Chapter Thirty-Five: An Unordinary Move

  Several members of the Flame Adventurer's Guild also showed surprise, expressing their astonishment at Gian's insight. Although both the Magic and Warrior Academies teach knowledge about fighting stones, that should be high-level academy knowledge, but the emblem on this kid's chest is clearly from a primary academy student.

  "That's right, this is a four-star Dou Shi." Xiao Chang Lei Ming nodded without hiding his head and responded: "Since you are a warrior student, I should also know that warriors usually do not use Dou Shi for external exchange, but choose to use it themselves. Even if they really lack money, they will go to a special Dou Shi store for fair exchange. This time our time is really tight. So..."

  He nodded slightly to show his understanding and turned back to Franlin: "Boss, what do you think this fighting stone should be priced at?"

  Franklin held up a large hammer and measured Qin Fen, asking: "Are you interested in this fighting stone?"

  He shrugged indifferently, how could a warrior not be interested in Dou Shi? This was the same for those warriors of the Qian family who had completed their primary awakening as Spirit Kings.

  The main stone of the Dou Ling Great Array has always been a ten-product Dou Stone! If you can bring an extra four-product Dou Stone into the future Dou Ling Great Array, even if you don't stand in the position closest to the array eye, but stand in the second or third closest position, the benefits you get will not be less than standing in the position closest to the array eye.

  If I can stand at the forefront of the array and bring a four-star Dou Shi, Dry Qiang thought to this point, his face had already bloomed with joy, it was really too awesome!

  "Alright then..." Franlin stroked his large beard on his chin, raised his hand and slapped the wooden table that was only slightly shorter than him, saying: "How about this, Mr. Xiao Long Lei Meng? Since our chief ironworker Dryan Warrior is interested in fighting stones, I'll forge a weapon for each of you based on secondary refined iron. What do you think?"

  One sword per person? The entire Flame Adventurer Team, along with Dryn, looked at Franlin with surprised eyes.

  Lucas stared at Franlin in surprise, as the chief blacksmith of Oakland knew that such an exchange would not make any profit at all. Had Franlin gone mad?

  "Haha, don't look at me like that, Qianjin." Franlin's face was filled with a happy smile: "Without your arrival, I wouldn't have had any second-grade iron essence to use. If you want to forge a weapon based on second-grade iron essence, you can only go to a certain person and buy it at a high price. So, you are the pillar of our blacksmith shop. Since you like this piece of Dou Shi, our blacksmith shop will do business at a loss."

  "That's right!" Fransis patted his back vigorously: "As long as you like."

  The other members of Franlin's blacksmith shop also showed a thick smile, Gan Jing's performance yesterday conquered everyone, especially he could obviously forge secondary refined iron, but didn't have any airs at all, and with Franlin on the reward, there was no haggling at all, really easy-going.

  "Really?" Xiao Chang's face still had an expression of disbelief: "Then..."

  "Hmm... Captain Xiao...” Lucas drawled, interrupting Xiao's words. He picked up the tea prepared for guests and took a sip, smiling leisurely: "You're not an ironsmith, so it's normal that you don't know about the ironsmith industry. However, some ironsmiths in the industry clearly know what's going on but don't explain things clearly to customers. This kind of behavior, which only cares about making money and disregards customers' lives, is something I've always looked down upon."

  All members of the Flame Adventurer's Guild looked at Lucas with puzzled expressions, as if there was something more to what he said.

  Lucas dropped the wooden teacup, his smile carrying a hint of disdain as he swept his gaze over Franlin and the others: "I don't know if Franlin's Ironworks can really forge second-grade fine iron. But what I do know is that even among second-grade fine irons, there are differences in quality!"

  "What do you mean, Lucas!" Franlin's voice suddenly rose, the iron hammer in his hand shook violently, and he leaned forward with his head raised, waiting for the tall Lucas. However, his height was indeed shorter, even if he stood on tiptoes, he could only reach Lucas' chest position, looking somewhat comical and unable to pose much real threat.

  "What do I mean?" Lucas wiped his nose with the back of his hand, a high-and-mighty smile playing on his lips: "What could I possibly mean? I'm just stating facts. If Captain Xiao doesn't believe me, he can come with me..."

  Lucas pushed aside Franlin, who was blocking his way, and strode into the backyard of the blacksmith's shop. His hands deftly picked up a piece of iron with tongs and threw it directly into the scorching hot furnace, shouting: "Heat it up!"

  The Lucas blacksmith who followed Lucas, hurriedly ran to the front of the bellows and pulled it strongly, making the flames burn more fiercely.

  Franklin glared furiously at Lucas, the second-rate blacksmith of this city. What he wanted to do was now crystal clear! He intended to forge a piece of second-grade fine iron on the spot and use its superior quality to strike down Franklin's Iron Shop!

  With years of experience as a second-rate blacksmith, Franlin was well aware that Lucas could forge top-quality secondary refined iron! If he were to call it off now, it would be equivalent to tacitly admitting that Lucas was right.

  He turned back to look at the calm and composed Gan Jing, his heart somewhat anxious. The young man's second-level refined iron from yesterday was also a top-notch product, but the problem was that the young man had little experience, which was a fact. Time was of the essence. During the iron-forging process, it was inevitable to have ups and downs, what if...

  Franklin's face was gloomy, Lucas watched with relish in his eyes and a smile at the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself: Wanting to challenge my dominance in the city's blacksmithing world? You Franklin are not even qualified!

  The flames grew more intense, and Franlin took the iron ingot out of the fire and placed it on the anvil. He picked up a hammer weighing over 30 kilograms and began to strike the ingot with a loud "ding-dong" sound. The large tongs in his hand quickly flipped the ingot back and forth, like a burning butterfly dancing on the anvil.

  Franklin let out a hum of discontent from his nostrils, but couldn't help but admire Lucas's iron-forging skills. Not only was his technique flawless, but he could also shape the metal in a way that made it seem like the hammer was dancing, truly worthy of being the top blacksmith in Oakland.

  Scorching metal came into contact with cool water, emitting a white mist before revealing a glittering piece of secondary refined iron to everyone's eyes.

  Lucas didn't stop immediately, and with a flick of his wrist, he threw several pieces of pig iron into the furnace again, waiting for them to turn red hot before wielding the hammer once more, heavily pounding away at the metal.

  The long two hours slowly passed under Lucas's relentless forging, he panted heavily, wiping away the beads of sweat on his forehead with a raised hand, the muscles in both arms twitching uncontrollably, showing signs of exhaustion, his eyes gleaming with pride as he savored the attention from the crowd.

  “Cough...” Lucas coughed, slapping his hands on the anvil where two pieces of secondary refined iron were placed. He stretched his shoulders and walked towards the crowd, saying: “For fairness, I won’t evaluate it myself. Mr. Franlin, if you are still a true blacksmith, please appraise it.”

  "Top-notch! It's even a masterpiece!" Franlin's voice carried a hint of discontent, but he couldn't help but acknowledge the exceptional craftsmanship. To be able to forge two pieces of second-grade fine iron in such a short amount of time, Lucas was indeed getting closer to becoming a third-grade blacksmith!

  Lucas clapped his hands and shrugged, his eyes turned to Qianjin, with a more provocative gaze: "Kid, it's your turn."

  Tonight at midnight, we'll be making a strong push... and tomorrow at 4am... Please come out in force to support us at midnight, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Oh, and there will still be regular updates this afternoon.