Chapter 79

His current decomposition efficiency is not particularly high, but it is still somewhat better than the decomposition efficiency in this world. And most importantly, he doesn’t need to add a catalyst when decomposing!

You see, the catalysts required to decompose various materials are different, but they are all alchemical materials, generally quite valuable. Using them to refine particularly rare materials might be worth it, but for ordinary mid-to-high-level materials, it’s not cost-effective at all.

He can decompose these abandoned alchemical items without any cost! It just consumes some mana, so the time required is longer. But the materials decomposed are all profit!

These magical items are experimental, so they don’t contain too high-level materials, but many are of the Silver Tier. Silver Tier materials are currently hard for Ji Ran to obtain through other means. If he can get some from here...

That would definitely be a windfall!

So, Ji Ran put on a greedy face and circled around Professor Sergey.

"Professor, these alchemical items of yours are damaged experimental items, right? Leaving them here just wastes space. Why don’t I help you dispose of them?"

Seeing Ji Ran’s greedy expression, Sergey could somewhat understand his thoughts.

"Do you want to sell these alchemical items? No way, I won’t agree to that. These are all failed works, and I absolutely cannot allow them to damage my reputation by being released outside." Sergey flatly rejected Ji Ran’s request.

Ji Ran didn’t expect Sergey to value his reputation so much, but upon further thought, it made sense. What was the purpose of his large-scale experiment? Wasn’t it to promote his reputation? Breaking through to the Master level through an experiment might be unreliable, but making his reputation louder than other Masters wasn’t hard to do.

"Hmm... I don’t plan to sell these magical items. You see, I understand the importance of reputation. Selling these items would also tarnish my reputation, wouldn’t it? Actually, I plan to decompose these magical items to increase my knowledge of alchemy."

Sergey raised an eyebrow and laughed, his long beard trembling.

"You might be able to fool others with that, but you’re too young to fool me. Decomposing magical items can indeed increase your knowledge of alchemy, but do you know the cost involved? According to my knowledge, no alchemist has become a Master by decomposing magical items, not even a High Alchemist!"

Sergey walked over and picked up an abandoned magical item.

"If you want to observe the internal structure of magical items, learn the arrangement of materials, or even study the magic arrays set inside, you don’t need to decompose them to see. As for the refining techniques, you can feel some of them during the decomposition process, but direct refining is better. Spending catalysts to decompose these magical items is not as good as directly refining them. Of course, if you have too much money, decomposition can indeed bring you some improvement... but do you have that much money? If you really had that much money, why not use it for refining instead of decomposition? It doesn’t make sense!"

Ji Ran was instantly full of admiration: "Professor Sergey, you’ve seen through it... Indeed, I’m not planning to learn alchemy by decomposing these items, but to make a little money. You know, I live in the old dorm..."

Sergey threw away the abandoned magical item, clapped his hands, and nodded: "If you say that, it’s somewhat possible. I used a lot of rare materials in these items. If your decomposition technique is good enough, you can earn a bit, but it’s a labor-intensive and unprofitable job. One mistake, and it’s not worth it. Are you sure you want to do this?"

Ji Ran scratched the back of his head, embarrassed: "I think I have the ability to decompose these magical items with minimal consumption, and the materials I get should be worth the effort. Whether I sell the materials or refine them into finished products, it will improve my financial situation... You know, without money, it’s hard to get by in the academy."

Sergey nodded after hearing this: "What you say is true. If you are confident you can decompose enough materials, it’s not impossible. But look, I spent a lot of materials on these items..."

"But now they are all waste, right? Since you don’t plan to sell them, they are worth nothing... I see what you’re getting at, Professor." Ji Ran quickly interrupted.

Sergey was momentarily speechless but still firmly shook his head: "No! Giving them to you for free goes against my principles!"

Ji Ran didn’t know what Sergey’s principles were, but after some thought, he came up with a solution.

"How about this, I’ll work for you, and you can count these items as my pay? I believe your laboratory definitely needs an assistant, right?"

This suggestion was accepted by Sergey.

"That’s not bad. I do have a lot of miscellaneous work that needs to be done. So it’s settled!"

Thus, Ji Ran became an assistant in Sergey’s workshop, with the abandoned magical items as his pay. After much haggling, he even got a batch of abandoned magical items in advance.

He was almost ecstatic.

For such a long time, the magical items he had made were quite limited. Apart from giving one to each person, he only had the Dawn Sword, which he refined by decomposing the magical longsword he won in a bet!

Why? A 100th-level Master Alchemist couldn’t refine some suitable magical items for himself? The reason is simple: no materials!

With his current 30th-level strength—yes, his level is already 30—he can use magical items of a relatively low level, which naturally don’t require too advanced refining techniques or materials. But even so, he couldn’t get enough materials.

No choice, no money... Although he obtained some materials from hunting in the wild, the materials were too单一, making it impossible to refine anything too good.

This batch of abandoned magical items was a timely solution to his urgent need. Moreover, his decomposition and refining were both experience-based!

Rapid leveling up is not a dream!

With his current 30th-level strength—yes, he gained some experience from the battle with Hein and has been training for these days, reaching level 30—he can significantly improve the efficiency of decomposing magical items and refining magical items. These magical items can help him accumulate experience quickly!

Returning to the dorm with those magical items, Ji Ran spent the whole night decomposing them. When his mana was exhausted, he would train to recover it, then continue decomposing—this process took him three days to completely decompose all the magical items.

Looking at the large pile of materials decomposed in front of him, Ji Ran felt so happy that he almost fainted.

Materials that were no longer valuable in the game world now looked particularly endearing. With these, his hardware strength would greatly improve, and the money problem could be easily solved... Just refining a decent magical item would bring in money.

You see, the bone blade sword he refined was estimated to be worth over 2,000 gold coins. If he refined another magical weapon now, it wouldn’t be less than that price, right?

On the fourth day, he began the grand project of refining magical items.

Not all the decomposed materials could be used immediately. But since these materials were originally part of several magical items, with some targeted refinement, he could easily create a few more magical items.

Ji Ran’s first project was a magic staff intended for sale.

After a long period of observation, Ji Ran found that the probability of mages having money was higher than that of martial students. There was no choice; the expenses for spellcasters were much higher than for martial students.

This magic staff had good effects, relatively balanced, and enhanced the power of all spells. To avoid drawing too much attention, Ji Ran only refined two additional attributes for this staff. One was spell storage, capable of storing three level 4 spells; the other was spell duplication. Twice a day, it could duplicate the next spell cast, allowing the user to cast two identical spells simultaneously.

Attributes like increased mana recovery and spell power enhancement are fixed attributes of the staff. A staff without these two attributes could be called a stick. The two attributes of the staff Ji Ran refined were quite good, usable from the initial Silver Tier to the high Silver Tier—levels 4 to 6—without becoming outdated. But the most crucial part was the two additional attributes.

Spell storage is simple, and most staffs have this attribute. But storing three level 4 spells is not so simple. A typical initial Silver Tier staff can store at most one level 4 spell... Three level 4 spells are a capability that even a mid-Silver Tier staff might not have!

The spell duplication attribute has limits, capable of duplicating up to level 4 spells, and the mana crystal energy consumption is significant. For a level 4 spell, a level 4 mana crystal can only support it two to three times. But if someone is willing to spend money on this staff, they wouldn’t be stingy about replacing the mana crystal, right?

Having only two attributes means some material characteristics are wasted. But clearly, fully utilizing all material characteristics is not the best choice. Instead, wasting some to enhance other attributes makes the staff more practical—its cost-effectiveness is surprisingly high.

Of course, there are Silver Tier staffs with higher spell power enhancement and better attributes, but their prices are naturally higher... and the control required is also greater. A significant feature of this staff—perhaps the greatest feature—is that it requires low control! Other staffs, when used by a level 4 mage, leave almost no spare control to manipulate other magical items. But with this staff, as long as the user’s mental power is not abysmally low, they can still control another magical item!

A staff with these attributes will definitely have good sales. The next step is how to sell it.

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