Chapter 401: Lowering the Cost of Refining Equipment
Zhang Yu looked at the Azure Sand Level 1 (0/10) on the feather book and couldn't help but sigh at the long road ahead for refining equipment.
But the next moment, a chill accompanied by the power of the ritual surged in his heart, reminding him to keep working hard and interrupting his sigh.
Zhang Yu immediately suppressed his distracting thoughts and began refining the azure sand for the second time.
"I bought the copyright, rented the lab and equipment, and it cost me nearly 1 spirit coin in total. How can it be enough for just one refining?"
Zhang Yu looked at the time. The first refining of the azure sand took about 20 minutes, and he rented the laboratory and equipment for a total of 6 hours.
"Keep refining!"
Zhang Yu immediately raised his internal energy and rolled it towards the materials on the side.
This time, Zhang Yu's movements were much more skillful. Lines of energy swept out and he manipulated the materials and tools at the same time.
Zhang Yu felt that the process of refining the azure sand was quite similar to his usual practice.
He simply treated the raw materials in front of him as his physical body, used various immortal techniques to transform them, and finally obtained the desired immortal effect.
The process of improvement is like the more proficient you are in a skill, the stronger the effect of your attack. The higher the level of refining of the azure sand, the better the effect of the finished product.
Ye Xingli, who was standing by, watched Zhang Yu start refining the azure sand for the second time. She didn't take it seriously at first, but suddenly she frowned and asked, "Is the amount of ore a little less?"
Zhang Yu explained with a smile: "I want to save some material costs so that I can refine it more times."
Ye Xingli dissuaded him, "The amount of ore is different, so the subsequent operation steps, including the use of Gangqi, mana, and the temperature of the Lihuo furnace, will all be different."
"For beginners, it's better to follow the standard portions. Once you have improved your skills, you can consider adjusting the portions yourself."
Zhang Yu naturally did not accept Ye Xingli's proposal.
Seeing Zhang Yu not wanting to listen to advice, Ye Xingli shook her head and stopped trying to persuade him. She just thought to herself, "This kid... has an average talent for refining weapons, but a very stubborn temper."
But Ye Xingli was not surprised by this, as this is often the case with newbies.
Especially for novices who have achieved remarkable results in other fields, they are always full of confidence, but often have to make a few mistakes in the field of refining equipment before they can learn to be down-to-earth.
Ye Xingli watched Zhang Yu continue to refine this small portion of azure sand. In the end, only about half of the material was successfully refined, and the remaining half was wasted.
Ye Xingli shook his head vigorously, thinking that Zhang Yu should understand now.
Zhang Yu, however, looked at the Azure Sand Level 1 (1/10) on the Feather Book and nodded secretly: "Sure enough, after the amount has changed, it can also be counted as one time."
Zhang Yu decided to continue reducing the share and see how much material he could reduce to while allowing the Feather Book to continue to be effective.
"This way, I can further reduce the cost of my weapon refining practice."
Thinking of this, Zhang Yu looked at Ye Xingli and asked, "Senior, I'm just refining the azure sand, and I don't need much of the other things in this laboratory. Do you need some?"
Ye Xingli was also moved when he heard this.
It’s not that she was trying to save money or the laboratory rental fee. After all, this amount of spiritual coins was nothing to her.
Instead, she stood aside and watched Zhang Yu. Since she was free anyway, she might as well use the time to do something of her own.
A little bit of spirit coins is not important to her, but a few more hours of study and practice time are very important to her.
Ye Xingli nodded: "It just so happens that I'm adjusting my body recently, so I can use the equipment here."
"I won't take advantage of you for the lab rent, we can just split it."
"If you have any questions about refining equipment, you can always ask me."
Zhang Yu watched as Ye Xingli disassembled his right arm, manipulated the arm with his internal energy, and then sent it to an instrument nearby. While observing the data, he injected special magical powers into it.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, "The things I'm currently refining are too simple. It's a waste for one person to use the laboratory."
"If I can rent a laboratory with others and share the rent, I can save some spirit coins."
Ever since he successfully completed the first refining of the azure sand, Zhang Yu has been thinking about how to consume less spirit coins to advance his refining journey.
"If I can sell the azure sand, maybe I can make some money?"
But Zhang Yu quickly rejected this idea: "No, I'm afraid I can't make any money. At most I can only recover some of my losses."
Zhang Yu knew that many companies and factories had already reached the stage of mass production and assembly line production for this most basic thing, namely azurite.
Not only is the cost lower than his, but the average quality is also higher.
If he wanted to sell the azure sand, he would probably have to sell it at a loss to make some money back.
"And if I want to mass-produce it, it's simply impossible with my current conditions."
Zhang Yu knew that whether it was a magic weapon or a magic corpse, the production of such things, refining them one by one by himself, and mass production on a production line were two completely different things.
"If you want to set up a mass production line, you can either buy a production line or build one yourself."
"The former requires a large amount of capital, while the latter requires much less capital, but requires very high refining technology."
Obviously, Zhang Yu is not satisfied with these two aspects for the time being.
"For now, I should just lay a solid foundation and focus on improving my equipment refining skills."
Next, Zhang Yu continued to adjust the amount of materials again and again, constantly trying to refine the azure sand.
Finally, he discovered that as long as the amount of materials used was more than one-tenth, each time the refining was completed, the number of times the Feather Book could be completed would be increased by 1.
He thought happily, "Great! This way, I can reduce the cost of practice materials to 10%."
After trying to adjust the amount, Zhang Yu decided to make adjustments in movements, time, etc. to see if he could shorten the time spent on refining the azure sand each time.
After all, Zhang Yu knew in his heart that using the specialized abilities of the Feather Book to practice was logically different from other daily practices.
Just like his previous practice of martial arts, as long as he completed it once, the number of times he could practice it would increase by 1, and eventually the level of the martial arts would be improved step by step.
As for the process of practicing the technique, his movements and quality can be deformed and reduced to a certain extent, as long as they are kept within a certain range.
Zhang Yu has also been using this method to speed up his practice.
Of course, this function of Yushu is not without flaws.
For example, after switching any skill to the specialization of Yu Shu, it is necessary to start from level 1 and continuously improve through practice.
So… even if Zhang Yu has practiced a large number of similar martial arts, such as various body-building exercises and body-protection methods, if he practices a similar technique again, it will not have any universal effect. He still needs to start from level 0 and stack the number of times again and again to upgrade.
The same is true for today's weapon refining techniques in his opinion.
“It also takes practice again and again to push the level.”
“But the quality and time of the practice process should be compressible.”
"My cultivation logic is completely different from the way ordinary people practice martial arts and refinement techniques..."
While Zhang Yu was adjusting the refining process of the azure sand again and again, Ye Xingli beside him would observe from time to time, and the more he watched, the more speechless he became.
"How come Zhang Yu is such a mess?"
"Not only do you save materials, but why do you also randomly adjust the movements and time?"
Ye Xingli knew that ever since the immortal cultivation had been summarized and integrated by the ten major sects, everything had been standardized and digitized as much as possible. Now, all aspects of immortal technology already had a systematic design.
The same is true for refining equipment.
It is not like in the past when each sect and school was a workshop, and even the magic weapons they refined were only roughly divided into major realms, without detailed level distinctions.
Today's magic weapon evaluation system and refining process have already been extremely perfected.
If cultivators want to improve their refining skills and create higher-level magical weapons, they need to continue learning and then practice with high quality.
"Zhang Yu, you can't practice randomly like this."
Ye Xingli couldn't help but remind him: "If you want to save on practice costs, there are more formal and complete methods, not this way."
"For example, you can sell the azure sand you made to make some money back."
"After all, Azure Sand is a basic material needed in the refining process of many magical weapons. Many teachers and students in the Refining Department will collect it."
"You can also use the simulation laboratory in the spiritual world to do simulated practice, which is much cheaper than real-life practice."
Of course, Zhang Yu also knew the money-saving methods that Ye Xingli mentioned.
But judging by his current cost-cutting results, he felt that he could reduce costs even further than the simulation laboratory and still obtain a portion of the finished products of the azure sand.
Ye Xingli naturally didn't know what Zhang Yu was thinking, so she just introduced other ways to reduce costs.
“It’s not just simpler products like Azure Sand that can keep the cost down for practice.”
"The same goes for more advanced magic weapons. In addition to simulation laboratories, they can also be replaced with low-cost materials and practiced by producing inferior versions."
"For higher-end magic weapons, after the first refining, the level of refining skills can be improved through repeated maintenance, adjustment, and strengthening, and the cost is much lower."
"For example, my master's Nine Heavens Yuanyang Pagoda has been refined, repaired, and strengthened time and time again, and the level of the magic weapon has been refined from level 31 all the way to level 40."
"During this process, Master's weapon-refining skills have also greatly improved, and the manufacturing technology of the Nine Heavens Yuanyang Tower has reached level 40."
Zhang Yu knew that the so-called manufacturing technology of the Nine Heavens Yuan Yang Tower had reached level 40, which meant that when the materials and production environment were complete, the True Lord of Magnetic Pole could directly manufacture a Nine Heavens Yuan Yang Tower with a magical level of 40.
"But the name of this thing sounds very expensive, and it must have taken a lot of effort." Zhang Yu thought to himself: "Unless someone pays a high price, I'm afraid that Master Ciji will not easily produce a second one."
Ye Xingli actually didn't mention another important way to save money, which is to participate in the school's equipment refining project, use project funds to purchase materials, rent venues, purchase equipment, and advance his own equipment refining skills.
After all, the equipment refining business is too expensive. Even though Ye Xingli is already very rich, he always feels that he does not have enough money to spend, and the budget for equipment refining is always exceeded.
Therefore, almost every top student in the weapon refining department like her participated in various weapon refining projects.
In her opinion, asking for funds is an essential skill to become a powerful weapon refiner and it is something that must be learned.
However, as a civil engineering student, Zhang Yu was still at the entry level and was too far away from all these things, so she simply didn't say anything.
And just when Ye Xingli was admonishing Zhang Yu, Zhang Yu finally completed the refining of the azure sand again.
Azure Sand Level 2 (0/20)
(End of this chapter)
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