At the front of the Third Year Students' team was an old acquaintance. Arthur couldn't help but raise his hand and call out, "Son, long time no see."
Qian Wu's face instantly darkened, while the man and woman beside him burst out laughing.
The two were Li Qiankun and Mo Yu, both One-Word Battle Armor Masters and the Vice Class Monitors of the Third Year Students.
Originally, Qian Wu could have advanced to the Inner Court during his Second Year, which would have given the two of them a chance to compete for the position of class monitor.
After all, Qian Wu's Martial Soul was truly powerful; in terms of real strength, neither of them could compare to him.
Shen Yi walked onto the stage.
"Hello, students of the First Year and Second Year."
"I am Shen Yi, the teaching assistant for the First Year, and I will be hosting this exchange competition. The primary judge for this event is the Holy Spirit Douluo."
"To improve the efficiency of the event, after consultation with the class teachers of the Second Year and Third Year Students, the four secondary profession matches will be conducted in a themed format. Now, would the three class monitors please send forward the students participating in the Forging competition!"
Without any hesitation, Arthur strode forward, looking as arrogant as could be.
Qian Wu's expression shifted, and after a moment of internal struggle, he braced himself and stepped onto the stage. He was the highest-level Blacksmith in the Third Year Students, a Level 5 Forging Master.
He was preparing to start creating his Two-Word Battle Armor once he achieved a Breakthrough to Spirit Emperor.
However.
However, this monster Arthur was a freaking Level 6 Forging Master.
He was known by the nickname, the Eastsea Little Divine Craftsman!
As for how Qian Wu knew this...
Hmph, ever since he lost back then, he had been cyber-stalking Arthur online.
He hadn't missed a single piece of information related to Arthur.
He had even managed to become an admin in a fan group spontaneously established by Arthur's fans.
The person stepping up from the Second Year side was a beautiful girl with blonde hair in a single ponytail.
"Huh, she looks a bit familiar."
Wait!
"Mu Xi!" Arthur's eyes widened.
Oh... oh no!
"So you actually remember me, my dear Junior Brother." Mu Xi's gaze was full of resentment. "You've been quite the big shot at the academy lately. You didn't even say hello after you enrolled."
Her tone was unfriendly. "If it weren't for this competition, I wouldn't even have known my dear Junior Brother had enrolled."
Mu Xi's ponytail swayed, her golden strands shimmering in the sunlight, her delicate face carrying a hint of petulant anger.
She stood before Arthur with her arms crossed, her aura fully unleashed.
Arthur, who had been acting so arrogant just a moment ago, suddenly looked completely deflated.
He had truly forgotten. Since enrolling, he had been too busy wandering around and having fun. He had forgotten to visit Mu Xi, whom he hadn't seen since she enrolled in Shrek after the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition three years ago.
Beside them, Qian Wu's expression changed instantly as he eagerly watched the drama. He would have plenty to talk about in the fan group tonight.
Arthur decisively changed the subject and shouted.
"First Year, Arthur, ready for the competition!"
Mu Xi rolled her eyes—this yellow-haired guy was always like this—then followed suit, "Second Year, Mu Xi."
"Third Year Students, Qian Wu."
Seeing that the three were ready, Shen Yi announced loudly, "The first match is a Forging competition."
"The theme for this match is: Purification."
"Each of you will receive a piece of rare titanium crystal, with a time limit of thirty minutes. Within the allotted time, the one who achieves the highest quality of titanium crystal Purification will be the winner, earning one thousand contribution points and the corresponding credits. If a First Year student wins, an additional thirty percent bonus will be awarded!"
"Furthermore, the winner may keep the finished product they forged."
Hearing this, Arthur had no reaction; he had never lacked rare metals.
As for contribution points...
What are contribution points?
He didn't know; he just used Ya Li points.
Qian Wu didn't have much of a reaction either. After all, he knew he couldn't win, so no matter how good the rewards were, they had nothing to do with him.
Mu Xi was the same; with Mu Chen as her father, she was quite wealthy herself.
Three pieces of titanium crystal were quickly placed on the Forging tables in front of the three of them.
titanium crystal looked like quartz, but its interior was filled with fine, chaotic gold lines.
Not only that.
The difficulty of its Purification lay in the need to control volume loss as much as possible while using Forging methods to organize the gold lines.
The higher the regularity of the gold lines, the superior the final quality of the titanium crystal.
However, for Arthur, it was as easy as breathing.
The difficulty of titanium crystal couldn't even compare to a single strand of the starfall gold he had forged during the Tianhai Alliance Grand Competition.
starfall gold, which was extremely rare even among extraterrestrial meteorites, had an internal structure that completely deviated from the conventional system of metals found on the Douluo Continent.
The calcination of the metal began.
Shen Yi said, "Timing will begin when the calcination is finished."
What happened next was extremely bizarre.
Qian Wu yawned and, like an old lady crossing the street, slowly and sluggishly raised his Forging hammer, striking with a light, airy force, one blow after another.
His eyes were glazed, and he would occasionally glance toward Arthur and Mu Xi, his lips curled in the lingering satisfaction of a gossip-monger, completely lacking the demeanor of the top Blacksmith of the Third Year Students.
Since he couldn't beat Arthur anyway, he decided to slack off and just be a quiet spectator, observing the Little Divine Craftsman's Forging from up close.
In contrast, Mu Xi had already entered a state of complete concentration.
spirit rings swirled beneath her feet, and her Forging hammer carried scorching flames with every swing.
Every hammer strike landed precisely on the edges of the titanium crystal, using the fire to burn away and strip off Impurities while carefully guiding the internal gold lines with her Soul Power.
She was serious about Forging. Even knowing she couldn't win, she would still treat it with sincerity.
Since she was a child, she had decided that she would spend her life striking iron.
The most eye-catching one was still Arthur.
What... what was he doing?!
Everyone's eyes widened.
On the stage, Arthur didn't even look at his titanium crystal; he walked straight toward Mu Xi.
"titanium crystal isn't purified like that."
The familiar voice in her ear made Mu Xi feel a bit dazed, as if she had been transported back six years.
Back then, at the Eastsea Blacksmith Association, it was also this annoying voice pointing at her ruined metal and saying, "Forging isn't about brute force."
In the beginning, she had been so angry she cried every day.
Later, she had gradually grown used to it.
Her thoughts returned to the present, and her cheeks flushed slightly. Her previous strong aura was completely gone as she whispered, "Then why don't you hurry up and teach me."
There was an uproar below the stage, and the Second Year students were filled with indignation.
This Little Yellow Hair was actually flirting during a competition? And he was flirting with their class beauty!
The Third Year Students looked on with sighs, lamenting the follies of youth.
The First Year, however, was terrifyingly quiet. Everyone was breaking out in cold sweat, occasionally glancing back at their team.
There stood a king, furious and grim.
Silver hair obscured Na'er's eyes, making it impossible to see her expression, but the sudden drop in temperature from the chilling aura around her made the nearby First Year students instinctively take half a step back.
"Heh heh." Na'er looked toward Tang Wulin. "Tang Wulin, I heard your Forging is quite good. Tell me, is it too late for me to start learning Forging now?"
Why is this coming back to me? I don't want to die!
Tang Wulin didn't dare to move a muscle.
Qian Wu's eyebrows shot up as he watched, and he quickly pulled out a spirit tool to secretly record the scene.
"This is preposterous!"
Sitting high up, Feng Wu Yu was enraged. "What is he doing?"
"This is a Forging competition!"
"Not some children playing house!"
Ya Li's tone was calm. "Calm down, let's keep watching before we say anything."
At the same time, she looked curiously at Zhuo Shi. Ya Li found it a bit strange; Zhuo Shi was too quiet today.
Usually, whenever Zhuo Shi and Feng Wu Yu met, they never failed to get into an argument.
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