Chapter 254: Kong Deming in Shock
In Soul Land 3, the status of forgers continually rose alongside the advancement of forging techniques.
Thanks to their efforts, batch after batch of powerful battle armor emerged, strengthening human Soul Masters like never before.
With both battle armor and mechas, humans attained unprecedented levels of combat prowess.
Take mechas, for example. At the end of The Divine Realm Legend, Di Tian himself admitted that the most advanced human mechas were already difficult for him to handle.
This alone proved how powerful soul tool technology had become.
Of course, judging from later story developments, Di Tian remained incredibly strong.
So when he said he "couldn't withstand them for long," he was probably referring to being ganged up on by multiple mecha pilots.
Otherwise, in one on one combat, even with a mecha, very few could truly fight him head on.
Kong Deming looked at Huo Yuhao and asked,
"Yuhao, could you show us this so called forging technique?
As far as I know, the best forgers in this world should be the ones from Shrek Academy.
When crafting soul tools, they even use hammers to refine rare metals.
But that method has major flaws.
I want to see how you plan to overcome them."
Huo Yuhao was surprised by Kong Deming's interest.
After thinking for a moment, he said,
"Master Kong, forging techniques have multiple levels.
I'll need some time to adjust before I can fully demonstrate them."
Though he was familiar with Hundred Refinements, Thousand Refinements, and Soul Refinements, knowing about them and mastering them were two completely different things.
The original story never provided detailed step by step instructions on forging, so he had to experiment and refine his process as he went along.
Fortunately, with his Spirit Eyes, his ability to observe details was unmatched.
Among modern forging techniques, the Hundred Refinements was the most basic essentially an entry level forging technique.
It involved repeated hammering in a specific manner, ensuring that each component was struck at least a hundred times.
Of course, simply hitting the metal a hundred times didn't qualify as Hundred Refinements.
A true master had to precisely control the force of each strike, using the rebound force and the metal's reaction to analyze its structure and internal changes.
As for Shrek Academy's outdated forging methods, to be blunt, they barely reached the lowest levels of Hundred Refinements.
Even within Hundred Refinements, their techniques weren't particularly refined.
Simply put, their primitive hammering approach only purified metals through brute force.
On the other hand, Thousand Refinements was a minor metamorphosis a true transformation of the metal's properties and potential.
Unlike Hundred Refinements, Thousand Refinements could even allow the metal to develop emotions something that Shrek's crude hammering methods could never achieve.
Frankly, the fact that Shrek's soul engineers insisted on manually forging metals instead of using specialized purification soul tools was utterly bizarre.
Since Soul Land 2 never introduced Soul Refinement, there was no reason for them to stick to traditional hand forging methods.
It almost seemed like a ritual to honor Tang San as if they blindly followed "ancestral methods" without question.
But in doing so, Shrek Academy's soul tool development was undeniably slowed down.
After all, in terms of efficiency, the Sun Moon Empire's purification soul tools were far superior to Shrek Academy's manual forging methods.
Kong Deming remained unfazed and nodded.
"Alright, Yuhao, I'll wait for your good news."
A Few Days Later…
Inside a blacksmith workshop, Huo Yuhao held a hammer, standing before a block of Ice Polar Divine Crystal.
As he inhaled the faint scent of charcoal, he subconsciously furrowed his brows.
In the past few days, he had completely mastered the Hundred Refinements technique.
To be fair, mastering Hundred Refinements wasn't particularly difficult as long as one spent enough time, they could eventually succeed.
People with higher forging talent or stronger physiques could learn it even faster.
At present, Huo Yuhao was already a Soul King, with exceptional spiritual power and a strong body.
In many ways, he was already far ahead of Tang Wulin when he first began learning to forge.
After all, back then, Tang Wulin wasn't nearly as strong.
Thus, Huo Yuhao mastered Hundred Refinements far faster than Tang Wulin had.
As for Thousand Refinements, Huo Yuhao was still experimenting.
If Hundred Refinements was merely a threshold, then Thousand Refinements was a true transformation.
Successfully breaking through would mean another leap forward in his forging abilities.
Lighting the forge, Huo Yuhao retrieved a piece of Ice Polar Divine Crystal from his storage soul tool.
Kong Deming and Xuan Ziwen stepped forward, their gazes sharp and expectant.
"Yuhao, are you absolutely sure you can refine the Ice Polar Divine Crystal through forging?"
Kong Deming had received the notification and left his laboratory just for this.
Otherwise, he would have stayed in his lab to continue researching soul tools.
Even after becoming a Rank 10 Soul Engineer, his passion for soul tool development had never wavered.
"Of course.
If I weren't certain, I wouldn't have asked you and Teacher Xuan to come witness this."
Huo Yuhao nodded confidently.
Then, he raised his hammer and began forging.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The ringing of metal filled the air as fiery sparks scattered.
With each strike, the Ice Polar Divine Crystal gradually deformed.
Some time later, Huo Yuhao set his hammer down.
Before him, several pieces of Ice Polar Divine Crystal, now Hundred Refined, rested on a stone table.
Thanks to its Ultimate Ice properties, the metal quickly returned to room temperature.
"Master Kong, Teacher Xuan, I have completed the Hundred Refinements."
Huo Yuhao announced.
Kong Deming strode forward and inspected the Ice Polar Divine Crystal.
He immediately noticed a pile of black impurities that had been expelled.
His gaze shifted from the impurities to the refined crystal, then he grabbed one and channeled his soul power into it.
To his astonishment, his soul power flowed through it effortlessly completely unobstructed.
It was as if all impurities had been removed!
"This is insane… absolutely insane!"
Kong Deming was shocked beyond words.
"So many impurities removed in such a short time…
Can forging really achieve this level of refinement?"
Even his custom made purification soul tool couldn't match this speed.
Until now, he had assumed that his previous attempts were failures due to low efficiency.
Suddenly, a realization struck him.
"Yuhao, you mentioned that forging has multiple levels…
That means this Hundred Refinements isn't the highest level, correct?"
Huo Yuhao smiled.
"Master Kong, you're absolutely right.
Hundred Refinements is merely the entry level.
There are higher forging techniques, each far more complex but also far more beneficial for crafting soul tools."
Hearing this, Kong Deming's breathing quickened.
A grin spread across his face.
"Yuhao, you truly are the greatest genius of the Sun Moon Empire.
You even created an entirely new forging system.
Mark my words you have the potential to become a god.
Perhaps, in this era, you will stand on the same level as Sea God Tang San!"
(End of chapter.)
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