Chapter 373 - Alchemical Synthesis

With his right hand, Shi Feng lightly tapped the Philosopher’s Stone on the Magic Crystal in his left hand.

In the next moment, the Philosopher’s Stone released a faint blood-red glow. Following which, the Magic Crystal in Shi Feng’s left hand transformed into dust and scattered across the floor, leaving nothing behind.

A Magic Crystal, which cost 8 Silver Coins, was gone, just like that....

In the God’s Domain, 8 Silver Coins were the current equivalent of a day’s income for an entire elite team.

However, without even blinking, Shi Feng snatched a second Magic Crystal from the table and attempted the Elemental Refinement once more.

Two seconds later, another pile of dust scattered to the floor...

After over a hundred consecutive attempts and failing every time, Shi Feng stopped and reevaluated his actions.

“Is it not possible with Elemental Refinement?” Shi Feng frowned at the dust covered floor.

There were not many members in Zero Wing, so the number of accumulated Magic Crystals was not high. There had been only around 600 in the Guild Warehouse. Meanwhile, Shi Feng had not obtained a single Mana Stone, even after refining over a hundred Magic Crystals. At this rate, he would never refine 21 Mana Stones.

“No, it is just because the success rate is so low. Do I need to raise my chances before it’ll work?”

“Mana Stones are the product of polymerization of Magic Crystals. Logically, it should be possible to refine a Magic Crystal into a Mana Stone. Is it because the Magic Crystal’s quality is too poor?”

Thinking up to this point, Shi Feng took another Magic Crystal and tested his theory.

This time, after clicking “Refine,” Shi Feng thoroughly focused on observing the changes that occurred during the refinement process of the Magic Crystal.

After God’s Domain underwent its first evolution, both forging and alchemy had become far more realistic. Moreover, Shi Feng was currently playing the game using a virtual gaming cabin which possessed a synchronization rate of 97%. Hence, if he observed the refinement process of the Magic Crystal carefully, he might discern the cause for failure.

However, the refinement process happened far too quickly. Even if Shi Feng had exceptional dynamic vision, everything still happened in a flash. It was too hard to see anything.

“System Recording, activate Full Simulation Mode,” Shi Feng suddenly said.

System: Please hold for system identification...

System: Interface used by player detected as the Virtual Gaming Cabin. Full Simulation Mode is supported.

System: Full Simulation Mode has activated.

After the system activated Full Simulation Mode, Shi Feng picked up a Magic Crystal and attempted Elemental Refining once more. As expected, the Magic Crystal still crumbled into dust that scattered all over the floor.

Unperturbed, Shi Feng said, “System, play the video recorded through Full Simulation Mode.”

In the next moment, a 3D holographic image appeared before Shi Feng’s eyes, showing the exact scene when Shi Feng had attempted Elemental Refinement on the Magic Crystal.

Aside from allowing players to experience a synchronization rate of 97%, the virtual gaming cabin also allowed players to activate Full Simulation Mode in the game. With this function, the videos players recorded in game could be viewed as a holographic projection rather than on a flat surface. This function was unavailable to those who used both the ordinary and advanced helmets.

In the God’s Domain of the past, if one were a Master Lifestyle player, they would have definitely purchased a virtual gaming cabin for themselves. They did so for the sole purpose of this holographic recording function. Through this function, players could realistically reproduce the videos they recorded. Players could experience what they normally couldn’t through a flat-screen video, and this included the refinement process of the Magic Crystal.

However, the main purpose of the Full Simulation Mode lay in the analysis of enemies.

Players could record their battles with enemies to study their enemy’s fighting habits, defenses, attacks, dodges, and other detailed actions.

After analyzing their enemies’ habits and weaknesses, even if they were weaker than their opponents, players could take advantage of said habits and weaknesses to triumph against their enemies. In the past, this often happened in God’s Domain. It was especially true for fights between experts.

At the same time, players could also utilize the holographic recording for self-reflection, improving weaknesses and discovering new techniques. This was one of the quickest ways for a player to improve themselves.

This was also why players who used the virtual gaming cabins improved so quickly.

In the past, Shi Feng had done countless self-evaluations through using the Full Simulation Mode, continuously improving his combat power. Back then, if he had used the virtual gaming cabin a few years earlier, he might have reached even greater heights. Unfortunately, Shadow had only a few million Credits. A single virtual gaming cabin cost three million. How could Shadow possibly afford a virtual gaming cabin? Moreover, even if they purchased one, Shi Feng would not have had access to it.

Following which, Shi Feng adjusted the settings of the holographic recording and played the refinement process into slow motion. That way, he could fully observe and analyze the entire process in detail without needing to waste Magic Crystals and stress his eyesight over and over.

After observing the process dozens of times, Shi Feng finally discovered the reason. “As expected, the Mana density inside the Magic Crystals is too low. I wouldn’t get a single complete Mana Stone even if I used the Elemental Refinement 10,000 times.”

Although Shi Feng had discovered the cause of his failures, he didn’t have a solution. In God’s Domain, there was no difference in quality between Magic Crystals. In other words, it was simply impossible to obtain a Mana Stone through refining Mana Crystals....

Shi Feng could not help his frustration.

If refinement could not work, then he had to go at it from another angle.

The only method he had left was to use Alchemical Synthesis, combining two Magic Crystals into one. Once the accumulated Mana inside the Magic Crystals reached a sufficient level, it would become a Mana Stone naturally.

However, how could Alchemical Synthesis be easy?

Even a Grandmaster Alchemist would struggle with Alchemical Synthesis. The price they had to pay would also exceed the value of the final product. Normally, nobody would willingly take on such a risk.

Meanwhile, Shi Feng was merely a Forging Apprentice. He was not even an alchemist, to begin with. His chances of successful Alchemical Synthesis were abysmal.

On the other hand, the Philosopher’s Stone, an alchemy treasure, had such an ability. However, the Philosopher’s Stone Shi Feng had right now was a defective product. He could only use Alchemical Conversion and Elemental Refinement, not Alchemical Synthesis.

“That’s right! If one Philosopher’s Stone won’t do, what about two?” Shi Feng suddenly recalled the fragmented piece of Philosopher’s Stone that he had obtained from the God’s Grave.

The Philosopher’s Stone had been broken into five fragments, so its abilities had greatly weakened. However, the Philosopher’s Stone was inherently of one body. As long as Shi Feng could gather all five fragments, he could restore the Philosopher’s Stone. Although Shi Feng did not possess all five fragments at the moment, if he fused the two fragments he had, it should become much stronger than one fragment alone.

“I can only give it a try.”

Shi Feng had no other options. The Philosopher’s Stone was his only hope.

The Philosopher’s Stone had broken into five fragments of different sizes, and the abilities each fragment possessed were different. The Philosopher’s Stone Shi Feng had obtained from the God’s Grave was slightly smaller than the first one he had found. As it only possessed Alchemical Conversion, Shi Feng had not intended to use it.

Thinking up to this point, Shi Feng rushed back to the bank and retrieved the other Philosopher’s Stone from his warehouse before hurrying back to his forging room.

Inside the forging room, Shi Feng carefully combined the two Philosopher’s Stones.

System: Do you wish to fuse the two Philosopher’s Stones?

Shi Feng immediately clicked the “Fuse” button.

Suddenly, the two Philosopher’s Stones transformed into a pool of blood-red liquid and fused. The liquid then solidified into a fist-sized blood-red pearl. It was no longer an uneven block of stone.

After the fusion completed, Shi Feng picked up the newly-formed Philosopher’s Stone and checked its information. He wanted to know how powerful the Philosopher’s Stone had become.