Douluo Continent: Huo Yuhao, who lives in the Dragon King's body

Chapter 17: If you can't rely on intelligence, then use strength!

"You mean you, a girl, want to learn forging?"

Seeing his two children who had found their way back to him, Sikong Hong wondered if he had misheard and wanted to go deaf. Wasn't that just ridiculous?

A girl. Your martial soul isn't a strength-based type, so why are you doing forging?

This is purely misleading and wasting time on cultivation!

However, what he didn't know was that one of the two standing in front of him was the legendary Silver Dragon King. Although his power was certainly not as great as the Golden Dragon King's, he was, after all, half of the Dragon God and the king of the true dragon race. How much weaker could he be in terms of power?

"Why don't you reconsider? Let me ask Elder Han. There's no rush to cultivate a secondary profession. At your age, the most important thing is to cultivate your soul power."

Sikong Hong tried to persuade them for a long time, but seeing that the two were still determined to learn blacksmithing, he had no choice but to postpone it.

If Han Tianyi found out that Huo Yuhao and Huo Yuhao had gone to learn blacksmithing, wouldn't he beat him to death? No matter how you look at it, these two don't seem like they're into strength.

The two of them felt helpless. They knew that Sikong Hong meant well, but there were also reasons why they had to do it.

Do you really want to tell you that we're doing this because we're afraid Tang Wulin will eventually become our enemy, and we can't let him take the position of Divine Craftsman, so we're learning forging?

After all, everyone knows how important a master craftsman is.

In this era where everyone has battle armor, only master craftsmen can forge four-word battle armor, and in Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena's eyes, four-word battle armor is already close to becoming a divine artifact.

If you continue to nurture this battle armor with divine power after becoming a god, it can reach the level of a true divine artifact, namely a 6-word battle armor. You should know that many people don't even have a divine artifact!

Although in the realm of gods, these correspond to level 3 pseudo-divine artifacts, level 2 divine artifacts, level 1 pseudo-super divine artifacts, and the God King possesses a super divine artifact.

But that's definitely not the case in reality.

Once a deity reaches that level, in addition to their divine position and the strength of their divine consciousness, divine artifacts are also extremely important. The strength of a divine artifact largely determines the strength of the deity themselves; a powerful deity must possess a powerful divine artifact, and the quality of these artifacts varies.

Artifacts are classified into four levels from highest to lowest: super artifacts, pseudo-super artifacts, artifacts, and quasi-artifacts.

Taking the Douluo God Realm as an example, generally speaking, it's already quite good for a third-level god to possess a quasi-divine artifact, and divine artifacts themselves need to be constantly nurtured by the god to evolve. If a third-level god can advance to a second-level god, then it's very likely that his quasi-divine artifact can evolve into a divine artifact. However, that's where it ends.

However, many pseudo-super artifacts and super artifacts above the level of divine artifacts already existed when their masters became gods, making it almost impossible for a divine artifact to evolve to this level.

In any realm of gods, a supreme artifact is a strategic weapon.

The above paragraphs are from the novel "Tang Clan Heroes" by Teacher Da Tang.

The importance of master craftsmen capable of mass-producing 4-word battle armor has increased significantly. Each piece of 4-word battle armor represents a future divine artifact, and even a first-level deity cannot resist the temptation of a divine artifact.

If Tang Wulin, who is unclear about his stance, succeeds, it will become a Damocles' sword hanging over his head.

With Gu Yuena's true dragon physique, even a low-level blacksmith can easily advance once they reach the required level. Considering that Tang Wulin in the original story could become a level 3 blacksmith when he reached the first ring, she was already at that level.

Huo Yuhao believed that Gu Yuena could do the same, after all, Tang Wulin, who was only at the first ring, had not even unsealed his Golden Dragon King bloodline! In terms of soul power, he didn't have the Mysterious Heaven Technique to provide him with a continuous supply of soul power.

As for himself, he currently possesses the physical attributes of a three-ring Soul Master, coupled with his cheat-level ability of mental detection, which actually plays a very important role in forging.

Such talent would surely attract Mu Chen's attention, and then Mu Chen could be used as a connection to get in touch with Zhen Hua and learn the Heavenly Forging Technique.

And once they come into contact with Zhenhua before Tang Wulin, he won't have the energy to guide Tang Wulin.

As for whether there are other master craftsmen, Huo Yuhao doesn't know. In the original novel, when Mu Chen first appears, it says there are three, but it's clearly retconned later, so Zhen Hua holds the absolute position.

"Teacher Si, the best time for cultivation is only a few hours, and of course we won't waste it. But besides cultivation, we also have a lot of free time every day; we can't just spend it all reading, can we?"

To get Sikong Hong to open up, Huo Yuhao explained that unlike the cultivation world where people often secluded themselves for months or more to cultivate relentlessly, in the Douluo Continent, unless one entered deep meditation, people basically cultivated for several hours a day, like clocking in for work.

Cultivating outside of those specific time slots is ultimately useless, no matter how long you cultivate. Otherwise, wouldn't everyone in those reclusive sects, with their elders having ample time to cultivate, be at least Super Douluo level?

Of course—not counting the Haotian Sect in Douyi, they are the home of the Shura's favorite son. Even with their mountain sealed, they managed to train seven Douluo in just 10 years, despite the extreme scarcity of titles on the continent.

But that's all there is to it.

As time passed, they still had to obediently live in seclusion, truly disdaining fame and fortune, content with ordinariness, and fading out of the world.

Don't make your brother Huo laugh.

In the Douluo Continent, a world where everyone values ​​reputation and honor, would the Haotian Sect, a proud and arrogant lineage of the three upper sects that has produced gods, put aside such empty fame?

As for the reasons for their seclusion, we'll discuss that later.

After receiving Huo Yuhao's assurance, Sikong Hong fell into deep thought. He was really afraid of Han Tianyi's outburst, but Huo Yuhao was right; they needed to have something to do during their free time.

Moreover, geniuses who only know how to cultivate are useless.

"Alright. However, you must promise not to neglect your cultivation. Otherwise, I will tell Elder Han."

It's a deal.

Upon receiving their prompt replies, Sikong Hong chuckled and waved his hand, "Alright, you two clever brats, go ahead. I'll have someone protect you on your way to the Blacksmith Association. Yuhao, remember, you can try, but don't get stuck on the details."

"I see."

Sikong Hong's concerns were not without merit. A person's energy is limited, and the profession of blacksmithing is, undeniably, one of the most respected professions of our time, requiring an immense amount of energy.

…………

That afternoon.

A master craftsman from the Forging Association emitted a sharp, explosive sound.

"What do you want?"

"This isn't forging! That's not how you swing a forging hammer!"

"No? You're all so young, where do you get such strength?"

"Gu Yuena, how did you, a mere little girl, get the strength to swing my hammer? Oh, a genius from the Spirit Pagoda, then it's no surprise, no surprise at all."

"A thousand refinements? Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Reality was too surreal. Half a lifetime of hard work was no match for a genius's initial attempt. This sixth-level master craftsman's Dao heart had already collapsed. Unable to accept it, he vomited blood and collapsed to the ground.

Good heavens, I *****

Finally, that's what he thought to himself.

Gu Yuena and Huo Yuhao exchanged a helpless glance.

"Ling... Yuhao, haven't we gone too far? As far as I know, Tang Wulin in the original novel wasn't much different, was he?"

Gu Yuena transmitted her voice, looking completely innocent.

"Heh. Didn't you think you weren't good at using strength and used a bit too much force? Also, in the original story...did Qiu'er show you everything?"

Huo Yuhao retorted, saying it wasn't his fault; it was purely because Gu Yuena couldn't control herself.

What he was concerned about was that Qiu'er had seen a lot of things after being guided by his destiny, such as those books. Would she be so bored as to tell Gu Yuena about them or publish them directly?

Hmm... I didn't pay attention to that, but given Qiu'er's personality, she might actually do it. I'll search later to see if it's been posted on the Soul Network.

"Well, it's just the four parts of Douluo Continent plus some weird fanfiction. But it seems you know about these things, Yuhao—what does 'uncle is more important than heaven' mean?!"

Gu Yuena confessed Qiu Wuxia without feeling guilty. However, to prevent Huo Yuhao from being a pervert who wanted to eat the mother-son rice bowl, she couldn't help but question him.

In her opinion, Huo Yuhao, who brought these books to the auspicious beast, definitely had ulterior motives.

"Cough, I was young and impulsive back then. And you really intended to have Lan Xuanyu? It's just a book, don't take it seriously. If you do, you lose."

"Ha, men. Yuhao, do you think our outstanding performance will get out and cause problems? I know you almost got caught by Shrek Academy."

"Probably not. That incident caused quite a stir before, so the teachers are naturally more protective of us. Even now, Teacher Si has sent a Soul Master out there; the Forging Association can't possibly kidnap you or me."

The two communicated telepathically, quietly waiting for the master to wake up. Sometimes, excessive talent can be quite frightening.

Soon, the old man woke up, still feeling depressed but also pleasantly surprised, as he had unexpectedly found two blacksmithing prodigies today.

In the original novel, Mu Xi, as the daughter of an eighth-level master craftsman, only took the second-level blacksmith exam at the age of twelve, which was considered a genius by people.

Gu Yuena and her companion, on their very first attempt, were able to complete the Thousand Forging with their own strength, without any special skills.

It can be said that they are already level three blacksmiths.

Forging also has many levels. Generally speaking, it is called "hundred-forging," which means that every part of a component has to be forged hundreds of times. The highest level is "thousand-forging."

The more times it is forged, the fewer impurities there will be in the metal. Of course, only metal of good quality can withstand the pressure of repeated forging.

The term "thousand-times forging" is not simply about hammering the metal a thousand times. It involves repeatedly forging to remove impurities and increase the metal's density. The most significant effect of this process is sublimation. Only when the metal undergoes sublimation during the forging process can it be considered true "thousand-times forging."

The finest forging can produce special sublimation effects; the better the sublimation, the higher the value of the forged metal. At the level of a thousand forgings, the metal itself must first be forged a thousand times, and then the same techniques are used to shape it. Therefore, anything made from thousand-forged metal is worth a hundred times more than anything made from hundred-forged metal. Only by reaching the level of a thousand forgings can a blacksmith be considered to have truly entered the field.

A six-year-old becoming a first-level blacksmith isn't particularly surprising, as there have been many such cases throughout history. However, in Master Wu's view, most of them relied on techniques taught by their families or teachers.

Even if these two people in front of me had someone at home who taught them skills, it's impossible that they were already level three blacksmiths at the age of six!

And I haven't even seen their 1000-forged quality yet.

There are five grades of forging. According to the unspoken rules of the forging industry, if a metal is grade two after a thousand forgings, the probability is over 20%, and the forging master is definitely a level four forger.

As for the Thousand-Refinement First Grade, also known as Semi-Spirit Forging, it refers to the blacksmith's ability to imbue the metal with a certain life force, giving it a spiritual quality. When it is forged and fused with the Soul Master, it can better integrate with the Soul Master, producing a greater enhancement effect. If a second-grade metal battle armor component can increase the enhancement by 10%, then a first-grade component would increase it by 12%, while even spirit forging only increases it by 15%.

Therefore, in the forging world, it has always been believed that anyone who can complete a thousand-fold forging of a first-grade forging will definitely become a spirit forger, that is, a fifth-grade forger, as long as their cultivation level is high enough.

"You two... um... this..."

Old Wu was excited and wanted to recruit the two, and he also had the idea of ​​taking them as disciples. But then he suddenly remembered that they were from the Spirit Transmission Tower, and he was only at the sixth level. What qualifications did he have to take them as disciples?

The Spirit Pagoda is a large and powerful organization, and it's not like it doesn't have its own blacksmiths. Apart from divine craftsmen, what level of master craftsmen can't it find?

Suddenly, his mood soured.

Why aren't there any geniuses in my family!

That damn Spirit Pagoda!

At this moment, Old Wu and Mang Tian, ​​who was far away in Aolai City, had almost the same feeling: How come all the benefits have fallen on your side?

"Elder Wu, as we've already said, we're here to learn forging." Huo Yuhao stepped forward with a smile, making it clear that he was simply learning and not seeking a master. Elder Wu's face immediately twisted in anger.

On the one hand, these two coming to learn is considered joining the association, and being recognized as geniuses within the association makes them feel much better. On the other hand, being exposed for taking on apprentices and their lack of confidence is embarrassing.

It's not against the rules for members of the Spirit Pagoda to learn secondary professions and join related associations. Huo Yuhao's idea was to just register his name there. Gu Yuena took advantage of the learning opportunity to get in touch with Mu Chen. Later, she discussed setting up a scheme with Sikong Hong, and Zhenhua also made the connection.

Well, I should talk to Han Tianyi first, since becoming an apprentice is quite important.

"Alright, alright, since you've all said that, I'll register you as Level 3 Blacksmiths. From now on, whenever you come, I'll personally teach you blacksmithing techniques. At least I won't let you waste this talent."

What else could Old Wu say?

I'm just doing you a favor.

"Thank you for your help."

Old Wu chuckled and shook his head. "No trouble at all." Actually, he hadn't seen the finished metal product yet. Of course, he didn't dare to look. If he could see that it was grade two, he would really kill himself.

What does it mean to be a level 4 blacksmith at the age of 6?!