“It’s better not to cause any trouble when in a foreign land. Those thugs earlier were not ordinary people either.”
“He hit you,” Gu Yue spoke coldly.
“I’m fine. I’ve got thick skin,” Tang Wulin said jokingly.
Gu Yue said, “No one is allowed to hit you other than me.”
The corners of Tang Wulin’s mouth twitched. He could not help laughing aloud and asked, “What kind of logic is that? Why are you allowed to hit me?”
Gu Yue raised her head. “I’m just allowed to do so. Do you have anything to say about that?”
“No comment.” Tang Wulin realized that he was truly incapable of talking back to Gu Yue every time she spoke in such a serious manner.
Gu Yue cracked into a smile seeing that he had no choice but to agree. “Now that’s the way. Let’s go.”
She held Tang Wulin’s hand and guided him forward. She seemed to be in a better mood now. Her beautiful eyes looked in all directions as she searched for a shop that caught her interest.
“Look, there’s a shop that sells rare metals. I wonder if the Star Luo Empire’s rare metals are different from ours? Let’s go inside and take a look.” Gu Yue pulled Tang Wulin into the shop.
Tang Wulin felt a warm glow in his heart. How could a girl like her be interested in ice cold metals?! It was apparent that she was doing this just for him.
Tang Wulin was immediately attracted to the rare metals that were displayed on the surrounding racks when he walked into the shop. The Star Luo Empire’s rare metal types were obviously quite different from those on the Douluo Continent. After strolling past the racks just once, Tang Wulin noticed that almost a third of the metals were unrecognizable to him.
“Hello. May I help you? I can introduce you to some of our products,” the shopkeeper said while walking over in a courteous manner.
Tang Wulin shook his head. “There’s no need. Do you have a golden hammer? Please lend it to me for a moment.”
The shopkeeper’s eyes brightened now that there was an expert who knew how to use the golden hammer!
Only someone with a very good knowledge of rare metals knew how to test with a golden hammer when choosing rare metals. An expert could tell the difference between various types of metals by using the hammer to knock on them.
Soon, a small hammer half a foot in length was brought into Tang Wulin’s hands.
He walked to the front of the display rack and knocked gently on a blue metal that he had never seen before.
“Ding!” A crisp sound was heard with a short and powerful echo, Tang Wulin’s ears moved as he nodded gently. He muttered to himself, “This must be an extremely hard alloy, and it has a high internal density. I can tell from its echo that it has an exceedingly strong ego. It would not be very suitable for fusing with soul power. What a waste.”
“Ding!” Tang Wulin frowned slightly as he knocked once onto another piece of metal. “The echo sounds melodious. That’s a good thing, but it lasts too long. That shows that the metal is quite weak on its own. It has an affinity for elements, but the remaining volume after it’s refined is too small. The overall quality is also leaning to the weak side since it doesn’t have any unique properties.”
The shopkeeper walked next to Tang Wulin the whole time as he listened to him knock and examine the metals one by one. The expression on the shopkeeper’s face grew more and more astonished. Amazingly, Tang Wulin’s analyses of these metals were free from any errors at all.
Tang Wulin stopped after he had knocked on a dozen pieces. He turned around as he looked toward the shopkeeper and said, “Do you have any rare metals that are of slightly better quality? I’m not interested in these ordinary ones.”
He could identify that those metals were unremarkable despite not being acquainted with them. The strength of those metals was even weaker than the Heavy Silver he usually used, let alone anything else.
“Yes, we do. Please hold on for a moment.” Anyone would respect an expert. The shopkeeper was acting even more courteous ever since Tang Wulin showed his knowledge of rare metals. He was also feeling rather curious because some of those metals that Tang Wulin had tested earlier were extremely common in the Star Luo Continent. Tang Wulin should have been able to identify them on sight.
It did not take long before the shopkeeper walked out. He gestured for Tang Wulin and Gu Yue to come with him, saying, “Please follow me to the V.I.P. lounge inside.”
They walked inside and arrived in a room that had much more elegant fixtures than the outside. Two chairs were positioned behind a metal table on which two glasses of water had already been placed.
“Please take a seat. I have limited clearance so I’m only allowed to show you everything piece by piece.”
Tang Wulin and Gu Yue sat down. He could not help smiling as he said, “You offer a very good service here!”
The shopkeeper chuckled and answered, “As long as you’re satisfied. Please hold on.” He pushed open a door, went passed a metal gate and walked into the room. After a short while, he returned with a wooden box in his arms. The box appeared a little heavy as he placed it on the table and opened it.
At the exact moment the wooden box was opened, Tang Wulin’s eyes brightened. It was a faint golden metal with a crystal clear translucence to it. It was quite similar to Star Iron, but Star Iron was dotted with golden speckles, whereas the metal before his eyes had an extremely even golden color that was not especially thick.
Tang Wulin raised the golden hammer and knocked on it once gently.
A soft hum was heard. It had a very intriguing echo. It was as if the sound twisted and turned. The metal was shimmering indistinctly as well.
Tang Wulin listened for a moment attentively. Once more, he used the golden hammer to knock gently on the metal and it gave out that gentle hum again.
“The internal density is very high, yet it also possesses superb elemental affinity. Moreover there are also some exceptional characteristics. The sound echoed nine times after being struck, and every echo sounded stronger than the previous one. What are the properties of this metal?” Tang Wulin asked the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper answered, “This is the Golden Crystal, a very rare metal. It possesses the characteristic of being able to amplify all energy. Just like what you sensed earlier, it will produce nine waves of resonance when it is amplifying an energy. It will amplify about one percent every time. However, after the resonation, the energy can be amplified up to thirty percent. It’s also difficult to come by as its hardness is extremely high and it has very good solubility with other metals. Generally, one will choose to add this hyper metal when one is performing a high level of forging such as fuse forging.”
Without thinking Tang Wulin asked, “How much for this?” He was already a rank-6 blacksmith. It was no longer a problem for him to fuse forge three types of metals. He would certainly add in more types of metals to the spirit alloy when he was helping his companions to upgrade their battle armor. The Golden Crystal was very useful as it was suitable for almost everyone.
“Ten thousand Star Luo Coins for one gram,” the shopkeeper said smilingly.
Tang Wulin’s expression stiffened ever so slightly. Star Luo Coins? He suddenly realized that although he was carrying a good number of coins, those were all the Douluo Continent’s Federation Coins. How would he get Star Luo Coins? Also, ten thousand coins for one gram seemed too expensive. He had no way to estimate without any idea of the exchange rate between the Star Luo Coin and the Federation Coin.
Moreover, if this was used in fuse forging in the future, he would need a few tonnes of this metal if he were to include himself and his seven companions. The cost of that would be astronomical!
“Please bring forth the other types of rare metal that you have,” Tang Wulin said calmly.
“Please hold on.”
The shopkeeper brought out seven types of rare metal after that. Tang Wulin recognized three out of the seven types which could be found on the Douluo Continent. The remaining four types were only found on the Star Luo Continent. Every type had its own characteristics and was of good quality.
“These are all the precious metals we carry at the moment. Which type is our distinguished guest interested in?” The shopkeeper asked in an extremely polite manner.
Tang Wulin swallowed hard and answered, “All your stuff seems fine. If you have adequate stock, I wish to purchase a large batch of metal. Oh yes, I have a question. Do you accept refined metal as payment?”
The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, “Yes we do, but we only accept those of Thousand Refined and above.” His earlier enthusiasm had reduced upon hearing Tang Wulin’s question. How much could Tang Wulin and Gu Yue refine at their age even if they were blacksmiths? Were they blacksmiths of first or second rank? It was difficult for them to produce a Hundred Refined let alone a Thousand Refined.
Tang Wulin nodded. “I have some metal to sell. Will you please take a look?” His hand glowed as he spoke. He had already added a piece of metal to the table.