Chapter 88: Various Studies

The sun was scorching, and the air was humid.

Although the supervisor Ren Li had already left his post, it had no real impact on the wasteland where the corpses were buried.

The corpse-buriers still sweated like rain, their clothes soaked through, surrounded by the stench of decay, yet they worked silently and diligently without a single complaint.

Du En was the same as always, sitting quietly in meditation outside the wasteland, having just finished refining his magical artifacts and imprinting them with his mana.

He then used the storage bag among them to pack away the spirit stones he had hidden separately, the clay pot on the handcart, and his other magical artifacts, stowing them all inside.

This process was quite peculiar; one by one, the objects first shrank to the size of millet grains, then were drawn into the bag from a distance by a suction force.

Inside the bag were dense, small compartments that could be used to categorize items, so there was no fear of everything being piled together.

The first few attempts, unsurprisingly, all failed.

Du En took out the jade slip and began to read.

However, as Du En gave it some thought, he applied the techniques for controlling heat in cooking to this, and was able to adapt his well-practiced skills directly.

After finishing the spirit meal, he could make up for the cultivation practice he had missed during the day.

After thinking it over, he finally condensed it into a fixed shell shape: a shovel.

As it turned out, he actually managed to boil and refine the spiritual essence of the spirit materials, and after some fumbling, he cast the dharma seal to barely constrain the prototype of an artifact restriction.

Once Du En finished his arrangements, he did not continue to manipulate them.

After reading, Du En began to ponder.

However, as for spirit fire, or rather, heat control...

By comparison, among the low-grade spells, the Earth Bullet Spell started as a small clod of dirt, the Sand Scattering Spell started as a handful of loose sand, and the Earth Armor Spell started as a puddle of thin mud.

Half-boiling, half-refining; taking a shortcut to get started.

Then, Du En proceeded to the next step in an orderly fashion.

The group returned to the small courtyard.

"It starts at one hundred? Has the proficiency number for mid-grade increased tenfold compared to low-grade?"

Unknowingly, the sky had already turned to dusk.

Thus, he temporarily set aside the matter of artifact refining and turned his gaze to his cultivation technique.

It was bone-white, turning gray with brown spots, looking just like an ancient bone relic freshly unearthed.

It could be the same type of artifact restriction; like the Iron Ox Shield, it only had one type of restriction—fourfold hardening—a mindless brute-force stack.

They were completely not in the same league!

Not enough materials? Add more!

Very quickly, the remaining bones, teeth, and claws were all added in; only then did this artifact restriction fully solidify, though it was long and useless, with connections everywhere and chaotic performance.

But regardless, it still counted as a genuine first-grade low-grade magical artifact.

Du En looked at the clay pot that had flown out once more.

From the first grade to the eighth grade, they were different qualities.

It could also be a combination of different types; like the Lacquer Shadow Dharma Robe, which had a combination of four types—spirit gathering, suppression, soul warming, and purification—with different effects influencing each other.

Du En had prior experience in refining and using magical artifacts, so he tried it with the Iron Tungsten Long Blade, and after a morning of study, he was able to lift it through the air.

At this moment, as his thoughts stirred and mana flowed out, the multicolored cloak flew out from his bosom, the clay pot followed, spinning around, and with the Iron Tungsten Long Blade still flying, all three magical artifacts were being manipulated, whistling and moving with great agility.

【Artifact Refining (Beginner 0/10)】

"That is acceptable. Then, for my daily practice, it can replace the Sand Scattering Spell, which has already reached perfection, and I will practice it wholeheartedly ten times a day."

The character 'refine' speaks to the intent of fire.

"Those handcarts also count as raw materials; I can take time to use them to grind my proficiency, and once I'm done with those, I'll go steal ore and wood..."

Although the second-grade low-grade Lacquer Shadow Dharma Robe only had a second-grade spirit-gathering restriction, with the others still being first-grade, its rank was there, and for Du En, who was only at the Qi Refining stage, it was very helpful, increasing his basic cultivation efficiency by fifteen percent.

With such a solid and heavy foundation, his successful transition was only a matter of time.

However, relatively speaking, because the artifact restrictions were not well-matched, it only allowed him to perform his cultivation exercises two extra times a day.

Simply put, it meant using the mana imprint as a fulcrum and the artifact's restriction as a bridge, making his own mana act like an extension of his nerves and motive force, allowing the magical artifact to move flexibly through the air, just like his own arm.

Next was learning artifact refining.

This might be some kind of starting point for breaking through basic theory, but for Du En right now, it was just a clumsy situation without a single merit.

He then slung the storage bag across his chest and tucked it under the inner lining of his clothes; it didn't look conspicuous from the outside and fit the Lacquer Shadow Dharma Robe quite well.

However, even the mid-grade spell he had just learned already possessed impressive power and efficacy.

When Wei Ming's slightly timid voice sounded, Du En finally snapped out of his thoughts.

【Artifact Manipulation (Beginner 0/100)】

He continued to ponder.

As a dignified spirit-gathering thief, he didn't need to worry about a lack of materials for the time being.

While stewing the beast meat, he finished this task.

This pot had the function of heating and inflammation; could it be used?

Thinking of it, he did it; he immediately opened the lid, cast a spell to stimulate it, caused it to absorb spirit Qi, and began to heat up.

From low-grade to top-grade, it was one to four lines.

"However, these are just the most basic theories; perhaps more profound artifact-refining inheritances have situations that break through these basic frameworks..."

Fortunately, only ten days had passed, and thanks to the small preservation spell Ren Li had conveniently left behind when dismantling things, it hadn't rotted or lost too much efficacy; he just had to pick away the outer layer.

He still had materials; they were piled right in front of him, not put into the storage bag, as they were some monster parts Ren Li had specifically left behind for him to use for practice.

Learning Artifact Manipulation.

Compared to searching all over the mountains and plains for spirit beasts, how could that be more convenient than having these spirit items piled up right at his doorstep?

Du En packed some of the items he kept at home, along with a pile of monster meat, all into the storage bag.

Starting from the general outline and delving into specific cultivation methods, the words were concise, comprehensive, and every single one was a gem.

Because this number was inflated, it appeared somewhat too large.

Du En raised an eyebrow slightly.

By reading the description of this spell, he quickly gained an understanding of it.

To perform artifact refining, the prerequisite is to possess graded spiritual material and also the power of graded spiritual fire.

Mainly claws, teeth, hide, and some special bones.

Therefore.

Although he had not yet mastered this middle-grade cultivation technique, there was no need to rush; after all, the Yellow Earth Technique, which had reached supreme perfection, was no joke.

Then begin throwing in the claws and teeth.

"My lord?"

By melting various spiritual materials together, either singly or in combination, and extracting the essence of their spirituality beneath the exterior, then fixing and binding them through incantations, one forms artifact seals, which are the fundamental supporting structures of a magical artifact, resembling bones, blood vessels, and meridians.

Taking out that notebook to look at it, Ren Li indeed had not added any extra ingredients; it really was just the most ordinary basics of artifact refining.

"Deeply buried in the earth, rammed and packed solid, with a hard shell on the outside and spiritual gestation on the inside..."

There was no point in thinking about this now; Du En decisively stopped pondering further and turned to thinking about how to solve the problem currently at hand.

Coupled with the monster meat that seemed endless lately, the speed of cultivation could naturally be maintained, and the accumulation of cultivation base increased at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As the situation returned to peace and stability, it was only natural that Du En, through day-by-day accumulation, would break through to a brand-new stage in all aspects.

(End of this chapter)