Chapter 77

The way the casting notes were written, without a gradual progression of chapters, clearly indicated that the author was self-taught.

However, this was perfect for Tang Zheng, who wasn't a formal casting apprentice. Many of the things recorded in the notes were simple and easy to understand, making them just right for him.

The life skills from his previous life were entirely different from those in this one, with more difficulties and deeper knowledge, involving the five elements and their interactions. But hadn't Tang Zheng solved each problem one by one?

There was no reason that in a different world, he should give up so easily.

"Old Ban," Tang Zheng looked at the notes and asked, "Your friend's notes have a comment here... 'As long as the same furnace is used, the difference in star power resonance will not even reach ten.'"

"Yes, we used the same furnace!" Ban Yilou replied.

"..." Tang Zheng rubbed his forehead, "If we look at the results, we clearly didn't!"

Strictly speaking, they used two furnaces—the complete Qingyu Furnace and the damaged Qingyu Furnace.

Although they were indeed two different forms of the same furnace, there were likely many unknown differences in star power conduction and other properties.

Ban Yilou frowned, "But, you shaped the blade first, there's no reason the handle, which was formed later, would have a higher star power resonance..." He stopped halfway, "The handle... Could it be because..."

Tang Zheng nodded; this was the only guess.

The handle, which was shaped later, was mostly shaped by him while he was controlling the star power and tempering it. The combination of the Sun and Moon star powers was almost entirely applied to the handle.

Ban Yilou's mouth opened, and he muttered in a daze, "No wonder the two main stars are the most suitable for casting... And they are unprecedentedly in the same palace!"

"Then... What do we do now?" Ban Yilou wasn't a professional caster; he was skilled in repairing array patterns, so he was at a loss.

"I'll give it a try." Tang Zheng picked up the two parts and darted into the inner chamber.

Ban Yilou didn't insist on checking his purple gold token and followed him in.

Tang Zheng looked at the casting furnace, picked a slightly inferior one compared to the Qingyu Furnace, gathered some materials, prepared two pills, and started the furnace!

Tang Zheng didn't make any requests, and Ban Yilou didn't help this time, just sitting on the side watching.

The purple gold star constellation rose behind Tang Zheng...

His star power extended from his left palm into the furnace, and he had Ban Yilou process the materials he had selected, adding them one by one.

Ban Yilou, seeing that all the materials were for casting the handle, was puzzled.

The handle was already a fully resonant handle, so why cast another one?

As for the blade, Tang Zheng definitely couldn't cast it!

The star power required for roasting wood and processing metal was incomparable in both intensity and time. With his limited star power, he couldn't possibly complete the casting of the blade.

So, he didn't plan to try casting the blade...

Tang Zheng swallowed a pill, maintaining a steady Sun star power that burned fiercely in the furnace, while his right hand, unhurriedly, shaped the material as if sculpting a work of art...

Ban Yilou, watching the materials he threw in, his face twitched, "Speak up, what are you trying to do?"

If the people from the Hundred Refinements Workshop saw Tang Zheng casually using these incredibly valuable materials, it would be a huge mental torment for them!

But Ban Yilou felt that he was already suffering greatly, even before the Hundred Refinements Workshop could be tormented...

What Tang Zheng shaped was neither a blade nor a handle, but something resembling a fishbone with a main stem and many branches!

Tang Zheng swallowed another pill and completed the tempering.

Boom!

Although Tang Zheng's speed was much faster than when he cast the dagger, the furnace couldn't withstand such a high-energy method and shattered into several pieces.

Ding, the crafted fishbone fell to the ground.

Ban Yilou quickly picked it up, cleaned it, and measured it with a glove, his face filled with shock, "Star power resonance of eighty-seven..."

The star power resonance was very high, and if the value of the materials was ignored, it was astonishingly high.

But the question was, what was this fishbone?

Was Tang Zheng planning to use this fishbone as the blade?

Ban Yilou shook his head, "The Hundred Refinements Workshop won't recognize this as a blade..."

The problem was still with the blade...

Tang Zheng couldn't cast the blade, and this was an unsolvable issue!

"First, try to fit the handle and this together." But Tang Zheng didn't plan to stop; he rested for a moment and picked another furnace.

"..." Ban Yilou understood that Tang Zheng wouldn't stop until he had destroyed all the furnaces in the inner chamber!

Ban Yilou started fitting the handle and the fishbone together.

Since they weren't cast in the same furnace, it wasn't easy to fit them together, but with Ban Yilou's three-star power, he managed to fit them steadily.

Now the dagger looked very strange...

The part below the handle wasn't a blade but resembled the slightly curved spine of a small fish.

The shape was laughable.

"Then what?" Ban Yilou asked.

"Fit the handle and the blade together again," Tang Zheng said.

"You're not casting them in the same furnace, so..." Ban Yilou picked up the blade and tried to fit it into the fishbone, but he swallowed his words mid-sentence!

There was no resistance at all!

The two parts couldn't possibly have been cast in the same furnace.

But when he tried to fit them together, a slight movement of his star power easily embedded the entire blade into the fishbone.

"Multi-point support technique!" Tang Zheng smiled and snapped his fingers.

If the connection between two parts was only at one point, the rejection reaction would be significant.

But if the connection was like a fishbone, with many points, the resistance at each point would be much smaller!

Tang Zheng remembered a practical exam question from his previous life.

The interviewer gave them a light bulb and asked them to measure its volume, not requiring high accuracy, just an approximate value.

Even with the "approximate" requirement, the children couldn't figure it out because they hadn't learned how to calculate the volume of regular objects, let alone irregular ones.

Finally, the interviewer filled the light bulb with water, poured it into a measuring cup, and asked, "When a road clearly leads to a dead end, can't you break through the wall beside you and take another path?"

Forcing the blade and handle to fit together was a dead end.

So, Tang Zheng added a fishbone between the blade and the handle.

Multi-point support technique!

"Don't be too happy..." Ban Yilou picked up the glove and measured the overall star power resonance, shaking his head, "Only seventy-two!"

Seventy-two was a very high achievement for any casting apprentice.

But Ban Yilou didn't forget how much they had spent!

They had already spent five hundred taels of purple gold and used over a dozen materials to increase star power resonance, yet the final product was still ten points lower in resonance than the one Tang Zheng had bet on with the Hundred Refinements Workshop.

He had to admit, the Hundred Refinements Workshop was the Hundred Refinements Workshop...

Even if Ban Yilou didn't like the Hundred Refinements Workshop, he had to admit that their technology was truly unparalleled!

However, just as he was lamenting the final result, Tang Zheng didn't stop.

He threw the finished dagger, which Ban Yilou had already fitted, back into the furnace!

Gentle Moon star power rapidly entered the furnace!

This time, he used Sun star power to control the casting...

"What are you trying to do?" Ban Yilou couldn't stand it anymore, "It just came out of the furnace and hasn't cooled for more than two hours, it will shatter, it will shatter..."

But Tang Zheng's Moon star power protected the entire dagger.

Then, he did almost nothing, just continuously poured bat blood into the furnace.

Even with the pills, his star power wasn't enough to sustain the casting for long, so he had to speed up.

Facing the blade, the remaining half bottle of bat blood that Tang Zheng had used earlier was quickly emptied...

The processed bat blood was a deep red, semi-liquid substance, layer by layer, melting and re-melting onto the entire dagger.

The deep red blood, like a coating, layer by layer, fused with the dagger.

Soon, the furnace couldn't withstand the high-energy casting and shattered again.

But Tang Zheng's processing was complete!

When he quickly tempered and picked up the blade, Ban Yilou's eyes widened.

The color of the blade had completely turned to the deep red of the bat blood!

"This... This..." He quickly measured the star power resonance with the glove, "Eighty-three!"

It had increased by eleven points!

This was star power resonance, which was already very difficult to increase by even one point!

Tang Zheng had increased it by eleven points in one go after completing the casting. What did this mean?

It completely overturned Ban Yilou's understanding of casting!

"Hehe." Tang Zheng smiled, "Coating technique!"

The multi-point support technique, Tang Zheng had only outlined the basic idea, and Ban Yilou had completed the fitting.

But the coating technique using bat blood was personally controlled by Tang Zheng with his star power.

"Multi-point support technique... Coating technique..." Ban Yilou looked at the completed dagger thoughtfully, "Did you learn casting from a master?"

"Never..." Tang Zheng shrugged.

Coating, in his previous world, was something used on almost every metal object!

Especially for knives, to prevent rust, corrosion, and wear, he had never seen a knife without a coating.

Some coating materials even allowed knives to pass through security checks, making it a very common thing.

But in this world, there was no concept of coating at all!

Ban Yilou's face showed a complex excitement, "Then... When are you going to the Hundred Refinements Workshop?"

Although the materials used for this dagger were expensive, from a technical standpoint, Tang Zheng had indeed produced a dagger with higher star power resonance than the one from the Hundred Refinements Workshop in Wulong Town.

"No, I'm not going to the Hundred Refinements Workshop!" Tang Zheng shook his head, smiling, and casually picked up a stack of wooden boxes containing handmade invitations from Ban Yilou's inner chamber...

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Thank you to Guzi Bushi Juzi for the 1888 Qidian coins, Konglong Ling for the 1300 Qidian coins, DouB Nanbo Wan, Mo Qing Shang, Denge Ai LOVE, あ懒ぉ羊羊 for the 588 Qidian coins, Mo Yun Zhe Yue for the 300 Qidian coins, Pindao Bu Chi Luobo, Liuckly for the 200 Qidian coins, Yuhou 945, Bin Tang Huluwa, Kuaile Xiaogu, Dancing Cat?, Jiqiren, Fengxinzi 18, Lenrse Leng Luo, Yujì 0 Huang Yaolong, Momoye, Xingkong Yue 2, Xuan Bing Yu Hua, Wubainian Meng Chang'an, Wo Jiu Kan Zenyang, Xiyu ™ for the 100 Qidian coins...

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