Chapter 399: Reducing Artifact Refinement Costs
Zhang Yu gazed at the Feather Book’s entry for Azure Heaven Sand, Level 1 (0/10), and couldn’t help but sigh at the long path ahead in his artifact refinement journey.
But the next moment, the chilling power of the ritual surged through his mind, reminding him to persevere and interrupting his musings.
Zhang Yu immediately suppressed his distractions and began refining Azure Heaven Sand for the second time.
“Buying the copyright and renting the laboratory and equipment cost me nearly one Spirit Coin. Refining it only once isn’t enough.”
Zhang Yu checked the time. The first refinement had taken about twenty minutes, and he had rented the laboratory and equipment for six hours.
“Keep refining!”
He immediately channeled his Gang Qi, drawing the materials toward him.
This time, Zhang Yu’s movements were much more practiced. Streams of Gang Qi surged forth, simultaneously manipulating the materials and tools.
Zhang Yu realized that the process of refining Azure Heaven Sand bore a striking resemblance to his usual cultivation art practice.
It was as if he were treating the raw materials before him as his own physical body, using various Immortal Dao Technologies to transform them and ultimately achieve the desired Immortal Dao effect.
The process of improvement was akin to mastering a cultivation art — the more skilled one became, the more potent the results. The higher the refinement level of Azure Heaven Sand, the better the final product.
Ye Xingli watched Zhang Yu begin his second attempt at refining Azure Heaven Sand. Initially, she paid little attention, but suddenly her brow furrowed slightly. “Are you using too little ore?”
Zhang Yu smiled and explained, “I’m trying to save on materials. This way, I can practice more times.”
Ye Xingli cautioned, “Different ore quantities require adjustments to every subsequent step — the application of Gang Qi and Magic Power, the temperature of the Yang Fire Smelting Furnace — everything changes.”
“Newcomers should stick to the standard proportions. Once you’ve improved, you can experiment with adjustments.”
Zhang Yu naturally ignored Ye Xingli’s advice.
Seeing his stubbornness, Ye Xingli shook her head and stopped trying to persuade him. “This kid… his talent for artifact refinement is mediocre, but his stubbornness is remarkable.”
Ye Xingli wasn’t surprised. Many novices behaved this way, especially those who had already achieved success in other fields. Overconfident, they often needed to stumble several times in artifact refinement before learning to keep their feet on the ground.
Ye Xingli watched Zhang Yu continue refining the small batch of Azure Heaven Sand. In the end, only about half of the materials were successfully refined, while the other half were ruined.
Ye Xingli shook her head, thinking, “Zhang Yu should understand now.”
But Zhang Yu, staring at the Feather Book’s display — Azure Heaven Sand Level 1 (1/10) — nodded to himself. “So, even changing the quantity counts as a refinement.”
Zhang Yu decided to further reduce the batch size, testing the minimum amount of materials needed for the Feather Book to register progress.
“This will further reduce the cost of my artifact refinement practice.”
With that thought, Zhang Yu turned to Ye Xingli beside him and asked, “Senior Sister, since I’m only refining Azure Heaven Sand and won’t need the other equipment in the laboratory, would you like to use it?”
Ye Xingli’s heart stirred at the offer.
It wasn’t about saving money; the laboratory rental fee was insignificant to her.
Rather, standing idly by while Zhang Yu worked, she figured she might as well use the time to work on her own projects.
A few Spirit Coins meant little to her, but the extra hours for study and cultivation were invaluable.
Ye Xingli nodded. “Perfect timing. I’ve been adjusting my Bionic recently, and this equipment will be quite useful.”
“I won’t take advantage of you on the laboratory rental. We’ll split the cost evenly.”
“If you have any questions about artifact refinement, feel free to ask me anytime.”
Zhang Yu watched as Ye Xingli detached her right arm, manipulated the Bionic with Gang Qi, and placed it on a nearby instrument. She observed the data while channeling streams of specific Magic Power into the device.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, “The artifacts I’m refining are still too simple. Using the laboratory alone feels like a waste.”
“If I could share the laboratory with someone in the future and split the rental costs, I could save even more Spirit Coins.”
Ever since successfully refining his first batch of Azure Heaven Sand, Zhang Yu had been constantly pondering how to minimize his Spirit Coin expenditure while advancing his path of Artifact Refinement.
“If I could sell the Azure Heaven Sand, maybe I could even make a profit?”
But he quickly dismissed the idea. “No, I probably wouldn’t make any money. At best, I’d just break even.”
Zhang Yu knew that many companies and factories had long since achieved mass production and assembly line manufacturing of basic materials like Azure Heaven Sand.
Not only could they produce it at a lower cost than he could, but their average quality also surpassed his.
If he wanted to sell Azure Heaven Sand, he would likely have to sell it at a loss just to recoup some of his investment.
“And with my current resources, mass production is simply impossible.”
Zhang Yu understood that refining magical artifacts or Bionics one by one by hand was entirely different from mass production on an assembly line.
“To set up a mass production line, I’d either need to buy one or build one myself.”
“The former requires a massive amount of capital, while the latter requires significantly less funding but demands advanced artifact refinement skills.”
Clearly, Zhang Yu currently lacked both the necessary funds and the required expertise.
“For now, I should focus on building a solid foundation and improving my artifact refinement skills.”
He continued to adjust the material ratios and refine Azure Heaven Sand repeatedly.
Eventually, he discovered that as long as he used at least one-tenth of the standard material quantity, each successful refinement would increase the Feather Book’s completion count by one.
He thought to himself, “Excellent! This way, I can reduce the material costs for practice to just one-tenth.”
After experimenting with the quantities, Zhang Yu decided to adjust the movements and timing as well, hoping to further shorten the time required for each refining of Azure Heaven Sand.
He understood that using the Feather Book’s specialized ability for cultivation was fundamentally different from ordinary cultivation methods.
For example, with his previous cultivation art, completing a single cycle would increase his practice count by one, gradually advancing the art’s level.
During the cycle, his movements and the quality of his execution could vary within certain limits without affecting progress. Zhang Yu had always used this method to accelerate his cultivation speed.
Of course, the Feather Book’s function wasn’t without its drawbacks.
For instance, any cultivation art switched to the Feather Book’s specialization would revert to Level 1, requiring continuous practice to advance through the levels.
Therefore, even though Zhang Yu had already cultivated numerous similar martial arts, such as various Body Refinement Techniques and Protective Magic, practicing another similar art wouldn’t grant him any “one skill unlocks all” effect. He would still need to start from level 0, accumulating practice repetitions to level up.
He viewed his current artifact refinement skills in the same light.
“It still requires repeated practice to advance levels.”
“But the quality and duration of each practice session should be compressible.”
“My cultivation logic differs completely from how ordinary people practice cultivation arts or refine artifacts.”
As Zhang Yu repeatedly adjusted the refining process for Azure Heaven Sand, Ye Xingli observed from the side, growing increasingly speechless.
“What is Zhang Yu doing? This is a complete mess.”
“Not only is he saving materials, but he’s also randomly adjusting the movements and timing?”
Ye Xingli knew that since the Ten Great Sects had standardized and digitized Immortal Dao cultivation, every aspect of Immortal Dao Technology had been systematically designed.
Artifact refinement was no different.
Unlike the past, when each sect and school operated like a manual workshop, and even the refined magical artifacts were only crudely categorized by major Cultivation Realms, lacking detailed grading systems, the modern evaluation system and refinement process for magical artifacts had long been perfected.
To improve their artifact refinement skills and create higher-grade magical artifacts, Cultivators needed continuous study followed by high-quality practice.
“Zhang Yu, you can’t just practice haphazardly like this,” Ye Xingli couldn’t help but warn him. “There are more standardized and comprehensive methods to reduce practice costs. You don’t need to do it this way.”
“For example, you could sell the Azure Heaven Sand you refine to recoup some of your expenses.”
“After all, Azure Heaven Sand is a fundamental material required in the refinement process for many magical artifacts. Many teachers and students in the Artifact Refinement Department would be willing to buy it.”
“Alternatively, you could use the simulation laboratory in the Spirit Realm for practice. It’s much cheaper than using real materials.”
Zhang Yu was well aware of these cost-saving techniques Ye Xingli mentioned.
But given his current cost-compression efficiency, he believed he could reduce expenses even further than the simulation laboratory while still obtaining some finished Azure Heaven Sand products.
Ye Xingli, unaware of Zhang Yu’s thoughts, continued to explain other cost-reduction methods.
“It’s not just simple products like Azure Heaven Sand that can be used for cost-cutting practice.”
“Even more advanced magical artifacts can be refined this way. Besides using the simulation laboratory, you can substitute cheaper materials to produce inferior versions for practice.”
“For even higher-end artifacts, after completing the initial refinement, you can continuously maintain, adjust, and enhance them to improve your artifact refinement skills, which is also much more cost-effective.”
“Take my master’s Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Pagoda, for example. Through repeated tempering, repairs, and enhancements, its artifact level was raised from Level 31 all the way to Level 40.”
“During this process, my master’s artifact refinement skills also greatly improved, and her mastery of the Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Pagoda’s manufacturing techniques reached Level 40.”
Zhang Yu understood that when they said the Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Pagoda’s manufacturing techniques had reached Level 40, it meant that, given the proper materials and production environment, True Monarch Magnetic Pole could directly refine a Level 40 Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Pagoda.
“Just the name of this thing sounds expensive, and it must take a lot of effort to make,” Zhang Yu thought to himself. “Unless someone offers a high price, True Monarch Magnetic Pole probably won’t easily produce a second one.”
Ye Xingli actually had another important cost-saving method she hadn’t mentioned: participating in the school’s artifact refinement projects. By using project funding to purchase materials, rent workshop space, and acquire equipment, she could advance her own artifact refinement cultivation.
After all, artifact refinement was an incredibly expensive pursuit. Even though Ye Xingli was already wealthy, she always felt like she didn’t have enough money, and her refinement budget was constantly overdrawn.
That’s why academic overachievers in the Artifact Refinement Department like her typically participated in various refinement projects.
In her view, mastering the art of securing funding was an essential skill for becoming a powerful artifact refiner, one that couldn’t be neglected.
However, Zhang Yu, as a Civil Engineering student who was still a beginner, was too far removed from these realities, so she simply didn’t mention it.
While Ye Xingli was advising Zhang Yu, Zhang Yu finally completed another refining session of Azure Heaven Sand.
Azure Heaven Sand Level 2 (0/20)