In the blink of an eye, five days had passed since the exchange match between the first- and second-year students.
The first-year class, despite appearing strong, was still a disorganized mess. Several genius students, each with their own pride, refused to submit to one another.
"Wulin, come to my office."
One day, while Tang Wulin was forging, he suddenly received a soul communicator message from Wu Zhangkong.
Tang Wulin immediately put down the metal he was working on. But when he arrived at Wu Zhangkong's office, he was surprised to find Shen Yi and Cai Yue'er there as well.
"Three teachers, is there something you need from me?" Tang Wulin quickly saluted. Seeing Cai Yue'er and Shen Yi, he was utterly confused.
If this was about class affairs, shouldn't they be looking for the class leader, Wu Jin?
Why were they coming to him instead?
"No need to be nervous. Tell me, how do you think your forging skills compare to Xia Yi's?" Wu Zhangkong asked in a deep voice.
"Comparing my forging to Xia Yi's?"
Tang Wulin hesitated, unsure how to answer.
Xia Yi being able to spirit refine Life Crystals was already astonishing enough.
And just recently, he had even been praised by the Federation government for his Heavenly Fox Fusion Forging Technique, making him nearly a household name across the entire Federation.
How could Tang Wulin possibly compare to that?
Even if he was shameless enough to claim that his forging skills surpassed Xia Yi's, no one would believe him.
Yet, admitting inferiority outright was also something he wasn't willing to do.
Seeing Tang Wulin's conflicted expression, Wu Zhangkong shook his head helplessly. He then took out two pieces of metal and placed them in front of Tang Wulin.
"These two alloys were put up for sale by Xia Yi at the Blacksmiths' Association. What do you think?"
Tang Wulin picked up the two pieces of metal and examined them carefully.
"These are alloys forged by fusing the same type of metal together, meaning they were made using the Heavenly Fox Fusion Forging Technique."
"I'm asking you—what do you think of them?" Wu Zhangkong pressed.
"Although alloys created from the same type of metal always show 100% fusion when tested with instruments, experienced blacksmiths can still distinguish the quality of the metal through other means.
Take these two pieces, for example. They are quite good, but only just 'good'—nothing exceptional."
Tang Wulin answered seriously.
"So, does that mean you're confident you can forge better alloys than these?"
Cai Yue'er finally spoke, sounding satisfied.
"I wouldn't dare say 100% certainty, but I'd say I have a 95% chance."
Tang Wulin replied with great confidence.
"These two pieces are among the best metals Xia Yi has listed for sale at the Blacksmiths' Association."
Shen Yi frowned slightly and continued, "By saying this, are you implying that Xia Yi's forging skills are inferior to yours?"
The moment she saw the alloys Xia Yi had created using the Heavenly Fox Fusion Forging Technique, Shen Yi felt furious.
Her two-word battle armor wings had consumed a massive amount of Life Crystals, yet they were only ordinary spirit-refined metals.
They couldn't be reforged.
When she advanced to three-word battle armor, she would have to replace them entirely—an incredibly costly process.
"Damn you, Xia Yi! Why didn't you think of the Heavenly Fox Fusion Forging Technique a few days earlier?"
Ever since Xia Yi announced the technique, she had lost count of how many times she had cursed him in her mind.
But regardless of her complaints, after equipping the battle armor wings that Xia Yi had forged for her, she fully recognized his forging abilities.
Since Xia Yi had consistently produced stunning results in forging, she truly found it hard to believe that Tang Wulin could surpass him.
"Xia Yi's forging hammers contain 'Living Gold.' That allows his forging hammers to shine when working with certain special metals."
Tang Wulin said in a low voice, then continued, "But when it comes to forging ordinary metals, I believe I am not inferior to him.
Even if I use his Heavenly Fox Fusion Forging Technique, I will not lose to him."
As he looked at the two alloys that Xia Yi had forged, his confidence grew stronger.
Truthfully, those words weren't even his own.
They were something Mu Chen had said to comfort him before.
"Is that so?"
Shen Yi nodded, half-believing and half-doubting.
What Tang Wulin said made sense.
She wasn't a blacksmith, but when she had first watched Xia Yi forge, she had also noticed something unusual about his forging hammers.
Could Xia Yi have only risen to fame because of his forging hammers?
"Living Gold? What's that?"
Not only Shen Yi and Wu Zhangkong, but even Cai Yue'er was unfamiliar with the term.
"It's a type of metal condensed from pure life energy. You can think of it as an 'upgraded version' of Life Crystals, but its life energy is a thousand times stronger.
According to legend, the weapon of the Spirit Ice Douluo from ten thousand years ago was made of Living Gold."
Tang Wulin explained solemnly.
After a moment of thought, he added, "According to my master's speculation, Living Gold can likely only be found in the core of the Star Dou Forest."
"Living Gold... the core of the Star Dou Forest... Leng Yaozhu is really willing to go that far, huh?"
Cai Yue'er sneered.
To her, Xia Yi's Living Gold must have come from Leng Yaozhu.
After all, the entire Star Dou Forest was now under the control of Spirit Pagoda.
For Leng Yaozhu to have access to Living Gold was no surprise.
"Wulin, since your forging skills surpass Xia Yi's, from now on, you will be responsible for forging battle armor for the other students in your class."
Wu Zhangkong said seriously.
"Huh?!"
Tang Wulin was stunned and blurted out, "But aside from Gu Yue, there aren't any other fourth-rank battle armor designers in our class!"
To craft battle armor, the design, forging, and crafting professions all needed to be at rank four or above.
As for maintenance, as long as the armor remained intact, it wasn't even necessary.
Tang Wulin had long wanted to create his own battle armor.
However, he had never been able to find a suitable designer, which was why he had never started.
"We've already discussed this with Holy Spirit Douluo and Skycovering Douluo. Na'er is going to join the Outer Court as well."
Cai Yue'er said seriously.
"She's already a peak-rank four battle armor designer. With her here, no one-word battle armor will be too difficult to design."
"Na'er! My sister?!"
Tang Wulin's eyes immediately lit up.
"That's right," Cai Yue'er nodded, her expression turning more solemn.
"She volunteered to come to the Outer Court.
In fact, she's the one who suggested that we talk to you today.
Na'er said she wants to help you become the core of the first-year class."
Tang Wulin frowned slightly.
This was Shrek Academy, not Eastsea Academy.
Although he was one of the strongest in his year, getting those arrogant geniuses to accept his leadership wouldn't be easy.
"Exactly. That's why we plan to focus on your forging skills."
Wu Zhangkong said seriously.
"At Shrek, every strong student has their own team.
You need to start forming yours.
Once your team can craft battle armor, the other students—whether they like it or not—will have to rely on you.
And at that point, your team will become the core of the first-year class."
"Making battle armor? Na'er, me! But what about the manufacturer?" Tang Wulin frowned slightly.
"Don't worry, Na'er will persuade Ye Xinglan and Xu Lizhi to join your team. Ye Xinglan is a Level Four Mecha Manufacturer, and Xu Lizhi is a Level Four Mecha Repairer. That will be enough for you to produce battle armor," Cai Yue'er said in a serious tone.
"The combination of Xia Yi, Gu Yue, and Wu Jin does indeed have the ability to manufacture battle armor, but they are too aloof and do not work well with others. They won't pose a threat to you. Moreover, your forging skills surpass Xia Yi's. If necessary, once Na'er joins the outer court, I will find a way to hold a new class leader election and make you the class leader," Shen Yi added.
Originally, she had wanted to groom Wu Jin to become the core of the first grade. Since he was the class leader, it would have been easier to develop him.
The recent exchange competition between the first- and second-grade students was meant to establish Wu Jin's authority and test him at the same time.
In that competition, Wu Jin indeed shone brightly.
Although the first-grade students were still filled with talented individuals who refused to submit to each other, no one dared to challenge Wu Jin anymore.
No one had any objections about his position as class leader.
However, Wu Jin seemed completely uninterested in leading the other students.
Even though the exchange competition was short, Shen Yi could tell that Wu Jin possessed leadership abilities and was extremely talented.
But he simply did not want to lead Class One.
If Xia Yi and Gu Yue were absent, Wu Jin could have easily brought all the first-grade geniuses under control.
But he just refused to take command.
As a result, the first grade was still in a state of chaos.
To put it bluntly, they were like a pile of loose sand.
Seeing Wu Jin's attitude, Shen Yi finally agreed to support Tang Wulin and let him take charge of the first grade.
With Na'er, Tang Wulin, Ye Xinglan, and Xu Lizhi…
Wu Zhangkong, Cai Yue'er, and Shen Yi all believed that their team would lead the first grade to great success.
However, what they didn't know was that the metal they had purchased was actually the lowest of the low among the rejected pieces forged by Xia Yi.
Only the metal that Xia Yi deemed satisfactory would be used to create battle armor.
The rejects would merely be used to manufacture mechas.
And the worst of those rejects—only those were sold.
(End of Chapter)