After bringing back the newly reheated blade prototype, Jiang Lin resumed his hammering.
Under the influence of his Seeing the Great in the Small and Skillful as the Wind skills, he could strike the exact target location almost instinctively.
Zhao Yankui stood to the side, somewhat dazed. Although he had been offering constant guidance, Jiang Lin's rate of progress far exceeded all expectations.
Both the precision of his hammer drops and the selection of impact points were practically flawless.
Judging by this posture, had he already completely mastered the art of hammering?
A wave of envy inevitably rose in Zhao Yankui's heart; such talent was simply unheard of.
Blacksmith Qi, who was responsible for holding the workpiece, was utterly dumbfounded. Watching Jiang Lin rapidly beat the blade out to its sharp edge, he was completely speechless.
He had actually learned it just like that?
Recalling his own time in the hammering area, he had to train for at least three years before he was even allowed to pick up a hammer, spent five more years before finally grasping the knack, and another two years before he finally carried the bearing of a formal blacksmith.
Yet how long had Jiang Lin taken?
He had spent less than a month in the stoking area, where his fire control had reached the level of Pure Fire (Adept Fire Control)—truly a monstrous prodigy.
Yet compared to his skill at hammering, stoking was practically insignificant.
When Jiang Lin finally stopped swinging the heavy hammer and turned around to ask, "Master, do you think this will do?"
Neither Zhao Yankui nor Blacksmith Qi spoke. The two of them silently lowered their heads to look at the blade on the anvil, at a loss for words.
After a long while, Zhao Yankui rasped, "Do you want to learn quenching?"
Jiang Lin was slightly startled. Learn quenching now, already?
Zhao Yankui's expression grew increasingly strange; having asked the question, even he was shocked by his own words.
Hadn't they come here tonight just to help Jiang Lin get familiar with the art of hammering? How on earth had the topic jumped to quenching?
Normally, an apprentice had to grind away in the hammering area for at least three to five years before they were even allowed to touch the domain of quenching.
Jiang Lin's progress was simply too fast—so fast that Zhao Yankui even wondered if he himself was just too slow, and whether he was truly qualified to be his master at all.
Even more unexpectedly, Jiang Lin chose to refuse.
"My hammering technique is still far from proficient, and I am still a long way behind you masters. I am in no rush to learn quenching yet."
Hearing this, Blacksmith Qi felt like coughing up blood. Your hammering technique is not proficient? It's on par with mine, and I've been a veteran blacksmith for thirty years!
Damn it, you brat aren't even thirty years old total!
Blacksmith Qi said with a lingering sigh, "Kid Jiang, excessive modesty equals arrogance, you know."
Of course Jiang Lin had heard that saying, but he was not being modest on purpose.
Although aided by two skills, he could indeed achieve a hammering level close to that of a formal blacksmith, but that was all.
Jiang Lin looked at the weapon on the anvil, and the appraisal information was clear at a glance.
[Inferior long saber, with a total of 398 defects]
It was much better than expected, but the number of defects was still frighteningly high.
One had to remember that when he previously inspected the sabers forged by other blacksmiths, the number of defects was merely a little over two hundred.
This showed that in terms of controlling the details, he had not achieved perfection.
It was much like a student who knew how to answer exam questions, yet still suffered from poor handwriting and excessive time spent.
To achieve perfection, based on the current situation, his hammering skill needed to reach at least level 5, or even level 6.
Of course, eliminating all defects would allow the forged item to reach the classified-grade tier.
For Jiang Lin, this was merely the passing mark.
Fortunately, his thoughts were not known to others, otherwise if Blacksmith Qi had heard them, he probably really would have coughed up three liters of blood.
Many blacksmiths spent their entire lives aiming to forge a classified-grade weapon, and you call this the passing mark, you brat?
A perfect score is the only passing mark, is that it?
All in all, before his hammering skill reached a state of perfection, Jiang Lin had no intention of taking the next step.
Steadiness and making his foundation even more secure was his code of conduct.
Hearing that Jiang Lin was temporarily not going to learn quenching, Zhao Yankui actually breathed a sigh of relief. He was genuinely afraid that Jiang Lin would learn quenching and Blade Sharpening all at once, leaving him, the master, with nothing left to teach. That would have been too embarrassing.
"It is very good that you can remain so level-headed. Hammering truly requires plenty of tempering," Zhao Yankui said.
Jiang Lin respectfully asked, "I still ask Master for more guidance."
Zhao Yankui glanced at the unquenched weapon, his eyelids drooped, and his voice instantly became vague: "It's getting rather late today, we'll talk about it next time. Not bad..."
His dark skin felt somewhat burning hot; Zhao Yankui couldn't bear to stay any longer. He instructed Jiang Lin to clean up the area, then beckoned Blacksmith Qi to leave.
Once outside the Blacksmith Shop, the two of them let out a long breath simultaneously.
Blacksmith Qi looked back at the young figure beginning to clean up the charcoal ash, and couldn't help letting out a wry smile: "Earlier I only felt that you had taken on a good apprentice, but now it looks like you've brought in a true monster! Compared to him, my thirty years have simply been lived in vain."
Zhao Yankui's lips twitched; he had been about to say the exact same thing.
It stood to reason that having such an outstanding apprentice should have made him jump for joy, but the shock Jiang Lin had dealt him was simply too stunning, leaving him torn between anxiety and delight for the moment.
The delight was naturally that his apprentice had a promising future and he hadn't chosen wrongly.
The anxiety was: with just "this meager skill" he possessed, how much longer would it even be enough to teach Jiang Lin?
At today's rate, two days? Or three?
Zhao Yankui felt bitter in his heart...
"Come to think of it, during tomorrow's apprentice evaluation, if Dong Songchang sees that Jiang Lin's hammering technique is so profound, he's probably going to be furious enough to drop dead," Blacksmith Qi suddenly said.
Zhao Yankui's eyes lit up. Indeed! If he himself had been shaken to this extent, how would Dong Songchang react when the time came?
That insidious villain was bent on using underhanded methods to trick people; would he cough up blood in anger tomorrow?
Stirred with excitement, Zhao Yankui could already hardly wait for dawn to break.
On the other side, Jiang Lin knew he had given the two veteran masters a minor shock today, and this was entirely deliberate.
Now that his hammering skill had reached level 4, the truth would come out sooner or later. Since that was the case, he might as well take this opportunity to reveal a bit of it beforehand.
In the eyes of Zhao Yankui and Blacksmith Qi, Jiang Lin was already monstrous enough, yet they had no idea he hadn't even unleashed the true power of Seeing the Great in the Small.
If he had casually eliminated those defects while hammering and directly forged a high-quality weapon, the two of them probably wouldn't have been able to sleep all night.
After cleaning up the charcoal ash, Jiang Lin returned to the anvil and picked up the heavy hammer once more.
Feigning mediocrity in front of his master was just to maintain a persona of steady, step-by-step progress, but the defects still had to be eliminated.
He wasn't forging weapons to show off, but to upgrade his Furnace Crafting Method!
Up to now, this blade had contributed less than 2 points of Gold Essence to Jiang Lin; the real bulk of the gains came from eliminating defects.
Straightening his expression, Jiang Lin gripped the heavy hammer and struck hard against the long saber.
With over three hundred defects, eliminating all of them was by no means an easy task.
Clang—
Clang—
Unlike Zhao Yankui's rhythmic strikes, every single blow of his landed precisely where it was needed.
Amidst the continuous sound of striking, a full hour passed before every single defect in the long saber was completely eradicated.
[Mediocre-quality saber blank (unquenched)]
Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow slightly. He hadn't expected that even if the details weren't fully up to standard, eliminating the defects could still allow it to reach the classified-grade tier.
It was just that in the description, it was defined as a saber blank rather than a long saber.
This result was much better than he anticipated. Jiang Lin nodded slightly while glancing over the rest of the information.