21: Chapter 21: Creating a Prodigy! Did he choose the wrong profession during the job change?

The two people nearby gathered around to watch Zhang Jian's first creation.

[endless devourer]

Quality: Fine

Rank Requirement: 5

Attack Power +20

Growth Progress: 0/100 Kills (Increases attributes by 10%)

"It's actually Fine quality; the minimum quality of this recipe is very high!"

Wang Dong was somewhat amazed.

However, looking at the weapon's attributes, he still shook his head.

"The recipe has a limited number of uses. If you want to hit Excellent quality, I'm afraid these uses won't be enough. Why not practice with another weapon first?"

Zhang Jian seemed not to hear him, his eyes fixed as if he had fallen into deep thought.

This was because after he finished crafting just now,

A series of notifications had rung out in his mind.

"You have successfully crafted a weapon for the first time. [King of Affixes] activated. You have obtained the auxiliary affix [Precision Craftsman]."

[Precision Craftsman] (Fine)

When crafting weapons and equipment, the probability of high quality appearing is increased by 50%.

(To upgrade affix quality: Craft 0/1 weapon or equipment)

Crafting can also trigger affixes!

For a moment, Zhang Jian could hardly believe it.

It wasn't until the corresponding affix appeared on his panel that he accepted this pleasant surprise.

With the help of this affix, I'm practically a chosen one for crafting!

He was shouting in his heart.

He could almost see a future where he personally crafted Mythic-grade weapons.

Since he hadn't moved for a long while, Wang Dong thought he was discouraged by the weapon's attributes.

It wasn't until Wang Dong repeated his question that he snapped out of it.

"Right, I do need to practice!"

With this affix in hand, he only needed to craft a few more times to raise the quality of the affix.

Then, when he crafted the growth weapon again, it would surely be a top-tier item of even higher quality!

Wang Dong was half a crafter himself and was very familiar with the practice routines for beginners.

In a short while, he bought back a recipe for a Rank 5 sword-type weapon called the [qingfeng sword].

According to him, it was best for Zhang Jian to craft weapons that suited his own class to gain a more genuine understanding.

Moreover, Rank 5 weapons were the most commonly used weapons that Apprentice Professionals like them could equip.

If Zhang Jian got lucky and crafted one with decent attributes, he might even be able to sell it for some money.

Although he teased him like this, he didn't take it seriously in his heart.

He was already prepared for Zhang Jian to churn out a bunch of common, trash-tier weapons.

Zhang Jian didn't think too much about it.

Instead, after learning the recipe, he began his non-stop practice.

The [qingfeng sword] was a basic recipe that could craft up to Rare quality at most.

A so-called 'common recipe'

was the counterpart to a 'special recipe'.

A Professional could directly turn the recipe's contents into their own memory and knowledge.

They could then craft and refine it directly.

And they could do it as many times as they wanted.

In contrast, the [endless devourer] recipe he had dropped earlier was an exclusive special recipe; each time it was crafted, a use would be consumed.

If one tried to rely solely on memory, it was impossible to craft special effects like 'growth'.

For a common recipe weapon like this, the Materials used were only five iron ingots.

Zhang Jian's operating speed naturally became much faster.

Soon.

A pale green, slender sword emerged from the forge.

However, after seeing the weapon's attributes, the group fell silent.

[qingfeng sword]

Quality: Common

Rank Requirement: 5

Attack Power +12

This time, even Wang Fei couldn't bear to look.

A weapon of this Common quality wasn't even qualified to be sold on the market.

Even if it were a direct drop from a dungeon, no one would likely want it.

Fearing Zhang Jian would feel discouraged, Wang Dong quickly consoled him.

"It's alright, it's always like this when you start crafting."

"This recipe has a low floor; it'll get better after a few more tries."

Zhang Jian didn't actually care.

That single craft just now had already successfully upgraded his affix.

The Rare-grade affix increased the probability of high quality appearing to 100%.

Full of confidence, he crafted again.

As expected.

The attributes of the second sword were different.

[qingfeng sword]

Quality: Fine

Rank Requirement: 5

Attack Power +15

Wang Dong was a bit surprised.

"Not bad, Little Jian, you're improving so fast!"

"I didn't realize you had a talent for crafting!"

Zhang Jian smiled and lowered his head without a word.

Iron ingots were tossed in one by one, and qingfeng swords were continuously produced.

When more Fine-grade ones appeared, Wang Dong became accustomed to it.

Until the sixth one, another high-quality item appeared.

[qingfeng sword]

Quality: Rare

Rank Requirement: 5

Attack Power +20

Crit Damage +10%

Wang Dong suddenly got excited.

"This weapon can be used by both Warrior and Swordsman classes. For Apprentice Professionals, it's hard to get something like this even from dungeon drops."

"In these few days of high demand, it could sell for tens of thousands, which completely covers the cost of several weapons!"

Wang Fei lifted his head triumphantly.

"My Brother Jian is omnipotent!"

Compared to them, Zhang Jian's focus was elsewhere.

"You have crafted a Rare-grade weapon. Crafting progress +4. The quality of [Precision Craftsman] (Rare) has increased."

[Precision Craftsman] (Excellent)

When crafting weapons and equipment, the probability of high quality appearing is increased by 150%.

(To upgrade affix quality: Craft 1/100 weapons or equipment)

After the upgrade, the affix's effect increased once more.

What shook Zhang Jian's heart even more was

that the quality of the craft could actually affect the amount of progress gained!

It was somewhat similar to the bonus experience from killing higher-level monsters.

A flash of realization crossed his mind.

In that case, crafting 100 times isn't actually that far off?

He suddenly felt energized.

"Brother Dong, I've got the feeling!"

He began to refine frantically.

At first,

Wang Dong was still a little worried.

As a crafting novice, would Zhang Jian be too eager for success?

But when he saw Zhang Jian successively craft Fine-grade and Rare-grade qingfeng swords, the expression on his face gradually became unsettled.

Isn't this probability of high quality a bit exaggerated?

He felt that even if he did it himself, relying on his two and a half years of crafting experience, he might not have Zhang Jian's success rate.

And,

Zhang Jian's crafting speed was also getting faster and faster.

Wang Dong was stunned as he watched.

Could the gap in talent between people really be this large?

What he didn't know was

that during the crafting process, Zhang Jian had obtained several more affixes due to the effect of [King of Affixes].

[Efficient Craftsman] (Rare)

Forging time reduced by 15%.

With the help of this affix,

Zhang Jian only crafted one weapon to successfully upgrade the affix.

Under the 30% time reduction effect, the original 5-minute crafting time became 3.5 minutes.

During this period, because his techniques became more and more standardized while using Materials for forging,

another affix called [Material Expert] was generated, which could reduce material consumption.

After upgrading just one Rank, it went from 10% to 20% consumption reduction.

The consumption of 5 iron ingots became 4.

Wang Dong watched in disbelief.

To be able to control material utilization to this extent—even he couldn't do it!

What kind of heaven-sent blacksmith is this?!

He even began to suspect whether Zhang Jian had a Blacksmith option during his class awakening but chose not to take it.

If the bystander was like this, Zhang Jian was even more excited.

He felt his whole body filled with energy.

After continuing to craft several more items,

the [Efficient Craftsman] and [Material Expert] affixes were also successively upgraded to Excellent quality.

Although a 30% material reduction wasn't enough to further decrease the iron ingot requirement,

the time was reduced once again; it now took basically 2.5 minutes to successfully complete a craft.

Zhang Jian completely let loose.

After crafting continuously for over three hours,

[Precision Craftsman] finally upgraded again, reaching Legendary quality.

It could now increase the probability of high-quality equipment appearing by 200%.

Having crafted so many weapons, Zhang Jian had roughly summarized the probability of each quality appearing for this recipe.

It was about 80% for Common quality and 15% for Fine quality.

The probability for Rare was almost around 3%.

This was why ordinary Professionals were guaranteed to lose money in early-stage crafting.

Without refining a certain quantity, usable quality would definitely not appear.

Unless a major power paid for a blacksmith's practice or someone provided support,

one could never last until their forging experience was rich enough to increase the odds, or until a stroke of luck produced a top-tier item.

But Zhang Jian was different.

With the boost from his affixes,

his probability of producing Fine quality increased to nearly half, almost the same as Common quality.

The probability for Rare-grade items was nearly one-tenth.

Beside the forging table, six Rare-grade qingfeng swords were already neatly arranged.

Although their attributes varied slightly, in Wang Fei's eyes, every single one was a masterpiece.

If they were taken to the trial dungeon market to be sold, they would likely cause a scramble.

While continuing to refine like this would surely yield a lot and earn some money,

Zhang Jian knew exactly what his main purpose for being here was.

There were only a bit over 7 hours left before the Professionals Association's mandatory enforcement.

He had to enter the Black Market dungeon at least one more time.

And he still had an Excellent-grade recipe to craft.

The remaining time was no longer enough for him to continue grinding levels.

Moreover, after crafting continuously for so long, he already felt physically and mentally exhausted.

Wang Dong was experienced and knew that his body was a bit overextended.

To save time, he found a nearby hotel outside the blacksmith shop and booked an hourly room so Zhang Jian could get a good sleep.

At six o'clock in the evening, the three of them returned to the blacksmith shop.

This time,

Wang Dong directly spent money to rent a top-tier forging room.

It cost as much as 10,000 huaxia coins per hour.

However, the forging table had a higher purification efficiency for Materials and was said to slightly increase the probability of producing top-tier items.

Wang Dong didn't care about the cost anymore and used the best available.

He felt that Zhang Jian might really craft something good today!

In front of the forging table, ninety iron ingots were already neatly arranged.

This was a cost of a full ninety thousand.

Fortunately, all the qingfeng swords crafted earlier had been sold.

After deducting the cost of the iron ingots, there was some left over, counting as a small profit.

Even though he had crafted it once before, Zhang Jian still took a deep breath.

Once this recipe was used up, there was nowhere else to buy it.

Let me see what kind of inspiration will burst forth from my afternoon of hard work!

Zhang Jian suddenly entered a state of 'flow,' where every move became natural and coordinated.

With the help of [Efficient Craftsman],

he finished the craft in just six minutes.