Staying Alive Cautiously in the Celestial Realm and Becoming the Strongest

Chapter 729: Chapter 729: Assessment

The Master’s Hall is a distinctive feature of Thousand Star Immortal City.

Artifact Refiners have their Refiners Guild, Talisman Makers have their own guild, and Array Masters have their guild as well…

Even Spiritual Plant Farmers have their professional guild.

It’s akin to the trade unions of Wang Chen’s previous life, where industry insiders could apply to join and obtain the corresponding professional certification through assessment.

Wang Chen wanted to open an equipment shop to accumulate funds. Though he could open it without joining the Refiners Guild or obtaining professional certification, without any hindrance,

if he didn’t hang the Artifact Refiner’s professional emblem on his shopfront, then he couldn’t expect business to come knocking on his door.

...

Because in Thousand Star Immortal City, whether it’s weapons, equipment, Talismans, Pills, Spirit Rice, or Spiritual Tea, nearly all have professional emblems to adorn their façades and to attest to their strength.

And often, there’s more than one!

As a newbie shop owner in the business, how would Wang Chen compete without anything?

In Thousand Star Immortal City, this city of commerce and trade, even fine wine fears a deep alley!

The headquarters of the Refiners Guild is located in the Four Ridge district.

In fact, most of the guilds are concentrated here, in a dense cluster of multi-story buildings, and the gold, silver, and copper emblems embedded on the façades instill a sense of awe.

Wang Chen’s arrival here gave him the feeling of being in the CBD of a city from his previous life.

The headquarters of the Refiners Guild is easy to find—just look for the tallest and most imposing building.

But to Wang Chen’s eyes, this building was clearly a giant Magical Treasure.

No, possibly a higher tier of Artifact creation than a Magical Treasure!

With a hint of reverence, Wang Chen stepped into the Refiners Guild headquarters.

First things first, he applied for the Artifact Refiner examination.

The service of the Refiners Guild was quite good. Although Wang Chen was a nobody, after he presented his Identity Plaque and stated his intention, someone quickly began to process the relevant procedures for him.

After paying an assessment fee of five hundred Spirit Stones, Wang Chen was taken to an Earth Fire Chamber.

This Earth Fire Chamber was of a rather high tier, with nothing inside except for a furnace placed in the center.

According to the rules, Wang Chen had ten hours to complete the assessment by refining a qualified artifact here.

Since Wang Chen had applied for a three-star certification, the “proctor” responsible was a four-star Refinement Master.

This involved the occupational standards of the guild.

Those who could refine Magic Artifacts were ranked one-star, those capable of refining lower-tier Spiritual Artifacts could be certified as two-star, and higher-tier as three-star.

A four-star Refinement Master could already refine Magical Treasures!

Four-star, five-star, six-star, with seven-star and above being Grandmasters, with the Refiners Guild able to certify up to a nine-star Grandmaster.

However, nine-star is not the final career milestone for an Artifact Refiner.

Wang Chen definitely had the ability to aim for four-star, but as a Purple Mansion Cultivator, even at the peak of the Purple Mansion, achieving the four-star master status would be too conspicuous.

Because it was generally believed that only Golden Core Cultivators could refine Magical Treasures.

To avoid trouble, Wang Chen chose the three-star certification.

Dang~

With the sound of a bronze bell, the door to the Earth Fire Chamber closed thunderously, and the examination officially began.

Wang Chen calmly sat down in front of the furnace.

Instead of rushing to start the refinement, he placed his hand on the furnace in front of him, injecting Mana to inspect it.

To do a good job, an artisan must first sharpen his tools; since the Earth Fire and the furnace could not be chosen, they must be familiarized to craft high-quality artifacts during actual operation.

Then, Wang Chen discovered that the seemingly ordinary furnace in front of him was actually of the third order.

A third-order furnace could even be used to refine Magical Treasures!

In theory, since Wang Chen applied for three-star certification, a second-order furnace would have sufficed.

The Third Order furnace was clearly beyond the standard.

But Wang Chen didn’t think this was an oversight or mistake on the part of the Refiners Guild.

He guessed it was also part of the examination.

Thinking this, Wang Chen no longer hesitated, and immediately activated the Dharma Technique from “Nine Directions Refinement,” increasing the input of mana to refine this Third Order furnace.

The refining process lasted an entire two hours!

Actually, with Wang Chen’s current strength, if he were to draw upon the power of an External Core, completely refining this Third Order furnace wouldn’t be a problem.

But firstly, there wasn’t enough time, and secondly, it would reveal too much.

Therefore, Wang Chen controlled the extent of the refinement to match his Cultivation Realm.

By this step, Wang Chen’s understanding and mastery of the furnace had already met the requirements for refining high-grade Spiritual Artifacts.

Next, he activated the Earth Fire.

He directed the fire into the furnace.

The furnaces provided by the Refiners Guild, although not on the same level as the Creation Cauldron, were fundamentally similar. Benefiting from the experience accumulated over the past five months, Wang Chen handled these steps very well.

One could even say perfectly!

He was well aware that every move he made in the Earth Fire Chamber would be seen by the proctors.

Under the watchful eyes, Wang Chen didn’t see the need to hide his abilities.

Showing off his edge where appropriate was beneficial.

Immediately after, Wang Chen took out a pile of materials from his Sumeru Ring.

An entire month earlier, Wang Chen had been contemplating participating in the Refiners Guild’s examination. He had already inquired clearly about the related rules and requirements, so he came fully prepared.

First, he used a batch of lower-tier materials to forge three Magic Artifacts.

They were very common, low-grade goods.

It seemed like Wang Chen was wasting time and materials, but in reality, he was further familiarizing himself with the characteristics of the Earth Fire and the furnace.

A Third Order furnace definitely has its own “temperament”. Refining is the process of mastering, and forging is the process of familiarizing. To achieve a state of effortless control, one must “feed” it properly.

After such efforts, another two hours had passed.

Wang Chen had only three hours left for the examination.

But by now, he had roughly figured things out and immediately brought out the comparatively precious materials of the Second Order.

This was today’s main event!

The Artifact Refiner’s examination involved a topic of one’s choice, and the materials had to be provided by oneself. You could forge whatever you wished, as long as the final product was satisfactory, you would pass the test.

Hence, many Artifact Refiners would choose the simplest object to craft.

Wang Chen didn’t deliberately choose something more difficult, such as forging the Flying Swords he was quite skilled in.

Because to forge a high-grade Flying Sword in three hours would definitely be impossible.

He chose the Flying Dagger.

Opening the lid of the furnace, Wang Chen sequentially added Mysterious Iron, Mysterious Copper, and Mysterious Gold into it.

The ratios were not exactly the same.

The Flying Daggers forged with these three materials were known as the Three Mysterious Flying Daggers, the recipe for which was recorded in the Nine Directions Refinement tomes, equivalent to a textbook example.

But don’t be deceived by the standard example, forging the Three Mysterious Flying Daggers was a significant test of an Artifact Refiner’s skill.

The Earth Fire blazed fiercely, the furnace hummed; the most crucial step had begun!

———-

The first release is here.