Chapter 262: This Time, You

"Done!" Holding the first completed artifact, the science fanatic felt his mind buzzing—he had graduated years ago, yet had exhausted himself to perfect this layout, and only succeeded through a long-dormant call to his former advisor, relying on external aid to create this massive ritual composed of 33 (note ①) linked rituals.

Although allowing mirrored structures within this linked ritual setup could reduce the number, doing so would force the caster to frequently alter their mana-input habits and complicate the software logic.

"Isn't your staff a bit too long? And aren't most spells prioritizing fixation or transformation first? Why did you put selection first?" Guan'er stared at the "eye-level staff" in the science fanatic's hand, his lips twitching.

"Because control is difficult—if it's too short, mistakes are easier. So I wrote an additional software spell." The science fanatic pulled out his design schematic and pointed to a ritual in the corner.

"This is a selection-based ritual. Before casting, I input the sequence of my spell rituals into this selection spell in the format 'a-select, b-transfer, c-transform, d-fix.' The spell then locates that sequence on this staff, and I input mana precisely at that point—only then is the sequence correct."

As he spoke, the science fanatic shook his staff; as mana flowed in, a section roughly one-third along its length suddenly glowed. He immediately channeled mana into the glowing spot, and as the ritual segments lit up in sequence, a fireball spell erupted.

"This is way too complicated!" Guan'er stared at the casting sequence, his scalp prickling—but the science fanatic shook his head.

"It's just unfamiliar. Once you get used to it, you'll instinctively know where to input mana for any spell, and won't need the prerequisite spell. Besides, this is fundamentally just a research tool—every casting sequence you can imagine can be found here. If you have favorite spells, you can use this staff as an enchantment platform to create staves that cast specific spells… or rings, gloves, whatever. Oh, here's the enchantment platform's ritual—I just copied it down."

"So you're saying any segment you cut from this super-ritual can serve as a basic ritual for an artifact?" Guan'er pondered a moment before understanding, but just as he prepared to act, he found the enchantment platform already occupied.

"The science master already made the finished product—why are you still yakking? If you want the manual, wait until you've got the thing in hand!"

While Guan'er and the science fanatic were chatting, the Tyrannosaurus Warrior, having already finished his creation, swung his level-10 staff with a smug grin and unleashed "Armament Color Haki."

Don't complain about the low level—in this game, only items below level 10 are available as two-handed weapons without class restrictions.

"This design is actually interesting." As players queued to craft artifacts, Feng Xue had already copied down the science fanatic's thirty-three-layer ritual.

Though his linked spell units clearly offered better cost-efficiency, this ritual wasn't without merit.

For instance—

It can be engraved inside the body.

Unlike linked spell units, which require different carriers to maintain ritual independence, this spell unit can be fully embedded within a living organism—meaning even a demon like Liu Yunxi, if given the spirit-attunement ritual, could reverse-engineer mana conversion from demonic energy via the blue-bar system and effortlessly learn every spell Feng Xue uses.

"Sorcerer… or maybe, Spirit Root? Exactly thirty-three rituals, thirty-three heavens… I know it's coincidence, but it still feels strangely fitting."

Feng Xue wanted to try it, but considering his current primary research topic was the return-to-origin of Primordial Qi, he set this altruistic system aside for now.

…

"Hey… can I borrow your god… hey? Where'd he go?"

Bi Gelei strode into Feng Xue's lab with a new inspiration, intending to borrow the little bell for deduction—but found the guy who always lingered in the lab had vanished. She was momentarily baffled.

"Someone finally cleared his five-man dungeon. He got interested and went to the twenty-man one—probably teleported back to his demon king city room now."

Liu Yunxi, practicing the demonic-energy-to-mana ritual, glanced sidelong at Bi Gelei, then returned her focus to the spell diagram before her.

Hearing this, Bi Gelei was speechless.

"What's so fun about playing house with those heroes? Is it really that enjoyable to have your power capped and get beaten up?"

…

"How fascinating! So fascinating! You fools actually look like cultivators now!"

Watching the players before him wielding spears and staves, Feng Xue—now re-donning the Monster X suit—laughed wildly.

"Son of a bitch!" Guan'er roared; a radiant light flared from his shield, and Feng Xue's form froze instantly.

Though all twenty players before him were cultivation-class characters, having passed the Four Elements' foundational training, they were effectively masters of all classes—by engraving key class skills onto gear, they achieved instant spellcasting, and true high-power spells…

"Fatal Blow: Addiction to the King's Power!"

The combination ritual of Instant Step and Armament Color Haki flashed into view—the black iron rod swung toward the dragon-headed demon charging Guan'er—but Feng Xue, of course, wouldn't be caught by such tactics; he'd already held the taunt ritual in hand and developed a counter-control technique!

"I'm your dad!" With a roar, the taunt's visual effect shattered instantly; the branch-like dragon horns glowed golden as they clashed with the oncoming iron rod.

The collision, exceeding the game's sound limit, exploded violently—he swept his twin tails, knocking the ambush player to the ground, blocked the kidney-stabbing dagger with his claws, tanked two spell missiles, and stomped the head of the player trying to trigger "Addiction to the King's Power."

"Holy shit! This boss… is this game company poisoned? You break control, fine—but why insult people?!"

Guan'er, mentally shattered by Feng Xue's insult, became like he'd been taunted himself—he dropped his shield, donned his Spiral Fist gloves, and charged forward—but Bi Gelei snatched him back instantly, and the team voice channel blared.

Guan'er's rage instantly cooled; with a wicked grin, he and his four teammates suddenly lined up, each pulling out a toilet plunger stolen from some villager's home, and swung it in unison:

"Guan'er's Secret Technique: Spell Essence—Eat Shrimp!"

(End of Chapter)