Of course, do not be fooled by the fact that most of these rare metals had less than a ton in stock, with only a dozen or so types exceeding one ton. These were rare metals. Their value was far beyond ordinary copper and iron, and many were worth more than the same weight in gold soul coins.
You could say that this time Chu Chengzhou took quite a bargain from his father-in-law.
No matter. His father-in-law was the continent's biggest mine owner and did not lack such things.
Gazing at the piles of rare metals in the warehouse, Chu Chengzhou's eyes fell on the Heavy Silver ingots, of which there was a fair amount.
To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools. As a Divine Craftsman of Heavenly Refinement, his first Heavenly Refinement would naturally be to upgrade his forging hammers.
With a wave of his hand, under the pull of soul power, forty square Heavy Silver ingots, each weighing fifty jin, rose into the air and floated above the courtyard outside the warehouse.
Without alloy technology prepared, he would still use Heavy Silver to upgrade the forging hammers.
All metals had limits of tolerance, and rare metals were the same. Many rare metals, due to their own insufficient properties, could not be forged alone at high levels, let alone undergo the elemental tribulation lightning of Heavenly Refinement.
But Heavy Silver's metal properties were quite good. Even without fusion-and-refining, as long as the forger's level was sufficient, Heavenly Refinement could be performed.
Just as he was about to begin, Chu Chengzhou suddenly sensed four strong soul power auras appear in the distant sky, three of which were very familiar.
He turned to look and saw four figures flying through the air.
They were Ning Fengzhi, Chen Xin, Gu Rong, and a burly, dark-skinned elder he did not know.
Soon, Chen Xin carried Ning Fengzhi down from the air, and Gu Rong carried the burly elder down as well.
"Uncle Ning, Grandpa Sword, Grandpa Bone, and this is?"
Stepping forward to greet them, Chu Chengzhou looked at the unfamiliar elder.
"Hehe, greetings, little friend Chu. I am Fang Quan, Fourth Elder of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect. Call me Old Fang or Elder Fang."
Fang Quan spoke with a cheerful smile.
"Oh. Hello, Grandpa Fang."
Chu Chengzhou smiled and greeted him politely.
The old man looked over seventy, and had most likely watched Ning Rongrong grow up. Calling him Grandpa Fang was only right.
"Haha, no need to be so polite, little friend."
Fang Quan waved a hand.
"You kid asked for so many rare metals. Did your forging level break through again?"
Ning Fengzhi asked with interest.
"A small breakthrough."
Chu Chengzhou nodded, made a little universe-at-the-fingertips gesture, then added, "By the way, Uncle Ning, you came at the right time. I have a favor to ask."
At that, Ning Fengzhi raised his brows. "Could it be that the rare metal stock of the Seven Treasures Chamber in Heaven Dou City is still not enough?"
There was no need to overthink. He could guess that what Chu Chengzhou wanted likely had to do with rare metals.
"It is not about weight. Alloys have better properties than most single metals. I would like to ask you to send me some of every rare metal the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect has mined. I want to explore various alloy formulas and see if I can obtain alloys with stronger performance."
"That is easy. I will have people deliver them to you."
Without hesitation, Ning Fengzhi agreed.
He was a mine owner. What he lacked least was ore.
"Kid, let us broaden our horizons?"
Glancing at the many Heavy Silver ingots floating in midair, Chen Xin asked with some curiosity.
He was very curious about what level of metal Chu Chengzhou, whose forging had advanced again, could produce.
"No problem at all. After Hundred Refinements for purification, Thousand Refinements for essence, Spirit Refinement for creation, and Soul Refinement for giving wisdom, I name the new forging realm Heavenly Refinement. Metal Heavenly Refinement differs markedly from the previous realms."
At this point, Chu Chengzhou shook his head with some regret.
Barring surprises, given the current world level of Douluo Star, at most one Divine Craftsman of Heavenly Refinement would be allowed to appear in each generation.
With him occupying the only slot, the peak for other forgers would be completion of Soul Refinement.
Unless the world level of Douluo Star rose and could accommodate more Divine Craftsmen at the same time, or he ascended to the God Realm and vacated the sole slot.
"What are you regretting for, kid? What exactly is different about this Heavenly Refinement?"
Seeing him shake his head with regret, Gu Rong could not help asking.
Casting Gu Rong a glance, Chu Chengzhou spoke with a solemn face. "Hundred Refinements is entry level, Thousand Refinements is master, Spirit Refinement is grandmaster, and Soul Refinement is holy craftsman. One who can perform Heavenly Refinement on metal is a true Divine Craftsman of this age, able to endow metal with abilities.
"In addition, unless the world undergoes great change, even if there are thousands upon thousands of Soul-Refinement holy craftsmen, a Divine Craftsman of Heavenly Refinement can only be the sole one of this age."
The look on his face was like a most holy teacher opening the way for all beings.
Chu Chengzhou: I, a Divine Craftsman, pay up.
The four of them: "..."
"Are you showing off that you are the only Divine Craftsman of this age?"
Ning Fengzhi said, exasperated.
"Am I? I am not showing off."
Dropping the solemn expression, Chu Chengzhou shook his head in denial.
Though his words said so, the pride on his face betrayed him.
He really was showing off. It was like an angler who often comes up empty suddenly catching a king of fish, and must "pass his own door three times without entering," carrying the fish king around the neighborhood for a few laps.
Angler: Huh? How did you know I caught the fish king?
Know this. This was a proper Divine Craftsman, not the watery "Divine Craftsman" Tang Hao, who was nothing but water like the sea.
It was a pity the era was wrong. In the later "battle armor" era, the birth and fall of every Divine Craftsman would affect the rise and fall of the Spirit Master world.
In terms of status, a Divine Craftsman was definitely higher than an ordinary Limit Douluo or even a demigod.
Once the signboard of Divine Craftsman was revealed, plenty of nine-ring Titled Douluo would gladly serve as vanguard.
"Enough. Hurry up, kid. Let me see what this Heavenly Refinement is worth."
Ning Fengzhi waved a hand.
"Then watch closely."
With that, Chu Chengzhou drew the many Heavy Silver ingots in midair together, then injected fire-attribute soul power into them in midair to heat them.
As surging, scorching soul power poured in, the normally silver-white "Heavy Silver sphere" began to heat rapidly.
Gradually, the Heavy Silver sphere turned into white-hot liquid silver radiating intense heat.
Then Chu Chengzhou flipped his hands. Silver light flashed. The pair of Soul-Refined Heavy Silver hammers materialized and were thrown into the white-hot Heavy Silver in midair.
Soon, when his spiritual power sensed that the Soul-Refined Heavy Silver hammers had melted into silver and merged with the spherical Heavy Silver, Chu Chengzhou shifted his soul power attribute, infused a touch of water-attribute soul power to lower the temperature, and incidentally gave it a bit of shape.
Before long, under his control, the white-hot Heavy Silver turned into a giant red-hot Heavy Silver ingot.
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle