My Professions Have Too Much Personality-Chapter 160 - 115: Soldier Nurturer at the Craftsmanship Department (Part 2)

"It’s not just about the uncertainty." Li Zhe wasn’t annoyed by the comment. "It would be one thing if it were any of the other Core Seeds, but Su Chen and Zhu Xuan are completely untested."

"Talking trash behind their backs. So two-faced." Ruan Yuntao couldn’t stand the guy and turned to leave.

"Who’s talking trash?" Li Zhe shot back angrily. "If your brother-in-law wasn’t a department chief, you would’ve been pushed out long ago. And you have the gall to act so high and mighty!"

...

Su Chen was oblivious to the argument in the Professional Analysis Department. He had already left the Judicial Court and was on his way to the Craftsmanship Department.

The Craftsmanship Department, Engraving Department, Pharmacy Department, and other such profession-related sections were primarily support-focused. They all fell under the Resources Department, whose director was also a member of the Elder Council.

These departments were considered second-tier within Ying Feng. Although they ranked below the Judicial Court, the Security Department, and the Translation Department, they were still places most people could never hope to enter.

The Craftsmanship Department was located in a somewhat remote area, and it took Su Chen some time to arrive. From a distance, he could already see massive furnaces.

They looked like giant steel beasts crouching on the ground, with cooling towers behind them constantly spewing white smoke.

Next to it was the Engraving Department, which appeared much more serene, consisting only of a large complex of interconnected white buildings.

The two departments had many areas for collaboration; to some extent, they were practically intertwined.

After verifying his identity, Su Chen stepped into the Craftsmanship Department. The ambient temperature was noticeably higher.

"Ah, a Soldier Nurturer... We have quite a few of your profession in the Craftsmanship Department. There are no specific requirements for the metal raw materials you’ll need to refine. Regular Gold Ore will do."

The person in charge of receiving him was the administrative section chief of the Craftsmanship Department, a man named Sun Zhiyu. He had been waiting at the main gate. He was a very capable-looking middle-aged man with light-brown skin, as if he had been scorched by high temperatures for many years.

He led Su Chen inside. "We have a standard procedure here. We refine the raw materials to ninety percent purity before handing them over to you. It saves a lot of time."

THUD!

Su Chen’s gaze shifted to a testing ground on his left, where rhythmic shockwaves were emanating from. A hammer-like impact device was conducting stress tests on a new type of armor, and each strike produced a significant ripple of Energy.

Hearing this, he said, "Section Chief Sun, let’s not follow the old method. I want to refine it myself, from raw material to finished product."

Sun Zhiyu stopped in his tracks, rather stunned. "Refine it yourself? If you use the manual method, it’ll take a very long time to refine all that raw material..."

"I want it to be perfect," Su Chen said with a smile.

Sun Zhiyu didn’t argue. Within certain limits, his job was just to provide whatever Su Chen needed. He had just been a little surprised, that’s all.

The two continued deeper into the facility. The noise grew louder and the temperature steadily rose, especially when they passed the furnaces. Su Chen could feel himself starting to sweat.

WHIRRR—

A shadow fell over Su Chen. He looked up to see the dome of a nearby warehouse slowly opening. A maglev forklift was transporting bundles of crystallized steel ingots to the finishing center, the cooling patterns on the ingots’ surfaces shimmering with a faint blue light.

"Here we are. This is the rough processing floor..." Sun Zhiyu led him into the work area. As soon as the heavy steel doors opened, a wave of heat washed over them.

The place was a hive of activity. Conveyor belts leading to the central furnace were laden with metal ore heated to a fiery red. Hydraulic forging hammers on all sides worked in unison, their constant DING-DONG-DANG filling the air as flakes of scale shot off like shooting stars.

The Craftsmanship Department had many subordinate facilities. Mass-produced, standardized weapons weren’t made here. This place was more like a small-scale refinery and weapons laboratory.

They passed through the work area and came to a series of independent workshops at the back. Through a thick glass window, Su Chen could vaguely see someone inside wielding a large hammer, apparently also at work.

Sun Zhiyu opened the door to an empty room and explained, "Many prototype weapons can only be hand-forged at first. Only after various tests can a mold be created for production."

Inside the room was a small forge. In the corner was a collection of metal hammers of various designs, and scattered about were a few pieces of black ore streaked with pale gold.

"Hmm..." Su Chen thought for a moment before asking, "Could I perhaps refine this somewhere else?"

"Where would you like to go, sir?" Sun Zhiyu asked, slightly taken aback.

"My quarters in the Judicial Court," Su Chen said. Refining the materials would obviously take a lot of time, and he wanted to train simultaneously.

This place was quite far from the Judicial Court, and it didn’t have any training facilities.

"Well..." Sun Zhiyu frowned slightly. "Refining Gold Ore doesn’t require an overly strict environment, but I’ll have to ask for authorization for this. Please excuse me."

He hurried off to find his Superior, while Su Chen walked into the workshop and activated the forge. A nozzle in the center suddenly spat out a brilliant tongue of plasma flame.

Su Chen used tongs to place a brick-sized piece of Gold Ore on it, then walked over to the row of metal hammers in the corner, weighing them in his hand. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

[Red Steel Forging Hammer (Tier Two): Forged from a high-strength red steel alloy.]

’They’re all Tiered Items...’ Su Chen was quite surprised. He picked one that felt comfortable and took a test swing at the Gold Ore, which was now glowing fiery red.

CLANG!

Amidst the crisp, ringing sound of the impact, Su Chen felt a recoil travel up the hammer. A number of red-hot particles flew off, rapidly oxidizing and turning black in mid-air. These were the impurities.

"Brother Su?" A voice called out from the doorway. Su Chen paused and looked up. "Jiang Xi?"

"It really is you..." Jiang Xi was even more surprised, walking over excitedly. "I heard from a colleague that a Core Seed had arrived. I had a feeling it might be you. What are you doing here?"

"Oh, just fulfilling a professional requirement. I need to refine some materials," Su Chen explained.