“What a cocky kid! If you can complete the Junior Blacksmith assessment within half an hour, I won’t just call you ‘dad’ once, I’ll shout it ten times!” The receptionist seemed to feel insulted, forgetting his earlier mocking remarks.
He continued, “But what if you can’t finish it? What then?”
Charles didn’t waste words. With a flick of his wrist, the jet ring gleamed, and 10 gold coins appeared on the table. “If I fail, these are all yours.”
“Oh my god, it’s gold! Ten gold coins!” A gasp echoed through the Forging Masters Guild hall, instantly drawing a crowd.
The people of Genosha love a spectacle, and soon the story spread.
“Ten gold coins? I’d shout ‘dad’ ten times without a second thought!”
“Look at you, all pitiful! I’d shout it a hundred times!”
“Completing the Junior Blacksmith certification in half an hour? That’s impossible! If luck is against you and the task is to purify metals, you’re definitely finished!”
“I remember when I had terrible luck; I had to purify Tone Reproduction’s mystic iron. It took me two full hours!”
As the crowd grew, the receptionist felt uneasy, but greed took over when he glanced at the gold coins on the table.
“I want that ring on your hand!” The staff member’s eyes weren’t blind; he had seen how Charles produced the gold coins. A spatial ring like that would cost at least a few hundred gold coins!
Charles smirked slightly and replied, “If you want this, your wager isn’t high enough.”
The onlooking blacksmiths began to jeer, shouting, “Exactly! That ring is worth quite a lot, Jay; shouting ‘dad’ a thousand times wouldn’t be enough!”
“Jay’s too greedy! Ten gold coins and he’s still not satisfied—talk about being insatiable!”
“He’s always like this, riding on the coattails of his brother-in-law, a senior blacksmith. His attitude never improves!”
“Who knows, maybe this kid’s assessment will be the time-consuming metal purification. After all, Jay has connections!”
Listening to the chatter around him, Charles realized the staff member’s name was Jay, and he had a brother-in-law who was a senior blacksmith. No wonder his service was so poor!
“So, if you want this ring, you need to offer something of equal value,” Charles said casually.
Jay reluctantly withdrew his gaze, knowing he had nothing of such high value—he didn’t even have the ten gold coins!
“Then it’s ten gold coins. Kid, those coins are as good as mine!” Jay said, reaching out to grab them. Charles quickly pressed down on the coins, taunting, “How poor are you if you can’t even wait half an hour?”
Laughter erupted around them. “He hasn’t even started the assessment yet, Jay! Can’t you wait?”
“Right? At least wait until after the assessment. Who knows, he might finish in half an hour!”
“Half an hour? No way! Why isn’t anyone betting against me? I could use some easy money!”
Feeling embarrassed, Jay pulled back his gaze from the coins and gathered Charles’s application form. He planned to seek out his brother-in-law for some help in sabotaging Charles’s assessment. Just then, a few figures descended from the second floor of the Forging Masters Guild.
“Vice President,” Jay greeted, panic evident in his voice.
Bryce, the vice president of the Forging Masters Guild, surveyed the gathered crowd, his expression darkening. “What’s going on? Why are so many people here?”
Jay’s anxiety peaked, but then he noticed the figure behind Bryce—his brother-in-law, Byron, a senior blacksmith and Bryce’s apprentice. He felt a wave of relief wash over him.
“Vice President, someone is looking down on the Forging Masters Guild, claiming they can complete the Junior Blacksmith assessment in half an hour. I couldn’t stand by, so I confronted them, and now they want to bet with me,” Jay exaggerated, twisting the truth.
Byron, standing behind the vice president, didn’t buy it. He knew his relative’s temperament all too well. It was likely Jay’s poor attitude that had sparked this incident. Still, the claim about finishing the assessment in half an hour seemed genuine.
“That guy is way too arrogant,” Byron muttered. “Not only does he disrespect the Forging Masters Guild, but he’s also using a bet to attract attention. He definitely has bad intentions.”
Bryce furrowed his brow, suspecting the root of the issue lay with Jay. However, since Jay was his apprentice’s relative, he hesitated to say much. Still, that betting kid was undeniably overconfident. Even he had taken an hour to complete the toughest metal purification during his assessment.
Half an hour? Impossible!
Bryce turned to the calm Charles and asked slowly, “Kid, are you sure you want to go through with this? You can still back out without losing face.”
Jay’s expression shifted to panic; he feared Charles might choose to back out, which would mean losing those ten gold coins.
“Back out? No way. The attitude of your staff is terrible; I need to make sure it gets fixed today!” Charles shook his head firmly.
Hearing this, Jay breathed a sigh of relief and chimed in, “Vice President, see? He’s just this arrogant! My service has always been excellent!”
“Shut up!” Bryce snapped. With so many people watching, the situation had escalated to the point where it involved the reputation of the Forging Masters Guild, and retreat was not an option.
How a young man dared to openly criticize the guild in front of so many spectators was unacceptable! “Young man, I’ll give you a chance to choose your assessment task, so no one can say the Forging Masters Guild bullies the weak,” Bryce said.
Charles replied confidently, “I’ll choose metal purification; it’s simpler.” fгeewebnovёl.com
“Simpler? Are you sure?” Bryce asked, almost incredulous.
“Absolutely.” Charles noticed the looks around him, not understanding their surprise. For him, metal purification was indeed easier, thanks to Joshua’s eighty-one hammer technique, which made the Junior Blacksmith certification assessment feel like a breeze.
“Good! Someone, bring the forge and all the tools here! We’ll ensure everything is fair in front of everyone!” Bryce declared, secretly hoping that Charles would fail publicly, leaving him no excuses and better ensuring his embarrassment.
Quickly, the forge and tools were set up in the hall. The onlookers could hardly contain their excitement; they were convinced Charles would never complete the assessment. However, they couldn’t deny their admiration for his courage. Some believed that since he dared to take on the challenge, he must have some confidence, and they were eager to see whether he was a forging genius or just a fool.
Catherine wasn’t worried at all. Having spent time with Charles, she knew he wouldn’t take on something he wasn’t sure about. Besides, she found Jay’s attitude unbearable; if they weren’t in the Forging Masters Guild, she would have knocked him to tears already.
On the forge lay a basketball-sized piece of mystic iron, a fundamental forging material that Charles was quite familiar with. Joshua had once used the eighty-one hammer technique to transform a standard mystic iron into an orange-quality product! While Charles couldn’t reach that level, he was confident he could purify and forge this mystic iron into at least green quality.
“Are you ready?” someone from the Forging Masters Guild asked.
Charles nodded, picked up the forging clamp, and placed the mystic iron in the flames as the timer began!
“To remove all the impurities from the mystic iron in half an hour, he’ll need nearly ten minutes just for heating. It’s impossible to get rid of the impurities in the remaining twenty minutes!”
“Exactly! If he had special forging tools, there might be a chance, but this is an assessment—he can’t use any advanced forging techniques!”
“Wait, he’s using the highest flame intensity! That’ll speed up heating, but it also complicates the purification process!”
“Is he going to give up?”
Charles listened to the surrounding chatter but remained unfazed. It was true that increasing the heating speed would impact the purification process, but for him, it was no issue at all.
“Alright, no need to watch from here on,” Byron said to Jay. As a senior blacksmith, he understood the challenges involved. With the purification difficulty ramping up and only twenty-five minutes left, he believed Charles had no chance of completing the task.
“Brother-in-law, really? Hahaha, those ten gold coins are as good as mine!” The excitement on Jay’s face quickly turned stiff.
This change came when Vice President Bryce’s expression shifted to one of surprise. “No, wait! His purification technique is off!”
“Master, what’s wrong?” Byron asked anxiously.
Bryce watched Charles swinging the hammer and replied, “I can’t see exactly what his hammering technique is, but I can tell it’s not as simple as it looks!”
The gathered blacksmiths quickly sensed something was off. Charles was removing the impurities at an astonishing speed. After just three strikes, a tenth of the impurities in the mystic iron had already vanished!
“Oh my god, what kind of hammering technique is that? At this rate, he’ll definitely complete the assessment!”
“Not necessarily; some hammering techniques require a lot of stamina. He might not be able to swing the hammer much longer!”