Forty Millenniums of Cultivation, page 120
"All of the magical equipment here have undergone my modifications and enhancements. They have quite the increase from their original performances!"
"Take for instance this Scarlet-Sun Demonslayer Flaming Saber. This is a typical design pushed out by the Scarlet Dragon Sect thirty-seven years ago. Its design is quite outstanding, and among similar flame magical equipment, it can be considered to be out of the ordinary; however, the crystal consumption for its fire is too high, and after a long period of battle, it is very likely that spiritual energy overflow would occur. As a result, the handle would then burn the hand, influencing one's combat experience."
"But after re-refining over the key areas and going through my intense forging, this Scarlet-Sun Demonslayer Flaming Saber's maximum temperature has been raised by 11% and the flaming edge has been lengthened by 8%. When using the standard purity of crystals for fire, its time in combat has been increased by 7%. Most importantly, I've fixed the defect of its spiritual energy overflow. It won't burn your hand no matter how you use it!"
"As for how to use it, each and every fellow student who uses sabers, take it for a try!"
"As for those who use swords, battle-axes, meteor hammers... Don't worry fellow students! All of the close-combat magical equipment here are all modified versions. Their performances have increased from the original version by at least 10%. I will introduce them one by one. Everyone, feel free to play!"
Li Yao held a chainsword in his left hand and a meteor hammer in his right. His mouth was a torrent of words, talking non-stop as he hyped up his magical equipment up to the heavens, causing everyone who listened to be stupefied. In the end, he spoke with radiating passion:
"Of all these modified magical equipment, the most expensive is just 990 credits, while the cheapest is just 630 credits. They're practically free!"
"What are you waiting for, fellow students? The time for battle is at hand. These weapons will greatly increase your killing efficiency when they're in your hands. Grab your crystal processors posthaste and trade with me!"
Everyone had looked through and passed on Li Yao's magical equipment. Quite a few sword cultivators revealed expressions of fondness for them, but no one said a word. The scene entered into an eerie silence.
Zhao Tianchong coughed dryly a moment later. He said with some awkwardness:
"Fellow student Li Yao, the magical equipment you've modified are really quite decent, and even I'm tempted by them. But, the price... isn't it a bit too high? Basically, they're twice as high as the original version!"
Li Yao was stunned and his brows furrowed:
"Fellow student Zhao Tianchong, we're all part of the same circle. Don't use this kind of method to haggle with me!"
"Everyone knows that the structures of the underlying magical equipment are classics. They are the coalescence of the heart and blood of numerous master refiners over several dozens of years. Even the most subtle modification wouldn't be easy to do."
"I meticulously handcrafted, hand-forged, and even assimilated high quality materials into each and every key component. Only in this way could I increase the performance by at least 10%. The amount of time, energy, and costs I spent is unknown. Increasing the price by double isn't excessive, right?"
"If the goods are real, then double the base price is not outrageous."
Zhao Tianchong admitted that increasing the performance of a magical equipment by 10% warranted increasing the price by 100%. This was a very normal thing.
In the most extreme case, even if the magical equipment was increased by 1% and the price was doubled, this would all be within a reasonable range.
After all, on the battlefield, an increase in performance of 1% could decide the matter between life and death.
The value here could not be measured by money.
"However, fellow student Li Yao, you probably don't quite understand the mentality of us students of the Combat Department."
"From our perspective, we're still at the learning stage. It isn't a good thing to use excessively powerful weapons while we're still learning."
Zhao Tianchong explained with complete sincerity:
"If we get used to using powerful weapons right now, we would become dependent on them and neglect our own cultivation. Then when we leave university, enter a true battlefield, and the masterwork weapon breaks, wouldn't we be screwed?"
"You're right!"
Another student spoke agreeing, "There's an unwritten rule in our Chaos Edge Hall. In daily training, we must use only the simplest, the most basic of weapons to temper ourselves for true strength!"
"Therefore, even though your modified magical equipment are quite decent, from our perspective, they're a bit excessive."
Li Yao was stunned for a long time before shouting:
"That can't be right!? Sure, low-grade weapons can be used to temper and train one's combat skills for day-to-day training, but on the battlefield, you can't still be using low-grade weapons, right? You have to use one or two high-grade weapons to protect yourself, right?"
A few sword cultivators glanced at each other, but in the end, it was still Zhao Tianchong who explained:
"Indeed, fellow student Li Yao. On a real battlefield, we do carry weapons of two different grades."
"If we encounter weak demon beasts like the Black Armored Saber Mantis, we would use our low-grade weapons to temper our combat skills. If we meet demon beasts more powerful than us, like the Gold Armored Saber Mantis, we would use higher-grade masterwork weapons and stake our lives."
"Even though you increased the performance of these masterwork weapons, the problem is: the underlying model is too basic. They don't count as real masterwork weapons!"
"To sum it all up, your modified magical equipment are too good to train with and too poor to stake our lives on. The price isn't particularly cheap, and they don't have any main competitive strengths!"
Chapter 174: Li Yao's Transformation |
Li Yao deeply furrowed his brows.
At first glance, what Zhao Tianchong had said made sense but it was also strange, after careful deliberation. Li Yao thought for a long while before responding with a stomp of his foot.
"Fellow student Zhao Tianchong, there's a big problem with your explanation. Your demon beast slaying efficiency rate is greatly increased when you're equipped with better magical equipment. If before, you could kill ten demon beasts in a day and tomorrow you could kill fifteen in a day, wouldn't you still be able to meet the same objective of crazily cultivating you've been bickering about? You just think my gear is too expensive!"
A rarely seen blush appeared on Zhao Tianchong's face.
He really had been exaggerating a bit.
It was true that the Grand Desolate War Institution didn't encourage students to use masterwork weapons when cultivating on campus.
However, in real combat where danger lurks in all corners of the battlefield, a bit of a performance increase with magical equipment was certainly a good thing.
No one would despise having an overly sharp sword.
Zhao Tianchong awkwardly explained:
"Fellow student, Li Yao, if the magical equipment was only more expensive by a couple hundred credits, everyone would grit their teeth and accept it."
"But the basic magical equipment is all consumable. They would need to be replaced with a new one every few days, under intense combat. We can't just spend a couple hundred credits every few days right?"
"We wouldn't be able to make it back, even if we do increase our demon beast slaying efficiency by 10%!"
"He's right!"
Sword cultivators agreed with him one after another, for this was the most crucial factor.
If the price was right, who wouldn't want to equip themselves with more powerful performing magical equipment?
The key laid in the fact demon beasts were very hard to deal with. Some were like the Gold Armored Saber Mantis; they had a hard carapace. Some had super hard skeletons. Some even had bodies filled with corrosive acid.
Close combat weapons just didn't last more than a few days against demon beasts. Often, the blade's edge would crumble and the sword's body would split. They would be rusted by corrosion and become unusable.
Everyone was a college student strapped for credits. Every credit was saved through great difficulties. It was alright if they only had to spend several hundred credits once but who would be able to stand spending several hundred credits every few days!
Zhao Tianchong smiled wryly and said:
"Fellow student Li Yao, I just spoke the truth. We, students of the Combat Department, may earn credits at a lightning speed by taking missions but we spend a lot of credits in a lot of places."
"Not to mention, the professors of the Combat Department can destroy someone by subtle means and fail someone without blinking an eye. It makes us have to spend a large amount of credits to retake courses."
"Say that we regularly get injured during cultivation and we go find some fellow students at the Medical Department for help, their scalpels would have to be polished and sharpened until they're super shiny so that a single blade could draw blood!"
"So, we can only be meticulous about our points!"
He paused before speaking again.
"However, the magical equipment you've refined is really nice. If you can lower the price by 30%, you'll certainly make a lot of sales. I'll be the first to buy a chainsword, regardless of the others!"
"Yes, the things here are good. I really like this battleax. It's just too expensive. If you can reduce the price by 25%, I'll grit my teeth and buy it!"
A different and burly classmate stroked a battleax in his hands as he spoke with loving affection.
Li Yao blinked his eyes. He could tell that everyone spoke the truth.
Now that he thought about it, this was true. If a saber was more expensive by several hundred school credits but could be used for a year, he would grit his teeth and bear it.
However, these things were consumables. If one's luck was bad on the battlefield, encountering a demon beast with an especially tough skeleton or maybe a strong corrosion demon beast, the magical equipment would turn to scrap in an instant!
Even though the swords refined by Li Yao had their performances greatly increased, it was impossible for them to last for more than three to five days of continuous and intense combat.
Taking this into account, the price was indeed expensive.
Yet, Li Yao also had his difficulties.
If he were to sell a single close combat magical equipment for 800 credits, his net profit wouldn't be much. Most of the credits would go towards the cost.
Buying the original magical equipment to modify would require spending of hundreds of credits, to say the least.
In addition, there were all sorts of precious raw materials required. A single piece magical equipment would give him a net profit of one to two hundred credits at most.
He would have to work endlessly around to clock, modifying several hundred pieces of magical equipment, in order to reach 30,000 credits.
Not even 30%, if prices were lowered by 20%, a single piece magical equipment would only earn him a couple dozen credits. It would really take endless years to earn 30,000 credits.
Li Yao had the faint sensation that he appeared to have taken the wrong road.
He was still using the more manual, artisan style of refining methods of forty millenniums ago.
Through thousands of revisions of hard work, meticulous carving and perfecting, and forging by hand, he was able to refine a more exquisite magical equipment with slightly stronger performance.
However, the refining rate was terribly low. It would take at least one or two days for a single finished product. The more complex ones required three or four days.
Current cultivation sects long ago adopted large-scale industrial methods to refine low-level magical equipment. They refined in bulk. Their efficiency was extremely high.
With greater production, the costs could be brought very low.
The magical equipment produced by this large-scale refinement method didn't have the most powerful performance.
But the quality to price ratio was the absolute highest.
This was the perfect method of refining for low-level magical equipment with extremely high rates of consumption.
"Efficiency! The key lies in efficiency!"
Li Yao had this sudden epiphany.
"I was using the train of thought of refining quality products on refining consumable products. It takes me one to two days to modify an 'exquisite' consumable product. Obviously, I'm getting nowhere with efficiency as low as this!"
"However, a real quality product that could behead a demon god with one strike... How could I, a lowly cultivator of the 5th level of the Refinement Stage, refine such a thing?"
Li Yao thought for a moment. Then he asked with a heart filled with anticipation.
"What about the sticky bomb? It is inexpensive and it has decent power. This is my competitive product!"
This time it was Lu Tieshan's turn to speak.
"Fellow student Li Yao, it's true that your sticky bomb is decent. It's been well-purposed for use against the hard exoskeleton of a demon beast but it's way too complicated to use. What if I accidentally get it stuck to my hand? That would be very embarrassing."
"We don't have your astonishing hand speed or finger dexterity. We aren't able to stick that many sticky bombs to the carapace of a demon beast unnoticed!"
Li Yao was dumbfounded. He discovered he had made his second error.
When he was refining the sticky bomb, he had unconsciously used his own view as the viewpoint of a user.
Not only had he develop astonishing hand speed through high-intensity magical equipment maintenance, he had cultivated in the Thousands Fingers Supple Bone Exercise, a god-like technique of the ancient past devoted to increase the pliability and flexibility of fingers.
The fingers of a typical cultivator weren't as nimble as his and their hand speeds weren't as quick.
From their perspectives, using the sticky bomb was far too complicated. In intense combat, a single accident would have them sticking the bomb to themselves.
In short, it was a magical equipment exclusive to Li Yao. It was hard for others to use.
Li Yao lowered his head. His cheeks somewhat hurt with a burning sting.
"Senior Brother Peng was correct. For one to become an outstanding refiner, one must go through great quantities of real combat and first become an excellent soldier. This way, one understands what magical equipment is most popular, most practical within real combat!"
"It was because of my lack of combat experience that I refined, behind closed doors of the school campus, the magical equipment that only seemed brilliant."
"The numbers of the magical equipment was very beautiful on paper and they displayed outstanding performance during testing."
"But when they reached the battlefield, all sorts of problems were revealed."
"Real combat... I need large amounts of real combat experience!"
"I will temper my combat skills in actual combat and become a true soldier. Only in this way can I know which magical equipment will be the most well received and how to refine it!"
...
Three days later at the eastern business district of Verdant Tarn City.
Li Yao was expressionless among the ruins of dilapidated buildings. His eyes shone brightly with life. He stood in confrontation of a demon beast.
An intense change had occurred within the battlefield situation in these three days.
Large batches of cultivators had rushed over one after another. Quite a few of the students of the Grand Desolate War Institution had heard the news, heading back to campus early and entering the battlefield one wave after another to engage in slaughter.
Each day, transport ships had to make several trips back and forth between the Grand Desolate War Institution and Verdant Tarn City.
The large army expanded their territory, pressing against the demon beasts. The large beast tide on the surface was suppressed. The powerful Demon Generals and Demon Kings put up a resistance in the sewers where it was accessible from all sides. The high-level cultivators could only enter deep underground to engage in bloody slaughter in the maze of pitch-black darkness.
Small squads of demon soldiers were in every nook and corner on the surface. They were handed over to the Refinement Stage cultivators to deal with.
Li Yao was a well-known and excellent figure of the Refinement Stage cultivators.
He was facing an Armored Snapping Turtle. This was an extremely fierce and tough intermediate level demon soldier.
It was like a hybrid between a turtle and a crocodile expanded three times their original sizes. A tortoise shell armored its body. Its defensive power was even more tyrannical than the Gold Armored Saber Mantis'. It had a thick and muscular tail, covered with sawteeth, that was like a barbed iron whip. The tail ripped through the air, letting out a humming cry.
It didn't matter if one was being struck by the turtle shell or swept by the iron tail, the consequences would be disastrous.
But Li Yao was very different than the version of himself from three days ago.
After discovering his problem, he had deeply thought over the matter for a very long time. In the end, he deeply affirmed to his heart that he would properly sharpen himself in actual combat.
He sold most of the magical equipment he had refined during winter vacation at very reasonable prices to his classmates. He just left himself a Heavy Vibrosaber of great attack power.
Sabers, guns, swords, halberds, hatchets, axes, scythes, tridents... There were thirty to fifty different types of close combat magical equipment. It was obviously impossible to completely master all their properties in a single breath.
Li Yao was going to first master using the saber to become an expert in both refining and using it.
He liked the saber with its domineering air, to be able to press forward and sever things in half with a single strike!
