Chapter 2541 – Blade Reshaping

“Five hours?” Shi Feng’s expression darkened when he read the system announcement.

While five hours wasn’t exactly a short time, it wasn’t particularly long, either. It might be enough time if he were recasting an ordinary weapon, but he had to recast a potential Legendary Weapon. Furthermore, if the Completion Rate wasn’t high enough, the weapon’s Attributes could be severely affected. He might end up turning a peerless weapon into just another top-tier weapon.

With the five hours the system had provided, he only had a very limited number of times he could attempt the recast, as well.

Recasting weapons in God’s Domain wasn’t as complicated as creating one from scratch; players only needed to reshape and refine the weapon. However, Shi Feng didn’t have a design to work with, so he would have to determine the new weapon’s structure on his own. To make matters worse, he didn’t know what materials the fragments had been forged with, which made it nearly impossible to take advantage of those materials’ benefits. He’d have to work by trial and error, and achieving an ideal result would still be a major challenge.

It seems I’ll have to base the recast on the Abyssal Blade for now.

Glancing at the system timer, Shi Feng took a deep breath and activated the Philosopher’s Hand, temporarily boosting himself to Advanced Master Forger. He then began to reshape the tattered blade into that of the Abyssal Blade.

Any other player would find this task to be a nightmare and a disaster, but Shi Feng, who had played God’s Domain for more than a decade now, was a different story. Although he had never touched upon the forging arts during his previous life, he was knowledgeable about them. He had spent time chatting with many Master Forgers about how to best recast a weapon in his past.

Once mainstream players had reached Level 120, recasting weapons had become a common matter for the various players. Many Level 120-plus Dark Gold Weapons had been recast from Epic Weapons’ fragments, and once players collected all of the necessary fragments, they could recast them into an Epic Weapon once more.

This had become one of the main sources of Epic Weapons for independent players.

After innumerable recasts, players had discovered that one of the best ways to recast a weapon was to reshape it into one of the weapon fragment forms when they didn’t know the original weapon’s structure.

The weapon fragments’ previous forms had been made with the involved materials in mind. Hence, it was highly likely that fragments had taken a form quite similar to that of the original weapon. All players needed to do was make some minor adjustments to the new weapon’s structure.

Shi Feng wasn’t familiar with Cruel Darkness, so reforming the weapon in its form was out of the question. Fortunately, he was quite familiar with the Abyssal Blade, a weapon he had obtained not long after rejoining God’s Domain. In fact, he was more familiar with its form than his other weapons.

Shi Feng spent around 30 minutes reshaping the rough blade into something that highly resembled the Abyssal Blade, although this new weapon had a considerably longer blade. It couldn’t even be considered a one-handed sword anymore, but a two-handed sword.

“Appraise!”

Shi Feng began the appraisal, satisfied with his work, and as he did, the magic arrays covering the weapon activated, drinking in the ambient Mana like a beast in the desert. The Mana density around the long blade steadily rose.

Shi Feng watched, excitement blooming in his chest. He hadn’t actually thought his first attempt would be a success. With this, making adjustments to the weapon would be much easier.

However, not long after that thought, the system reported the appraisal results, and he wasn’t sure whether he should laugh or cry when he saw them.

System: Weapon Completion Rate 40%. Do you wish to keep this outer shape?

Even with only a 40% Completion Rate, the new Abyssal Blade could gather so much Mana around it, and its aura had become incredibly powerful. He didn’t even dare imagine how powerful the sword would be if he reached a 70% or higher Completion Rate.

However, this new weapon’s exterior was already ideal, and his results would be limited if he tried to modify it.

Could the original be a two-handed weapon like Cruel Darkness? Shi Feng felt another headache brew as he considered the thought.

Although he could recast the weapon into a one- or two-handed sword, recasting a one-handed weapon would be considerably more difficult if the original had been a two-handed weapon.

While Swordsmen could use two-handed swords, Shi Feng wasn’t as familiar with that fighting style. Suddenly switching to a two-handed sword would severely impact his combat power.

Yet, if he forcefully recast a two-handed weapon into a one-handed sword, he’d be abandoning some of the original materials. One-handed weapons required far fewer materials, after all. However, doing so would affect the weapon’s Completion Rate.

With fewer materials, the weapon wouldn’t be as powerful as it once had been, and depending on the materials he abandoned, the weapons’ composition could be at risk, causing disharmony between the materials. He’d have to take all of these factors into account when recasting this weapon into a one-handed sword.

Normally, only experienced Grandmaster Forgers could accomplish such feats. Not only did they have abundant experience, but they also possessed Advanced Skills that allowed them to discern the golden ratio among their materials. This was why Grandmaster Forgers could craft Legendary items.

After giving the matter some thought, Shi Feng decided to conduct some experiments.

He initially sacrificed 10% of the weapon’s materials, but it left too few remaining, and the ratio was uncoordinated.

The result was only a 23% Completion Rate, and the weapon was far weaker than the first recast.

He had then sacrificed 20% of the materials, which was, again, too much, and as a result, the sword lacked strength. This time, the Completion Rate was a measly 16%...

Shi Feng attempted the recasting eight more times. Although each reshaping attempt took less time, he never earned more than a 60% Completion Rate. Even his best attempt had stopped at 58%, a long way from the required 70% Completion Rate.

As he continued to reshape the weapon, time flew by.

He paused when he had little over an hour remaining of the five-hour time limit. Factoring in the time he’d need to refine the weapon, he didn’t have much left for reshaping attempts.

Do I really have to give up on recasting a one-handed sword? Shi Feng’s mind was a jumble when he realized how little time remained.

If he continued to aim for a one-handed sword, he wasn’t likely to succeed in the time he had left. Ultimately, his recast would fail, and he’d have to search for more Legendary materials to try again. Unfortunately, collecting a set of Legendary materials with Zero Wing’s current strength was a fool’s dream. By the time Zero Wing managed to find them all, he would likely have found another weapon to suit him.

However, even a high-quality two-handed sword would be useless to him, and he wouldn’t likely have a chance to recast the final product into a one-handed sword again. He had only found a fragment of the Abyssal Blade by chance. Who knew when he would come across another?

Damn it! Abandoning 17% isn’t enough, but 18% is too much. I don’t have enough time for more precise experiments, either. Shi Feng could not help but hesitate as he watched time slip away.

After multiple experiments, Shi Feng was certain that the golden ratio lay between 17% and 18%. He estimated that he’d need another five or six attempts to find the true golden ratio, but with only one hour left, he had time for, at most, two more reshaping attempts. It wouldn’t be long before he’d have to refine the weapon. If he waited, the final product would be garbage, even if he reached a sufficient Completion Rate.

I have no choice but to gamble, Shi Feng thought, gritting his teeth. He then retrieved the Ice Dragon’s Claw he had obtained from the Ice Dragon Heathwaite and refined it.

The Ice Dragon’s Claw was a Legendary material, and Heathwaite had only dropped two. He had already used one to summon the Silver Dragon in the Starlight Fortress, which only left him with one. He had been saving it to forge a customized Epic Weapon for one of his Guildmates. Doing so would be quite easy, even without an Epic Weapon Design, and if he had a design, he could forge a Fragmented Legendary Weapon with the Ice Dragon’s Claw.

Since he couldn’t verify the materials’ golden ratio, abandoning too many materials for the final product would be too complicated. Hence, he had no choice but to make up for the gap with the Ice Dragon’s Claw.

It took Shi Feng 10 minutes to refine the claw, transforming it into a dark-blue crystal. He merged the crystal with the Abyssal Blade, which added a white glow and a bone-chilling aura to the new weapon. Once the dark-blue crystal had completely merged with the Abyssal Blade, Shi Feng appraised the sword.

Please succeed!

Shi Feng silently prayed as he watched the system appraise the reshaped Abyssal Blade.