Although the Hundred Refinements Furnace manifested from the Tide of Thought was only at the Magical Artifact level, what Dong Qi hadn't anticipated was that the manifested furnace was a top-grade Magical Artifact.
The Hundred Refinements Furnace contained two independent internal spaces.
These were the refining space and the material storage space.
However, the material storage space could only hold refined materials and lacked preservation capabilities.
Therefore, it could only store materials. If elixirs were placed inside, their medicinal efficacy would gradually dissipate over time, unable to be preserved.
Most importantly, this space was one-way. Once materials stored within were taken out, they could not be directly placed back inside unless they underwent the refining process again.
Still, since it was an unexpectedly obtained storage space, even though its internal capacity was only about a dozen cubic meters and came with many restrictions, having it was better than having nothing at all.
Bound Artifact: Light Passenger Vehicle
Grade: Magical Artifact
Body Frame: Enhancement Level LV0
Power System: Enhancement Level LV0
Electrical Equipment: Enhancement Level LV0
Other Equipment: Hundred Refinements Furnace LV0
Manifestation from the Tide of Thought
Times Manifested: 2
Unknown Special Energy Value: 10.1
(Each manifestation consumes a minimum of one hundred energy points, with no upper limit.)
Seeing the data panel in his mind change once again, Dong Qi understood that elevating his Bound Artifact from Magical Artifact to Treasure grade would be considerably more difficult than upgrading it from Mortal grade to Magical Artifact.
Furthermore, Dong Qi was surprised to discover that the Hundred Refinements Furnace integrated into his Bound Artifact now appeared on the data panel.
The seemingly unified data panel was actually divided into two unrelated sections.
The appearance of the Hundred Refinements Furnace in the upgrade section indicated that Dong Qi's Item Enhancement ability recognized it as a component of his Bound Artifact.
From now on, materials could also be consumed to upgrade the Hundred Refinements Furnace.
This was good news for Dong Qi. Originally, he had been considering how to obtain higher-grade materials once his Bound Artifact reached the Treasure grade.
Now that the quality of the Hundred Refinements Furnace could be improved, he no longer needed to worry about future sources of high-grade materials.
Since he had obtained the Hundred Refinements Furnace, and he happened to have sufficient materials on hand for refining, Dong Qi decided to proceed.
The gold that would have otherwise gathered dust in the corner was now perfect for use as test material.
Dong Qi didn't touch the neatly stacked gold bars and ingots.
Instead, he directly retrieved the several burlap sacks filled with gold jewelry that had been tossed into the corner.
Similar to when devouring vehicles, he only needed to bring the sacks near his Bound Vehicle, and the materials were automatically absorbed into the Hundred Refinements Furnace.
The refinement speed was much faster than Dong Qi had anticipated.
In less than ten minutes, the several sacks of gold jewelry were rapidly refined into high-grade material.
However, Dong Qi hadn't expected that over two tons of gold jewelry, after being refined by the Hundred Refinements Furnace, would transform into only 2.3 grams of refined gold.
If all materials followed this refinement ratio, then one ton of base material would yield only one gram of high-grade material.
Moreover, this "high-grade material" was only relative to the Mortal Artifact grade.
Once the Bound Artifact was upgraded to the Treasure grade, what was currently considered high-grade material would become ordinary material.
Although the Artifact Forging Mantra is also an unorthodox cultivation method, unlike other demonic or heretical paths that require sacrificing life force—whether one's own or others'—the Artifact Forging Mantra only requires consuming gold.
However, it's fortunate that upgrading the Lifebound Artifact doesn't require high-grade materials like refined gold for now; at least, tough iron is sufficient.
Nevertheless, since it's an upgrade material, the more stockpiled, the better.
Just as Dong Qi was about to take all the gold bars and ingots from the storage room to refine, he suddenly sensed a feeling of resistance coming from his Lifebound Car.
Although the sensation was subtle, as it was the first time it had appeared, it immediately put Dong Qi on alert.
At first, he thought that some parts of the Lifebound Car might have been damaged during the collision in the parking lot. But after a careful inspection, the vehicle was found to be completely intact.
Dong Qi never expected that the source of this slight resistance was the fuel tank.
The fuel stored in the tank had actually run dry.
When he had gone out, to prevent any emergencies, Dong Qi had deliberately filled the fuel tank to the brim.
Moreover, while absorbing other vehicles, although some fuel was lost in the process, the remaining fuel in the tanks of those vehicles had also been transferred to the Lifebound Car's fuel tank.
When he got out of the car earlier, Dong Qi had instinctively glanced at the fuel gauge, which showed that the tank should still have been about 99% full.
After three rounds of enhancements, the fuel tank's capacity had exceeded 200 liters. Now, the fuel inside had vanished without a trace.
However, Dong Qi quickly realized the reason. When the Tide of Thought had manifested the three types of furnaces, it had clearly indicated the types of materials consumed during the refining process.
Dong Qi just hadn't expected that refining materials would require so much fuel.
Refining one ton of material likely consumed about 100 liters of fuel. But upon second thought, compared to the consumption rates of some other high-end materials, the fuel consumed by the Hundred Refinements Furnace wasn't actually that high.
Dong Qi's home only had three barrels of fuel in reserve. Although they were all standard 200-liter barrels, that totaled only 600 liters of fuel.
The gold bars and ingots in the storage room amounted to roughly 20 tons. The fuel stored at home was far from enough.
Fortunately, at this time, most people were still hiding in the underground shelters, and the period for "unrestricted acquisition" had not yet ended.
Dong Qi immediately reloaded the gold bars and ingots from the storage room into the car. Although the Lifebound Car's fuel tank was now empty, the distance from Dong Qi's home to the gas station wasn't far.
Most importantly, the Lifebound Car was now a hybrid. Even with the fuel tank empty, the reserve battery power could still allow the vehicle to travel over a thousand kilometers.
Of course, the Hundred Refinements Furnace could also rely on electricity to refine materials. But compared to fuel, which could be quickly replenished, Dong Qi planned to use the reserve power only in emergencies.
Dong Qi was very fortunate to find a fuel tanker truck at the gas station. Due to the EMP pulse, all the refueling equipment at the station had malfunctioned.
If he hadn't found the tanker truck, refueling would have been possible but extremely troublesome.
Since fuel is also considered a material component of the vehicle, the upgrade system could absorb it automatically; there was no need to physically pour the fuel into the tank.
After discovering that the Hundred Refinements Furnace had two independent spaces, Dong Qi initially wanted to try exploiting a loophole and use it as a storage space.
However, after testing, he found that as soon as materials were placed into the refining chamber, the Hundred Refinements Furnace would automatically start the refining process.
Furthermore, refining materials in the Hundred Refinements Furnace had the highest priority. Unless the Lifebound Car's fuel tank was completely dry and the battery depleted, or unless the vehicle was completely incapacitated, the furnace would always prioritize refining the materials placed inside it.
