Chapter 40 – Cen Yue
“Puchi!” The well-developed young lady to the side laughed and said with a smile, “Look at him, his face is already red. Little brother, your eyes are really pretty.”
The sweet looking young lady rebuked, “Don’t be so noisy, Yuan Yuan. Little brother, you want to take the blacksmith’s ranking test?”
Tang Wulin nodded and answered somewhat anxiously, “Yes!”
The sweet young lady said, “Where is your family? Or your teacher?”
Tang Wulin shook his head. “My teacher had me come alone and told me to find someone called Grandmaster Cen Yue.”
When they heard the name Cen Yue, the two young ladies’ expressions stiffened and the sweet young lady hastily said, “Please wait a moment then. I’ll go ask if Grandmaster Cen Yue is available right now. Have you ever spoken to Grandmaster Cen over the soul communicator?”
Tang Wulin shook his head once again. How could he possibly own a soul communicator!? Although a soul communicator was convenient, the communication fees and the equipment costs were extraordinarily expensive! Even his hometown had only one fixed soul communicator. He was even planning to look for a coin-operated soul communicator to call his mother and father later and report that he was safe and sound.
“Grandmaster Cen, there’s a child looking for you. En. That’s right, he has really large eyes and is wearing plain clothes,” The sweet looking young lady said as she pressed down on a number to connect to Grandmaster Cen.
After hanging up the communicator, the sweet young lady said to Tang Wulin, “Little brother, Grandmaster Cen has some time right now. Follow me.”
As she said this, she began guiding Tang Wulin to the side of the large hall. The well-developed lady, Yuan Yuan, stuck out her tongue as she watched them leave and said to herself, “I couldn’t even tell! The little guy actually knows Grandmaster Cen.”
When the soul elevator’s metal doors opened up, Tang Wulin nearly jumped with fright. This was the first time he had ever seen anything like this.
“Come, come here.” The sweet young lady didn’t tease him at all. Rather, she gave him a tender smile.
Tang Wulin went over to her side.
The sweet young lady said, “My name is Yun Xiaoling. Grandmaster Cen’s office is on the 15th floor. I’ll take you to see him and then he will take you to conduct the blacksmith’s ranking test.”
“Thank you big sister.” Tang Wulin politely said.
Yun Xiaoling looked at him, her gaze moving up and down, sizing him up. Although this child was wearing extremely plain clothing, he was still very good-looking. Most of all were those big eyes of his, which could even make a girl jealous. Moreover, despite his simplicity, he was extraordinarily courteous, giving others a very good opinion of him.
Ding! The elevator stopped on the 15th floor and the doors opened.
The walls were made of a white metal while the ceiling and floors were white too. Neat and tidy, that was Tang Wulin’s first impression.
There were two rooms on both sides of the hall leading out of the elevator.
Yun Xiaoling brought him to one of the doors which had Cen Yue’s nameplate on it. She pressed the button above it.
“Grandmaster Cen, it’s Yun Xiaoling. I’ve brought the child here.”
“En.” A deep voice was heard from the within the room. Then the door opened.
The office was approximately 30 square meters in size with a massive wooden desk that took up nearly a quarter of the room’s space. Behind the wooden desk stood a man in his 40’s. This man wasn’t particularly tall, but he was absolutely well-built. His shoulders were especially wide, with a black jacket resting on his deltoids.
At this moment, he was looking at a design plan laid out on his desk.
“Grandmaster Cen.” Yun Xiaoling softly called out.
“En.” Cen Yue raised his head and looked over.
His gaze immediately fell on Tang Wulin as he looked at him with curious eyes. “You’re Mang Tian’s disciple?”
“Yes! Hello Grandmaster Cen. Teacher told me to greet you in his place,” Tang Wulin said respectfully.
Cen Yue’s eyes wrinkled as he frowned. “Mang Tian, that guy had always set his eyes on surpassing the peak, yet he actually took in such a young disciple like you. Let’s go then. I’ll bring you to take the blacksmith’s ranking test.”
Blacksmiths lived in the world of metal and were completely unconcerned about other worldly matters. Although he was unconvinced of Mang Tian accepting such a young disciple, the ranking test would verify everything.Yun Xiaoling said, “Grandmaster, I’ll go back down then.”
“En.” Cen Yue nodded as Yun Xiaoling smiled at Tang Wulin once more before heading off.
Cen Yue brought Tang Wulin out of the room soon after and once again entered the soul elevator. They rode the elevator down with Yun Xiaoling, except this time, they were getting off on the third floor.
As the elevator descended, Cen Yue turned to Tang Wulin and said, “Little guy, Mang Tian never told me what rank blacksmith you are at right now.”
Tang Wulin shook his head. “Teacher never told me either. He just told me to come take the test and accept some tasks after.”
He can accept tasks? Off to the side, Yun Xiaoling couldn’t help but be surprised. In order to accept tasks it meant that he was at least a rank 2 blacksmith. Rank 1 blacksmiths weren’t able to directly accept tasks. Instead, a higher rank blacksmith had to accept the task and assign some of the work to them.
Cen Yue asked again, “Then do you understand how blacksmith ranks are organized?”
Tang Wulin nodded. “Teacher said that blacksmiths are divided into nine ranks. Rank 1 and 2 blacksmiths are Master ranks. Ranks 3 and 4 are Grandmaster. Ranks 5 and 6 are Master Craftsmen. Ranks 7 and 8 are Saint Craftsmen and at the very peak of rank 9, they are Divine Craftsmen.”
“En.” Cen Yue nodded.
Right at that moment, the elevator had reached the third floor.
“Goodbye big sister.” Tang Wulin bid farewell to Yun Xiaoling as he followed Cen Yue out of the elevator.
Compared to the tranquil fifteenth floor, the third floor of the Blacksmith’s Association was much more noisy. Tang Wulin heard the familiar clanking sounds of blacksmiths at work throughout the hall.
Cen Yue brought Tang Wulin to the front desk and said to the staff member, “Open up the testing room for me and ask a surveyor to come over.”
“Grandmaster Cen, is this your disciple? He’s so young! Is he even 12 years old?” The staff member curiously looked at Tang Wulin.
Cen Yue took some forms from the staff member and handed them to Tang Wulin. “Fill these out first. Fill out your basic circumstances.”
“Yes.”
Tang Wulin took the form and began to seriously fill it out.
Cen Yue read along from the side as he filled it out. “Tang Wulin. Born in Glorybound City. Nine years old. Eastsea Academy’s intermediate division. First grade. You’re only nine years old?”
At this matter, both he and the staff member were astonished.
He was only nine years old yet he was coming to take the blacksmith’s test. This hadn’t happened in the Blacksmith’s Association for many, many years. Historically, the youngest testee had been eight years and six months old! Moreover, that person was now working on the Blacksmith’s Association’s 30th floor. That person was a once-in-a-lifetime blacksmithing genius!
Now in front of their eyes was a child that was only nine years old. If he was able to pass the blacksmith’s test, then what would that signify?
Cen Yue thought about this with even more interest because Tang Wulin had previously said that Mang Tian let him accept tasks directly. That meant this child was at least a rank 2 blacksmith. This was a record-breaking achievement!
The staff member said, “Grandmaster Cen, testing room three is open.”