He was born as a blacksmith, but he dominated the world

Chapter 17: Little Darkhearted

[Skill 4: Level 1 furnace method, the body is the furnace, the mind is the hammer, gold essence and fire essence are the materials, to forge an indestructible golden body, the current progress is gold essence 89.7/100, fire essence 99.8/100, cannot be upgraded]

There is no need to say much about the proficiency of hammering skills; what is really important is the progress of collecting gold essence.

Looking at the number 89.7, Jiang Lin's eyes showed a thoughtful look.

"It has already accumulated more than ten points of gold essence before the quenching and sharpening. It seems that the collection speed is indeed faster when forging weapons alone."

"According to this progress, if I forge one more sword, I will be able to collect all the gold essences, or..."

Jiang Lin turned his head to look at the weapons piled in the corner. Those were made by other blacksmiths. They had already completed the steps of quenching and sharpening, and were just waiting for the foundry to come and collect them and hand them over to the army.

Although one can collect more gold essence by making weapons by oneself, one can also gain considerable benefits by eliminating the defects in other people's castings.

Jiang Lin couldn't help but licking his lips, but finally he suppressed the impulse in his heart.

It was just because he had only studied the furnace baking method for a short time, and he didn't know how much changes the upgrade of his mortal body would bring to himself.

Tomorrow is the apprentice test. According to Zhao Yangkui, an iron official from the Foundry Department will be in charge of supervision.

If the physical changes are too great, it can easily cause unnecessary problems.

It would be better to be patient and wait until the apprentice passes the test.

Thinking back to Dong Songchang, who looked like a big bear in a costume, Jiang Lin clenched his fists slightly.

A great man once said, "Strike the first blow to prevent a hundred blows from coming."

Faced with such despicable tactics, you have to show off your skills a little to avoid delaying your progress with these trivial matters.

When Jiang Lin returned to the dining tent, he saw Old Man Wei still working, so he quickly stepped forward to grab the rag and wipe the table, saying, "I'm sorry, I was delayed in learning the art from Master."

"Dong Songchang wants to deal with you." Old Man Wei said.

Jiang Lin hummed and said, "I know. My master told me."

"If you can't get through, I can recommend you to the border army."

Old Man Wei rarely said a few more words, but Jiang Lin did not stop and said, "It's OK. Even if it's really not OK, I won't leave here."

"Are you worried that the border troops will suffer?"

"That's not the case. I'm a blacksmith no matter where I go. It doesn't make much difference." Jiang Lin finished wiping a table, went back to wash the rag and said, "If someone tricks you and you can't beat them, just run away. That's too cowardly. If you can't beat them today, try again tomorrow. If you can't beat them tomorrow, try again the day after tomorrow. You will win one day."

Old Man Wei didn't say anything else, but his cloudy eyes seemed to brighten a little.

……

The next day.

Old Man Wei came over as usual, carrying red meat and herbs. Jiang Lin was drinking what he had just cooked. Zhao Yankui and Blacksmith Qi also came.

After taking a look at the medicine soup in Jiang Lin's hand, Zhao Yankui glanced at Old Man Wei and asked, "Old Wei, how much money have you spent these days? Tell me the number and I'll give it to you."

Old Man Wei said dryly: "You didn't drink."

"Jiang Lin is my disciple, so if he drinks, it's the same as if I drink." Zhao Yankui said. Jiang Lin quickly said, "Master, this money should be credited to Master Wei first. I will pay him back when I make money in the future. You don't have to spend any money."

Seeing his determined eyes, Zhao Yankui stopped being pretentious.

Qi the blacksmith said, "Do you know how much silver is one ounce of red meat? It's very expensive. Even if you work as a blacksmith for a year, you may not be able to afford this."

Jiang Lin was slightly surprised. He knew that red meat was expensive, but couldn't a formal blacksmith save enough money to eat it in a year?
What about Lao Wei?
As a cook in the blacksmith camp, he probably doesn't have much money. He wouldn't have taken out all the money for his coffin.

Zhao Yankui patted him on the shoulder and said, "Okay, it's rare that Old Wei thinks highly of someone from our blacksmith camp. If you can afford to pay him back, then pay him back. If you can't, you can just take care of him until he dies."

Although this world has various supernatural powers, its ideas are still no different from those of traditional feudal dynasties.

Between getting money and having someone to take care of them until the end of their lives, most lonely elderly people would want the latter.

This is especially true since Old Man Wei has never married and has no children.

Jiang Lin nodded and agreed to it.

Not to mention that Old Man Wei gave him benefits, even if he didn't, Jiang Lin would not refuse with his character.

"The master craftsman will be here soon. Don't be nervous then. Just do as I taught you last night. You will definitely pass." Zhao Yankui reminded.

Jiang Lin was not nervous at all. He smiled and asked, "Master, is there any prize in today's test?"

"A prize? If I perform well, the master craftsman might reward me with a few taels of silver." Zhao Yankui scratched his head. After all, it was just a test between apprentices, and the reward would not be too much.

Jiang Lin chuckled, "Master Craftsman gave little, but Master Dong seems to be very rich. If I make a bet with him before the test, Master Craftsman should not object, right?"

"Let's have a bet?" Zhao Yankui muttered, and suddenly his eyes lit up, and he laughed out loud: "You kid, I didn't realize you have a bit of a sinister side."

Dong Songchang was determined to teach Jiang Lin a lesson through the apprenticeship test, and he must have looked down on Jiang Lin to the extreme in his heart.

If Zhao Yankui takes the opportunity to bet with him, he will definitely make a fortune!
Blacksmith Qi also became interested and said, "It seems interesting. I'd like to join in the fun. But you have to play your part, Jiang. I don't have much money to lose."

"Master Qi, are you not confident in my skills?" Jiang Lin asked.

Blacksmith Qi thought about what happened last night, then smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Well, just forget what I said. If I really lose, I can only say that it was God's fault."

With Jiang Lin's skill level, he is not much worse than a regular blacksmith, so how could he lose?

Afterwards, Zhao Yankui brought Qi the blacksmith to the gate of the South Blacksmith Camp, and Dong Songchang and others arrived shortly afterwards.

Seeing Zhao Yankui standing there waiting to greet Master Sijiang, Dong Songchang showed a smug expression on his face: "Master Zhao, you are here so early, why don't you go and give your precious apprentice some advice? If he can't pass the test today, he will be punished with thirty strokes of the cane. It would be a pity if he was beaten to death by then."

Zhao Yankui glanced at him and said coldly, "My apprentice is better than you, so Master Dong doesn't need to worry about him. But as the master of the Southern Ironsmith Camp, you use such a despicable method to deal with an apprentice. Don't you feel ashamed?"

Dong Songchang sneered, "Who wants to deal with him? It's pointless to crush a little thing that hasn't even grown all its hair. But Master Zhao is good at flattering his apprentice. Although my skills are not as good as yours, they are not comparable to those of an apprentice. Saying this is a real joke."

　Please read it. I am still about halfway to the recommended reading distance.

(End of this chapter)