JSCMU-Chapter 143: Hundred-Refined Black Iron

In the Earth-Fire Room, the purchased black iron was placed to the side.

Because black iron belonged to the lowest tier of ores, its price was extremely cheap. The purchasing power of ten mid-grade spirit stones was already very strong and this pile of black iron formed a small mountain, enough for Yun Jin to practice with for a long time.

Yun Jin scanned the various facilities inside the Earth-Fire Room.

“Natural Grade-2 Earth Fire, specially refined, with stable firepower, continuous supply, and capable of melting Grade-2 ores. Greatly beneficial to artifact refiners.”

“Adjustment facility. Can adjust the intensity of the Earth Fire, intensity can be reduced, but not increased. Maximum intensity is Grade-2.”

“Forging platform…”

“An ordinary-looking iron hammer…”

“Quenching furnace…”

Yun Jin scanned the area and roughly understood the purpose of these pieces of equipment. Then she picked up a piece of black iron and weighed it in her hand.

This black iron looked pitch-black, when held it had quite a bit of weight.

Yun Jin suddenly thought of something.

If she really kept forging iron like this… wouldn’t she turn into the legendary Iron Barbie?

Yun Jin couldn’t help but rub her chin.

She wasn’t afraid of becoming an Iron Barbie, but this suddenly reminded her of the Dao of Body cultivation.

She didn’t like having any weaknesses. Her soul was strong, her mana profound, and her physical strength must also keep up.

But she couldn’t possibly refine her body like Long Yi by using spirit beast blood.

Right now, Yun Jin was thinking.

When tempering various ores, it was actually also a form of training the body.

Just like modern society, those who exercised and trained regularly tended to have stronger bodies than the average person.

Blacksmiths who forged iron for years also tended to be stronger.

Placed in the context of the cultivation world, the physical strength of artifact refiners should theoretically be stronger than ordinary cultivators.

This was equivalent to forcibly training her body.

However.

This kind of training method was subtle and lacked specificity. It likely wouldn’t truly lead to the Dao of Body cultivation.

At this thought, Yun Jin felt a bit regretful, but body cultivation was something for the future, she wasn’t in a hurry for now.

Yun Jin placed the black iron on the forging platform and picked up the hammer beside it. The hammer’s weight was astonishing. After reaching Foundation Establishment Stage and despite not having specifically trained her body, her physical constitution was already far superior to an ordinary person’s.

But even after using all her strength, she couldn’t lift the hammer.

Yun Jin had to use a trace of spiritual power before she could barely lift it.

Yun Jin wasn’t in a hurry to use the Simplification System, she first tried it herself.

She struck down hard with one hammer blow, but the black iron barely changed.

She then circulated her spiritual energy and struck another blow.

One hammer after another. After Yun Jin completed a hundred strikes, the black iron was dented in one spot, but it was still far from becoming Hundred-Refined Iron.

Yun Jin couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows.

It seems the key to it was speed.

Only by striking one hundred times in a short span of time could there be a chance of producing Hundred-Refined Iron.

Yang Hui wasn’t exaggerating, wanting to get started on the Dao of Artifact Refining truly wasn’t something that could be done in a year or two.

Yun Jin sighed.

If possible.

She also wanted to be like an ordinary person. Grinding hard for three to five years, putting in effort little by little, then truly enjoying the satisfaction of finally getting started.

But.

She couldn’t.

She was a cheater.

Yun Jin already planned out how to quickly get started.

She picked up the hammer once more. This time, instead of simply channeling spiritual energy, she tried using the exertion method from the Gale Sword Technique!

The Gale Sword Technique was one of the sword techniques performed earlier by those five senior brothers.

To gain entry level to Azure Lotus Sword Technique, Yun Jin already grasped the intent of the Gale Sword Technique: Gale Sword Intent.

Though it’s called Sword Intent.

It was, in essence, a kind of conceptual realm.

Used in sword techniques, it was Gale Sword Intent.

Used in hammering techniques, it became Gale Hammer Intent.

The core of this intent lay in the wind attribute’s enhancement, which greatly increased speed.

Since Hundred-Refined Iron required speed, then the Gale Realm was the most suitable.

Yun Jin used a few simplification attempts to let the system optimize the technique according to the weapon type, turning the Gale Sword Technique into Gale Hammer Technique with ease.

Then, with a few more simplification attempts, the sword technique’s proficiency was transferred over, becoming hammer technique proficiency.

This time, with the Gale Hammer Technique, Yun Jin tried again.

With the blessing of the Gale Intent, Yun Jin’s spiritual energy consumption began to rise, while the hammer in her hand became a blur of afterimages. Strike after strike, falling onto the black iron.

Ten breaths! One hundred strikes!

Target achieved!

Beads of sweat formed on Yun Jin’s forehead.

This time, she didn’t simplify the refining technique itself. She only converted the Gale Sword Intent into Gale Hammer Intent. But this black iron was hammered out with her own effort.

Yun Jin looked at that piece of black iron again.

Its color had already subtly changed. The surface took on a faint purple sheen, and in the flowing gloss, Yun Jin could even clearly see her own reflection.

But this piece of black iron still wasn’t true Hundred-Refined Iron.

A single round of a hundred strikes was far from enough.

Yun Jin began the next attempt.

After truly performing a hundred sets of hundred strikes, Yun Jin’s spiritual energy was completely drained. Only then did she produce the first true piece of Hundred-Refined Iron.

The current Hundred-Refined Iron went from being as thick as a brick to as thin as a thirty-page book. The entire brick turned into a black-purple hue. Yun Jin looked at it with a deep sense of accomplishment.

As a cheat user, to occasionally be able to sweat and labor personally, this feeling was simply wonderful.

Yun Jin was still enjoying it.

When she suddenly heard the system’s notification sound.

“Host has independently advanced to Grade-1 Artifact Refiner. Sub-profession. Artifact Refiner unlocked. Current level: First-Rank Artifact Refiner. Proficiency: 1%.”

Yun Jin blinked.

She had already advanced to first-rank artifact refiner?

And even unlocked the artifact refiner sub-profession on her own?

This seemed to have saved quite a few simplification attempts compared to using the system directly.

Yun Jin couldn’t help thinking about her alchemist sub-profession.

It seemed the leveling system for alchemist and artifact refiner were different.

To level up as an alchemist, she had to pass the Alchemy Association’s exam. No matter what the system panel said, it would only update after she passed.

But for artifact refiner… the system seemed to just rate her on its own.

Yun Jin stroked her chin thoughtfully.

In her view.

Both professions were very important. Whether it was alchemy or artifact forging, both could greatly boost her strength.

But.

In this world, alchemy recipes were particularly rare, and the difficulty of refining pills was especially high. That made alchemists extremely high in status.

The entry barrier for artifact refiner was much lower. As long as one had decent physical strength, they could try it out. This led to low- and mid-tier artifact refiners being far less valued than their alchemist counterparts.

It’s nothing more than rarity determines worth, and professions are no different.

But Yun Jin also believed.

If one climbed to the very top of the profession by becoming a ninth-rank alchemist and ninth-rank artifact refiner, their statuses would likely be nearly the same.