Xia Yi did not have his own forging hammer, so he could only borrow one from the forging room.
To control the force, he chose a twenty-kilogram forging hammer, the same as Wu Qian's.
He then began the refining process, heating the metal for ten minutes.
"Bang!"
His first strike was much lighter than Wu Qian's.
Xia Yi's eyes remained fixed on the glowing red red flame copper, observing the metal's texture and the sound of the hammer strike.
These were the elements he had to analyze.
Without any guidance, he had to rely on himself.
After the first strike, he waited a whole minute before striking again.
The same went for the third and fourth strikes; it was like this until the tenth strike.
The evaluator watching him was confused. Xia Yi's hammering had no rhythm or consistency. It seemed unlike someone who had ever practiced forging.
Wu Qian looked at Xia Yi with even more disdain.
As expected, a bumpkin.
At this rate, forget about refining; he couldn't even complete the basic hundred strikes.
Just when the evaluator was about to call a stop, Xia Yi suddenly sped up.
He threw the twenty-kilogram hammer aside and picked up two fifty-kilogram hammers instead.
Wu Qian's mouth dropped open. Two fifty-kilogram hammers meant a total weight of two hundred pounds. Xia Yi held one in each hand, and before the evaluator could react, the whole forging room was filled with the sound of powerful hammering.
"Bang, bang, bang!"
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"
The rhythm was fast and dense, like the sound of rain hitting bamboo leaves.
At this point, Xia Yi was fully in the zone, as if the two fifty-kilogram hammers had no weight at all. His swings grew faster and faster.
Gradually, only two flashing hammer shadows could be seen in the air, and the hammering sounds became like mercury flowing down.
This intense hammering lasted for about two minutes before stopping.
"Bang!" The final blow landed, and Xia Yi withdrew his hammers.
His chest rose and fell slightly, but that was all. His face was calm, and not a drop of sweat had formed, contrasting sharply with Wu Qian, who was exhausted.
To Xia Yi, the two fifty-kilogram hammers were nothing. The real exhaustion came from the mental focus required during the forging.
The room fell silent for a moment.
The evaluator was stunned. How could someone so frail wield so much power?
"Red flame copper, a total of 138 strikes, refining exceeds the basic requirement for a hundred strikes, the refining is uniform, the volume has reduced by 10%. The refining effect is about four times that of the hundred strikes." The evaluator took a deep breath and gave a precise score. "Comprehensive score: 95! Test passed!"
The evaluator looked at Xia Yi with a stunned expression. These results from a ten-year-old child who hadn't even grown up seemed so unbelievable.
Four times the refining effect of a hundred strikes—perhaps even a fourth-level forging master like Ao Chuang would need half an hour to accomplish this.
If not for the wasted time in the first ten strikes, Xia Yi could have completed everything, including the ten minutes of heating, in just about thirteen minutes.
The evaluator turned to Wu Qian and Ao Chuang and said calmly, "You can leave now. By the way, the results of the forging master level test are highly confidential. No one is allowed to leak it. Do you understand?"
"Yes, yes!" Wu Qian and Ao Chuang quickly agreed, eager to leave.
They no longer cared about being embarrassed. It was already a blessing to get out of here alive.
If they stayed any longer, the Forging Association might keep them here forever to ensure that Xia Yi's abilities were not leaked.
Xia Yi watched the two of them leave and silently scoffed, "That was too easy! It was over before it even began."
His ability to finish quickly was entirely due to Ao Chuang. Xia Yi had carefully remembered every word Ao Chuang had said to Wu Qian.
From how many strikes were needed based on the echo, to what needed more force or less—he remembered it all.
That's why he was able to finish so quickly.
Once Wu Qian and Ao Chuang had left, the evaluator turned to Xia Yi and said seriously, "Can you make small parts? If you can make one successfully, you'll be directly promoted to a second-level forging master."
"Parts?" Xia Yi thought for a moment and then asked, "Is there a model?"
In Xia Yi's mind, if it was just making simple parts, he could follow a model without needing to learn much.
"You can choose one," the evaluator said, opening a drawer in the forging station that was filled with various parts.
Xia Yi nodded and picked one that looked relatively simple.
He took about an hour to finish the part and handed it to the evaluator.
The evaluator looked at the part Xia Yi had made, inspecting it carefully. Although there was a small flaw, it wasn't a big issue. "You can go now. Come back in two days to receive your second-level forging master badge. By the way, will you sell this part to the Forging Association, or do you want to keep it?"
"How much is this worth in Federation coins?" Xia Yi's face lit up. He didn't expect that the things he made with the Forging Association's materials would still belong to him.
"If you sell it to the Forging Association, we will give you fifteen thousand Federation coins. If you want to keep it, you can pay us thirty thousand Federation coins for the materials," the evaluator explained.
"I'll sell it to you," Xia Yi said, his lips twitching. Now he understood why the Forging Association was so wealthy.
A "second-level forging master" who didn't know anything about forging could casually make a part worth so much money.
If he studied forging for a while longer, he could easily enjoy the good life.
The evaluator watched Xia Yi happily leave with fifteen thousand Federation coins and couldn't help but laugh.
The East Sea City Forging Association had really struck gold.
First, there was Tang Wulin, and now Xia Yi.
"Hey, get the two receptionists at the front desk to meet me in the president's office," the evaluator said after finishing a communication call. He quickly made another call.
"Hello! President, we've found a treasure!"
"A treasure? What treasure?"
"A ten-year-old kid just came in for the forging master level test. He passed and became a second-level forging master!"
"Ten years old, second-level forging master! Quickly, tell me what happened?" On the other end of the communication, Mu Chen was jumping for joy. Tang Wulin had been nine when he became a second-level forging master. This new development was even more exciting.
They hadn't expected another one to come.
Now, the Forging Association of East Sea City couldn't help but rise.
The evaluator was silent for a minute before speaking slowly, word by word: "He has never learned forging."
As a forging tester, his eyes were sharp. He was certain Xia Yi had never learned forging.
"How could a kid who hasn't learned forging pass the second-level forging master test? Stop messing with me!" Mu Chen's excitement quickly turned to confusion.
"This matter is complicated to explain over a communication call. I'll explain when I get to your desk," the evaluator replied solemnly.
"Okay, I'll head to your office right away." Mu Chen's voice sounded hurried over the line.
Although he didn't fully understand what was going on, the idea of a ten-year-old who had never learned forging passing the second-level test was terrifying.
Such talent was truly mind-blowing.
"Good!" The evaluator hung up the communication and walked over to the table where Xia Yi had filled out his form. He said to the staff seriously, "Immediately pull up the monitoring footage from the testing room, along with Xia Yi's information. Send everything to the president's office right away."
(End of Chapter)