Tang Ziran rode his creaky, battered electric scooter through the narrow streets of Aolai City, with Tang Wulin riding behind him.
Tang Wulin sat on the back, clutching the hem of his father's clothes with both hands, his mind still churning like rivers and seas.
"Wulin, tell Dad how your awakening went today?"
Tang Ziran's voice drifted back from the front, tinged with anticipation.
"Mm, I awakened two Martial Souls."
Tang Wulin tried to keep his tone as casual as possible.
"One's a pink rabbit, and the other's a black hammer."
The scooter swerved sharply.
"Two... two Martial Souls?!"
Tang Ziran nearly wrenched the handlebars off. "Twin Martial Souls?"
"Mm."
Tang Ziran fell silent for a long while, then drew a deep breath.
"Good boy... good boy! Your mom will be over the moon when she hears!"
The scooter took two turns down a narrow alley and stopped in front of an old two-story house.
The plaster on its walls was patchy, the stairs creaked underfoot, and the railing along the second-floor corridor was covered in rust.
This was Aolai City's civilian district, where most residents were low-level technicians and ordinary workers like Tang Ziran.
Tang Ziran was a mecha repairman whose skills ranked below average in Aolai City. His monthly wages barely covered food for his family of three.
Lang Yue was a housewife. Money was tight, but Tang Wulin could feel that his parents gave him the best of everything.
The two returned home.
As soon as the door opened, Lang Yue rushed over and gave him a hug.
"You're back, son! You must be hungry. Mom made you something to eat."
"Okay!"
The family of three sat down at the dining table to eat.
"Wulin has innate full soul power, so he'll definitely need a Soul Ring, right?"
Lang Yue said as she ate.
"Without a Soul Ring, he can't become a Soul Master."
"I remember the Spirit Pagoda gives preferential treatment to gifted children. They can get their first Soul Spirit for free."
Tang Ziran nodded. "That's right."
"We'll go take a look in a few days and choose a good Soul Spirit for Wulin."
"It's only because Wulin's talent is good enough. Otherwise, our family really couldn't afford a Soul Spirit."
Tang Wulin held his chopsticks between his teeth, making calculations in his head.
In the original story, after Tang Wulin awakened Blue Silver Grass, Tang Ziran and Lang Yue had practically sold their pots and pans to get him a Soul Spirit and a Soul Ring.
Even the most ordinary Soul Spirit cost tens of thousands of Federation coins on the market.
Whew, good thing my talent is good enough.
He reflected silently.
If it were the original Tang Wulin, who knows how much trouble it would have been? He'd have had to save up for a Soul Spirit and scrimp on food and expenses to cultivate, counting every penny at every step.
For those with innate full soul power and twin Martial Souls, the Spirit Pagoda had a special preferential treatment policy.
The benefit Lang Yue had just mentioned, which allowed gifted children to receive their first Soul Spirit for free, had been established by the Spirit Pagoda to recruit promising young talents.
"Dad, Mom, I'm done eating." Tang Wulin put down his bowl and chopsticks. "I'm a little sleepy, so I'm going to bed."
Lang Yue was taken aback. "Sleepy so early? Aren't you going to eat a little more?"
"Today's awakening took a lot out of him. Let him go." Tang Ziran stopped his wife. "Awakening is hard physical work."
Tang Wulin smiled at his parents, then turned and walked into his small room.
He didn't even have time to take off his clothes before he lay down and fell straight asleep.
A golden marking flashed across the surface of his body and vanished, like ripples on water, silently disappearing beneath his skin.
In his dream,
Tang Wulin opened his eyes.
He found himself in a completely unfamiliar place.
The sky was gray and hazy, with neither sun nor clouds.
Hard black earth lay beneath his feet, and a huge factory stood in the distance.
No, it was a forge.
Tang Wulin recognized this kind of building.
In this world, mechas and Battle Armor were mainstream, so blacksmiths were extremely sought after.
A high-level blacksmith's social standing was even higher than that of a Soul Master of the same rank.
The forge before him wasn't particularly large, but it was fully equipped, with anvils, forging hammers, furnaces, and metal ingots.
The air was filled with the mingled smell of rust and coke, and waves of heat swept over him from the furnaces.
A man was hammering iron in the middle of the forge.
He looked to be around fifty, but he was exceptionally tall and burly. He wore a tattered robe that didn't even have any patches, exposing the bronze skin beneath. His hair was as messy as a bird's nest.
At the sight of him,
Tang Wulin's pupils contracted sharply.
"This is... Tang Hao?!"
Anyone else wouldn't have recognized him, but he had transmigrated here and knew him at a glance.
His memories of his previous life were hazy, but that image was simply too iconic: a middle-aged man with a stubbly beard and bulging muscles, wielding a giant hammer-the standard image of Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao from the first part of Douluo Continent.
Tang Wulin's throat went a little dry.
He took a step forward instinctively, his shoe making a faint sound against the gravel underfoot.
The hammering in the forge stopped.
Tang Hao raised his head, his gaze passing through the steam and firelight to settle on Tang Wulin.
The two looked at each other for a long time.
Tang Hao spoke first, his voice low and hoarse.
"Little one, this is a forge, not a place for children."
Tang Wulin's mind raced, and he decided to play dumb.
"Uncle, I don't know how I got here, and I don't know where this is either."
He rubbed his stomach and put on a pitiful expression.
"I'm so hungry. Do you have anything to eat?"
Tang Hao snorted and set his forging hammer on the anvil with a dull clang.
"This isn't a charity hall. There's no free food here."
He looked Tang Wulin up and down, his gaze lingering on the boy's young face for two seconds.
"Sigh, I guess I'm softhearted."
"Want to learn forging? I can take you on as an apprentice and feed you."
Tang Wulin barely hesitated. "Yes!"
Tang Hao grinned.
"Come here."
Tang Hao beckoned to him.
Tang Wulin walked over quickly.
"To learn forging, the first thing you need is a hammer." Tang Hao looked down at him. "Do you have one?"
Without even thinking, Tang Wulin turned his right hand over. The Clear Sky Hammer extended from his palm, and he gripped it.
Tang Hao's eyes lit up at the sight of the familiar Clear Sky Hammer.
"Good hammer."
He gave Tang Wulin a heavy pat on the shoulder.
"All right, kid, I'll take you as my apprentice."
For the rest of the time, Tang Hao began teaching Tang Wulin to forge.
He started by correcting Tang Wulin's hammer grip.
Tang Wulin had watched forging in videos in his previous life and had thought it was just a matter of swinging a hammer at iron.
But when he actually tried it, he discovered it was nothing of the sort.
Tang Hao had him start by swinging a hundred times without hitting anything, to get a feel for how to put force into it.
"Use your waist, not your arms! How thick are those arms of yours? Swing with your arms, and you'll be out of strength after three strikes!"
"Keep your footing steady, feet shoulder-width apart, and sink your center of gravity!"
"Keep your eyes on the spot you're striking, not on the hammer!"