The Strongest Talent Tree

After seeing Xiyue Frost off, Feng Hao immediately used the [Listening Stone] to establish a Divine Sense connection with Houhuiyao. "Brother Houhui, I hear you’ve gotten pretty high and mighty lately? Even Xiyue Frost couldn’t get you to team up?"

"Uh, that’s really not it," Houhuiyao replied wryly. "You know how it is. Boss Xiyue is as cold as an ice pop. Teaming up with her is just asking for trouble, isn’t it?"

"That’s true." Feng Hao had a sudden realization. For any normal person, teaming up with Xiyue Frost would be an absolute ordeal. No wonder Houhuiyao had made an excuse to refuse.

Houhuiyao asked doubtfully, "By the way, Boss, did you call me just for this?"

"Of course not. In a few days, I’m planning to go to the Second Secret Realm with Xiyue Frost. I’m giving you a heads-up."

"No problem," Houhuiyao agreed readily.

Feng Hao teased, "What, not afraid of being frozen into an ice pop anymore?"

"Hehe, that’s because you’ll be there, Boss. As long as you’re around, I’m not afraid," Houhuiyao said with a cheeky grin.

"Alright, it’s settled then."

Without wasting any more words, Feng Hao chuckled and cut the [Listening Stone] connection.

Looking back, he saw Yao Ying skillfully handling a few scattered customers. She had a real knack for sales. ’If this were on Earth,’ he thought, ’it’d be a waste for her not to go into sales.’

After the previous batch of returning customers, the general store returned to normal. It had only been officially open for two days, after all, so having any customers at all was pretty good.

With Yao Ying looking after the business, Feng Hao didn’t have much to do.

Since it was almost noon, there wasn’t enough time to start working on new products.

Just then, the intermittent sound of hammering from next door caught his attention. He chuckled softly. "I almost forgot to pay a visit to the old man next door."

"Watch the shop. I’m going to check out the blacksmith’s next door. Let me know if anything comes up." Without waiting for Yao Ying’s reply, he strode into the neighboring blacksmith shop.

As soon as he entered, a wave of scorching heat washed over him. The air was filled with the smell of burning metal.

The shop’s furnishings were simple and casually arranged. Three forging stations stood side-by-side, a few old Melting Furnaces were placed in a corner, and piled next to them was a large quantity of Fire Crystal Stones—the most common high-temperature fuel in the Mage World.

Although Melting Furnaces could be powered by magic energy, a large portion of metals required extremely high temperatures to be smelted, so Fire Crystal Stones were necessary to supplement the process.

CLANG—CLANG— The old man stopped his work, wiped the sweat from his body, and grinned. "Back the day before yesterday?"

"Yes." Feng Hao nodded lightly. He looked around and asked, "Sir, are you the only one in the shop?"

The old man smiled wistfully. "I had a few apprentices before, but they thought there was no future in blacksmithing and left to do other things."

"I see." Feng Hao sighed. "Sigh... This is how many crafts and legacies are lost."

"Heh, you’re a thoughtful one, kid." The old man looked at Feng Hao in surprise and grinned. "What, interested in learning blacksmithing from me?"

"I couldn’t ask for more," Feng Hao nodded with a light smile.

He had a particular trait: if he decided to learn something, he wouldn’t just dabble; he would master it. From the moment he decided to get into Artifact Refining, he was prepared to put in the hard work.

Besides, under Xiong Tianfang’s guidance a while ago, he had already taken the first steps into the Ancient Sect’s Artifact Refining Techniques.

The old man studied Feng Hao for a long time and said slowly, "You don’t seem like someone who would dedicate themselves to Artifact Refining. There’s no need for a formal apprenticeship. You can help me out here when you have time. How much you learn will depend on your own aptitude."

"That works too." Feng Hao nodded in surprise. He stepped forward, bowed, and said, "I still don’t know what to call you, sir."

"My surname is Tang. You can just call me Elder Tang," the old man said with a smile, pursing his lips.

"Elder Tang," Feng Hao said respectfully. He looked up and asked, "Where do you think I should start?"

Elder Tang pointed to a dark lump of iron nearby and said, "Let’s start with Refined Iron. When you can hammer this piece of Level 1 Refined Iron into Level 5 Refined Iron, then you can start learning other things."

"..." Feng Hao was instantly dumbfounded.

’Good heavens,’ he thought, ’from Level 1 Refined Iron to Level 5... even a high-end Refining Furnace would take several days of firing. And Elder Tang actually wants me to refine it just by hammering it manually? How the hell long is that supposed to take?’

"What? No confidence?" Elder Tang asked, a playful look in his eyes.

"Who says I don’t?" This was the one thing Feng Hao couldn’t stand. He immediately rolled up his sleeves, moved the lump of iron onto a nearby forging station, and started hammering away wildly.

Elder Tang shook his head in exasperation. "At this rate, you won’t even get it to Level 5 in your next life. Heat it until it’s red-hot first, then hammer."

"Er." Feng Hao froze, and the atmosphere suddenly became very awkward.

CLANG—CLANG—

And just like that, under the guidance of the old man from next door, Feng Hao began his blacksmithing career.

Feng Hao became more and more enthusiastic as he hammered away, so much so that he forgot about Sun Yaowen’s research. In the end, Sun Yaowen had to contact him directly through the [Listening Stone] to ask about it, only to be turned down.

In fact, at this stage of the research on outer-realm demons, Sun Yaowen was more than enough on his own.

...

Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was evening. He said goodbye to Elder Tang and returned to the general store. Then, despite Yao Ying’s relentless pestering, he firmly refused to walk her back to her dorm.

Dragging his sore body back to his room, he washed off the sweat and soon entered a state of semi-dormant cultivation.

Perhaps because he had been blacksmithing all day, his cultivation went incredibly smoothly. His body was like a dry sponge, frantically absorbing the energy from the Magic Crystals.

When he opened his eyes the next day, the soreness in his body was completely gone. He felt more refreshed than ever before.

’Huh? My Basic Power actually went up by 2 points. The returns from blacksmithing are pretty good!’ Feng Hao noted with surprise as he looked at his game panel.

After quickly washing up, he went downstairs and opened the shop door, planning to wait for Yao Ying to arrive before heading over to Elder Tang’s to continue hammering that lump of iron.

Unexpectedly, the moment he opened the door, he saw a dense crowd of people. Before he could even say a word, they had already swarmed in.

"Where’s the pretty girl? Where is she? Quick, get me ten bottles of Life Spirit Pills! Hey, you in the back, what are you shoving for? Don’t you know it’s first come, first served?"

"Get out of the way! I’m a regular customer, so move it!"

"Hey, what are you stinking men pushing for? Asshole, who just touched my chest?"

"Shopkeeper, shopkeeper! I heard you sell Snow Frost Ointment here? Quick, get me a few bottles!"

"Where’s the MP3? I want an MP3! Just give me an MP3, money is no object!"

"What are you little brats yelling about? Are you looking for a beating?" a few young men in the crowd complained.

"You’re the little brat! Your whole family are little brats! When I get into an Advanced Academy, you’ll be the first one I come looking for."

"Oh? Even a grade-schooler dares to be this arrogant, huh? Come on, let me give you a taste of the real world!"

"What’s there to be so cocky about? You were just born a few years earlier, that’s all!"

...

Feng Hao was completely bewildered by the chaos. It took him a long while to snap out of it. "Everyone, stop shouting!" he yelled. "One at a time!"

A few minutes later, the restless crowd finally quieted down.

Feng Hao finally let out a sigh of relief. He pointed to the young master in white who had come by the day before and asked, "What’s going on? Why are there so many people today?"

The young master in white replied irritably, "They’re all grade-schoolers from the city’s junior academies. Who the hell knows where they came from?"

"Grade-schoolers?" Feng Hao scanned the crowd in surprise. Only then did he realize they were all kids around sixteen or seventeen years old.