Volume 1: Spring in Wulong Town Chapter 143 He is the pride of Bailianfang
Material processing is generally divided into batch processing and manual processing. Black iron is a material that requires batch processing of ore before it is sent to the foundry master for fine processing.
However, the black-patterned iron in Luo Fei's hand was not ordinary black-patterned iron.
His black iron is a companion raw stone, that is, black iron with low purity. The companion ore cannot be processed using ordinary batch methods and can only be processed manually by foundries, which is very difficult.
Semi-dumb iron is black iron that is accompanied by only one other mineral and is the most common type of black iron.
"You dare to process the semi-dumb iron directly by hand. You are worthy of being a member of the Luo family who is most familiar with the material in Bailian Workshop!" Although Mo Feng is much older than Luo Fei, he still admires Luo Fei for daring to process the semi-dumb iron directly.
"It's really good." Even Lu Huang nodded.
The old blacksmith Chen from Wulong Town had his eyes wide open.
He wanted to see clearly how this legendary craft was accomplished by a young caster like Luo Fei.
Only Wang Danyang, the commander of the garrison from Feishi City, asked, "As I recall, semi-dumb iron can also be pre-processed in batches?"
"Of course." Lu Huang nodded.
"Then he shouldn't have chosen the raw stone without pre-treatment." Wang Danyang frowned, "For an excellent foundry master, time is very precious."
Ouyang Luoluo from Yisuli Academy smiled and glanced at Wang Danyang without saying anything.
Wang Danyang's words surprised the craftsmen in the audience, but Ouyang Luoluo was not surprised at all.
Wang Danyang came from a military background, and he disliked any behavior that wasted time. Yisu Academy was one of the few academies close to the border, and he often received " care" from Wang Danyang.
However, when Wang Danyang saw Luo Fei using the hammer, he immediately stopped talking.
Three bright stars gradually lit up from the six-pointed star disk behind Luo Fei.
His powerful star power extended into the hammer, striking the piece of semi-dumb iron in his hand again and again, and the star power was evenly wrapped around the semi-dumb iron.
His fingers slowly and carefully turned the semi-mute iron, tapping every spot evenly. The star power penetrated deep into the iron block, atomizing and pushing out the impurities bit by bit...
"No wonder he dares to deal with it directly. He must be able to detect where the texture of the semi-dumb iron is slightly dense and where it is slightly loose by just knocking it, right?" Old man Chen said in surprise.
"More than that." Lu Huang shook his head and smiled: "Feel the flow of his star power..."
"..." Old man Chen raised his star sign and carefully probed over. Suddenly his face changed again, "His star power can extend directly into the center of the material! Double-layer countercurrent... Moreover, he is completely raw material..."
Wang Danyang and Ouyang Luoluo were moved when they heard what Old Man Chen said.
One of them is the commander of a large army and has seen countless weapons, good and bad. Another is the first deacon of a noble family academy and teaches casting courses. They fully understand the difficulty of extending star power directly into materials!
Just like a well-processed iron ingot, the texture of every part of it is very uniform, and the star power can flow directly into it without any problems.
But for unprocessed ore, the penetration of star power is like a person walking into a cave. No one can tell where to turn and where to be bounced back!
Therefore, even experienced foundry masters all follow the method of processing from the outside layer to the inside layer by layer.
And Luo Fei's ability to work from the outside to the inside and from the inside to the outside is truly a very high skill!
"How did he do it?" Even Wang Danyang, who initially thought he was a waste of time, changed his mind.
"Practice." Lu Huang smiled and sighed, "There is no shortcut, just practice."
"Materials need to be thousands of times before they can become good materials, and the same goes for people." Ouyang Luoluo said with deep emotion.
“On the front lines, all the major families are fighting to the death. In the rear, Bailianfang has been forging magical weapons generation after generation. This helps our race stand tall on the continent for thousands of years!” The way Wang Danyang looked at Luo Fei was no longer just as if he was watching a fight.
…
For half an hour, Luo Fei didn't even raise his head.
A piece of semi-dumb iron was repeatedly removed of impurities in his hands, becoming smaller and smaller.
Although he had been repeating almost the same action for half an hour, the five people judging the performance on the stage, the craftsmen in the audience, and Tang Zheng who was sitting opposite him were all watching him very seriously.
Sweat oozed out of Luo Fei's forehead bit by bit.
As the time on the clepsydra approached, Lu Huang's eyes fell more and more on the clepsydra.
Then, he looked at Tang Zheng with an inquiring look.
Tang Zheng knew what Lu Huang meant at a glance - Luo Fei could not complete the material processing within the specified time, should he interrupt him?
Tang Zheng shook his head and made a gesture to stop Manager Wu.
Tick, tick…
The time on the clock quietly passed half an hour.
However, the whole place fell silent after Tang Zheng's gesture.
"Tang Zheng has agreed to extend the time." Shopkeeper Wu ran up to the stage and said to the judges.
"It's my duty. This is a respect for casting itself!" Ouyang Luoluo was not surprised by Tang Zheng's choice.
Tick, tick…
Not too long after, the stars behind Luo Fei retracted and he took two steps back.
After removing the layer of star power that covered the black-patterned iron in his hand, it actually emitted waves of translucent light on its own...
Luo Fei has completed his material processing!
"The black-patterned iron... has actually crystallized!" Old man Chen stood up directly.
"This..." Even Mo Feng was stunned, "Crystallization? Could it be that he used... semi-dumb iron with aurora stone?"
"No wonder it takes so long. He didn't completely remove the impurities. He integrated some of the Aurora Stone into the black-veined iron!" said Old Man Chen.
"He processed a cheap piece of semi-dumb iron into precious black-grained iron." Ouyang Luoluo's tone was already full of praise, "He is the pride of Bailianfang!"
Luo Fei wiped the sweat off his forehead, gasped, and raised his head.
He finished processing such a large piece of semi-dumb iron in one breath, and it was all done manually, and the physical fatigue was beyond his imagination.
However, when he heard Ouyang Luoluo call her "the pride of Bailianfang", a smile suddenly blossomed on his face.
He used extremely common materials.
But that doesn’t mean he really has to use such ordinary materials to cast it !
After his processing, ordinary materials become precious materials. If the materials are good, the score of the final product can also be increased.
However, he felt that Tang Zheng was right about one thing—he really needed to lose weight!
If he continues to gain weight like this, he will be exhausted after just two swings of the hammer. How can he become the top blacksmith in Bailianfang?
"Okay, Luo Fei's first duel has been completed." Shopkeeper Wu finally spoke, "Next, please judge and give the scores."
There were several blank signs in front of each of Lu Huang and his companions.
The whole audience fell silent.
Beauties stood behind them, grinding ink for them. They thought for a moment, picked up their pens, and started writing on the signs.
Luo Fei, who was just immersed in casting, was actually not nervous.
However, when I came out of casting and was waiting for the score, the tension that had been pent up for half an hour suddenly burst out again.
Fortunately, he wasn't the only one who was nervous.
All the people watching the game were nervous along with him. The young men from Tang Family Castle were even more nervous as they watched his wonderful and impeccable performance.
The sign of Old Man Chen from Wulong Town was the first one to be raised.
Two big words - perfect.
Shopkeeper Wu's face darkened as soon as he saw it: "Mr. Chen, do you mean... a full score?"
"Of course!" Old man Chen had never seen such incredible material processing. Even if he lived another lifetime, he would not dare to say that he could do it as well as Luo Fei.
Shopkeeper Wu didn't say much and quickly wrote his judgment on a piece of white paper hanging up.
Afterwards, Wang Danyang and Ouyang Luoluo raised their signs one after another.
Wang Danyang gave thirty-five, and Ouyang Luoluo gave thirty-eight.
"The whole skill is amazing, but I am not satisfied with his choice of a piece of material without pre-treatment, so I deducted two points. Plus the delay, I deducted three points," said Wang Danyang.
"Well, I don't have such a big opinion about the materials. The two points I deducted were also due to the delay." Ouyang Luoluo said.
Finally, Lu Huang and Mo Feng from Bailianfang raised their signs.
What shocked the craftsmen below the stage was that the scores given by Mo Feng and Lu Huang were even lower than Ouyang Luoluo...
Mo Feng gave 37 points, which was also a deduction for Luo Fei's delay.
The most incomprehensible thing about Lu Huang...
The score given by Lu Huang was only thirty-six points!
If Wang Danyang gave a few higher scores, he might have become the lowest scorer and been eliminated.
Shopkeeper Wu couldn't help but say, "The delay shouldn't be so high, right?"
Unexpectedly, Lu Huang smiled and said, "The delay was agreed by his opponent. I won't deduct his points for it."
There was an uproar in the audience.
If it wasn’t because of the delay, then why were these four points deducted?
"I think that Luo Fei's delay is unnecessary." Lu Huang didn't look at anyone else, but only at Luo Fei. "Black-patterned iron is what you are best at processing, so there is basically nothing to say about your processing skills. Just keep practicing. However, your mistake is that you can't accurately estimate the amount of materials needed!"
“……” Old man Chen was stunned for a moment after hearing this.
"If you cannot accurately estimate the amount, not only will you waste extra processing time, but you will also waste materials." Lu Huang knew very clearly that Luo Fei did not accurately estimate the amount of black iron required because he had seen Luo Fei's drawings.
It is precisely because of this problem that he will experience delays!
Lu Huang's words not only made Luo Fei lose his temper, but even Tang Zheng nodded along with him.
"Okay, then we follow the rules and remove Commander Wang's lowest score and Old Man Chen's highest score. The remaining points are 36 from Master Lu Huang, 37 from Master Mo Feng, and 38 from Miss Luo Luo... In the first round, Luo Fei's score is 37!"
A big number was written on another piece of white paper.
In the first stage of Luo Fei's name, the score has been generated!
Thirty-seven!
Although Lu Huang pointed out some shortcomings, the merits outweigh the flaws. After all, Luo Fei's superb material processing skills are obvious to all!
So, no matter how low his score is, it can’t be that low.
When Luo Fei saw this score which was close to full marks, he felt relieved!
Even if Tang Zheng's materials are better than his, his processing skills are not good enough. At most, he can get a few more points by virtue of his advantage in material selection, but he will definitely not be able to get more than thirty points!
Then, he has a huge advantage in the first game.
As he thought about this, he looked towards Tang Zheng...
But he was disappointed.
He did not detect any surprise or panic in Tang Zheng's eyes.
Tang Zheng's gaze was even calmer than his!
