A peculiar look immediately appeared on Jiang Wuyue"s face. Even in the Blood G.o.d Legion, which was filled with prodigies, he was considered to be the cream of the crop. However, he was already 28 years old, yet there was a 21-year-old opponent whom he wasn"t confident in defeating in battle. This was a ma.s.sive disparity.
Soul Masters progressed at the fastest rate prior to turning to 30. After that, one"s body would be completely mature and cease to develop, thereby resulting in a drastic decrease in the speed of one"s cultivation.
As such, almost all t.i.tled Douluos had forged strong foundations prior to turning 30 years old, and the most powerful beings on the continent were all eight-ring Soul Douluos or even t.i.tled Douluos already before turning 30.
Jiang Wuyue was very confident that he"d be able to become a t.i.tled Douluo in the future, but that would have to wait until he was at least over 40 years old. However, with Tang Wulin"s current powers, he seemed to be able to get to that point even before turning 30!
If he could continue to develop at this rate, he would surely stand at the pinnacle of the entire legion someday.
"What happened?" Long Yuxue asked in an enraged manner as soon as she dragged Tang Wulin out of the combat rooms.
Tang Wulin replied, "I was challenged to a sparring match as soon as you left, and all we did was spar."
Long Yuxue was looking at him in a skeptical manner. "Really?"
"Yes," Tang Wulin replied with a nod. He liked Jiang Wuyue"s personality, and he felt even more inclined to hide some details for his sake after discovering the fact that he possessed a Tyrant Dragon martial soul.
Long Yuxue harrumphed coldly, "That guy"s always picking fights everywhere; you should just ignore him in the future. He didn"t hurt you, did he?"
"No, Superior Jiang held back for my sake," Tang Wulin replied with a smile.
Long Yuxue hadn"t seen their sparring match, so she harrumphed coldly, "That guy"s got nothing more than brute strength! Come to think of it, you two are one of a kind; it"s no wonder that he holds in such high regard. However, you have to constantly remember that you"re a member of our special service department, got it?"
"Yes, Superior."
Long Yuxue continued, "I only managed to source one customer for you before I was called here by Qiyue. Let"s go to the forging room; the customer"s already waiting for us there."
"Sure!" Tang Wulin was very enthusiastic about earning accolades. After all, his goal was to rise up the ranks as quickly as possible.
The forging rooms were also situated in the living area, but in contrast with the combat rooms, the forging rooms were relegated to a more secluded location. The soundproofing materials here were quite limited, so they had no choice but to place the forging rooms here in order to not affect anyone else.
Long Yuxue said to Tang Wulin as she walked, "I"ve invested everything I have in you, so if the customer asks for something that you can"t do, don"t agree to their request. If you ruin our reputation with the very first job you do, we"ll be in big trouble."
"Alright." Tang Wulin didn"t provide any in-depth explanation. The truth would speak for itself.
Sure enough, after arriving at the forging room, there was already someone waiting for them. This was a female military official who appeared to be around 30 years of age, and her epaulets indicated that she was a lieutenant colonel. Her disposition was quite warm and gentle, and she wasn"t particularly beautiful, but she was quite charismatic and approachable.
"Sister Lu Ni!" Long Yuxue called out in an intimate voice before rus.h.i.+ng forward and latching onto the female lieutenant colonel"s arm.
Lu Ni smiled as she cast her gaze toward Tang Wulin, and asked, "Is this handsome lad the blacksmith you were talking about?"
Long Yuxue nodded in response. "That"s right! He"s new here, and he only just received his military rank, but he"s already a second lieutenant. He"s currently undertaking his special training under my supervision, and he"s a very good blacksmith as well."
A hint of a surprise flashed through Lu Ni"s eyes upon hearing this. She had never heard of a newbie being granted the rank of second lieutenant right away. Tang Wulin appeared to be quite young, but she wasn"t skeptical of his forging skills in the slightest. Instead, she said in a very polite manner, "Please look after me."
Tang Wulin hurriedly returned some pleasantries before opening the door of the forging room. "Please come in, Superiors."
The setup inside the forging room was very simple. At the center of the room was naturally a forging bench, and there were many types of uncommon metals placed on the metal shelves on either side. Most of them had been brought here by Tang Wulin, and the rest were sourced by Long Yuxue.
Lu Ni glanced at the uncommon metals on the shelves, and smiled as she said, "Looks like you"ve got a good supply of everything here! What levels of service do you offer?"
Tang Wulin replied, "I can forge anything according to your requirements. What kind of metal would you like to use? I can also refine existing items that you already have."
He didn"t immediately reveal to them that he was a Saint Blacksmith, partially because they may not believe him anyway, and he also didn"t want to scare them. He was quite new here, so it was best not to be too much of a show-off. He"d simply let his forging skills speak for him. After all, a reputation had to be forged through actions rather than words.
"You seem very confident! I"m not asking for much." Light flashed from Lu Ni"s hand as she spoke, and a metal tube appeared in her grasp.
The metal tube was around a meter long with a diameter of approximately 10 centimeters. It appeared to be the barrel of a weapon.
Lu Ni continued, "Due to excessive usage, this cannon barrel of mine has become slightly misshapen, so I"d like you to repair it. If possible, would you be able to infuse some suitable uncommon metals into it as well? I"m sure that"ll make it more durable. I tend to shoot at quite a high frequency for long periods at a time, so it"s very important for me to have a good barrel."
Tang Wulin accepted the barrel from her and inspected the outside before taking a look at the inside.
From the outside, the barrel seemed to only be slightly misshapen, but looking at it through the hole, he discovered that the interior of the metal tube was filled with pits and b.u.mps, clearly a result of damage from sustained high temperatures. This barrel was no longer usable.
"How many accolades are you prepared to pay for this barrel, Superior?" Tang Wulin asked.
Lu Ni faltered slightly upon hearing this before chuckling, "Shouldn"t you be the one to decide on a price?"
Tang Wulin replied, "That"s true, but I have a range of plans to repair this barrel, and the accolades required will be different depending on which plan you choose. These plans can be roughly split up into three types. The first one will just be a standard repair, and that"ll only cost 100 accolades. The second plan is the one that you suggested, which involves adding some other metals to make it more durable. The material used for your barrel is already quite good; I can tell that it"s Purple Iron, which has a very high melting point. "The fact that it was damaged to such an extent despite the material used suggests that your weapon is extremely powerful, so even if other metals are infused into it, the barrel would still most likely be damaged in the future. Hence, the third plan I can suggest to you is for me to forge a brand new barrel of the exact same dimensions as this one, and the new barrel will be completely free from the issue of heat damage."
Lu Ni was quite intrigued to hear this. "How much will you charge for those last two plans? You"re telling me you can resolve the issue of my barrel overheating once and for all? That"s going to be very difficult considering I"m using a weapon with both high power and high shot frequency."
Tang Wulin scratched his head, and said, "I don"t know much about soul weapons, but it shouldn"t be an issue for me. For the second plan, I"ll charge 1,000 accolades, but as for the third plan, that"ll cost you at least 5,000 accolades."
Lu Ni was quite alarmed by Tang Wulin"s quotes. 1,000 accolades was enough to do a lot of things, and 5,000 accolades was enough to promote Tang Wulin from second lieutenant to lieutenant. Even to her, that was quite a considerable sum.
"Don"t spout nonsense, Wulin!" Long Yuxue hurriedly interjected. She was on very good terms with Lu Ni, who was also very popular in the entire legion. She had invited Lu Ni to be their first customer so she could promote Tang Wulin"s forging room, and she was quite aghast that Tang Wulin was stating such astronomical prices.
Tang Wulin smiled, and both Long Yuxue and Lu Ni were momentarily entranced by how handsome he was. His smile was so pure and filled with positive energy.
"How about this? Seeing as you"re my first customer, I can implement the first plan free of charge, and you can gauge my skills based on that. Even without adding any metals, I"m confident that I can bolster the durability of your barrel by at least 10%. After that, you can decide on whether you want to implement one of the other two plans; what do you think?"
Lu Ni looked at Tang Wulin, and replied, "Alright, I"ll take the free option first then."
She had always been quite steadfast and never made rash decisions, so she certainly wasn"t going to splurge her accolades just because Tang Wulin was handsome. At the same time, she wanted to see just what this confident young man was capable of.
Tang Wulin carried the barrel over to the forging bench and took a rough glance at it before pressing a b.u.t.ton, then tossing the barrel straight into the furnace.
He did a few stretches, and it had been a very long time since he"d last forged, so his heart was filled with excitement. After becoming a Saint Blacksmith, forging had become second nature to him, and it was also something that he loved.