Chapter 1043

Xia Duo was very satisfied with the test results of the Constant Spell on the Statue material; there were almost no obstacles to linking the Magic Net Strings, and there were a great many Nodes available for linking or energy circulation.

Perhaps this material was something the ancient Sarrukh Mage-Serpent specifically sought out for Constant Magic.

It is difficult for Xia Duo now to imagine how that ancient race managed to find this material from the vast, sea-like products of Earth Element transformation.

But he would just use what was ready at hand.

In fact, if it were only for Constant Magic, then any material could be used; even a withered branch or a pebble picked up in the forest would suffice.

But if one wants the Constant Spell to be more stable and long-lasting, then one needs to find some suitable materials.

The production method for an Ioun Stone includes the step of finding materials, and the different forms of Ioun Stones for different functions are also meant to accommodate the different linking methods of different spells during the Constant Spell process, making the finished product more stable.

……

"Let's make a sample first!"

As Xia Duo made his decision, his Bloodline Power responded immediately, and a huge water sphere appeared out of thin air in the Alchemy Laboratory.

This was not an Elemental Illusion, but real water.

Among the four elements, only the Water Element can manifest pure water; the others, such as the Earth Element, manifest substances that are almost all-encompassing and have no fixed form, or more colloquially, contain too many impurities.

For example, the Fire Element does not even have a manifested material form; if the concentration of the Fire Element is too high, it will only ignite or heat nearby normal matter, and if it is higher, it may open a passage to the Fire Elemental Plane.

The Wind Element, or Air Element, is similar to the Earth Element and is not pure.

As for positive and negative energy, their essence can be seen as the generation and demise of the four elements, and they have no specific manifested objects.

Although Xia Duo could use a large piece of wood to transform into stone, wood is not a dense structure, and the quality of the transformed stone might be discounted.

Coupled with the fact that he would need to go to the warehouse or outside the Tower of Time to fetch wood, while water is readily available, he decided to try transforming water first.

He first used his Bloodline Ability to control the water sphere, stretching it into a cylindrical shape, and then—

——6th-level 【Element Transformation: Earth】

This Spell was not the original version from the Sarrukh Mage-Serpent Statue, but a Petrification Spell that Xia Duo compiled after studying the Statue and the petrified samples of Jiabasi and his son.

Some elements of it were consistent with the Statue; if he knew the elemental essence of Mithril, he could even directly transform Mithril using this Spell!

In fact, 【being able to transform matter】 and 【being able to transform into a specific substance on demand】 are two completely different concepts.

This is actually extremely similar to material science on Earth; humans are often able to discover some strange formulas that can be used to produce materials with various Special Functions.

But if one wants to determine the properties of a material first and then find the composition formula, that is much more difficult.

In the world of Magic, the foundation of matter is elements; as long as one can penetrate the elemental essence of matter, then the (narrowly defined) material world will hold no more secrets.

Clearly, this is a systematic and highly difficult research topic; Xia Duo's research on element transformation is still very shallow and has not reached this level.

A person's energy is limited and one must make choices, but the potential of civilization is infinite; in the future, perhaps relevant research institutions can be established to conduct organized and planned systematic research.

For now, forget it; even if something is really researched, it might not bring benefits, but disaster.

Given the current social state of Netheril and even the Northern Elf Kingdoms, no matter which side masters the mystery of elemental essence, it will be a curse rather than a blessing.

……

In an Alchemy Laboratory on the Public Level of the Tower of Time, Xia Duo looked at the blue-black stone pillar in front of him, which was as thick as his waist but a head taller than him, and was lost in thought.

"It seems the Sarrukh Mage-Serpent Statue must have stayed underground for too long, to the point that it turned almost one hundred percent pure black!"

However, color is not the point; there are too many spells that can change color. What he really cares about is the properties of this new material.

Not bothering to wait a week for this stone pillar to completely stabilize, Xia Duo immediately began a new round of constant testing.

First, he checked the open Nodes used for linking Magic Net Strings and for shunting Elemental Energy; this work could be directly seen and concluded under Magic Vision.

The most essential difference between general matter and living beings in the Magic Net lies in the fact that there is a natural closed loop in the connection between living beings and Magic Net Strings, while general matter lets Magic Net Strings pass through, which counts as a completely open Node.

The number of Nodes relates to the number of Magic Net Strings that can be linked, or in other words, the complexity of the spells used for the Constant Spell.

For living beings, especially humans, the number of open Nodes determines the number of Magic Equipment that can be linked and attuned, as well as the complexity of spells that can be made constant on oneself.

Magic Items with passive properties, such as Mage Robes, basically need to be linked and attuned to oneself before they can function.

As for Magic Items that only have active usage functions, such as ordinary Spellbooks, Fireball Rings, staves, and Magic Wands, most do not need to be linked and attuned; they can basically be used as soon as they are obtained, and there is no limit to the number one can carry or even use at the same time.

……

Xia Duo only took one glance to see that the number of open Nodes on the blue-black stone pillar in front of him already exceeded his own, which also meant that this stone pillar was theoretically an excellent base material for Constant Magic.

The reason he said "theoretically" was out of rigor; after all, it had not yet passed the constant test.

Although it was just a sample and he had already tested the Statue sample before, the necessary procedures could not be skipped; this was also Xia Duo consciously cultivating his own magical literacy.

After a simple yet rigorous constant test, he finally determined that this stone pillar was very suitable as a base material for Constant Magic.

However, because the materiality of this stone pillar had not yet completely stabilized after the transformation, the stone pillar began to show signs of reversal after the test ended.

The surface became pitted and cracked, with many fissures extending deep into its interior, while on the ground near the base of the stone pillar, a pool of pure water that had reversed from the stone state flowed out.

The stone pillar did not completely reverse in the end, but it was basically unusable.

Xia Duo discovered that the number of open Nodes on this type of stone pillar was no longer as high as his own, which also meant that it was almost impossible to use it to make any high-end Magic Equipment.

At the same time, this also proved a conjecture he had earlier, namely—

The non-dense structure stone transformed from wood is inferior to the dense structure stone transformed from pure water in terms of its properties as a base material for Constant Magic.

……

Afterward, Xia Duo followed the previous method to transform six more stone pillars, but this time he did not perform any tests, instead leaving them alone.

He prepared to wait for the materiality of these stone pillars to completely stabilize before proceeding with the trial production of the physical codex.

As for now, he prepared to carefully ponder the specific functions that the physical codex needed to achieve, as well as the order in which these spells would be made constant, and the arrangement of the Nodes.