Chapter 258: Train Every Player to Become a Craftsperson

"Wait a moment." Hearing Gao'er's response, the wooden figure pulled out a stack of cardstock twice the size of normal playing cards and swiftly shuffled and cut them; with expert flourishes, it drew ten cards and laid them face-down on the table, then produced a smaller deck of playing cards:

"The color will be determined by this deck I hold. As you flip each card, I will draw a color card simultaneously—the timer will start at the same moment. I recommend you steady your mindset first; this trial permits a certain margin of error, and I will alert you when the requirement is met."

"I understand." Gao'er wanted to complain about whether the time spent flipping cards could be deducted, but after thinking it over, he decided not to be clever.

At this moment, he was deeply grateful: to turn his colorless Qi into the vivid blue seen in animations, he had specifically researched how to change Qi's color—otherwise, he might truly have been lost right now.

"Shhh!"

One card was flipped over; seeing the regular hexagon on it, Gao'er's tension eased slightly—and almost simultaneously, the wooden figure's color card landed before him—

"Red!"

"Red! Red! Red!"

Gao'er stared intently at the bright red on the color card and began outputting Qi; filling a palm-sized hexagon with Qi wasn't difficult, but adding color to the equation made all the difference.

The magic of the Folklore World appears to be "one spell, one ritual"—a single spell corresponds to a complete ritual; to learn a spell, one must first master its ritual—but this is not entirely accurate.

Take the Yin Thunder Talisman: its function is to convert Qi into lightning, but where the lightning strikes and in what form it manifests is entirely controlled by the user.

But can this be resolved by ritual? Of course—concentrating the lightning into a spear shape becomes Thunder Spear Art; encircling it as a shield becomes Thunder Shield Art—but while this increases casting precision, it also reduces the spell's versatility, locking a fluid, adaptable spell into a rigid template.

Feng Xue's chained spell units represent the extreme of this approach: using countless refined rituals to fix every detail of a spell—its range, form, and more—thereby reducing the burden on the soul's micro-control.

Xiao Ling's exhaustive method is also based on this theory: assembling and combining vast modular configurations to create diverse magical effects, then disassembling them back into modules and integrating them into a belt, allowing one-click activation through different trigger sequences.

What was taught to the players, however, was another approach entirely—

An extreme "simplification": simplified even beyond the four spells in the Yizhuang Secret Manual, reduced to a single foundational structure—this is Feng Xue's Four Elements: 【Transfer】, 【Fix】, 【Transform】, 【Filter】, or, as players named them, 【Move】, 【Still】, 【Art】, 【Flow】.

Naturally, this comes at a cost: using clay sculpture as an example, the ritual is the mold; for the same precision, a finer mold requires less manual finishing, whereas an overly crude mold demands extensive post-sculpting refinement.

Feng Xue's chained spell units are like high-precision, one-piece magical artifacts—ready to use as-is—while what the players received isn't even a mold; they were given a lump of clay, and its final form depends entirely on how they shape it.

That is, the players' bodies are game characters; under the attribute boosts from leveling up, their precision even surpasses Feng Xue's mediocre soul by a considerable margin—otherwise, they simply couldn't withstand such rough handling.

In fact, the standards Feng Xue set for the four trials weren't arbitrary—they were estimates derived from feedback data of the first-generation Talismans; any level-100 player who thoroughly mastered the corresponding ritual could meet them.

At this moment, Gao'er finally dyed the Qi covering the hexagon a true red; hearing the wooden figure's quiet reminder, he didn't dare waste time asking how long it had taken, and immediately flipped the next card.

"Damn!" Seeing the pentagram on the card, Gao'er's scalp prickled, but he still rapidly filled it with Qi while diverting a fraction of attention to check the color card the wooden figure had shown.

"Blue! I'm familiar with this one!"

As Gao'er's relief surged, his Qi instantly turned blue.

Qi continuously flowed out, shaped and molded by his will; just as he was about to complete the shape on the fourth card, the wooden figure suddenly interrupted:

"Time's up. Trial failed."

"So I was that far off?" Only now did Gao'er feel a suffocating pressure; he gasped heavily several times, momentarily feeling almost oxygen-deprived.

But the wooden figure clearly had no intention of comforting him; it asked coldly:

"Would you like to retry the trial?"

"Not yet! I need to reflect further." Gao'er shook his head; while practicing more wouldn't hurt, his current level was still too far from passing—compared to grinding in the basement, he felt creating spells while practicing offered better value—

At least it wouldn't feel boring…

"He's out! He's out!"

As Gao'er stepped out of the trial room, a chorus of exclamations erupted; he looked up to see a crowd blocking the wall. Before he could speak, they bombarded him with questions:

"How was it? Was the trial hard?"

"Did you pass?"

"What was the trial about?"

"Was the examiner a new NPC or an old acquaintance?"

…

A flood of questions crashed into Gao'er's mind; during the trial, he'd clearly overtaxed his brain, and now he felt dizzy. Overwhelmed, he raised a hand and pinched his nose bridge hard, spotted Ba Bi in the crowd, and said:

"Can't explain it right now—I've got footage. I'll edit it and post it on the forum! Er Bi, come offline with me to cut the video!"

"I've told you a hundred times—I'm not Er Bi!" Ba Bi's protest fell on deaf ears; seeing Gao'er immediately activate the "Log Out" dimensional spell, Ba Bi had no choice but to log out too.

"Guess he didn't pass." Those who knew Gao'er's temperament well instantly understood the answer—and their curiosity about the so-called trial deepened further.

As everyone drifted back toward the plaza, Bao Long suddenly slapped his forehead: "Wait—if Gao'er passed by using the Spiral Chakra, does that mean if we master the Spiral Chakra, we can enter the 【Art Trial】?"

"Possible, but we can't rule out the possibility that 'you must create a spell matching the corresponding Foundation Skill to pass'." The Science Maniac shrugged; the Tyrannosaurus Warrior shook his head:

"That's too ridiculous! Gao'er's Spiral Chakra looks powerful and trains 【Transform】—even if it doesn't get you into the trial, it's still useful. My brain's not great—I'm just gonna learn it first!"

The Science Maniac thought that made sense and nodded: "Fair point. I've got a new idea too—I'm going to develop a 【Filter】 spell. If anyone else wants to go the development route, try 【Transfer】 and 【Fix】—though just a suggestion…"

(End of Chapter)