Commanding Wind and Cloud

Chapter 197: Super Proficiency

Translator: Udong Editor: EbonyFrost/Udong

Magic cores were undoubtedly the best magic material and also an indispensable element for Magic Empowered Equipment!

Qian Jin shook his head to clear the Rune out of his mind! He concentrated on the bellow and the stove spat hot flames with the strong push and pull! A Hundred Years Aged Ice-Iron was put into the fire, which absorbed most of the flames and cooled down the stove in a second!

Qian Jin poured a bowl of kerosene on the iron and the weakened fire burned up once again! He threw a few pieces of coal into the stove and started to pull the bellow even faster! It instantly turned into a small eruptive volcano with some ten-foot-high flames! The Hundred Years Aged Ice-Iron instantly took in the heat and began to glow with a harsh red light!

He then threw in a scarlet Wind-fire Copper, which seemed to be melting down by the torture of the fire! But it maintained the shape instead of transforming into liquid! Only professionals would know the metal, at this point, did not become softer but even harder!

Qian Jin took the Hundred Years Aged Ice-Iron out with a pair of tongs. Putting it onto the case, he raised the heavy hammer...

The tobacco in Blake’s pipe burned up abruptly! The huge hammer hit on the centennial metal, producing a series of sparks! A sense of killing was mixed in the collision sounds and the splashing sparks were as brilliant as the celebration magic fireworks!

The first hit, the second...

Blake totally forgot the pipe in hand! He stared and blinked his hazy eyes at the young man dripping with sweat in front of the stove! It was still the same hammer, the same technique, and the same blacksmith.

But everything was different! There was an unprecedented momentum and self-confidence in the hammer-waving! Qian Jin, who had always been careful and cautious, created new things out of the old!

Blake unconsciously nodded again and again as appreciation flew out of his small eyes! Yes! Self-confidence! How could a forger make some genius objects if one only obsessed with skills but lacked a confident hammer?

Thanks to this small trace of self-confidence, Qian Jin had changed his forging completely and thoroughly! He was shedding his heart’s blood on the small forging case and in the moment, it became a universe that belonged only to him!

A Hundred Years Aged Ice-Iron!

Hardness: 150;

Warrior Power Conduction Sensitivity: level 3.

To the exclusion of the sweat on his forehead, Qian Jin caught a piece of Wind-fire Copper out and forged it into a Wind-fire Purified Copper with a hardness of 170 and a Warrior Power Conduction Sensitivity of level 3!

Blake could not stop nodding! It was out of imagination to forge the high-quality metals into their essence! It was even much harder than forging the most common iron into Purified Iron! What’s more, the higher the quality was, the more difficult it would be! Even a Level 10 Forger might not be capable of this skill!

Qian Jin took a deep breath and cast on the two fine pieces a murderous glance! The real test began! Some high-quality metals were like proud celebrities, who were difficult to get along with each other! An out-of-control strike might lead to a mutual repulsion and they would end up being discarded as useless!

Clang! Three pieces of metal collided together, issuing a thunderous shock! Sensing a reaction force in the wrist, Qian Jin swayed his arms once again!

Clang! Another collision came! Blake smiled! The two pieces were wasted!

Holding the hammer, Qian Jin quietly stood there and recalled how he initiated the two strikes! Yes! He had done it in a wrong way! The two pieces had already been fused together by the first strike! No matter in terms of strength, angle or the metal collision, he should have never done it in the exact same way!

Ten minutes later, Qian Jin once again picked up the hammer and forged out five pieces of Hundred Years Aged Purified Ice-Iron and Wind-fire Purified Copper.

But it only took him another 15 strikes ruining them!

Fifteen minutes later, Qian Jin raised the hammer for the third time for another trial of these stubborn metal essences.

The only thing left in Blake’s hazy eyes was appreciation! Failure was a monster that would eat the confidence of a forge master! Some of them even dared not to take another shot in a short time!

Failing two times in a row? It might prevent a forge master from fusing metal essences in the rest of his life! He would not recover from the frustration in a short period of time. Even if he had the courage, he would be doing this with a cautious look!

But on Qian Jin, Blake saw only confidence! There was not the slightest slack in the hammer waving and it seemed more random than it had ever been!

One strike...Two strikes...Ten strikes...

After the ten-day training, the unintelligible confidence had grown to be a part of him! It existed in his movements, speech, forging, even his fighting! With it, the Warrior Power had become much stronger!

After 300 strikes, he did it! The two different metal essences were blended into one, shining like a sword in the firelight!

"You got a piece of Ice-fire Purified Iron Copper, forging proficiency enhanced..."

The unemotional system sound came and Qian Jin’s face had shown no emotions as if this success was doomed and there was no need to be excited about it! He pulled the Status Screen out to check the proficiency of his Eighteen Blade Elevating Strikes.

The system would rarely say anything about the proficiency of a skill unless a new one was acquired or an existing one had been greatly improved!

[Eighteen Blade Elevating Strikes]: Level 2

Proficiency: 187632/250000

"Huh?" A surprise surfaced in the calm face! Last time he had checked the status was when he left the Four Seasons Valley! He remembered it being only 3977. Although he had forged a few times after then, it might be around 5,000 at best! But now he shall obtain a proficiency of more than 180,000! Was it just because of the successful fusion?

"Try to recall exactly what happened." With a faint smile, Blake adjusted his sitting position and puffed twice on his cigarettes.

Qian Jin nodded and closed his eyes! He could not tell how his body felt but he was very sure that he had caught the secret of forging!

"In fact, you could not have succeeded considering your ability," Blake fiercely sucked two puffs and smoke sprayed in front of his eyes: "Or it could be said that it was a long shot! But as such, you would understand more once it worked! It is like fighting a much stronger warrior and lucky enough to win once..."

"I gained a lot of experience to speed up enhancing my fighting strength." Qian Jin blurted out while rethinking the battle with the Two Star of the Dark Group! It was a quick fight with a quick arrow, a quick punch, and a quick throwing knife! But he gained way more than when he practiced for a few days!

"It is the same with forging." Black nodded in a pleased look: "Opportunity should be exploited as it arises. And once you did it, you would earn yourself good returns on the investments!"

Qian Jin gently nodded while he turned off the Status Screen. He finally knew the reason for the soaring proficiency of Eighteen Blade Elevating Strikes! Now as he thought it over, it was quite a venture! He might not have made it even if he had wasted all of the materials!

Thanks to luck! Thanks to Blake’s boldness and trust! Thanks to the abundant materials here and of the Western Mountain! He did it, despite a few failures!

"I am afraid the Blacksmith Union mentors would never teach their apprentices in this way." Qian Jin shook his head at this ridiculous thought! Without an endless resource like there was in the Western Mountain, someone must be out of his mind to gamble those high-quality metals on such a slim chance!

"Go on!" Blake pointed to the Hundred Years Aged Ice-Iron and Wind-fire Copper piled in the corner of the courtyard. "Use them to get familiar with your new skill and forge a weapon as you like! Then you can go for the Flame Demon!

Qian Jin rubbed his temples with his fingers! Flame Demon! It was a headache even if it was a young one! They were too strong!

Qian Jin checked the properties of the Ice-fire Purified Iron Copper and secretly marveled at this satisfactory result! Though the process had been very difficult, the outcome was indeed perfect!

Ice-fire Purified Iron Copper

Hardness: 640

Warrior Power Conduction Sensitivity: Level 4!

The harder the metal was, the more impossible it would be damaged in a fight! And Conduction Sensitivity was closely related to the amount and speed of Warrior Power went through the weapon!

Qian Jin compared his works with the Purified Iron forged by Blake!

Level 1 Purified Iron:

Hardness: 60

Warrior Power Conduction Sensitivity: Level 2!

Qian Jin was amazed! "The high-quality metals are marvelous!"

Qian Jin had completely devoted himself into weapon forging for three days! It was totally different from the fusion part!

After casting aside four wasted blades, he finally forged out a Zhanmadao, a strong bow and three arrows.

Ice-fire Purified Iron Copper Zhanmadao:

Sharpness: 400

Hardness: 700

Warrior Power Conduction Sensitivity: Level 4!

Level 1 Purified Iron Zhanmadao:

Sharpness: 100

Hardness: 70

Warrior Power Conduction Sensitivity: Level 2!

"The weapon is much better when forged out of different metal essences!" Qian Jin lifted the newly made Zhanmadao and a brilliant light immediately showed up like the air had been cut up. "It might be able to cut the rock body shell of the Flame Demon which is hardened with lava. What a pity... "

He deeply sighed and shook his head at the Status Screen: "The proficiency has stayed the same, like the forging! No wonder I have not felt any improvement!"

[Eighteen Blade Elevating Strikes]: Level 2

Proficiency: 249999/250000.

The proficiency had not grown a little since the second discarded Zhanmadao was made!

"Forging is also the same as the Warrior Power practicing! Once you reach the bottleneck, you must create something new, or you will be stuck there." Qian Jin lamented while he walked out of the yard carrying Zhanmaddao and the map.

"Right!"

Blake yawned and squeezed out some words through the door into the street. "As soon as you become a Forge Grandmaster, you can get an initial touch of Rune."

Rune! Qian Jin was stunned! The step fell on the ground as if it had deeply rooted into the earth! He looked at the Rune shop which was almost within his reach and those lazy words of Blake kept echoing in his head.

Rune! As long as he became a Forge Grandmaster! Qian Jin could not help but clutch the Zhanmadao in his hand! The blue veins were bouncing up out of excitement! action

It meant expensive and powerful magic equipment!

"Flame Demon, here I come." An unseen excitement bloomed in his eyes as he quickly ran all the way out of the village.

Adam looked at him flying down the street and scratched his head in confusion. "What’s wrong with the kid today?" He turned to the opposite Eulalia.

"How should I know?" The woman also scratched her own messy nest hair, turned and walked back to the room. "Is he so energetic? It seems I should double the [Volcano Potion] next time."

The minute Qian Jin rushed out of a one-man-tall tussock, two Centaurs nearly 3m tall stood in his way. Their bodies looked like muscle hills joining together as they held rusty iron spears and issued a roar into the sky!

"Back off! I’m busy today!"

Without paying any extra attention, Qian Jin swept Zhanmadao across their bodies! The two Centaurs crossed their weapons in front and a few sparks were brought about out of the collision! Accompanied by a metal-bursting sound, the two heads were chopped off!

Qian Jin once again poked their bodies! Two magic cores flew out in a curve and fell right in Qian Jin’s hands five meters ahead. The huge trunks behind him slowly sank to the ground.

Qian Jin kept running as he wiped off the faint blood stains on the blade. After all, the rusty spears were made of quality iron and should be broken by this new weapon! It was much better in terms of both sharpness and hardness! The conductivity was strong enough that the warrior power moved so smoothly like blood running in the vessels!

Two starving wolves immediately shrunk into the woods as they thrust out their heads but only to find the courageous figure! By instinct, the animals felt a murderous intent and slunk away with their tail between their legs while issuing some surrender whimpers.

Forge Grandmaster! Rune! Qian Jin felt he had turned into a wolf that had been starved for seven days and suddenly smelt the scent of blood! The two kinds of metals were not the top ones but the equipment forged out of the fusion possessed such great power! What would happen if he really became a Forge Grandmaster? What would happen after he engraved Magic Empowered Runes on the weapons? He couldn’t even imagine.

The warriors standing on the peak enjoyed not only strength but also excellent equipment, which were acquired by countless fortune and luck.

The strongest warriors had financial support from their prestigious bloodline families! There was no exception concerning the three strongest bloodline families in the Zence Empire!

Rosella was rich! But even if she had some savings, these would be depleted only by one such piece! Maybe it would cost more than she had! So it was impossible to count on her for a complete set of equipment!

No money as his backup? Qian Jin waved another strike and one tiger with a strong territorial sense was torn in two halves!

"It does not matter! I will make it myself!"

Qian Jin ran and ran! He only stopped for a short break when he felt too much physical strength was consumed. He was getting closer and closer to the lava land.

As he arrived at the lava land, the temperature gradually increased! Qian Jin carried his Zhanmadao, crouched behind a huge rock and looked for the source of the heat.

Less than a hundred meters away, an oval red egg stood on a red rock. It was obviously not the shell of any birds but wrapped up in some red rock, which looked like a piece of red boulder from the distance!

Only the shrinking movement from time to time told all the creatures around it was not a stone but...

A Flame Demon in the advanced metamorphosis process!

Qian Jin stared at the Flame Demon eggs and swallowed the lump in his throat. "What the f**k? I was told it was a baby Flame Demon! How should it be in the advanced metamorphosis process?"

Flame Demon was a household name in the Zence Empire! Qian Jin had read about lots of powerful Demon Beasts in the library of his family. Flame Demon was one of them. Along with Metal Battle Demon, Aoki Vine Demon, Desert Rock Demon, and Chilling Water Demon, they were the well-known Five Demon Beasts! Any of them would transform into a real Upper-Class Demon Beast once it entered its adulthood!

How strong was an Upper-Class Demon Beast? Qian Jin remembered an Elf King Bloodline Warrior who had achieved the ultimate awakening talking about it! According to the description, a warrior like him was only able to make sure that he would survive if he got into a fight with an Upper-Class Demon Beast!

"Only make sure that he would survive?"

Qian Jin thought he must be kidding! Why didn’t he just say the Upper-Class Demon Beast couldn’t be defeated and the only thing they could do was to run away?

"I can’t let it complete the transformation, otherwise I’m afraid I can’t beat it!"

The 108 energy reservoirs sped up one by one as the Zhanmadao issued a faint buzz! The warrior power flew back and forth along the blade like a bottle filled with water! But the killing force this "bottle" carried was far beyond imagination!