Forging the embers of the furnace fire into his body was not a difficult task. The Eternal Physique was, after all, one of the publicly available sacred occupational sequences within the sect. A considerable number of people had taken up this path, meaning there was a highly mature and established method for it.
When Su Chen retrieved the relevant occupational requirements, he also received supplementary materials for the induction process. All he had to do was follow the steps methodically.
"I just need to collect one more portion of the Cunning Fox Essence and acquire the extra reward ability to complete the induction."
Calculating the timeframe, he figured it would only take a few days. He still had a portion of the Scarlet Essence left over from last time. If the elevated difficulty of the Cunning Fox Essence proved impossible to overcome in the short term, he could simply use the Scarlet Essence to weaken it.
The path to becoming a Hundred Refinements Forger was now completely clear and unobstructed.
Su Chen's gaze then shifted to the Weapon Master sequence. It still had two pending requirements. The difficulty lay not only in forging a weapon but doing so barehanded. As for extracting spirituality, he was entirely clueless.
However, within the sectâeven putting aside his status on the Creation Bronze Coreâordinary Sanctuary members could apply to the sect for assistance with their occupational requirements.
Naturally, because the Sanctuary membership was so massive and complex, this kind of assistance came at a proportional cost. But as a Star Seed, he inherently enjoyed certain privileges.
'The Weapon Master's occupational requirements are a combination of several other classes. Although there are differences in quantity, it doesn't mean I can't find someone to consult.'
After a moment of thought, he pulled up Luo Shuhang's contact information and sent a message, inviting him over for a chat.
The other party replied promptly, stating he would head over immediately.
"There's quite a lot to get done right now..." Su Chen muttered. As he thought about it, he suddenly felt a headache coming on.
The various occupational requirements laid out before him, the Treacherous God Essences, talents, and the impending arrival of the Divine Sonâ
"One step at a time. Rushing won't help anything."
Su Chen sighed. Taking advantage of the time before Luo Shuhang arrived, he began circulating his body-tempering method, unwilling to waste a single second.
Barely an hour later, Luo Shuhang arrived at his floating island. Su Chen invited him into the lounge and had a mimetic mech serve them tea.
"Mhm." Luo Shuhang took the teacup from Su Chen with both hands. After taking a sip, he repeatedly praised, "This truly is excellent tea."
Su Chen was secretly speechless. He had no idea what kind of tea it was; the mimetic mechs prepared everything according to established behavioral routines.
After setting his cup down, Luo Shuhang finally addressed his question. "Forging a weapon barehanded should be a requirement for the Thunderfire Spirit Caster,
right? The difficulty actually isn't that high..."
He elaborated, "Tier-five weapons are not considered excessively precious within the sect. There are even standardized production lines for them, meaning every single step has a strict, standard procedure."
"Even if you are completely ignorant about weapon forging, all you need is someone assisting from the sidelines to guide you. Howeverâ"
Pausing here, he weighed his words carefully. "Barehanded forging does impose certain demands on physical toughness."
Aside from those who specialized in strengthening physical defense, ordinary professionals could rarely match the durability of a weapon of the same tier, let alone use their bodies to hammer the necessary materials.
"I see." Su Chen breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the situation was much better than he had imagined. He initially thought he would need to learn metallurgy or advanced forging techniques.
'It makes sense,' he mused. 'As long as there's a team supervising the process, I just have to follow the standardized steps.'
Since barehanded forging was a normal occupational requirement, he wouldn't be revealing anything bizarre, so having people watch him was perfectly fine.
As for physical toughness, there was no need to worry. His Armor Bone abilities would play a role here; defensive strength was effectively physical strength. Using his hands as hammers, he could definitely withstand the impact.
"As for extracting spirituality, that's a bit troublesome. Generally speaking, it's very difficult for ordinary weapons to develop spirituality," Luo Shuhang said hesitantly. "Weapon spirituality only has a chance of forming through constant, day-and-night companionship with its user. Before one reaches their absolute tier limit, weapons are swapped out far too frequently to provide the right environment for it to emerge..."
Su Chen's expression remained unchanged. He was unconcerned about the point Luo Shuhang was worried about.
The Weapon Master's requirement explicitly stated that he needed to extract spirituality from a controlled mystical artifact. This already implied that the weapons under his control possessed spirituality.
His curiosity lay elsewhere, prompting him to ask, "Does this weapon spirituality mean that the weapon develops its own consciousness?"
"Not exactly." Luo Shuhang shook his head. "It's not a concrete consciousness, but rather something akin to occupational spirituality."
"Are there any benefits?"
"There are benefits." Luo Shuhang nodded, then shook his head again. "However, they only manifest at extremely high levels. For instance... if you want to forge a Morning Star artifact, you must use a weapon possessing spirituality as the foundation."
'A Morning Star artifact...' Su Chen could not help but think of that mottled Crimson Thunder Cauldron.
He fell into thought, guessing that the sect also had a Weapon Nurturer class, but in reality, very few people took it up.
The reason Su Chen was taking up the class was because he had the Mystical Artifact Control ability, which allowed him to compress his own powers into a weapon to synergize with it.
Furthermore, it created a chemical reaction with his other classes.
But to anyone else, this class was simply a massive resource sink. It wasn't particularly difficult for high-tier weapons to naturally develop spirituality, so there was no need to slowly nurture one from tier-one or tier-two. The cost-to-performance ratio was simply too poor.
Seeing Su Chen deep in thought, Luo Shuhang offered, "I am a Rune Master. I can teach you how to observe weapon spirituality and the method for extracting it."
"Oh?" Su Chen snapped out of his reverie, quite surprised that Luo Shuhang actually knew how.
"Please wait a moment..." Luo Shuhang raised his right hand, bringing his index and middle fingers together, and slowly began tracing lines in the empty air before him.
Pale golden trails, formed purely from mental energy, lingered in the air. Like living entities, they extended on their own,
intersecting and gradually weaving into a highly complex, three-dimensional symbol that faintly rotated.
Once the symbol was completely stable and fully formed, Luo Shuhang's gaze sharpened, and he lightly tapped the symbol with his joined fingers.
The pale golden mental symbol quivered before transforming into a streak of light. It drifted forward and soundlessly sank into Su Chen's eyelids.
Su Chen's eyelids twitched, feeling a faint, cooling sensation. He looked down at the combat boots he had been wearing all along.
Sure enough, there was a vague, misty color flowing over them.
"So this is spirituality," Su Chen remarked, finding it quite profound as he shifted his feet.
"The extraction method is comparatively more difficult. It requires you to gradually soak the weapon with your own mental energy, which is a rather complex process." As Luo Shuhang spoke, he explained the intricacies involved, such as how to use mental energy to sense the spirituality.
'Uh... aren't mystical artifacts already saturated with my mental energy by default?' Su Chen's expression turned odd for a split second. The difficulty of this didn't seem very high at all.
"Hmm..." After listening to the explanation, Su Chen nodded and said, "Captain Luo, if you aren't busy, could you accompany me on a trip to the Occupational Assistance Department?"
Luo Shuhang's face lit up with joy, and he hastily stood up. "Not busy, not at all."
The two exited the main building, chatting casually. Naturally, the conversation turned to the topic everyone was closely monitoring lately: the disappearance of a Morning Star expert.
Luo Shuhang sighed. Only after following Su Chen onto the aircraft did he say, "If something really has happened to Venerable Qin Yun, then our sect will become virtually the weakest among all the sects."
Worry was evident in his eyes. Many people within the sect shared this thought, including Wei Zhenghong and others.
Because of the Sacred Flame, the Bronze Ancient King was unable to leave the Ancient King's Hall.
This meant that their Ancient King-level combat power could only be utilized if enemies attacked their doorstep. This alone was a massive handicap.
If another Morning Star expert died, the Bronze Sect's status wouldn't necessarily plummet to rock bottom, but their interests would undoubtedly suffer severe damage.
But as soon as the words left his mouth, Luo Shuhang silently cursed himself, remembering that the Star Seed before him didn't exactly see eye to eye with Venerable Qin Yun.
Yet, he couldn't just backtrack and say he hoped something bad would happen to Venerable Qin Yun either.
"Yes, let's hope Venerable Qin Yun returns safe and sound," Su Chen chimed in, agreeing with him.
The awkwardness on Luo Shuhang's face eased slightly, though he couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration. After all, Venerable Qin Yun had previously intended... no, not intended, she had actually taken action against this Star Seed.
The Occupational Assistance Departmentâfully known as the Occupational Requirement Assistance and Completion Departmentâcovered a vast area. Because of this, it wasn't located on the Bronze Core itself, but rather in one of the three satellite cities that orbited the Bronze Core in a specific formation below.
The vast majority of families within the sect, the headquarters of numerous sub-departments, and the residences of regular members were all situated within these three satellite cities, respectively named Cloud Dragon, Northern Deep, and Silver Mountain.
The two were heading to Silver Mountain City. Although they were taking a standard-issue aircraft, because they were descending from the Bronze Core, all traffic lanes were given the green light for them.
It was a straight, non-stop flight, but even so, the journey took two to three hours.
On the way there, Luo Shuhang had already communicated with the Occupational Assistance Department. When they parked the aircraft and stepped out of the cabin door, they saw a group of people already waiting for them.
"Your Excellency Su Chen, it is truly a rare honor to meet you!"
The leader of the group stepped forward warmly. He was short but looked highly capable. He rattled off, "I have long admired you from afar! It is a rare opportunity to finally see you in person!"
"My name is Liu Zhengan. I am one of the Deacons here."
"Deacon Liu, you are too polite," Su Chen replied with a humble demeanor.
These people were all seasoned veterans of the sect, smooth operators who could sing any tune to suit their audience. Anyone who actually believed their flattery would be an absolute fool.
"With you being so polite, I'm honestly not used to it," Deacon Liu joked.
The supervisors of these sub-departments were clearly not on the same level as the Deacons of the main halls on the Bronze Core. His rank was only tier-six.
He led the way, saying, "Come, come, please head inside. I've prepared a welcoming banquet for the two of you."
Su Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
Luo Shuhang, however, beat him to the punch. "Old Liu, look at you. How many times have I told you to drop these empty formalities? His Excellency Su Chen has urgent matters to attend to. He doesn't have time to sit around trading toasts with you."
Luo Shuhang seemed fairly well-acquainted with the man, speaking in a half-joking, half-serious tone.
Deacon Liu's expression sobered for a moment, but he quickly broke into a smile again. "Is that so? Then that's my oversight."
However, Su Chen smiled and said, "It's nothing too urgent, and Deacon Liu has good intentions. Since it's already prepared, let's go."
Hearing Su Chen's response, Deacon Liu's smile grew even wider. The small banquet didn't take up too much time, and there weren't many peopleâonly three or four attendees.
Su Chen put on no airs whatsoever, exchanging toasts and laughing freely with Liu Zhengan during the meal, making for a highly harmonious atmosphere.
After they had eaten and drank their fill, Liu Zhengan became even more attentive, guiding Su Chen and Luo Shuhang into the tallest building of the Occupational Assistance Department.
As the elevator hummed, Liu Zhengan wore a face full of smiles. "You require assistance with forging a weapon, correct? I've already requisitioned three senior blacksmiths from the Forging Division for you."
"Each of them is fully capable of independently forging a tier-five weapon. With the three of them keeping an eye on things, you can rest completely assured."
"Then you have my deepest thanks," Su Chen smiled, though he couldn't help but wonder if Deacon Liu would have been this accommodating had he rejected the man's offer of a banquet earlier.
Perhaps he still would have arranged everything properly on the surface, but when it came to the finer details, it would be hard to say.
Based on Su Chen's requirements, Liu Zhengan had already arranged a spacious, well-lit room fully equipped with a high-end forging furnace and all sorts of necessary machinery.
The three senior blacksmiths were already waiting there. The calluses on their hands were thick and heavy, and their skin was dark, faintly tinged with the color of soot.
Su Chen greeted them one by one, and they exchanged introductions.
All three appeared somewhat reserved. Senior blacksmiths couldn't exactly be considered rare figures, so to them, Su Chen was a genuine VIP.
After the pleasantries, Su Chen asked earnestly, "Gentlemen, if I wish to forge a tier-five weapon as quickly as possible, what type of weapon would be the fastest to make?
"Prioritizing speed?" Entering their field of expertise, the awkwardness on the trio's faces faded, and they discussed the matter in low voices for a moment.
The oldest among them, Song Yang, replied in a deep, resonant voice. "If speed is your utmost priority, I suggest Your Excellency forge a dagger. It requires the fewest materials and the fewest steps, and its structure is simple. As long as the material supply keeps up, it can be forged in five to seven days."
"A dagger." Su Chen nodded in understanding. "What else? I need to forge five different types."
"Other types... A dagger, sword, saber, axe, and spear. These are the classic archetypes of cold weapons. We know their forging procedures and possess the experience to make them like the back of our hands."
Song Yang listed off a series of weapon names, rattling them off with total familiarity.
"Alright, then let's go with these five." He turned his gaze toward Deacon Liu.
Liu Zhengan immediately said, "Please, you three master smiths, draft a list of the required materials for me. I will report it to the sect and have them requisitioned.
I'll get it sorted."
This type of assistance from the sect also required approval.
Even though it was exclusively for Sanctuary members, their numbers were not small. The sect wouldn't just allow someone to submit an incredibly difficult, resource-draining requirement and expect them to foot the bill.
It had to fall within a certain scope, and the resources mobilized couldn't be excessive.
Setting aside Su Chen's status, this specific request was perfectly normal for a tier-five professional, so the approval process wouldn't be troublesome.
But Su Chen spoke up again, asking, "Deacon Liu, would it be possible to send these three gentlemen, the relevant equipment, and the materials up to my floating island?"
A round trip between Silver Mountain City and his floating island wasted nearly half a day, which was truly a massive loss of time.
"Send them to your floating island..." Deacon Liu's expression flickered. This wasn't within the bounds of standard procedure. Even if he refused, the other party wouldn't have much grounds to complain.
However, he thought about it... This Star Seed had been humble and easygoing, and they had enjoyed a very pleasant conversation at the dinner table earlier.
He waved his hand grandly and said in a bold tone, "The back-and-forth travel is indeed a bit of a hassle. I'll have my people deliver everything to you. And to the three master smiths, I'll have to trouble you to make the trip. Your work allowance will be bumped up by twenty percent."
With extra benefits on the line, Song Yang and the other two naturally had no objections and nodded repeatedly.
Having settled this matter, Su Chen and Luo Shuhang took their leave, warmly escorted out by Liu Zhengan.
Luo Shuhang returned with him but didn't enter the island; he tactfully bid farewell at the port.
Before leaving, he made sure to remind Su Chen that if he had any more questions, he could just contact him directly.
Stepping off the aircraft, Su Chen spotted a mimetic mech waiting at the port. It was holding a silver-white metal boxâthe delivery of the Century Furnace Embers.
"That was fast." Su Chen reached out and took it. He opened it for a quick look, and a wave of searing heat instantly washed over his face, causing even him to instinctively lean back.
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