Chapter 223 Counterattack Attribute
Ou Yangming’s purple Military Fire lingered and rotated in his sea of consciousness at that moment, forming a rune pattern naturally.
The design was not one of the three runes, which could improve mental power’s releasing speed, that he previously visualized; it was a rune that he had just amended to upgrade the equivalent rank of pieces of cheap equipment.
Ou Yangming had never visualized the rune before, but once he was done with the modification, the purple fire naturally circulated and took form, then it drifted in his consciousness.
The change was out of his expectations, but he knew it was great news.
Inside Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness, the rune that was gathered by the purple fire floated, and it could be used as soon as he thought about it.
When Ou Yangming visualized the rune, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
He could double the speed of his mental power’s collection by using the combined power from three runes, but a certain time was needed for him to visualize them. Even if he became familiar with them in the future, he could not carry out the process in a short period.
However, if he could transform the three runes into Purple Light Runes to be stored in his sea of consciousness…
He could use the runes freely as long as he thought about them. In other words, he would not need to visualize the runes anymore.
Ou Yangming felt an upsurge of emotions upon having the idea, and he could not wait to try it.
“Master Ou, are you done modifying it?”
Ou Yangming’s train of thought was cut off when someone questioned him, causing him to regain his senses.
The instant the young fellow looked up, he saw Master Lu furrowing his eyebrows.
“Hehe, Master Lu, I did some tiny adjustments, and they might be effective,” Ou Yangming responded as humbly as he could.
After all, he could not tell Master Lu that the molds had many flaws because of the master’s lack of control over details.
If Ou Yangming said that, Old Craftsman would certainly beat him up even if Master Lu dared not rebuke him.
Although Ou Yangming’s body had become so tough that Old Craftsman could not hurt him, he did not want to be a laughing stock in public.
Master Lu was stunned, and he fixed his gaze on the mold.
He had forged the mold by himself, so he was well aware of the veined patterns on it.
The master focused on the mold to observe it closely, but he gave up after some time. From his point of view, the mold was the same as it was before; nothing seemed to have changed.
Master Lu was at a loss, but he did not have the guts nor the confidence to disprove the super blacksmith, who could smith a magic tool.
One’s journey on the smithing path was not determined by one’s age, experience, or seniority.
In this trade, the strongest would become the
king.
When Ou Yangming smithed a magic tool, his status became completely different from his past status.
Old Craftsman stepped forward and walked around the mold, but he frowned as well.
Master Lu was secretly delighted. ‘How could I forget about Old Craftsman? As mighty as Ou Yangming is, he wouldn’t dare to be unrestrained in front of the old man, right?’
The master chuckled and asked, “Old Craftsman, did you notice anything?”
He already had a plan in his head. If Old Craftsman said that the mold was not different from before, he would not be bothered to try it.
Nonetheless, Old Craftsman furrowed his eyebrows even tighter. “Master Lu, there’s something different about this mold!” “What? What’s different about it?” Master Lu’s face changed. He widened his eyes again to search carefully, but his vision was limited such that he could not notice the subtle differences, thus he still gained nothing.
If he knew Old Craftsman well enough to know the old man would never speak carelessly about such a matter, he would probably be suspicious at the moment.
Old Craftsman shook his head and expressed, “I can’t point it out, but my instinct tells me that the mold underwent some subtle changes.” Ou Yangming had a mix of emotions. Given that he revised the rune through the thoroughly meticulous state, the little changes could not be explained by people who had not achieved the state.
Nevertheless, Old Craftsman achieved the integration of Heaven and man by luck.
Even though it was not helpful toward the old man’s martial arts cultivation base, it assisted him in smithing art quite amazingly.
As such, while Old Craftsman could not figure out the changes in the mold, he vaguely sensed the differences due to the integration of Heaven and man.
Master Lu pondered for some time before he finally cast his doubts aside. “Gentlemen, we’ll find out if we run a test.”
Since neither of them could identify the changes, and Ou Yangming claimed the mold had changed, the master decided to carry out a test.
Under Master Lu’s instruction, the mold was brought to a burly blacksmith, who began smithing an arm guard with a big hammer.
For Military Fire Blacksmiths and Spiritual Fire Blacksmiths, the method undoubtedly had a low efficiency. Despite that, for most ordinary blacksmiths, hitting with the hammer was the right way of smithing a piece of equipment.
The blacksmith was extremely familiar with smithing arm guards. As he kept hitting the arm guard with a hammer, a rune was soon branded on the inside of the equipment.
Master Lu took it and checked it for some time, then he nodded and announced, “It’s a success, go on.”
The arm guard had advanced from Common Grade to Good Grade, but Master Lu did not find it strange because the mold already had a 30% passing rate. He thought, ‘Perhaps we were lucky enough to have started with a qualified arm guard?’
That said, Master Lu’s face finally changed as that blacksmith continued to hammer tirelessly.
The second piece, the third piece, the fourth piece… Even until the ninth and the tenth arm guards, they were all successfully upgraded into Good Grade arm guards.
It was then when Master Lu and Old Craftsman came to a shocking realization that the mold underwent an enormous change after it was refined by Ou Yangming. The success rate had suddenly increased from 30% to 100%.
Though only ten arm guards were smith so far, which meant that 100% could not be guaranteed yet, the result was enough to leave them in awe.
As Master Lu marveled at the outcome, so much so that he looked fearful, Ou Yangming picked up an arm guard with a smile.
He released his Military Fire for a split second to view the arm guard’s attributes in his mind.
All of a sudden, the smile on his face froze.
[Item: Outstanding arm guard (Red)] (Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Good Grade, Rank One] [Attributes: Toughness +6, Durability 5] (Skill: Counterattack (Passive Skill) Under an attack, there is a 3% chance of counterattacking a fire mastery damage]
S:
‘Red, Counterattack…’
Ou Yangming twitched his mouth and wondered, ‘What’s going on? ‘It’s supposed to be a Good Grade arm guard, so why did it suddenly become a piece of Attribute Equipment? Besides, the attribute isn’t Power or Agility, but Counterattack.’
Despite that, a 3% counterattack chance was so low that it could almost be neglected.
Ou Yangming went on to take another arm guard and used his Military Fire on it too, but the same attributes were shown.
He faintly understood that it was the result of his purple fire spinning one round in his head earlier. Nonetheless, the young fellow could not infer why the purple fire contained such a unique ability and unique skill.
Ou Yangming’s reaction quickly sparked Master Lu’s curiosity, hence the master took the arm guard and inspected it once more.
His face slowly took on a grave expression.
Master Lu was not an appraiser but as a blacksmith, he had a certain understanding of pieces of equipment. He did not pay much attention to it in the beginning, so he could only tell that the arm guard was of Good Grade. Once the master checked the item seriously, he noticed that it was distinctive.
“Old Craftsman, quickly take a look at this!” Master Lu looked up abruptly and exclaimed. His voice trembled a little as he spoke.
If he was not mistaken, this batch of arm guards would cause a major disruption.
Old Craftsman was startled, but he quickly took the arm guard and scanned it in-depth. His eyes lit up after a brief moment, and he looked up at Master Lu, who was looking back at him eagerly.
The old man uttered after a moment of hesitation, “Master Lu, this arm guard seems to contain… Heaven and Earth’s mighty power!”
The so-called Heaven and Earth’s mighty power referred to Unique Attributes, and it was a code word between blacksmith.
Master Lu asked sternly, “What is it?”
“I don’t know either.” old Craftsman turned to ask, “Young fella, what did you do? What power is contained in this item?”
He knew Ou Yangming’s foundation very well, and he knew that the young fellow-an appraiser-could easily identify it.
Ou Yangming chuckled. “Old Man, this batch of arm guards contain a God-gifted Attribute. It’s the Passive Counterattack; under an attack, there’s a 3% chance that one can counterattack a fire mastery damage.”
“Passive Counterattack!” Master Lu’s eyes shone brighter than before. “This is a great item-a great item indeed!”
Ou Yangming cleared his throat. “Master Lu, a 3% chance…”
The probability was too low, to the extent that it could be ignored. Nobody would care much about a counterattack with such probability because it was like chicken ribstasteless but not bad enough to be thrown away.
Even so, Master Lu laughed out loud. “Master Ou, we’re smithing pieces of equipment for the military, and more than a hundred soldiers fight in a war!” Ou Yangming’s eyes glowed. ‘Yes, the attribute may seem impressive but useless if it’s only applied to a single person, but the accumulated effect in an army will be entirely different.’
Old Craftsman looked deeply at him and questioned, “How did you do it?”
Master Lu pricked up his ears right away because he did not want to miss a thing. “Old Man, you won’t be able to learn it.” Ou Yangming sighed helplessly. He revealed the way he modified the mold, but he did not tell them that he had already entered the thoroughly meticulous state. Instead, the young fellow credited his great mental power for everything Old Craftsman and Master Lu exchanged glances and pondered for a long time before they sighed.
Sure enough, Ou Yangming seemed to be the only person who could adopt the method.