player reload.

Chapter 532 The Alchemy Furnace (4K)

Since large guilds are large enough that most of their resources are consumed internally, it can be concluded that these four epics must have been posted by a medium-sized guild or even a lone wolf.

A few hours later, all fifteen perfect items and four epic items were sold. As expected, the [Holy Body Transformation] item fetched the highest price, soaring to 210,000, more than double the price of a typical epic item.

The "Weathering With You ID Card" was slightly less impressive, fetching 190,000. Somewhat unexpectedly for Li Sheng, the incredibly restrictive and frustrating item "Eternal Pursuit of the Snail" also sold for 180,000.

It's probably meant to be used in conjunction with other items and skills, such as using powerful control skills (immobilize, stop, slow down, push or pull) to pin the target in place, and then releasing the snail to instantly kill them.

With the profits from four epic items and fifteen perfect items, after deducting the purchase cost and the misappropriated public funds from the Starforging Anvil, Li Sheng directly paid the full amount for the [Eight Trigrams Alchemy Magic Cannon], and still had nearly 100,000 game coins remaining in his personal account.

"Wow, a card gave away a legendary item and a net profit of 100,000 game coins, that's incredible."

Sitting in the recliner in the Casting Star Anvil Office, Li Sheng sincerely exclaimed that this VIP card for the mall could refresh the list of high-quality items and also enjoy discounts, allowing him to happily profit from the price difference. It was simply too awesome.

With an excited heart and trembling hands, he opened his inventory, and with a "thud," a cauldron appeared before him.

It is about two meters tall, shaped like a gourd, and dark gold in color. The bottom is supported by three legs, and the poem is engraved on the lower part of the furnace body. The largest diameter part is surrounded by three sets of openwork copper rings.

The copper rings intertwine, sometimes rotating clockwise and sometimes counterclockwise, constantly generating the eight trigrams of Qian, Kan, Gen, and Zhen.

Every three seconds, the hollowed-out copper ring will form a hole, just enough to allow materials to be put into the copper furnace.

As for how to use
Li Sheng activated his semi-infested insect form, enhancing his strength. He then wrapped his arms around the narrow end of the bronze furnace and slowly lifted it up.

Clang.

The lid on top of the cauldron popped open automatically, revealing a dark, cannon-like opening.

This offensive legendary item, worth 310,000 game coins, could potentially blow up a Starforging Anvil or a 3D Warehouse in one shot.

Li Sheng decisively put away the furnace, left the star-casting anvil as if nothing had happened, and used the teleportation phone booth to jump to the toy factory.

He also invited Huiyu along—if he didn't bring this girl along, she would definitely pester Li Sheng for days to talk about such a fun thing as bombardment.

Instead of testing it directly around the toy factory, the two boarded an edge fighter jet and flew several hundred kilometers away before finally taking out the alchemical magic cannon.

High-definition, high-speed cameras were set up around the area, and a metal fiber reinforced concrete target wall was installed in the distance to begin testing the power of the magic cannon.

"Test Record 001, Test Item: Judgment Boundary of Bagua Alchemy Magic Cannon. Input: Ordinary wooden ball with a diameter of 10cm."

Gray Rain found a white lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses somewhere, put them on with an air of seriousness, and dressed up as a researcher. He then took notes with paper and pen, saying, "D-level personnel, put the wooden ball into the bronze furnace, rotate the muzzle, and fire at the target wall."

"You've even started giving orders."

Li Sheng's eye twitched, and he threw the wooden ball into the bronze furnace. The high-speed camera clearly saw that the wooden ball was broken down into particles by an invisible force the moment it entered the furnace, transforming into an amorphous flame.

In the player's panel, 5 points of spiritual power were deducted simultaneously. The bronze furnace suddenly trembled and blasted out a fireball at an initial speed of Mach 3, which hit the concrete target wall in the distance.

Boom!

A small amount of concrete peeled off the surface of the target wall. Gray Rain tapped a few times on his laptop, bringing up the camera data from the other side of the target wall.
Based on the diameter of the explosion flash, the velocity of the flame, and the depth of the dent in the target wall, the power of this artillery strike was assessed as "equivalent to 1.3 kilograms of TNT?"

"1.3 kilograms? That's quite reasonable."

Li Sheng rubbed his chin. The wooden ball was made of pine wood. If you multiply its mass by its calorific value, it can release about 5.5 megajoules, which is just over one kilogram of TNT.

The fact that there were no impurities or trash left inside the bronze furnace indirectly confirms this.

"Try using coal briquettes instead."

He took out a coal ball with a diameter of 10 centimeters, threw it into the furnace, and lit it again. The result was almost the same: equivalent to 4.4 kilograms of TNT, consuming 5 points of spiritual energy.

"The explosive power is equivalent to half a 155mm artillery shell."

Grey Rain scratched his head with his pen, slightly disappointed, and said, "It's just so-so."

Li Sheng, currently a Mechanist, can summon dozens or even hundreds of vehicles with a wave of his hand, so he looks down on ordinary 155mm shells.

"That's not how it works. The wooden ball and the coal ball are just ordinary items without any extraordinary elements. Both of them consume the lowest level of 5 points of spiritual power."

The two continued their testing and discovered that liquids such as gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas could also be refined into projectiles by the Bagua Magic Cannon, with the power related to its calorific value.
However, if it is an ordinary object that is too large, such as a gas cylinder or an electric vehicle, it will be rejected by the Bagua Magic Cannon and cannot be stuffed in.

"Test record 025, input: the lowest quality killing field item".

Li Sheng specifically purchased many cheap, low-quality, and unsellable junk props on the black market. The first item was a broken and rotten frozen salted fish.

Literally, this is a frozen, rotten salted fish, black in color, and probably older than Li Sheng. Extremely sturdy, its hardness comparable to steel.

The salted fish was thrown into the Bagua Magic Cannon and instantly refined, but this time it was not a fireball that was fired, but several pieces of cut salted fish meat.

Boom!
All the cubes of fish meat were driven directly into the concrete wall, and suddenly emitted a yellow smoke at an extremely low temperature—the smoke contained hydrogen sulfide and various carcinogens.

"Holy crap, a biological weapon."

Gray Rain's expression is quite interesting. The broken quality items are too low-quality, and even ordinary newbies will not easily get them when opening boxes. They are usually picked up by players from the script world, and there are a huge number of them in existence.

"This time it consumed 7 points of spiritual energy, which is slightly more than that of ordinary items. Let's continue testing."

Li Sheng took out a common-quality learning skill scroll, 【Zombie Horde】, which summons five zombies to attack the target.

According to the skill description, the zombies here are not the running and jumping zombies from literary works such as "World War Z" and "Train to Busan", but rather rather fundamentalist living zombies, with slow and sluggish movements, which explains why they are of ordinary quality.

The skill scroll was thrown into the Bagua Furnace, turning into a wisp of black smoke that blasted out with great force. The moment it hit the concrete target wall, it split into five Licker mutated zombies, which swung their claws around the target wall.

"Upgraded from a regular zombie to a Licker."

Gray Rain's eyes widened, and the Licker persisted for over two minutes before automatically dissipating, leaving a significant amount of concrete on the target wall. This was a major upgrade compared to the original skill scroll. "It's not just an upgrade; it also ignores usage conditions, reduces resource consumption, and eliminates cooldown time."

Li Sheng seemed to be deep in thought, then took out two more rare-quality consumable skill scrolls of the same type, [Magic Missile], and put them into the Eight Trigrams Magic Cannon twice.

When the scroll is used normally, it releases seven mana missiles. When the Eight Trigrams Magic Cannon is inserted, the projectiles fired take two forms: one is a large missile that can directly blow up a concrete target wall.

Secondly, twenty-one small missiles chipped away at a large amount of concrete.

Both consumable spell scrolls originated from the Witch Alliance Guild, yet their final effects differed. The reason might be related to the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) formation created when they were rotated during the casting process.
Continue testing.

Test record 035, input: Rare quality item [Dead Language Translator] - After inserting a coin, it can simultaneously translate dead languages ​​such as Gothic and Hunnic. The hexagram is Zhen (Thunder) and Li (Fire), signifying abundance.

The output is a transparent, intangible projectile that, upon impact, generates a high-frequency sound wave of 172 decibels near the location, far exceeding the human body's tolerance threshold.

Analysis revealed that the sound waves contained a large amount of dialogue spoken in dead language.

Gray Rain Notes: According to my research, the conversation seems to contain a lot of profanity?
Test Log 036, Input: Extraordinary Material [Tai Sui Meat], a slime mold complex, with nutritional components similar to mushrooms, often used in the preparation of magical potions, worth 20 game coins. The hexagram is Gen Mountain Kan Water, Mountain Water Meng.

Output: Yellow-green slime projectiles that create a slime swamp with a diameter of 30 meters upon impact.

Gray Rain Notes: Clean and hygienic! We have to eat sticky rice during the Lunar New Year.

Test Log 037, Input: Extraordinary Material [Buddha's Relic], a Buddha relic enshrined in a temple during the Southern Dynasties period of the scenario world, worth 450 game coins. Hexagram: Thunder (震) and Water (坎) (Release).

The output is a swastika-shaped cannonball that, upon impact, forms a phantom image of a giant Buddha, which then strikes the target wall with a palm strike, shattering it.

Gray Rain Notes: Luckily it wasn't a reversed swastika shape.
Test record 037, input: one Southern Dynasty Buddha bone purchased in the same batch, plus three other Buddha bones manufactured using modern technology (bone ash mixed with quartz sand).

The output was the same as the previous test, featuring a giant Buddha phantom cannonball. Three modern Buddha bones were left directly inside the cauldron and did not participate in the refining process.

Gray Rain Notes: It can only accept one type of material at a time, and the Bagua Furnace has a certain sensing function, capable of detecting counterfeit and shoddy products? More testing is needed.

Test record 050, input: 【Night-Shining Pearl】, a radioactive gem brought from the late Qing Dynasty imperial palace in the scenario world. Many nobles died of cancer after coming into contact with the gem. Due to the presence of resentment, it was marked as an extraordinary material, valued at 190 game coins. The hexagram is Dui (兑) over Kun (坤), meaning "Gathering of Earth over Lake".

The output is a solid spherical projectile, slightly more powerful than a depleted uranium armor-piercing projectile, causing 4000 millisieverts of radiation contamination at the target location.

Gray Rain Notes: Uranium, you are my radiation. Also, the evaluation criteria for the Eight Trigrams Magic Cannon differ from the Killing Field system; the item's value is related to the cannonball's power, but not the determining factor.

Test Log 067, Input: Killing Field Item [Monster Truck], originally a perfect quality item, resembling a toy, its special effect was summoning an autonomous pickup truck that could breathe fire and launch miniature missiles. It was severely damaged in a scenario mission and has lost its special effects.

It itself has been transformed from a toy into a pile of scrap metal blocks two meters in diameter, priced at only 388 game coins. The hexagram is Kun (Earth) over Xun (Wind), with the hexagram being Earth over Wind (Rising).

The output, a two-meter-diameter monster truck, was scrapped and shrunk and refined by the Bagua Furnace into a palm-sized toy car. After being launched, the toy rapidly grew larger in the air and eventually became an ideal i8 electric car, which smashed the concrete target wall.

After that, it smashed through three more walls and then disappeared.

Gray Rain Notes: I've learned another hidden feature: the Eight Trigrams Furnace can absorb extraordinary materials larger than itself. As for why it's an Ideal i8, could it be that the Eight Trigrams Furnace can access the internet for information?

After rounds of testing, half a day had passed. This was definitely the third most complex prop Li Sheng had ever obtained. Its rules were second only to the Toy Factory and the Compassionate Soul-Given Gloves.

With his spiritual energy completely depleted, Li Sheng rubbed his throbbing temples and pondered, "It can be basically determined that the upper limit of the Eight Trigrams Alchemy Demon Cannon is no less than that of the Compassionate Soul Empowerment. When the offensive power is maximized, it can even turn unwanted scrap metal into cannonballs."

The more mysterious the materials used, the greater the power.

Of all the test items, the most powerful projectile was the extraordinary material [Poseidon Statue], worth 10,000 game coins. Literally, it was a marble statue that the player stole from a temple in an ancient Greek scenario world.

After the statue was launched, it created water pressure equivalent to tens of thousands of meters underwater in a large area, directly crushing all the target walls into dust.

The site also contained marine life such as sun jellyfish and abyssal lionfish.

The power of a top-tier cannonball is equivalent to a lightning-fast elbow strike. However, the cost is excessive—one cannonball costs 1 game coins. A cannon shot is worth a fortune; this isn't just about artillery fire, it's about throwing money around.

"The good news is that the Bagua Furnace can be used not only for offense but also for defense."

Gray Rain chewed on the nib of his pen thoughtfully, tapping his finger on the notebook. "Adding healing potions will create mist-like projectiles that spread healing effects over a wide area to friendly units."

Investing a shield skill scroll will create light shield projectiles that will cover your own territory.

Wearing a researcher's white lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses, Gray Rain's IQ seemed to have increased considerably as he spoke eloquently: "It can be said that the Bagua Magic Cannon is a strategic weapon born for the battlefield."

With a cooldown of only 3 seconds, whether we rely on our vast wealth to continuously launch junk and scrap metal, or we use highly mysterious materials to fire powerful shells, it will have a decisive effect.

She suddenly paused, staring intently at the Bagua Furnace, her eyes gleaming with eager anticipation.

"No."

Having spent so much time together, Li Sheng knew exactly what Hui Yu was going to do the moment she stuck her butt out. He immediately rolled his eyes and flicked her forehead, saying, "You can't use yourself as an experiment."

"I'll just try it with my nail clippings."

Gray rain clung to Li Sheng like a koala, "Just put in 0.5 grams, or 0.1 grams."

"That's not OK."

Li Sheng straightened his face. For a long time, apart from using patchwork dolls to install graphics cards and chips, Gray Rain's weight had remained basically unchanged. Nanometals are non-renewable and cannot withstand consumption.

The saying goes that once you have a hydraulic press, all you have left in the house is a hydraulic press. To prevent the dust from destroying the house, Li Sheng decisively put away the Bagua Furnace and strictly forbade her from secretly conducting experiments when Li Sheng was not around.

"This won't work, that won't work, I just wanted to try putting something in that could create a nuclear cloud."

On the way back to the toy factory, Gray Rain, sitting in the back of the Edge Fighter, pouted unhappily and looked out the window, "Lao Sheng is such a big idiot. Oh well, Lao Sheng is happy every day."

? ?
Is it "There's a Big Prison on the Edge of the Clouds"?
Li Sheng, his face darkening, returned to the toy factory and sent Hui Yu to supervise the robotic workers, while he himself checked the remaining gains from the [Zero Reset] mission.

(End of this chapter)