Chapter 1042

Of course, Xia Duo did not want to dismantle this Statue to use as material for a physical Code; in fact, he highly suspected that this kind of Sarrukh Statue was simply petrified from a living Sarrukh.

After all, ordinary statues only resemble the appearance, but this kind of Statue is not only lifelike and imposing in appearance, but even has countless complex structures inside.

Such as muscle texture, tissues, organs, bones, and blood vessels; although it is the same black stone material similar to obsidian, it is very easy to distinguish the differences within it.

If this were merely a statue, would there be a need to make it so complex?

As long as the shape is correct and the necessary Magic Effect is present, what the inside is like is completely inconsequential.

With Xia Duo's current level of Magic, it is not difficult to see that its internal fine structure was not set up to achieve any specific Magic Effect; in his view, these internal structures are entirely superfluous.

Thus, it is not hard to associate these statues with the high probability that they were petrified from living Sarrukh; only in this way could those fine structures inside the statue be realized relatively easily without extra measures.

Although Xia Duo does not intend to dismantle this kind of Statue to use as material for the Code, the Petrification Magic on the Statue is the main target he needs to draw inspiration from this time.

Currently, the mainstream Transmutation Petrification Spell in Netheril can only perform some relatively superficial transformations within the Earth Element Domain, such as turning loose mud into solid stone.

Even turning metal into stone is very rare, let alone turning flesh and blood into stone; Xia Duo has only seen descriptions of Petrification Magic in the travelogues of certain Archmages.

Of course, since real-world cases exist (such as the petrification lizard), there must certainly be related Spells.

It is just that these Spells involving the essence of the 【Element-Matter】 relationship are not so easily obtained by Xia Duo.

Even the Tower of Time only has partial data on 【Mud-Stone】 transformation Spells, and there is nothing more in-depth.

However, he found a more in-depth Petrification Magic in the Earth Element Domain from the Sarrukh Statue; this Magic can turn human flesh and blood, and even the Leather Armor and short blades worn close to the body, entirely into stone.

This point has already been personally verified by Jiabasi, who discovered the ancient Sarrukh Wuhui Ruins in the Territory, and his foster son Boke.

Additionally, the Petrification Magic on the Sarrukh Statue also possesses a high efficiency that ordinary Petrification Spells do not have!

Ordinary Petrification Spells, such as 【Turn Mud to Stone】, can turn ordinary mud into stone, but this transformation is incomplete.

Not only will it leave obvious residual Magic Aura, but one can even easily reverse this process by suppressing the Magic Net, causing the stone to turn back into mud.

To achieve complete transformation, one basically can only rely on time to slowly wear it down; this process takes about one or two years!

Just imagine, if Xia Duo used such a Spell to create a Code Stone Pillar or some stele, and someone happened to cast a Spell nearby, interfering with the stability of the Petrification Magic and causing the Code to collapse, that would be too ridiculous.

The high efficiency of the Petrification Magic on the Sarrukh Statue is reflected right here: it takes at most one week to fully transform, completely turning into true stone.

If Jiabasi and Boke had not been rescued in time back then and had dragged it out for ten-plus days, they would never have been able to turn back; even if they found some flesh-restoration Spell in the future to recover, those body tissues would not be the original versions.

Of course, it is more likely that they would not have been able to endure for ten-plus days at all; the junction between the petrified part and the flesh part would be transmitting excruciating pain every moment, and perhaps after just three or five days, they would have been pained to death.

……

After re-examining the properties of the obsidian-like stone of the Sarrukh Statue and confirming it was no different from his memory, Xia Duo took some samples to use for Constant Spell testing.

What the Ioun Stone brought to Xia Duo was by no means as simple as three pieces of Magic Equipment and three relatively rare Transmutation Spells; there were also the various ingenious ideas hidden behind the production methods.

In the past, Xia Duo always believed that Magic Items produced through Magic Permanence were easily disturbed by the outside world, and their service life would even be greatly discounted.

But now, he no longer thinks so, especially after the 【Projection Plane · Cormanthor Birth】.

Many Magic Items on the Elf side, in order to pursue so-called artistry, are difficult to adapt to the form of Mithril Components in terms of styling; therefore, many Magic Items are produced through Magic Permanence.

Of course, in Elf culture, this is also a form of artistic expression, or even a higher form; after all, Magic is the highest art.

The more difficult it is, doesn't that just show that the artistic attainment is superb!

Compared to Mithril Component-type Magic Items, although the production threshold for Magic Permanence-type Magic Items is higher, the performance stability of truly high-end products does not lose to the Mithril Component type.

There are many such Magic Items in the Archmage knowledge within the 【Sword of Ruling】, and in Netheril, the Ioun Stone is an outstanding example of Magic Permanence-type Magic Items.

Xia Duo intends to place the physical Daxia Code in the Territory for a long time, and at the same time, it is required to be a Magic Item; thus, choosing the easy-to-maintain Magic Permanence type almost became a must.

If one chooses the Mithril Component type, due to the existence of Elemental Transmutation, the Mithril Components within will inevitably deteriorate over time; once it deteriorates to a certain degree and affects the flow of Elemental Energy in the magic circuit, then this Magic Item is considered broken.

Moreover, because Mithril Components often require encapsulation, wanting to maintain them is almost no less than remaking a new one.

If one chooses the Magic Permanence type, it is much simpler; although the threshold for production and maintenance is higher, a high threshold does not mean the process is complex or time-consuming.

Because Magic Permanence only requires Spellcasting and does not need extra consumables or equipment.

For Xia Duo, it is actually more labor-saving.

As for the Everlasting Magic Technology researched by Tilake, although Xia Duo attaches great importance to it, strictly speaking, he only values the cost reduction brought by this technology; he does not attach much importance to the technology itself.

Basically, this belongs to a reduced-spec production plan that combines the characteristics of both the Mithril Component type and the Magic Permanence type; except for the lower cost, it has almost no other advantages.

Of course, in many cases, the best product is not necessarily the best-selling product, nor is it necessarily the most profitable product.

But the physical Daxia Code standing in the Territory is not a commodity that can be sold, but a symbol of the Territory's laws and a symbol of the Lord's authority; naturally, it must be done as well as possible.

For this reason, Xia Duo is willing to make more attempts.

……