Inside the Blacksmith Association's forging room.
Shi Feng casually took out a batch of stone chunks and piled them on the stone table.
There were a hundred chunks in the batch, enough to fill the large round table, with a few spilling onto the floor.
"Let's see what you can do." Shi Feng took out the bright red Philosopher's Stone and smiled faintly.
If anyone else saw the Philosopher's Stone, the consequences would be disastrous. That was why he had specifically rented a forging room. Without his permission, nobody could enter.
Shi Feng picked up a chunk of stone from the table and touched it with the Philosopher's Stone.
System: Would you like to use the Philosopher's Stone to perform Elemental Refining?
Shi Feng selected yes. A faint red glow spread from the Philosopher's Stone, and a mysterious power flowed into the chunk of stone.
Bang!
The fist-sized chunk of stone turned into yellow sand and scattered across the floor. He got nothing.
Shi Feng only smiled faintly, not minding at all, and tried again with another chunk.
Ore was precious, after all. A single piece of ordinary Copper Ore cost 2 copper to buy, and even an NPC would pay 1 copper for it. A batch of 100 pieces sold to a guild could fetch 200 copper, and guilds were eager to buy it. That was far more valuable than a batch of stone chunks, which cost only 10 copper.
Elemental Refining was essentially a way of extracting metal elements from stone chunks. Some chunks contained no metal elements, so naturally, they turned into piles of yellow sand. Failing was perfectly normal.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
After ten attempts in a row, he still hadn't extracted any ore. Shi Feng felt a little frustrated. The odds seemed rather low.
He even wondered whether these chunks had been picked up by players in some desert, since they were all turning into sand.
"Relax. There's plenty more stone." Shi Feng took a few deep breaths and tried to reassure himself.
He picked up another chunk and tried again.
Bang!
This time, the chunk crumbled into a pile of yellow sand, but a purplish-red metal nugget gleamed among it. It was Copper Ore.
Getting his first piece of Copper Ore put Shi Feng at ease, and he began working faster.
Before long, all the stone chunks on the table had turned to sand. In total, he had extracted 23 pieces of Copper Ore and 2 pieces of Bronze Ore. Bronze Ore was worth three times as much as Copper Ore. An NPC would pay 3 copper for it, while guilds offered 7 copper per piece because it was rare.
Looking at the ore on the table, Shi Feng felt that the Philosopher's Stone was a veritable treasure trove. Even incomplete, it was extraordinary. No wonder so many kingdoms had mobilized to fight over it. With the Philosopher's Stone, a kingdom would have abundant funds. It would be difficult for any kingdom not to prosper.
Shi Feng put away the ore on the table, then brought out another batch of stone chunks.
Batch after batch of stones were consumed, and the yellow sand piled up into a small hill. Fortunately, the forging room had a one-click cleanup feature. With a press of the cleanup button, the mountain of sand vanished.
After an hour, Shi Feng had refined 40 batches of stone chunks, obtaining more than 7 batches of Copper Ore and over 1 batch of Bronze Ore. If he sold it all, it would be worth more than 20 silver. His costs had been only 4 silver—a profit of over five times. He had made a killing.
More importantly, ore production was low, making it impossible to buy large quantities.
As soon as Shi Feng walked out of the forging room, he received system messages.
System: The Violent Bear Armor you listed in the Auction House has sold. After deducting the fee, 31 silver and 53 copper have been deposited into your inventory.
System: The Dark Star Boots you listed in the Auction House have sold. After deducting the fee, 3 silver and 21 copper have been deposited into your inventory.
A series of Auction House notifications made the corners of Shi Feng's mouth lift.
"Sure enough, the more people competing, the higher the price." Shi Feng was very satisfied with the selling price. He hadn't expected a Mystic Iron Grade plate armor piece for a Shield Warrior to sell for over 30 silver. White River City was full of wealthy players.
After selling these pieces of equipment, Shi Feng had become rich overnight. With more than 50 silver on him, he felt much more confident as he walked.
While ordinary players were still pleased to have 20 or 30 copper on them, he already had over 50 silver. Bai Qingxue still owed him more than 10 silver, too. If he sold the Copper Ore, he could become a tycoon with gold coins in no time.
But he wouldn't sell the ore. It was the foundation of his future fortune.
Shi Feng then rented a forging room for another hour and turned the rest of his stone chunks into ore. This time, he was lucky: 45 batches yielded 10 batches of Copper Ore and 2 batches of Bronze Ore.
That gave him 17 batches of Copper Ore and 3 batches of Bronze Ore in total—enough to last a long time.
With money in hand, Shi Feng returned to the service desk in the association's central hall. Several players who were training to be blacksmiths for their guilds were renting forging rooms.
"Such a rip-off. Five copper for an hour? My guild only gives me 30 copper a day for forging. It's nowhere near enough."
"That's not so bad. At least the tools are included. Just look at the forging equipment. Even the most basic setup costs several silver. A full set costs over 30 silver. What a scam!"
"You haven't seen the Intermediate Forging Room. It costs one silver an hour, and only increases the success rate by 3%. Even a first-rate guild can't afford those prices."
Several blacksmith players kept complaining about the Blacksmith Association's outrageous prices, though there was a hint of showing off in their words. After all, their guilds supported them. Ordinary lifestyle players probably couldn't even afford to rent a forging room, let alone improve their forging rank.
Shi Feng walked past them and addressed the association manager. "I'd like to rent an Intermediate Forging Room."
"How long would you like to rent it for?" the dark-skinned young association manager asked eagerly.
Most adventurers were broke and rented ordinary forging rooms, and even then, they looked unhappy about paying. Seeing a wealthy adventurer like Shi Feng made all the difference to the manager's service.
Shi Feng checked the time. It was already morning in the real world, and he couldn't spend too long in God's Domain with his Virtual Helmet.
"Two hours," Shi Feng said after a moment's thought.
"Certainly. Here's your key. That'll be 2 silver." The association manager smiled as he handed Shi Feng the key.
Shi Feng took out two gleaming silver coins, placed them on the table, and turned to leave.
The players who had been complaining about the Blacksmith Association's prices stared at him, thinking they must have seen wrong. But the coins on the table were definitely silver, not reddish-yellow copper.
"Damn, that guy's loaded!" a male Elementalist exclaimed enviously.
"Rich big brother, take me under your wing! I'm good at keeping a bed warm." Another, gorgeous female player winked seductively at Shi Feng.
"Hmph. So what if he has a little money? I'll become an Intermediate Blacksmith Apprentice before him," a male Priest said bitterly. He knew it was impossible, though. The Intermediate Forging Room had much better equipment than an ordinary one. The listed success-rate increase was 3%, but with the equipment, the total increase was at least 5%.
An additional 5% success rate made a world of difference when it came to forging.