47 Gold rod

All the mages were gathered in the guild hall for the auction. When Lin Li entered the alchemy lab, it was quiet with no one in sight.

Feeling assured, he opened up the Ring of Endless Storm.

Looking at the dazzling array of metal ingots, even Lin Li himself had to admit that he was some kind of freak of collectormania. From the cheapest copper and iron ingots to the expensive adamantine and mithril ingots, and then to all kinds of magical metals that were rarely seen in everyday life, there were actually dozens of kinds when counted together…

What Lin Li had to do now was to select the materials for the gold rod from the dozens of metals.

The gold rod was different from weapons and equipment. It wasn't that the higher the grade of metal, the more powerful it would be. This was more like a trade-off: using ordinary metals would bring a higher level of stability for magical enchantment and greatly reduce the possibility of enchantment failure, while using magical metals as material would bring stronger enchantment effect. Different magical metals would also result in different enchantment effect.

For a high-level magical enchanter, stability would always be the first priority.

No matter how powerful the enchantment effect was, if it was not supported by stability, it would only be a joke in the end.

Hence, almost all successful magical enchanters would choose the Eternal Adamantine to forge the gold rod.

The Eternal Adamantine was known as the most stable of all metals in the world. A gold rod forged from it could also increase the success rate of enchantment by at least ten percent!

Lin Li had always been cautious. When he had begun to jolt his magical enchantment profession, the use of Eternal Adamantine had always been his aim. He had even prepared several pieces of Eternal Adamantine in advance for this purpose.

He had never imagined that he could get the deep silver one day.

Now that Lin Li had the deep silver in his hands, the metals that he could choose were just too many.

The stability of gold rods coated with deep silver already reached an appalling level. What he had to consider now was how to maximize the enchantment effect brought on by magical metals.

In front of Lin Li were three magical metals—dream iron, abyss mithril, and rune's adamantine. He had chosen them from the array of metals. Although there were many other magical metals, they were inadequate in various ways and did not fit Lin Li's requirements for the gold rod.

Only these three magical metals would task Lin Li's mind.

Forging the gold rod with dream iron might bring magical dispelling effects to the equipment.

Forging the gold rod with rune's adamantine would greatly enhance the element attributes.

Forging the gold rod with the abyss mithril would allow the equipment to possess a higher resistance to magic.

All three were rare magical metals, and getting even one of them would be enough to keep a mage awake at night. Perhaps only a beast like Lin Li could take out all three at once, and this led him to face a blissful problem.

… All three magical metals were so excellent, but only one could be coated with the deep silver he had on hand.

This was indeed a big dilemma for Lin Li. After spending an hour in the alchemy lab, he finally came to a decision with clenched teeth.

The effect of strengthening element attributes was too singular, and the magic dispelling effect could only activate with a certain probability. After weighing the gains and losses, Lin Li chose the abyss mithril at last. Compared with strengthening element attributes, the application scope of magical resistance was much wider and could work every time—unlike the magic dispelling effect, which could only depend on luck.

After deciding on the material for the gold rod, there was nothing else to worry about.

When he was trying to jolt the magical enchantment profession, he washed away countless amounts of gold rods. To do such a thing now was as facile as driving along a familiar road in a light carriage.

There was a small melting furnace in the alchemy lab which was usually used to smelt alchemy materials such as star sand and navy sand. The temperature was a little low, but it was not a problem for Lin Li. At the end of the recitation of a spell, the Flaming Hands was unleashed. The near-infinite mana fueled it wildly and the scorching flame clung to the bottom of the furnace. It took only a moment before the abyss mithril began to show signs of melting.

Lin Li used an iron clamp to pick the red abyss mithril up and, with the other hand, took out a hammer from the Ring of Endless Storm.

Sparks flew on the forging platform; the dazzling magical runes swung back and forth, magnificent like fireworks in the night sky. Under Lin Li's consummate skills, the gold rod forged with the abyss mithril begun to take its form on the forging platform.

A blacksmith guru was totally a demonic existence. In the blink of an eye, a gold rod was almost completed. The whole process was incredibly fast; there were still sparks dancing on the forging platform by the time Lin Li put the hammer down.

Then, he waited for it to cool. Unlike ordinary metals, magical metals could not be actively cooled down; otherwise, it would cause a huge loss of magical properties in the metal. What Lin Li could do was only to wait patiently.

While he was waiting, he put his hand into the Ring of Endless Storm once more.

This time, he took out a magical crystal the size of a longan.

The relationship between the gold rod and the magical enchanter was held together by the final touch of mental strength. The enchanter could not provide mana for the gold rod, so a magical crystal that was strong enough had to be embedded on it. Lin Li had chosen a level-fifteen magical crystal of a Void Walker. It was the strongest magical crystal he could take out at present. Although his hunter form had killed countless back then, he hadn't had the time to transfer most of the magical crystals to the smurf account. It had always been on Lin Li's mind ever since.

Of course, what really strangled Lin Li was the Dragon of Destruction, Azardas.

After the death of this legendary dragon, Lin Li could not find its magical crystal anywhere. The only thing that looked like a magical crystal was a stone found somewhere around its heart. But it was dull, thick, and rough; it didn't possess even the faintest magical wave—how could it be the source of mana for the legendary dragon?

In the end, Lin Li could only dismember its body in anger. After a round of sick ravage, the famous Dragon of Destruction was skinned to the bones and all its remains thrown into the Ring of Endless Storm.

But this was not important. The magical crystal was just to provide the gold rod with mana. If he could kill an even more powerful magical beast in the future, he could always replace the level-fifteen magical crystal.