Chapter 403 - Rank 2: Persuasion, Secret Of Thunder

While the alert alarms were sounding silently throughout the Baiquan Camp and the higher-ups were busying themselves with slightly serious expressions compared to the disdain shown earlier, Bai Zemin was minding his own business.

After finishing the basic arrangements, which meant that Fu Xuefeng should have already arrived at the enemy's base and probably successfully infiltrated, Bai Zemin finally had some free time so he entrusted the minor matters to Wu Yijun while he went to his workshop.

The first thing Bai Zemin did was to hold on to his new forging tool and swing it a couple of times hitting bones of Unclassified beasts for two hours and after that hitting the bones of a First Order beast for another hour. 

The reason behind this seemingly useless action was quite important. After all, Bai Zemin had been forging equipment using a normal metal hammer built before the apocalypse as his main tool and the only reinforcement of that hammer had always been Bai Zemin's own Mana.

Since the new hammer crafted by Bai Zemin was constructed from a Lapiodite fragment, which was a metal born from mana after the evolution of the world, Bai Zemin needed to get used to the extra weight of the hammer and acquire a certain habit when hammering different materials.

If Bai Zemin's previous hammer was a 9mm pistol, then Bai Zemin's current hammer was a Desert Eagle. The power behind the two was completely different and therefore the result obtained between the two would naturally be totally different. 

Fortunately, Bai Zemin was able to gain some experience after about four or five hours and after destroying several bones with metallic properties. At the very least, he believed that he would not be wasting valuable Lapiodite for anything.

Having temporarily put down the hammer and settled the Endless Blue Lotus Flame in the furnace, Bai Zemin took the tongs and picked up the same Lapiodite fragment that he had heated earlier but for obvious reasons had to temporarily leave aside. 

"Turn the temperature up a bit." Bai Zemin said as he threw a couple of Unclassified Soul Stones into the furnace.

Now he was a bit more wasteful because he would soon be conquering another base and thus taking all the other party's resources. Even if they only had a few thousand of Unclassified Soul Stones it was more than enough to overcome Bai Zemin's investment in his equipment.

The Endless Blue Lotus Flame behaved just like a hungry child when its blue flames embraced the Soul Stones. Even if they were just Unranked Soul Stones of the lowest rank, Soul Stones that in the past it would not even look at, the little flame was not picky at all and swallowed all the power inside each one before burning brighter as if it wanted to express to its new master its happiness.

"I'm glad you like the food." Bai Zemin chuckled. 

He slowly brought the tongs holding the Lapiodite fragment closer and his expression turned serious as he said, "Blue Lotus, try to remember the temperature from before and keep your flames at that constant height please."

The small blue flame immediately lightened the power of its fire and focused on a single point immediately. 

Bai Zemin easily found the point on which the small flame was focusing as while the surroundings were light blue, the focus point was deep blue almost bordering on black in a certain spot.

The Lapiodite fragment immediately began to heat up as soon as it came in contact with the flames. Although the records of the Endless Blue Lotus Flame did not specify what kind of flame it was and Bai Zemin did not know how to differentiate between the power of the fire, he estimated that at the very least it should be a Second Order flame and was highly probable that the power of the small blue flame in front of him had already reached Third Order in its highest condition.

It didn't take more than a couple of minutes for the Lapiodite fragment to turn fiery red and Bai Zemin also noticed how the metal of his tongs began to waver a bit. Had it not been for the fact that he had surrounded the tongs with several layers of his Mana it would definitely have melted in an instant.

Reinforcing the Mana around the tongs, Bai Zemin brought the Lapiodite fragment to the working anvil and with a fierce swing of his right arm, the newly created hammer finally struck real metal for the first time.

One, two, three...

The sound of metal clanging against metal echoed inside the room; a room that instead of being filled with all sorts of shelves with scary-looking blood bottles now looked from a certain point of view more scary with a lot of processed leather, properly maintained ligaments, a large pot of oil waiting to be heated, and many other stuff.

The Lapiodite fragment did not take too long to mold into the shape Bai Zemin was looking for thanks to the hammer in his hands.

The sound of pounding along with the faint crackling of lightning formed a symphony quite fitting for the weapon that nearly an hour later was created under Bai Zemin's careful control and constant hammering.

"Having proper tools really does make the desired result be achieved with half the effort needed." Bai Zemin sighed as he submerged both weapons in cold water and watched as the steam slowly rose.

While it was two objects that Bai Zemin had forged so they could be considered separate weapons, from his own personal point of view the two objects were one and the same.

After finishing the cooling process, Bai Zemin took both objects to the worktable and placed both hands on top of them to read the etched records.

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[Persuasion-]

[One-handed weapon.]

[Rank: 1]

[Physical attack power: 700]

[Magical attack power: 200]

[It has a certain probability of slowing the enemy's movements.]

[Durability: 3000 / 3000]

[Description: A pair of double gloves created in the same way by an adept blacksmith who advances steadily and constantly.  Their peculiar shape guarantees the suffering of everything that is hit. They are still incomplete due to the lack of something crucial.]

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Gloves were weapons that could be used for melee combat but were usually ignored as warriors usually preferred to use swords, maces, spears, daggers, etc. However, for people who were used to fighting with their fists, combat gauntlets were undoubtedly the weapon of choice because although they lacked sharpness they more than made up for it when it came to impacting the enemy's body.

Of course, Bai Zemin had not given up on using a greatsword. The reason why he forged this pair of gloves was because his entire body was a weapon thanks to his passive skill Special Forces Soldier.

The power of a greatsword was something Bai Zemin had already experienced firsthand. A single swing of a heavy weapon like the Blazing Scale Greatsword could cause everything in its path to be crushed not to mention a greatsword forged from precious Rank 2 metal.

Therefore, he decided to forge two different weapons. 

One of those weapons would basically be the pair of gloves before him. This weapon would be intended for fighting weaker enemies. After all, using the power of a nuclear bomb to kill an ant was pretty far-fetched.... At the very least, Bai Zemin wanted to use a grenade to wipe out ants; overkill but at least at lower levels.

With each fist equipped with a gauntlet, Bai Zemin's physical attack power would increase by 700 points immediately per hand. Considering that his previously broken greatsword had 750 points of physical attack power, the power of the gauntlets was undeniable. However, it was clear that in reality, the greatsword was more powerful not only because of those extra 50 points but the difference in weight was also abysmal.

As for the second weapon, it would naturally be a greatsword; Bai Zemin's main weapon.

"Mmm..." Bai Zemin looked at the two gloves in front of him and frowned. "Something is missing...? But what is it?"

Bai Zemin stared and observed the gloves for a long time. Unfortunately, even after almost an hour, he failed to find the missing piece.

Curious, he again inspected the records of both Persuasion. 

"Physical attack power... Magical attack power..." Bai Zemin muttered to himself as he gently tapped the table immersed in his inner mind. As if an imaginary lamp lit up above his head, suddenly all his movements sank and he repeated, "Magical attack power?"

"I see!" Bai Zemin clapped his hands and took out a Soul Stone from his bag. "Since these gloves are a pair and possess two varieties of attack, it's also possible to turn them into magical equipment!"

To test whether his theory was on track or not, Bai Zemin immediately set to work.

The first thing he did was to make a hole in the top of both gloves. This was a difficult task as because the metal had already taken the shape of gauntlets there was a possibility of melting slightly when overheated. Fortunately, Bai Zemin proved to be quite skilled with the constant support of the small blue flame and after a bit of effort managed to make two sizable holes in the top of both gauntlets using his dagger.

He then cooled the burning metal again by dipping both gloves in cold water and after observing the registers of both pieces of equipment he noticed that the durability had dropped a bit, which was normal considering that some of the metal had been removed.

"Now let's do this." Bai Zemin took out two First Order Soul Stones and carefully embedded them into the holes he had made previously.

Magical forging was something Bai Zemin was still not used to even though it was also part of blacksmithing itself. Even if his skill Blacksmithing had already reached the First Order, he still had a long way to go and there was a lot of information to obtain before he could consider himself a decent blacksmith.

He focused his mind as much as he could and with a serious expression controlled the Mana inside his body while using his Magic in an effort to connect the mana and magic of the Soul Stone with the gloves; only then could both objects merge to give birth to a new and improved one based on the previous one.

After wasting two First Order Soul Stones, which unfortunately turned into powder due to small mistakes committed by Bai Zemin, he finally succeeded and let out a sigh of relief.

"It's finally done!"

The smile on his face exposed that despite losing two valuable First Order Soul Stones and spending another two to create the equipment before him, Bai Zemin did not regret it in the least.

The gloves before him were jet black with slightly scarlet fingertips. Occasional purple flashes could be seen flickering on the surface of both objects, giving it a truly elegant but at the same time dangerous look.

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[Persuasion, Secret of Thunder-]

[Special two-handed weapon.]

[Rank: 2]

[Physical attack power: 1120]

[Magical attack power: 800]

[Allows the user to control electrical waves slightly.]

[Durability: 4000 / 4000]

[Description: A pair of gauntlets that work as one. This special weapon was forged by a blacksmith with great intellect who after a great deal of work managed to notice the shortcoming of his previous creation, which allowed the birth of this dangerous weapon.]

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[Skill First Order Blacksmithing level 1 has been forcibly leveled up after overcoming the necessary requirements.]

[First Order Blacksmithing level 1 ---------------> First Order Blacksmithing level 3.]

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Two different messages flashed across Bai Zemin's retina. 

His excitement was so great that it was hard to describe in words when he noticed that indeed, the gloves created at the end ended up rising to the next stage upon correctly constructing them and transforming them into a magical and physical weapon at the same time.

As if the above was not enough, not only did Bai Zemin receive a Rank 2 weapon whose physical attack power was far higher than his previous greatsword but he also received a magical weapon that would boost his blood attacks and any other magical elements tremendously!

"As an extra reward, my Blacksmithing skill leveled up on its own." Bai Zemin sighed and shook his head as he said in a somewhat narcissistic tone, "Could it be.... Could it be that I really am a genius?"

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