Trials of Refinement

Lei Jin was satisfied with this response. "Then let's begin." Lei Jin said, setting up multiple of the highest rank fire element resources. Signally that the refinement will begin.

This time it wasn't going to be as easy as it was before. The thing they were refining now was of an entirely different class compared to the others. Where the other ones had used 6th rank materials for the majority of the Artifact Worlds Refinement. This one used 9th rank materials. And far more of them than the previous.

The difference was simply too massive. A single set of 7th rank materials would trivialize all of the materials that went into refining a single Artifact World. 8th rank would do the same for dozens of times more in number. The same could be said for 9th rank materials. So on top of that the number of materials was not small in the slightest. This recipe required hundreds of sets of 9th rank materials. Hence the look of shock on the Elders faces when they heard Lei Jin could afford it.

In any case the refinement had begun in earnest. There was no time to waste as every breath counted far more than before. A single mistake could mean total failure. Supreme Elder Mei was quite determined. "How could a mother cause just an expensive loss." She thought as the materials began forming together and crafting the Artifact tiny piece by tiny piece.

~~a day later~~

The outermost layer of protection had started to wither. This caused a moment of stress for Lei Jin but he was able to tell in the next breath that Supreme Elder Mei was fine. "I'm glad I put on multiple layers of protection. I only hope they last. Worst case I will fill the room with the element to combat this. Since I have the Ice that came with the fire it will cool this place quickly." Lei Jin thought as he helped refine the Artifact.

Lei Jin was actively working on adding the power of Space and Time into each and every tiniest part of this Artifact. Such was needed for it to work properly at the end of the refinement. So he really couldn't spare any focus for the moment. But if Supreme Elder Mei is in trouble she will naturally slow down. And that would be his only chance to help.

~~Another day later~~

The first layer of protective Aura broke. "I'm glad Jin'er gave me so much extra protection. Otherwise that would have been quite hot. But why isn't anything else mel… Lei Jin is also keeping everything else safe. Damn, I am glad I was able to get Zi Rong such a capable husband." Supreme Elder Mei thought as her progress slowed a bit.

"Is everything alright!" Lei Jin exclaimed, noticing the pace slowed down. He saw the Supreme Elder Mei was sweating something fierce already. And drastically slowing down. "I guess this is where our progress is divided multiple times. Oh well… So long as mother is safe and the refinement is successful." Lei Jin thought as he mobilized his strength to summon another layer to send over. Once it wrapped her and regulated the intense heat, Supreme Elder Mei recovered.

"Thank you Jin'er. I needed that. This is quite hot." Supreme Elder Mei said and then took another look at Lei Jin before returning to the Artifact. "He… he is bearing that heat with just his body! How in the… Oh… Never mind. This heat must be messing with my mind. Of course he would be fine if this protection was generated of his own innate Divine Body. Even still though he is likely not feeling too good either. We are a fourth of the way complete. I do hope I don't end up being too much of a burden." Supreme Elder Mei thought.

Supreme Elder Mei in that moment had a breakthrough and seemingly sped up from before. Lei Jin noticed and matched the pace as it happened. He had been limiting himself since Supreme Elder Mei was not nearly strong enough to make this happen in a short time. "That's the spirit. With this my plans can truly have a huge boost in speed. I'll have to let Mother Mei name one of my kids and I'll name one after her." Lei Jin thought seeing this improvement of around 50%. The two continued this cycle for multiple days. With them both slowly slowing down as the days passed.

~~8 days after refinement began~~

Lei Jin took over the entirety of the situation now. He sent one of the Artifact Worlds inside the nearly complete Artifact. The finished Artifact Worlds flew in one after the other. Each of these were somewhere in between the peak of 6th rank and new 7th rank. That is in terms of strength. The worlds contained within were already solidified and could easily support life.

"I hope this works, it would really suck if it didn't." Supreme Elder Mei thought as she sighed and watched as so many Artifact Worlds were going inside this new Artifact.

"Hmmm… seems like that is truly the maximum that can go inside… Good. Not bad. It under performed but not by much. A total of 63 Artifact Worlds. Truly a good thing. Now then it's time to finish this up." Lei Jin said, mobilizing a truly massive and terrifying amount of strength.

Supreme Elder Mei could have sworn she saw a resource of each element on par with the fire ones in the room that produced the heat. "Those are the materials that Lei Jin had been talking about before… That settles it. Without him I wouldn't stand a chance against such a mighty power. Yet he can force them to work together if he wants too. Why did he… Oh wow this heat really messed my memory up. He had said so before." She thought holding her head in pain.

A truly massive surge of power flooded the room and was slowly forced into the Artifact floating in the center of the room. The set of Highest rank materials disappeared and turned into a pure and mighty power. Filling the new Artifact with a great vigor as it slowly hummed to life.