He carried off two heaping plates of steamed buns in one go, found an empty seat, and stuffed one into his mouth. He ate them one after another, his cheeks bulging like a little hamster's, his table manners downright savage.
Seeing this, Tang Wulin squeezed his way to the serving window too and brought back just as many buns.
The two sat facing each other, practically competing to see who could eat more. One after another, they bit off nearly half a bun at a time and finished two in three bites, moving so fast it made the eyes swim.
Once they had filled their bellies, they wiped their mouths and headed straight for the Blacksmith's Association.
The moment they entered, the young woman at the front desk greeted them with a smile.
A new face was on duty today. Seeing that they were still just children, she spoke gently. "Little boys, who are you looking for?"
"Hello, big sister. We're here for a blacksmith rank assessment." Lu Chen tilted his little face up, smiling sweetly.
"Huh? You're taking the blacksmith assessment when you're this young?" The receptionist's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but she patiently continued asking questions.
"Of course. We're here to see Master Cen Yue." Lu Chen nodded, his tone utterly certain.
"Do you have Master Cen's contact information?" the receptionist asked casually as she took out a registration form.
At that, Lu Chen instinctively shook his head. Beside him, Tang Wulin scratched his head and added with a wry smile, "We... we don't have soul communicators yet."
"That's all right, that's all right. Wait a moment. I'll ask for you." The receptionist was good-natured. She reassured them with a smile, then turned and dialed the internal phone.
Before long, she hung up and beckoned to them with a smile. "Come along, little boys. Master Cen is upstairs. I'll take you to him."
She led them into the elevator and pressed the button for the fifteenth floor, explaining along the way, "Master Cen's office is on the fifteenth floor. Don't be too nervous when you go in. He's quite nice."
The elevator came to a smooth stop, and the three approached a door bearing a nameplate that read "Cen Yue." The receptionist knocked softly, pushed the door open, and said quietly, "Master Cen, I've brought the two children you wanted to see."
"Mm, understood. You can go back down." Cen Yue did not even look up, still busy arranging the forging blueprints on his desk. His voice was steady and strong.
The receptionist acknowledged him, smiled at Lu Chen and Tang Wulin once more, and quietly withdrew.
The office remained silent for quite a while.
Only then did Cen Yue put down the blueprints and raise his head, his gaze settling on the two little fellows before him as he looked them up and down.
Looking somewhat puzzled, he said, "You two are the disciples that fellow Mang Tian, with his eyes above the top of his head, took in? I really can't tell when that old bastard changed his ways... All right, don't just stand there. Come downstairs with me for your rank assessment."
With that, Cen Yue rose first and strode toward the door.
Lu Chen and Tang Wulin exchanged a glance and hurried after him, taking the elevator down to the third floor.
Cen Yue first brought them to the front desk to register their basic information-their names, ages, and Martial Souls-before leading them toward the assessment area.
He pushed open a heavy alloy door, revealing a room dedicated to forging assessments. It was fairly spacious, and a faint metallic tang and the smell of charcoal lingered in the air.
"Are these two little fellows about to break the record our president set back in the day?" The middle-aged blacksmith responsible for the assessment looked Lu Chen and Tang Wulin over as he joked with Cen Yue.
"That remains to be seen." Cen Yue folded his arms, giving a noncommittal reply. "Let them take the assessment first."
Various metal ingots were neatly stacked on racks along one side of the room. There were ordinary metals such as black iron and refined iron, as well as rare metals such as blue silver iron and cold iron.
Lu Chen swept his gaze over them, running through the names of the various metals in his mind.
He recognized all of them.
His gaze finally settled on several pieces of heavy silver gleaming coldly in a corner.
Almost at the same instant, he and Tang Wulin reached for them.
Each picked up a heavy silver ingot weighing around three hundred kilograms. They were so heavy that their arms nearly bent under the weight, yet they still set them steadily on their respective forging tables with dull thuds.
"Not bad. You've got some strength." The assessor raised his eyebrows, his first impression of the two children improving further.
He walked over to the forging tables, patted the piece of heavy silver, and told them, "You'll have half an hour. Forge this metal, and your score will depend on how far you can take it."
With that, he stepped aside and activated the timing Soul Guidance Device.
As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Chen and Tang Wulin sank fully into concentration, their attention focused entirely on the cold heavy silver before them.
Lu Chen drew a deep breath and lightly ran his fingers over the metal's surface, feeling its familiar texture.
His movements looked exceptionally practiced, flowing without a break. He did not look like a child at all, but rather a veteran who had spent over a decade toiling at the forging table.
The assessor froze for a moment and instinctively exchanged a glance with Cen Yue.
He had originally thought that these two children would, at most, have solid fundamentals. He had not expected them to be so steady the moment they began.
Lu Chen's eyes shifted slightly as a strange feeling arose within him: the piece of heavy silver seemed to have come alive. Every trace of its grain and every impurity appeared clearly within his perception, as though everything lay within his grasp.
Was this... the power of the King of Bronze and Fire?
Something stirred within Lu Chen, and his eyes instantly brightened.
He tightened his grip on his forging hammer, drew a deep breath, and lowered his arm, bringing the first strike down steadily.
Clang-
The hammerhead struck the metal, sending sparks flying, yet not a trace of force was wasted.
Immediately afterward came the second strike, then the third...
He controlled his strength and rhythm entirely according to that intuition and guidance within him. The placement, angle, and force of every strike were just right.
Beneath his hands, the three-hundred-kilogram piece of heavy silver was like an obedient toy, allowing him to hammer, shape, and refine it.
Time slipped quietly away amid the dull ringing of hammer blows.
An hour soon passed, and the timing Soul Guidance Device gave a soft chime.
Almost simultaneously, Lu Chen and Tang Wulin stopped what they were doing.
The piece of heavy silver before Lu Chen had completely changed.
Its surface was smooth as a mirror, gleaming with a soft silver light. Almost all the impurities within had been removed, and it faintly exuded a restrained sharpness.
The assessor stepped forward, picked up the ingot to examine it carefully, then tested its density and purity with a specialized Soul Guidance Device. He froze completely.
"Th-Thousand Refinements?!" His voice sounded a little unsteady. "And Second-Grade Thousand Refinements at that?!"
Cen Yue could not help coming closer too. After checking several times, he could no longer maintain his usual composure. His eyes were filled with shock and disbelief.
He looked up at Lu Chen, his voice carrying a tremor he did not even notice himself. "You brat... you're already pretty much qualified to be a third-rank blacksmith."