Douluo: Legend of the Dragon King - The Voice of the Purple Emperor

Chapter 12: Forging a Prodigy?

"Have you finished eating?" Feng Wuyu looked at Gu You, whose mouth was full of oil. This child got up early and said he was hungry and wanted to eat. He originally thought that a child could eat a lot, so he shared his breakfast with Gu You. He didn't expect that it would all be gone after eating. Moreover, the ingredients used to cook the food were all rare and precious herbs, which contained a lot of energy. Feng Wuyu didn't know how good the child's appetite was.

Gu You stroked his belly and nodded.

"Today's task is to hammer this piece of tungsten steel a thousand times. You can use your soul power. While hammering, listen carefully to the sound and distinguish the purity of the impurities. This kind of understanding can only be achieved by you, and it also determines your talent for forging." The scene changed, and Feng Wuyu pointed to a piece of silvery-white steel and said.

"Good!" The two golden hammers of life quietly appeared yesterday, and the wounds on his arms had already healed completely. Even Feng Wuyu was very surprised when he saw Gu You full of energy in the morning. His recovery ability can be described as a human medical machine.

Gu You went all out, his martial spirit activating, purple scales covering his palms, and the sounds of his attacks echoed continuously.

Seeing this, Feng Wuyu curiously examined Gu You's martial soul. His martial soul was trembling, which meant that Gu You's martial soul must be above his level.

No wonder he's so strong, he must be a True Dragon Martial Soul with pure strength, Feng Wuyu thought to himself.

"Alright! We're done." Gu You shook the sweat from his head and feet.

"Got it... What! You're done? Only five minutes have passed, are you sure?" Feng Wuyu spat. He had only been pondering for five minutes, and it was already over? One hammer blow a second wouldn't have been enough!

"I'm really done hitting them. The hammer is so light, it can hit three or four times a second." Gu You said, sounding a little aggrieved.

Feng Wuyu examined the tungsten steel that Xiang Guyou had hammered a thousand times, and his eyes narrowed instantly. A thousand times? Although it was the lowest grade, the magazine inside this piece of tungsten steel was indeed gone, and it had a sublimation effect!

How is that possible?

Can a child who has never learned any forging techniques suddenly become a forged master by randomly striking?

The so-called "thousand-time forging" is not as simple as hammering a thousand times. Rather, it involves removing impurities and increasing density through continuous and meticulous hammering. At the same time, the most significant characteristic of "thousand-time forging" is sublimation.

Only when metal is forged to achieve a sublimation effect can it be considered truly refined.

For example, a piece of tungsten steel has great strength. After being forged a thousand times, its volume will shrink by one-third, while its strength will increase by 200%. Its sublimation characteristic is that its weight increases by 30%.

Only when a qualitative change occurs can a piece of metal increase in weight, thus demonstrating its extremely high strength.

Sublimation is the simplest process for materials like tungsten steel. Excellent forging can produce special sublimation effects, and the better the sublimation effect, the higher the price of the resulting metal.

At the level of "thousand-times forging," the metal itself must first be forged through the process, and then the same method is used to shape it.

Therefore, items made from high-quality forged metal are hundreds of times more valuable than those forged by ordinary people using only a hundred-piece forging process. Only when a blacksmith reaches this level can he be considered to have truly entered the field.

But even such a level of forging is something that 90% of blacksmiths can never achieve in their lifetime.

Forging a thousand times requires not only strength and soul power, but more importantly, comprehension, especially an understanding of metals.

Gu You had only studied forging for two days, yet he was able to randomly forge a piece of thousand-fold metal, which was enough to show his powerful talent for forging. Although the sublimation effect was rather weak, only increasing the weight by two percent, it was still incomparable to hundred-fold metal and had a certain amount of life energy.

"This is already a thousand forgings?" Gu You was completely bewildered. When he was forging, he was indeed just randomly hammering, but he would change his position every time he heard a different sound. At the same time, the two life essence hammers were constantly emitting a faint life energy.

Feng Wuyu shook his head. "It was just a coincidence. The life essence in the Life Essence Hammer was absorbed by the ore and thus sublimated. Combined with your understanding of metal forging and purification, it was formed."

So that's how it is. Gu You seemed to understand. At the same time, he felt that forging really was that simple.

"Looks like we'll have to move up the pace. I'll just teach you Thousand Refinement directly." Faced with Gu You's monstrous talent, Feng Wuyu really felt that there was nothing more to teach below Thousand Refinement, so he might as well take advantage of today's situation and teach him Thousand Refinement directly.

"Are there any techniques for refining a thousand times?" Gu You asked.

Feng Wuyu shook his head. "No."

"What? You don't even have a teacher? How am I supposed to learn?" Gu You said speechlessly.

"I'm not your teacher yet," Feng Wuyu said with a wicked grin.

Okay, okay, is this how you play it?

Gu You already had a clue what Feng Wuyu was thinking.

"Master, from now on you'll be my second professional master, how about it? Okay?" Gu You said irritably.

"That's right, my good apprentice. Thousand Forging isn't without techniques, but it's mostly just talk. What I can tell you now is to do more, listen more, and feel more. Doing is constantly hammering; listening is quietly listening to the sound of each hammer blow and feeling the differences in impurities in different places; feeling is not treating the metal as an inanimate object. When forging, you must treat the metal as a living being, trying your best to communicate with it during the forging process. Only through perfect communication can it recognize you, find its secrets, and find its texture. This is also why Thousand Forging is called mental forging. Every blacksmith will use different methods when forging Thousand Forging. You must use your heart to forge and to comprehend." Feng Wuyu said a lot in one breath, leaving Gu You stunned.

"Do you understand?" Feng Wuyu asked.

"I'm starting to get the hang of it, I'll give it a try." Gu You rested his chin on his hand.

He had originally thought that Feng Wuyu would set an example, but to his surprise, he didn't even have that idea. He really thought of himself as a peerless genius who knew everything.

Approaching the forging table, Gu You looked at the contents of the book next to it and placed a piece of ice crystal ore into the forging furnace to begin heating.

The ice crystal ore was about an inch long and shimmered with a cold light. After placing it into the forging furnace, Gu You searched through books for the characteristics of the ice crystal ore.

Ice crystal ore, originating from the far north, is an extremely rare mineral, the kind that countless people would fight over if it were out in the open. However, it is readily available in Feng Wuyu's forging room. Ice crystal ore itself is very brittle, but it has a strong flexibility when burned at high temperatures. It is an excellent soul guide material. High-quality ice crystal ore can even produce an increase of five to ten percent when extending the transmission of soul power.

However, cryolite also has its drawbacks. It is extremely difficult to produce finished products. Under normal circumstances, it is too fragile to forge, and it is difficult to shape after being forged at high temperatures.

Ice crystal minerals are not only rare in inland cities, but also highly prized even in some far-northern border cities.

(End of this chapter)