Chapter 1232: Third-Grade Mithril, Verifying Purity

Regarding the customization of high-quality Magic Items, although Jalasuo could agree to it in advance, the specifics of the customization were not for him to decide.

After reaching a preliminary agreement with the other party, Xia Duo arranged to discuss the details in two days and left behind a contact method—to find Deacon Tom at the Arcane Union.

After leaving the Halan Chamber of Commerce, Xia Duo returned to the Arcane Union, summoned the Sorcerer Deacon Tom, first gave instructions on how to handle the visitors from the Halan Chamber of Commerce, and then immediately asked about a benefit for 5th-Level Members of the Arcane Union:

"I remember that 5th-Level Members of the Arcane Union should have a certain quota of High-Grade Mithril, right?"

"Yes, you have not used this year's quota yet. If you have a need, you can purchase 10 pounds of Third-Grade Mithril or 1 pound of Second-Grade Mithril at the price of Standard Mithril," Tom replied respectfully.

"What about First-Grade?"

"Even the Arcane Union does not have First-Grade Mithril; it was all carved up by the various Great Arcanists as soon as it was imported. If you need First-Grade Mithril, perhaps you could ask the President."

"Forget it, I won't trouble the teacher."

Xia Duo waved his hand, looking rather dispirited. Having just come from Iolum's place, going back again would truly be a bit of a disturbance.

After thinking for a moment, he immediately made his choice, took a stack of Gold Coin Exchange Vouchers from his Personal Space, handed them to Tom, and said, "I'll take the Third-Grade Mithril; have it delivered to my Laboratory!"

Tom lowered his head to count the vouchers and then replied, "Yes, my lord. A Sorcerer Deacon from the Material Department will deliver it personally shortly."

"Mm."

After dismissing Tom, Xia Duo walked straight toward the Laboratory. By the time he reached the door, a middle-aged Deacon was already waiting there.

"From the Material Department?"

"Yes, my lord. I am here to deliver your materials: a total of 10 pounds of Third-Grade Mithril."

As he spoke, the Deacon took a palm-sized, silver-white metal cube from his Dimensional Bag in front of Xia Duo and handed it over with both hands.

Xia Duo nodded, picked up the cube casually, and without inspecting it on the spot, he opened the door to the Laboratory and walked in.

However, after entering the Laboratory, Xia Duo immediately went to the Alchemy Array and extracted a thin, long strand of Mithril of a specific diameter from this Third-Grade Mithril Ingot.

He shaped it into a Mithril Component equivalent to the double-winding element of the 9th layer of the Magic Net String, then linked it to the Magic Net to perform an overload connection of a simple single-element structure.

By doing this to detect the intensity of the Elemental Transmutation reaction, he could determine the purity of the Mithril.

In fact, before being able to touch the ninth layer of the Magic Net, Xia Duo could not even detect the purity of Mithril samples. Of course, this did not hinder him from using 【Element Extraction】 to refine Mithril.

The minimum threshold for using the 【Element Extraction】 spell is the 5th Circle, requiring at least ten High Mages to perform a Joint Casting, while the minimum threshold for a single person is the 8th Circle—that is, the level of an Archmage or Senior Arcanist.

But an 8th-Circle 【Element Extraction】 is essentially an equivalent 9th-Circle spell that uses low-circle elements to replace high-circle elements. To achieve Element Extraction with less spellcasting difficulty, touching the ninth layer of the Magic Net is almost essential.

Before touching the ninth layer of the Magic Net, Xia Duo had wanted to attempt Element Extraction several times, but the expression of high-circle elements through low-circle means caused the complexity of the spell to increase geometrically. Considering the risk of spellcasting failure, he ultimately gave up.

It was not until he repaired the Blazing Sun Array on Shouwang Dao and learned the Blazing Sun spell, thereby touching the ninth layer of the Magic Net, that he began to attempt the 9th-Circle 【Element Extraction】.

There was plenty of Mithril scrap in the Tower of Time, and now that his mastery of this spell was fairly proficient, he was quite confident about the continued refining of the Third-Grade Mithril.

……

The overload connection lasted for about ten minutes in total. When Xia Duo disconnected from the Magic Net, the Mithril Component, which had previously been glowing brightly, immediately dimmed.

It was not just the light that dimmed; the surface of those thin Mithril strands no longer showed much metallic luster, becoming dull and gray.

Such an effect, if placed in a normal Magic Item or Magic Array, would take at least many years to achieve; it was a state nearing obsolescence.

Immediately after, Xia Duo took a palm-sized Adamantine Knife from his Personal Space and cut the Mithril Component into pieces.

After carefully checking the proportion of the silver-white color that had not changed on the cross-section of the Mithril strands, he finally concluded that the purity of this Mithril Ingot provided by the Arcane Union met the standard for Third-Grade.

As for the specific purity percentage, Xia Duo estimated it to be above three 9s. For general Standard Mithril, as long as it reaches two 9s, or 99%, it is sufficient.

The purity of Third-Grade is an order of magnitude higher. As for the higher "Second-Grade" and "First-Grade," Xia Duo had not seen the actual items yet and had no way to judge.

However, judging from the purity of some Mithril ornaments he obtained from the Mythallar Ruins, the so-called "First-Grade" would not exceed five 9s at most.

In fact, the Mithril in the ruins had undergone the Baptism of long ages; even though the Elemental Transmutation reaction occurred extremely slowly, it was still happening, and the purity was no longer what it once was.

That the ancient Mithril ornaments dug up now could still be used as "First-Grade" items also side-handedly demonstrated the strength of the ancient Elf civilization.

Of course, judging from the new materials Iolum needed that had over a million times the Arcane Energy flux of Standard Mithril, in the current era, Netheril had gone quite far on the frontier of Magic.

It was just that some key technologies and key fields were still being held by the Elves; once liberated, they would surely usher in rapid development.

……

After confirming that the Mithril brought by the Arcane Union was correct, Xia Duo prepared to perform Element Extraction. Since this was preparing materials for the upcoming customization of high-quality Magic Items, he still had to put in some effort.

"First, set up Protection and concealment spells!"

Xia Duo was not bold enough to perform Element Extraction without any concealment on the Arcane Union's turf, although the Seventon Council had already unlocked Mithril Refining Technology.

But how to refine High-Grade Mithril remained a mystery, and Xia Duo was not sure if the Seven Towers had mastered the technology for refining High-Grade Mithril.

They likely had, but it was certainly not as mature or as efficient as the 【Element Extraction】 he brought back from the 【Projection Plane: Arcane Empire】!

Regarding this kind of strategic technology, even if handing it over to the Seven Towers could theoretically exert greater effect and greatly improve Netheril's current situation.

But from a long-term perspective, Xia Duo believed that his Daxia Order should be the leader of Netheril. If he gave it now, wouldn't that just add resistance to future assimilation and integration!

Netheril had not yet reached the point where it could not survive without 【Element Extraction】. If it truly reached that point, he naturally would not begrudge a mere 【Element Extraction】.

After all, he was still living in Netheril, a relatively stable and powerful human kingdom, which had immeasurable benefits for his development and growth.