Ashen God
Chapter 266 - 265: Weapon Quality Upgrade

Chapter 266: Chapter 265: Weapon Quality Upgrade

"Having finally completed the first tier of the Crimson Iron Ant Nest cleanup plan, it was now time to enjoy the fruits of victory," Zhang Yanhang moved a large pile of Refined Crimson Iron over and immediately started Alchemy.

According to Zhang Yanhang’s previous estimate, he needed at least sixteen pieces of Purple Quality Refined Crimson Iron +6 to possibly fuse two pieces of Dark Purple Quality Refined Crimson Iron +7 and use these to forge two Dark Purple Quality weapons as the upgrade materials for the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist.

Each piece of Refined Crimson Iron +6 required 640 kilograms of Refined Crimson Iron, which meant that just a fist-sized piece of Refined Crimson Iron +7 required at least 5,120 kilograms of Refined Crimson Iron to possibly be successfully smelted, resulting in an incredibly high overall density.

Zhang Yanhang remembered that the weight of the Jingu Bang seemed to be just 13,500 jin, while Refined Crimson Iron +7 almost matched it, with a weight of 10,240 jin, truly a weight suitable for forging divine weapons, or rather, with this weight alone, the quality of the weapon forged would not be low.

Fusing Refined Crimson Iron +6 wasn’t difficult, it was just a matter of following the steps to promote fusion, but it would take a significant amount of time, as the speed of fusion between pieces of Refined Crimson Iron +5 was quite slow.

Fortunately, if there were only thirty-two pieces of Refined Crimson Iron +5, it would be just within the limit of Zhang Yanhang’s control, and he could complete the fusion all at once, not needing to separately conduct a second round of fusion which would take an equally long time.

After consuming a large amount of Energy Value for fusion, there appeared before Zhang Yanhang sixteen fist-sized pieces of Refined Crimson Iron +6, and he immediately picked up one to check its Attribute list. As expected, once the Refined Crimson Iron reached fusion times of +6, its Quality had indeed risen to Purple full Score.

"Next, it’s time to start fusing the Refined Crimson Iron +7 but to be on the safe side, let’s just fuse one piece at a time," he thought. "That way, even if the first attempt fails, I can gain some experience and strive for success in the next fusion."

Although the amount of Refined Crimson Iron in this cave was truly abundant, Zhang Yanhang used up so much in one go—he had used ten tons of Refined Crimson Iron to fuse these sixteen blocks of Refined Crimson Iron +6, already depleting a third of the entire cave’s stock.

Therefore, if he only used eight pieces of Refined Crimson Iron each time, Zhang Yanhang would at most have four opportunities to fail. If he failed more than four times, he would not be able to upgrade the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist, because upgrading it required two Dark Purple Quality weapons.

If he ended up smelting only one piece of Refined Crimson Iron +7, or none at all, then Zhang Yanhang would need to obtain the corresponding Dark Purple weapons through other channels to upgrade the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist.

Zhang Yanhang took a deep breath, then immediately restarted Alchemy and placed eight pieces of Refined Crimson Iron +6 into the Alchemy Array.

Accompanied by the continuous operation of the Alchemy Array, the eight fist-sized pieces of Refined Crimson Iron +6 began to soften slowly, the overall speed was relatively slow, and he estimated that just the fusion into liquid alone would take at least a minute.

For this situation to occur was, in fact, quite normal, as with the increase in Fusion Times, the Quality of the +6 Refined Crimson Iron itself was improving, naturally raising the difficulty of melting it. However, the Energy Value input by Zhang Yanhang remained the same, thus resulting in a slower melting speed.

If Zhang Yanhang were willing to increase the Energy output, he could significantly accelerate the melting speed of the Refined Crimson Iron +6, but he didn’t think it was necessary. After all, it was only a minute’s time, so he didn’t mind waiting a bit.

One minute later, the eight pieces of +6 Refined Crimson Iron located inside the Alchemy Array smoothly melted into eight pools of crimson liquid Metal.

"Now comes the real focus. I hope to succeed in one go as much as possible, after all, the remaining Materials don’t leave me much room for trial and error," Zhang Yanhang said as he increased the Energy output, and his manipulation of the Alchemy Array became more earnest.

Previously, all Item Fusion was basically pairing them in twos, but this time, Zhang Yanhang was simultaneously maneuvering eight targets for a unified Fusion, which was quite difficult. Mainly because he had never tried this before, so he lacked any good experience in this area.

What was more critical was that Alchemy didn’t exactly advocate this method, so when completing his knowledge of Alchemy, Zhang Yanhang wasn’t imbued with much knowledge regarding this particular aspect. Therefore, at this moment, he was both lacking in operational experience and related knowledge, genuinely worried about facing failure.

It was as if a country barefoot doctor had suddenly been asked to perform a liver resection on a critically ill patient with liver cancer on the operating table—a most nerve-wracking situation. After all, while barefoot doctors may have experience in treating common minor ailments, they had never faced surgery of such magnitude involving the suppression of cancer cells.

But a barefoot doctor is still a doctor, possessing at least some relevant knowledge, knowing at least where the liver is located and not ending the surgery right after mistaking the appendix for the liver. Hence, Zhang Yanhang was carefully following the steps, controlling the eight pools of crimson liquid Metal for Fusion.

Yet, the overall progress was extremely slow, and rejection reactions occurred frequently. Fusion speed was already quite slow when Fusing the Refined Crimson Iron +6, but now, with the Refined Crimson Iron +7, the Fusion speed slowed down several times over again.

To draw a comparison, the previous Fusion of Crimson Iron +6 was like Brother Jie bumping into Ah-Wei and Binbin at an internet cafe. To realize his inner thoughts, he first invited them to eat bread, then to the supermarket to buy things, and later, invited them back home to drink.

And in the end, after these efforts to close the distance, he invited Ah-Wei to his room to check out some goodies. It was only then that Brother Jie unveiled his true nature by removing the Sealing from his glasses and then immediately taught Ah-Wei ’Deng Dua Lang.’

Therefore, the crucial factor was to soften up and get closer to the other party, then be able to meld into one.

But the current Fusion of Refined Crimson Iron +7 had turned into a different scenario, one without that initial phase of getting closer but instead intending to forcefully overpower in one fell swoop—and with eight at once at that.

If we use Brother Jie as a metaphor for the actual Fusion process again, it would be as if Brother Jie, upon just spotting Ah-Wei and Binbin, instantly removed his glasses, broke the Sealing, and intended to directly teach them ’Deng Dua Lang.’

But the problem was that Ah-Wei and Binbin, as two normally developing teenagers, still had some fight in them when not drunk. Even if they couldn’t win, they could at least delay for some time.

Therefore, Brother Jie, Ah-Wei, and Binbin were caught in a tug-of-war. In the process, Brother Jie could have killed Binbin or Ah-Wei numerous times, but since his goal was to teach them a lesson, he had to pull his punches.

Zhang Yanhang was now caught in such a tug-of-war, waiting to see whether his Energy Value would run out first, or whether the +6 Refined Crimson Iron would fuse into a +7.

Of course, there could also be unexpected incidents, such as a righteous bystander calling the police to arrest Brother Jie, corresponding to Zhang Yanhang making some basic, small mistakes in the details of operating the Alchemy Array after a long time, and then the entire fusion could end in failure.

...

Half an hour later, Zhang Yanhang sighed as he looked at the bright red +7 Refined Crimson Iron within the Alchemy Array, "I never imagined that just melting a piece of +7 Refined Crimson Iron would consume over half of my Energy Value.

But fortunately, the fusion was successful in the end. If it hadn’t been, that would’ve been troublesome, as just recovering the Energy Value would take several hours, not to mention the fusion itself takes half an hour.

If I were to try a few more times, I might waste an entire day, and I can’t afford to waste time like that in the Ashen World where my time is extremely valuable. I can kill hundreds of Monsters per hour and gain four-digit Soul points on average."

After reflecting for a moment, Zhang Yanhang picked up the +7 Refined Crimson Iron that was still the size of a fist from the Alchemy Array. As soon as he held it, he felt its substantial weight. If it weren’t for his high Strength Attribute, he might not have been able to lift it at all.

"After all, it’s forged from five tons of Refined Crimson Iron. Even if it hasn’t inherited the full weight, its density and weight are still quite significant."

Zhang Yanhang figured that if he were to throw this chunk like a shot put, the sheer force and acceleration could pierce the frontal armor of a main battle tank. As for using it to hit someone, the scene would probably be both bloody and surreal, with the impacted part just vanishing into thin air.

Zhang Yanhang’s eyes were fixed on the +7 Refined Crimson Iron in his hand as he checked its Attribute list.

How to put it? The item was almost as he had anticipated. Although it did successfully force a promotion to Dark Purple Quality through fusion, the Score of the +7 Refined Crimson Iron was quite Low within the Dark Purple Quality range.

Although it had fused eight Purple Quality full Score +6 Crimson Irons inside it, the Score of the +7 Refined Crimson Iron had barely scraped past the pass mark for Dark Purple Quality, only slightly higher than that of the +6 version. Yet, it was this slight increase in Score that enabled its successful promotion to Dark Purple Quality.

"But even though it succeeded, it wasn’t a complete success. I’ve just finished forging one piece of +7 Refined Crimson Iron, and I still need to forge a second one to truly call it a success."

Thinking this, Zhang Yanhang immediately began to use the Limitless Universe Skill to recover his Energy Value, knowing that he could only continue with the next rounds of fusion after regaining enough energy.

More than two hours later, feeling that his Energy Value had recovered sufficiently, Zhang Yanhang restarted the Alchemy and once again placed eight full Score Purple Quality +6 Refined Crimson Irons into the Alchemy Array.

Maybe it was due to his acquired experience, but this time the fusion felt much easier to Zhang Yanhang than last time. Of course, by easier, he meant in terms of the operation, as the time taken for the fusion was still half an hour.

Considering the two pieces of +7 Refined Crimson Iron before him, Zhang Yanhang began to ponder the possibility of further fusion. Normally, two pieces of +7 Refined Crimson Iron should be able to fuse into a +8.

"But Alchemy doesn’t mention any further fusion beyond this point, so theoretically, it shouldn’t be possible to continue fusing. After all, just to enhance that little bit of Score, it took eight pieces of +6 Refined Crimson Iron.

And now, if I wanted to try to fuse a +8 Refined Crimson Iron, using just two pieces of +7 feels likely to fail. Besides, I don’t have a need for higher Quality Refined Crimson Iron, so I shouldn’t waste materials on such a futile effort."

As he spoke, Zhang Yanhang once again initiated the Alchemy, and the two Dark Purple Quality +7 Refined Crimson Irons inside the Alchemy Array slowly started to merge.

After some time, two sharpened blade-shaped pieces of Refined Crimson Iron appeared in the Array – essentially, Crimson Iron Short Swords without handles.

"It took me over three hours to come up with these Crimson Iron Short Swords, I hope they won’t let me down."

Logically, a Weapon crafted from Dark Purple Quality material should not be lower than Dark Purple in Quality. Nevertheless, Zhang Yanhang was still a bit anxious inside. What if the Weapon created from this barely-passing, low Score Dark Purple Quality material turned out to be only Purple Quality? That would be quite upsetting.

With anxious anticipation, Zhang Yanhang quickly checked the Attribute list of the two Crimson Iron Short Swords and found that despite being made from low Score Dark Purple Quality material, the Weapons still possessed Dark Purple Quality. This realization instantly eased his mind.

Though the Quality of the Weapons was also just scraping by the Dark Purple Quality threshold, passing was enough. After all, the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist only required a specific Quality, not Score, for the upgrade materials, so the Score didn’t matter at all.

Zhang Yanhang took off the Four Great Emptiness Purifying World Fist from his hand, placed it on the ground, and piled it together with the two Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Short Swords. Last time, his upgrade relied on Multiple Choice. Though he had now unlocked the normal upgrade method, he still felt using Multiple Choice seemed better.