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

His mental strength, through relentless meditation every night, finally broke through the 200-point mark, reaching an astonishing 210 points!

More importantly, his combat skills and understanding of various weapons have completely transcended the realm of a novice, reaching a level that even Tang Long and Yan Ji find astonishing.

If he were to face that level 30 corrupted treant again, he wouldn't need to use "Thunder Dragon Storm" at all. He could kill it within ten moves using only the most basic swordsmanship.

"Limits? Limits are meant to be broken!" Tang Long didn't care about any of that. He glared at him and yelled, "Don't try to give me excuses! Not enough mental energy? Then go practice! Practice until you've got enough! If you can't condense a decent dragon shape today, you're skipping dinner!"

After saying that, he turned and left, giving Lu Yuan no chance to refute him.

Lu Yuan looked at his imposing back and shook his head helplessly.

He's gotten used to it after these ten days.

These two instructors, one playing the good cop and the other the bad cop, worked together seamlessly, with only one goal: to push him to the limit and squeeze every last drop of potential out of him.

He sat cross-legged and began to practice the "Starry Sea Meditation Technique" to recover the mental energy he had just consumed.

Half an hour later, he stood up again, and the lightning spear re-formed in his hand.

"Thunder Dragon Strike!"

……

Meanwhile, in Flame Princess's private training room.

She was facing a huge holographic screen, which was showing the footage of Lu Yuan's training session.

"How about it? This kid's not bad, is he?" Tang Long walked in at some point, carrying a bottle of strong liquor, and took a big gulp.

"Not just good." Yan Ji looked at the screen, at the boy who tried to condense a thunder dragon time and time again, failing time and time again, but whose eyes grew more and more determined. His golden eyes shone with a complex light. "He's a monster."

"A complete, unreasonable monster."

As an SSS-level Star Envoy, she has seen at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, geniuses.

But she had never met anyone like Lu Yuan.

His learning ability, his fighting instincts, and his willpower all exceeded her understanding of the word "genius."

In just over twenty days, he went from a novice who couldn't even hold a knife properly to a near-expert who could initially master the advanced combat technique "Thunder Dragon Strike".

This rate of growth is unbelievable.

"Yeah, he's a monster." Tang Long sighed, taking another swig of wine, his eyes darting around. "Back in my day, I stood in a thunderstorm for seven days and seven nights trying to master this move, 'Thunder Dragon Strike,' and almost got struck by lightning. This kid, on the other hand, got the hang of it in half a day."

"However, it is precisely because he is such a monster that we have more hope, isn't it?" Tang-Long turned his head to look at Yan Ji. "The pressure from the Northern Territory is increasing. I heard that the 'Void Nightmare' has been active more and more recently, and has even begun to try to attack our defenses."

Upon hearing this, Yan Ji's expression also darkened.

"I know. The military has already issued three emergency mobilization orders. My old subordinates in the North sent me a message the day before yesterday saying that their casualty rate has exceeded 30%."

"So," Tang Long said, cracking the bottle in his hand, "we're running out of time. All our hopes rest on this kid and that weapon that's about to be born."

The two fell silent.

On the training field, Lu Yuan continued to practice tirelessly.

failure.

Come again.

Another failure.

Come again!

His mental strength was repeatedly tempered and refined through the process of condensation and dissipation, becoming more solid and resilient.

Finally, after who knows how many attempts.

When the afterglow of the setting sun bathes the entire celestial world in gold.

"roar--!"

A dragon's roar, filled with majesty and destructive power, resounded throughout the entire training ground!

A ferocious lightning dragon, about ten meters long and composed entirely of pure lightning energy, with its entire body flashing a dazzling blue light, hovered above Lu Yuan's head!

The thunder dragon was incredibly lifelike, with its scales, claws, and whiskers clearly visible. Its eyes, formed of lightning, coldly gazed ahead, like a true divine beast that had stepped out of ancient mythology!

"It's a success..."

Looking at the thunder dragon above his head, Lu Yuan wore a tired but incredibly satisfied smile.

Then, everything went black before his eyes, and he could no longer hold on, collapsing straight down.

Before his consciousness faded into darkness, he heard Tang Long and Yan Ji's hurried footsteps, as well as Zhao Qingxuan's perpetually calm voice.

"Mr. Lu's mental strength has reached its critical peak."

"All materials are ready."

"The first formal forging can begin."

When Lu Yuan woke up again, he found himself lying on a soft, large bed.

Outside the window, there is the eternal, seemingly meticulously colored, azure sky of the zenith.

He sat up and felt his body filled with unprecedented strength, and his mind was clearer than ever before.

He brought up his own control panel.

Character Panel

Name: Lu Yuan

Codename: Master Craftsman

[Level: 40]

[Mental Strength: 250/250 (Starry Sea Meditation Technique - Fifth Level)]

Physical fitness: A+

Newly acquired skills: Thunder Dragon Strike (Beginner), Myriad Weapons Manual (Master), Killing Intent (Advanced)...

After last night's final push and breakthrough, his mental strength finally reached an astonishing value of 250 points!

His physical fitness has also firmly reached the pinnacle of A+, just one step away from S-level.

"My condition... has reached an unprecedented peak."

Lu Yuan clenched his fist, feeling the surging power within him like a river, his eyes filled with confidence.

He is now 100% confident that he can forge a work that will astound the world.

He got out of bed and changed into a specially made, fireproof and antistatic black forging suit.

When he stepped out of the bedroom, he found Zhao Qingxuan, Tang Long, Yan Ji, and even Su Lie already waiting in the living room.

All four of them had unusually serious expressions.

"Kid, are you ready?" Su Lie looked at Lu Yuan and asked in a deep voice.

"Ready?" Lu Yuan nodded.

"Alright." Su Lie stood up, waved his hand, and announced, "Activate 'Heavenly Craft'!"

Zhao Qingxuan immediately walked to the wall in the living room, pressed his handprint on a seemingly ordinary wall, and entered a series of complicated passwords.

"Buzz—"

The entire S-0 villa suddenly trembled slightly.

The floor in the center of the living room silently slid open to both sides, revealing a bottomless vertical passage that shimmered with a silver metallic luster.

An energy filled with an ancient and desolate aura slowly rose from below the passage.

"This is..." Lu Yuan looked at the passage in front of him, somewhat surprised.

"The 'Heavenly Craftsmanship' is an ultimate forging furnace built specifically for you, exclusively for the 'Divine Craftsman'," Su Lie explained. "Its core is a 'Sunstone Fragment' unearthed from ancient ruins, capable of providing near-limitless energy. Its furnace walls are forged from the most durable 'Starry Black Gold,' strong enough to withstand the forging of any divine-level material."

"To build it, the country practically emptied half of its strategic reserves."

Su Lie patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder, his eyes filled with anticipation: "Now, it belongs to you. Go, use it to create a miracle."

Lu Yuan took a deep breath, said nothing more, and stepped directly into the vertical passage.

The passage walls instantly lit up with a soft light, and an invisible force lifted his body, slowly lowering him downwards.

He descended for over a hundred meters before finally reaching the bottom.

The sight before him made him hold his breath instantly.

This is an enormous underground space, as big as a dozen football fields.

In the center of the space stood a massive furnace, thirty meters tall.

The furnace was a dark gold color, its surface engraved with dense, complex runes that Lu Yuan couldn't understand at all. At the top of the furnace, a fist-sized golden crystal, radiating light and heat like the sun, floated; that must be the "sunstone fragment" that Su Lie had mentioned.

Countless thick energy pipes, like the blood vessels of a dragon, connect the furnace to the surrounding walls, continuously supplying energy into the entire space.

In front of the furnace is a circular operating platform with a diameter of over twenty meters.

On the platform, all the materials that Lu Yuan needed were neatly arranged.

On the left is what Flame Princess provided.

A dark red metal, about the size of a human head, seemingly containing flowing magma—[Legendary Material: Molten Core]. This is a core crystal extracted from the heart of an ancient fire dragon, and is one of the highest-grade fire-attribute materials known.

Beside it, there was a box of feathers shimmering with seven-colored light—[Epic Material: Seven-Colored Phoenix Feather]—and a fragment of a sunstone radiating an astonishing heat wave.

On the right, however, is what the government provides.

A single, deep metal ingot, as dark as the starry sky and studded with countless glittering points of light—[Legendary Material: Star Essence Gold].

There was also a bottle containing a viscous liquid, like a liquid black hole, in a special container—[Legendary Material: Void Origin].

In addition, there are mountains of various epic and fine-grade auxiliary materials.

Any one of these items, if taken out, would be enough to cause a bloodbath on the black market.

And now, they have all become the "pigments" for Lu Yuan's forging this time.

Lu Yuan stepped onto the operating platform, and looking at the dazzling array of top-quality materials before him, his heart was filled with boundless pride.

"Let's begin."

He reached out and pressed the cold start button on the "Heavenly Craft" furnace.

"boom--!"

The sleeping behemoth awoke at this moment.

The "sunstone fragment" instantly shone brightly, its dazzling golden light illuminating the entire underground space.

Inside the furnace, a golden, raging fire, seemingly capable of incinerating everything, burst forth!

The entire space trembled slightly under this terrifying energy.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lu Yuan first threw the hardest and most difficult-to-melt [Star Essence Gold] directly into the furnace.

If it were an ordinary forge, it would take at least seven days and seven nights to melt such a legendary metal.

But under the terrifying temperature of the "Heavenly Craftsmanship" furnace, in less than ten minutes, the hard Star Essence Gold began to melt slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into a pool of silver liquid shimmering with starlight.

"Not enough!"

Lu Yuan's eyes narrowed, and he threw in the [Heart of Molten Fire] and [Seven-Colored Phoenix Feather] as well.

The three top-tier materials began to collide and fuse intensely in the golden divine fire.

The power of the stars, the power of the flames, the power of the wind...

Different rules repelled and devoured each other in the furnace, unleashing terrifying energy shocks that caused the entire furnace to hum under immense strain.

"Trying to rebel?"

Lu Yuan snorted coldly and poured his enormous mental power of 250 points into the furnace without reservation, like a flood bursting its banks!

"Melt it for me!"

His domineering and unparalleled [Blessing of All Things] talent was activated at this moment!

"Boom—!"

The moment Lu Yuan's immense spiritual power, carrying the unreasonable and forceful rules of [Blessing of All Things], surged into the "Heavenly Craft" furnace, the entire underground space trembled violently.

Inside the furnace, the three legendary materials that were previously clashing and repelling each other suddenly fell silent, as if held down by an invisible hand.

The profundity of the stars, the fury of the flames, the gentleness of the wind.

These three distinct forces were forced to undergo the deepest fusion under Lu Yuan's domineering will.

Above the operating platform, on a huge holographic screen, Zhao Qingxuan, Su Lie, Tang Long, and Yan Ji were intently watching the energy changes inside the furnace.

On the screen, the red, blue, and cyan curves representing three different energies are like three mad dogs, frantically entangled and colliding. Each intersection will unleash a dazzling energy peak.

"This...this is too reckless!" Tang Long cursed, staring at the chaotic energy curves on the screen. "This kid actually wants to fuse three completely incompatible legendary materials at once! Is he insane? If this explodes, half of the Celestial World will be blown away!"

"Shut up!" Su Lie whispered to stop him, but his clenched fists betrayed his inner tension.

He knew what Lu Yuan was doing.

Lu Yuan is walking a path that has never been trodden before.

Traditional forging emphasizes a gradual process and the compatibility and balance of attributes.

Lu Yuan, however, did not want balance; he wanted conquest!

He will use his powerful talent to forcefully unite these unruly top-tier materials into a single force, making them submit to his will!

This is no longer forging.

This is creation!

Inside the furnace, the fusion process was extremely difficult.

Lu Yuan felt his mental energy was like a flood that had burst its banks, pouring out wildly.

His brain was working at an unprecedented speed.

Every particle structure of the Star Gold, every fiery rule of the Molten Heart, every wisp of wind rhythm of the Seven-Colored Phoenix Feathers...

Everything was broken down and analyzed in his mind, and then recombined in a completely new and unprecedented way.

This is an incredibly meticulous and mentally taxing process.

The slightest mistake could result in the furnace being destroyed and people dying.

Time passed by, second by second.

One hour.

Two hours.

Five hours.

Lu Yuan's face had turned ashen, and his forging clothes were soaked with sweat, making him look as if he had been pulled out of the water.

His mental energy has been depleted by more than half.

But the fusion process inside the furnace was finally coming to an end.

The three materials that were originally distinct have now completely merged together, forming a fist-sized mass of chaotic liquid metal that is constantly changing colors and seems to contain a nascent universe.

"The first step is complete."

Lu Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, feeling completely exhausted.

He immediately took out several bottles of the highest-grade mental energy recovery potions from his backpack and drank them down like water.

The cool medicine slid down his throat, transforming into pure spiritual energy that replenished his nearly dried-up spiritual sea.

"Next, it's time for shaping."

Lu Yuan stared at the chaotic mass of molten metal, his eyes gleaming with the light of a creator.

He did not use any molds.

His hands were clenched in mid-air.

The immense spiritual power transformed into two invisible hands, reaching directly into the furnace to begin the most meticulous sculpting of the molten metal.

Stretch, flatten, twist, shape...

Under his control, the molten metal gradually took the shape of a sword.

It was an incomparably magnificent and domineering longsword.

The sword is long and slender, yet heavy. The blade has a flowing crimson-gold hue, as if magma is surging within it. The spine is a deep starry blue, dotted with silver specks, like stars in the night sky. The hilt is sculpted into a pair of magnificent wings made of seven-colored feathers, ready to take flight.

As soon as the sword's prototype was formed, a terrifying sword intent, seemingly capable of burning the eight wastelands and slicing down stars, emanated from the furnace!

"Such...such powerful sword intent!"

Tang Long, watching from the screen, felt the sword intent and his expression changed drastically.

He himself is a master of wielding a knife, and he is most sensitive to the "momentum" and "intention" inherent in this weapon.

He was certain that this sword, even without any enchantment or blessing, was already firmly at the level of epic based on its material and design alone!

The moment Yan Ji saw the sword, her golden eyes blazed with an unprecedented, intense light.

She could feel that the sword was calling to her!

The sword's attributes and her talent, [Undying Flame], had an almost perfect synergy!

She even had a premonition that if she could get her hands on this sword, her strength would increase by at least 30%!

"Shaping complete. Next... is the final and most crucial step."

"Protect them!"

Lu Yuan stared at the longsword that had already taken shape, his eyes flashing with a crazed light.

He wanted to give this sword a true soul!

He stretched out his finger and dipped it into the incomparably precious [Void Origin] bottle next to him.

Then, he pressed the finger, which was tinged with a trace of chaotic energy, heavily onto the hilt of the sword!

"First Layer of Protection: Stellar Body!"

Om-!

The star-like points of light on the sword instantly shone brightly! An aura as heavy as a mountain and as vast as a starry sea erupted from the sword.

[Cure successful!]

【Special Feature: Stellar Body (Weapon weight can be freely adjusted according to the user's will, hardness increased by 500%, and it has a built-in armor-piercing effect)】

"Second Blessing: Wings of Immortality!"

Om-!

The pair of seven-colored wings on the gauntlets seemed to come alive, emitting a clear phoenix cry! A gale rose from the ground in the forging room, making Lu Yuan's clothes flutter loudly.

[Cure successful!]

【Special Feature: Wings of Immortality (When swung, they can unleash a firestorm and transform into physical wings for a short period, granting the user the ability to fly)】

"The third layer of protection..."

Lu Yuan's voice had become extremely hoarse.

Two consecutive legendary-level rule blessings have once again exhausted his recently recovered mental energy.

His vision began to darken, and his body swayed precariously.

"Lu Yuan! Stop! Stop now!"

Seeing Lu Yuan's reckless behavior, Su Lie, who was in front of the screen, shouted anxiously.

He feared that Lu Yuan might damage his foundation due to the overexertion of his mental energy, which would be a loss that the entire nation of China could not bear!

But Lu Yuan seemed not to hear his voice.

All he could see was the sword and the mad thought in his mind.

"Not enough...not enough!"

"How can a true divine weapon only have two rules!"

He looked at the surging, seemingly alive, crimson-gold magma on the sword, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"I will grant you... true 'immortality'!"

He reached out again, but this time, he didn't dip his fingers in the material.

Instead, he directly cut a gash in his palm!

Crimson blood, bearing the imprint of his own spirit, dripped onto the scalding hot blade!

"With my blood, I forge your soul!"

"The Fourth Blessing—Phoenix Rebirth!"