The Book of Refinement
James didn't stay still for long and started walking, he just had to get as far as possible. After 100 meters the waves of mental attacks started to hurt, and after 1000 James couldn't physically set another step without falling, so he decided to call it off and he stopped. When he did a little bubble encapsulated him and a little portion of the hall, blocking any mental attacks, accompanied by this he got a system message.
System: you have stopped in the Divine hall, in this zone you are permitted to take 1 item, directly after you take it you will get teleported outside of the Library.
James was a little surprised by this, he couldn't even touch anything less he chooses it. But he didn't dwell on it for too long and started appraising the 100 or so books and scrolls that were located inside his bubble.
After about an hour he was done, and to say he wanted everything wasn't an understatement, everything from [Tier 5] draconic spells to foraging designs of pseudo-legendary set equipment, every single book here was worth more than probably everything any super guild in their god's Domain had, but one of them stood out, [The Book of Refinement] (legendary rank). The book of Refinement itself wasn't that special of an item, James had seen plenty of Dark-gold ranked ones in his time, but a legendary one was simply Ludacris, James inspected the book 1 last time.
[The Book of Refinement] (legendary rank)
Has the power to refine any item of its own rank and below. The book of Refinement will upgrade the rank of 5 items that are placed within it, these items placed can not exceed the rank of the book itself, and an upgraded version of the item has to be physically possible to create, and all upgrades will require a number of seven luminaries' crystals.
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This was the craziness of the legendary version, not only could it upgrade legendary items to pseudo-Divine items, but that was a rank no one had ever even dreamed of owning even in the apex of the greater god's Domain, its real power came from the line after, "an upgraded version of the item has to be physically possible to create". This seems like a limitation but in reality, it is the farthest thing from it, on the epic version it says that it has to be in existence, so upgrading things like peak race changing crystals and Saint level mana techniques isn't possible, it is possible to create but it has never been done, that limitation seems to be lifted for the legendary one.
James didn't hesitate for a second more before he took the book off the shelve, the second he did his surroundings faded and he was standing in the cave yet again. In the cave, Iron and Merlin were both patiently waiting on him with bright smiles on their faces.
"Look, James, I got it, the legacy of the God of craftsmanship, I did it."
James was relieved when hearing this, before Iron could rant a little more Merlin interrupted him, pointing at the book in James's hands.
"O, how interesting, you got yourself quite a catch there, if you don't mind me asking, what will you be using it on, I might be able to give some advice on if it is or is not possible."
James nodded, he didn't mind sharing what he had in mind, and he was planning on asking Merlin's advice on the matter anyway.
"Well, the first item is God's bone marrow that you have given me, I was hoping it would give me a Divine mana body."
James looked at Merlin with an anxious expression, he hoped it was possible.
"Hmm, getting that Divine mana body should be possible, but there is one problem. I have no experience building such a thing, even with your world affinity, getting 80% completion will be difficult."
Merlin said in a worried tone. When James heard this he was relieved, it was possible, regarding the difficulty, he had his own solution for that.
"the second thing would be a peak race changing crystals."
Merlin just nodded, seemingly approving of James's decisions.
"That is a very wise decision, you will end up with something like an Apex race-changing crystal, something that was theoretically possible back in the day, but never really had a chance of being created. You see, race-changing crystals were created in ancient times, and to make these crystals the blood of said creatures, and a lot of it, had to be collected. Now if we are talking about an apex race, this is naturally impossible."
James just got more and more questions on his mind the longer Merlin spoke, but to keep it short James asked the most important one.
"What exactly is an apex race sir Merlin?"
He knew of peak races, like dragons and high elves, what could be above that?
"An apex race is a race that stands above all other races, but not only that, to be qualified as an apex race every single member of their race has to be able to dominate the strongest beings of any race below them, even the babies. In all history, only 1 race has ever been given that title, or maybe it is more accurate to say that a certain subspecies got that title. It is the Gold divine dragons."
James was perplexed at the mere thought of a Gold-ranked Divine dragon, not to mention a tribe of them, of course, he knew that technically a gold Divine dragon should be possible, but he never would have dreamed that they actually excited.
This also just put more questions in James's brain, how did a race of beings where the weakest of them could utterly destroy anyone else from any other race die out?
James wanted to ask the question, but Merlin already started talking again.
"I know what you are thinking and the answer is relatively simple, the universe took care of them, you see the universe tries to keep a balance on a bigger scale and eventually the gold Divine dragons started to disturb that scale, it didn't have to do much to let them die, just decrease their birthrate so much that it would become impossible for them to continue existing."
James felt relieved that the universe took care of such things, but also a little scared.
"The third thing I want the upgrade is a Saint level mana technique, specifically one of the Void element."
Merlin seemed to be even happier with this choice than the previous one.
"another excellent choice, when you upgrade that mana technique I would presume you would get something like a world-level mana technique, this is a mana technique created by the only being that has a better understanding of any element than a Saint, the world itself, technically it would be possible to create a technique based on the way nature creates elemental phenomenon, but even for saints, this is a task near impossible. I must warn you though, this technique will be incredibly difficult, even learning 1 of its moves will take more effort than mastering a Saint-level mana technique"
James didn't mind the warning, he already had a solution for that, what he was really excited about was the fact that all his ideas were possible.
"I don't have any ideas yet for the other 2 uses."
Merlin smiled and nodded.
"Indeed, it is best to take your time than to use this precious artifact on something not worthy. Anyway, I am sure you have a lot of things to discuss with your friend, I will be dropping you 2 of in the town where you came from. Come visit me again when you are ready for the creation of your mana body."
James was kind of saddened that their time with Merlin had already come to an end, but he had a lot of important things to do so he was grateful he was willing to give them a lift back.
And just like that, James and Iron were yet again standing in brown forest town, the 2 of them being the highest levels of anyone there by far, James being level 14 and Iron forge being level 12 thanks to all his crafting.
"Okay Iron, let's go somewhere private, there you can tell me all about your new class."
Iron forge just agreed with a big grin on his face and followed James into some alleyway, but when they got there he got nervous.
"Are you sure it is safe to say it here James?"
James just smirked.
"no one in the current god's Domain has any chance of sneaking up on us with how high my stats are."
Iron just sighed in embarrassment; he had forgotten that.
"Okay, so the basic jest of it is, is that I have given up my combat class for the primary class crafter, my combat beginner skill has also been replaced by the skill Overheat, which increases my crafting speed ×2 for 5 hours, and has a 5-hour cooldown after that. My class Talents also got replaced, I have 1 Talent that gives me +100% proficiency gain, one that gives me all subclasses that have to do with crafting, and one that gives me +10% crafting chance."
James couldn't help but smile, it was powerful, but this was only the beginning, every time he tiered up, where most people would get combat stats and skills, he would get the same for crafting.
"all right now this is done we have a couple of things to do, first of all, we have to meet up with Olivia, she also sent me a message saying she found a guild token, but since I didn't reply she hasn't used it, for our second task is to sell that equipment you made to a big guild, making our guild a little more known isn't necessarily a bad thing, plus most of their normal members should be level 3 by now, so it is the perfect moment."
Iron was still barely listening because of his happy mood.
"give me the armor, I will be selling it for 3 silver a piece and the mystical Iron ones for 10 a piece, go rent a foraging room somewhere and go make some more while I do that, I will send a message when I'm done."
James then walked off and messaged phoenix, the vice guild leader of a big guild, the dragon-phoenix pavilion.
"I have 18 swords and 23 chest plates of the Bronze rank and 2 swords and 1 chest plate, mystical Iron rank, want to buy them? 3 silver for the Bronze ones and 10 for the mystical Iron ones, all of them are level 3."
It didn't even take 2 minutes for her to reply in a hurry, why wouldn't she, she was in dire need of equipment, and how could she pass up such quality?
"Where are you?"
"brown forest town, right outside the northern entrance."
Phoenix didn't reply after that, but 5 minutes later she was standing there, right in front of James, totally baffled.
"L…L-Level 14?"
She was perplexed, they were a super guild, yet their core members were only level 5, how could he possibly level up so fast?
James knew that she would be stunned, making himself look weak would have done him no good, and at the end of the day super guild couldn't really do much against the "One" guild, they didn't have a guild headquarters, and focusing their members down in the fields was not something possible thanks to their combat standards.
"Please don't be so startled miss Phoenix, and could we proceed with the trade, I have a lot of things to attend to."
She then quickly snapped back into it.
"O yes, of course, and if you are willing to sell your leveling method I would be more than willing to pay a high price in credits"
While sending out the trade request James started laughing.
"Don't get me wrong miss Phoenix, I am not selling this equipment to you out of desperation for money, I am doing you a favor, while also disposing of some overflowing equipment. O, and the next time I ask you to meet up, please don't try these silly tricks."
James then blitzed past phoenix, so fast that she didn't even realize it and covered his hand in flames, whit that flame-covered hand he punched an Assassin who was in stealth behind a tree, clearly keeping tabs on the transaction. James knew that phoenix didn't mean anything hostile towards him by having someone keep tabs on her, but at the moment any chance to show his power and have a higher standing with these big guilds was a nice addition. The Assassin died instantly, his body still lightly burning. James then turned to phoenix again with a smile.
"My apologies, I don't like people peeping on my transactions, and don't worry, I only lightly damaged his soul, so he should be able to log in again after about a week."
Phoenix just looked back in horror, he might be level 14, but his power was way beyond that, when he had moved towards the Assassin she felt like he teleported, one moment he was standing next to her, and the next second he was standing over the dead body of her Assassin, and even more Ludacris was his power to damage souls, what was that all about.
"Hahaha, no problem mister one, I can understand that, I hope we will have plenty of business opportunities in the future."
She said with a slight tremble in her voice.
"I hope so too, but I must be going."
The 2 of them soon parted ways, James going to meet up with Iron forge and Phoenix telling her guild leader what ridiculous situation she had been in.