Chapter 1210

In fact, many blacksmiths are not fire-type mages, but that doesn't matter—using a bellows and a sealed furnace can still raise the temperature high enough to melt most materials.

However, fire-type mages have far easier and far more terrifying control over the furnace fire, able to reach extreme temperatures of over a thousand degrees with ease.

For an ordinary blacksmith, reaching a thousand degrees is extremely difficult. This is the common blacksmith's drawback—they may go their whole lives without ever breaking through to a fifth-rank blacksmith.

The second test is material identification.

The staff randomly took out one hundred strange and unusual materials, difficulty ranging from low to high, requiring the blacksmith to identify them within half a shichen—each one identified earns one point.

This is also a basic test for blacksmiths, but precisely because it is basic, it has stumped far too many blacksmiths.

If you say it's easy, well, if it's just some common materials, then it really is simple.

But if you say it's hard, some obscure materials passed down from ancient times to the present can be so rare you may never have seen them in your entire life, let alone used them.

Following behind Lin Cheng and Chairman Huoerde, Zhao Afu couldn't help recalling his own past test—within half a shichen, he had only identified forty-three materials.

Although that score was barely half, it still earned him a fourth-rank blacksmith's badge.

It was precisely this score that made him confident Lin Cheng wouldn't achieve any particularly good result, because some materials were simply too obscure! Obscure to that degree—at Lin Cheng's age, how many could he possibly have used?

Heh heh, I'll just see how much skill you really have.

Although Lin Cheng truly didn't recognize most materials, he had the system, didn't he? If he didn't recognize something, wouldn't he just recognize it once he picked it up and touched it?

"The test begins."

Lin Cheng stepped forward and began identifying materials, while Chairman Huoerde and the others stood to one side without a word.

Facing the first material the staff brought out, Lin Cheng didn't hesitate—stepping right up, he picked up the first material, and the system immediately gave a prompt in his mind.

Dragon-Saliva Iron.

Origin: saliva dripping from sub-dragons onto iron ore, accumulating over years to form a special ore—the older it is, the harder it becomes.

Zhao Afu shook his head and sighed at the side—an iron ore that could be recognized at a glance, yet he still had to pick it up. He'd overestimated the fellow; he was nothing special after all.

Suddenly feeling that watching further would just be a waste of time, he was about to leave—but just then, Lin Cheng spoke: "Dragon-Saliva Iron—saliva from sub-dragons drips onto iron ore, accumulating over years to form a special iron ore. On the outside it looks exactly like iron ore, but its hardness rivals refined steel."

What!

Zhao Afu's steps froze. He turned back in shock to keep watching—it was actually Dragon-Saliva Iron, the hardest-to-identify among the beginner materials. He himself had been tripped up by Dragon-Saliva Iron several times.

Now, he hadn't expected Lin Cheng to recognize it so easily.

Now it all depended on the staff's review and confirmation—was it right or not?

"Correct. Please continue." The reviewing staff member checked the material list in hand and confirmed it was correct.

Lin Cheng remained calm and composed, picked up the second material, and at the ding-dong of the system in his mind, Lin Cheng said: "Sub-Dragon Bone—this piece should be the leg-bone section of a sub-dragon, right?"

"Correct."

The staff member was slightly surprised—getting two in a row was one thing, but even knowing the origin and the specific part, this young man was simply too terrifying.

Chairman Huoerde stroked his long beard, growing ever more convinced that the talent the Empire had sent this time was reliable.

And Zhao Afu was even more shocked inside—a sub-dragon leg bone, and a cut middle section at that. If Lin Cheng hadn't spoken up, he would have thought it was just an ordinary beast bone.

· ·······Seeking flowers····· ·····

If he himself had been identifying, he would undoubtedly have gotten two wrong already.

"Nether Gold."

"Correct."

After Lin Cheng correctly identified the third material in a row, Zhao Afu could hardly stand still. Getting one or two right could be luck, but three in a row—surely that meant real skill.

A vague premonition of something bad stirred in his heart. Recalling the earlier bet, if he left now, would he still make it in time? Otherwise, if he truly lost, wouldn't that mean…?

But a feeling of unwillingness welled up again—maybe the fellow was just lucky?

If he left now and the fellow got something wrong later, wouldn't he miss seeing it? The desire to watch Lin Cheng make a mistake kept Zhao Afu from leaving.

"Purple Bamboo Mystic Bone, Fire Essence Stone, Soft Iron, Star Meteorite Iron…."

Gradually, Lin Cheng went on to identify ten materials in succession, reaching the level of a first-rank blacksmith by count.