Ashen God
Chapter 578 - 577: Light Golden Quality Accessory

Chapter 578: Chapter 577: Light Golden Quality Accessory

"Although the Blue Quality Crimson Iron Ring +6, even if forcibly fused into a Purple Quality Crimson Iron Ring +7, is still a Second-tier Equipment, that will be phased out after the promotion to Fourth Tier, at least it’ll still be used for a considerable length of time at Third Tier, so it’s definitely worth it to fuse it."

Fusing a Crimson Iron Ring +7 was an easy task for Zhang Yanhang, so, since it could be done effortlessly and would yield more Charm attribute bonuses afterward, it was naturally of great value to Zhang Yanhang.

If it were the kind of task that required Zhang Yanhang to spend a lot of effort and time for only a slight gain, he definitely couldn’t be bothered to do it. After all, if the profit efficiency was too low, it was indeed not worth it. He’d rather spend that time on other activities with a higher rate of return.

After wearing the two pairs of Crimson Iron Ring +6, Zhang Yanhang placed the excess four Crimson Iron Ring +4s and one ordinary Crimson Iron Ring into his Waist Bag and immediately started to count up the gains from the Crimson Iron Heart again. This time, he obtained a total of six Blue Quality Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces.

But these six Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces didn’t have any fusion value. He had previously accumulated one Crimson Iron Heart +5, one Crimson Iron Heart +4, and one Crimson Iron Heart +2, but after giving away the Crimson Iron Heart +4 to the group owner, he was left with only one Crimson Iron Heart +5 and one Crimson Iron Heart +2.

"Even though there really isn’t any fusion value, I might as well just fuse them anyway, since I have plenty of time right now."

Zhang Yanhang took out the Crimson Iron Heart +2 from the Waist Bag and put it into the Alchemy Array. Then he added the six ordinary Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces he had just obtained into the Alchemy Array as well. After quickly completing the fusion, he ended up with one Crimson Iron Heart +3 and one Crimson Iron Heart +1.

"Counting the Crimson Iron Heart +5 I replaced a long time ago, I effectively have an excess of forty-two ordinary Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces. Sigh, the gap is just too big."

Remembering his minor goal of fusing the Crimson Iron Rings into a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Ring +7 made Zhang Yanhang think of another minor goal, namely fusing the Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces into a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +7.

Unfortunately, the progression of the two goals couldn’t be more different. For the Crimson Iron Rings, he was just three Crimson Iron Ring +4s away from completing it and was guaranteed to achieve it the next time he entered the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest, Dalagu.

However, as for the goal with the Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces, it hadn’t even started yet, and he didn’t even know when the second Crimson Iron Heart +6 could be fused.

"To fuse the Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces into a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +7, I need a total of eight Crimson Iron Heart +6, which is five hundred and twelve Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces.

But the problem is, even if I exclude the Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces I have, I’m still short four hundred and six Crimson Iron Hearts. Compared to before, not only did I not get closer, but I actually have even fewer now."

Previously, after spending five days in the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest, Dalagu, Zhang Yanhang was only 396 Crimson Iron Hearts away from fusing +7. Now, because he had given away a Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +4 to the group owner, he found himself with a gap of ten more Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces than before, which was truly ridiculous.

"406 Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces, even with my current drop rate, that would require killing approximately eight thousand Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants.

In the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest, Dalagu, even if the total estimated number of the two combined is only two thousand, that means the entire population of Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants in the small-scale Crimson Iron Ant Nest, Dalagu would need to be killed back and forth four times to gather that many Crimson Iron Heart Necklaces."

"Even if I wait until my rank advances to Third Tier, the number of monsters I’ll need to hunt would likely increase to sixteen thousand, necessitating going back and forth to kill them eight times. Unless something unexpected happens, I probably won’t ever complete this minor goal in my lifetime."

From a rational standpoint, Zhang Yanhang decided to give up on the minor goal of fusing the Crimson Iron Heart Necklace into a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +7, after all, that goal really was unattainable. If fusing the Crimson Iron Ring was considered easy difficulty, then the Crimson Iron Heart was inferno mode - truly a sin not of my own making.

"Speaking of which, this seems to be the second time I’m abandoning this minor goal. I actually gave it up once before, when I cleared the entire Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu. At that time, I also abandoned the goal of fusing a Purple Quality Crimson Iron Ring +7.

But while the goal of fusing a Purple Quality Crimson Iron Ring +7 can be restarted, the goal of fusing a Dark Purple Quality Crimson Iron Heart +7 has absolutely no chance of being restarted. Or rather, it gets discarded just a minute or two after being restarted."

If the next time Zhang Yanhang went to the small-sized Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalaguli and it immediately spawned sixteen thousand Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants, Zhang Yanhang would definitely restart that minor goal and complete it on the spot. Unfortunately, that’s nothing more than a daydream.

After completing the fusion of the Crimson Iron Heart +3 and Crimson Iron Heart +1, Zhang Yanhang immediately placed them in his Waist Bag and began to take stock of his other Equipment. Aside from the Crimson Iron Ring and the Crimson Iron Heart Necklace, this time Zhang Yanhang also got a set of Crimson Iron Teeth, but he couldn’t use them either.

Zhang Yanhang’s mouth was already fitted with a Purple Quality set of Crimson Iron Shark Teeth +4, and to continue fusing, he needed to gather another sixteen sets of Crimson Iron Teeth.

Previously, Zhang Yanhang had two sets left but then gave one to the group leader, so now there was only one set in his Waist Bag. If he counted the set he just got, the number of Crimson Iron Teeth Zhang Yanhang had was back to two.

"Which means I need fourteen more sets of Crimson Iron Teeth to fuse Crimson Iron Shark Teeth +5. Judging from the drop rate of one set of teeth per twenty Crimson Iron Breeding Ants, I need to kill another two hundred and eighty of those.

However, there are only about three hundred Crimson Iron Breeding Ants in the small-sized Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu, which means I would practically have to clear the entire Crimson Iron Breeding Ant population there again to gather enough teeth.

As a result, although fusing Crimson Iron Shark Teeth +5 seems to require a small quantity, unfortunately, it’s just like fusing the Crimson Iron Heart +7 before - an impossible task.

Not to mention, it took almost ten days before I went back to the small-sized Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalagu this time, and it only spawned First Tier One Star Crimson Iron Worker Ants, while Second Tier One Star Crimson Iron Flying Ants and Crimson Iron Soldier Ants were too precious to spawn.

If even Second Tier One Star Crimson Iron Ants were like this, then those Third Tier Three Star monsters, the Crimson Iron Breeding Ants, God only knows how long it will take to refresh, and surely they’ll refresh very slowly, undoubtedly requiring a very long time to gather two hundred and eighty of them. By that time, I might have already advanced to Fourth Tier and discarded the Crimson Iron Shark Teeth."

For this minor goal that had just shown a glimmer of hope, Zhang Yanhang chose to nip it in the bud right away, after all, it truly had no chance of being completed.

After moving the Crimson Iron Teeth into his Waist Bag too, the most important Equipment piece was left in front of Zhang Yanhang - the Dark Purple Quality, full-score Markarov’s Regret.

Zhang Yanhang quickly reviewed the Attribute list of this Markarov’s Regret and found it to be identical to the one he was wearing on his ear. He immediately took off the two Markarov Earrings from his ears, preparing for Fusion.

Though they were part of a Set, since they were essentially different Equipment pieces, Zhang Yanhang began fusing the Markarov’s Regret first after reactivating the Alchemy Array. Perhaps because it was the first Fusion, the entire process was incredibly smooth, reminiscent of the days when he used to eat Dove chocolates.

It must have been due to the whole process being exceptionally smooth and fluid that Zhang Yanhang had managed to complete the fusion in less than a minute.

After successfully fusing Makarov’s Regret to +1, Zhang Yanhang immediately began to check its attribute list.

[Makarov’s Regret +1]

[Quality: Light Golden]

[Type: Equipment]

[Origin: Main World, Qin Island City, East River District Building 6, Unit 3, Apartment 702, Living Room, Zhang Yanhang.]

[Durability: 80/80]

[Defensive Power: 45]

[Additional Attributes: Flame Resistance +20% (+2.5%).]

[Additional Attributes: Acid Resistance +20% (+2.5%).]

[Additional Attributes: Strength +1, Agility +1, Intelligence +1 (+1), Charm +1.]

[Usage Requirements: Charm 40 points.]

[Score: 300 (Light Golden items have a score range from 261 to 350).]

[Set Effect One: Makarov’s Gift (Unlocks properties for two-piece set)]

[Synopsis: Damn alchemists! Damn alchemists!! Damn alchemists!!!

Customers who once came to me to forge their Crimson Iron Equipment are now showing up at my door demanding an explanation, claiming that if I didn’t provide compensation for their emotional distress, they would completely trash my blacksmith shop.

—— From a Nameless Blacksmith who can no longer quietly make money]

"Makarov’s Regret truly deserves its full-score Dark Purple Quality as a set part, just a random fusion and it directly jumped forty points in score, from the original 260 points to 300 points.

Normally, after a single fusion, Makarov’s Regret should have been at best a low-scored Light Golden Equipment, but this piece absurdly became a medium-scored Light Golden Equipment after just one fusion.

If this trend continues, I should only need to fuse it two more times, meaning when Makarov’s Regret reaches +3, it should be able to promote to Golden Quality, and then the Makarov Earring would effectively be a Golden Quality set.

Regrettably though, as promising as the future looks, the problem is that I don’t have that many Makarov’s Regrets on hand."

If Zhang Yanhang wants to fuse Makarov’s Regret to +3, he would need to gather six more pieces of Makarov’s Regret, that is sixty Crimson Iron Ant Kings.

And since the slot machine’s prize pool refreshes once a day, it means that if Zhang Yanhang wants to fuse Makarov’s Regret to +3, he would need to stay in the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalaguli for two months.

And if Zhang Yanhang wishes to fuse Makarov’s Regret to +3 and then do the same with Makarov’s Forlornness to complete the Golden Quality set, that would require another two months in the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest Dalaguli, totaling four months.

With that time, Zhang Yanhang should be at least a Fifth Tier Awakened, and being a Sixth Tier Awakened is not out of the question, equipment like the Makarov Set would probably be outdated by then.

"After fusing Makarov’s Regret to Light Golden Quality +1, the bonuses of flame and acid resistance on Makarov’s Regret increased from the original 17.5% to 20%, which is an increase of a total of 2.5% for both flame resistance and acid resistance.

In addition to the resistance bonuses, Makarov’s Regret +1 also improved by one point in the Intelligence Attribute bonus. Although my current Intelligence Attribute is already ten points over the limit, a bonus is always good, and even though it’s not useful now, it will be after I promote to the Third Tier."

Beyond the growth in attribute bonuses, Zhang Yanhang also noticed that the usage requirements of Makarov’s Regret +1 had increased; it had gone from requiring 30 points of Charm to 40 points, rising by 10 points of Charm value needed.

"Although the usage requirements for Makarov’s Regret +1 have gone up to forty points, fortunately, my current Charm attribute value is forty-six points, so I can still use it normally.

Besides, even if I can’t use it, it’s not a big problem, after all, because of attribute restrictions, I can’t take advantage of the attribute bonuses provided by the Makarov Set for now, so even if the requirement for the Charm attribute value of the Makarov Set were to double from thirty points to sixty, it wouldn’t be a big issue for me.

After all, once I can take advantage of the attribute bonus at the Third Tier, the attribute value limit will naturally unlock to seventy-five points, and by that time, it’ll be easy for me to raise sixty points of Charm value."

The reason Zhang Yanhang was so confident about this matter, aside from the promotion, mainly stemmed from his belief that he should be able to obtain new equipment related to the Charm value bonus in the new monster nest at the bottom of the Dalagu Underground Tunnel in the small Crimson Iron Ant Nest.

This belief was based on the fact that during his previous hunts, he had gleaned from various item descriptions that Crimson iron ore contained components related to that.