“If you’re powerless like you were before, that’s indeed your only way. Now, you’ve achieved things that are beyond my imagination, so…” Old Craftsman pursed his lips and continued, “Some things have to be done by someone, and as soldiers, we’re more often than not that somebody.”
“Yes, Old Man,” Ou Yangming responded firmly.
“Uhm.” Master Lu approached them and noted, “Master Ou, I admire what you did too. Hehe, you might not be aware of this, but in the last month, the soldiers from Changlong, as well as their family members, have been able to stand straight with their heads up. Many of the things that couldn’t be done can be carried out smoothly now, and it’s all because of you!”
“I only did what I should do; you’re praising me too much, Master Lu.” Ou Yangming twitched his mouth, then he changed the topic. “So this is a mold…”
It was not his first time seeing a mold, but seeing it and studying it were two entirely different things.
Ou Yangming reached out his hand to touch the mold gently. As he sensed the runes that were carved on the mold, he tried his best to recall his memory.
His mind was clear after a brief moment.
The young fellow did not find the runes strange because he had already seen them in the Ni family’s library.
Nonetheless, even if Ou Yangming could visualize the runes in the library, they were different from the real thing. While they were roughly the same, the subtle differences were clear to him.
Needless to say, he could notice everything clearly because he achieved a thoroughly meticulous state.
If another person-even a runes smithing master-had come, one might not necessarily differentiate the tiny differences.
Ou Yangming touched the mold for a long time before he looked up and asked hesitantly, “Master Lu, may I ask how you came up with these runes?”
Master Lu showed his teeth as though he was troubled by the question.
Upon seeing Ou Yangming’s bright eyes, the master finally gritted his teeth and answered in a low voice, “Master Ou, to be honest, I wasn’t the one who came up with the runes.” ‘As I expected,’ Ou Yangming thought, but he looked like he was dazed.
Master Lu continued, “When I previously learned the Suit Runes Skill at the Ni residence, I stumbled upon a book that recorded something interesting. I was very interested in the runes that can be used to upgrade pieces of cheap equipment, so I secretly remembered them.” Old Craftsman’s eyelids twitched. “Master Lu, are you saying that you stole the runes from the Ni family?”
“How can you say I stole them! It’s an ancient book from the Ni family, and nobody reads it.” Master Lu was unhappy. He added after a short pause, “Moreover, it’s something that can be used to increase the military’s combat power, so how can I keep it to myself? Wouldn’t I be wasting a natural resource?”
Ou Yangming smiled because he was well aware of the situation.
It was not Master Lu who was lucky; the Ni family had arranged the little accident on purpose.
Ten years ago, the Ni family accidentally found out that the runes could improve a piece of low-cost equipment’s equivalent rank. Despite that, from an aristocratic family’s perspective, publicizing it would not match their clan’s benefits. Hence, the Ni family found Master Lu and leaked the skill through this method.
Even so, it was not easy to transform the runes in theory into something real. In fact, Master Lu spent nearly ten years trying to get some results.
Master Lu, what about the other normal molds? Let me take a look at them,” Ou Yangming requested.
“That’s easy, come with me,” Master Lu responded loud and clear.
There were about ten of those molds, but not all of them were used; at least a quarter of them took turns to be fixed and maintained.
When Ou Yangming was brought to four molds, which were stacked together, he reached out his hand to touch them.
Master Lu stated proudly, “I polished these molds bit by bit, so their qualities are generally the same.”
Ou Yangming nodded, but he was already inspecting through the thoroughly meticulous state.
Sure enough, the molds that were deemed perfect by Master Lu were lacking in many ways based on what Ou Yangming saw.
That said, the sub-quality areas were not eye-catching, so nobody would notice them without the thoroughly meticulous state. If Ou Yangming pointed them out, he would be nitpicking Master Lu and would make things difficult for the master.
However, Ou Yangming had a hunch that the reason the upgrade of the pieces of cheap equipment was low was closely related to the details.
He pondered before he suggested, “Master Lu, I’ve been studying runes, so I gained some knowledge in them. How about I modify that mold?”
“You…” Master Lu was taken aback, and he wanted to reject the young fellow.
‘You’ve just come across Runes Power, yet you’re already thinking about fixing a mold that even I am helpless against. You’re being overconfident!’
The master opened his mouth as he wanted to rebuke Ou Yangming, but he instantly thought about the magic spear.
Since the spear was still in the military camp, based on Master Lu’s status, it was not difficult for him to visit Chen Yifan. It was also after the master saw the magic tool that he no longer doubted Ou Yangming’s identity and his ability.
Master Lu decided to shut up. Judging from the fact that Ou Yangming could smith a magic tool, any strange requests made by the young fellow seemed to be excusable. “Ah, okay.” Master Lu was helpless. “I’ll give you that mold that has a low success rate, and I hope you’ll figure out its mystery.”
Ou Yangming laughed. “I’ll surely do my best.”
Following that, he reached out his hand and placed it on the mold, then he activated the Military Fire to envelop the mold. Through the Military Fire, Ou Yangming had a finer understanding of the veined patterns on the mold. When he compared them with what was stored in his memory and employed the thoroughly meticulous state, he found several unordinary points at once.
From Ou Yangming’s point of view, the world was still the world, but it became a microscopic world.
It was not easy for Master Lu to achieve a millimeter precision by using the Military Fire.
Nonetheless, through the thoroughly meticulous state, Ou Yangming’s view was on a micro-level.
The difference between their observations was no longer a hundred times, but a thousand times.
This was why Ou Yangming could easily find the flaws, whereas Master Lu could not notice anything even if he widened his eyes until he became blind.
Ou Yangming smiled confidently. In terms of understanding of changes in runes, he was inferior to Master Lu, who was already immersed in the study for ten years.
Nevertheless, the young fellow’s tool was much stronger than Master Lu’s.
As the Military Fire burned, the flaws were corrected one by one. In particular, Ou Yangming paid extra attention to the ambiguous parts.
Eventually, the veined patterns on the mold were fully amended. Ou Yangming perfectly displayed the theories in the book on a real object. The instant the runes became perfect, the purple light in Ou Yangming’s mind suddenly moved as if it was attracted to the runes. The lights gushed out abruptly and went around the runes.
Ou Yangming did not expect the occurrence because it was out of the blue. He initially wanted to stop it, but he decided to let it be because he was curious.
Next, the purple light flashed and returned to his mind.
Ou Yangming exhaled deeply and trembled a little. He had a weird look on his face as he slowly raised his palm.
“Woosh…”
The Military Fire disappeared, and the mold, which looked the same as its original state to ordinary people, was uncovered.
Chapter 223 - Counterattack Attribute
Ou Yangming’s purple Military Fire lingered and rotated in his sea of consciousness at that moment, forming a rune patte
rn naturally.
The design was not one of the three runes, which could improve mental power’s releasing speed, that he previously visualized; it was a rune that he had just amended to upgrade the equivalent rank of pieces of cheap equipment.
Ou Yangming had never visualized the rune before, but once he was done with the modification, the purple fire naturally circulated and took form, then it drifted in his consciousness.
The change was out of his expectations, but he knew it was great news.
Inside Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness, the rune that was gathered by the purple fire floated, and it could be used as soon as he thought about it.
When Ou Yangming visualized the rune, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
He could double the speed of his mental power’s collection by using the combined power from three runes, but a certain time was needed for him to visualize them. Even if he became familiar with them in the future, he could not carry out the process in a short period.
However, if he could transform the three runes into Purple Light Runes to be stored in his sea of consciousness…
He could use the runes freely as long as he thought about them. In other words, he would not need to visualize the runes anymore.
Ou Yangming felt an upsurge of emotions upon having the idea, and he could not wait to try it.
“Master Ou, are you done modifying it?”
Ou Yangming’s train of thought was cut off when someone questioned him, causing him to regain his senses.
The instant the young fellow looked up, he saw Master Lu furrowing his eyebrows.
“Hehe, Master Lu, I did some tiny adjustments, and they might be effective,” Ou Yangming responded as humbly as he could.
After all, he could not tell Master Lu that the molds had many flaws because of the master’s lack of control over details.
If Ou Yangming said that, Old Craftsman would certainly beat him up even if Master Lu dared not rebuke him.
Although Ou Yangming’s body had become so tough that Old Craftsman could not hurt him, he did not want to be a laughing stock in public.
Master Lu was stunned, and he fixed his gaze on the mold.
He had forged the mold by himself, so he was well aware of the veined patterns on it.
The master focused on the mold to observe it closely, but he gave up after some time. From his point of view, the mold was the same as it was before; nothing seemed to have changed.
Master Lu was at a loss, but he did not have the guts nor the confidence to disprove the super blacksmith, who could smith a magic tool.
One’s journey on the smithing path was not determined by one’s age, experience, or seniority.
In this trade, the strongest would become the
king.
When Ou Yangming smithed a magic tool, his status became completely different from his past status.
Old Craftsman stepped forward and walked around the mold, but he frowned as well.
Master Lu was secretly delighted. ‘How could I forget about Old Craftsman? As mighty as Ou Yangming is, he wouldn’t dare to be unrestrained in front of the old man, right?’
The master chuckled and asked, “Old Craftsman, did you notice anything?”
He already had a plan in his head. If Old Craftsman said that the mold was not different from before, he would not be bothered to try it.
Nonetheless, Old Craftsman furrowed his eyebrows even tighter. “Master Lu, there’s something different about this mold!” “What? What’s different about it?” Master Lu’s face changed. He widened his eyes again to search carefully, but his vision was limited such that he could not notice the subtle differences, thus he still gained nothing.
If he knew Old Craftsman well enough to know the old man would never speak carelessly about such a matter, he would probably be suspicious at the moment.
Old Craftsman shook his head and expressed, “I can’t point it out, but my instinct tells me that the mold underwent some subtle changes.” Ou Yangming had a mix of emotions. Given that he revised the rune through the thoroughly meticulous state, the little changes could not be explained by people who had not achieved the state.
Nevertheless, Old Craftsman achieved the integration of Heaven and man by luck.
Even though it was not helpful toward the old man’s martial arts cultivation base, it assisted him in smithing art quite amazingly.
As such, while Old Craftsman could not figure out the changes in the mold, he vaguely sensed the differences due to the integration of Heaven and man.
Master Lu pondered for some time before he finally cast his doubts aside. “Gentlemen, we’ll find out if we run a test.”
Since neither of them could identify the changes, and Ou Yangming claimed the mold had changed, the master decided to carry out a test.
Under Master Lu’s instruction, the mold was brought to a burly blacksmith, who began smithing an arm guard with a big hammer.
For Military Fire Blacksmiths and Spiritual Fire Blacksmiths, the method undoubtedly had a low efficiency. Despite that, for most ordinary blacksmiths, hitting with the hammer was the right way of smithing a piece of equipment.
The blacksmith was extremely familiar with smithing arm guards. As he kept hitting the arm guard with a hammer, a rune was soon branded on the inside of the equipment.
Master Lu took it and checked it for some time, then he nodded and announced, “It’s a success, go on.”
The arm guard had advanced from Common Grade to Good Grade, but Master Lu did not find it strange because the mold already had a 30% passing rate. He thought, ‘Perhaps we were lucky enough to have started with a qualified arm guard?’
That said, Master Lu’s face finally changed as that blacksmith continued to hammer tirelessly.
The second piece, the third piece, the fourth piece… Even until the ninth and the tenth arm guards, they were all successfully upgraded into Good Grade arm guards.
It was then when Master Lu and Old Craftsman came to a shocking realization that the mold underwent an enormous change after it was refined by Ou Yangming. The success rate had suddenly increased from 30% to 100%.
Though only ten arm guards were smith so far, which meant that 100% could not be guaranteed yet, the result was enough to leave them in awe.
As Master Lu marveled at the outcome, so much so that he looked fearful, Ou Yangming picked up an arm guard with a smile.
He released his Military Fire for a split second to view the arm guard’s attributes in his mind.
All of a sudden, the smile on his face froze.
[Item: Outstanding arm guard (Red)] (Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Good Grade, Rank One] [Attributes: Toughness +6, Durability 5] (Skill: Counterattack (Passive Skill) Under an attack, there is a 3% chance of counterattacking a fire mastery damage]
S:
‘Red, Counterattack…’
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and wondered, ‘What’s going on? ‘It’s supposed to be a Good Grade arm guard, so why did it suddenly become a piece of Attribute Equipment? Besides, the attribute isn’t Power or Agility, but Counterattack.’
Despite that, a 3% counterattack chance was so low that it could almost be neglected.
Ou Yangming went on to take another arm guard and used his Military Fire on it too, but the same attributes were shown.
He faintly understood that it was the result of his purple fire spinning one round in his head earlier. Nonetheless, the young fellow could not infer why the purple fire contained such a unique ability and unique skill.
Ou Yangming’s reaction quickly sparked Master Lu’s curiosity, hence the master took the arm guard and inspected it once more.
His face slowly took on a grave expression.
Master Lu was not an appraiser but as a blacksmith, he had a certain understanding of pieces of equipment. He did not pay much attention to it in the beginning, so he could only tell that the arm guard was of Good Grade. Once the master checked the item seriously, he noticed that it wa
s distinctive.
“Old Craftsman, quickly take a look at this!” Master Lu looked up abruptly and exclaimed. His voice trembled a little as he spoke.
If he was not mistaken, this batch of arm guards would cause a major disruption.
Old Craftsman was startled, but he quickly took the arm guard and scanned it in-depth. His eyes lit up after a brief moment, and he looked up at Master Lu, who was looking back at him eagerly.
The old man uttered after a moment of hesitation, “Master Lu, this arm guard seems to contain… Heaven and Earth’s mighty power!”
The so-called Heaven and Earth’s mighty power referred to Unique Attributes, and it was a code word between blacksmith.
Master Lu asked sternly, “What is it?”
“I don’t know either.” old Craftsman turned to ask, “Young fella, what did you do? What power is contained in this item?”
He knew Ou Yangming’s foundation very well, and he knew that the young fellow-an appraiser-could easily identify it.
Ou Yangming chuckled. “Old Man, this batch of arm guards contain a God-gifted Attribute. It’s the Passive Counterattack; under an attack, there’s a 3% chance that one can counterattack a fire mastery damage.”
“Passive Counterattack!” Master Lu’s eyes shone brighter than before. “This is a great item-a great item indeed!”
Ou Yangming cleared his throat. “Master Lu, a 3% chance…”
The probability was too low, to the extent that it could be ignored. Nobody would care much about a counterattack with such probability because it was like chicken ribstasteless but not bad enough to be thrown away.
Even so, Master Lu laughed out loud. “Master Ou, we’re smithing pieces of equipment for the military, and more than a hundred soldiers fight in a war!” Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed. ‘Yes, the attribute may seem impressive but useless if it’s only applied to a single person, but the accumulated effect in an army will be entirely different.’
Old Craftsman looked deeply at him and questioned, “How did you do it?”
Master Lu pricked up his ears right away because he did not want to miss a thing. “Old Man, you won’t be able to learn it.” Ou Yangming sighed helplessly. He revealed the way he modified the mold, but he did not tell them that he had already entered the thoroughly meticulous state. Instead, the young fellow credited his great mental power for everything Old Craftsman and Master Lu exchanged glances and pondered for a long time before they sighed.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 133
