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The Blacksmiths Association
Xu Yuan's private forging workshop.
The rhythmic BANG BANG of hammer strikes echoed faintly, each blow carrying the weight of a thousand jin yet harmonious, as if not colliding harshly with the metal.
Sweat poured down his face.
His blood essence surged.
A dense wave of blood essence erupted, channeling into the twin hammers in his hands. Through their penetrating properties, it seeped bit by bit into the two pieces of metal.
Blood Essence Guidance.
Only thirty-six hammer strikes sounded.
Under Xu Yuan's Blood Essence infusion, the Heavy Silver and Magic Silver had each taken on a crimson hue, their interiors deeply fused with his blood essence.
On the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth strikes, the two metals erupted with six-foot-tall beams of light that lingered for a long while!
For ordinary metals, a five-foot beam during 1st-Grade Thousand-Forging was already remarkable. Yet here, Xu Yuan was simultaneously forging two metals, and both had reached six feet of light—after only thirty-six strikes!
Xu Yuan didn't stop. Before the glow faded, he struck his right hammer to the side, sending the Magic Silver flying onto the Heavy Silver, stacking them together.
BANG!
This strike caused the Magic Silver to seemingly meld into the Heavy Silver, with both metals partially fusing into one another.
BANG!
BANG BANG BANG!
Strike after strike fell, causing the two metals to miraculously merge.
What were once two independent spiritual lights now intertwined tightly.
Three purple and one black soul rings appeared in sequence around him.
The first soul ring lit up.
Spiritual Link
To hone his abilities, Xu Yuan rarely used Spiritual Link outside of exploring key breakthroughs in advanced forging techniques.
Of course, due to the passive effects of this soul skill, his innate affinity with spirituality was extremely high, allowing him to resonate deeply with the metals—a natural talent, not an artificial aid or special technique.
Under the influence of Spiritual Link, Xu Yuan guided the fusion of the two metals' spiritual essences with his mental energy.
In the forging process, infusing the blacksmith's own strength into spirit-forged alloys was the core to success. Achieving a 60% fusion rate typically relied on soul power alone. However, if one could further integrate their blood essence, there was potential to reach 90%.
Beyond that, achieving 94% required fine-tuning the balance between blood essence and soul power induction to achieve the most perfect state for the two metals.
As for 95% and above, Xu Yuan concluded that it required the infusion of the soul master's own power.
Spiritual Energy!
There was a reason why spirit-forged alloys with over 95% fusion were called god-forged alloys. The integration of essence, energy, and spirit nurtured and fused the spiritual essence within the alloy to its fullest potential.
Rare metals were generally forged only once. However, spirit-forged alloys, due to their unique properties, could undergo secondary or even tertiary forging. The first fusion-forging was the most critical, as it formed the foundation and origin of the alloy's spiritual essence.
By guiding and nurturing with the blacksmith's essence, energy, and spirit, the already potent spiritual essences of the two metals could be fused to create spirit-forged alloys with higher fusion rates.
The standout feature of a blacksmith's fusion-forged spirit-forged alloys was not just physical alloying but a deep fusion of metal characteristics and even life itself!
Infusing spiritual energy.
Adjustments again.
Xu Yuan had long summarized the key points, but the proportion of essence, energy, and spirit still couldn't reach the optimal state for the Heavy Silver and Magic Silver.
This time, integrating the results of his theoretical deductions in the Dream Realm, his essence, energy, and spirit surged forth.
Blood essence, soul power, and spiritual energy—the three forces flowed through the pair of hammers, continuously permeating the unfinished alloy. Essence, energy, and spirit merged.
The aura of the spear emerged.
The Seven Forbidden Techniques!
Xu Yuan truly integrated these teachings rather than merely mimicking what he saw. He infused the Seven Forbidden Techniques into his forging.
Essence, energy, and spirit merged with heaven and earth, turning the surrounding space into the perfect furnace for nurturing this nascent spirit-forged alloy.
Heaven and earth became the forge, creation the craftsman. Guided by essence, energy, and spirit, heaven and earth nurtured this spirit-forged alloy still in the process of birth.
The hardest part of fusion-forging was ensuring that the spiritual essences of the two metals merged without being extinguished in the process.
Xu Yuan carefully guided and nurtured the spiritual essences with his essence, energy, and spirit, then further nurtured them with the power of heaven and earth.
The combination of the two ensured a thorough fusion of the metals' spiritual essences.
BOOM!
With the final strike, the spiritual light of the two metals had already fused into one, radiating an even more dazzling brilliance.
The five elemental colors shimmered with starlight, and the entire piece exuded a jade-like luster.
The glow persisted for a full two and a half minutes before fading, revealing the elliptical metal within.
Jade Silver!
Fusion-forging Heavy Silver and Magic Silver resulted in Jade Silver. Heavy Silver possessed excellent ductility and amplified soul power, while Magic Silver had elemental affinity. The Jade Silver inherited the best qualities of both rare metals and underwent sublimation.
Xu Yuan gazed at the successfully forged Jade Silver, neither elated nor disheartened.
He already knew the result.
Taking out the fusion testing device, he tested the Jade Silver.
"97%!"
A smile spread across Xu Yuan's face.
Clearly, his path was correct.
Putting away the Jade Silver, Xu Yuan prepared to attempt a few more times to see if he could forge Jade Silver with an even higher fusion rate.
Jade Silver suited Xu Yuan well. If he could reach 99%, he would use it as the foundation for his battle armor.
Once he gathered enough Jade Silver with a 99% fusion rate for a complete set of battle armor, the remaining 97% and 98% pieces could be used for mech construction.
In any case, Xu Yuan didn't plan to sell any god-forged alloys.
The rhythmic BANG BANG continued as Xu Yuan forged more Jade Silver.
Despite his heated momentum, he failed once.
Out of five attempts: one failure, two rare metals scrapped; one at 71%, one at 87%, one at 93%, and one at 96%.
Even with his momentum, he couldn't surpass his initial achievement.
Undeterred, Xu Yuan left the forging room and focused on recalling the details of today's forging in the Dream Realm, summarizing gains and losses, and deducing better proportions of essence, energy, and spirit guidance.
"Hello, Uncle Zhen Hua, it's me, Xiao Yuan."
"Xiao Yuan? What is it?"
"I want to ask about the follow-up recipes for Jade Silver."
"Follow-up recipes?" Zhen Hua's tone clearly betrayed his surprise.
He remembered Xu Yuan mentioning that he'd consider researching recipes for fusing three, four, or even five rare metals into Jade Silver once he forged god-forged alloys.
"You've forged god-forged alloys?"
First disbelief, then Zhen Hua's voice rose three octaves.
"You've forged god-forged alloys?!"
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