Needless to say, only knowledge of rudimentary skills could be found. If one wanted to dive deeper, one would have to join a sect to further study them.
Someone like Ou Yangming would soar like a dragon once he had a chance encounter and would be out of Lin Feifeng’s league. If Lin Feifeng did not become friends with the young fellow before he became successful, how would he have another chance to cling to him in the future?
Therefore, Lin Feifeng did not put on airs in front of Ou Yangming; he taught the young fellow everything he knew.
It took an hour for Lin Feifeng to finish explaining preliminary analyses and melting skills by using materials that were present.
The spirit beasts below the platform brought many types of mineral, but a few were still missing. Nevertheless, Lin Feifeng retrieved samples from his interspatial bag and described them one by one.
Not to mention anything else, his hard work alone made Ou Yangming incredibly grateful.
“Hehe, Brother Ou, that’s all I know. If you’re interested, how about you try it out yourself?” Lin Feifeng suggested with a smile.
Ou Yangming nodded and asked loudly, “Do any of you want any equipment?”
The spirit beasts below the high platform had been waiting impatiently for a long time, but they had discretion. They dared not offend 2 smithing masters at the same time, thus they could only wait patiently.
They were elated when they heard Lin Feifeng end his conversation with Ou Yangming.
In spite of that, since they watched for a long time, they could more or less tell that Lin Feifeng was the master that taught Ou Yangming how to smith.
Hence, they firmly believed that Ou Yangming’s smithing standard was far from that of Lin Feifeng.
As for how Ou Yangming managed to smith a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Three and achieved a Wish-fulfilling Degree of 5… He must have chanced upon it—it must be sheer dumb luck!
The spirit beasts kept quiet when they heard Ou Yangming’s question, and they stood still as if they were woodpiles.
‘We accumulated our materials through a lot of hard work, so we must give them to the best smithing master.’ They rather queued for Lin Feifeng than letting Ou Yangming attempt.
Ou Yangming’s face reddened. Just as he was about to say something, Tiger Ji expressed, “Master Ou, you… Still have a helmet to make!”
It spoke carefully as it was afraid of offending Ou Yangming.
Given the materials that Tiger Ji prepared, it was quite a delightful surprise for it to receive a Rank Three armor with a Wish-fulfilling Degree of 5. If it still wished for a helmet, even if it was shooed away, it would not be able to express its indignance at all.
Who knew, Ou Yangming simply slapped his forehead and laughed. “You’re right, I forgot about it.”
He glanced at the familiar and strange peculiar stones.
After a brief moment, he shook his wrist and picked 4 materials.
The Military Fire emerged from his hand again to envelop the materials and a part of the Wish-fulfilling Clay.
When the fire flickered, Ou Yangming recalled Lin Feifeng’s teachings. ‘It’s not a must to use every material chosen. The most suitable equipment is the best equipment.’
“Pow…”
As the Military Fire burned, unnecessary materials fell from the Military Fire.
Lin Feifeng raised his eyebrows as he was shocked.
‘This young fella’s judgment is truly remarkable. Did he really not learn the theoretical knowledge before?’
Chapter 568 - Making A Casual Demonstration Of His Capabilities
Ou Yangming’s Military Fire was still blazing, and he was as full of spirit and energy as the fire was.
He was no longer limited to certain materials and could use various combinations according to different requirements to smith pieces of equipment.
Although there were such situations in the lower realm too, due to the limitation of materials, every piece of equipment was smithed using standard materials. If a blacksmith wanted to make something unconventional, the money spent would be 10 or 100 times more.
Even when blacksmiths from the lower realm wanted to disregard the cost at times, there were not many choices of peculiar stones for them to attempt.
On the contrary, peculiar stones seemed to be everywhere in the Spiritual Realm, hence Ou Yangming could try different combinations with ease.
Now that Lin Feifeng even gave him some guidance, he felt like he finally saw the light and became greater than before.
Given the situation, Ou Yangming became exhilarated.
In fact, the Military Fire in his sea of consciousness seemed to have become much livelier as though it was affected by his zeal.
Multiple materials merged perfectly according to the proportion mentioned by Lin Feifeng earlier. Along with the Wish-fulfilling Clay, a new and unique combination of materials was formed.
Even though Ou Yangming could also try on his own with the Military Fire’s help, he was not adept in material combinations as he only compacted all of them together under high pressure. If compared, the compacting method and the overall experience of the humans throughout numerous years were the coarsest stone ax and good featured steel.
Nonetheless, even a coarse stone ax could be a magic tool in Ou Yangming’s hands.
If that was the case, once he started to learn the experiences passed on among the Humans for a millennium and smithed using a brand new technique, what would the outcome be?
The Military Fire stopped burning after 15 minutes, and a helmet that matched Tiger Ji’s heart was formed.
‘Can’t you be slightly slower? Are you desperate about going so fast?’ Lin Feifeng twitched his mouth as he thought. In actuality, he understood that Ou Yangming was probably so fast because of his special fire, but he could not help but envy the young fellow.
Ou Yangming carried the helmet and was in high spirits.
[Item: Horn-strike Helmet]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, Common Grade, Rank Four]
[Attributes: Sharpness +24, Toughness +24, Durability 23]
[Wish-fulfilling Degree: 5]
Normally, helmets were not items meant for attacking. Nevertheless, Ou Yangming was inspired by the equipment set he smithed for Fat Antelope, thus he intentionally made a sharp horn on this helmet. The horn was incredibly sharp and dark. If it was used as a spear, given its 24 points of Sharpness, it was definitely an outstanding Common Grade magic tool.
Ou Yangming nodded as he was satisfied. Just as he was going to hand the helmet to the eager Tiger Ji, he paused for a while.
Tiger Ji widened its eyes and wanted to snatch the helmet, but it moved a bit and stood still right away.
After all, it would not be able to bear the consequences if it made a move here.
“Brother Lin, would you take a look at this?” Ou Yangming handed the helmet to Lin Feifeng, who was beside him.
Lin Feifeng accepted the helmet and inspected it through his unique appraisal technique. His face changed after a brief moment as he exclaimed, “Common Grade, Rank Four.”
“Wow…”
At this point, the spirit beasts below the high platform could not hold it in anymore; even the steadiest fellow was in disbelief.
Putting aside Ou Yangming, who had only been here not long ago, Lin Feifeng had stayed here for 3 days and helped over 10 spirit beasts smith their desired pieces of equipment. He made some mistakes along the way, but he was generally approved by the spirit beasts.
Even so, Lin Feifeng had mainly smithed pieces of equipment of Common Grade Rank Two throughout these few days, and he occasionally produced Common Grade Rank One ones. Needless to say, more of the pieces of equipment were of Common Grade Rank Three. As for Common Grade Rank Four ones… It seemed like only one was made throughout the 3 days.
The spirit beasts could vaguely remember that the spirit beast that gained the Common Grade Rank Four equipment grinned from ear to ear as it carried it a
way.
‘Did Lin Feifeng’s apprentice just smith a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Four?’
They looked at each other and suspected that they misheard it.
Who knew, Lin Feifeng was not done talking. He took a deep breath and added, “A magic tool of Common Grade Rank Four with a Wish-fulfilling Degree of 5. Nice, Brother Ou, you’re amazing indeed!”
He looked deeply at Ou Yangming and was even more certain that his judgment was right. ‘This fella’s a jade that hasn’t emitted its dazzling light yet. If I want to befriend him, this will be my only chance.’
Lin Feifeng beamed. He had previously greeted Ou Yangming only because he was physically and mentally tired from smithing pieces of equipment for 3 days in a row, and he sensed a feeling of warmth when he suddenly saw a human fellow.
He did not expect to have somewhat stumbled upon gold by just greeting the young fellow.
It was worth noting that Ou Yangming had just learned some extremely rudimentary knowledge from Lin Feifeng, but he was already able to smith a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Four. His natural gift was simply unbelievable.
Ou Yangming responded sternly, “I couldn’t have achieved this without your guidance.”
Lin Feifeng flushed and asked, “Brother Ou, since you’re here to participate in the Trading Meet, how about you and I join hands here?”
The young fellow initially wanted to take a look at the other human blacksmiths but seeing how eager Lin Feifeng was, he replied after a moment of hesitation, “Sure, I’d love to work with you.”
Following that, Lin Feifeng laughed and turned around to say, “Everyone, you’ve seen that Brother Ou is far more capable and talented than I am, so you can ask him to smith pieces of equipment for you too. That said, you must give him twice the rewards as you would give to me.”
The spirit beasts below the platform clamored, and one of them questioned loudly, “Master Lin, are you sure he’s better than you?”
Earlier on, they witnessed Lin Feifeng teaching Ou Yangming and sharing his experiences, but the apprentice became superior to the master in the blink of an eye.
The strange change took the spirit beasts by surprise. Even with the helmet as proof, they still found it hard to believe this.
Lin Feifeng pulled a long face and said, “Brother Ou’s level of attainment in smithing art is much greater than mine. If you don’t believe it, you can just wait and see.”
Upon seeing the cold look on his face, the spirit beasts dared not raise further questions.
Despite everything, there were spirit beasts that were willing to take the risk. A spirit beast with an odd figure jumped out and retrieved its interspatial bag to lay out many peculiar stones. It asked Ou Yangming in a deep voice, “Human master, I’d like a helmet… This kind of helmet.” It reached out its finger to point at the horned helmet.
Ou Yangming glanced at them and estimated that the materials were more than enough to smith 6 helmets.
According to the unwritten rule between the Beasts and the Humans, spirit beasts would normally need to prepare 4 sets of materials if they wanted blacksmiths to smith pieces of equipment for them. If the human blacksmith succeeded in one go, the remaining materials would be his reward.
If the blacksmith failed all 4 times, it would simply be the spirit beast’s terrible luck.
Of course, human blacksmiths had reputations too. If one failed too many times, one would be ruining one’s reputation and would not be visited anymore.
Having said the above, the mountain lord presented 6 sets of materials. It was probably due to the premium as mentioned by Lin Feifeng.
However, given that it had an interspatial bag, which was rare, it must be so wealthy that it could not be compared by ordinary spirit beasts.
Ou Yangming nodded and looked at the spirit beast to remember the shape of its head. Subsequently, he picked up some materials.
The materials were quickly melted as the Military Fire burned. Ou Yangming set a proportion according to how Lin Feifeng had taught him, then he perfectly merged the materials. He had only spent about 8 minutes finishing everything.
Just as he wanted to curb the Military Fire, he was struck with a thought.
The helmet in his hands was poorer to the one before. It also had a sharp horn, which was meant for attacks, but it only had 23 points of Sharpness, which meant that it was merely a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Three.
This helmet would be enough for him to complete his task.
That said, he was hesitant when he thought about the 5 remaining sets of materials because he felt sorry for being perfunctory.
He shook his head slightly and activated his Military Fire’s unique drawing ability.
Consequently, when he curbed his fire, the spirit beasts could see that the helmet turned dark, which meant that he failed to smith it.
Lin Feifeng quickly noted, “Brother Ou, victory and defeat are common for soldiers, and it’s the same for us when we smith. Don’t think too much about it and move on.”
Ou Yangming grinned and replied to him, “Okay.”
Lin Feifeng had advised Ou Yangming out of good intention because he was afraid that the young fellow would be dejected. He did not know that Ou Yangming had not failed at all.
With that, Ou Yangming picked up another set of materials and repeated the smithing process. He initially planned to add the previously-drawn attribute if he still could not smith a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Four.
Nonetheless, he ended up being surprised because he gained a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Five by the time he curbed his Military Fire.
This helmet was the third helmet he made using a new smithing technique. Perhaps he became more familiar with the skill, or his confidence had slowly increased. All in all, the third helmet turned out to be a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Five.
Ou Yangming was uncertain at first, but when he thought about the price paid by the spirit beast, he gave up the thought of wanting to degrade the helmet. As such, he handed the equipment to the mountain lord.
The horn on the helmet was similar to a lethal weapon that symbolized death. It emitted a queer, black light.
As soon as the spirit beast accepted the helmet, it asked without hiding its excitement, “Human master, what’s the rank of this equipment?”
Ou Yangming looked at it and answered, “It’s a magic tool at the peak of Common Grade, and it has a Wish-fulfilling Degree of 5.”
It was dead silent on the high platform, to the extent that even the spirit beasts below fell silent because they noticed the change.
Chapter 569 - The Peak Of Common Grade
[Item: Horn-strike Helmet]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, Common Grade, Rank Five]
[Attributes: Sharpness +25, Toughness +25, Durability 25]
[Wish-fulfilling Degree: 5]
These were the real attributes of the Horn-strike Helmet smithed by Ou Yangming. It was a legitimate magic tool at the peak of Common Grade.
Nonetheless, the spirit beasts were dubious when they heard Ou Yangming announce the magic tool’s property. ‘Is this human smithing master mistaken?’
Needless to say, Fat Antelope and Big Yellow had plenty of confidence in Ou Yangming. The latter had followed the young fellow for a long time, hence it was naturally aware of his potential and forte; the former had not spent a long time with them, but it was still confident in him because of the equipment set that he had smithed for it.
Apart from magic tools, he also smithed an extremely rare piece of Skill Equipment.
Since Master Ou could smith a piece of Skill Equipment, it would not be too surprising if he was slightly more amazing at smithing pieces of equipment with White Slate Attributes.
Many spirit beasts below the high platform exchanged glances. If it was not because Ou Yangming had smithed a magic tool of Common Grade Rank Four, they would have jeered at him to shoo him off the stage long ago.
The nondescript spirit beast wa
s stunned for some time. It accepted the helmet and checked it out before it turned around and asked, “Master Lin, can you appraise this for me?”
‘Since you don’t trust me, why did you ask me to smith this for you?’ Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and was secretly infuriated. Nevertheless, when he looked at Lin Feifeng, he decided to show him some respect.
After all, the high platform belonged to Lin Feifeng. It was true that Ou Yangming was invited up to the platform, and he received pointers from the blacksmith, so he must not steal the show.
Lin Feifeng nodded and carefully inspected the helmet in his hands.
In actuality, he was as shocked and as doubtful as the spirit beasts below the platform.
Ou Yangming had only understood smithing art’s simplest theories due to his guidance. According to his estimation, as gifted as the young fellow was, he would need to put in enough time and energy to successfully put them into practice.
At the very least, it would take several months to a year.
Even so, Ou Yangming surprised Lin Feifeng too much. He smithed a piece of Rank Four equipment in the blink of an eye, and he even produced a magic tool at the peak of Common Grade after that.
When the pieces of equipment smithed kept becoming a level higher than the one before, it was reasonable for Lin Feifeng to be in disbelief.
Despite that, he was more superior to the spirit beasts in the sense that he had the ability to identify a piece of equipment’s specific attributes.
After accepting the helmet, he studied it seriously like never before.
Every spirit beast focused on him as though they were waiting for his judgment, but he disregarded the looks on him and only paid attention to the appraisal.
Lin Feifeng finally looked up after about 8 minutes, and he looked rather exhausted. It seemed like the appraisal had used up too much of his power but in reality, it was not because he had consumed too much energy, but because he was mentally tired.
‘A magic tool at the peak of Common Grade Rank Five—the equipment is indeed a magic tool at the peak of Common Grade Rank Five.
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