Cursed Immortality

Three hours passed in a flash, and all those grandmasters were sweating profusely. They could refine a 1-star magic gem within fifteen minutes if it were any other time.

However, today, they all took three entire hours to carefully combine the magic cores and then purify them while refining the final product.

To refine a high-quality magic gem, it was an essential step to eliminate all the impurities within magic cores, which were mostly collected from magic beasts or some wild races living in the wilderness.

Those impurities include the element of a magic core because if the element were left alone, the magic gem would remain the same as a magic core, non-absorbable.

Meaning the element mana within a magic core couldn't be absorbed by someone else with another element. Even if someone had the same magic element, the mana they could absorb from a raw magic core is 10% before the magic core would turn into dust, and reaming 90% will go to waste.

Furthermore, the mana contained within a raw magic core usually is tyrannical, and it would do more harm than good to recover one mana with it. That's why the Magic Gem was invented.

Not only the magic gem's mana was gentle and could absorb by anyone, but it could also be used on a magic weapon as a mana battery, so even those without magic could also use a magic weapon.

The biggest benefits were the higher the purity rate, the faster the mana absorption and potency.

However, just a 1-star magic gem was sold for 50 million gold coins, and their purity rate is also between 40% to 49% percent (Low Quality). A magic gem with 50% to 70% purity (Mid-Quality) was worth 100 million, while a magic gem over 70% purity rate (High Quality) never sold in the common market, much less a magic gem over 90% purity rate (Flawless Quality) because it was simply too time-consuming.

But these flawless quality magic gems were only used as a precious recovery mana source in very grave situations. No one uses a flawless quality mana gem as a power source on their weapon.

However, if they all knew that Jacob had been using flawless quality mana gems on magic weapon crafting to create finished products, everyone would go insane from his wastefulness.

Because a magic crafter would normally use their own mana to craft a weapon, and those without magic didn't dare to choose this profession because they needed magic gems to complement their lack of mana.

Jacob was also doing the same, and he knew he was being too wasteful. But did he care? The answer was no.

Because Jacob didn't care about money when he could make more, he only cared about the result he would obtain from spending that money. Furthermore, he has developed a habit of using the finest materials for his research or experiments, especially when he can afford them.

Although this habit of his has cost much, even in his past life, he always ends up obtaining far more than he lost. It was the same here. He had become an Elder Grandmaster rank magic smith in 18 months and even developed his own unique insight on the path of a magic smith.

It could also be the result of the unique traits he got with cursed immortality, but his own personality played the biggest part in it as well.

Right now, Jacob was testing, looking at those alchemists holding magic gems, and with a glance, he could tell just what kind of quality they had. Because he, himself, had spent three whole months to achieve over 95% purity rate in 1-Star magic gems.

Although it was only a 1-star magic gem, he knew this gem was far better than any trash quality (less than 40% purity) 9-star magic gem. Even if the mana within them was limited, he could always use more to fulfill the demand for mana.

"Alright, let's start with the first row, you guys can come one by one, and I'll examine the quality rate of your magic gem. As for who will be the guild leader and vice-guild leader, it's simple, the person with the highest quality rate will be the Guild Leader, and the second person will be the Vice Guild Leader.

"This way, everyone has a fair chance, and only the best among you will prevail. Now without wasting more time, you, cripple, come." Jacob pointed at the Elf with a missing arm.

The Elf was none other than the one who had been brave enough to confront Jacob and then lost his arm.

The Elf's face instantly went white and then black when he heard Jacob calling him 'cripple.' If he had more power than Jacob, he might've started fighting him, but now he can only ground his teeth in hatred and move his ass obediently.

Jacob didn't even remember the guy's face as, in his eyes, the elves were all the same, good-looking, with pointy ears, long heights, long hair, and arrogant personalities. They mostly resembled humans, like giants and dwarfs.

Jacob then took something out from under the table where he was sitting. It was a 10 square inches white flat plate. At its one end, there was a small black rectangle. Everyone knew it was the 'magic purity scale,' used to measure a magic gem's purity rate.

Furthermore, the one in Jacob's hand was an advance-type-1 grade, and it was something he got from Braylon's workshop, and now it was Jacob's!

Jacob then pressed his finger over the black rectangle, and a mechanical beep rang before a white '00.00%' appeared with that rectangle.

"Now place it on it. If you have any doubts about the scale, you can use your own. I don't mind." Jacob coolly stated before he leaned back on his long chair, giving the cripple Elf full access to the magic purity scale.

"I know Guild Leader won't stoop to such a level to scheme against a nobody like me." The Elf stiffly smiled in flattery.

With a glance, he knew that the scale was an advance-type-1 grade, and all this thing was getting recorded, so Jacob won't try anything funny on a nobody like him.

So, he took a deep breath and placed the diamond shape white gemstone on the scale's smooth surface.

'Beep…'

Everyone was scrutinizing him while the Elf was holding his breath, and when he saw the number change and a new number appeared, he almost fainted.

'82.97%'

"How is that possible?!" He exclaimed in disbelief.

"Alright, you failed. Next." Jacob's dismissive voice sent the Elf into an abyss.

The Elf found his courage as he knew this kind of chance would only appear once in a blue moon and said with a pale face, "C-can I try it on my scale?"

Everyone looked at the Elf disdainfully, and some even gloated at his audacity. He was asking to lose another arm.

"Go ahead. You have one minute." However, Jacob didn't care about this as he knew these kinds of doubts would appear, so he just let them be.

The Elf didn't dare to waste even a second as he quickly took out a 4 inches small red magic purity scale which was only a basic-type-1 grade.

Furthermore, when he activated it, only '00%' appeared, unlike '00.00%' on Jacob's scale. He quickly placed his gem on it, and it took ten whole seconds to give the final result, which only made his expression paler.

'81%'

When he saw the number, he felt like crying, but he knew he might lose another arm if he dared to say anything anymore. So, he listlessly picked up his gem and scale and left the hall.

No one felt pity for him since they were too busy worrying about themselves. They never thought grandmasters like them would fail over this simple task. It was simply too humiliating.

"Alright, next," Jacob speak again.

This time, it was a demi-human with fox-like features, and he was covered in sweat, and his hands were trembling when he placed the gem over the scale.

'Beep…'

His heart skipped a beat with that beep and when he saw the number…

'86.08%'

"You failed." Jacob coolly stated.

Despair filled his heart, but unlike the cripple Elf, he knew how to accept reality, so he bowed toward Jacob and left the hall.

"Next!"