Chapter 626: The Intricate Creation of Holy Artifacts
Over 4 million combined with over 7 million.
A total of more than 12 million experience points.
However.
For Ling Zhan’s experience bar, it didn’t even increase by 30%.
This is why people always say that leveling up becomes increasingly difficult in the later stages.
Many class-advancers remain stuck at level seventy their entire lives because the required experience points are overwhelmingly vast.
Even if you participate in every battle and fight valiantly, it can still take several years to reach level eighty.
If your skills are subpar, it could take over a decade.
However, for Ling Zhan, this 12 million experience didn’t stir any excitement.
After all, the upcoming large-scale wars will provide plenty of opportunities to harvest experience points.
Currently.
Drak City lay in ruins.
And what could be seen…
Were numerous drops left behind by the slain ghost minions.
Most of it consisted of useless low-grade materials, with only a small portion being C-grade or higher.
Ling Zhan couldn’t be bothered to pick them up, leaving the task for the follow-up troops.
However, the Earth Ghost Generals did drop some notable items.
Two A-grade skill books—one for warrior classes and one for mage classes.
For Ling Zhan, they were useless. As a non-specialist, he couldn’t learn intermediate or advanced class skills, only basic ones.
He planned to hand them to Zhou Xue’er to store in the squad’s warehouse, to be awarded as incentives for exemplary performance later.
Apart from the skill books.
There were also several level ninety gold-tier pieces of equipment.
These were quite valuable.
Although most reserve squad members already had spirit-grade gear.
Level ninety gold-tier equipment wasn’t far behind in terms of base attributes and enchantment effects.
The key difference was the equipment level.
Level ninety gold-tier equipment… In the market, people would fight tooth and nail for it. Even the cheapest pieces would fetch millions of holy crystals.
At the lowest, they might go for several million, but if bidding wars ensued, they could sell for over ten million holy crystals.
Ling Zhan had no use for these items either.
His current equipment was all top-tier spirit-grade.
He wore the unparalleled Demon Battle set.
Along with the Thousand Mechanisms Ring.
As for the "Proof of a True Man" accessory, though it was low-grade spirit gear, it perfectly complemented the Demon Battle set, effectively elevating it to high-grade spirit status.
In this world’s equipment hierarchy.
From lowest to highest:
White-tier, blue-tier, purple-tier, gold-tier, spirit-grade, holy-grade, divine-grade, ancestral-grade.
Divine and ancestral-grade equipment, as Ling Zhan learned from General Li, only existed in the upper realms.
Furthermore…
Rumor had it that there were even higher-grade items beyond ancestral-grade, but those were unknown to the lower mortal realms.
Here, high-level gold-tier gear was considered endgame equipment for ordinary class-advancers.
Without hesitation.
He decided to let Zhou Xue’er store them in the warehouse, to reward high-performing, lower-background squad members.
Members from ordinary families lacked the family-granted spirit-grade gear.
Naturally, they needed these gold-tier items more.
A collective benefit is a true benefit.
Besides skill books and equipment.
The remaining items were materials and some miscellaneous tools.
Materials dropped by the Earth Ghost Generals were all A-grade or higher.
Ling Zhan planned to collect all these materials since he had great needs for both forging and enchanting.
If the system didn’t reward him with better weapons or armor later, Ling Zhan intended to upgrade his current spirit-grade equipment piece by piece.
All the way to the holy-grade level.
Additionally…
Ling Zhan had already decided on a blueprint to upgrade the Thousand Mechanisms Ring to a holy-grade artifact.
It was the “Thousand Shifter” blueprint redeemable with merit points.
【Equipment: Thousand Shifter.】
【Grade: Holy-grade.】
【Attributes: None.】
【Enchantment Effect: None.】
【Holy Artifact Talent: Infinite Transformation.】
【Infinite Transformation: Can replicate any spirit-grade or lower weapon you’ve seen with 100% accuracy. If replicating another’s holy artifact, all attributes and enchantment effects are reduced to 80%.】
.........
The Thousand Shifter.
A holy artifact Ling Zhan set his sights on at first glance.
It was exceptionally suited to his non-specialist class.
His plan was to upgrade the Thousand Mechanisms Ring to this holy artifact.
Though holy artifacts were extremely rare and coveted even by level 100 fourth-tier elites.
Holy artifact blueprints, however, were surprisingly cheap.
The reason was simple…
The conditions for creating a holy artifact were absurdly harsh!!
Forget everything else for a moment.
First, the outrageously expensive and rare top-tier materials!
Many of these materials couldn’t even be found in national treasuries!
For instance, the “Crystal of Rebirth,” an A-grade material, was valued at around 30 million holy crystals!
Why?
Because obtaining this material required reviving a level seventy-plus powerhouse, with only a small chance of it dropping!
In other words…
To acquire this material, you’d need to find a priest, a level seventy-plus deceased fighter whose original spirit hadn’t been destroyed, and then have the priest resurrect them, hoping for the drop.
The probability was ridiculously low—only 0.1%!
This material…
Even if you were willing to spend 30 million holy crystals, it would still be practically impossible to purchase!
Yet this material was essential for crafting holy artifacts.
Isn’t that infuriating?
As mentioned earlier.
Many low-level materials become exorbitantly expensive because they’re required for specific creations.
Alright.
Materials aside…
Let’s talk about the other requirements.
Even with the materials and blueprints, you’d need five master weapon crafters to collaborate.
Hiring one costs about 20 million holy crystals.
That totals 100 million holy crystals.
The reason for hiring five is to speed up the process and to stack their passive abilities, slightly increasing the success rate.
Yet even then…
The failure rate remains alarmingly high when crafting holy artifacts!
If you fail, all materials are lost, and the master crafters bear no responsibility—it’s a matter of probability, after all. Who can guarantee a 100% success rate?
This is why holy artifact blueprints are so cheap.
Ling Zhan had spent just 1,000 merit points to purchase this blueprint.
Despite the daunting challenge, Ling Zhan was determined to forge one himself.
As for the failure rate…
No need to worry; Ling Zhan had system-rewarded Luck Potions.
Regarding secondary professions…
Ling Zhan had recently unlocked his weapon crafting subclass during some downtime.
He also took the opportunity to learn armor crafting, jewelry crafting, alchemy, and architecture.
Multiple secondary professions can be pursued simultaneously.