Li Lang was taken aback by the things he had read for his artifice test. He expected the contents to pertain to blacksmithing, metallurgy, and the Qi method equivalent. He was even ready to make use of his advantage of possessing the Primordial Star Fire in this endeavor.
However, the artificing basics he read drew an entirely different picture. Artificers weren’t Qi blacksmiths. Instead of relying on the forge to smelt and temper materials, they relied purely on Qi techniques. No heat was involved. Simply by exercising these artificer techniques, one could extract their desired metal from the raw ores.
While it was alien to Li Lang, he was also mesmerized by it.
A clean energy-efficient way to extract ores! It would require no large facilities and produce no pollution. Even without the environmental and economic concerns, it would mean a lot for materials that would benefit from non-thermal extractions.
Li Lang’s mind was filled with various materials that came to mind. Materials like Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide and other high-temperature superconductors could help preserve their superconducting properties. Carbon nanostructure materials like graphene could retain their structural integrity and unique properties as well. It was even possible to create brand-new carbon nanostructure materials with the aid of this non-thermal extraction method.
Li Lang allowed his ideas to flow freely for some time before reining himself in. At the end of the day, he knew it would be difficult to obtain the materials he was familiar with. Combined with the presence of Qi, he would likely need to research materials from a new perspective.
This became even more evident when he reviewed the contents for his upcoming test. It was mainly basic knowledge about the process of Artificing. There weren’t any techniques included, as it focused more on identifying potential materials. These potential materials all had names that were entirely different from the ones in Li Lang’s old world.
Seeing these unfamiliar names, Li Lang couldn’t help but mutter them out loud.
“Starlight Gold, Ethereal True Steel, Moonlight Copper, Demon Steel…None of these were available in the stores I’ve been to.”
Finding a topic he hadn’t discovered was both a joyous and sorrowful event. Joyful about the new possibilities and sad about the missed opportunities. He had an inkling about these materials ever since he had Long Yi craft his spear. Back then, he had received some Aqua Night Iron from his friend.
From Ruby’s analysis, he found the structure to be similar to iron, but at the same time, had different properties. The Qi it had been exposed to had changed it into a new category of substance. One he had yet to fully test. To do so would require studying how it interacted with various Qi of different elements, and under different conditions. To just say it was a time-consuming project was an understatement.
While he wasn’t ready to lose himself to material science research yet, he still wanted to stock up on these materials.
“I wonder where I can buy these metals.”
With the motivation to solve this mystery behind him, the time for the test came very quickly.
He arrived in the same room as the day before and found Elder Tie sitting in the same position. This time, she had her round hammer in one hand and a clump of ore on the desk before her. She was repeatedly slamming her implement down gently. The rhythm of her strikes crescendoed, reaching speeds where Li Lang could only see blurs. When she stopped, the clump of waste was neatly separated from a large nugget of metal.
“The test is on the bench over there. You can start whenever you want.”
After leaving those instructions, Elder Tie ignored his presence and went to retrieve more ore from the cabinets. Seeing this, Li Lang went to the table as instructed and began his test. The sooner he was done, the sooner he could ask questions.
A simple paper test was something Li Lang had faced thousands of times throughout his education. He wasn’t fazed by it, not even needing to cheat with Ruby before he finished it.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
It wasn’t a test that made him regurgitate the contents he studied, but one that used a mix of pictures and identifying properties to test his knowledge. An impressive artist had drawn the materials he had studied, which he then had to identify. There were short answer parts to it as well, going into the basics of the tools artificers used, what they could or could not do, and so forth.
It was evident Elder Tie didn’t want her prospective students to be disillusioned with the craft before they started. She clearly laid out what to expect.
“I’m done, Senior Tie.”
“Oh, quite fast of you. Do you happen to excel in studies as opposed to your friend?”
“I guess you could say that,” Li Lang awkwardly replied, balancing the act of badmouthing his friend behind his back and answering truthfully.
The elder skimmed through the test within an instant and placed it back down.
“Good, you have passed. Now for the affinity test.”
“Wait. If I may, elder. Can I ask some questions first?”
The muscular woman gave him a stern look before slowly nodding.
“I want to ask why Artificers don’t make use of heat to extract the metals like a mortal blacksmith would and where I could purchase these materials from the test.”
“You’re not young anymore. Have some patience. One question at a time,” Elder Tie shook her head to show disapproval at the barrage of questions. “The mortal method is too inefficient for us. The heat from normal flames would not be enough to handle Qi ores, and only a few people have heavenly flames. Even then, depending on the properties of those flames, there will be some materials that cannot be processed as the elements conflict. That is why our predecessors devised various metal Qi techniques that have less stringent requirements to use.”
“You’re saying there are techniques that involve heavenly fires, then?”
“I’m sure there are, but they are each particular to the type of heavenly fire. Give it up, Li Lang. It is much more efficient to use metal Qi techniques for extraction. Metal is the most structured of the five elements. It provides stability and support to the other elements which are most conducive to our work.”
It didn’t take a detailed lecture for Li Lang to know how important those properties the elder mentioned were. It allowed artifacts to co-exist with other elements, creating tools with various elemental affinities. It opened up numerous possibilities and options for what could be created.
“Thank you for the explanation, Senior. What about where I can purchase these materials?”
“That will be through our organization, but you will need to be recognized as an official Artificer first.”
“What? I can’t buy it from any other place? What about the Artificer Guild itself?”
“Even the cheapest materials are at the peak of Mortal grade. Each artifact and the materials to create them are strategic resources for each organization. It’ll be unlikely for you to find anyone willing to sell it to you.”
“I see.”
At that explanation, he began to understand a little better as to why Long Yi had yet to craft a single artifact. As a new apprentice, it was hard to see any organization willing to risk their strategic reserve for them. Without practice, it would be hard to excel in anything.
“No more thinking, no more questions. Let us finish the test first,” the elder’s voice woke Li Lang from his musing.
“Understood. Please go ahead, elder.”
The stocky woman nodded and led Li Lang to a different room. The new room was much smaller, barely able to fit the lone desk in it. Li Lang found it to be similar to the interrogation rooms found in police departments.
It wasn’t hard to guess what came next, as the only thing in the room was a lone rectangular bell. It was made with a bright green metal and was completely smooth on all sides. Beside it laid a small mallet made of the same material.
Without any explanation, Elder Tie picked up the mallet and gently struck the bell with it. No audible sound was produced, but instead, glittering dust fell out of the bell. To be more precise, the dust was powdered metals of some sort.
“As you can see, the more metallic dust you can produce, the better. Go ahead and strike the bell when you’re ready.”
“No other instructions, techniques, or hints?”
“There’s nothing like that. You either have an affinity with the metal element or you don’t. If you don’t, it simply means you are not ready yet.”
Li Lang instantly frowned upon hearing those words. He had an unpleasant experience with aptitudes already, and he suspected similar results might happen again.
“There’s no way to practice artificing in that case?”
“It’d be as impossible as someone with grade-one aptitude using the orthodox ways to reach Foundation Establishment. You’d need a lot of miracles to line up. Fortunately, there are ways to improve one’s affinity, unlike with aptitude, but we’ll talk about that when we get there.”
Li Lang skeptically listened on but knew he just had to do as he was told for now. It wasn’t time to investigate the underlying reason for what affected one’s affinity.
Under the watchful gaze of Elder Tie, he picked up the mallet and struck the bell.
Then, nothing happened.