Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Xunuo obtained the Heavenly Mechanism Transformation Spell and immediately returned to the Cave to cultivate. Two months later, he mastered the spell. After some thought, Xunuo transformed into a middle-aged man with a yellow face and exited the Cave.
Three Star City identified individuals through rings, disregarding their appearance. As soon as Xunuo entered Three Star City, he went straight to the Cave to cultivate, so no one recognized him. Thus, his transformation into a yellow-faced middle-aged man drew no attention.
The surface of Three Star City was bustling with activity, and Xunuo blended in seamlessly with the crowd of Cultivators. He began to wander around the Market in Three Star City.
Xunuo's goal was naturally set on Array City. He aimed to find answers to his questions regarding formations but was hesitant to consult anyone directly. Doing so could easily expose his intent to comprehend the Reversed Five Elements Four Kill Formation. His current inquiries were focused on understanding this formation, while basic knowledge of formations posed little challenge for him.
Xunuo visited various Magic Array Shops, casually asking questions during conversations. If he received an answer, he would leave; if not, he showed no attachment. After several days of wandering, he not only clarified some doubts but also discovered that Three Star City had several industry organizations.
For instance, there was a Magic Circle Masters Guild for Array Masters. There were also Alchemist Guilds, Blacksmithing Guilds, and a Demon Hunter Guild specifically for hunting demon beasts. In short, every profession had its corresponding guild. Joining a guild not only provided protection but also facilitated numerous exchanges.
Particularly for dedicated Array Masters, guilds helped them secure jobs in crafting formations or even opening their own Shops for creating formations.
Xunuo quickly realized the benefits of joining a guild and signed up for the Array Master Guild assessment under the introduction of an Array Master. To join the Magic Circle Masters Guild, one needed a certain level of proficiency in formations—specifically, the ability to independently craft a simple formation.
Although Xunuo lacked experience in crafting formations alone, he felt confident that after six months of study, he could manage to create a formation with specific functions.
Crafting formations is a branch of refining and requires support from Geothermal Veins. However, Three Star City lacked Geothermal Veins; thus, one had to go to a nearby fortified city called Mars City for assessment. The Alchemists and Refiners from Three Star City also gathered there.
This brings us to several fortified cities surrounding Three Star City. It is a sacred place for cultivation but produces nothing except Spiritual Veins that serve solely for cultivation purposes. Cultivators can go long periods without rest or sustenance but must pay rent for their Caves and cannot be without pills or magical tools necessary for advancement and combat. Hence, various auxiliary industries emerged.
Mars City became a paradise for Alchemists and Refiners due to its abundant Geothermal Vein underground. There is also Demon Star City, named for its proximity to a forest teeming with demon beasts. Liu Canghai often ventured out to hunt beasts here. This forest may seem small compared to the vast territory of the Ten Thousand Great Mountains' demon tribes but is still not something any sect would dare invade.
The existence of this demon beast forest is primarily due to the Cultivation Sect needing a source for Demon Beast Materials. In the current cultivation system, these materials are essential for Alchemy and refining. If this forest's demon beasts were completely exterminated, obtaining Demon Beast Materials would require traveling much farther away, which would be counterproductive. In essence, this forest serves as a breeding ground for local Cultivation Sects.
Demon Star City is a base adjacent to Three Star City that provides access to the demon beast forest. It is rich in Demon Beast Materials, medicinal herbs, and refining resources.
The other citadel of Three Star City is the Market City where Xunuo obtained the Cave Ring. This citadel is renowned for its military presence and information trade. Here, as long as you have spirit stones, you can hire the most professional and cold-blooded assassins to acquire the information you desire.
Along with Xunuo, five others traveled to Mars City to participate in the Array Master Assessment. The five shared a flying vehicle from the Magic Circle Masters Guild. Naturally, their conversation revolved around formations and the assessment.
Xunuo learned that materials for the Array Master Assessment could either be self-provided or supplied by the Magic Circle Masters Guild. However, if the guild provided the materials, any formations crafted from them would belong to the guild.
Xunuo had decided on a whim to participate in this Array Master Assessment and had made no preparations. Now, he had to consider that he was missing one type of material for the Heaven and Earth Four Killing Formation. However, crafting this formation was exceptionally complicated, and he had little confidence in his ability to create it. Therefore, even if he had all the materials, Xunuo could not choose it.
Currently, Xunuo possessed a Defense Formation. If he could successfully craft a Killing Formation, the two formations would complement each other, giving him an additional means of dealing with threats. He already had several simple Killing Formation templates on hand.
Considering his Spiritual Root attributes and the function of his Defense Formation, Xunuo chose a dual-attribute Killing Formation of fire and earth as his formation for this assessment.
Single-function formations have relatively low material requirements. Many materials can be substituted or exchanged. Some single-function, single-attribute formations can even be crafted with just three to five types of materials. Runes only require one or two simple types.
Xunuo probed into his storage bag with his Divine Sense for a moment and felt relieved. Fortunately, due to his miserly nature, he had never sold any materials. He had more than enough materials to craft this dual-attribute Killing Formation.
Days later, under the supervision of an examiner from the Magic Circle Masters Guild, their flying vehicle arrived at the guild's base in Mars City. The examiner briefly announced the assessment requirements and distributed a Guild Emblem to each participant. Each person was assigned a Geothermal Chamber with a deadline of fifteen days to produce a newly crafted formation; failure to meet this deadline or complete it would result in failing the assessment.
The Geothermal Chamber for crafting formations did not require dedicated supervision. The Magic Circle Masters Guild was not concerned about cheating because newly crafted formations required participants to embed their Guild Emblem within them—something that anyone could not fake.
Xunuo's dual-attribute Killing Formation required five types of materials and three Runes inscribed within it. The final product would be a Five Flag Array with one main flag and four auxiliary flags. The initial processes were exceptionally simple for Xunuo. Refining and merging materials felt like second nature to him. However, when it came time to divide the materials into five portions and shape the Formation Flags while inscribing Runes, Xunuo began to feel some strain.
This was because Xunuo employed a method where all five flags were inscribed with Runes simultaneously. This approach allowed for seamless integration of the formation flags with minimal flaws, maximizing the formation's power. However, this method placed extremely high demands on one's Divine Sense; larger formations could not be crafted using this technique.
Xunuo divided his Divine Sense into five parts and silently sketched Runes on each Formation Flag. These Runes needed to connect through each flag while maintaining cohesion as one entity. Once inscribed, he could not pause; it had to flow continuously. Moreover, all three Runes needed to be inscribed simultaneously and interlinked with one another—a challenge that was beyond what an inexperienced Array Master could accomplish due to its high demands on Divine Sense.
For Xunuo, however, the difficulty lay not in managing his Divine Sense but in inscribing the runes themselves. His understanding of runes was still quite superficial; although he practiced sketching Runes under Divine Sense regularly, he immediately felt a significant gap between theory and practical application when he attempted it in reality.
Practicing usually only familiarizes one with the Rune, understanding how to connect various runes together. It is only when engraving the Rune onto the refined Formation Flag that one truly feels the intense multi-modal reactions that this Rune can evoke with this material.
Every formation, even the simplest and most singular ones, is the result of countless Array Masters' trials and research. It is not simply a matter of randomly selecting a set of Runes and engraving them onto any material to create a magical artifact or formation. Instead, it is essential for the material to react with this set of Runes, activating the resulting Force Field. This is the true purpose of crafting magical artifacts or formations.
As Xunuo began to sketch the first stroke of the Rune with his Divine Sense, he felt a wave of power approaching. It was neither magical power nor spiritual energy, but an enigmatic force that transmitted itself into Xunuo's Sea of Consciousness.
Xunuo immediately realized that this was a power he had created himself, and he entered an excited state. The urge to see the results drove him to tirelessly engrave the Rune.
Engraving Runes is an extremely mentally taxing task. It requires covering the entire Formation Flag with Runes, layer upon layer, leaving no gaps.
Upon completion, the result should reveal that this Formation Flag is crafted from a certain material. When probing with Divine Sense, one would only find a dense array of Runes. The material would have fused with the Runes, forming a new power.
After two days of continuous engraving Runes, Xunuo finally emerged from his excitement. He realized that he had deviated slightly: he had not yet completed half of the Rune engraving, but his Divine Sense was nearly depleted. However, if he stopped now, it would ruin this formation. Xunuo found himself in a dilemma.
Then he recalled that this Array Master assessment was merely an entry-level test for Array Masters. It shouldn't be so difficult that all participating Array Masters struggle with their Mind Power. Xunuo believed that he was lacking in Divine Sense; thus, it would be even harder for the other Array Masters participating in the assessment. Even if they used a single Formation Flag to engrave each Rune one by one, it only indicated that their Divine Sense could not be diversified for multiple uses, while their Mind Power would still be equally consumed.
In this case, there should be other methods to reduce Divine Sense consumption during the crafting process. At this thought, Xunuo suddenly slapped his forehead and muttered to himself: how foolish.
He quickly thought of a solution to this problem. In fact, Xunuo had used this method before during his time in Chaotic Valley Alchemy: gradually replacing Divine Sense with magical power while performing some labor-intensive tasks involving mixed potions during Alchemy.
Comment 0 Comment Count