“What do I want? Hmm, it’s simple,” Boss Huang responded calmly to Tang Ling’s question. He pointed at the smithing room and said, “You’ll have to smith for nine hours a day from now on.”
“Don’t even think about arguing. I actually despise using someone who only has the strength of eight bulls and doesn’t even know how to fuse thoroughly. I’m worried that you might not even meet my requirements and I have to waste time training you.” Boss Huang showed a disgusted look.
He swung his sleeves and said casually, “From now onwards, the money you owe me will be reflected in the working time. I’ll still give you an hour of free time and my library is open to you an hour a day if you have the time to read. However, your work time remains the same, not even a single minute less. A young man should learn how to manage his time.” Boss Huang patted Tang Ling’s shoulder as he spoke.
Tang Ling instantly felt helpless at those words. It was similar to his first meeting with Su Siao. The man might not show hostility but his goals were also not showing. In fact, it was even more difficult than facing direct hostility because at least, he could fight back if he sensed any, could he not?
Moreover, Boss Huang’s conditions were really lenient. At least, the schedule was able to provide Tang Ling with what he sought. More importantly, the private library that Boss Huang mentioned was extremely tempting.
So, Tang Ling decided to observe as he trod forward carefully. He would never ask Boss Huang what would happen if he ran away during his free time. He was smart enough to realize that before he could get a grasp of Darkness Port, he could never escape Boss Huang and even if he knew the city from top to bottom, it would be difficult for him to flee too.
In the end, all he could do was tread carefully and observe.
Tang Ling went silent for a moment. He still needed some other things and since Boss Huang claimed to be almighty…
With that in mind, he opened his mouth but before the words could escape his mouth, Boss Huang beat him to it.
“You must have a lot of questions for me, don’t you? They are probably about Darkness Port and the siblings that split ways with you, plus many other things. Am I right?”
Boss Huang walked to the corner where the tools were. He looked around the wall of hammers and took his sweet time picking one.
Tang Ling’s heart skipped a beat. Boss Huang was like an omnipotent god and it seemed like he knew a lot about him. The same question popped up in his head again. What does this man want from me?
However, he would never repeat the question because Boss Huang’s response earlier stated it all. The man purposely neglected the important points and avoided his question. So, he was honest in response to the question, “Yes, Boss, everyone has something to achieve in Darkness Port and I need some information to achieve my goal too.”
“It will cost you.” Boss Huang selected an average-sized hammer from the wall. It was probably one of the most inconspicuous hammers on the wall. As he answered, he passed the hammer to Tang Ling who carelessly accepted the hammer.
Lifting a smithing hammer for him was a piece of cake, but he paid the price for his carelessness.
The hammer was incredibly heavy. It was almost the heaviest weight that Tang Ling could lift, and since he accepted it single-handedly, he was almost yanked down because of the sudden weight. He straightened his body immediately to recover his balance but sprained his waist in the process.
“It’s just a little sprain. It’s nothing serious.” Tang Ling did not say anything; it was Boss Huang who said that on his behalf.
Tang Ling was speechless. He barely lifted up the hammer with both his hands and asked, “I don’t have money. Can I increase my debt?”
“No can do. Intel is given instantly and so is the fee.” Boss Huang was not in a humorous mood and before Tang Ling could say anything, he waved and continued, “As a matter of fact, a healthy man with his limbs intact claiming to be penniless is an insult. You have an hour of free time every day. Make use of the time and earn some money.”
“What can I do in an hour?” Tang Ling raised a confused brow, but he did not reject the suggestion. In fact, Boss Huang was showing him the right way to make money.
Dvesha Moha provided Tang Ling with a safe lodging spot and daily meals, so why couldn’t he spend the remaining time to earn money? Even if he only had an hour each day?
Boss Huang cocked his head back and laughed loudly. “Where are we? We’re in Darkness Port! You can do anything to make money here, be it righteous or illegal. As long as you can do it, you can earn something.
“You’ve got an hour today and you can go to my library to read some books. I’ll pick two books for you to read. The first will be the hidden rules of Darkness Port and as for the other one…hehe…” Boss Huang did not continue. Instead, he looked at Tang Ling inquisitively. “Done with breakfast?”
“I…” Tang Ling’s expression turned bitter. A second later, he replaced the hostility with a flattering smile. “Can I feed it to Monty?”
“You know about Monty?” Boss Huang looked asquint at him.
Tang Ling had no idea who or what Monty was. It might be a dog or something. He answered the question without focusing on the point, “It’s not considered a waste if I feed it to Monty, is it?”
Boss Huang chuckled mysteriously then said, “You can waste it since it’s the first day, but tomorrow onwards, you’ll have to pay for wasting food.”
“I actually don’t need to eat that much. Can I have less tomorrow?” Tang Ling feigned courtesy although he was actually deeply frightened. If he had breakfast cooked with Level 5 to Level 7 vicious beast ingredients daily, he would die of overeating!
“No. If you waste food tomorrow, it means you aren’t serious about your work. That’s how I see things. It’s simple and straightforward, get it?” A slight pause later, Boss Huang continued, “As for your breakfast today, I’ll tell Ding Ling to send it down here. You’ll need the food if you want to work.”
…
What was Tang Ling’s job scope?
In simple words, smithing!
Inside Boss Huang’s smithing room, there were a bunch of raw minerals that required smithing and refining. The method of smithing and refining at Dvesha Moha was very primitive: hammer the raw material repeatedly until the impurities were pounded away.
The room was equipped with hearths and they were able to provide a good source of heat. Through a certain method of controlling the fire, the flames burned a steady bluish-white.
The bluish-white fire had a very high temperature. Back in the old civilization, blacksmiths used coals to power up their hearth and the highest temperature they could achieve was around 2,300 C° which meant that the bluish-white fire could burn the impurities of the raw materials away better.
The tools in the smithing room were excellent as well. According to Boss Huang, the lousiest of them all was the grade A alloy hammer in Tang Ling’s hand. The hammer was mostly forged with grade A alloy with a tinge of grade S alloy added.
The mixture of alloy granted it sufficient weight to hammer the impurities away from the raw materials. Hammering the raw materials could also compress the materials and grind down some crystalline grains.
Tang Ling knew nothing about smithing and Boss Huang had no intention of teaching him the theory behind it. Since he was just a newbie, all he had to do was hammer the raw materials over and over again.
The funny thing was that Boss Huang had given him a grade A alloy hammer to start working. The smithing hammer weighed six tons. Tang Ling had the strength of eight bulls, but if he converted the term into numbers, the strength of a bull was only equivalent to around 800 to 900 kg of force. Would it not be a little too harsh to ask him to repeatedly swing a hammer that weighed six tons, which was almost the maximum weight that he could lift?
“Scared?” Boss Huang looked at Tang Ling with a despicable gaze and said in an exaggerated tone.
“No way!” Tang Ling was still a young boy after all. He could not swallow the insult!
“If you aren’t scared, then accept your fate. I don’t have any lighter hammers for you to use here.” Boss Huang shrugged. He then walked over to the corner filled with raw minerals and twisted the conch shell decoration on the wall.
The conch shell decoration rotated and a hole opened up in the wall. Tang Ling saw some blinding metallic luster in the hole, and upon a closer look, he realized that there were around a thousand types of iron blanks in different colors, sizes, and shapes.
Boss Huang walked in and started to look around. After a quick search, he brought out two black iron raw blanks and tossed them onto the anvil of one of the hearths.
“Your dauntless personality reminds me of me when I was young, but I wasn’t this useless when I was your age. I think the best you can manage is these black iron blanks.” He pouted and glanced down at Tang Ling.
Tang Ling repeatedly told himself to endure the insult, but he still could not stop himself from breathing rapidly.
“Okay then, I’ll demonstrate one time for you. Remember the key. Everything has its own technique.” Boss Huang ignored his hurried breaths and selected a hammer from the wall of tools. The tool he selected was only twice as big as his palm.
Tang Ling glanced over at his hammer. His hammer might not be the biggest among the tools, but it was almost half his height. What was with the hammer that Boss Huang selected? Was it a toy?
Tang Ling wanted to swap his with Boss Huang’s, but at that moment, Boss Huang looked at him solemnly and said, “Take a good look. I’ll demonstrate twice for your sake. Just twice, get it?”
Tang Ling filed his thoughts away immediately. He had a feeling that what Boss Huang was about to show him next was important.
Taking a deep breath, Boss Huang adjusted the black iron blank and said, “There are only three hammer strikes in this method of hammering. Three strikes are considered one set, so all you have to do is hammer it again and again.
“Now, I’ve lowered my strength to your level, which is the strength of eight bulls without being thoroughly fused.”
Tang Ling was very serious when the strength of eight bulls was mentioned. Before this, Boss Huang scorned him for having only the strength of eight bulls and even emphasized the lack of a thorough fusion.
Nonetheless, Tang Ling was not overly concerned since it was only normal for someone as skillful as Boss Huang to know everything about himself.
Now, Boss Huang claimed that he was lowering his strength to match Tang Ling’s, yet he was able to wield a six-ton hammer. What technique did he use? Could it be applied in battle?
With that thought in mind, Tang Ling’s face twitched. What six-ton hammer? The hammer that he’s holding is a toy!
It was at that moment that Boss Huang realized the situation, so he calmly placed the little hammer down and said, “Mimicking your strength isn’t worthy of this hammer. Let me use that piece of trash that you’re holding.”
Boss Huang took the hammer from Tang Ling. He raised it to a ridiculously high angle and brought it down…
