I Can Upgrade My Talent Infinitely-Chapter 38: Artifacts Have 4 Grades

Alchemy requires a seamless process, making it difficult for two people to cooperate.

If the coordination is off, an entire furnace of pills will be ruined.

With Artifact Refining, however, if your Spiritual Power is depleted halfway through the process, you can have another Cultivator of a similar skill level take over. Of course, the timing of this handover must be chosen carefully; it’s absolutely forbidden to switch during a critical step.

「As time went on.」

The impurities within the Lower Grade Yellow Iron Ore under Fang Yun’s control grew fewer and fewer.

Once they were reduced to a certain point, it was no longer called Lower Grade Yellow Iron Ore, but Lower Grade Yellow Iron.

Throughout the purification, Fang Yun essentially slimmed down the chunk of material before him.

"Let’s see... six and a half pounds."

"Perfectly formed Lower Grade Yellow Iron."

After weighing the purified material, Fang Yun carefully examined the piece of Lower Grade Yellow Iron.

Not only were the impurities reduced to a negligible amount, but he had also avoided wasting the Lower Grade Yellow Iron as much as possible.

During the entire purification process, Fang Yun had almost been running on instinct. This was the power of a three-star Artifact Refining Talent.

Many novice refiners not only leave behind numerous impurities, but they might also reduce thirty pounds of Yellow Iron Ore to a mere three pounds—a tremendous waste.

The Lower Grade Sword Type Magical Artifact that Fang Yun planned to refine didn’t require this much Lower Grade Yellow Iron; five pounds would be enough.

He could store the remaining pound and a half of Lower Grade Yellow Iron and see if it could be used later. If not, it could always be sold.

Next, Fang Yun ground a small piece of the Red Crystal Stone into powder. As for the half-pound of stone milk lotion he had bought, he didn’t need to use all of it; only a small portion was required.

To refine a Lower Grade Sword Type Magical Artifact, the main Spiritual Material, the Lower Grade Yellow Iron, had to be melted into the shape of a Sword Embryo. At this stage, the Earth Fire no longer needed to be at its maximum output as it was at the beginning.

Adjusting the Earth Fire to a suitable level, Fang Yun gradually molded the five pounds of Lower Grade Yellow Iron into the shape of a Sword Embryo.

During the formation of the Sword Embryo, each step of the process proceeded in an orderly manner.

Fang Yun needed to use his Spiritual Power to inscribe patterned symbols.

These symbols had some commonalities with Arrays, but they were far simpler than the way of Arrays and could be learned without much insight.

With his three-star Artifact Refining Talent, he had quickly grasped the theory behind these simple things.

The actual execution, however, was quite strenuous. This was mainly due to the high consumption of Spiritual Power—far more than what he had used for purification earlier.

The materials for refining a Magical Artifact must be able to contain Spiritual Power. The symbols inscribed during the refining process act as amplifiers for the Spiritual Power within the Magical Artifact, allowing for better utilization of the material’s properties while also increasing the artifact’s power.

Refining Magical Artifacts was still relatively simple. Spiritual Artifacts, the level above Magical Artifacts, were another matter entirely.

Magical Artifacts had four grades: Lower Grade, Middle Grade, Upper Grade, and supreme grade.

A more fitting name for a supreme-grade Magical Artifact was Half-Spiritual Artifact, also known as a Spiritual Artifact that was only halfway successfully refined.

In terms of materials, supreme-grade Magical Artifacts were already different from ordinary ones.

If the Lower Grade Magical Artifact Fang Yun was currently refining was only halfway successfully made, it would still be an extraordinary weapon to a mortal—the pinnacle of ordinary armaments.

By the time the Sword Embryo was formed, the Spiritual Power in Fang Yun’s Qi Sea had already dropped by forty percent.

Next came the addition of the auxiliary materials: the Red Crystal Stone and the stone milk lotion.

The Red Crystal Stone could increase destructive power, while the stone milk lotion made the Magical Artifact more durable and extended its lifespan.

"Finally, it’s done."

The moment the refining was successful, Fang Yun let out a soft sigh of relief.

Just as he had thought, with his three-star Artifact Refining Talent, once he had grasped the theoretical knowledge, his actual attempts at refining a Lower Grade Magical Artifact would succeed nine times out of ten. Moreover, the results were quite good.

Most novices would accidentally ruin the material while inscribing the symbols, or the construction would be flawed, resulting in a half-successful, half-failed creation.

"Since it was refined with Lower Grade Yellow Iron as the main material, I’ll just call you the Yellow Iron Sword."

Fang Yun looked at his creation and quickly gave it a name.

Naming it after its main material was simple and required no effort.

From the start of purification until now, nine two-hour periods had passed. In that same amount of time, Fang Yun could have refined three furnaces of Qi Nourishing Pills.

The materials for refining the Yellow Iron Sword, plus the cost of renting the Artifact Refining Room, amounted to a little over three Spirit Stones.

This Lower Grade Magical Artifact, the Yellow Iron Sword, could be sold for seven or eight Lower Grade Spirit Stones. If the materials were used to their absolute limit, the resulting Yellow Iron Sword could fetch ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones at most.

Fang Yun made a quick calculation in his mind.

’In the later stages, Alchemy is far more profitable than Artifact Refining...’

Comparing the refining of Qi Nourishing Pills to the Lower Grade Yellow Iron Sword, once one reached the later stages, the increased Pill Formation Success Rate and quality of the Qi Nourishing Pills would allow one to earn more with less time invested.

In the early stages, however, Artifact Refining was much better than Alchemy.

With an average Artifact Refining Talent, one had a chance of refining a Lower Grade Magical Artifact after spending about ten Lower Grade Spirit Stones on materials. In contrast, someone with an average Alchemy Talent might not be able to produce a single Lower Grade pill even after spending twenty Lower Grade Spirit Stones on Spiritual Materials. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Fang Yun held the Yellow Iron Sword and gave it a swing.

Even without an infusion of Spiritual Power, it was an extraordinary weapon. With Spiritual Power, its might increased dramatically, allowing it to easily deal with some early-stage Qi Refining Demon Beasts.

’I’ll have to test the power of this Yellow Iron Sword later. If my Sword Type Combat Talent reaches one-star next month, I can compare the difference in the Yellow Iron Sword’s power with the Combat Talent bonus...’

After placing the Yellow Iron Sword into his Storage Pouch, Fang Yun’s thoughts were already on upgrading his Combat Talent at next month’s settlement.

Pushing the thought from his mind, he left the number five low-grade Artifact Refining Room.

"Steward, here is the Artifact Refining Room Token."

"Wait." The Steward who took the Token called out to Fang Yun, who was about to leave.

"Steward, is something the matter?"

"What’s your name?" the Steward finally asked.

He had been wondering earlier if he had heard someone mention this Outer Sect disciple before.

"This disciple is Fang Yun."

"So you’re the Fang Yun that Old Zhou was talking about... My surname is Cai."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yun knew that the Old Zhou Steward Cai mentioned was Steward Zhou.

It seemed Steward Zhou had been talking about him quite a bit in front of the other Stewards.

This was exactly what he wanted—to spread his fame and thereby increase his influence within the sect.

"Old Zhou said you have excellent Alchemy Talent, that you’re one of the most outstanding Pill Masters he’s ever seen. What are you doing here practicing Artifact Refining?" Steward Cai’s face was now full of curiosity.

According to Old Zhou’s vivid description, if he had Fang Yun’s Alchemy Talent, he would be completely devoted to the path of Alchemy and wouldn’t waste time on anything else.

"Well," Fang Yun said with a feigned, awkward laugh, "it’s just a hobby."

"You, you..." Steward Cai had many things he wanted to say, but considering his relationship with Fang Yun, he ultimately held his tongue.

If Old Zhou were here, things would be different.

In the end, he only asked.

"Nine two-hour periods. Did you manage to refine anything?"