From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword-Chapter 35 Hidden Profession

"Welcome, my friends, I am so delighted to see you again."

Lu Heng and Su Muyu crossed the Century Bridge through arch number nine and arrived at the forecourt of Quenching Castle, where they heard the distinctive and strange voice of Gulu.

Gulu was still dressed in a cloak, wearing a cat-faced mask, his entire body covered in clothes and socks, concealing his features and adding an air of mystery.

"Hello, did you manage to leave the Abyss smoothly?" Lu Heng inquired first.

"With your help, it was very smooth," Gulu's tone was noticeably more relaxed than when he was in the Abyss World.

"That's good. We came today to try and see if we could quench our weapons. We just got two pieces of quenching material a couple of days ago," Lu Heng said as he took out the two pieces of Quenching Essence and handed them over for Gulu to see.

Gulu took the Quenching Essence, praising, "This is some very fine quenching material. It so happens my Quenching Furnace has been fixed. We can try out its effectiveness. Please, come with me."

As a reward for helping Gulu's Quenching Castle escape from the Abyss, Lu Heng could have weapons and equipment quenched free of charge at Quenching Castle.

Of course, he had to provide his own materials.

Gulu led the two through the ancient corridors of Quenching Castle and into a forging room, sharing some history of Quenching Castle along the way.

Entering the forging room and coming to the Quenching Furnace, Gulu introduced, "This is the Quenching Furnace. You start by adding the Quenching Essence and once it melts into a liquid state, you place the weapon to be quenched inside.

"The Quenching Furnace broke when we separated from the Abyss, and I've only just repaired it, so we don't have accurate data on the success rate of quenching yet.

"However, from my experience, there shouldn't be a problem. Do you want to try now?"

Lu Heng had experience with quenching before his rebirth, so he decided to give it a try himself.

Thus, he asked Gulu to start the Quenching Furnace, readying to quench the Aurora Blade.

After the Quenching Furnace heated up, the Quenching Essence was added first.

Under high temperatures, the Quenching Essence slowly melted into a semi-transparent orange liquid, emitting an orange-red light.

Then, the Aurora Blade was placed into the Quenching Furnace to heat. Once the Aurora Blade began to emit a faint glow as well, the liquid Quenching Essence was poured onto the Aurora Blade.

The Quenching Essence slowly merged into the blade, which continued to be heated in the Quenching Furnace.

When the heating was almost complete, Gulu gave a reminder, "It's ready."

Lu Heng used long-handled iron tongs to take the Aurora Blade out and then quickly cooled it in water.

Sizzle!

The fiery-red Aurora Blade touched the water, instantly making it boil over, with flames bursting forth.

After the cooling was finished, several rows of data prompts emerged before his eyes.

[Successfully quenched the Aurora Blade. Item Level of the Aurora Blade upgraded to +1.]

[For completing your first quenching, you have acquired the Vice Profession "Apprentice Quenching Master."]

[For performing the quenching task, Apprentice Quenching Master Professional Experience +10.]

A new section appeared on the data panel for the Vice Profession.

[Vice Profession: Apprentice Quenching Master (10/1000)]

[Vice Profession Skill: Quenching]

[Apprentice Quenching Master: Quenching success rate +10%, Flame Resistance +10%]

Lu Heng hadn't expected to acquire a Vice Profession and his eyes lit up.

Moreover, this Vice Profession could increase Flame Resistance, a very useful Attribute.

Following that, he took out the Aurora Blade to inspect its Attributes.

[Aurora Blade +1 (Assimilated)]

[Item Level: C Level]

[Specifications: Length 132 centimeters, Blade Width 3.6 centimeters, Weight 1.6 kilograms]

[Attributes: Attack Power 40]

[Evaluation: A weapon forged from Aurora Original Stone, inflicts Sharp Blade damage when attacking. Its quality is quite superior, making it a rare sword-type weapon.]

The quenching was successful; the Aurora Blade +1 had its Attack Power increased from 30 to 40 points—a significant improvement.

Additionally, cold weapons are different from firearms.

The damage of firearms is fixed and cannot benefit from the user's Strength attribute.

Even a Superpower User with an off-the-charts Strength attribute would not inflict more damage with a shot than an ordinary person.

Cold weapons, however, were different: the higher the Strength, the greater the damage dealt by the cold weapon.

After the successful quenching of the Aurora Blade, a faint glow radiated from the surface of the blade, revealing at a glance that this was no ordinary weapon.

The hunt for the mother creature had yielded a total of two pieces of Quenching Essence. Now, after using one, there was still one piece left.

Lu Heng glanced back at Su Muyu and asked, "Do you want to try quenching your bracelet?"

The source of this c𝓸ntent is freewebnøvel.coɱ.

Su Muyu shook her head. "Um... Can the Aurora Blade continue to be quenched? If so, let's keep enhancing the Aurora Blade."

The higher the quenching level of a weapon, the lower the success rate becomes.

However, the Aurora Blade was only at +1 level, so the success rate wouldn't decrease by much.

Moreover, having just acquired the vice profession of Apprentice Quenching Master, there was an additional +10% to the quenching success rate.

Thus, Lu Heng started the furnace again, placing the second piece of Quenching Essence into it for a second quenching of the Aurora Blade.

Heating, melting, merging, cooling—a complete set of quenching steps ensued.

Once again, the Aurora Blade was placed in the cooling water, and the water boiled.

Sizzle!

[The quenching process for the Aurora Blade is successful, and the grade of the Aurora Blade has been raised to +2.]

[Completing a quenching operation yields +10 Quenching Master Professional Experience.]

[Aurora Blade +2]

[Attributes: Attack Power 50]

The second quenching was successful, raising the attack power by another 10 points.

With two quenchings, the attack power had increased from 30 to 50, nearly doubling.

A 50-point attack power, along with strength bonuses, could easily deal close to 70 points of damage with a single swing.

If it hit a vital area, inflicting two to three times critical damage, even a demon wouldn't withstand a single blow.

After performing quenching twice, Lu Heng felt an itch—eager to attempt a third quenching, but unfortunately, he had no more quenching materials.

With higher-grade Spiritual Injection Materials, weapon quenching could be taken to level 3, which allows for Spirit Injection that, if successful, could grant new Special Effects.

But with no materials left, he would have to wait until he collected more to continue.

Both quenching attempts were successful.

Gulu clapped from the sidelines in admiration, "Amazing, my friend! You have great Talent for quenching. Have you ever considered becoming a Quenching Master?"

"Uh, I haven't thought about that. But I'm willing to give it a try when I have the time."

Relative to that, Lu Heng was more concerned about his combat profession than the vice profession.

Of course, it was something he could consider if he had the time.

"In the future, Quenching Castle is always open to you. This is the Quenching Castle Badge; wearing this badge, you can enter Quenching Castle at any time," Gulu said, handing Lu Heng a badge.

Engraved on the badge was a castle ablaze with flames, the emblem of Quenching Castle.

"Uh, thank you." Lu Heng didn't expect to receive the Quenching Castle Badge so soon.

If there were a reputation system, his standing with Quenching Castle would probably be nearly maxed out by now.

The Quenching Castle Badge, aside from representing high standing with the castle, also served as a key to its gates.

Even Power Users who knew where the entrance to Quenching Castle was couldn't enter whenever they wished; they had to wait for the castle to open its gates.

Moreover, there wasn't just one entrance to Quenching Castle, and only the master of the castle knew which one would be open.

With the Quenching Castle Badge, it was different—one could enter at any time.

Gulu remembered something and suddenly became enraged, "Quenching Castle is currently facing a dilemma. I don't suppose you would be willing to help us?"

"What's the problem? We'll do what we can." Lu Heng knew right away that he had triggered a quest.

Gulu spoke angrily, "The cover of the Quenching Furnace has been stolen by a damn thief. As a result, the flames have become very unstable, making the quenching failure rate extremely high."

Lu Heng's eyes widened as he thought to himself: Your furnace is missing its cover, yet I still managed to succeed in quenching twice in a row.

Hearing that it was the cover that was lost, a light bulb went off in Lu Heng's head; he suddenly remembered this task of retrieving the cover seemed to be the starting quest for a hidden profession.

And there was something that both the combat strength and difficulty of obtaining this hidden profession had in common—both were outrageously high.

Lu Heng quickly responded, "Who stole the cover? I'll go get it back."

"A damn Abyss Fire Stealer. It tried to steal my Quenching Furnace. Luckily, I discovered it in time, but it still managed to escape with the cover. Now it's hidden somewhere unknown; if you can catch it and bring back the cover for me, that would be wonderful," Gulu pounded his fist, clearly loathing the Abyss Fire Stealer.

[Hidden Quest Triggered: The Lost Furnace Cover of Quenching Castle]

[Quest Details: When Quenching Castle was separating from the Abyss, an Abyss Fire Stealer hided within it and took the opportunity to steal the furnace cover. Gulu asks for your help in retrieving it.]

[Reward: The Friendship of Quenching Castle]