From the Soul Motion Machine onwards, the Mechanized Douluo

Chapter 2 The Secret of Soul-Guided Metal! [Please add to your favorites! Please vote!]

About half an hour later, at the blacksmith shop in Baiyun Village, Chen Hong handed a delicate yet understated hoe to a villager uncle and watched him leave amidst his gratitude.

After the other party left, Chen Hong took out the mysterious ore from the crucible next to him and crushed it little by little with an iron hammer, grinding it into powder. He found that there seemed to be silver light shimmering in the powder.

"Huh, could it be that I've actually struck gold?" Chen Hong noticed the silvery metallic luster in the ore powder and was somewhat surprised. However, having experienced countless failures and disappointments, he understood that he couldn't make any unfounded expectations before the results were in.

Making unrealistic expectations will only lead to unrealistic disappointment.

Chen Hong placed the powder in a wooden basin and began washing it with water. After initially filtering out some impurities, he separated the sediment of varying quality into small bowls. He didn't yet know which were the real impurities, so he could only burn them all and see.

Soon, Chen Hong added coal to the furnace. The formation of coal is very simple. This world full of soul power still exists. Chen Hong could actually make a steam engine by hand, but he felt that it was too simple and not challenging, so he didn't make that thing.

Once the furnace reached a sufficient temperature, Chen Hong placed the crucible containing the densest batch of powder on it, closed the lid, and began the smelting process.

"I remember when I graduated from Imperial College London, my graduation project was a steam-powered mecha." Looking at the glowing red-hot furnace, Chen Hong couldn't help but recall something deep in his heart, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his lips, as if he was thinking of his past campus days.

Steam and mecha are common words, but when put together, they instantly feel unfamiliar and niche, and even a bit unfamiliar.

"Oh, what a pity those bastards ruined my mechanical art. Reinstall the engine and send it to the battlefield."

Chen Hong sighed inwardly, temporarily setting aside his memories of his past life. He came from a world about to enter a spacefaring civilization, not from this world.

Because he wasn't from this world, he felt that the future of this world with its mysterious powers was bleak.

If this world were filled with terrifying supernatural powers, capable of shattering galaxies with a single punch, like in fantasy novels, then Chen Hong might decisively shut his mouth and happily join in.

However, through years of observation and attention, Chen Hong discovered that the strongest beings in this world called Douluo Continent, the Title Douluos, seemed to possess somewhat underwhelming destructive power. Furthermore, Chen Hong seriously suspected that the soul beasts of this world might be some kind of giant single-celled organism? Perhaps one with only a few neurons throughout its entire body?

If given the chance, Chen Hong would definitely catch a few to dissect. But right now, the most important thing is to localize his professional knowledge.

After all, Chen Hong's previous identity was a mecha battlefield division commander. He had a little bit of knowledge in computer programming, materials science, and mechanical construction, but his level was just average—the kind of person who could pick up trash on the battlefield and build combat mechas by hand.

"The soul power in this world seems too omnipotent. Only a fool would abandon soul power and go to the trouble of developing steam, internal combustion, electromagnetism, and then nuclear energy."

As an ordinary researcher in the technological plane, Chen Hong deeply understands that physics has its limits, but the mystical still has a great deal to explore, especially when it comes to dimensional theory, which makes the imperial leaders wonder: Is the mystical also a kind of science? Is science also a kind of mystical?

"Hey, it's done."

Chen Hong stared blankly for a while, then noticed that the powder in the crucible on the stove had turned red-hot and liquefied. Chen Hong quickly used tongs to take it out and poured it into a container that had been prepared beforehand, waiting for the red metallic liquid, which was only the size of a fingernail, to cool slowly.

Sizzle!!

After it had cooled down sufficiently, Chen Hong dipped the unknown metal into the cooling water and then took it out. He discovered that a small, silvery metal block reflecting mottled colors had appeared in the container.

"Wow? You really struck gold? You succeeded on your first try?" Chen Hong was slightly surprised when he saw the finished product. He had prepared himself to get nothing, so why was he being told that there was an unexpected surprise?

Once the silver metal block had completely cooled, Chen Hong activated his martial soul's mental power with a thought, and the weak force barely lifted the small lump of silver metal.

"Wow! This is incredibly powerful in guiding souls?!"

Chen Hong's martial soul psychic power is an extension of his own soul power and mental power. Therefore, as soon as his psychic power came into contact with the silver metal, he sensed the metal's powerful soul-guiding properties!

"This is... Soul-guided metal! No! Let me examine it closely!"

Chen Hong seemed to have thought of something, and a yellow spirit ring appeared behind him, then glowed slightly. Sage... uh, Mental Focus activated!

Chen Hong felt a sudden coolness in his mind, free from worldly desires. His thoughts seemed to reach a state of clarity and tranquility, and all the clutter in his mind vanished. In Chen Hong's eyes, there was only the silver metal block that had been lifted in front of him by his mental power.

A faint but tenacious mental force, driven by a highly focused will, slowly spread throughout the silver metal block and enveloped it.

Chen Hong quickly recalled various minute details about the silver metal, such as its volume, mass, density, and so on.

"So that's how it is! The so-called soul-guided metal is actually a metal with its own small magnetic field!" Chen Hong, who was in a state of high concentration, quickly discovered the faint anomaly on the silver metal block. It was that this metal seemed to have its own positive and negative poles, and soul power would flow very smoothly in it.

Chen Hong was able to discover this because after his weak yet tenacious and endearing mental energy completely enveloped the silver spirit, a transparent magnetic field diagram of the weak mental energy appeared in his mind.

"Sure enough, being small, short, and weak isn't without its advantages." As the effect of the Sage's Soul Skill - Mental Focus wore off, Chen Hong started talking nonsense again.

Chen Hong felt that this might be a negative effect of the "wise time" skill, and definitely not due to his own actions.

"That's why I say the future of this world is bleak! At this golden age when they should be studying and developing their intelligence, instead they're spending their days learning to fight and brawl at martial arts schools. How can society progress? How can technology develop? How can civilization advance?"

Looking at the silver metal in his hand, Chen Hong felt a surge of joy, as if a new path had opened up before him.

"Let's call it Soul Guiding Mithril. I need to go ask Uncle Wang for a lot more!"

Inside the blacksmith's shop, Chen Hong's rosy face was filled with surprise under the glow of the furnace.

His "Great Joy of the Machine - Soul Motion 0.2" is showing promise!

(End of this chapter)