Uncovering Talent

Jing Jiang closed the door behind them with a small thud.

Inside the dark room, Lei Mingxing finally became a bit nervous, her heartbeat accelerating slightly. She glanced around her, but the only thing around her were shelves with various items on them. She couldn't name even one of them.

"Pardon the mess, I just had a little disagreement with my last employee, haha."

Jing Jiang joked awkwardly as stepped past her and hastily picked up some items that had fallen to the ground.

"..."

This atmosphere was very uncomfortable, as they were both reminded of the scene in the back alley. One was embarrassed by the other having witnessed his pathetic appearance, the other hesitant about whether she should act like she hadn't seen it. But weirdly enough, this awkwardness helped Lei Mingxing with her growing nervousness.

Jing Jiang led Lei Mingxing to another door leading out of the dark storage and into a brightly lit workplace.

There were about eight furnaces placed in the room, all of them equipped with their own hammers, tongs, anvils, and other tools. Although only two of the furnaces were actually lit, the other six looked somewhat abandoned.

But Lei Mingxing didn't really care about that, no, much more important was the fact that Jing Jiang hadn't lied to her.

This place was most definitely an artifact forge or at least a smithy!

The only promise he still had to fulfill was 'showing her the ropes' as he had said it and this was also the most unbelievable part.

Usually, artificers wouldn't casually share their craft with just any random person they met on the streets. Many of their techniques were tightly guarded secrets that had been passed down from master to disciple for hundreds of years, so the admission process for becoming a disciple usually went like this:

A potential disciple that came from outside had to prove their talent in a bi-yearly event. The event included things like sensing surrounding Qi, controlling your inner Qi, testing general knowledge about ores and other treasures necessary for the creation of artifacts, and whether they have a talent for the craft.

But Jing Jiang directly took her along and offered her a spot!

... He must really be desperate.

Jing walked over to one of the burning furnaces and motioned her to stand next to him.

"Here is your furnace. Let's get right to it!"

Lei Mingxing obediently walked over.

"The first step would be for you to put a bit of your own fire Qi into the furnace and control it to burn at a consistent heat, " Jing Jiang stretched out his arm and with a wave of his hand, a small orange flame flew into the gleaming coal. The orange fire soon dominated every last bit of fire left in the coals and controlled it to spread evenly inside the furnace, until everything gleamed in the same orange.

"Just like this."

After the successful demonstration, Jing Jiang withdrew his fire Qi and the coal returned to its prior state.

He looked at Lei Mingxing.

"Now you try."

Lei Mingxing took a deep breath and lowered her eyes to carefully observe the furnace. She intently watched the coals as she slowly lifted her arm, with a flick of her fingers, she send a tiny red flame into the furnace.

As soon as the red flame left Lei Mingxing's hand and touched the coal, a short roar sounded and a bright blood-red fire spread throughout the entire furnace in an instant. It burnt wildly, trying to devour everything around it, the coal, the last bits of common fire that still lingered inside them, and even the stone furnace itself.

After the initial moment of shock, Lei Mingxing hurriedly began restraining the fire as best as she could, finally able to contain it inside the coals.

But this was still not enough, even now the fire was breaking down the coal. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before there wouldn't be a pebble of coal left.

Gritting her teeth, Lei Mingxing gripped the wooden stick with the candy flower on top even tighter. Almost breaking it in two while she focused even more, controlling the fire with everything she had.

Sweat was trickling down her forehead, soaking her face veil, but Lei Mingxing finally succeeded, she completely sealed the fire in the coals.

Although this couldn't really be called 'sealing', it was more the process of her fire inside the coal being much too preoccupied with repeatedly devouring itself, as she steadily introduced a sliver of inner Qi.

With this superior fuel, the fire didn't care about the coals in the slightest.

But the whole process still left its mark on the inferior coal.

Its former dull black appearance was nowhere to be seen, transformed into a transparent red like the finest rubies, the blood-red fire burning within.

Lei Mingxing breathed in relief.

Finally, she could take some of her focus off the furnace and glance at Jing Jiang.

And Jing Jiang just wrapped his plate-sized hands around hers, exclaiming with brightly shining eyes.

"When can you start?"

Lei Mingxing was stunned.

Not receiving an answer, Jing Jiang continued.

"I've never met someone this talented, please, I beg of you, become my apprentice! I will do anything!"

There was nothing but sincerity inside Jing Jiang's eyes as he said this.

Hearing his words, Lei Mingxing felt a very warm and giddy feeling rising inside her. She began blushing from the compliments, unsure how to respond to him.

But Jing Jiang interpreted her silence as her asking him to prove just how much her workforce was worth to him, and he took that challenge!

After all, there was nothing for him to hesitate about, after witnessing Lei Mingxing's display earlier, every artificer would have reacted like him.

Jing Jiang especially, since he currently stood at the border of complete ruin. But with Lei Mingxing's talent, he might be able to turn this inevitable fate around!

This was a matter of all or nothing for him.

"What do you want? Flexible working hours? The right to choose what you want to work on? Tell me anything, I will do my best to fulfill it!"

After announcing this, Jing Jiang anxiously looked at Lei Mingxing.

The latter however, felt slightly dizzy hearing these too-good-to-be-true offers, she quickly opened her mouth and agreed.

"Okay!"

Jing Jiang broke into uncontrollable laughter at her words, and with an overjoyed smile that could almost split his face into, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and proudly hugged her already fantasizing about their bright future together.

Lei Mingxing instantly turned stiff, and the smile on her face froze. But Jing Jiang was too caught up in his imagination to notice her discomfort.

Hehe, just you wait Suan Bi! With this prodigy under him, he would reclaim his spot as the top artificer in Dark Spirit Town!

Small theater:

Jing Jiang: You're done for Suan Bi!

Suan Bi: Achoo!

Suan Bi rubbing his nose: Is someone thinking about me?