Lin Feng was now holding a Smiths' Association conundrum badge with the sun logo, given to him by one of the Association's very own elders.
The smith before him was supposedly a Five-Star Smith himself, but the man was behaving quite humbly right now.
Before this, Lin Feng had tempered the piece of metal given to him for the test by forging it a thousand times and spending two whole hours on it. The evaluator's expression had gradually changed from shocked to a blank daze.
The moment Lin Feng walked out of the Smiths' Association, the many smiths inside were all questioning everything they had known.
One of them, a Grade-4 smith, turned to the experienced elder and asked,
"Sir…
"He had been tempering… black iron, right?"
The Five-Star elder nodded stiffly.
"But he struck it 1,300 times, and it retained all of its innate qualities…
"That's not something a Three-Star Smith should be able to do, is it?"
The Five-Star elder nodded again and said somewhat helplessly,
"Still, he's here to register as a Three-Star Smith… What else could I do? For all we know, he is purposely trying to hide his skills."
Of course, Lin Feng did not hear their conversation. By now, he had pinned his badge to his chest, just like Andera did.
However, Andera just looked at him closely for a while and shook his head.
"C'mon, Master Lin Feng, I'll take you to get your Smiths' Association uniform."
Lin Feng blinked.
"A uniform? What's that?"
Rather excitedly, Andera tugged at his collar and said,
"It's a fixed outfit that the Smiths' Association prepares for its members. It's been enchanted by mages so it'll keep you nice and cool even in front of a forge.
"I guarantee that this outfit costs at least a few hundred gold pieces at an auction."
Lin Feng had to admit that Andera's guidance was saving him a lot of time he would have otherwise spent wandering the city and getting used to it.
By the time the sun set, the two of them had already toured most of the large city.
Suddenly, Andera patted Lin Feng's shoulder and said,
"Lin Feng, I have two commission orders from the Warriors' Association to complete, so I gotta go now. If you have time, you can come find me at Big Keg Inn."
With that, he bid Lin Feng goodbye and went off on his own.
Lin Feng watched him walk off into the distance, feeling suddenly out of place here in Grimm.
Although the sky was dark, Grimm did not have a nighttime curfew like Whitewing and Whitestar had.
This was a busy city with an active nightlife.
As the crowds bustled around him, Lin Feng slowly lost his bearings.
He sighed, begrudging his age as he headed for the Smiths' Association.
Soon, he found his destination.
The Smiths' Association also provided free rooms for their registered smiths who were Three-Star and above.
By now, Lin Feng had decided to spend some time here making a living off his forging.
Firstly, he asked a bunch of questions at the reception counter and found out that a smith could only accept commissions of the same grade.
Going off everything Andera had told him before, Lin Feng chose a Grade-3 commission.
It was an order for Grade-3 weapons for the defense corp.
What they wanted were three fire-type weapons that could keep demonic beasts at bay.
Lin Feng then followed the procedures and collected the ore he needed from the Smiths' Association before diving right into the forging workshop.
He had to admit, the Smiths' Association really knew everything a blacksmith could need and had made the necessary arrangements.
There was even a bed here, as well as a supply of dried fruits and clean water.
"Looks like this workshop is meant for those smiths who spend ages just forging and forging here…"
Lin Feng muttered to himself and then sat down in front of the brand-new forging table, closing his eyes slowly.
It looked like he was not moving, but he was actually running simulations in his mind with God-level Forgery, trying to figure out what he should do next.
When he took on the Grade-3 commission, there was a limit to the materials he needed. Nevertheless, if Lin Feng could figure out a better way to forge the weapons, he would probably be able to save quite a lot of precious materials.
He had not forgotten that his primary aim for coming here was to reinforce his heart.
That was why he needed relatively higher-grade materials to achieve his goal.
An hour later, Lin Feng abruptly opened his eyes, the corners of his lips curving slightly. He picked up a metal shovel beside him and threw the ore he needed into the forge.
The forge blower wooshed as he pumped it, and the bright flames danced in the forge. At the same time, however, Lin Feng had clapped his bare hand onto the hot outer wall of the forge.
A pure-white glow lit up on Lin Feng's palm, and the flames in the forge instantly took on a tint of holy energy.
This was his upgraded Holy Flame.
With the heat of the Holy Flame, the ore melted down at an almost visible rate. Lin Feng used a bit more Holy Flame until the molten iron in the forge was completely cleared of impurities.
The rest of the forging steps were about the same as usual.
The Milli-forging technique that Lin Feng had learned from his God-level Forgery came in handy again. He poured the molten iron into a mold and then began to hammer it gently.
That step alone took two whole hours.
By the time he was done with everything, a day had passed before he knew it.
Lin Feng was in no rush to hand in the commission. He just looked around the room to see how much ore he had saved and nodded.
Although the necessities for these Grade-3 weapons, the rare Grade-3 materials, were mostly used up, he managed to save a great amount of Grade-2 material.
After a brief break, Lin Feng immediately merged some Grade-2 and Grade-3 material together so he could reinforce his heart with them.
This time, the tempering of his heart took a full thirty minutes.
Once he used up all the materials, his heartbeat told him that he had gotten yet a bit stronger.
Two days later, Lin Feng was fully rested and reemerged with three weapons in their peak condition. He appeared before the Smiths' Association elder again and placed all three fire-type weapons on the counter.
The Five-Star elder examined each weapon but was left speechless for a long time.
Finally, he wrapped each weapon up in dried beast hide and said expressionlessly,
"These three Grade-3 weapons can earn you ninety points in total. If you want to exchange your points for something, come with me whenever you like."