Chapter 566

Lin Cheng clapped his hands and smiled with satisfaction.

But except for Lin Cheng, the whole scene was dead silent. From President Holder down to the staff in the testing room and the other blacksmiths outside the door, there was a question in their minds: how did he do it?

"This, what is going on?" President Holder was still the first to react. With his skills, carving an ice beauty naturally wouldn't be much worse than Lin Cheng's, but Lin Cheng only tapped it with that one hammer!

President Holder had never heard of such blacksmithing technology; it was simply divine!

"Sorry, it's a family secret, not for outsiders!" Lin Cheng said with a mysterious smile.

"Alright."

President Holder sighed. He knew Lin Cheng's situation and just thought this was a special technique that the Tute family could once use to become court masters.

Such a miraculous hammer technique was too stunning to the world, so it was normal not to pass it on.

Lin Cheng passed this test with a high score, as expected.

As mentioned before, a thousand people have a thousand kinds of aesthetics, and everyone has different views on beauty.

But even so, Lin Cheng's miraculous hammer technique to shape the ice sculpture still stunned everyone.

"By the way, President, can I take this ice sculpture away? It's a sculpture of my lover."

"Of course you can." President Holder agreed without even thinking.

It was originally worthless ice, and what's more, Lin Cheng carved his own lover. Reasonably and emotionally, there was no reason to force him to stay. Leaving this ice beauty in the guild would only let it melt, so it was better to do a favor.

Thinking of this, President Holder also gave Lin Cheng ten magic scrolls.

"Among them is a first-stage magic 'Freeze', which is very good for preventing the ice sculpture from melting."

"Thank you very much, President."

"Well, let's proceed to the next test. Let me see where your limit is."

The fourth evaluation.

It was Lin Cheng's most proficient weapon and equipment repair!

The rules were also very simple. As long as you repaired a damaged weapon and a damaged piece of armor within the specified time, it would count as passing.

The magic array gave the damaged weapon and armor. Lin Cheng immediately ignited the spell fire in his hand, fused the damaged weapon and armor, and added repair materials to re-forge them directly.

Before long, Lin Cheng had finished repairing the weapons and armor.

The speed was so fast that it was practically over as soon as it began.

Having witnessed the previous three astonishing evaluations, the crowd was dumbfounded and already somewhat accustomed to it; they had nothing left to say.

"Continue, fifth evaluation!"

This time it was weapon refining, which was also one of Lin Cheng’s specialties.

Simply put, the weapons and equipment crafted by some incompetent blacksmiths didn't reach their limit. They needed to be heated to extremely high temperatures to remove impurities and be re-forged, which would elevate the quality of the weapon.

As always, he used spellfire to complete the refining perfectly and passed smoothly.

President Holder looked as if he himself had passed, radiant and spirited, and waved his hand.

Next item!

The sixth evaluation was enchanting. The magic array provided a weapon, and enchanting it twice or more in the shortest time counted as passing.

It must be mentioned that enchanting a weapon means bestowing special abilities upon it. Usually, depending on the weapon's quality, it could only be enchanted once to enhance sharpness or attack speed.

For ordinary weapons, one enchantment was the limit; two enchantments were simply impossible.

Few blacksmiths could do it, and even those who could relied on the weapon's material being excellent enough to withstand a second enchantment.

However, the difficulty of double-enchantment technology was due to the existing human magic technology. Many of the runes used for enchanting came from ancient ruins or the Elven race. These incomplete magic runes, which humans couldn't thoroughly understand, were the reason humans faced so many difficulties using enchanting technology.

But for Lin Cheng, double-enchantment was not only not difficult, it was very simple, because the runes he used came from various inscriptions in the system.

Compared to those incomplete and poorly researched inscriptions, familiar, complete inscriptions were naturally simpler and more convenient to use.

For the sixth evaluation, Lin Cheng decided on a whim to show off a bit; he not only performed a second enchantment but also a third and a fourth.

This move shocked President Holder and the others. While they were dumbfounded, they were also curious about the strange inscriptions Lin Cheng used. Could these strange inscriptions also come from the former Tute family?

Could they also be a secret that was never passed on?

Lin Cheng ultimately performed seven enchantments on the same weapon. This record broke the highest enchanting record in the Blacksmith Guild's history, which had also been set by President Holder, who had enchanted a single weapon four times at most.

The strange inscriptions Lin Cheng used were undoubtedly better and more complete than the collection of inscriptions preserved by the blacksmiths.

President Holder felt conflicted inside, hesitating repeatedly, not knowing whether to speak up.

Finally, he made a resolute decision and chose to speak.

"Lin Cheng..."

But Lin Cheng had already guessed what President Holder was going to say and nodded immediately.

"Indeed, my Tute family has preserved a complete set of ancient inscriptions all these years. For outsiders to learn them, it might take several years."

"If you are willing, I represent all the blacksmiths of the Blacksmith Guild in thanking you, Lin Cheng." President Holder was very gratified and bowed respectfully to Lin Cheng.

Also bowing were the blacksmiths outside the door who had been watching Lin Cheng’s evaluation. All along, if the guild could have had a complete set of inscriptions, perhaps the empire's blacksmith industry wouldn't be so depressed now.

This bow was not only for Lin Cheng’s generosity but also for Lin Cheng’s ancestors. Without their dedicated research, they probably wouldn't have been able to develop a complete set of inscriptions.

The seventh test was to craft an enchanted war halberd, which was extremely difficult.

Lin Cheng didn't waste words; he ignited his spellfire to melt the materials and began forging the halberd.

This time it took a little longer, with the clanging sounds echoing non-stop in the evaluation room, followed by the enchanting process.

The enchanted war halberd was completed, and naturally, he passed again.

The blacksmiths watching at the door were all silent, their moods incredibly complex. Since the founding of the Blacksmith Guild, no blacksmith had ever passed these evaluation projects—which had reduced countless blacksmiths to tears—like a game, clearing them in the shortest time as if there were no difficulty at all.

There were 10 projects in total, but in reality, there were only 9, because no one in history had ever reached a tenth-rank blacksmith, except for gods!

Lin Cheng had currently passed seven tests. As long as he passed one more, he would reach the same height as President Holder, becoming the empire's fourth eighth-rank blacksmith.

An unbelievable day!

As for the final two tests, Lin Cheng probably couldn't handle them either, because those were areas that humans simply couldn't touch. Perhaps Lin Cheng could create miracles in the future, but the current him definitely couldn't.

"The eighth evaluation project will be presided over by me personally." President Holder stood before Lin Cheng and said with great solemnity.

The staff quickly stepped aside to watch, full of anticipation to witness the moment history was made. As long as Lin Cheng could pass the eighth evaluation, he would be the empire's fourth eighth-rank blacksmith.