four-word Battle Armor in the world!