Chapter 40: Communication Platform
After enjoying a delicious meal, Su Xiao returned to his exclusive room and went to the meditation chamber used for contemplation. Having recently undergone consecutive enhancements, especially awakening the Law-Destroying talent, even he—with his 1150 stamina attribute—felt the need to slow down before making further improvements. Since that was the case, he might as well improve his Sealcraft.
He took out the [Wisdom Codex]. Under normal circumstances, the Soul Library would not lend out this sealed item; the knowledge it contained was too dangerous. However, if the borrower happened to be in possession of six Original Sin objects—no, seven now—then the risks associated with the [Wisdom Codex] were something the borrower could fully bear on their own. Even if an accident occurred, it wouldn't harm the innocent.
The contents recorded in the [Wisdom Codex] were divided into three major categories. The first was dark knowledge, the second was array diagram technique knowledge, and the third was Sealcraft—the most profound Sealcraft in the current Star Realm.
This also corresponded to the three wise men within the codex: the Taboo Wise Man, the Mind Wise Man, and the Silent Wise Man. Su Xiao felt that he should have the highest compatibility with the [Silent Wise Man], who represented Sealcraft, given that his current Sealcraft had reached Lv.94, only six levels away from the max of Lv.100.
Su Xiao placed one hand on the [Wisdom Codex]. The book was entirely metallic, with three metal faces on its cover. The left face was an enraged middle-aged man, the middle was an old man, and the right was a cold, proud woman's face. As his hand touched a blank space, the eyelids of the Silent Wise Man trembled, but the result was… the Mind Wise Man opened her eyes.
"A Law Destroyer? Oh ho ho ho~, how fascinating."
The cold, proud woman's face—the Mind Wise Man—wasn't actually that cold and proud. When she laughed, it had the feel of a noblewoman covering her mouth with a blue-bottomed, gold-threaded feather fan.
"But truly, you are powerful. I like powerful individuals. Very well then, I shall impart to you the knowledge that cursed me."
The Mind Wise Man's face split open. A hand with bright red nails and fair skin reached out from the cracked face, followed by limbs moving like a spider crawling out of a hole. After a moment, a headless lady stood before the [Wisdom Codex], dressed in a palace-style gold-and-white evening gown, holding a blue-bottomed, gold-threaded feather fan.
"Confused? Why did I appear first? Law-Destroying brat, guess—who was the strongest alchemist in the ancient era?"
The Mind Wise Man closed her golden feather fan and pressed it against Su Xiao's chest. Her headless form seemed to lean close to his ear and whispered:
"It was me, you know. But our methods of concocting potions were different. Alchemists back then were called sorcerers, specializing in arrays, using them to achieve extremely precise concoctions. In your era, Alchemy has made tremendous progress, gradually breaking away from arrays. Yet this is precisely the link you lack the most."
Hearing this, Su Xiao finally understood why his Alchemy had never reached Lv.100, and why those few highest-difficulty potions always failed to concoct. He had been quite confident, but after actual concoction, he always felt something was slightly missing.
The Mind Wise Man raised one hand. With a hum, layers of arrays enveloped the area. Her headless form seemed to curl the corner of its mouth into an elegant arc, and she said gracefully, "Sleep now, Law Destroyer."
Under the impact of such a massive array, falling unconscious was the norm. This was harmless and would instead allow one to gradually understand these arrays within a dream.
"..."
Su Xiao stared at the Mind Wise Man. The Mind Wise Man's closed golden feather fan pointed at him, as if preparing to send this Law Destroyer into a dream under the assault of countless [Array Diagrams] with that single point.
The atmosphere was somewhat awkward. The [Mind Wise Man] had existed for who knows how many years. She flipped her golden feather fan, pressed it against the [Wisdom Codex], and her body gradually transformed into various array engravings, returning to the [Wisdom Codex].
Su Xiao carefully sensed the various arrays around him. There was no need for excessive enlightenment or understanding; he just needed to master them. His Alchemy had long passed the accumulation stage. Having reached Lv.99, it was like completing 99.9999% of a puzzle, with only the central piece missing. Now that he had that piece, putting it in place wasn't difficult.
A few hours later, the various arrays in the meditation chamber dissipated, and the [Wisdom Codex] entered a dormant state. This sealed item would only release one wise man at a time, at intervals.
It seemed that at least several decades would pass before the next wise man could be released. Su Xiao wasn't worried about this. The reason this item was considered a sealed object, aside from the dangerous knowledge within, was its characteristic of devouring fate.
Su Xiao didn't care about this. He was currently sealing the [Fate Coin]. The [Wisdom Codex] could devour as much fate as it wanted. Theoretically, none of this devoured fate was his.
Su Xiao went to the Alchemy Laboratory. From the several top-tier potion formulas he had collected, he chose one and exchanged for the relevant materials at a price of 1560 ounces. If it had been before, he definitely wouldn't have chosen this secret medicine called [Extreme Body Shell]. Among the several top-tier potion formulas, this one had the most expensive materials, and Su Xiao had the lowest confidence in concocting it.
Previously, from the Alchemy faction's Golden Library, he had found a total of five top-tier potion formulas. Four of them were based on the current era's Alchemy system, but the formula for [Extreme Body Shell] was completely incompatible with the current era's Alchemy, having once been array-dominated.
Before, Su Xiao didn't understand, so he always tried to concoct the simplest of the five formulas, [Sky Secret Medicine]. Now, he understood what was going on.
First, the current era's Alchemy was an improved and enhanced version of the ancient era's Alchemy inheritance. This was an undeniable contribution of the Alchemy faction to alchemical knowledge.
If the comprehensive strength of current Alchemy was 1000, then the ancient era's Alchemy was probably around 800–850. With the inheritance from the previous era, the contemporary version, having developed longer, was undoubtedly superior. This was indisputable.
However, contemporary Alchemy was encompassed within Alchemy, and contemporary Alchemy had always been enhanced by the [Causal Rune].
This led to a situation where, in the Second Era's Alchemy Civilization, when an Alchemy master reached Alchemy Lv.99, they had two choices. One was to continue along this path forward, relying on the enhancement of the [Causal Rune] to complete the last missing piece of the puzzle. The other was to use the ancient era's method, using arrays to make up for the final deficiency.
The reason Su Xiao's Alchemy had been stuck was that his method of breaking through to Lv.100 had always been the first—continuing to spread forward along the current Alchemy knowledge. The problem was that he had already stopped the [Causal Rune] from enhancing Alchemy, lifting the curse on Alchemy.
This could be seen from the gradual rise of Alchemy in the Void and the increase in the number of alchemists.
It was worth noting that some absolute geniuses in Alchemy were truly astonishing. After the curse disappeared, their Alchemy improved further.
Interestingly, they had once scoffed at the claim that the [Holy Flame Alchemist] was the strongest alchemist in the Star Realm. As for why they didn't say it out loud, it was partly because of that person's strength and partly because that person was of the evil faction. Even though rumors said this person wasn't narrow-minded, what if?
But when these alchemists' levels generally increased, they studied the Holy Flame Alchemist's works again. Not only did they fail to fully understand the potions due to their own progress, but they instead felt like an ephemeral mayfly seeing the vast sky. Their former inner disdain was because they couldn't understand the core structure of these potions at all.
Despite this, Su Xiao was certain that those alchemists who were struck silent would eventually catch up to him. Alchemy was, after all, his secondary profession, and he wouldn't devote his main energy to it.
Originally, there were two paths to raise Alchemy to Lv.100.