Another Promising Path

The Moon of Thunderstorm drifts like woodchips in a river, spiraling away through the fingertips and vanishing from sight.

The weather begins to grow warmer day by day.

Shortly after entering the Month of Blossom, Su Nan successfully constructed his sixth star ring.

As he expected, his mental attribute has therefore surpassed the 20 mark.

[Su Nan Anes-t, Human Male]

[Mental: 20.36 / Physique: 15.45]

[Skills]

Star Ring Meditation Technique Lv7 (21/80000)

Potion Making Lv4 (256/10000)

Biological Modification Lv2 (903/3000)

Puppet Crafting Lv2 (2822/3000)

Artificing Lv1 (502/1000)

“Eighty thousand proficiency points, it’ll probably take more than three months to level up.”

Su Nan nodded secretly.

One of the conditions for advancing to a Level Three Wizard Apprentice is constructing nine star rings.

He still needs three more star rings.

At the current pace, if things go smoothly, he should complete it in two to three years.

By then, the only thing left would be mental power.

“Once mental power reaches the required level, consuming the Illusion Potion will suffice to increase it.”

“The most crucial main ingredient, the Bloodstained Mandala, is already in hand. The rest of the materials are commissioned to the Fire Fox Commerce Association for collection. Gathering them is only a matter of time.”

Recently, through extensive potion creation, Su Nan’s [Potion Making] skill has broken through to Level 4.

At this level of [Potion Making], it’s already sufficient to attempt creating Tier 2 potions.

Worth mentioning, as the skill level increases, the success rate of creating Lesser Active Potions and Lesser Dragon Blood Potions has also further improved, now exceeding 40%.

The increased success rate has also led to further reduced potion costs, thereby significantly increasing the sale profits, relieving the financially tight Su Nan.

“The Clay Golems and Stone Golems have been manufactured, so no need to spend much time on golem crafting next.”

The base needed 10 Clay Golems and 50 Stone Golems, which Su Nan managed to complete with overtime work during this period.

Additionally, he also made 30 more Clay Golems for Brother Ke Yi to form the logistics troop.

“Orders for Silver Moon Flower seeds and Red Vein Fruits have been placed with the Fire Fox Commerce Association; it will be some time before delivery.”

Su Nan began contemplating the next steps.

Apart from cultivation and learning spells, there are only two things for him to focus on.

First is crafting the Iron Golem.

One Iron Golem weighs over 10 tons and must be made from at least an equal weight of pure steel.

The better the quality of the chosen steel, the stronger the combat capability of the final Iron Golem.

Su Nan plans to use Blackstone Iron.

Since Blackstone Iron is lighter than the same volume of refined iron, the resulting Iron Golem will be relatively more agile.

However, the Blackstone Iron in the warehouse has just been used up recently, so he has to wait for a new shipment from Blackstone City before he can start crafting the Iron Golem.

The second thing is creating magic items.

Su Nan flipped his wrist, and a book appeared in his palm out of thin air.

“Comprehensive Manual of Low-tier Magic Items”!

This book left by Master Amy contains over a hundred types of alchemy-level and twilight-level magic items, in great variety.

Su Nan currently possesses quite a few magic items, but they are all at the alchemy level.

He plans to craft a few twilight-level magic items for himself, including spatial, offensive, and defensive types, at least one of each.

However, the difficulty of crafting twilight-level magic items is way higher than alchemy-level ones. With his current level 1 [Artificing] skill, the success rate is estimated to be pitifully low.

“[Artificing] is less than 500 proficiency points away from leveling up. Let’s first craft some alchemy-level magic items for practice. Just in time to upgrade the equipment for my elder brother and the others.”

Su Nan went to the workshop and took down a longsword from a nearby weapon rack.

The weapon rack was densely packed with over a hundred weapons—swords, spears, blades, and halberds, including everything Su Nan requested from Brother Ke Yi.

He plans to use these weapons to try crafting enchanted weapons.

Enchanted weapons can be considered a major category of alchemy-level magic items.

They are mainly used by knights.
Many sorcerers create enchanted weapons for their knights to enhance their combat power.

Some sorcerers, adept in Artificing, can temporarily add magical attributes to their knights’ weapons in battle using metals like silver or gold.

These are also known as temporary enchanted weapons.

Su Nan estimates that he needs to upgrade the Artificing ability to Level 4 to master this skill.

Placing the longsword on the workbench, Su Nan begins preparing the materials.

Common materials for crafting magic items include various precious metals, gemstones, and magic stones.

Depending on the characteristics of the magic item, special materials may sometimes be needed.

For example, space-related magic items almost always require star sand.

Crafting a staff generally requires mithril.

Enchanted weapons are the simplest, requiring only basic materials without any extras.

Though alchemical-grade magic items, enchanted weapons are less complex to craft than ‘orthodox’ magic items.

Under the bright lights, silver ingots, gemstones, and magic stones melt in Su Nan’s palm, becoming thin threads between his fingers. With a gentle touch on the sword’s body, they slowly integrate into the longsword, leaving behind strange patterns on its surface.

A visible silvery-white sheen gradually emerges on the blade’s surface.

The whole process takes over ten minutes.

With the final pattern inscribed, the silver threads disconnect from Su Nan’s fingertips. The longsword glows briefly, acquiring an indescribable mystical aura.

“Not bad, my skills haven’t rusted!”

Su Nan smirks as he places the longsword into the cube.

[Enchanted Weapon (Alchemical-grade/Submagic Item), possesses the [Black Steel] attribute, significantly enhanced hardness, not easily damaged, and reduced energy loss when imbued with energy.]

Alchemical-grade enchanted weapon properties usually include [Black Steel], [Sharpness], and [Bloodlight].

The better ones might have [Minor Elemental Damage] and [Energy Convergence].

The former adds minor elemental damage to the weapon.

The latter enhances the power of the energy.

Generally, enchanted weapons can only have one magical attribute.

Only sorcerers with exceptionally proficient crafting skills can endow an enchanted weapon with multiple attributes.

Of course, sorcerers at that level typically wouldn’t bother with such exhausting tasks.

Wouldn’t it be better to craft a glim-level magic item?

Besides these attributes, enchanted weapons also have a non-attributable feature.

Due to being washed in magic, enchanted weapons dramatically improve their adaptability to energy compared to ordinary weapons.

This results in greatly reduced extra energy loss when energy is imbued.

Because of this, even some failed-to-enchant but attribute-less weapons are popular among knights.

“Speaking of which, can enchanted weapons with different attributes be synthesized?”

Su Nan’s eyes sparkled.

If feasible, wouldn’t that mean synthesizing enchanted weapons with over ten attributes?

Driven by this thought, Su Nan immediately attempts it.

In the time that follows, he crafts over twenty enchanted weapons.

The success rate is decent, with three successful creations out of every five attempts.

Each success increases proficiency by about twenty points, with seven or eight earned from failures.

After crafting over twenty enchanted weapons, his Artificing skill advances to Level 2.

However, Su Nan is disappointed to find that enchanted weapons with different attributes cannot be synthesized.

“Makes sense; enchanted weapons with different attributes are essentially different items, so it’s unsurprising they can’t be melded.”

Enchanted weapons with the same attribute, however, can be synthesized.

The synthesized enchanted weapon’s attribute effect is further enhanced.

For instance, Su Nan uses three longswords with the [Sharpness] attribute to synthesize one with the [Armor-Piercing] attribute, effortlessly breaking through superior armor defenses.

Although its rank hasn’t advanced, remaining alchemical-grade, this longsword’s power is comparable to orthodox magic items like the Bloodvine Ring and Magic Coin.

“Since magic items with the same attribute can be synthesized, I can completely use alchemical-grade magic items to synthesize glim-level magic items, or even sorcerers’ gear!”

The materials for glim-level magic items are generally rare, hard to find.

Materials for sorcerers’ gear are even more elusive.

In comparison, alchemical-grade magic item materials are much more common.

If alchemical-grade items can be synthesized into glim-level, and even sorcerers’ gear, it would certainly save a lot of effort.

Su Nan, uplifted in spirit, feels he has found a broad and open path.