Chapter 4: Growth Through Failure and Backtracking

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The design blueprint was the foundation, the rudimentary form was the shape, and the final weapon’s final grade was determined through refining and strengthening. Every step was extremely important. A good blacksmith had to master all the knowledge above. If there was one step that he could not master, he could only work in a foundry and become one of its thousands of screws in the future.

Therefore, to complete his final-year design, he had to first understand the contents of the blueprint and then copy the blueprint of Mjolnir according to the information on it.

To do that, he needed paper, a pen, and ink. However, in Wu Mo’s single dormitory, there was only a pile of waste, not even a set of intact casting materials.

Thinking of this, Wu Mo immediately focused his mind and escaped the Forging Space.

In the next moment, his five senses returned to him. Wu Mo slowly opened his eyes and looked at the time on his phone.

Before entering the Forging Space, he had deliberately looked at the time as well. Previously, it was 5.20 pm, but now, the time on his phone was 5.21 pm.

To be precise, ten seconds had only passed on his phone, which was exactly the same as the Forging Space’s description of slowing down the flow of time by a hundred times!

Wu Mo’s expression was full of excitement, but he did not forget what he was supposed to do.

Standing up from the couch, Wu Mo opened his Paypal account with some anxiety and looked at the balance in it.

There was ¥12,700.

The number that appeared on the screen made Wu Mo’s heart turn cold with excitement.

This bit of money might not be enough for him to buy the paper, pen, and ink for better casting.

He was speechless in his heart, but when he thought of the need to hand in the design drawings tomorrow morning, Wu Mo could only resign to his fate.

Putting on his coat, Wu Mo opened the door of the single dormitory and hurried downstairs.

The sky outside was dark, and the sun had already set to the west. The sunlight had also become gentler.

On the way, Wu Mo lowered his head and did not respond to the curious gazes around him. He walked straight to the materials store.

The store was hundreds of square meters in size, and its middle-aged boss was sitting by the counter. He looked Wu Mo up and down before he curiously asked, “What would you like to buy, young man?”

Wu Mo raised his head and went straight to the point. “How much is the average casting pen here?”

He knew the approximate price of these materials. A good casting pen would cost tens of thousands of yuan, but he was still unwilling to give up. Wu Mo did not want to buy the worst one.

After all, he was using it to draw the design for Mjolnir. If he used something that was too poor, it would be unworthy of the quality of Thor’s hammer.

The middle-aged boss frowned. Then, he took out a gilded pen from the shelf at the side. “This one costs ¥25,000. Do you think it’ll work?”

Looking at the faint blue light that the casting pen emanated, Wu Mo’s expectant expression froze on the spot.

“Forget it. I’ll just take a beginner’s set.”

After listening to him, the boss clicked his tongue. He started to become a little impatient as he lowered his head and searched for a moment. Then, he threw a set of paper, pen, and ink with simple packaging on the counter.

“One set for ¥12,000. Scan the code.”

After tapping on the glass with the QR code printed on it, the boss turned his gaze back to the currently popular TV series, “The Legend of the Mortal Casting.”

Wu Mo was not affected by the boss’ attitude. Once he paid the bill, he took the materials and left the shop.

On the way back, he looked at the few hundred yuan left in his Paypal and sighed internally. The most trashy set of materials had exhausted all of his savings. No wonder forging was said to be the most expensive profession in the country.

When he returned to his single dormitory, which was dozens of square meters in size, Wu Mo closed his eyes again and impatiently entered the Forging Space.

The surrounding sounds disappeared, and he opened his eyes. At that moment, he realized that there was actually a set of paper, pen, and ink for casting on the workbench in front of him.

“Hu… Let’s begin.”

Wu Mo took a deep breath and spread out the one-square-meter casting paper.

He held the gray casting pen in his hand, which did not have any luster on its surface, and lightly dipped it in ink. Then, he began the first drawing session.

Wu Mo followed the blueprint memory in his mind and lightly drew the first stroke on the white casting paper.

Right then, visible energy enveloped his entire body. In an instant, Wu Mo felt his emotions calm down, and his thoughts started to move much faster.

He quickly understood that this had to be due to the workbench’s amplification effect.

Wu Mo’s confidence had greatly increased, so he did not hesitate any longer and started writing. As the ink blots merged, the rudimentary shape of the thunder god’s hammer quickly appeared on the casting paper.

Wu Mo then drew a series of mysterious runes on the hammer’s handle. The copying process had been perfectly carried out up to 50% at this point.

However, just as Wu Mo was about to draw his next stroke, an indiscernible gray light abruptly materialized. In the next second, the entire casting paper erupted with fluctuating energy. Immediately after, countless cracks formed on the paper, turning it into a piece of waste!

Looking at the scene before him, Wu Mo was completely rooted to the spot. His heart trembled, and his previously calm emotions disappeared without a trace.

Looking at the mess of the casting paper and the cracked tip of the pen, Wu Mo could not figure out what had gone wrong.

[The drawing of the design has failed. Do you wish to activate the backtrack function?]

The system’s voice rang out in his mind, and Wu Mo’s long and narrow eyes lit up. He immediately selected the backtrack function.

[Ding! Backtrack successful. The host’s previous failure was due to the wrong order of drawing, resulting in an imbalance of energy. Please continue working hard.]

A white light flashed in front of his eyes, and Wu Mo subconsciously covered his peepers. When darkness returned to his surroundings, he was delighted to find that the original damaged paper and pen had been restored to their original state.

“I refuse to believe that I won’t be able to understand a single drawing!”

Wu Mo picked up the forging pen again. This time, he was even more careful, and his speed was much slower than before.

Every stroke contained 12% of his knowledge. It was not until half an hour later that he was able to draw Mjolnir’s outline again.

This time, his strokes were even clearer and more organized than the last time. There was even a faint glow on the surface, which showed peak quality.

“There shouldn’t be any mistakes this time, right?”

Wu Mo straightened out his train of thought and drew another stroke.

The black ink slid across the paper. Nothing unusual happened, and things remained calm.

Seeing that he had successfully overcome the previous difficulty, a sense of accomplishment rose in Wu Mo’s heart. He had originally wanted to take advantage of this surge of energy to finish his work in one go, but before he could draw another three strokes, the same situation happened again. The entire paper was torn into pieces!

The surge of energy even knocked over the ink beside him, spilling it all over the ground.

“Backtrack!”

Wu Mo did not hesitate at all and immediately chanted in his heart.

White light flashed again, and the damaged paper and ink appeared in front of him once more.