[Unable to become an Alchemist, you had no way to make the most of the alchemy techniques and medicinal formulas in your mind, nor could you accumulate resources by refining pills.
With your humble origins, poor aptitude, and now a lack of talent for alchemy, you were utterly despondent.
You wallowed for a while, then pulled yourself together.
After thinking it over, you remembered another profession similar to Alchemist: Artifact Refiner.
In this era, the artifact refining inheritance remained relatively intact. Artifact Refiners ranked second only to Alchemists in status and were also highly respected.
Moreover, becoming an Artifact Refiner had fewer requirements than becoming an Alchemist. Ordinary fire attribute Dou Qi was enough.
You decided to become an Artifact Refiner.]
[Year fifteen: you sought an Artifact Refiner to take you as an apprentice. Your cultivation as a fifteen-year-old two-star Dou Zhe persuaded Moxi, a second-grade Artifact Refiner in Bangshui City, to accept you.
Moxi had many disciples: three formal disciples and dozens of nominal disciples. Their closeness to him varied, as did their treatment.
You were one of his three formal disciples. You could consult Moxi about artifact refining every day, and you also received a dedicated lesson once a week.]
[Year sixteen: you broke through to Three-Star Dou Practitioner. Moxi advised you to cultivate diligently and not squander these years that were best suited for cultivation.
Only you knew that you were already cultivating with all your might; your aptitude was simply too poor.
You had originally hoped to defy the heavens and change your fate through pills. Now, you could only place all your hopes on artifact refining, hoping to make your fortune through it and exchange that wealth for pills to improve your aptitude.
Fortunately, you were reasonably good at artifact refining. Combined with the Fire Control Technique inheritance in your memories, your everyday performance was excellent, and Moxi thought highly of you.]
[Year seventeen: after two years of laying the foundations, you gained a clearer understanding of Artifact Refiners and learned how to refine artifacts.
You began your first attempt at refining an artifact.
Using a first-rank fire-element magic core and some special metals, you successfully refined your first creation, which you named the Big Fire Sword.
Moxi truly recognized your talent for artifact refining and chose to take you as his personal disciple. You could consult him whenever you wished, and he began teaching you his knowledge of artifact refining without reservation.
You began to grow rapidly.]
[Year eighteen: you worked extremely hard, spending every day either cultivating or refining artifacts.
Over the course of a year, you refined many artifacts, including armor, weapons, and shoes that increased speed.
The artifacts you refined were of excellent quality and very popular.
With the money you earned from refining artifacts, you bought medicinal ingredients and prepared medicinal liquids yourself that could accelerate cultivation at the Dou Zhe level. They worked very well.
Your cultivation broke through to eight-star Dou Zhe.
Moxi marveled at your talent. Unaware that you were preparing medicinal liquids, he said that you really had neglected your cultivation during those previous two years.]
[Year nineteen: with the help of medicinal liquids, you broke through to nine-star Dou Zhe, just one step away from Dou Shi.
You entered seclusion for a month and successfully broke through.
After breaking through to Dou Shi, you wanted to formulate another medicinal liquid that could accelerate your cultivation. Unfortunately, at your current cultivation level, since you could not refine pills, preparing a medicinal liquid effective for a Dou Shi required ingredients of a grade high enough to serve as the main ingredients of a Fifth-grade Pill. You could hardly afford them.
You wanted to try refining second-grade artifacts. When Moxi learned of this, he chose to support you and shared his only secret formula for a second-grade artifact. It recorded what attribute of magic core the artifact required, even specifying exactly which magical beasts it could come from, as well as which metals to use, their quantities, and when to add them. It was extremely precise.
Grateful to Moxi, you resolved to repay him someday, then began refining second-grade artifacts.
After three attempts, you finally succeeded. You became a second-grade Artifact Refiner and now held considerable status in Bangshui City.]
[Year twenty: you earned quite a lot of money by selling second-grade artifacts.
With this money, you bought medicinal ingredients and prepared medicinal liquids, restoring your cultivation speed to the ranks of geniuses.
At the same time, because you sold so many artifacts, the markets throughout Bangshui City and the surrounding cities began to reach saturation.
Left with no other choice, you had to leave Bangshui City and go elsewhere to earn money.
You bid Moxi farewell. Before departing, you left him more than half the money you had on you, then left Bangshui City.]
[Year twenty-three: in a large city in the eastern region of the Suiyun Empire, you broke through to one-star Da Dou Shi.
You took out a secret formula for refining a third-grade artifact, which you had obtained during your three years of travels and trials.
You prepared the necessary materials and equipment and began refining a third-grade artifact.
Your first attempt failed, your second attempt failed, and your third succeeded. You became a third-grade Artifact Refiner.
You began selling third-grade artifacts and trying to create artifact formulas of your own.]
[Year twenty-four: your cultivation rose to two-star Da Dou Shi. Because preparing a medicinal liquid effective for a Da Dou Shi required medicinal ingredients of an outrageously high grade, you had not prepared any, so your cultivation speed slowed.
Helpless, you could only refine third-grade artifacts with all your might to obtain money and resources.
Meanwhile, you continued traveling from place to place. Whenever you encountered Alchemists, you traded the medicinal formulas in your mind for resources.
With your status as a third-grade Artifact Refiner and your Da Dou Shi cultivation, you encountered no particular danger and were treated with respect wherever you went.]
[Year twenty-nine: through years of painstaking effort, you broke through to seven-star Da Dou Shi and could refine fourth-grade artifacts beyond your cultivation level, becoming a fourth-grade Artifact Refiner.
You were now an honored guest wherever you went and were known as the most prolific Artifact Refiner. The artifacts you refined could be found throughout the Suiyun Empire.
By selling fourth-grade artifacts, you earned a great deal of money, bought many high-grade medicinal ingredients, and prepared medicinal liquids effective for a Da Dou Shi.]
[Year thirty: with the help of medicinal liquids, you broke through to nine-star Da Dou Shi. After three months in seclusion, you broke through to Dou Ling, becoming a powerhouse in your own region.
Believing that you now possessed some measure of strength, you chose to leave the Suiyun Empire and venture elsewhere.
You discovered that you had a great talent for artifact refining, especially for creating your own secret refining formulas.
What prevented you from becoming an Artifact Refiner of a higher grade was not your inheritance, but your own cultivation.
You were not an Alchemist. Merely combining medicinal ingredients into medicinal liquids could no longer produce anything effective for a Dou Ling powerhouse. You began considering how to improve your aptitude, for that was the most fundamental issue.]
[Year thirty-one: you chose to head to the Central Plains, where opportunities were most plentiful. There might be natural treasures and top-tier pills there that could improve your aptitude.
Before leaving the Northwest Continent for the Central Plains, you returned to Bangshui City to see Moxi. After leaving him some money, the artifact formulas you had created, and your Fire Control Technique, you departed.
You arrived in the Central Plains, where the status of a fourth-grade Artifact Refiner was still far from low. You quickly established yourself, choosing to join a sect as an Artifact Refining Elder.
In this sect, you met someone you got along with quite well, and the two of you became friends.
He said his name was Xiao Huo, and his goal was to become a Dou Di and establish his own Dou God Clan.
You wondered whether this fellow might be the future Xiao Clan's founding Dou Di.]