Compared to refining Low-grade Spirit Weapons, refining Mid-grade Spirit Weapons was not much more difficult. The main difference lay in the artifact-refining materials.
The materials for refining Mid-grade Spirit Weapons were far more precious than those for Low-grade Spirit Weapons. The difficulty of refinement itself had not increased much; the rank was mainly elevated by the power inherent in the materials themselves.
The finest artifact refiners could use materials meant for Low-grade Spirit Weapons to forge Mid-grade Spirit Weapons. Ye Zhen was still far from that standard. It was already good enough if he could use materials for a Mid-grade Spirit Weapon to refine a Mid-grade Spirit Weapon.
There was even the possibility that an error in technique would turn materials for a Mid-grade Spirit Weapon into a Low-grade Spirit Weapon. This was also how many artifact refiners improved their success rates.
Ye Zhen's first attempt at refining a Mid-grade Spirit Weapon ended in outright failure!
The inscribed formation collapsed, turning that pile of precious materials directly into a clump of black ash. Yet Ye Zhen was not discouraged in the slightest. Compared to the thousands upon thousands of failures suffered by other artifact refiners, Ye Zhen's number of failures could only be called rare.
Moreover, there had been no issue with his technique in this first failed attempt to refine the Moon Concealing Silver Light Wheel. The failure had mainly come because it was Ye Zhen's first time handling the rare materials required for a Mid-grade Spirit Weapon, and he was unfamiliar with their properties.
Very quickly, Ye Zhen began his second attempt. This time, he successfully refined the Moon Concealing Silver Light Wheel, but it was only an inferior product, as its rank could only be considered that of a Low-grade Spirit Weapon.
He had not properly dealt