Aside from Alchemy, there was another profession listed within the Basics of Cultivation that had caught Tang Yin's attention. This profession was called Forgers. Forgers were cultivators who could create magical Artifacts from a vast array of materials using the strange Forging Art they practised.
Forgers were very similar to Alchemists; they even had the same ranking system. There were 9 Tiers for Forgers, a 9th Tier Forger was the most common, while a 1st Tier Forger did not exist within the True Martial World. The tier of a Forger represented their ability, they would be able to create Artifacts of whatever tier they were and inferior tier Artifacts with ease. A Tier 8 Forger had the ability to forge Tier 8 and 9 Artifacts.
These so-called Artifacts were items that were forged specifically for cultivators. In fact, Tang Yin's storage ring was a Tier 9 Artifact. Artifacts came in all shapes and forms; they were mainly used during battle. The impact they could have on a battle was akin to having an extra Martial Skill in hand. Artifacts needed to be activated with Qi, but there were a few exceptions, which included storage rings.
There were many other professions into which cultivators had invested to make a living such as Demonic Beast Hunters, Formation Masters, Spirit Beast Tamers etc. However, Alchemists and Forgers were the most popular. This was because the Medicinal Pills and Artifacts could increase one's cultivation and battle strength respectively, these were the 2 most significant aspects required for a cultivator within the True Martial World.
Tang Yin spent a long time reading about all the professions listed, he wanted to accumulate as much knowledge as noted within the book, and he wanted to squeeze the book dry. Eventually, Tang Yin arrived at the 4th section in the Basics of Cultivation.
This section was about Demonic Beasts, He already knew about the Demonic Beast Rankings. However, there was much more information about Demonic Beasts within the book that he did not know before.
One such piece of information was that Demonic Beasts would form Demonic Beast Cores in their skull when they advanced to the 2nd Rank. The Demonic Beast Cores could be extracted from the Demonic Beast when it died, the core contained the amalgamation of the entire Demonic Beasts cultivation base.
Unfortunately, Demonic Beast Cores could not be absorbed by cultivators, the Qi within the cores were filled with too many impurities. These impurities could cause severe harm to a cultivator's cultivation base, there was even a chance of exploding to death on the spot.
Fortunately, the Demonic Beast Cores had an important use, they could be used as one of the materials used to forge an Artifact. Thus, they were worth a lot of Spirit Stones depending on the cultivation of the Demonic Beast the core was extracted from. Demonic Beast Hunters existed as a profession because of the amount of wealth that could be obtained from selling Demonic Beast Cores.
Tang Yin soaked in all the information he could like a sponge. He eventually arrived at the fifth section in the Basics of Cultivation. This section categorised Martial Skills and provided an in-depth description.
Martial Skills had 9 Tiers, in fact, most of the things in the True Martial World were categorised by 9 Tiers, except for a few things like Demonic Beasts. This was because 9 was the peak of all numbers, the difference in the lower tiers was huge but the difference between the higher tiers was like the difference between heaven and earth. It was insurmountable.
Martials Skills were divided into Low and High Rank within a Tier. A High Rank, Tier 9 Martial Skill was much stronger than a Low Rank, Tier 9 Martial Skill. There were a few very strong items that could close the gaps between the low and high ranks, but they were as rare as a phoenix's feather.
Every family whether big or small had at least some form of Martial Skills. Martial Skills could be considered the foundation of a family, the amount of importance put on high tier Martial Skills was the same as Training Manuals within any family. Outsiders would never be allowed to learn these Martial Skills unless they had contributed something akin to a miracle for the family.
However, this was different for sects. Many sects had taken root within the True Martial World, some were small and weak, and some were big and strong. Sects usually had many Martial Skills of low tiers and high tiers; most normal disciples of the sect would have to make contributions in order to learn Martial Skills.
Once the disciples learned the Martial Skills, they would not be allowed to teach it to someone else, if they taught it to a fellow sect member, they would be punished severely, worst case would be their cultivation base destroyed. If the disciples leaked the Martial Skills to an outsider, it would be considered treason, and the disciple would be hunted down like a dog by the whole sect.
This was how important Martial Skills were to a clan and organisations.
Tang Yin spent 4 hours in total reading Basics of Cultivation, he had read the whole book. After reading the book, Tang Yin felt enlightened as if he had been led out of darkness into the light. Tang Yin spent a minute in deep thought before returning to the 1st floor and to choose another book, he still had 2 hours of time left before he had to leave.