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After their cultivation, when they opened their eyes, it was already the next day. As everyone felt the progress they had made, they were both delighted and slightly regretful.
If not for the constraints of the assessment, they would have gladly continued cultivating here for another ten days or even half a month.
However, the gains they had achieved were already sufficient.
"Senior, we will head to Sanbao City next. Are there any other alumni from Shrek Academy teaching at an academy there?" Xu Yuan asked.
Wu Siduo and the others' eyes lit up.
They had learned something new.
Another valuable lesson.
Using the connections and networks of the academy.
It was a pity this tactic was being used late—only Sanbao City could benefit from it now.
"Sanbao City?" Li Zhilong thought for a moment and recalled someone.
"Yes, the grade director of Sanbao City's Sanbao Advanced Soul Master Academy is my classmate, Chen Feiyang. I'll prepare a letter of introduction for you. You can directly seek him out when you arrive."
Li Zhilong was easy to deal with.
Without any prior notice, suddenly showing up under the guise of juniors, the fact that Li Zhilong hadn't dismissed them as frauds and agreed to meet them today spoke volumes about his personality.
If it were someone with a bad temper, especially if they were busy at the time, they might have ignored such a request outright.
"Thank you, Senior," Xu Yuan said with a smile.
He turned to Tang Wulin.
"Wulin, the star power here carries a hint of vitality. Its benefits for forging are obvious. When I start forging later, you can give it a try too."
Tang Wulin's eyes brightened.
Vitality?
So that's how it was.
Now he finally understood the unique sensation he had experienced while absorbing star power last night.
Vitality!
The class monitor had summarized it perfectly.
The benefits of vitality for forging were self-evident.
Whether it was spirit forging or the higher levels of soul forging and heavenly forging, the essence lay in creating a new life, step by step imbuing metal with vitality. If star power rich in vitality could assist in this process, the efficiency of forging would undoubtedly increase significantly.
Tang Wulin's own use of blood qi for forging already provided tremendous advantages because his bloodline power was immense and contained astonishing vitality, greatly promoting the forging process.
If he could combine this with the vitality-rich star power…
Perhaps he could attempt spirit forging again!
Due to the limitations of his soul power, even though he could convert his blood qi, combining the two still left him struggling to sustain spirit forging. Each attempt depleted his blood qi, requiring time to recover, which delayed his normal forging routine.
In the four months since breaking through during the first- and second-year exchange matches, including the titanium alloy he spirit-forged, he had only attempted spirit forging seven times, succeeding only twice—including the titanium alloy instance.
Now, reminded by Xu Yuan, he was excited.
Perhaps, on this observatory, he might succeed in spirit forging once more.
For someone at his current stage, every successful spirit forging attempt accumulated experience and paved the way for future success.
Especially for someone just beginning to explore spirit forging.
Most blacksmiths searched for direction amidst failures, gradually correcting their approach to inch closer to the correct answer.
But a genius blacksmith succeeded on their first try, instantly building confidence and gaining unique insights. This allowed them to pave the way for success in forging at the same level, advancing smoothly and rapidly.
This was the early stage.
When it came to spirit forging, very few blacksmiths succeeded on their first try. Even succeeding within ten attempts was considered extremely rare.
Tang Wulin and Xu Yuan were exceptions.
Their success on the first try meant that, at least at the spirit forging level, they could advance quickly.
If their success rate in earlier attempts at spirit forging was higher, it would have a significant impact on their future spirit forging endeavors.
It would even aid their mental preparation for advancing to soul forging.
"Oh? Tang Wulin is also a blacksmith?" Li Zhilong's thoughts stirred.
Recalling Tang Wulin's performance in yesterday's matches, he became somewhat expectant.
It seemed that Tang Wulin might indeed be a blacksmith of no small skill.
While Li Zhilong entertained these thoughts, Xiao Tiantian and the others immediately made the connection as well.
However, compared to Xu Yuan showcasing his mech crafted entirely from spirit alloy, Tang Wulin hadn't yet produced any works. They couldn't confirm his forging skills.
"Yang Nianxia, you should give it a try too. The vitality-rich star power here might help you break through to Grade One Thousand Refinements."
Yang Nianxia's eyes gleamed.
Grade One Thousand Refinements!
This was a crucial milestone for blacksmiths.
He was currently a third-level blacksmith, but third-level forging already involved Thousand Refinements. The difference between third and fourth level lay in the success rate of Thousand Refinements and the processing of Thousand Refined metals.
Moreover, even if he couldn't break through to Grade One Thousand Refinements, the vitality-rich star power here would undoubtedly elevate his forging skills further.
Of course, as a talented blacksmith with lofty ambitions, Yang Nianxia preferred to take this opportunity to attempt Grade One Thousand Refinements rather than merely improve his understanding and success rate of regular Thousand Refinements.
All three harbored the intention of improving their forging skills.
Therefore, they couldn't forge simultaneously.
As the first to express interest, Xu Yuan naturally went first.
He sketched and manifested his previously envisioned equipment using the Celestial Brush.
Looking at Xu Yuan's forging hammer, Tang Wulin felt a twinge of envy.
The properties of that forging hammer were incredibly suited for forging. Its enhancement surpassed even the effect of his sunken silver hammer and layered hammer.
The layered hammer merely helped him conserve stamina and soul power while allowing continuous strikes to ensure the transformation of the metal remained as uninterrupted as possible.
But in terms of enhancing forging, the permeation properties of Xu Yuan's hammer were far more thorough.
If one mastered the force of permeation, theoretically, a single strike could fundamentally alter the structure inside the metal.
Simultaneously, theoretically, a single strike could stabilize the metal's internal structure without causing the slightest change—though achieving that was much harder.
Though it was manifested here, Tang Wulin could affirm that Xu Yuan's confiscated hammer was undoubtedly the prototype of this one.
Of course, envy was just envy.
Moreover, the most important thing for a blacksmith was their own skill. The assistance of a forging hammer was ultimately just that—an aid to make forging easier, not to improve the blacksmith's technique.
Xu Yuan took out a piece of sunken silver.
This time, he prepared to start with sunken silver.
Sunken silver had the best ductility and was the most widely applicable in battle armor design. It was suitable for almost all battle armor designs, and virtually all alloys could incorporate sunken silver.
"Sunken silver?"
Xiao Tiantian and the others exchanged glances.
The versatility of sunken silver wasn't low, meaning they could all potentially become competitors for it.
Grade One Thousand Refinements?
Or was he going to fusion-forge sunken silver with other metals?
Paying no heed to what Xiao Tiantian and the others were thinking, Xu Yuan had already activated the forging platform. The roaring flames engulfed the sunken silver, and in just moments, it began to soften.
Clang!
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