We all know that the forge isn't gonna go, so a better route is to modify it. Not really the forge itself, but, the fire CRYstals. I know we have some lower star heat crystals, and nothing to do with them. So, what I propose, A NEW NPC!!!
This npc will be on the far right of the arcade(or wherever) and her name would be... not important now. Well her function would be to transfer lower star orbs of alchemy or heat crystals into higher star ones, and visa versa. Of course OOO would need to come up with an exchange rate, but, this npc would give meaning to the Arcade and our useless abundance of low star(possibly high sta,r depending on rank and needs of a Knight) rarities.

Thanks for reading, feedback is welcome, also look for my other suggestions on rarities and things.