“Woosh, woosh…”
Ou Yangming’s Military Fire burned fiercely as it melted power ores one after another. Before long, Ou Yangming shook his wrist again to draw a new power ore from the ground and tossed it into his fire.
The spirit beasts around him could not hold it in anymore, and they began to whisper to one another.
“That’s the tenth power ore, right?”
“Yes, that’s the tenth.”
“Do you think he’ll succeed?”
“I think so. If not, why did Sir Venerable One personally invite him here?”
Unlike the spirit beasts, which were having a discussion, Bai Zhiyi and the 3 human blacksmiths looked grave.
Ou Yangming did not conceal his Military Fire, hence they could see everything clearly, but it was the exact reason they felt extremely strange.
The Layering Technique—every blacksmith that could refine magic tools would have learned the way to attach Unique Attributes and the Layering Technique. Putting aside the Attachment Technique, Ou Yangming’s Layering Technique had truly opened their eyes.
It was not that they were in admiration of how exquisite his Layering Technique was.
However, it was because his Layering Technique did not include special skills and methods as it was simple and direct, such that everything could be seen at a glance.
According to the understanding of Bai Zhiyi and the 3 blacksmiths in the past, if one adopted the most basic and unchanging Layering Technique, it would be quite remarkable for one to layer 5 to 6 layers of an attribute. Having said that, the young fellow in front of them had somehow employed the technique and layered Power attributes with 10 power ores.
Although Ou Yangming had not completed the smithing process, if he had successfully layered the 9 power ores before this, did it not mean that he was going to attempt to layer with the tenth power ore?
The layering of 10 of the same attributes with unique ores was a threshold—a huge one.
Among all blacksmiths in the Spiritual Realm, only those that could arrive at the tenth layering level were qualified to learn the Attachment Technique for treasure ores.
Needless to say, if blacksmiths here wanted to layer unique ores to the tenth layer, they would first need to learn various skills; only by mastering those skills through comprehensive studies could one be able to continuously layer 10 attributes.
On the other hand, Ou Yangming was the only blacksmith that could layer to the tenth level using the most basic technique from the start until the end.
The 3 blacksmiths exchanged glances and were deeply shocked.
‘How exactly did this young fella do it?
‘If he learns all of the Layering Art’s skill in the future, can he reach a greater height?’
Deep down, the blacksmiths wondered. Their facial expressions kept changing, but they could not control themselves.
Bai Zhiyi’s eyes were bright, and he was surprised yet overjoyed.
“Elder Bai, do you think he’ll succeed?” A blacksmith asked him softly.
“The tenth layering is incredibly difficult, so I can’t tell either,” Bai Zhiyi answered after some thought.
“Then is he qualified to learn the Advanced Attachment Art?”
“Yes,” the elder answered without any hesitation.
“But…” Another blacksmith was hesitant before he finished his sentence, “He hasn’t completed the tenth layering!”
Bai Zhiyi glanced at him and explained, “If anyone can complete the eighth… No, the sixth layering by using only the basic Layering Technique, I’ll teach him the Advanced Layering Art.”
The 3 blacksmiths flushed, but they understood that Bai Zhiyi was very optimistic about Ou Yangming Nonetheless, after witnessing the ability that was shown by the young fellow, they were not indignant anymore.
Ou Yangming was fully concentrated on his Military Fire at the moment.
The young fellow was familiar with the Layering Technique because he had layered attributes for many pieces of equipment throughout the few years. On the opposite, this was his first time layering Unique Attributes in the Spiritual Realm, and he felt like it was much easier to succeed here than in the lower realm.
In the lower realm, Ou Yangming had learned the Layering Technique from Old Craftsman and Jin Shengjie, and he fathomed it thoroughly. Despite that, without using his Military Fire’s unique ability, he could only reach the fourth layer, and his success or failure for the fifth layer would be up to God’s will.
This was because there would be a forceful disturbance power when he performed more layerings, where the world’s power had noticed the equipment and was destroying it in an incomprehensible way.
The energy needed to overcome the power would be unparalleled. This was why the more the layering performed, the higher the failure rate.
Over here, Ou Yangming had not noticed the disturbance power so far.
The power that could be accommodated in the Spiritual Realm was far greater than the lower realm could compare.
Without the disturbance power, Ou Yangming was as free as a runaway horse, which galloped excitedly to an unmanageable extent.
As the power ore melted completely, its power was layered on the gauntlet, causing the equipment to have 10 points of Power attribute in total. At this point, Ou Yangming clearly sensed that the Power attributes attached to the gauntlet seemed to have reached an extremity.
It was an odd feeling, but it was very real.
Ou Yangming had 2 options at the moment, one was to stop as he was already ahead. In any case, the layering of 10 points of Power attribute was already sufficient.
Nevertheless, if Ou Yangming was like that, he could not have achieved what he did so far.
Struck with a thought, he lifted his wrist again. As a result, a power ore rose from the ground and entered the Military Fire.
“The eleventh ore?” One of the human blacksmiths was appalled, and he could not help but exclaim.
Bai Zhiyi had not said a word, but his eyes gleamed like never before.
The layering of every kind of attribute had a limit. For ordinary blacksmiths, even if they were adept in the Layering Technique, they would reach their limit when they arrived at the tenth layering.
Even though the eleventh layering was merely a level higher than the tenth level, it was an important indicator that distinguished blacksmiths’ abilities.
Among the 4 blacksmiths present, Bai Zhiyi was the only one that could layer special ores above 10 levels. As for the others, while they had also learned various Assistive Layering Arts, not to mention the eleventh level, even the tenth level was unachievable for them.
Ou Yangming’s Military Fire still flickered, but he furrowed his eyebrows a little.
Sure enough, once he melted the eleventh power ore, he felt an enormous obstruction.
Of course, the resistance was not a disturbance from the world’s power, but one that came from the magic tool itself.
The Good Grade magic tool did not resist at all when the 10 previous layerings were performed on it, but the situation changed entirely when the eleventh layering was attempted.
Ou Yangming tried to layer but realized that the hindrance grew more powerful. If he insisted on layering the power ore by force, the magic tool would likely be ruined. That said, Ou Yangming did not believe that the layering limit for the gauntlet’s Power attribute was only 10; he had a feeling that the gauntlet had not fully unleashed its potential.
At the very least, it could reach a greater height in terms of the layering of attributes.
The young fellow had an idea in his mind. Since he could not use the conventional method, he would attempt with his Military Fire’s unique power.
He did not retreat because he was awed by the difficulty, but he only wanted to verify his thought.
With that, a purple light flickered in his sea of consciousness and drew the power ore’s attribute at once.
‘Upgrade.’
Following Ou Yangming’s order, a peculiar luster could be seen on the gauntlet.
It was not the White Silver Light, but it carried a wholly different feeling as though the gauntlet had changed substantially.
As a blacksmith, it went without saying that Ou Yangming knew the change was still far from the power caused by the White Silver Light.
[Item: Power Gauntlet]
[Equivalent Rank: Magic Tool, Good Grade, Rank One]
[Attributes: Sharpness +26, Toughness +26, Power +11, Durability 25]
[Wish-fulfilling Degree: 5]
The burning Military Fire instantly sent the information of the equipment’s properties into Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness. A strange look could be seen on his face when he spotted the Power +11 attribute.
As compared to the other attributes, the words “Power +11” were slightly different indeed. They did not shine in bright silver, but they were unordinary.
Nonetheless, he did not notice that the moment he successfully upgraded the equipment’s attribute, Bai Zhiyi and the 3 blacksmiths had strange looks in their eyes. They could still endure it and fool the others earlier, but even the slowest person could tell that something was off with their expressions.
Though many spirit beasts looked at each other, they kept quiet without raising any questions.
Ou Yangming exhaled deeply and curbed his Military Fire.
He was confident about increasing the gauntlet’s Power attribute further, but it would seem to defeat the test’s purpose.
Besides, being able to layer 11 points of Power was his best achievement so far. They could not be compared with the mightiness of 1 point of a Silver attribute, but it was because he did not have corresponding spirit ores to use. If not, only God would know how far he could go.
Bai Zhiyi flashed and approached Ou Yangming before anyone else could. “Lil’ Ou, let me take a look at it.”
The others could not help but exchange glances when they saw how eager Elder Bai was; it was his first time losing himself.
Ou Yangming grinned and handed the gauntlet to the elder.
Bai Zhiyi used appraisal art without any hesitation. His eyes glowed brighter as he mumbled, “11 points—11 points of Power were layered!”
