Chapter 4  : A Sharp Military Saber

Ou Yangming was in a daze when he looked at the shiny military saber in his hand, but was quickly overjoyed.

 Since he was an orphan, he did not have much knowledge, but it did not mean that he was clueless about basic mathematics and words.

 It was at that moment that he was thankful to Old Craftsman, from the bottom of his heart. Ever since he entered the military camp two years ago, and was picked by the old man to be his helper, he had been taught to read and calculate. Although Old Craftsman’s knowledge standard was only average, it was more than enough to give him a head start.

 Throughout the two years, Ou Yangming was hit on his palm by the Old Craftsman numerous times, but he had learned everything he could from him.

 As such, he knew what was going on when he saw the information that appeared in his mind.

The Military Fire that he acquired was definitely unusual and it carried a big secret.

 When the fire burned, he could easily identify the military saber’s attributes, and what was more unbelievable was that it could even draw and upgrade them. He was extremely shocked by what he found.

He took a deep breath and hesitated for a while.

 Next, he decided that he would not mention this to anyone, not even Old Craftsman.

Afterward, he looked into the piles of damaged weapons to pick out suitable military sabers.

 The armory stored abandoned items, where military sabers without restoration value were piled up for a second chance to be melted down for use again.

 Hence, Ou Yangming easily found many military sabers that were not too terribly damaged.

 When he activated the Military Fire again, he quickly realized that those damaged sabers had poor attributes indeed. Normally, a military saber that was up to standard would have a sharpness of +1 or +2, and a toughness of +1 or +2 as well.

 However, the damaged military sabers only had one attribute, which was either a sharpness of +1 or a toughness of +1.

 None of them had an attribute of +2, let alone possessed both attributes.

 On top of that, they did not have durability since they were damaged items.

 Ou Yangming curbed his thoughts again, then began trying.

 His Military Fire burned a damaged saber, but instead of restoring it, he said to himself. ‘Draw.’

 [Drawable composition found, draw?]

 Familiar words appeared in his mind again. His eyelids twitched a few times, and he was pleasantly surprised.

 As expected, he could draw the military sabers’ attributes without fixing them.

 Without any consideration, he chose to draw the attribute, resulting in a small purple light ball appearing in his mind again.

 Perhaps Ou Yangming was too thrilled, so he was not very exhausted after using his Military Fire this time. He looked at the damaged military saber and noticed that it became more damaged after its only attribute was taken away.

He later turned to pick up the saber that he had repaired.

 Another sentence appeared in his mind when he used the Military Fire.

 [Upgradable composition found, upgrade?]

‘Upgrade.’

 As soon as Ou Yangming confirmed his answer, the saber shone for a while before it returned to normal.

 After inhaling deeply. He realized that the physical power needed for upgrading was at least double what he used for drawing attributes.

 It was easier to destroy but difficult to build, this also applied to drawing and upgrading using the Military Fire.

 [Item: Military saber]

 [Equivalent Rank: Ordinary Tool, Common Grade, Rank Three]

 [Attributes: Sharpness +3, Toughness +3, Durability 3]

 Seeing as the military saber’s toughness was upgraded again, Ou Yangming smiled happily.

 Excited about what he did with the saber, he was extremely motivated. As such, he continued drawing the attributes of four damaged sabers with the intention of adding them to the upgraded saber.

 Nonetheless, he was disappointed and regretful when the saber only upgraded two attributes even though he chose to upgrade it again.

Eventually, Ou Yangming’s body swayed because he had become extremely tired, and he was about to pass out any time.

 He immediately stopped because his mind and physical power were almost completely exhausted like the time he previously used the Military Fire Badge.

 While sensing the two small purple light balls in his mind, he looked at the brand new military saber.

 [Item: Sharp military badge]

[Equipment Rank: Ordinary Tool, Common Grade, Rank Four]

 [Attributes: Sharpness +4, Toughness +4, Durability 4]

 Ou Yangming was finally satisfied. Although each attribute increased by a little, the saber was definitely considered a rare and exquisite one.

 Unfortunately, his physical power was entirely worn out, or the military saber could have been improved further if he added the other two attributes.

 It was only natural for a child to show off after doing something great.

 Therefore, Ou Yangming was so excited that his dizziness went away. Later, he strode off with the saber to look for Old Craftsman.

 He wanted a person who was close to him to witness the results of his hard work.

 “Old man, old man…”

 Ou Yangming barged into Old Craftsman’s personal smithing workshop.

 Old Craftsman was fixing a premium steel shield with his Military Fire at that moment and he almost failed at it because he was irked by Ou Yangming’s scream.

 He glared at the young fellow. “Why are you being so short-tempered? Can’t you be more steady?”

 Ou Yangming smiled embarrassingly, but he quickly mentioned, “Old Man, this is the military saber that I just restored, take a look at it!”

 Old Craftsman did not know to cry or to laugh. “Where did you find this?”

 “I simply picked one from those abandoned tents,” Ou Yangming answered cheerfully.

 “Do you want to die? You’ve just controlled the Military Fire, but you continued using it, don’t you know that haste brings no success?” Old Craftsman frowned.

 “Old Man, I just felt that I could take it, so I tried.” Ou Yangming scratched his head, then said to himself, ‘I didn’t just use it twice, I used it a number of times.’

 Old Craftsman was stunned. He looked at him strangely for a while, then mentioned, “This is strange, could it be that… You’re naturally gifted with mental power?”

 Ou Yangming was surprised. “Old Man, what’s that?”

 Old Craftsman explained, “When normal people like you use the Military Fire, you’ll consume physical power, so you can’t use it for long. Unless you have practiced martial arts, you won’t be able to extend the time. However, there are some people who have the natural gift of strong mental power. They can use mental power in place of physical power to burn the Military Fire. Mm, if you controlled the Military Fire so quickly, and can use it continuously, you’re likely one of them.”

 Ou Yangming nodded as if he understood, but he quickly urged the old man. “Old man, quick, take a look at this!”

 “Why are you in such a hurry? If you’re so impatient, I wonder if you’ll be successful in the future. Eh, this military saber…” Old Craftsman said snappily, but he suddenly stopped and had a strange look on his face.

 A brief moment later, he put the saber down to say to Ou Yangming seriously, “Fella, you’re really something to have restored a military saber to this grade, I underestimated you.”

 Ou Yangming chuckled. There was nothing he could hide from the old man.

Just as he was immersed in joy, a pair of sinister eyes came into mind, causing his face to turn gloomy right away.

 Upon seeing that, Old Craftsman asked, “What’s wrong?”

 Ou Yangming sighed. “I’m in trouble.”

 He later explained everything that happened at the Provision Camp, as well as his journey to the big residence with Zhang Yinfan and his nephew. “Now that I have the Military Fire, they definitely despise me. I’m afraid that I won’t be having peaceful days anymore…”

 “How dare that stingy ghost eye my meritorious service!” Old Craftsman was furious. Nevertheless, there was nothing much he could do against one of the main people in charge of the Provision Camp.

After pondering for a long time, he stomped his feet. “From today onward, I’ll teach you real Military Fire Smithing Art! If you can become a real Military Fire Blacksmith, that stingy fella won’t do anything to you.”

 “A Military Fire Blacksmith?” Ou Yangming gulped, and his eyes sparkled.

 Ever since he acquired the Military Fire, he gained benefits in repairing armaments and could do it easily and more effectively than normal blacksmiths. That being said, as many pieces of armaments as he could fix, he was just a qualified restoration master.

 As compared to blacksmiths who were adept in the Military Fire and could forge divine weapons and sharp weapons, one who just learned how to control the Military Fire was less profound.

 “Once you become a Military Fire Blacksmith, you’ll have quite some authority in the camp, which will be enough for you to survive. However, you’ll have to forge a suitable armament by yourself in a short period of time if you’d like to be a blacksmith that won’t be denounced,” Old Craftsman explained, then added after a short pause, “Do you remember what I taught you?’

 Ou Yangming nodded and pointed at his head. “Yes, old man, it’s all here.”

 “Alright, I’ll explain again, so make sure you remember well. Since you’ve just started operating the fire today, you don’t understand Curbing Art, so go eat and sleep, then come learn tomorrow.”

 Ou Yangming stood straight and was going to say that he had just woken up, and was full of energy.

 At the next instant, he realized that he was really hungry, and was actually quite tired.

 After blinking his eyes for a while, he nodded. “Yes, old man, I’ll listen to you.”

 With that, he returned to his barrack and slept for a long time.

 When he awoke two hours later, he felt so refreshed it was as though his troubles were no longer worth mentioning.