I can receive unlimited protection; my parents handed me over to the state.

Zhao Qingxuan led Lu Yuan to the other side of the training ground.

There, a person was standing.

To be precise, it was a woman.

She looked to be in her mid-twenties, tall and slender, wearing a black, tight-fitting combat suit that accentuated her perfect figure.

Her long, silver-white hair was tied into a high ponytail, swaying in the wind behind her head.

What's most striking about her are her eyes.

Those were pale golden eyes, with flames burning in their pupils, exuding a sense of oppression.

When Lu Yuan's gaze met hers, he instantly felt a powerful pressure bearing down on him.

That was the suppressive aura emanating from a high-level professional.

"This is [Code Name: Flame Princess]," Zhao Qingxuan introduced. "An SSS-level Star Envoy, with the talent [Undying Flame], currently level 78, and ranked among the top ten in combat power across China."

"Starting today, she will be your combat coach."

Lu Yuan was stunned.

Could an SSS-level star envoy be his coach?

Isn't this specification a bit too high?

Yan Ji looked Lu Yuan up and down, her brows furrowing slightly.

"Is it him?" Her voice was cold. "Level 0, mental strength 12 points, physical fitness D-level..."

"Are you sure someone with this kind of data is worth my teaching?"

Zhao Qingxuan pushed up his glasses.

"This is Elder Su's order."

Yan Ji was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Fine." She walked up to Lu Yuan, looking down at him. "Kid, I don't care what your talent is or what your background is."

"Here, there's only one rule—obey orders."

"Did you understand?"

Lu Yuan looked at her and nodded.

"I understand."

"Very good." Flame Princess turned around. "Come with me."

She brought Lu Yuan to the fighting arena.

The arena is very large, with a diameter of over fifty meters, and the ground is made of a special alloy material that can withstand high-intensity combat.

"Come up here." Yan Ji jumped onto the arena and beckoned to Lu Yuan with her finger.

Lu Yuan climbed onto the ring and stood opposite her.

"You're a blacksmith, but the place you're going to is more dangerous than a battlefield," Yan Ji said. "If you can't even protect yourself, then no matter how powerful the weapons you create are, they're useless."

"So, the first thing I'm going to teach you is—"

"How to survive in battle."

As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly disappeared.

The next second, Lu Yuan felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck.

He was kicked away by a tremendous force and crashed heavily onto the edge of the ring.

"Too slow." Yan Ji's voice came from behind. "Your reaction time is less than 0.3 seconds. At that speed, you won't survive more than three seconds on the battlefield."

Lu Yuan struggled to get up, feeling a burning pain in the back of his neck.

"Again," said Flame Princess.

Lu Yuan took a deep breath and assumed a defensive stance.

Then, Flame Princess disappeared again.

This time, Lu Yuan barely managed to catch a glimpse of her afterimage.

He instinctively dodged to the left.

But Yan Ji's attack was much faster than he had expected.

A whip kick swept across his side, sending him flying.

"0.25 seconds, that's an improvement," Flame Princess commented, "but it's still too slow."

"continue."

For the next hour, Lu Yuan was repeatedly knocked away, fell down, got up, and was knocked away again.

His body was covered in bruises, and his clothes were soaked with sweat.

But Yan Ji showed no sign of stopping.

"Your physical condition is too poor," she said. "Even when I've suppressed my strength to the minimum, you still can't keep up."

"but……"

She looked into Lu Yuan's still clear eyes, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

"Your willpower is quite impressive."

"That's all for today." Yan Ji jumped off the arena. "We'll continue tomorrow morning at six."

Lu Yuan lay on the arena, panting heavily.

My whole body aches.

But his eyes were unusually firm.

---

10 PM.

Lu Yuan dragged his tired body to the forging room.

The forging room is very large, and various forging equipment is placed inside.

Furnaces, anvils, quenching tanks, rune engraving knives... everything is available.

Moreover, every piece of equipment is top-of-the-line.

Lu Yuan walked to the furnace and took out a piece of star-patterned steel from the material warehouse.

This piece of star-patterned steel is much larger and of higher quality than the one the school gave us.

【Star-patterned steel】

[Quality: Excellent]

[Number of protective layers that can be supported: 5]

Lu Yuan lit the furnace and put the star-patterned steel inside.

The flames ignited, and the temperature rose rapidly.

Star-patterned steel gradually softens at high temperatures, emitting a faint red glow.

Lu Yuan picked up the forging hammer and began forging.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The sound of hammering echoed in the forging room.

With each hammer blow, impurities in the star-patterned steel are forced out.

The temperature inside the forging chamber was kept constant at 24 degrees Celsius, but Lu Yuan felt it was too hot.

That wasn't the temperature you felt; it was the boiling energy within your blood. The star-patterned steel in front of me glowed an alluring orange-red in the 800-degree furnace fire, like a piece of soft candy waiting to be shaped.

Lu Yuan gripped the black forging hammer tightly. The hammer itself was a high-quality piece of equipment, with anti-slip runes engraved on the handle. It weighed thirty pounds, but in his hands it felt as light as a chopstick.

"when!"

The first hammer blow fell.

A crisp clanging sound echoed in the empty room. A few sparks flew from the star-patterned steel surface, and a layer of grayish-black oxide scale peeled off.

Zhao Qingxuan stood five meters away behind the safety line, holding a tactical tablet in his hand, its screen displaying a dense stream of data. He adjusted his glasses, his gaze fixed on Lu Yuan's hand.

The layman sees the spectacle, the expert sees the technique. Although Lu Yuan was just a level 0 newbie, his initial hammer strike was extremely steady and powerful, directly shattering a tiny air bubble inside the material.

"Interesting," Zhao Qingxuan murmured as he took notes.

Lu Yuan had no time to pay attention to the audience. At this moment, the familiar light blue data stream was frantically scrolling across his retina.

[Target: Star-patterned steel (raw material)]

[Status: Forging in progress]

Material purity: 89% (increasing)

"Too slow," Lu Yuan muttered.

According to traditional forging methods, it would take at least two thousand hammer blows to shape this piece of iron into a blank. He didn't have the physical strength or the patience for that.

"System, take over."

He silently recited it in his heart.

In an instant, a chill ran down his spine to the top of his head, and his aching muscles felt as if they had been injected with some kind of lubricant. He raised the hammer again, but this time, the movement was different.

It was no longer the textbook-style grand movements, but rather a strange, high-frequency vibration.

"Clang clang clang clang—"

The originally clear impact sounds merged into a single line, turning into a buzzing sound similar to a bee. Zhao Qingxuan's expression changed, and he instinctively covered his ears.

Sound wave vibration?

No, it's resonance!

Each of Lu Yuan's hammer blows struck the resonant frequency of the star-patterned steel, using the material's own vibrations to expel impurities. This technique is usually only mastered by grandmaster-level blacksmiths of the sixth rank or above, and requires extremely high mental strength to perceive the frequency.

This kid is only level 0!

Three minutes later, Lu Yuan stopped.

The star-patterned steel on the pliers has shrunk to only two-thirds of its original size, but its color has changed from orange-red to almost transparent reddish-gold.

Material purity: 99.9%

[Evaluation: Perfect embryo]

Lu Yuan threw the scorching hot metal into the quenching tank.

"Sizzle—"

White mist rose.

As the mist dissipated, a rough draft of a short sword, about twelve inches long, was revealed. Its lines were smooth, and its cold gleam was restrained.

"Now, the main course begins."

Lu Yuan grabbed a carving knife from the shelf next to him and then took the box of expensive spiritual energy liquid. Instead of carefully drawing the array like an ordinary enchanter, he directly dipped his finger into the spiritual energy liquid, then pressed it onto the sword.

[Talent Trait: Protection of All Things (Activated)]

"Enchantment: Fortitude"

[Verification passed. Mental energy consumed: 1 point.]

[Sturdiness +1]

Lu Yuan did not stop.

"Durability +2".

"Durability +3".

……

"Durability +10".

In just ten seconds, the hardness of this short sword had been increased to an unbelievable level. The tablet in Zhao Qingxuan's hand started alarming, with red exclamation marks flashing wildly.

[Warning: The internal structure of the target object is about to undergo a qualitative change; its current hardness exceeds that of diamond.]

"Mr. Lu, stop!" Zhao Qingxuan couldn't help but speak up, "A base enchantment exceeding +7 will cause the structure to collapse, and this sword can't withstand it..."

"That's someone else's sword." Lu Yuan didn't even turn his head, and pressed another finger on it. "It's my sword. If I say it's good, then it's good."

"Enchantment: Sharpness +10".

hum!

The air around the blade was invisibly sliced ​​open, producing a faint hissing sound.

Zhao Qingxuan fell silent. He saw that the sword not only didn't break, but instead emitted a pleasant hum, as if yearning for more power.

This unscientific.

But this is very far-fetched.

"The foundation is laid." Lu Yuan wiped the sweat from his forehead, grabbed the 300,000-yuan blue potion next to him, and gulped down half of it like a can of cola. "Since it's a god-making plan, we need to come up with something that has the word 'god' in it."

He closed his eyes and mobilized the mental energy that had just been restored to its full potential through meditation.

This time, it's not just a simple enchantment.

It is protection.

In other words, it means assigning rules.

"First Blessing: Water God."

A faint blue ripple appeared on Lu Yuan's fingertips. The ripples seemed delicate, but they carried a vast and boundless sense of oppression.

The moment his fingertips touched the blade, the air in the entire forging room suddenly became humid and viscous. Zhao Qingxuan felt as if he had been instantly transported to the depths of the ocean, the immense water pressure making it difficult for him to breathe.

[Infection successful.]

【Special Feature: Formless Flow (Ignores 30% of the target's physical defense when attacking, and the sword can be freely reshaped into liquid form)】

The crimson gold on the sword faded, replaced by a flowing aquamarine, as if the sword were not metal, but a frozen spring.

"Not enough."

Lu Yuan's face paled slightly as he drank another mouthful of medicine.

"Second Blessing: Azure Bird."

A clear, melodious bird song rang out in the small space.

Zhao Qingxuan felt a blur before his eyes, as if he saw a blue divine bird circling above the furnace fire. A gust of wind suddenly rose from the ground, making all kinds of tools clang and rattle.

[Infection successful.]

【Special Feature: Extreme Speed ​​(Swing speed increased by 200%, with added wind blade cutting effect)】

At this moment, the short sword had a blue feather pattern on its spine, and the heavy water pressure had added a touch of lightness and ferocity.

Lu Yuan's hands were trembling.

Two consecutive level-one protections, even with the support of medication, were too much of a mental strain. His brain felt like it was being pricked with needles.

But as he looked at the sword, his eyes were filled with fanaticism.

It's like a madman painting; the canvas isn't even full yet, how can he stop?

"Again!"