Is Fan Yu's True Identity a Mighty Expert of the Gay Realm?!

A few days later, Bai Jingtian came to Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department, token in hand.

In Bai Jingtian's original impression, the Soul Tool Department should have been a more science-fiction-like place. Compared to the Soul Tool Department he had envisioned, however, Shrek Academy's was more like a factory workshop—a heavy-industry workshop, at that.

The smell of metal and metal dust hung everywhere, with little effort made to mask it. The noise was considerable too, with the clang of hammering coming from many rooms.

That's strange. With so many people at Shrek Academy studying smithing, how come nobody has produced forged metal on the level of Thousand Refinement with spirit?

Listening to the almost rhythm-free hammering, Bai Jingtian couldn't help grumbling inwardly.

Judging by the events of Douluo I, the smiths of that era certainly couldn't achieve Thousand Refinement with spirit, but Hundred Refinement and Thousand Refinement techniques surely posed no difficulty for top-tier smiths.

So why did techniques like Thousand Refinement with spirit, and the more advanced Spirit Forging and Soul Forging, only appear in Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King?

It suddenly occurred to Bai Jingtian that the ins and outs of this might be worth looking into.

The Blue Scientist's black technology wasn't limited to finished products. Materials science seemed to hold great potential too.

And if he could develop better materials, couldn't he make better finished products as well?

With that thought, Bai Jingtian strode forward and finally opened the door to Fan Yu's workshop.

The clanging grew louder, and a strong smell Bai Jingtian had once known well greeted him, bringing back memories of his metalworking practicum at university.

He had used not only CNC lathes but also a manual lathe, making a hammer with his own hands.

Unfortunately, he had only recently discovered Peerless Tang Sect back then and hadn't yet become enough of a chuunibyou to want to handcraft a Clear Sky Hammer. Besides, the hammers they made for the course weren't shaped like the Clear Sky Hammer.

"Ah, Jingtian, you're here! I heard your third Soul Ring is already a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. What an incredible genius you are!"

When Fan Yu saw Bai Jingtian enter through the door, he immediately greeted him warmly.

"Teacher Fan Yu, I've already finished studying Soul Tool theory through level five. How about we start with the practical work?"

After greeting him, Bai Jingtian got straight to the point.

He had originally planned to skip the smithing and begin his practical training with engraving Core Arrays. But after considering the potential of materials science, he changed his mind.

Fan Yu tried testing Bai Jingtian with a few tricky questions, but Bai Jingtian answered them all fluently, leaving Fan Yu and several senior Soul Tool Department students nearby greatly astonished.

Even a Level 5 Soul Engineer from the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy might not be better versed in theory than Bai Jingtian was now.

Was this really a first-year freshman?

"All right, follow me. Today we'll start by practicing forging..."

Fan Yu nodded in satisfaction, led Bai Jingtian over to a set of forging equipment, and began teaching him smithing hands-on.

Fan Yu had originally planned to give Bai Jingtian an entire lesson to ease into it, but Bai Jingtian pulled off another astonishing feat.

"Th-this, it's already been purified this perfectly?"

On his very first attempt at smithing, Bai Jingtian completed a Thousand Refinement with two hundred consecutive hammer blows. Although it still fell short of the First-Grade Thousand Refinement of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, Bai Jingtian hadn't used his full strength this time either.

For one thing, he still needed to save some strength to practice the Sea Tiger's ultimate techniques. He couldn't be like Lao Huo, pouring all his strength into smithing until his arms trembled and he could barely even feed himself.

For another, he hadn't yet fully mastered the correct smithing posture. If he hammered with all his strength while using an incorrect posture, he would very likely suffer hidden injuries.

Although Cellular Recombination and the Asura Path could both heal injuries, their healing abilities weren't omnipotent, and Bai Jingtian's current level wasn't very high either. If he really did suffer hidden injuries, he would have to endure them for half a year or more. It simply wasn't worth it.

Even so, Bai Jingtian still overturned Fan Yu's understanding, because he had already reached the limit of what Soul Engineers could currently achieve.

Fan Yu had once made a statement of truly thunderous force, one that could even strike 99.9999 percent of the Soul Engineers at the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy and Mingde Hall dead with thunder:

"To become an outstanding Soul Engineer, you must first become an outstanding smith."

But judging by how extraordinarily rare forging masters were in Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, perhaps the reason its Soul Engineers couldn't hold their heads high really did have something to do with Fan Yu's words?

The smiths were all busy handcrafting Battle Armor, so naturally no one wanted to handcraft Soul Tools.

And at present, the forging capabilities of the Douluo Continent's smiths had yet to surpass Thousand Refinement.

Thus, Bai Jingtian had entered the craft at Fifth-Grade Thousand Refinement, already the highest level among current smiths. Ten thousand years ago, he could at least have sat at the same table and shared a drink with Tai Tan, Tang Hao, and Lou Gao.

That Tai Tan was Tang Hao's old servant, not Er Ming from the Star Dou Great Forest.

Still stunned, Fan Yu returned Bai Jingtian's forged product to him, then guided him through shaping and quenching it before finally engraving a Core Array on the finished product.

Another half hour passed, and the way Fan Yu looked at Bai Jingtian had completely changed. He even frightened Bai Jingtian into backing away several steps and taking a large forging hammer from a dark-skinned, burly senior nearby to hold in front of his chest.

That look, that excited expression... Could Fan Yu actually be a mighty expert of the gay realm?

Only when Fan Yu saw Bai Jingtian backing away repeatedly, even picking up the large forging hammer He Caitou used, did he realize he had lost his composure. He hurriedly apologized.

"S-sorry, I'm just too excited. Jingtian, you're a damn genius! Why couldn't I have met you sooner...

"Oh, right, this is a good chance to introduce you to your senior brother, He Caitou.

"Caitou, this is Bai Jingtian, a first-year freshman. Starting today, he'll be studying Soul Tools under me too."

"So you're that legendary freshman. Nice to meet you."

He Caitou gave a simple, good-natured smile and shook Bai Jingtian's hand.

Bai Jingtian didn't feel much aversion toward the prince in distress.

Although people called him a big black fellow, his complexion was considerably lighter than the strange dark shade of someone like Heiji Hattori.

Besides, Bai Jingtian had just tried using the mind-reading power of Electric Current Propulsion. The current He Caitou really did conceal his desire for revenge well; perhaps Mu En was the only person in all of Shrek Academy who might have some inkling of He Caitou's true identity.

He Caitou's first impression of Bai Jingtian was good as well. He was used to people giving him all sorts of strange nicknames, but Bai Jingtian, unusually, hadn't done so.

As for the stories about Bai Jingtian, He Caitou didn't have much of a sense of them. Zhou Yi's past misdeeds hadn't fallen on his head either, so he bore her no particular hatred.