Chapter 248: Hundred-Forged Black Iron
It’s almost done!
Ten minutes later, Wang Teng accurately found the right time and took the black iron out of the furnace.
He raised his hammer and smashed it down. The sound of hammering rang in the classroom.
At this moment, the other students had also started hammering. The entire smithery studio was filled with the sound of metal smashing metal.
Wang Teng’s hammering sound merged with the other noises. To the untrained ears, it was the same as others.
Xiong Ba raised his eyebrows.
“This sound.”
His ears moved, and he immediately found the source.
Although he listened to all these noises every day in the smithery room, his sense of hearing wasn’t worse than other people.
As a martial warrior, he had his ways of protecting his ears.
To a blacksmith, the sense of hearing was crucial. That was because they needed to listen to the sound of metal.
A skilled blacksmith would be able to determine the level of impurities in the metal and the location of the impurities through its sound alone. This was how they hammered perfect materials for weapons.
Xiong Ba’s gaze was instantly fixed on Wang Teng. There was amazement in his eyes.
It’s him.
He didn’t go closer. He just secretly observed him from the podium.
The more he looked at him, the more dumbstruck he felt.
“What exquisite smithery skills. Is Wang Teng the successor of a family of blacksmiths? That’s not right. I heard that he’s the child of an ordinary businessman. He doesn’t have any special background. Did he figure it out himself? If he did, he’s extremely gifted.”
Many thoughts flashed past Xiong Ba’s head. Then, he turned to look at the other students. He couldn’t ignore the other students because of Wang Teng.
There were still many talented students in his smithery class.
Bang, bang, bang!
Clang, clang, clang!
This was Wang Teng’s first attempt at forging. Initially, he was quite slow, as he wanted to get used to the sensation. Towards the end, his speed gradually increased. The metal hammer in his hand kept swinging, leaving lingering shadows. It was so fast that people couldn’t see his actions clearly.
The students around Wang Teng couldn’t help but focus on him.
The frequency of his hammering was too fast and conspicuous. It was impossible not to notice it.
“This!”
When they saw the situation on Wang Teng’s side, the students were confused.
“Is this the hand speed of a single person?”
Their jaws dropped, and they couldn’t push it back. There was unspoken criticism in their hearts.
Xiong Ba opened his mouth. Suddenly, he felt a little envious. He had this hand speed only when he was young.
It’s good to be young!
…
One and a half-hour later, Wang Teng finally finished hammering the iron. He looked at the pitch black and shimmering black iron in front of him and nodded in satisfaction.
He didn’t make any sound. He just raised his head.
Xiong Ba had already noticed that he had stopped forging. When he saw him raise his hand, he walked over.
Not caring about the temperature of the metal, he directly picked it up to take a closer look.
The astonishment in his eyes got thicker.
“This is… hundred-forged!”
Xiong Ba suspected that he had seen wrongly. He flipped the item a few more times and even scrutinized the edges.
In the end, he permeated his Force into the metal before finally confirming that this was a hundred-forged black iron.
Hundred-forged meant that the raw material had undergone a hundred times of hammering. The greater the number of times it was hammered, the lesser the impurities in the metal. Besides hundred-forged, there were thousand-forged, ten-thousand-forged, and even hundred-thousand-forged.
Some blacksmiths were willing to spend a few years or even more than ten years to forge a weapon. Where do you think the time was spent?
If they wanted to complete a high-class smithery job, the material had to be of good quality. If not, it would be destroyed after a thousand times of hammering.
Going beyond the limit was as bad as falling short!
Also, blacksmiths were only willing to spend a large amount of their precious time on high-quality materials.
Black iron was just one of the most common metal materials. Hundred-forged was its limit. If the blacksmith wasn’t skilled enough and didn’t control his strength properly, there might be too much pressure during the hammering, and the black iron would turn into scrap iron before it could be hammered a hundred times.
“Very good. The completion of this black iron is very high. It has reached 97% purity. It’s already a rare refined iron.” Xiong Ba wasn’t stingy with his compliments. There was admiration in his eyes as he looked at Wang Teng. This person was an exceptional talent in smithery.
Hundred-forged metals could have different purity levels too. It depended on the blacksmith’s technique.
In the smithery industry, purity never reached 100%. This was just the ideal stage, and it was unattainable.
If you asked a grandmaster blacksmith to hammer the most ordinary material, he wouldn’t be able to make it 100% pure.
Thus, Xiong Ba felt that Wang Teng’s 97% was the highest he could reach. There was no way the iron could be purer than this.
The other people were still engrossed in their forging, so they didn’t hear Xiong Ba’s words. If not, they wouldn’t want to forge anymore.
“Your smithery skill is not bad. Do you have a master?” Xiong Ba asked the question in his mind.
“No, I just came to listen to your lessons,” Wang Teng shook his head and replied.
“You just came to my class, yet you’re able to reach this stage in such a short time?”
Xiong Ba was mentally prepared, but when he heard Wang Teng admitting it personally, he still felt dumbfounded.
“Alright, there’s nothing else. You can leave now.” Xiong Ba waved his hand and continued, “Oh right, I will keep your hundred-forged black iron. I will return it to you in the next lesson.”
“Okay.” Wang Teng didn’t know what Xiong Ba needed the black iron for, but he knew that Xiong Ba wouldn’t trick him for a mere hundred-forged black iron. He wasn’t that greedy.
After Wang Teng left, Xiong Ba announced the end of the exam ten minutes before the lesson ended.
Then, he inspected the students’ work one by one. Two of them were able to do hundred-forged, but their purity couldn’t be compared to Wang Teng’s. One was at 67% while the other was at 83%.
67% was not bad for a beginner.
As for the other student who managed to attain 83%, he came from a family of blacksmiths. His foundation was good, and he was already outstanding enough to be able to reach this stage.
Xiong Ba announced the results and encouraged everyone. Then, he ended the lesson.
The student from the blacksmith family stood up and asked, “Wait, instructor, what’s Wang Teng’s purity percentage?”
Xiong Ba couldn’t bear to stimulate the child. But, when he saw the stubbornness in his eyes, he sighed and said, “Hundred-forged, 97%!”
The students in the class were flabbergasted.
“He managed to reach 97% purity!”
“How is it so high!”
“He must at least be at master level to reach this purity.”
…
“Such a genius really exists in the world,” the student who came from a smithery family said dejectedly.
“He’s an exception. There are not many geniuses like him, so you don’t have to compare yourself to him. You’re exceptional enough,” Xiong Ba consoled him.
When the student heard his words, he felt even worse.
There was no point in comparing. This hurt even more.
In an instant, the student’s face turned black, and he gave off a depressed aura.
“He’s doing it again.” Xiong Ba felt helpless. This student was outstanding in all areas, but he always turned into a zombie whenever he got stimulated. Xiong Ba didn’t know how to react. He coughed awkwardly and said, “Cough, cough, Yang Gong, I suddenly think that if you work harder, you will be able to catch up with Wang Teng very soon.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m very sure.”
“I know. I will not lose to anyone. Instructure Xiong, I need to go back and train now. See you.”
“See you, sigh~” Xiong Ba let out a long sigh.