Chapter 21 (1/2)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Ou Yangming was never a flower in a greenhouse, and he understood many things from a young age as he was an orphan.
It was obviously good to be outstanding, but not if he was too outstanding. The bird that poked its head out would be shot, and he knew this very well because of the battles between gangsters in town, and the consequences of fault-finders who were new in the military camp.
After taking a deep breath, Ou Yangming said, “Old Man, the other greave is missing, so I’ll make another one.”
“Okay.” Old Craftsman smiled. He was quite pleased with his disciple.
Ou Yangming put the remaining iron ingot together with another Agility Ore, then used his mind to envelope his Military Fire around the iron ingot.
The usage of the Military Fire to refine an iron ingot was the most basic requirement for smithing art, but it was as simple as breathing for Ou Yangming, who was unusually calm due to the purple light. Before long, the greave was done.
When he tapped the Agility Ore, it went into the Military Fire.
[Drawable composition found, draw?]
‘Draw.’
The Agility Ore instantly melted in the Military Fire, and it flowed down like liquid to cover the greave.
[Upgradable composition found, upgrade?]
‘Don’t upgrade.’
The purple light that contained the Agility attribute remained still.
[Upgradable composition found, upgrade?]
‘Upgrade.’
On the other hand, another purple light for Toughness integrated into the greave.
It would definitely be shocking if Ou Yangming were to smith another Attribute Armament, but it would be too pretentious if he could not even smith a White Slate Armament.
Therefore, it was inevitable for him to disguise his skill.
A brief moment later, the Military Fire disappeared, and a brand new greave was formed.
[Item: Outstanding grave]
[Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Good Grade, Rank Three]
[Attributes: Toughness +8, Durability 8]
Ou Yangming was secretly satisfied when he saw the attributes revealed by the Military Fire.
Although it was still of Good Grade, it was not at its peak, and it did not have extra attributes. Nonetheless, a greave of such grade was rare to normal soldiers.
Of course, Ou Yangming looked disheartened instead of delighted.
Old Craftsman was stunned, then he laughed after he looked at the greave. “Young fella, why do you look discouraged when you smithed a Good Grade greave?”
Ou Yangming mumbled, “Old Man, I didn’t smith an Attribute Armament, which means I wasted a precious ore…”
Old Craftsman laughed out loud, and pointed at his nose as he commented, “Why do you have such wishful thinking? You smithed two Attribute Armaments successfully out of the three precious ores, so why are you dissatisfied? Hehe, do you think that you’re a G.o.dly blacksmith who can smith Attribute Armaments without fail?”
He blinked. “Old Man, you don’t blame me?”
Old Craftsman shook his head, then pointed at the remaining precious ores. “Why would I? When the general gave you ten precious ores to train with, we were already prepared for the worst, so we won’t blame you even if you can’t smith any Attribute Armament. Hehe, I didn’t expect you to succeed on your first try, so this is enough to cover the cost.”
Normally, Military Blacksmiths could only smith While Slate Armaments. Unless one was the best among one’s peers and had a unique sense in Attribute Ores, one could not attach attributes to equipment.
Even if one was talented and was guided by a teacher, one would probably ruin around ten precious ores in the beginning before smithing an Attribute Equipment. Furthermore, Military Fire Smithing Art could only be perfected through practice. While a master craftsman had a high success rate, a beginner’s success rate could be frustrating.
Old Craftsman was second to none in the military camp, but his success rate in smithing Attribute Equipment was only around thirty percent, whereas the other Military Fire Blacksmiths who were qualified to smith such equipment were worse.
Apart from two of them who barely pa.s.sed the twenty percent mark, the others only had a ten percent success rate, or could barely hit the mark.
Old Craftsman’s words were of enormous weight in the Armament Camp. Though he was not the supervisor, even the supervisor dared not disrespect him, because his strength was matchless.
Therefore, since Ou Yangming smithed two Attribute Equipment successfully, n.o.body would criticize him even if the rest he smithed would be sc.r.a.pped.
Besides, Old Craftsman believed that Ou Yangming could smith at least one Attribute Equipment from the seven remaining precious ores.
“I should be blamed for being too greedy. You’ve consumed too much energy to smith two Attribute Equipment in a row, yet I didn’t ask you to rest.” He comforted Ou Yangming by patting him on his shoulders, then mentioned after looking at the seven precious ores on the smithing table, “That’s all for today, we’ll continue tomorrow. You’ll smith only two each day from now on, no more than that.”
Ou Yangming nodded in agreement.
He initially wanted to stay in the smithing workshop to practice the Military Fire’s controls, but Old Craftsman scolded him and forced him to rest.