Won't You Be in Danger?

"How should I put it once I get inside? 'I'll help you with forging, but I don't know how yet, so wait for me to learn first'?" Looking at the room before her, Gu Yuena sank into deep thought. Recently, she had received quite a bit of guidance from Yuhao. While it had brought them closer—to the point where she could address him directly by name—it had also made her acutely aware of the gap between them. Things couldn't continue like this. Gu Yuena was certain of that. She had been on the receiving end of favor after favor: intelligence regarding the God Realm, guidance on how to live as a human, instruction in secondary professions... Meanwhile, all she had given Yuhao was a negligible trace of Silver Dragon King bloodline, which was practically useless to a reincarnated Godking. She couldn't simply keep taking favors and ride on Yuhao's coattails the entire way, could she? She wasn't that kind of person! Yet even if she wanted to do something, what could she possibly offer right now? In her capacity as the Silver Dragon King, she couldn't give away her divine tools or her Origin. As an ordinary friend, her skills as a designer were of little use. That left only other secondary professions that might aid Huo Yuhao. Among the four secondary professions, the only useful one she could think of was Forging Master. As for Mecha Repairer... honestly, if someone knew how to design and build mechas, how could he possibly not know how to repair them? Worse comes to worst, he could just scrap it and rebuild it! Recently, the association had partnered with the Forging Association, and Yuhao had accepted an arrangement to work with a junior Forging Master. This had rekindled her original thought. To become a Forging Master! Taking a deep breath, Gu Yuena was just about to knock on the door when a voice came from behind her. "What are you doing with a hammer?" Gu Yuena froze. Turning around to meet Huo Yuhao's strange look, the hammer in her hand clattered to the floor, and an unmistakable blush crept across her face. She had thought it all through beforehand, so why did being looked at by Yuhao right at the critical moment feel... so embarrassing? ... "You want to help me?" "Mm." "You feel indebted to me?" "Mm." "So you want to learn forging?" "Mm." Looking at Gu Yuena sitting on the chair with an obedient expression, Huo Yuhao let out a soft breath and chuckled helplessly. "In interactions between people, material value isn't everything; emotional value matters just as much. Sometimes, seeing a friend living a carefree, happy life makes you feel lighter too. There's no need for this." Seeing the Silver Dragon King behave herself at the academy without stirring up trouble genuinely made him happy—happy in every sense of the word. Gu Yuena stared at him in a momentary daze before falling silent. Aside from Di Tian and the others, another person was telling her to live carefree in this world... Wait, no, he was a god. Huo Yuhao continued, "If you truly want to learn forging, I won't stop you. But if it's solely to help me, there's no need at all. Your bloodline is very helpful to me, and I don't want to owe you too much either." "Helpful?" Gu Yuena snapped back to reality, looking at Huo Yuhao with some confusion. "Mm. I'm considering whether I can use this bloodline power, combined with the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, to develop Soul Spirits carrying the Dragon God bloodline." Seeing Gu Yuena's gaze gradually turn blank, Huo Yuhao blinked and offered a faint smile. "I might take a trace of Golden Dragon King bloodline power from Tang Wulin. Do you have any objections? If you do, I can give up this research." Gu Yuena took a deep breath. She wasn't angry that Huo Yuhao was coveting the Dragon God's power, but her expression grew complicated. "Weren't you uninterested in the Dragon God's power before?" Huo Yuhao replied casually, "That was before. Now that I have your bloodline power, it's only natural to pursue this research." Understood. He had lacked interest before, but after entering into a contract and acquiring her bloodline, a spark of interest had been ignited. Thinking this over, Gu Yuena furrowed her delicate brows, feeling somewhat conflicted. If it was just a trace of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline... that shouldn't be a problem, right? He had helped her so much. Even if he considered her bloodline sufficient compensation, she couldn't view it that way. Besides, this would allow him to test whatever contingencies the Sea God had left on Tang Wulin on her behalf. Whether emotionally or logically, it seemed she had no reason to refuse... Seeing Gu Yuena sink into thought, Huo Yuhao said no more. He took out the piece of Spirit Metal on which he had been inscribing an array during class and resumed carving. Sometimes, taking a step back to advance was the best solution. Once he obtained the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, as long as he continued seeing Gu Yuena, he wouldn't be able to hide it. It was far better to be upfront about it. By putting the initiative in Gu Yuena's hands, he let her weigh the matter and make the choice for him. If Gu Yuena agreed, he could take it openly. If she disagreed, he would take it silently without using it. Judging by their interactions lately, the likelihood of her agreeing was... "You won't be in danger, will you?" Hearing the trace of concern in Gu Yuena's voice, Huo Yuhao paused in his thoughts and sighed inwardly. This response... wasn't entirely unexpected either. With that in mind, Huo Yuhao's tone turned far more sincere. "I naturally have confidence. The real question is whether you can accept someone else obtaining the Dragon God bloodline. I will eventually have to attempt a bloodline fusion." "A single trace of Dragon God bloodline is meaningless, and synthesizing it is extremely difficult, let alone creating a Soul Spirit. Your research will likely end up fail... hitting a bottleneck." Composing herself, Gu Yuena shook her head slightly as she walked over to Huo Yuhao, looking down at what he was working on. The metal he was inscribing with a soul tool array was Spirit Refined Blue Gestational Copper. And the soul tool array on it... was one she had never seen before. "Even failure provides experience. How could it be meaningless?" Huo Yuhao remarked as he glanced at the quiet Gu Yuena beside him, making the final cut on the Spirit Metal. In an instant, the bright silver soul tool array was fully formed. Then, Huo Yuhao shifted the topic: "Setting aside the matter of Soul Spirits, if you truly want to learn forging, you can start by understanding the principles behind it with me. Many Forging Masters merely learn forging techniques without ever understanding what the forging process actually accomplishes at its core." Watching a trace of silver liquid gradually condense on the Blue Gestational Copper as the soul tool array took shape, Gu Yuena felt a peculiar vitality radiating from it. Her pupils constricted, and something Di Tian had once told her immediately surged into her mind. Extracting a certain substance from metal... wasn't that technique... At that moment, Huo Yuhao continued, "Hundred Refinements, Thousand Refined, Spirit Refined, Soul Refined, and Heaven Refined are the progression path for a Forging Master. "Yet at its core, forging is an extraction process. The extracted substance was named the metal source in Federation history. Everything up to Spirit Refined belongs to the process of extracting the source. Only upon reaching Soul Refined does one begin altering the source, allowing the metal to undergo further sublimation..." Gu Yuena stared solemnly at that trace of silver liquid. She had taken in everything Huo Yuhao said, but she would never forget the core significance of extracting the metal source. Extracting the metal source... this was the core technology behind the Douluo Federation's creation of rank-12 God-Slaying soul cannon shells!