Chapter 502: Tribulation.
Hao Ren and Grandmaster Kar finished buying the material they needed, and Grandmaster Kar was shocked that Hao Ren was so rich. Initially he thought that Hao Ren was a skilled man, but thinking about the shopping spree where the young man spent around two million spirit stones and without blinking an eye at that, this was a concerning thing. However, after a few minutes, Grandmaster Kar shrugged this thought away from his mind with ease.
After a few minutes, when they came to the ground located on the west of the Council Building, Hao Ren noticed many people lined up and going through registration. They were all here to participate in the Grand Conference. Hao Ren joined the queue and Grandmaster Kar stood behind him. At this moment, many people looked over at their arrival.
The rest of the Grandmasters waiting in the queue had their own opinions about Grandmaster Kar and his skills, however, seeing him stand behind Hao Ren and chatting with a smile on his face, they realized that the equation between the two was strong. So, they kept their goading to themselves as they knew about Hao Ren's reputation in the city.
After an hour, Hao Ren and Grandmaster Kar got through the registration and the staff member on the other side said, "Grandmasters, you would be given a week to go inside the ground and refine the best artifact that you can. This is the free category tournament and the winner will be decided by the level of usage and rarity their artifact has."
Hao Ren realized that the competition in the grandmaster class is not easy. While in the master category the people could compete based on the quality of their weapons and other artifacts.
Hao Ren stepped out of the western gate and found himself standing in a huge ground where many people, thousands of them were standing in front of a furnace. He used the eye of insight and found that the ground was conjured with the support of a spatial array. This was surprising for him but it was a great use of the spatial arrays.
Hao Ren found an empty spot and took his position. Grandmaster Kar went to his own position, allotted to them according to their registration badge. Hao Ren happened to be standing in the position number one thousand one hundred eleven.
He looked around at the people, and when he looked around the place he found three men standing on the high podium. They were all watching them with great scrutiny and the man in the middle happened to be Sypher, his voice sounded in Hao Ren's mind, "Grandmaster Ren, you can go ahead and start refining. Your seven days time will be counted in terms of hours. The result of your evaluation will be given out in ten days. This way the space in the arena and the time of the grandmasters will be managed in a better way."
Hao Ren nodded, and waved his hand to set the furnace on fire. The next moment, he took out the material he had bought and placed it on the side, as he waited for the furnace to catch the heat. He didn't want to attract too much attention as this was a crucial project for him.
He began to toss a few chunks inside, and used his spiritual energy to control and wrap the smelted material out of the furnace and placed it on the anvil and began using his hammer high. The speed of his hits was high but the impact was precise and he refined and shaped the material quickly in the form that he desired.
He began to form one part after the other and his speed kept increasing. He was embedding the parts with the runes of the five elements and spending specialized ink like it was water. The extravagance of his project caused the people to shiver. Sypher was one of them and he said, "Grandmaster Hiro, thank you for the suggestion that we block the other people from seeing what was going on inside. Or they would have suffered a lot."
Grandmaster Hiro looked very fragile in appearance, and he said, "I am rather curious as to what he is making."
...
While the elders were discussing, Hao Ren was focused on refining the parts of his project. He made the limbs and the plates for joints and other things. The young man was focused and stable like a mountain. His speed was fast and his precision was higher. The size of the parts was getting bigger and the speed of the his refinement became slower.
The bang of the hammer slowed down but it began to echo through the surroundings. The barrier around him began to ripple because of the echoes that his hammer created. He was so focused in the process that he forgot about the time flow around him. Suddenly after three days, his hammer stopped and he frowned.
Hao Ren picked up the few parts that he had made before this and placed them inside the furnace. The material was melted inside the intense heat of the Phoenix Flames. Then he began to refine them again. He used the last bit of spiritual ink, to infuse the qualities of the five elements inside the limbs.
He refined the metal into the parts he desired and he refined the limbs for ten thousand times. The purity of the metal increased and although it looked sleek, it was very strong. Hao Ren placed the parts on the table and he saw the table sinking in the platform.
At the dawn of the seventh day, he stopped using the hammer and began to assemble the parts together. His speed was fast and he fit everything together. The elders were shocked to see that Hao Ren has assembled a humanoid artifact. They all could not wait to examine the artifact.
In the end, Hao Ren took out a small cube. This was the highest level processor that Xiao Mei has invented. This small palm sized cube was a central processing unit, and it was also a graphical processor unit as well. Inside the whole body, Hao Ren was creating circuits and signal channels that replicated the neurons. Nobody could see what was going on here from the distance, Hao Ren has basically created a humanoid body that was crafted out of metal.
Finally he placed the processor inside the slot and he pressed a small button on the surface. The processor emitted a blue glow, and right at that moment, the sky was covered with black clouds.
The puppet opened its eyes and after a few moments, the eye lenses gained focus and the puppet said, "Boss, did you really do this?"
Hao Ren chuckled and said, "Yes, I tried my best, but can you please prepare well now? The tribulation is about to descend. You are basically the highest level of artifact that exists under the saint realm."
Xiao Mei chuckled and saluted him as she said, "Yes, Sir. I can handle it all."
Then Xiao Mei, who was apt in using the data she had gathered all these years began to assess the body, while the black thundering clouds caused the people to panic, and began to float in the void.
Hao Ren waved his hand, one hour before the time limit and said, "Go, face the tribulation and showcase your resolve. Even if you are about to perish, don't waver."
Xiao Mei nodded and replied, "See you in a bit, Boss."
Hao Ren nodded, and watched her fly up high in the clouds as purple lightning began to shine through the shroud of clouds.