He scooped up the dust into another bowl of Dao energy, and placed it back in the forge. Then he pulled on the bellows until the flame had reached a white hot level of intensity. Within the small crucible of Dao energy, the dust began to melt into a steaming mixture of various impurities, chief among them, carbon. Sam then made a small hole in the top of the box, and let the now gaseous unwanted elemental escape. He was left with pure, molten carbon.

Sam withdrew the carbon from the force and set down the crucible. It was odd watching liquid slosh around within an invisible container, but also strangely satisfying. It looked as if it should spill out and scorch the floor, but nothing happened. Dao energy only let heat through, and didn’t conduct it. It was a material entirely under Sam’s control. A mortal could have touched it without being burnt if Sam truly wanted it.

What he was using now was different than normal. Rather than the blue and red energy that normally came into the world when he expressed his Dao, he was using a far more inert, colorless version made from leeching it of much of its conceptual power. It was then downgraded into something more like an incredibly durable solid than anything else.All of these uses for his Dao mastery were already present in his mind, but until now, none of them had been necessary.

The carbon cooled over the next quarter of an hour as he cycled air though it. He didn’t care about the quality of the carbon here, only that it was carbon. He would be grinding it down anyway, so if it cooled into a strange shape, that was fine.

After this process, he was left with a pitch black chunk of pure carbon that he quickly turned to dust between two rotating discs of the Dao energy. It was a quick and easy process, and he was soon left with a sizable amount of carbon dust. He would need to experiment to get the proportions right with the steel, but he had enough to begin in any case.

Over the next few hours, he filled various molds with mixtures of molten iron and carbon, looking to see which created the strongest steel. Eventually, he found that around 1 to 2 percent carbon by weight created the most consistent strength steel, and it was upon that discovery that he finally left Novice rank.

You have upgraded your Profession to Apprentice Stage 1!

Your body and soul have become your tools, and your E Rank power allows you to create works of wonder with ease. Smithing is more than just mastery. It is the ability to actually achieve the grandiose goals that you have in mind. With the ability to use Dao energy instead of highly imprecise tools, your limits continue to recede further and further into the distance.

+14 to Strength, +7 to Dexterity

Sam closed the notification and then opened his stat sheet. He had grown much since entering the Tower, if not in level, then in strength.

Sam Atlas

Human: E Rank

Enlightened Tier

E Rank

Class: Lesser Dao Paragon

Level 151

(171 stat points unspent)

Strength

2662

2.17x

Constitution

2261

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2.12x

Resilience

2283

2.12x

Dexterity

2204

2.17x

Intelligence

2297

2.12x

Wisdom

2351

2.12x

* Health 50880/50880

* Mana 51675/51675

* Stamina 59895/59895

* Karma: 54

* Road to Zenith

Stage 2

* Dao

Dao Echo of Inspiration

Dao Seed of the Avenger(Second Step)

* Skills

1x Rare, 2x Epic, 5x Legendary, 6x Mythical, 2x Ancient, 1x Primal, 1x Unique

* Titles

1x Legendary, 3x Mythical, 3x Ancient, 1x Transcendent

* Temporary Titles

1x Epic, 1x Legendary, 1x Mythical

* Dao Heritage

Dao Incarnation of Existence(Second Step)

* Party

None

* Skill Branches

* Lightning Neurons (Level 2)

Iron Body(Level 2)

Iron Bones (Level 2)

Muscle Density Enhancement(Level 1)

Basic Weapon Knowledge: Blunt(Level 1)

Dao Resonance(Level 1)

Karmic Cycle(Level 1)

Lucky(Level 1)

Increased Blood Flow (Level 1)

* Weapon Style

Flowing Water Style

* Weapon Mastery: Brotherhood Stage 6

* Elemental Affinities

Earth: 15% Mastery

* Elemental Boons

Elemental Infusion: Stoneskin

* Quests

The Sacred Bond: Impossible

Engines of the End Times: S

* Professions

Smith: Apprentice Stage 1

Dao Smith: Novice Stage 1

The more he progressed, the more he realized how much less and less his stats meant. Without the addition of his Dao or skills, there was almost nothing he could do with his base parameters, at least compared to the utter devastation he could wreak normally. Hell, he probably was physically weaker than many B list superheroes. None of that mattered though, when he could atomize a city with a single attack.

All of his power sources acted multiplicatively, his Dao even more so than anything else. It was how higher Rankers could destroy planets or even galaxies. The amount of raw strength required for such a thing would be so large that it would take an unimaginable number of levels to ever reach.

Sam shook his head. The internal contemplation was already starting. He could sense that this month would be a long one. As long as it was profitable though, he couldn’t care less.