Chapter 568: Chapter 509: Artifact Refining Paths, Golden Core Grades
Obtaining related certificates through the Military Certification Exam is evidently the most conventional and common approach in the vast majority of majors at Wanfa University.
However, in the flagship major of the Artifact Refining Department, the issuance quantity and channels for military certifications are notably more abundant than those in the Civil Engineering Department.
At this moment, the Magnetic Pole True Monarch was explaining the intricacies of this to Zhang Yu.
"Military Artifact Refining Engineering Certificates are divided into two categories: Class A and Class B."
"Class A includes various magic treasures, magic remains, armor, flying swords, puppets, and other artifact refining products."
"Class A Military Artifact Refining Engineering Certificate can be obtained not only through exams but also through other channels. For instance, if you create a prototype of a military-level artifact refining product and pass the artifact refining skill tests and evaluations, you can be granted the military certification in advance."
"Class B mainly focuses on artifact refining techniques."
"To acquire a Class B Military Artifact Refining Engineering Certificate, besides passing the related exams, there are ways to be granted it ahead of time, such as the annual Magic Treasure Design Competition, Magic Remains Design Competition, Flying Sword Design Competition..."
"These design competitions emphasize innovative capabilities and design skills, rather than specific artifact refining skill levels."
"Your senior sister Ye Xingli ranked among the top five schools in the Magic Remains Design Competition, her entry was patented, and she was directly awarded the Class B Military Artifact Refining Engineering Certificate, practicing ’The Void Divine Artifact Strategy.’
"Then she independently completed the prototype refinement of the Vacuum Cataclysm Map, passed the artifact refining skill tests and evaluations, acquired the Class A Military Artifact Refining Engineering Certificate, and has now completely finished the Vacuum Cataclysm Map."
The Magnetic Pole True Monarch smiled gently, flicked his fingers, and a light and shadow appeared, listing Ye Xingli’s extensive resume.
It was filled with the ranks she achieved in various competitions, products designed for magic remains, as well as records of academic achievements and comprehensive scores from different semesters... It was dizzying for Zhang Yu to look at.
Magnetic Pole True Monarch said, "Once you join the Artifact Refining Department, you can also pursue this path and secure both categories of military certifications as soon as possible. After all, whether it’s a cultivation technique or magic remains, the sooner you use military-level ones, the sooner you can start accumulating resources for future cultivation."
"In the current undergraduate phase, Foundation Establishment is already at its peak, and to obtain the Golden Core qualification certificate, one must first undertake postgraduate studies."
"However, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to do during the undergraduate phase since breaking through to the Golden Core Realm is simple, but the difference between Golden Cores... that’s a world apart. Many top students, even when their credits are fulfilled, don’t rush to graduate early because they’re using their time to prepare for future breakthroughs to the Golden Core."
Magnetic Pole True Monarch: "In the past, Golden Cores were divided into nine grades; a third-grade Golden Core was already considered a world-class genius, while a first-grade Golden Core could directly enter a sect."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yu asked with concern, "What about now?"
Magnetic Pole True Monarch said, "The nine-grade division of Golden Cores is deemed too crude now. With the Spirit Realm, scores are directly assessed, with a Golden Core score of 10,000 being mediocre, 100,000 considered excellent, 300,000 marking a genius among schools, and a score above 500,000 representing the Golden Core among Golden Cores."
Zhang Yu eagerly asked again, "What kind of Golden Core can achieve a high score?"
Magnetic Pole True Monarch said, "It’s about two steps: before and after achieving the Golden Core."
"How to improve scores after achieving the Golden Core, that’s still far for you; we won’t discuss that today."
"Let’s talk about the preparations before achieving the Golden Core."
"To forge a high-quality Golden Core, first purchase an inner core. The higher the quality of the inner core, the more expensive it is. It’s fair to say that money is indispensable if you want to break through to the Golden Core Realm."
"Secondly, during the core forging period, the cultivator’s Spirit Root, cultivation technique, and magic remains quality all greatly influence the Golden Core’s score; the higher the quality, the higher the score of the forged Golden Core."
"If there are other high-quality magic treasures, elixirs, and array maps as assistance, that’s even better."
Magnetic Pole True Monarch said, "Simply put, mastering more and stronger military-level techniques, military-level magic remains, and military-level magic treasures will produce a higher-rated Golden Core."
"Thus, during the university years, you should seize the time to accumulate Immortal Path resources and master more military-level powers so that you can forge a better Golden Core more quickly and efficiently in the future."
Zhang Yu nodded, as this did not conflict with his plan to amass strength and achieve a grand slam in ten major competitions.
However, he felt somewhat anxious about the route proposed by Magnetic Pole True Monarch.
He then asked, "Teacher, you mentioned that you can obtain rankings through various design competitions to secure Class B military certifications. Will this be very difficult?"
Magnetic Pole True Monarch said, "Design competitions heavily rely on inspiration and talent; they are the least demanding regarding wealth and background."
"By taking this route, once you have acquired the Class B military certification and practiced military-level artifact refining techniques, your artifact refining skills will increase daily, and then creating prototypes of military-level artifact refining products to secure the Class A military certification will be a breeze."
Upon hearing these words from the Magnetic Pole True Monarch, Zhang Yu felt increasingly uneasy.
It’s not that he lacks inspiration and talent in artifact refining, but it seems Yu Shu currently doesn’t have any.
If Yu Shu lacks inspiration and design enhancements, then what of Zhang Yu’s extraordinary talent?
Zhang Yu intuitively felt, "Being constrained by Yu Shu, I’m likely unsuitable to pursue the design competition route."
Thus, he asked again, "What if I directly create prototypes of military-level artifact refining products and first secure the Class A military certification?"
Magnetic Pole True Monarch chuckled upon hearing this and said, "Let’s use the Heavenly Sun Divine as an example."
As he spoke, Magnetic Pole True Monarch flicked his finger, and a dense array of light and shadows appeared before him.
It was a myriad of skill trees intertwined like tree roots, closely interconnected.
Simultaneously, Magnetic Pole True Monarch said, "To create the Heavenly Sun Divine, at least one must master advanced heat spiritual energy technology, and to master it, one must first master the following 7 basic technologies, and to master these 7 basic technologies..."
Zhang Yu listened for a while and felt a headache, thinking to himself, "To master a technique, one must master its foundation; to master its foundation, one must first master the foundation’s foundation, then the foundation’s foundation’s foundation..."
Looking at the dense skill tree before him, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "When will this learning ever end?"
Gazing at the dazed Zhang Yu, Magnetic Pole True Monarch asked, "Have you understood now?"
"First learn the military-grade artifact refining technique, especially the military-level technique of our department, ’Taixu Divine Artifact Manual.’ It allows you to progress faster on the artifact refining path, particularly enabling you to skip many techniques in material refinement, magical artifact shaping, and mana transmission, allowing you to achieve what others cannot with this technique, saving a lot of time."
Zhang Yu nodded slightly, thinking, "It’s almost like while one side is steadily learning the True Fire Processing Technique, the other side directly practices the Fire Control Divine Mirror to master True Fire."
But recalling his memories of artifact refining, another thought emerged in Zhang Yu’s mind, prompting him to ask, "Teacher, if I successfully refine relevant magic treasures with this advanced heat spiritual energy technology, wouldn’t I directly master this technique then?"
Magnetic Pole True Monarch laughed, "How can you refine related magical artifacts without mastering related technologies?"
Zhang Yu thought silently, "That’s not necessarily the case."
He recalled each time he practiced refining diagrams, mastered various magical item manufacturing techniques.
Especially every time he leveled up through Yu Shu, a wealth of artifact refining experience and knowledge surfaced in his mind.
This made Zhang Yu think, "The Taiqing Realm’s 20x acceleration already makes my learning speed very fast."
"There’s also a simulated reality lab that allows me to conduct refining experiments repeatedly."
"Plus, Yu Shu cultivation only cares about the frequency, not the quality."
"As long as I fully harness Yu Shu’s power, mastering various magical treasures through accelerated practice, I can quickly and deeply grasp various technologies."
"In this way, it wouldn’t take too long for me to meet the requirements for refining military-grade artifact prototypes."
"Isn’t this much more reliable than participating in any design competition?"
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu felt a jolt in his heart, already vaguely making up his mind.
In his eyes, the technologies required for refining military-grade magical artifacts on the screen transformed from technologies into diagrams of magical artifacts.
As long as he mastered these magical artifact diagrams, he mastered military-grade magical artifact refining technology.
The gaze of the Magnetic Pole True Monarch shifted, looking at Zhang Yu and saying, "Hmm? It seems you have made up your mind?"
Zhang Yu said, "Teacher, I want to try refining the prototype of a military-grade artifact refining product first, to see if I can earn a Category A military certificate."
"Oh?" Magnetic Pole True Monarch felt a stir in his mind, secretly admiring, "Although this path is considerably more difficult and takes more time, it allows for deeper learning, building solid foundations with a potential for explosive growth."
"To think he chose this path even after seeing its challenges."
"If you wish to venture forth, that’s fine." Magnetic Pole True Monarch said plainly, "Since the next design competition is still months away, seize this time to learn as much as possible; if you feel inadequate halfway through, you can always switch."
Hearing Magnetic Pole True Monarch’s support for his actions, Zhang Yu instantly felt relieved, and then he asked, "Teacher, which military-grade refining product should I target?"
"It’s easier to refine magical artifacts than magical remains, and among the magical artifacts, the Taixiao Holy Law Sword Formation involves Flying Swords and Sword Arrays, requiring you to make up too many courses."
"The Vacuum Catastrophe Map involves several profound Taoist skills, needing not only courses but also significant investment for cultivation."
"The Bihui Golden Crystal Armor is still being decrypted, too soon for you."
"The best fit for you, considering everything, is the Heavenly Sun Divine."
"After all, the Heavenly Sun Divine is a puppet; if you succeed in refining it, not only will it assist your work and experiments, but the knowledge and skills gained will greatly help your future magical remains refinement."
After speaking, Magnetic Pole True Monarch sent Zhang Yu the design sheet for the Heavenly Sun Divine Prototype Machine.
This Heavenly Sun Divine Prototype Machine isn’t quite military grade, only an enterprise-grade magical artifact, but if refined successfully, it signifies the refiner’s capability to create a complete Heavenly Sun Divine.
Furthermore, upon opening the design sheet, Zhang Yu saw that Magnetic Pole True Monarch had meticulously listed the courses, knowledge, technologies each part required, making everything clear and sparing the student from aimlessly seeking guidance.