Chapter 157 -: 156 Refining treasure.[2]
"Water path!" Julius thought.
The water path circle shimmered into place in front of him.
He moved it carefully onto the waiting fire.
The flames shifted again, pulling everything together until a solid furnace began to take shape.
Since the start of the refinement, he had used nine circles of different paths. The first was the time path.
The second was the wind path. The third was the fire path. The fourth was the dark path.
The fifth was the light path. The sixth was the divination path. The seventh was the ice path. The eighth was the wood path. And the ninth, the last one, was the water path.
Julius turned his eyes to the final formula. It was the gravity path. He worked quickly, making the needed changes in the circle.
The moment he finished, the fire began to change. It glowed brighter and started to tremble.
"It’s changing into the furnace. Make sure you hold the theorems connected," the Lone King said from the side, his voice steady as he watched the shaking flames.
Julius gave a short nod. He quickly surrounded the furnace with his compressed mana.
The furnace trembled harder. Julius held on tight, keeping every circle linked together as the power inside fought to break free.
From the side, Rosalina leaned forward. Her brows drew together slightly. "Need help?" she asked.
"No," Julius said, shaking his head.
The trembling grew stronger, but he could feel that any outside help would only make it harder to control.
He kept his focus locked in place.
It was not easy. He had to hold all the circles steady while the furnace formed.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled. "Whosh!" A deep whooshing sound rolled out from the furnace.
"Haaa..." Julius let out a long breath filled with relief.
A furnace now stood right in front of him. It was rectangular, with formulas from the different paths etched clearly into its surface.
The furnace was the size of a small tea table. Bright blue fire flowed steadily from its mouth.
This was the refinement furnace, the most important part of the whole process.
Now the materials could go inside and follow the furnace’s path to become the treasure.
From the side, the Lone King spoke, his voice shaking with clear excitement as he stepped forward.
The furnace had formed sooner than they expected.
"Now," he said, "use the scroll to set the right combination of heat, then put in all the materials you need."
Julius gave a quick nod. The scroll showed the exact temperature, 5000°C.
He shifted closer and moved his hand over the furnace.
The moment he willed the temperature, the blue flames roared higher. They burned with fierce power, hot enough to melt anything in their path.
Yet Julius felt only a gentle warmth on his skin. Rosalina stood nearby and felt the same soft warmth. The bright blue light danced across her face, giving it a glowing shine.
"Phew!" Julius let out a deep breath. This part was done.
The next step, the most important one, waited for him now, refining the materials. It would drain him more than anything else.
He knew it would take at least a hundred tries before he succeeded. Every failure would send a sharp backlash into him.
The more he failed, the more injuries he would gather. And the further he progressed, the stronger those injuries would become when things went wrong.
Now let’s get started with the next step, Julius thought. He turned his gaze toward the materials.
The first material was the time path sky trembling tree bark, one meter long.
Julius read the details and pictured the material clearly in his mind.
Right away, a purple-looking bark exactly one meter long flew toward him from the surroundings.
Rosalina followed the bark with her sharp gaze. The moment it dropped into the furnace, it began to burn silently. She stayed quiet and kept watching closely.
"Time path, time rewinding purple wolf’s 5th metamorphosis horn..." Julius thought.
Right away, the material appeared. It was not like a normal horn. This one came from the wolf’s fifth metamorphosis and had two sharp points shaped like a V.
Rosalina watched the horn fly smoothly through the air. It stopped right above the furnace and dropped inside.
The blue flames swallowed it at once, burning it slowly and steadily.
After that, more materials of the time path flew past her one by one. Each one dropped into the furnace without pause.
When the time path materials were finished, Julius turned his gaze to the rest.
He thought of their names quickly, one after another. As he did, the materials flew forward and fell into the furnace.
Rosalina watched everything with wide eyes. She felt completely shocked. All these materials gave off a powerful aura that was hard to believe.
What surprised her even more was that she only recognized a few of them. The rest were completely new to her.
These materials carried the aura of celestial grade beasts.
That meant they came from supreme grade or celestial grade beasts. To gather such things, a person would need to be very strong.
Yet the Lone King was only at the void core stage. It made no sense for him to have collected them himself. He must have bought them.
"What kind of rich kid was he?" Rosalina thought as she kept watching the materials burn inside the furnace.
As she was thinking, Julius had nearly finished. Only one material remained from the gravity path.
"Graviton," Julius thought.
This time it was not a small piece. A giant carcass flew toward them. It was the body of a bear-like beast with sharp horns.
The carcass looked fresh and untouched, as if the flow of time had never reached it.
It flew swiftly and dropped straight into the furnace. Blue flames rose around it and began to burn steadily.
"Now maintain the temperature as per the scroll," the Lone King said from the side.
Julius had no time to answer. He quickly adjusted the heat.
Once all the materials were inside, he raised the temperature to 7000°C.
The blue flames roared higher, fierce and bright.
Let it rest for three minutes. Once the three minutes pass, decrease the temperature to 3000°C.
Julius waited carefully, following every step. When the time was up, he lowered it straight to 3000°C.
Now 2000°C.
1000°C.
500°C.
100°C. Let it rest here for a bit.
The next part was the most important one, the deciding part. Bring the temperature to 0 and almost immediately raise it to 10000°C without a second’s delay.
If you delay even for a moment, it will fail. Count to ten. If you reach ten, the refinement is a success.
Julius read the instructions and let out a slow breath. He calmed his mind, staring steadily at the fire.
’0°C.’
’10000°C,’ he thought almost instantly.
However...
Boom!