Douluo Continent, south of Vast Sea City, Skyfin Village.
"Bang, bang, bang..."
A six-year-old child, 1.23 meters tall, with a handsome face and a physique more than twice as strong as his peers, was holding an iron hammer weighing about twenty to thirty jin\* and rhythmically striking a large machete on an anvil.
(\* "jin" is a Chinese weight unit, about 0.5 kg.)
"This batch of orders has finally been completed ahead of schedule!"
The boy's name was Ignaz, a traveler from Earth who crossed over to this world. When forging the Dragon Spring Sword purely by hand, he had been overly obsessed with the peerless swords from martial arts novels and ultimately sacrificed himself to the sword, arriving in this world.
Like most travelers, his initial experience was the same: both parents were deceased. But the only difference was that the Cross family ran the only blacksmith workshop in several nearby villages.
If villagers' farming tools were damaged, they would come to the blacksmith shop for repairs. Ignaz had forging experience from his previous life. After his parents died at sea when he was five, he became self-reliant, supporting himself through blacksmithing.
At first, the villagers pitied Ignaz and often visited the blacksmith shop for business. They originally thought the iron products made would be of poor quality, but unexpectedly, the finished iron goods were far superior to before. The reputation of the Cross family's blacksmith shop spread wider and wider, although the forging speed was a little slow.
"Little Iggy, quickly finish tidying up and go with Grandpa to the Martial Soul Awakening Hall. The Soul Masters from the Martial Soul Hall will arrive soon. Don't miss the awakening time!"
The old village chief, leaning on a cane, looked at Ignaz who was half-naked and holding the large machete, and helplessly shook his head. Starting to make a living as a blacksmith at five years old was hard on this child.
"All right, village chief. I'll finish tidying up and come right away!" Ignaz said with a smile.
He was very much looking forward to the Martial Soul Awakening. Although both of his parents' martial souls were useless spear-fish types, he was, after all, a traveler.
It is said that the poor rely on mutations, the rich rely on reproduction, and travelers rely on otherworldly heavenly luck to be blessed. If one cannot awaken a powerful mutant martial soul, then the martial soul must be a basic original type.
Soon, Ignaz put on his new clothes and went with the village chief to the Martial Soul Awakening Hall at the center of the village.
A young man dressed in the Martial Soul Hall uniform, holding a delicate wooden box, came over. The village chief hurried forward and said,
"Soul Master, all the children suitable for awakening this year are here."
The Soul Master scanned all the children present and silently nodded. Then he pushed open the door of the Awakening Hall and walked inside.
The main hall was plain and simple, almost no different from an ordinary residence. The thirteen children present were very excited, full of great expectation for the martial souls they were about to awaken.
"My name is Jiang Ping, a Level 25 Great Soul Master. I am your guide for the Martial Soul Awakening. No matter what you see later, do not be afraid."
While arranging the awakening formation, Jiang Ping patiently explained basic martial soul knowledge to the children.
"Martial Soul, possess!"
A dark sea horse phantom appeared behind him, and his aura became somewhat frightening. Then one white and one yellow soul ring appeared clearly at his feet.
Some of the timid children present were scared and started crying.
"This is my martial soul, the seahorse. If any of you can awaken a martial soul and have soul power, you can join our Martial Soul Hall."
After speaking, Jiang Ping injected a trace of soul power into the awakening formation, then looked at the first child in line and said,
"Child, you go first!"
The crying child slowly walked into the awakening formation. A seahorse phantom appeared behind the child.
"Seahorse, the same martial soul as mine? Not bad," Jiang Ping thought.
Jiang Ping looked at the child who turned from sadness to joy and said, "Child, your martial soul is a seahorse. Try to communicate with your martial soul and store it away. We will then test your soul power. If you have soul power, you can become a Soul Master!"
"Okay!"
The child continued as instructed, placing the right hand on the blue crystal ball. After a while, no light appeared. Jiang Ping shook his head, a bit disappointed.
"Child, you have no soul power and cannot become a Soul Master."
"Next!"
Jiang Ping continued to complete the martial soul awakening ceremony for the children.
"Fish spear, no soul power."
"Fishing net, no soul power."
"Blue Silver Grass, no soul power."
...
Half an hour passed quickly, and the thirteen children's martial soul awakenings finished one after another. Most children had ocean-type martial souls with no soul power—useless martial souls. Of course, there were also standard useless martial souls like Blue Silver Grass from the continent.
Seeing this, Jiang Ping had lost hope for this village. He looked at Ignaz, who was a head taller than the usual children.
"Alright, only one left, and then we're done. No surprise, it's probably another ordinary person who cannot become a Soul Master. I just hope the next village will have some Soul Masters."
After all, as long as a single Soul Master is awakened, a martial soul awakening master like him—who has not even reached Soul Lord level—will still receive a reward of three gold soul coins from the Martial Soul Hall for the awakened child joining, even if the innate soul power is only Level 1. This is equivalent to one or two years' income for an ordinary family, and the reward is provided directly by the Martial Soul Hall.
"Child, come over here!" Jiang Ping beckoned to Ignaz.
Ignaz immediately stepped forward and entered the formation. Suddenly, golden light burst forth inside the formation. A warm and gentle aura flowed through his body—very comfortable.
Soon, Ignaz felt an extremely mysterious and powerful force trying to break out of his body, hard to suppress.
"Is this the prelude to martial soul awakening? Too bad it's only one martial soul."
Ignaz had just finished murmuring when a spear made of an unknown metal appeared in his right palm.
"This, this noise made me think it was some powerful martial soul, but it's just this—"
Ignaz looked down at the martial soul in his hand, extremely disappointed. The martial soul he awakened was a rusty broken spear, the spear shaft covered with penetrating holes. The blade of the spear tip had multiple missing parts and was almost entirely rusted.
This was the heavens not showing me any favor!
No, the spear tip having rust means it is a harmful weapon—a very classic tetanus blade.
*Cough!* Jiang Ping looked curiously at the broken spear in Ignaz's hand. This was one of the few mutant martial souls he had encountered in his five years of work.
Although this broken spear looked very fragile and could break easily with a slight touch, people with mutant martial souls were very likely to become Soul Masters.
"Child, come test your soul power!"
Ignaz was not discouraged by this. Although the martial soul was a broken spear, the rust on the martial soul also had a special effect. Even without soul power, he could still kill most soul beasts below 50 years old.
He immediately stored the martial soul into his body and placed his right hand on the crystal ball. The blue light started to brighten until it filled one-third of the crystal ball's volume, then slowly stopped.
"There is innate soul power, and it's Level 3 soul power."
Jiang Ping was very happy at this moment. Although the soul power level was not high, at least he had awakened a child with soul power.
"What, only Level 3!"
Although Ignaz had prepared for the worst, seeing that he only awakened Level 3 soul power still made his mentality collapse somewhat.