Even though the employee didn't recognize this mundane-looking middle-aged man, his badge was irrefutable proof of his identity! No one would dare to fabricate a seven-star Saint Blacksmith badge!

The blacksmith association didn't possess as lofty a status as that of the mecha association, but the president of the blacksmith association was a parliamentary member. That's right, Divine Blacksmith Zhen Hua was a parliamentary member, and on top of that, he was a member of the presidium. He was also one of the familiar names that Tang Wulin had seen on the list, and he was one of the leaders of the neutral faction.

"My apologies, I didn't know you were a Saint Blacksmith!" The employee didn't dare to chastise Tang Wulin for not wearing his badge to begin with. In reality, if it hadn't been for the fact that there was barely anyone on this floor, Tang Wulin wouldn't have put on his badge. Otherwise, he'd definitely be scrutinized like an endangered animal in a zoo.

"It's alright, there's no need to be nervous; I'm just here to do some missions. Which floor do I need to go to?"

The employee virtually jogged around from behind the counter, and said, "I'll take you there."

"That's a Saint Blacksmith! I heard that the federal military is contacting all blacksmiths, hoping that they'll participate in the upcoming war, and they're offering extremely handsome rewards, including the newly synthesized black soul spirits from the Spirit Pagoda! I wonder how they missed out on this one."

Tang Wulin's hearing was quite exceptional, so he was naturally able to overhear the hushed conversations taking place around him. The federation was offering synthetic black soul spirits as reparations? They really were making a huge investment; just those synthetic black soul spirits along had to be worth an astronomical sum of money.

The Spirit Pagoda really was the undisputed number one organization in this world when it came to soul spirit research. It had to be said that the Spirit Pagoda's current status was inseparable from the contributions they had made toward soul spirit research.

Every type of synthetic soul spirit that was successfully developed resulted in an overall increase in power for the Soul Master world, and the fact that there were barely any soul beasts left on the continent made this technology even more valuable. As such, virtually all Soul Masters had to be affiliated with the Spirit Pagoda to a certain extent.

For example, if the Spirit Pagoda were to refuse to sell soul spirits to a certain Soul Master, then that would undoubtedly severely hamper their future cultivation! This was most likely an issue that he would have to face in his plight to rebuild Shrek Academy.

He took the elevator all the way to the fourth floor, and there were even fewer people on this floor than on the first floor. There wasn't even a spacious hall; there were only a series of passageways.

Tang Wulin had deduced that this was most likely where the highest level forging rooms in the association branch were situated.

Saint Blacksmith's were extremely rare, and even in a branch as large as Bright City's, there were definitely not more than three Saint Blacksmiths among their ranks.

A beautiful young woman had already risen to her feet and made her way over to Tang Wulin with a smile on her face. "Greetings, esteemed Saint Blacksmith, is there anything I can assist you with?"

It was undoubtedly the case that she had already been notified of Tang Wulin's identity.

"I want to complete a few missions with federal credits as reparations."

As a Saint Blacksmith, he could directly request what kind of reparations he wanted for his work, rather than having to choose missions for himself.

"No problem, that can certainly be arranged," the young woman immediately replied, despite the slightly surprised look that had appeared on her face.

She was feeling rather perplexed. One had to realize that all Saint Blacksmiths were extremely wealthy; when had there ever been a Saint Blacksmith who was short on federal credits?

Generally speaking, most Saint Blacksmiths would only accept missions when they required some rare materials. Otherwise, just the high-grade Soul Masters who were looking to become three-word battle armor masters would be more than enough to keep them busy.

Furthermore, a Saint Blacksmith could virtually ask for anything in repayment for their services, as long as the terms weren't too absurd. This was why high-grade blacksmiths were held in higher regard than high-grade mecha makers, mechanics, and designers. They were simply far too rare!

A list of missions was presented to Tang Wulin, and there were no corresponding prices as the prices were to be proposed by the Saint Blacksmiths themselves.

That's right, the Saint Blacksmith could ask to be paid what they wanted. This was almost absurd in a way, but these were the rules of the blacksmith association.

Even though Tang Wulin had been a Saint Blacksmith for a very long time, this was the first time that he had received such treatment.

It appeared that money wouldn't be an issue now.

"Just select three missions that can be completed by seventh-rank Saint Blacksmiths, and as for the price, I'll charge the same as the market price; you can determine the prices after you evaluate the metals that I forge. Give me a forging room and the required materials, and I'll get started right away."

"Yes!"

Service was always extremely fast and convenient for a Saint Blacksmith. After making these decisions, everything would be taken care of for him by the association. The material costs would be deducted from the final reparations that he received, and all of the materials chosen for him were definitely going to be the best.

For a Saint Blacksmith, material costs were virtually negligible.

Thus, three missions were quickly presented to Tang Wulin.

All three missions were of the same type, and they were ones that Saint Blacksmiths faced the most; they were soul refined metal molding missions!

To put it in simpler terms, these missions required one to soul refine metals, then mold them into whatever shape or form that was required. To put it in even simpler terms, these missions revolved around creating fundamental pieces of three-word battle armor.

A faint smile appeared on Tang Wulin's face at the sight of these three missions. All three were soul refined metal molding missions, which were the simplest missions that Saint Blacksmiths could complete. It was quite clear that the young woman had been quite reserved in her choices as Tang Wulin was an unfamiliar face that she had never seen before. However, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing; he hadn't forged for quite a while, so it would be good for him to practice with these relatively simple missions.

Soon, a string of rhythmic clangs rang out from within a high-grade forging room. The sound was very crisp and pleasant, and was completely devoid of any violence.

The expression on the face of the employee who was standing outside immediately eased upon hearing this sound.

Yu Lan had been working on the Saint Blacksmith floor for over three years, yet she had only seen a total of six Saint Blacksmiths during this time. When she saw Tang Wulin, the first thing she did was try to verify his identity, but there were no records in the system of a Saint Blacksmith like him. However, through their scanning devices, it could be determined that his Saint Blacksmith badge was authentic, and it was also most definitely his. However, there was no way for her to inquire about Tang Wulin's situation without encroaching upon his privacy, so she had been quite reserved in her mission choices and chose the three simplest missions for Tang Wulin.

As soon as she heard the pleasant clangs coming from his forging room, she was immediately assured that this was indeed a Saint Blacksmith. If he weren't a Saint Blacksmith, there was no way that he could make his forging sound so captivating and delightful. Furthermore, this man was most likely a veteran Saint Blacksmith who was possibly quite close to reaching the eighth rank.

He appeared to be in his forties, but generally speaking, all blacksmiths worked extremely hard, so they often didn't age very well and looked older than they actually were. As such, perhaps he wasn't even 40 years old yet! Even if he were slightly older than her, she could certainly accept such a young Saint Blacksmith! After all, if she could become a Saint Blacksmith's woman...

Yu Lan was already getting carried away by her train of thought. In contrast, Tang Wulin had already entered a highly concentrated state of complete immersion.

As his powers had improved, especially from the enhancements of his Golden Dragon King bloodline, Tang Wulin discovered that his entire being could be integrated into his forging, even his bloodline aura.

What was the difference between a seventh-rank and an eighth-rank blacksmith? The difference lay in whether one could infuse their own aptitude into the metals that they forged, thereby bestowing upon the metals aptitude, on top of life and sentience.

Tang Wulin was still lacking in this regard, which was why he was still a seventh-rank blacksmith. In order to accomplish this, he required more practice and enlightenment, as well as to constantly better his understanding of himself and his own forging.

For example, his teacher, Saint Blacksmith Mu Chen, could already impart some of the special characteristics of his Sun martial soul into the metals that he refined. As such, the soul refined metals that he forged were most suitable for fire-attribute Soul Masters or Soul Masters who didn't possess martial souls with attributes that clashed with the fire element. If a suit of three-word were to be constructed using his soul refined metals, the battle armor would possess an innate fire attribute, thereby adding extremely potent fire-attribute power to the Soul Master's attacks without any additional soul power expenditure.

This was the equivalent of giving the battle armor master a brand new innate ability, and that was certainly nothing to be scoffed at.

Tang Wulin was also at a stage where he was beginning to try and master this ability. Prior to today, he had only developed a slight inkling for how he was going to accomplish this, but he was still very far away from being able to infuse his aptitude into the metals that he forged.

However, he was feeling different today. He could immediately sense that he was somehow different as soon as he began his forging.