Chapter 168: Weaponsmithing (3)
Once again, everyone sank into silence. Seeing that nobody had anything to say to him, Zhao Li started focusing on his forging. He was probably getting quite tired and no longer dared to get distracted.
One hour. Two hours...
Su Yu had no choice but to admit that these people were all very patient. They were all attentively observing the forging.
Eventually, seven hours passed. Su Yu had arrived at around five. It was now midnight. At this point, Zhao Li was already drenched wet with sweat. Finally, the final golden vein took shape on the dagger. At that moment, the transparent dagger turned into a golden dagger.
"Form!"
With a roar, Zhao Li's willpower erupted and the dagger vanished. Next, a boom rang out.
A burst of willpower erupted from an old man in the room. With a pale face, he stared at the floating dagger right in front of his face. He couldn't help but to curse, "Old Zhao, have you gone mad? Are you trying to kill me?"
"You're a third-stage Cloudbreach. You won't die so easily." Zhao Li panted as he said, "This dagger is not compatible with my Divine Characters. I gave it a try and it seems quite good. With 39 golden veins, it can be considered one of the best among low-tier profound-grade weapons. Good thing I was able to reforge it earlier or the entire weapon would be ruined."
Su Yu was still in a daze. He had not been able to see the dagger move. If the dagger had been sent his way, he would have died before even realizing what had happened. Was this the prowess of a cultural weapon?
Zhao Li grabbed at the air and the dagger flew back to him before vanishing into thin air. With a smile, he said, "This weapon can now be nourished in the sea of willpower. If the owner is present, this would be the moment for him to send his Divine Characters into the weapon and nourish them together, increasing the compatibility of the weapon and the characters."
He exhaled deeply and looked at the crowd before saying, "Why are you still here? Are you waiting for me to cook you dinner?"
].
The crowd was speechless. They could only leave. The few youngsters in the crowd looked at Su Yu with envy and curiosity as they left. Su Yu was about to leave as well but Zhao Li told him to wait. Su Yu wondered if Zhao Li was going to give him an extra class.
However, that wasn't the reason Zhao Li had kept him behind. Instead, a small black saber was tossed his way. The saber looked more like a toy than a weapon.
"Like I said previously, I'm going to give you a mold. You can toss it into the pool in your filter room. You won't need this mold yet, but you can always take it out when you can finally use it."
"Is this...a cultural weapon mold?"
Su Yu played with the saber and found that it actually felt like dough. When he tried pinching it, it immediately changed shape. He was stunned. Was this even a weapon?
"Cultural weapons are not martial weapons. Were you listening earlier?" Zhao Li's face fell as he said, "This is a top-tier yellow-grade mold. It isn't too expensive. I was planning to give you a profound-grade mold, but I remembered that you won't be able to use it for now anyway. You might as well take a yellow-grade mold for now. You will be able to use it after reaching the Mental Tempering Stage. Come look for me when you're ready to send your Divine Characters into the weapon. I'll prepare some suitable materials to upgrade your mold.
"It is very troublesome for me to forge a weapon for that character of yours with the illusion ability. It's too difficult. You have a lightning character as well, right?"
"Yeah. I have a lightning character as well. My blood character is the one producing illusions. It can absorb blood as well."
Su Yu answered honestly.
Zhao Li sank into contemplation. After a while, he said, "Got it. Blood absorption, lightning...both can be considered offensive abilities. You're a saber user, right? I suggest that you form a saber character after reaching the Mental Tempering Stage. If not, the weapon, break, and pierce characters are pretty good too. Those characters would work well with your blood absorption ability. With a sharper blade, it will be easier for you to wound your enemies and make use of your blood absorption ability."
Su Yu hurriedly asked, "Teacher, can I actually pick the characters I want to form?"
"Of course you can. Of course, the premise for that is money. For example, if there is a character in a willpower text you want, you can read it over and over until you eventually form it. But you might end up using dozens of willpower texts for the character you want. If you have enough money, you can give this method a try."
...
Su Yu could only smile bitterly. He definitely didn't have enough money. A few dozen willpower texts? He only had two Great Strength original texts in his possession at the moment. He had no way of getting more.
"Well, that's none of my business. You have to look for Bai Feng for that," said Zhao Li as he rolled his eyes. "If you're majoring under me, I would definitely supply you with all the willpower texts you need. But unfortunately, you aren't. I won't spare too much effort on you."
"I am happy with what I have. Thank you for your gift and guidance, teacher."
Su Yu was speaking sincerely. Zhao Li was already kind enough to him. He had nearly failed his forging today just to teach Su Yu. If it wasn't for Su Yu, Zhao Li probably wouldn't have bothered saying anything during the session.
"Well, that's all for today. Go back and rest early."
When Su Yu was about to leave, Zhao Li said, "When you finally plan to forge a weapon, form a suitable Divine Character first. I can teach you a way to temper your willpower. You can increase the endurance of your willpower with that method."
Su Yu bowed and said, "Thank you, teacher. I will work hard."
"Alright. Time for you to piss off."
Zhao Li waved his hand and chased Su Yu away impatiently.
When Su Yu left, Zhao Li exhaled deeply in exhaustion. He muttered, "What a pity. He is obviously a good seedling for weaponsmithing. Why must he insist on joining the Character Faculty? His willpower is so weak yet he had been able to use his Divine Character so many times during the battle. He definitely has the potential to forge a weapon with 73 golden veins and above..."
At that thought, Zhao Li looked in a certain direction in his research center with regret. There, a half-completed earth-grade cultural weapon was hidden. It had 72 golden veins. As for the 73rd vein, it was half-formed. Unfortunately, Zhao Li did not have the strength to complete it.
"Unless I reach the Mountainsea Realm or my Soul Expanding Art reaches a higher level, I won't be able to complete the weapon. What a pity..."
Zhao Li sighed deeply. Nobody could help him with it either. As for the new students of their faculty this year, not to mention activating their Divine Characters multiple times, even a single activation was akin to a torture for them. And that included the high-tier students they had accepted this year. Teaching these students the Soul Expanding Art would be a waste of time.
"Weaponsmithing..."
Walking out of the research center, Su Yu played with the weapon mold in his hand. It was soft and flexible. Did this thing even have any destructive power?
Top-tier yellow-grade. This was supposed to be a weapon he could use until the peak of the Mental Tempering Stage. Converted into physical cultivation realms, he would be able to continue using it until the Skysoar Realm.
"It probably isn't cheap."
Su Yu was no fool. Cultural weapons were at least five times more expensive than martial weapons. Some were even ten times more expensive. That was what Zhao Li told him.
Su Yu had spent more than a hundred thousand dollars to buy his standard yellow-grade saber. A top-tier yellow-grade martial weapon would probably cost him around a million dollars.
A cultural weapon of the same level would be worth ten million dollars. In the black market, it would be worth 200 merit points.
"This thing won't be any cheaper than 100 merit points."
Su Yu didn't know how expensive this weapon mold was, but he was aware that it was worth more than everything he had. After all, he only had around 30 merit points on him at the moment.
...
Back in the research center.
Su Yu hesitated. Should he toss the mold into the blood essence pool? Would it be fine? After thinking about it, he decided to check with Bai Feng. He wouldn't be able to take the responsibility if anything bad happened. It wasn't that he didn't trust Zhao Li, but the research center wasn't his. It was better to ask first.
...
Despite returning so late, Su Yu still insisted on finishing two cultivation sessions. He only went to bed around four in the morning. Early the next day. Bai Feng walked out with heavy eye bags. He looked at Su Yu blankly and asked, "Is there any food?"
Su Yu, who had just woken up, was just about to ask the same question. Out of the pair, one was a cultivation addict while the other was a research addict. For the past two days, Bai Feng had spent nearly all his time in the laboratory. Su Yu greatly suspected that this fellow would already die from exhaustion if he wasn't a Skysoar expert.
"Teacher, I'll go buy some..."
Su Yu decided to just go buy a bunch of instant noodles back.
Bai Feng waved his hand and weakly said, "Forget it. I’m not eating. I still need to continue my research. Cute disciple, we're completely broke. I will be busy for now. Why don't you think of a way to make some merit points for us?"
Su Yu was dumbfounded. Bai Feng was the teacher here! Bai Feng was the Skysoar here! What was he thinking? He was telling a Source Opening kid to earn money and feed him?
Bai Feng coughed awkwardly and said, "Don't look at me like that. Don't you have that number? Call it and tell her that we're starving to death. Ask to borrow some merit points. It should be fine."
Su Yu couldn't help but to ask, "Teacher, whose number is that?"
"You don't know that?" Bai Feng was still in somewhat of a daze as he replied, "That's understandable. She might be your martial mother. But she might also be your martial grandaunt since you're the students of both me and Martial Uncle. I think that's the case."
He stared ahead blankly, wondering if that was right.
Su Yu blanked out slightly before asking in confusion, "Teacher Liu's lover?"
"Lover?"
Fear suddenly covered Bai Feng's face.
Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead as he said, "I was just joking. Don't talk nonsense. What do you mean she's his lover? That's Martial Uncle's friend. An old friend of his!"
Su Yu was speechless. What was Bai Feng afraid of? Would she eat him or something?
Bai Feng hurriedly said, "Forget it. You don't need to borrow any money. I'll think of something. We still have a little money tree-cough, cough. I was joking. We are really very poor."
Su Yu thought that Bai Feng must be speaking incoherently due to excessive exhaustion. Thus, he said, "Teacher, why don't you take a few days off."
"It's fine. I'm still very healthy." Bai Feng said happily, "My research is progressing rapidly. How can I rest now? By the way, do you have anything you want to ask? You better ask your questions now when I still have some free time. Next time, you can press the doorbell if you want to look for me. Otherwise, I might spend even more time in the lab."
He was really very busy. After so long, he had finally found a new path forward in his research. He wanted nothing more than to spend all his time in his laboratory, skipping even all his meals.
"Yes, I have a question." Su Yu hastily said, "I have a yellow-grade cultural weapon mold. I want to nurture it in the filter room. Can I do it, Teacher?"
"Hmm?"
That caught Bai Feng's attention.
"You got the mold from Old Fart Zhao Li?"
"Yes, from Teacher Zhao Li."
"Show it to me."
Su Yu did not hesitate and took out the little saber. Bai Feng channeled some willpower into the saber. Instantly, 36 golden veins appeared on it.
Bai Feng was shocked, "Holy shit, a top-tier yellow-grade weapon! That old fart is pretty generous this time!"
He looked at Su Yu and said, "How did you catch his eye? That old fart has a bad temper. For him, geniuses are nothing. In fact, a few years ago, even Marquis Xia was cussed out of his place one time. He even threatened to beat Marquis Xia each time they met. How did you win his favor?"
Su Yu was stupefied. "Isn't Marquis Xia the prefect's uncle and Great Xia King's son?"
"So what?" Bai Feng indifferently said, "Old Fart Zhao is a master weaponsmith. He's not at the level he can forge earth-grade weapons yet, but there is only one such weaponsmith in the entirety of Great Xia. That weaponsmith is being treated like an ancestor by the prefect. As for Old Far Zhao, he is basically ancestor number two in Great Xia."
Bai Feng was afraid that Su Yu would really run off to the Weaponsmithing Faculty so he hastily added, "Although he's ancestor number two, that old fart has a bad temper. Marquis Xia only requested him to forge a few cultural weapons and ended up nearly hammered to death by him. Just be sure to keep your distance from him lest you end up being hammered to death."
Su Yu was speechless. Did Bai Feng really think that he was an idiot?
"Teacher, you still haven't answered my question."
"Cough."
Bai Feng coughed awkwardly and said, "Forget about all that. This is already a top-tier yellow-grade weapon. From its quality, this must be Old Fart Zhao's own product instead of something made by those amateur weaponsmiths. The top-tier yellow-grade weapons forged by those amateurs would generally only have between 33 to 34 golden veins. Since this is a mold, it also has a lot of room for growth. It might even grow into the profound-grade in the future. It is quite valuable. Why don't we sell it instead?"