"Vacation?!"
Na'er leaped three feet into the air, raising her little fists high. "Yay! We finally get to go out and play!"
Li Zha showed little reaction on the surface, but the idea tempted him.
To keep the two young prodigies safe while also maintaining secrecy, Leng Yaozhu had forbidden them from even visiting Shrek City for the past three years.
They were only allowed to move around inside the Heavenly Spirit Tower.
If not for the Soul Network letting her keep up with the outside world at any time, Na'er would have gone stir-crazy long ago.
Leng Yaozhu coughed twice.
"Don't celebrate too soon. Wait until you've passed the assessment."
With that,
Leng Yaozhu beckoned for the two of them to follow her.
Na'er clasped her hands behind her back, her little face falling.
"Teacher, please don't make it too hard... At least don't judge me by senior brother's standards, or I'll never get out..."
Na'er felt that her level 28 soul power at nine years old made her a monster among monsters, even in Shrek, where geniuses gathered like clouds.
Moreover, she had reached level two as a Mecha Designer, Mecha Manufacturer, and Mecha Mechanic.
Even on the Soul Network, where everyone talked a big game, that was enough to make the grade.
She was certain to make the Young Prodigy Rankings.
But!
Compared with this senior brother of hers, Na'er had no confidence at all.
Simply because,
In these three years, she had never once beaten Li Zha in a match.
And almost every time, he had crushed her in just two or three moves.
The only thing in which she surpassed her senior brother was height.
Li Zha, meanwhile, remained composed and calmly followed.
"Senior brother, this is all your fault! If I don't pass this time, you're not allowed to go either!"
"If you're bad, practice more. What does you failing have to do with me?"
"I don't care!"
Na'er huffed twice and pinched Li Zha on the back.
In Na'er's mind,
She seemed to have already assumed that her little senior brother would definitely pass.
Leng Yaozhu led them into her mecha workshop, where the enormous workbench had been divided into two sections.
"First, I'll assess your secondary professions."
"Zha'er, Uncle Niu said you've already reached the Thousand Refinement standard. My requirement is simple: complete Thousand Refinement on three types of metal within an hour, and you pass."
"Na'er, you're a level two Mecha Designer, and you also study mecha manufacturing and maintenance. My requirement isn't difficult either. You have three hours to design and build a large mecha component here, and you pass."
The moment Leng Yaozhu finished speaking, she started the timer. "Begin."
Li Zha walked straight to the forging bench and scanned the various metals laid out there.
Na'er, however, nearly started wailing for her parents.
"Teacher, this isn't fair! Shouldn't my three professions be tested separately? My combined test takes three hours, while senior brother only gets one!"
Na'er had never independently designed and built a large mecha component before. She was on the verge of falling apart!
Leng Yaozhu was unmoved by Na'er's complaints.
"Crying? The clock keeps ticking while you cry, too."
Left with no choice, Na'er could only steel herself and get to work.
Meanwhile, Li Zha scanned the metal blocks covering nearly half the bench and quickly chose the three he wanted.
Blue-bearing copper, titanium gold, and nether iron.
Blue-bearing copper amplified soul power and was one of the essential materials for making Battle Armor.
Titanium gold was an even higher-grade metal. It came from ore that looked like crystal on the outside, with dense, tangled golden strands within. This stuff was the raw material for Buddha Tang's Dragon Whisker Needle.
It possessed excellent metal affinity and was crucial for making high-strength alloys. For the same weight, it cost nearly sixty times as much as heavy silver! It was also a strictly controlled military material.
The last metal, nether iron, was a high-grade material used to make defensive Battle Armor and was incredibly hard.
Li Zha first picked up a block of blue-bearing copper.
After advancing to Soul Grandmaster, his strength had soared again, with each arm averaging nearly ten thousand kilograms of force.
That was ten times the strength of a Soul Master at the same level!
Therefore,
Li Zha had long since replaced his forging hammers with a pair of astonishingly heavy mithril hammers.
Li Zha placed the blue-bearing copper on the forging furnace and deftly drew out his Samadhi True Fire, accelerating its heating.
Completing Thousand Refinement on three metals within an hour was difficult even for an ordinary Level Four Blacksmith. Only a Grandmaster-level Spirit Forging Blacksmith would have that degree of proficiency.
In other words, if Li Zha completed today's assessment, he could already be considered a Grandmaster-level Blacksmith in terms of Thousand Refinement.
That alone showed how strict Leng Yaozhu's assessment was.
Li Zha thought little of it, however, and had even deliberately chosen three extremely difficult metals.
Soon,
With the help of Samadhi True Fire, the blue-bearing copper, which normally required half an hour of heating, was ready in minutes.
Li Zha picked up his forging hammers and began striking with practiced ease.
His innate metal affinity, combined with three years of practice, made his technique impeccable.
Clang! Clang! Clang!...
The rapid ringing filled the room,
Each hammer blow carried tremendous force, making the entire floor tremble.
Leng Yaozhu frowned and spread a soul power barrier to block the tremendous noise, keeping Na'er's pig-brained head from being distracted.
Outside the window,
Uncle Niu secretly peered inside, looking even more excited than Li Zha, who was taking the assessment.
"Good grief, even watching makes me nervous. This kid still has nerves of steel..."
Uncle Niu wiped away his sweat.
Because Li Zha's [Lotus Body] was a transcendent self martial soul, his hands would not shake even when he was utterly exhausted.
In any environment, Li Zha could make the most rational, precise, and steady judgments possible.
Aside from Li Zha's metal affinity, what Uncle Niu admired most was his steadiness, precision, and decisiveness.
Soon,
In less than ten minutes under Li Zha's hammers, the blue-bearing copper, originally full of impurities and structurally unstable, flashed with dazzling blue light.
"The metal's spirituality!"
Uncle Niu exclaimed from outside the door.
In the blacksmith profession,
Hundred refinement merely purified metal. Only Thousand Refinement, which awakened a metal's spirituality, marked true entry into the craft.
After a successful Thousand Refinement, the metal would flash with an unusual light and gain a special effect!
Li Zha calmly waited for the blue-bearing copper's glow to fade, then glanced at it casually. "Rebound effect. Nothing special."
For Li Zha, who had been blessed by the Plane Spirit, forging was like playing a game with cheats enabled. It was fun at first, but grew dull later.
At least, that was how Thousand Refinement felt now.
The only thing that gave him a little anticipation was that each Thousand Refinement awakened a different spirituality in the metal, producing a different spiritual effect.
It was like a card-drawing game,
With the thrill of revealing a prize.
For example, with its [Rebound] effect, this block of blue-bearing copper could reflect part of the force of an impact, undoubtedly making it an excellent Battle Armor material.
Once this one-foot-square block of blue-bearing copper underwent Thousand Refinement and gained a spiritual effect, its value could multiply dozens or even hundreds of times!
Li Zha estimated that the block in his hands would sell for at least tens of thousands of Federal Coins.
That was also why,
Being a blacksmith was known as a profession for the wealthy.
With Li Zha's current skills, buying a home in Shrek City after a few years of hard work would be nothing unusual.
After completing Thousand Refinement on the blue-bearing copper,
Li Zha simply picked up the titanium gold and nether iron and placed both on the forging furnace to heat.
Uncle Niu's eyes widened. "Well, I'll be! Is he planning to complete Thousand Refinement on two metals at once?!"
Before long, both blocks of metal had finished heating.
With a hammer in each hand, Li Zha split his attention between them, simultaneously forging the titanium gold and nether iron at different rhythms.
Beside him, Na'er stared, utterly dumbfounded.
After all, compared with her senior brother, things were going far less smoothly on her end.
Before you continue