230: Alchemy and Weapon Forging

The various Magic Towers in the Fallen Abyss were like magic academies, recruiting students once every five years.

With his decent talent in the dark element and Gargamel following by his side, Sean had a high probability of joining one of the Magic Towers.

Once he passed the assessment and entered, he would start as a High-level Apprentice.

If he performed exceptionally well in certain areas of magical knowledge, he might even become an Elementary Teacher for that course.

Unfortunately, when he arrived at the Fallen Abyss, he had just missed the once-every-five-years recruitment.

As a result, he could only become a Loose Cultivator mage in the peripheral settlements.

When Su Ling's Divine Thought descended, Sean was in a secret room that looked very much like a laboratory, intently carving patterns onto a bone staff.

Beside him were various magic potions and energy crystals.

Su Ling did not disturb him, but instead watched silently.

At this moment, sweat beaded on Sean's forehead. His eyes were fixed solemnly on the bone staff on the table, and the carving knife in his hand moved slowly, carefully, and steadily.

After an unknown amount of time, when the last stroke of the pattern was finished, he straightened up and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Is this... Corrosive Ray magic?"

A voice rang out in the laboratory, giving Sean a sudden fright.

Turning his head, he only relaxed when he saw a ghostly purple light sphere floating by his shoulder.

"Yes, My Lord."

Sean replied with respect in his tone, "I just took a job to help someone refine a staff."

He had been in the Fallen Abyss for three years. Relying on the legacy of those three white-robed mages, Sean had the funds to rent this laboratory.

While waiting for the next recruitment, he used the Alchemy he had learned to earn some fees.

Sean had been on the run before, so this was the first time Su Ling learned that he knew Alchemy.

Watching him carve the magic patterns just now, Su Ling couldn't help but feel that the Artifact Refining of the Immortal Realm and magic Alchemy really had many things in common.

He then raised his own question: "Tell me about your refining process in detail."

"Uh, yes, My Lord."

Sean was startled but reacted immediately, continuing, "In terms of Materials, the main body of a staff can be divided into three categories: the basic carrier, the magic core, and the stabilization aids..."

Under Sean's explanation, Su Ling gradually understood some of the core essentials of Alchemy.

In short, it involved material pre-processing, the construction of Alchemy Arrays, the Fusion of the energy core, the carving of Magic Circuits, and finally, testing and risk mitigation.

Taking the Corrosive Bone Staff he had just refined as an example, its core Materials were the spine of a Rank 3 Shadow Giant Wolf and the heart crystal of a Rank 3 Corrupt Corpse Demon.

Through a specific Alchemy Array, the spine was refined into a staff, the Magic Circuits were carved, other Materials were added for energy guidance, and finally, the heart crystal was inlaid.

Then, using the control Alchemy Array, the [Corrosive Ray] magic was carved into the heart crystal.

Finally, a series of tests were required. If anything was wrong, it could be readjusted until the staff reached its ideal state.

Of course, going to such great lengths to refine a staff that could instantly cast its own magic was not the main point.

The true purpose of a staff lay in helping a mage guide magic elements for stable and fast casting, or to speed up mana recovery.

According to Sean, holding this staff could increase a mage's casting speed by 25% when performing necromancy spells.

With the help of the Corrupt Corpse Demon's heart crystal, it could also save about ten percent of mana consumption.

For a formal mage or a grand mage, it was a pretty good magic item.

In the Fallen Abyss, the value of this staff was around one thousand Magic Coins.

After deducting Materials and labor costs, Sean could still earn a hundred Magic Coins, which was equivalent to nearly a year's rent for this laboratory.

"The efficiency is too slow..."

Su Ling shook his head, saying somewhat speechlessly.

Externally, the ghostly purple light sphere flickered, but the voice came out clearly.

After several encounters, Su Ling had already used his powerful Divine Soul to master Sean's language.

Their communication no longer required the transmission of thoughts.

In his eyes, this bone staff was at most equivalent to a Medium to High Grade Magical Artifact used during the Foundation Establishment Stage.

"The refining itself is fast, but it takes a lot of time to collect and process the Materials."

Sean said helplessly, "Just softening the spine with magic potions took a whole month."

Mages basically used magic potions as aids to process various Materials.

It wasn't like how cultivators refined artifacts, where they could use Pill Fire or Natural Spirit Fire for brute-force processing.

However, controlling the flame temperature required rich experience and a great deal of mental effort.

Once a mistake was made, the Materials would be instantly destroyed.

Alchemy was not like that. The reason it took so much time was mainly due to the need for gradual progress and constant adjustments.

In terms of material utilization and protection, it was quite a bit better than Artifact Refining.

In light of this, Su Ling stayed for a longer time during this descent than ever before.

He stayed in the laboratory with Sean the whole time, learning various knowledge related to Alchemy.

It wasn't until a month later that he withdrew his Divine Sense and left... Inside the Shadow Prison Canyon station, Su Ling slowly opened his eyes, a flicker of pain crossing them.

In one month, just staying in that place had actually consumed seventy percent of his Divine Soul power.

He casually swallowed a Soul-Nurturing Medicinal Pill and sat in meditation to regulate his breathing for a long time before opening his eyes again.

"Alchemy's way of processing Materials does have some merits..."

"But using array diagrams to carve Magic Circuits is not as excellent as the Divine Sense imprinting of Artifact Refining..."

"Moreover, magic items do not possess the characteristics of Magic Treasures; anyone can just pick them up and use them, which is not good."

Recalling what he had seen and heard during this time, Su Ling constantly thought about the pros and cons of both.

Of course, Sean's Alchemy strength was also limited to Rank 3 magic items.

Su Ling was also unsure if higher-level magic items, like Magic Treasures and Spiritual Artifacts, required nurturing with magic power and the imprinting of Soul Seals for easier control.

But one thing was certain.

Even Rank 4 or even Rank 5 magic items could not be directly incorporated into a mage's body like a Magic Treasure.

They could only be worn on the body or held in the hand.

On the plus side, a magic item was not connected to a mage's Mental Energy; it was a completely independent existence.

It wouldn't be like certain Lifebound Treasures where the mind is invested; if they were destroyed, it would cause damage to the Divine Soul.

Speaking of which, except for Sword Cultivators, ordinary cultivators generally wouldn't refine a Lifebound Treasure.

Or rather, Magic Treasures and Spiritual Artifacts themselves were a type of consumable.

They would be gradually replaced as the cultivator's strength increased.

Only Spirit Treasures with growth potential were the best items for refining into a Lifebound Treasure.

Su Ling had seen this in the Jade Slip given by his Grandmaster.

For this reason, he had specifically asked Clear Ripple Immortal Venerable if he could refine the phoenix dance nine-fierce ruler into his own Lifebound Treasure.

Unfortunately, the phoenix dance nine-fierce ruler was a fire-system Spirit Treasure, which did not match the attributes of his own Cultivation Technique.

Refining it rashly would result in more loss than gain.

The azure roc wings were indeed a perfect match for the Azure Heaven Thunder Treasure Talisman, but having already obtained all the Nine Nether techniques, Su Ling was destined not to specialize in thunder arts.

It was also not very suitable.