Lu Chen swept his gaze over the expressions of the children around him, and everything became as clear as a mirror in his mind.
The looks they gave Na'er were a veritable kaleidoscope.
Some were pure affection, staring blankly at Na'er's exquisite little face.
But quite a few had jealousy in their eyes that they could not hide, while several half-grown boys kept their gazes glued to Na'er, carrying a trace of unsettling, lewd intent.
"What are you looking at?" Lu Chen frowned. His voice was quiet but carried a cold edge. The children craning their necks instantly shrank back and hurriedly turned away.
He led Na'er to get food with practiced ease. The cafeteria lady had always liked him, and she noticed the little girl now beside him.
Smiling, she gave him an extra half-ladle of braised pork. "Little Lu Chen, the director said you protected a little girl. Is this her? What a pretty child."
"Thank you, Auntie." Lu Chen took the tray and led Na'er to a seat by the window.
Na'er sat in her chair, her little hands resting neatly on her knees, but her eyes were fixed on the braised pork on the tray. Even her little swallowing motions did not escape Lu Chen's notice.
"Go ahead and eat. We can get more if it's not enough." Lu Chen pushed the braised pork toward her, then picked up a spoon and scooped half a spoonful of rice for her.
Na'er carefully picked up her spoon and ate in small mouthfuls. Her table manners were very dainty, but the speed at which she kept putting food into her mouth still betrayed her hunger.
Lu Chen said nothing, simply sitting beside her and watching her eat. He barely touched the rice in his own bowl, instead picking all the meat off the tray and putting it into Na'er's bowl.
Halfway through the meal, Na'er suddenly lifted her head, her violet eyes shining. With rice still stuffed in her mouth, she murmured indistinctly, "Brother... delicious."
Looking at the grains of rice stuck to the corner of her mouth, Lu Chen could not help smiling. He reached over to wipe them off. "Then eat some more."
Night deepened, and the orphanage dormitory was quiet. Na'er had long since curled up beneath her covers and fallen into a sweet sleep, soft, steady snores coming from her little nose.
Lu Chen sat cross-legged on his bed, cultivating. Before long, he keenly noticed that the Soul Power in his body seemed to be circulating considerably faster than usual.
Could my cultivation speed really be connected to the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings' bloodlines?
But why exactly?
Lu Chen frowned and pondered for a long while, but no matter how he thought about it, he could not figure it out. In the end, he simply slapped his thigh-Who cares!
An increase in cultivation speed is a good thing. Why think so much about it?
Early the next morning, the grandmotherly director personally knocked on the dormitory door.
For one thing, she was taking Lu Chen to Red Mountain Academy for class; for another, she planned to take Na'er to check whether she had any relatives.
"Little Lu," the director suddenly asked as she watched Lu Chen pack his schoolbag, "would you like to learn a second profession?"
"A second profession?" Lu Chen froze for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "Yes! I want to learn forging!"
"That's wonderful." The director's eyes curved with her smile. "From now on, when you come back from school each day, go study for two hours in the orphanage's forging room. I guarantee someone will teach you."
Hearing this, Lu Chen could not help tilting his head. The next moment, he suddenly sensed a faint fluctuation of Soul Power from the director.
The director was actually a Soul Master?!
Why would a Soul Master leave a perfectly good path of cultivation to become an orphanage director, looking after a bunch of children with no parents?
Lu Chen was full of questions, but he felt too awkward to ask.
Before long, the three of them arrived at the entrance to Red Mountain Academy.
Lu Chen waved to the director and Na'er, then turned and ran toward the classroom.
Just like yesterday, he went straight to the empty seat beside Tang Wulin and sat down as soon as he entered.
Sure enough, cultivating beside Tang Wulin did make his Soul Power grow a little faster, though the effect was not particularly noticeable.
Lu Chen had a fair idea of why. He reckoned it was because the Golden Dragon King bloodline within Tang Wulin had not yet fully awakened.
As soon as the bell rang to end school that afternoon, Lu Chen slung on his schoolbag and dashed out of the school gates.
From a distance, he saw the director standing by the roadside waiting for him, holding Na'er's little hand. Na'er was clutching a skewer of sweet candied hawthorns in her other hand, eating with great delight.
"Let's go, Little Lu." The director smiled and waved him over. "Granny will take you to meet an impressive blacksmith."
Chatting and laughing along the way, the group soon arrived at the entrance to Mang Tian's workshop.
The director led Lu Chen inside by the hand. Smiling as she stroked his head, she said to Mang Tian, "Old Mang, this is one of the children from our orphanage, Lu Chen. His Martial Soul is a dragon, and he's very strong. Could you see whether you can take him as an apprentice?"
Mang Tian looked up and sized Lu Chen up. His eyes, accustomed to dealing with ironware for years, were exceptionally sharp. Only after a long while did he speak.
His voice was a little hoarse, and he looked as though he had just finished a forging session. "It's fine if he wants to learn forging from me, but let's test him first. He'll only be qualified to stay if he passes my test."
"All right, Uncle Mang Tian." Lu Chen nodded and followed Mang Tian into his workshop.
The storefront was not very large, and the main room was cluttered, with all kinds of metal parts scattered everywhere.
As he passed one room, he suddenly caught sight of Tang Wulin inside, hammer in hand, forging without pause.
Lu Chen passed that room and entered the next.
"Sit down. First, let me ask you: do you know what forging is?" Mang Tian stopped and casually pointed to a little stool.
"Turning ordinary metal into divine artifacts?" Lu Chen replied after some thought.
"That's right. It's being able to forge divine artifacts out of ordinary metal. To be honest, I wasn't particularly inclined to take you on, but your director once did me a kindness. Even so, if you leave here crying and sniveling, then even if it means leaving that kindness unpaid, I won't take you on," Mang Tian said coldly.
"I won't cry," Lu Chen said earnestly.
If he had not lived that life among the dragon race, perhaps he would have cried. After all, in his first life, he had only been an ordinary high school student.
Although he had only been a middle school student in his second life, he did not believe anything in this world could hurt more than Gungnir piercing his heart.
As long as he could become stronger, he could endure any hardship.
As a transmigrator, he understood this world. The Legend of the Dragon King seemed safe, but danger actually lurked on every side, and the Abyssal Plane was watching like a tiger eyeing its prey.
If he was weak, he could only be slaughtered at others' will. Besides, he still wanted to go home.
"That had better be the case. Don't let your director's good intentions down. Look over there-that's your task." Mang Tian picked up two small forging hammers. "If your Martial Soul is a dragon, you should be quite strong."
"See this round metal block? Hit it with these, five hundred times with each hand. If you can't finish, don't bother coming tomorrow." Mang Tian handed the forging hammers to Lu Chen.