[TD]

The screen flashed, and the message was sent.

Ji Jue turned off his phone screen, shook his head, and sighed, "I give up, taking a leave just because of a little thunder and rain, hopeless trash."

He originally wanted to say more, but he had just registered a new account called "Cliff City Solo," and got banned after only one insult—the city hall bunch of dogs don't do their work properly but are damn quick at playing the filial son and banning people.

Ji Jue lost the mood, thinking, 'Forget it, I'll just note it down and change to another account to continue the rant some other day.'

In Cliff City, there are three unavoidable things, wind, rain, and cursing the Governor.

Cliff City, located on the fringe next to the Endless Sea, endures constant typhoons and prolonged rainy seasons, flooding every other month due to the terrible drainage system— not that there isn't one, but it's pretty much the same as having none.

Over the years, Governors have come and gone, all focusing on making money. Their slogans are louder than anyone else's, but when it comes to actual work, they do nothing. Instead, there are garbage bins costing eight hundred thousand each spread over every street and alley.

Who could see this and not curse their bad luck?

It's only staying at the level of cursing the Governor now, showing a simplicity from an ancient time.

In just that short time, the originally clear weather was once again engulfed by dark clouds.

A light drizzle began to fall.

Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled.

He yawned and waved his hand for the last time.

On the operation table, the alchemy items, riddled with cracks, shattered under the destruction of the Dissociation Technique, turning into dust.

A remaining wisp of spiritual essence emerged from the pieces, caught by Ji Jue in his hand and then absorbed by the power of Mechanical Descent. Amidst illusions and sensations, Ji Jue grimaced and felt nauseous.

It took him several days to completely destroy the pile of low-quality alchemy products he had carried back from a villa.

The progress of the Dissociation Technique was pleasing—though relatively weak, he managed to achieve 100% release success using both hands.

Yet, the essence extracted from a pile of scrapped equipment was far too rare.

Better than nothing.

Thus, the growth of Mechanical Descent was minimal, still stuck at ninety-five percent of the Second Rank, not increasing by more than five points.

One might say, some people look very grand, surrounded by followers, but the alchemy items they carry are all low-quality, alarmingly poor in quality and crudely made.

Some actions were not just disappointing but outright shocking, always providing unexpected surprises at the most unforeseen places.

Just like when Ji Jue was fixing a car, removed the wheel, and saw the brake disk smooth as a mirror; the owner mentioned a strange noise when driving, and upon checking, the transmission shaft was found broken and dragging on the ground.

Baffling to the point of being an engineering miracle, Ji Jue wanted to offer a cigarette and ask, "Brother, how did you manage this?"

In comparison, the pendant from the Extraordinary Vision days seemed quite decent and standard.

After getting used to Professor Ye's meticulous, flawless, and seamlessly natural creations, Ji Jue's standards were raised too high; he utterly couldn't adjust to the inferior products circulating in the market today.

Just looking at them was enough to trigger OCD.

In reality, over ninety percent of the ordinary alchemy creations circulating in the market today were of this type.

Qualified craftsmen were too rare, yet demand was too high.

Official alchemy craftsmen could now take orders independently and offer one-on-one customization services to clients, having no need to set up street stalls. Even mass-produced standard equipment from large workshops couldn't meet the demands of various large organizations.

Mostly, what ordinary people managed to buy was just practice material made by apprentices.

The only advantage was that it worked—being just functional because aside from that, aspects such as durability, stability, and safety were all insufficient, including the higher-tier Blessed Creations containing blessings. Some had more back doors than front doors, consumed more than using spiritual essence directly, and the traps were deeper than jumping off a building.

No wonder Chen Xingzhou was at a loss for words when Ji Jue said being a craftsman was simple.

In truth, when most people heard such bravado, not bursting out laughing and advising the young to not aim too high already showed much courtesy.

From starting as an apprentice to becoming a qualified craftsman, under the thorough training and support of a teacher, and in cases of exceptional talent, the average time needed was seven to nine years.

This was under the pressure of constant striving. A slight relaxation, lesser natural talent, or lack of dedicated teaching might extend it to ten or twenty years. Year after year, they took exams until they broke down and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

The Dragon Gate is hard to pass, the same anywhere.

Even now, Ji Jue's practical skills, nearing perfect scores through the absorption of Mechanical Descent, still couldn't compensate for his theoretical deficiencies.

He had learned less than half of the sixteen device types that the official craftsman should master, had barely begun the multiple Superior Emblems engraving and advanced complex circuits, not to mention his scarce experience in the creation of Blessed Creations.

Too many experience bars to fill.

But when you're covered in lice, you don't feel the itch. How long has it been since he started learning alchemy?

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