A long night passed by without my noticing.

When the alarm went off inside the temporary workshop in the carriage, Ji Jue sluggishly realized the arrival of dawn.

Thanks to the Chosen One's physique, staying up all night wasn't a big deal. Besides, he had already rested plenty on the road, and after a night of hard work, the renewed opening of the Melting Furnace lit up his eyes with dazzling silver light.

"Mission accomplished!"

Ji Jue grinned, "Thanks, Ball bro!"

[We're all buddies here, no need for polite formalities!] Ghost Work Ball replied calmly: [Haven't seen you for a while; your craftsmanship has indeed improved. With your current level, if you go back and brush up on the theory, you could actually get a license.]

"I'm still far off."

Ji Jue shook his head. He knew his own situation well; he hadn't become so arrogant as to believe that he could overcome the Dragon Gate that had stumped countless people for years in just a few months.

His focus on specialization was overdone.

Of all the skills he possessed now, aside from the consistently improving Dissociation Technique, the most practiced was Fluid Alchemy. After all, away from the forge and combined with the Non-attack, this set was truly handy, but it just couldn't be used to apply for a license.

The level of his Modern Alchemy wasn't low, but it was mainly applied practice. It wasn't all self-effort, but the Mechanical Descent's epiphanies when digesting Superior Essence absolutely made up more than ninety percent. Without theoretical knowledge, one could only copy answers without understanding why certain numbers fit.

Among the four basic skills, Purification and Integration proficiency were frustratingly high, Ascension mediocre, and extraction, which required a balance of experience, theory, and practice, was still at an apprentice level. To improve, he had no choice but to pour resources into it and practice relentlessly; there were no shortcuts.

Even if he were to luck out and get a license, he'd only be capable of making knockoffs and pirated versions, purely superficial... Such a laughable character wouldn't just irritate Ji Jue; Professor Ye might not be able to resist cleaning house.

Better to take it slow.

"Come over."

Ji Jue beckoned towards the Melting Furnace, and immediately, the flowing Mercury surged out, requiring no control from Ji Jue as it went directly into the open toolbox by his feet.

Seemingly no different from before it was put into the Melting Furnace, but after an all-night Purification, all impurities had been stripped away, and no trace of bone remained. Instead, a delicate luminescence emerged on the Mercury's surface.

Under the light, like countless minutely faceted crystals, it refracted a strand of faint colors, shifting and overflowing, as if boundlessly mystical.

Ji Jue waved his hand, snapping his fingers. In an instant, the silent Mercury erupted forth, engulfing the space before him and forming an iron wall.

Different from the formerly pure metallic luster, the iron wall now was faintly transparent, displaying a crystal-like texture.

[What the devil? Did you mess up, lad?] Ghost Work Ball asked in stunned disbelief for a moment before taunting: [I would have thought that this blessing would be better lost in a lousy vortex. What have you created here?]

To know, the ability of the blessing, Golden Iron Quality, was to enhance the strength, hardness, and rigidity of any material, varying based on the user's understanding of the Ruins Path and the amount invested of spiritual quality.

But one thing was clear, since it's called Golden Iron Quality, the closer to metal, the better! How come it ended up looking more like glassblowing in Ji Jue's hands, making such an object after busying himself all night?

"Just try it and see."

Ji Jue nonchalantly waved his finger, and instantly, a thin branch extended from the iron wall, a fragile-looking piece of paper-thin slide which, under the infusion of spiritual quality, became even more transparent!

Snap!

Out of the blue, an Invisible Power burst forth, and then on the delicate crust of Mercury crystal, a hardly noticeable fine crack appeared.

Just as Ji Jue was about to give a wry smile, he saw the crystal actually snap in the middle!

It fell to the ground, quickly dissolving into spreading pools of liquid mercury.

The finished product he had made with so much spiritual quality and hard work was destroyed during testing?

"Damn it?"

[Damn it!] At this moment, even Ghost Work Ball was more shocked than he was: [What's with this strength, the hell?! What pill have you taken, kid?]

To put some pressure on Ji Jue, even for just a strength test, it calibrated to the intensity and scale of the tests Professor Ye usually conducted. A whole wall, not just a piece, should have shattered into dust with one strike.

Yet the test subject could still maintain its form?

And during the cutting process, it felt a momentary slight resistance like it had sliced through something?!

Which meant, if the invested spiritual quality and the controller's specifications were equivalent, this strike could well have been in vain...

[Something's off, this structure... is it Minerva?] In an instantaneous scan from the analysis module, Ghost Work Ball realized: [When the hell did you learn this setup?]

"That's a long story."

Ji Jue subconsciously touched his stomach, regretfully no longer feeling the familiar pattern. With a light sigh: now that his vision had improved, he felt increasingly that using Minerva's Sword to strike that lightning-old man was a huge waste, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

During the Melting and forging of the Golden Iron Quality's blessing, he intentionally imitated the crystal structure created by 'Sister Wen' based on his own understanding. Alas, it fell short of the mark, at best counted as an oversize orange. Even so, it had pushed the theoretically attainable strength of Golden Iron Quality up a great deal.

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