Chapter 96 – Mu Chen’s Guess
Tang Wulin only had to wait less than half an hour before Mu Chen brought out two boxes and a small bottle, placing them in his hands.
Treasuring their important weight, he took the three items. Tang Wulin didn’t speak as he gave Mu Chen a deep bow.
While putting icing on the cake was easy, gifting coal when snowing was hard. To him, these three items were the same as giving away coal when it was snowing!
Cen Yue brought Tang Wulin with him to accept a task that could only be completed by a third rank blacksmith and then personally sent him out of the association. Afterward, he moved towards the highest level of the building, the office of Mu Chen the president of Eastsea City’s Blacksmith’s Association.
Seeing him, Mu Chen smiled. “I knew you would come find me.”
“President, we found the three items for him straight away; do you think it was too easy for him to obtain it? If a youth acquires items this easily, they wouldn’t know how to treasure it. Furthermore, hasn’t the association given him too much preferential treatment? Doing this may not be advantageous to his growth,” Cen Yue said with much doubt.
Mu Chen grinned. “Those three items should be what he currently needs urgently. Didn’t you notice? He looked quite anxious today. With his young age, he wouldn’t be able to fake these signs. That means that he was in dire need of those three items, but he had some difficulty financially in acquiring them, thus his rush to sit the examination to qualify as a third rank blacksmith. This was so that he could accept tasks of higher rank and hence receive a greater sum of remuneration. I only made use of my authority, and loaned these items to him. With his talent and potential, the association won’t incur a loss. This is the first point.
“Secondly, you would also have noticed that he had completed the third rank examination easily. With your skills as a sixth rank blacksmith, how long would it take you to Thousand Refine Heavy Silver? With your level of soul power and wealth of experience, would you be twice as fast as he is?”
Cen Yue didn’t try to hide his deep thoughts. “I can’t. I can’t deny that this child is a prodigy for being able to be one with the metal at such a young age, and whilst fully concentrated. He hadn’t broken out of focus a single time during the entire process. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to enter the Spirit Forging realm. Adding on his innate divine strength, even if he was restricted by his soul power, he would be capable of reaching sixth rank blacksmith at the very least. He will definitely surpass Mang Tian.”
Mu Chen caught a gleam of admiration within Cen Yue’s eyes. He grinned, saying, “Not only you, even I’m jealous of Mang Tian as well. He has truly found a genius that’s out of this world. This child not only has a strong foundation, but is also very talented. You said that he wouldn’t treasure those items because they were easily obtained? I’m not worried about that. It’s very simple. For him to easily enter that state of concentration and understanding of the metals, it proves that this child has a calmness that surpasses his peers.
“Also, did you notice that all three items he needed were for increasing his body’s strength? If I’m right, the greatest benefit from combining the Scarlet Flame Fruit and Ice Crystal Fruit would be that it promotes his physical strength by constantly forging it under fire and ice. With his innate divine strength, would increasing his physical strength be a bad thing? Blood from a dragon-type beast could be related to his martial soul. His eyes were also full of confidence when he collected those items, so I believe that giving those items to him will give him immense benefits.
“Actually, the question I’m considering is not if the association has given him too much preferential treatment, but rather, what methods should we utilise to assist him in increasing his soul power in the future. Although entering the Spirit Forging realm could be done with his innate divine strength and astounding perception, but to enter into the higher level, the Soul Forging realm, he would require even greater amounts of soul power to be able to support it.”
As Cen Yue listened to Mu Chen’s analysis, an expression of admiration formed. He truly was worthy of the title of president. Within a few short moments of meeting Tang Wulin, he was able deduce so much.
Mu Chen lifted his head and looked at Cen Yue as he spoke deeply, “This child’s existence must be kept a secret, we cannot let anybody from the other branches know about him. I am pinning my hopes onto him, so that when he reveals his true colours in the main association in the future, he will bring some glory to our branch.”
Cen Yue laughed. “Please rest assured, president. I have already informed the relevant people. I have always thought that you were impartial, but now it doesn’t seem to be completely true.”
“Hehe.” Mu Chen gave a sly grin. “I’m very clear of what Mang Tian was thinking. This Tang Wulin kid, his ability to complete the Thousand Refinements definitely isn’t something that had happened recently. It must’ve been Mang Tian that told him to hide it, that’s why he didn’t move up to the third rank during his first examination. Mang Tian was really hoping that Tang Wulin would shock the world with his abilities in the future, eventually becoming a Saint Craftsman in the Soul Forging realm. I have my own hopes as well. In the last thirty years, he is the only child I’ve seen who might be able to attain the Heavenly Refinements and become this generation’s Divine Blacksmith genius!”
☀
Tang Wulin, however, was clueless about the high evaluations Mu Chen had given him. He didn’t head back to the academy, instead, he had gone to the forging workshop not far from the association.
Tang Wulin didn’t know what would happen when he removed the seal. Until now, he was still unsure if the existence within his body was real. This trial would prove everything to him. He didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention in the dormitory if something unexpected happened.
Wu wu wu… Gales howled as the typhoon entered Eastsea City, bringing heavy rain and strong currents of wind along with it. When Tang Wulin rushed into the workshop, it had already become dark and gloomy outside, and a thunderstorm had started.
He forced the doors shut and checked the windows. The workshop was undoubtedly a sturdy place in itself. After he had done his checks, Tang Wulin let out a sigh of relief.
Despite the endless humming of the wind and the pitter-patter of rain on the windows, Tang Wulin felt something strange inside of him. It was a blessed feeling.
Yes! Despite the chaos brought about by the hurricane outside, he was fortunate enough to be able to hide within the solid walls of this small shelter, free from the attacks of the wind and rain. This was something to be blessed about, wasn’t it?
He took out the three items from the pale blue soul storage ring the association had given him and placed them on the table. Reaching out, he brought a chair towards him and sat down.
His heartbeat visibly grew faster. The Golden Dragon King the golden figure spoke of should be real since there had been some strange occurrences in his body, and these three items should be of use in removing the first seal.
Tang Wulin opened the first box with great care.
The box was made out of exquisite material. Just by opening it, he felt a gush of hot air flowing from the box and into the room, increasing the room’s temperature by a few degrees. It had also chased away the chill Tang Wulin had caught while escaping from the thunderstorm.
There was a scarlet colored fruit within the box, and it was a whole circle bigger than the fruit he saw at the auction house. The golden glow it emitted was also denser. Similarly the heat waves coming from the top of the fruit was stronger. A mere look and Tang Wu Lin could imagine how blazing hot the fruit actually was.
He quickly opened the second box. With a push to open the lid, he felt a wave of coolness creep from the box, filling the room that had just been warmed up by the Scarlet Flame Fruit. With its chilliness, it brought down the temperature back to normal.
Giving off a pale blue glow, the thumbnail sized hundred-year Ice Crystal Fruit was resting in the box calmly, emitting a translucent light.
Their mere appearances was sufficient in drawing stares and attention. Ice and fire, these two different elemental types had barely offset the other’s effects and prevented the room’s temperature from fluctuating. But as Tang Wu Lin opened the lid of the Ice Crystal Fruit’s box, he felt that the light it exuded had grown significantly stronger, as if it were trying to compete with the strength of its shine.
What do I do now? Do I just eat them?
Tang Wulin was a bit helpless at this moment. He didn’t know how he should prepare these two fruits. After he felt the energy emitted from both fruits, he didn’t dare to place them in his mouth. President Mu Chen had just told him that consuming spirit fruits would not necessarily bring him any benefits as it might also produce adverse effects.
It would be best to ask him then.
Tang Wulin shut both his eyes and concentrated hard with all his might. He called out in his mind, Are you there? I’ve found the three items, are you there?
He didn’t even know how to summon the golden figure and this was the only method he could try.
There was no reply.
Tang Wulin felt somewhat foolish at that moment. Although the process of getting ahold of these two spirit fruits and the bottle of blood of a hundred-year dragon-type soul beast was fairly easy, he would have to pay it back eventually! Could it be that it had been merely a dream?
“You have found everything?” Just then, a calm voice sounded in his mind.