This is a slow starting novel where author likes to introduce you to the world similar to novels like Record of a Mortal's Journey to immortality. As such, if you're looking for a standard fast paced typical xuanhuan then this is not it.
That being said, this is a CRAFTING novel, more specifically a blacksmith crafting novel. MC gains a system where he can easily upgrade his smithed items with attributes. However, he doesn't abuse the system and instead learns how to craft without the system whilst learning many new blacksmith techniques e.g. Adding gems slots, making set items etc. The whole crafting process is very in depth and highly satisfying for crafting fanatics. A little similar to Upgrade Specialist in Another World, this novel although a Xuanhuan, has a more classical Xianxia setting and the crafting system is more fleshed out.
The downside so far is its pretty crafting intense (approx 50%) so novel can feel VERY SLOW. The author has introduced a few different blacksmith type arcs (tests, new items) but there's very little drama or excitement which can make the novel a bit dull.
The cultivation side is a bit more standard, he gets a "devouring" attribute which he puts on weapons to help him grow faster.
Romance starts after a few hundred chapters and then stops for a long while - generally there isn't much.
The MC is very cautious and calm, similar to Han Li (RMJI) and is very mature for his age (15). The cultivation progress is slow (in terms of chapters) but fast in terms of age. However, the balance isn't as good as RMJI because levels are split into 5 (which is too many) and so to keep the pacing the author has the MC 'skip' many levels at a time and he can constantly jump 1-2 large boundaries to fight. As such you can't feel the impact of a specific level. This is all confounded by the author not having a clear power structure that you don't really know how strong MC is (he was very strong in first few hundred chapters but because crafting chapters occupy bulk of novel it's unclear how strong MC is later on).
The translation quality is great with very few grammar errors while the updates are regular.
If you're looking for a more in depth blacksmith novel with an emphasis on crafting then give this novel a read. Translation should be done in 18 months at current rate.
I dropped a star from initial 5 star to 4 star as although the crafting is great, author has got the balance wrong (too much crafting and not enough cultivation, drama, fighting etc) so novel can feel dry and difficult to continue reading at times.
Update: I've currently taken a break from this novel with <300 chapters to go. One big gripe is he spends half the novel at the same cultivation boundary - because author writes long slow paced crafting arcs and then adds even more crafting e.g. Alchemy and formations, the cultivation time has to take a back seat. These newer crafts feel rushed as he quickly gets to the same level as his blacksmithing without the hard graft we've seen before so it all feels a bit cheap. The kicker is, after waiting for so long for him to gain the next cultivation level he starts getting fast power ups again. It all feels like lazy writing and you wonder why author didn't have a better pacing to the novel.
It's not a bad read but if you're reading this as just a xuanhuan then the cultivation side is very dry and slow that I'd probably skip the novel. Read only if you really like crafting and don't mind slower, longer chapters.
