The next morning.
In the hall, Chu Chengzhou watched Tang Yuehua perform a cleansing for Tang San while refining the whale brain in his stomach.
Abruptly, a vast surge of information and insight flooded Chu Chengzhou's mind.
In the fourth AFK slot, the forging technique Hammer of Creation leveled up. Its quality rose to gold.
In an instant, as he digested the influx, the world in Chu Chengzhou's eyes seemed to change.
He could see countless tiny motes of light in the surrounding air, in gold, green, blue, red, yellow, cyan, purple, and other colors, yet it also felt like a mere illusion.
Time slipped by unnoticed. When Chu Chengzhou finished digesting the information and insights, he found it was already evening.
Just as he had anticipated, the red-quality Hammer of Creation corresponded to metal Soul Forging. Now the gold-quality Hammer of Creation corresponded to Heavenly Forging.
Forgers who mastered Heavenly Forging were called Divine Blacksmith in later generations, and Heavenly Forged metal was also called divine-grade metal. High-grade divine-grade metal could even be used to forge divine tools.
"At least four elements?"
Chu Chengzhou muttered to himself.
He was a transmigrator, but in his previous life he had not read the long-winded Douluo 2, 3, or even 4, nor did he know whether 5, 6, or more existed. He only knew a little.
That did not affect his cheating. Heavenly Forging differed from Thousand Forging, Spirit Forging, and Soul Forging. It required a certain comprehension of the laws of heaven and earth from the forger, and the injection of elemental energy.
According to the feedback from the gold-quality Hammer of Creation, even the lowest tier of Heavenly Forging required at least four elements.
The more elements injected simultaneously, the higher the quality of the metal after successful Heavenly Forging.
In addition, Heavenly Forged metal had to undergo elemental tribulation lightning. Each additional element added one more layer of tribulation.
In other words, even the simplest four-element Heavenly Forging would face four bolts of elemental tribulation lightning, and the lightning tested not only the metal but also the forger.
During the metal's passage through the elemental tribulation, the only one who could truly help the metal was the forger himself.
If one passed at least one bolt but failed to pass all, the result was quasi–Heavenly Forged metal.
Of course, one could have an expert forcibly disperse the tribulation lightning or use external items to block it, but metal that had not undergone the baptism of elemental tribulation could not be called Heavenly Forged metal, not even quasi–Heavenly Forging metal. It would only count as an enhanced version of Soul Forged metal.
Chu Chengzhou estimated that if a forger did not have the strength of a nine-ring Titled Douluo, then the forger would be unable to produce true divine-grade metal.
Beyond that, after withstanding the elemental tribulation, the metal still needed shaping.
This shaping did not mean changing outward form, but adjusting its inherent attributes according to the user's needs. Only then could Heavenly Forged metal become divine-grade metal.
Glancing at the AFK bar, Chu Chengzhou thought for a moment, then slotted in the Void Illusion Realm to replace the Hammer of Creation that had just advanced.
Since even divine-grade metal required the forger to have Titled Douluo-level strength, metals of a higher tier, such as the "super divine-grade" metals in his plans, would certainly demand even greater strength from the forger. For now, continuing to AFK-upgrade the Hammer of Creation had little meaning.
Seeing that it was already late outside, and with little metal stock on hand, Chu Chengzhou did not rush to attempt his first Heavenly Forging. Instead he began testing elemental fusion.
On the Douluo Continent, the basic elemental attributes numbered eleven: metal, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, lightning, light, darkness, time, and space. Other attributes were upgraded variants of these eleven, such as water and ice, darkness and evil.
Chu Chengzhou was not sure about the exact situation of Divine Blacksmith in later eras, but barring surprises, they likely did not possess comprehension of the laws of all elements.
He was different. Thanks to his cheat, the insights fed back by the gold-quality Hammer of Creation were very comprehensive. They were not limited to a single element or the four basic elements of Heavenly Forging, but the laws of all elements.
This meant that even as a pseudo–Divine Blacksmith who had not yet produced divine-grade metal, he could theoretically forge super divine-grade metal imbued with all eleven elements.
Of course, theory was theory and reality was reality. To reach that theoretical level, the first prerequisite was sufficient strength to withstand eleven layers of elemental tribulation.
Judging by its name, Hammer of Creation had nothing to do with elemental fusion. Yet it had granted him some comprehension of the laws of all eleven elements. His control over elemental fusion had therefore increased greatly, no, immensely.
The next moment, Chu Chengzhou spread the fingers of his right hand. Except for the thumb, the tips of the other four fingers each lit with a wisp of soul power in red, yellow, cyan, and blue, representing the fire, earth, wind, and water elements.
Then he brought his index and middle fingers together. The fire soul power at the index fingertip and the earth soul power at the middle fingertip fused perfectly. The glow of the two-element fusion became a seamless weave of red and yellow.
Next, his ring finger slowly moved toward his middle finger. The wind soul power at its tip approached the perfectly interwoven red-yellow two-element fusion.
A slight repulsion appeared, but Chu Chengzhou found the entry point for fusion almost instantly. With a faint ripple, the cyan wind soul power merged into the red-yellow two-element fusion and became a strand of three-element fusion soul power, perfectly interwoven in red, yellow, and cyan.
Three-element fusion, achieved.
At this moment, Chu Chengzhou could not help feeling excited.
Before the Hammer of Creation advanced, he could only achieve perfect two-element fusion and was still far from three-element fusion. Now that the forging technique had advanced, he immediately attained three-element fusion soul power.
He still did not know whether earth, water, fire, and wind could all fuse.
Taking a deep breath, Chu Chengzhou focused all his attention on his right hand and slowly guided his little finger toward his ring finger.
The familiar repulsion reappeared, but it was not strong and remained within his control. In just two seconds, Chu Chengzhou found the entry point for fusion.
In an instant, the wisp of blue water soul power successfully merged into the three-element fusion of fire, earth, and wind.
"Success!"
T/N: For 40 chapters ahead on my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle