Jie Ming raised the unfinished Talisman Imprint Rune Artifact in his hand to eye level.
A faint silver star swirl rotated slowly deep within his True Illusion Void-Breaking Eye, and layers of information cascaded out from within the artifact like a waterfall.
The crystal lattice structure of the transcendent metal, the patterned runic traces after being steeped in the Law-Crystallization Domain, and tens of millions of interlocking energy circuits— all the information was continuously deconstructed and reassembled in his field of vision.
After a moment, Jie Ming let out a soft breath.
“Still not enough.”
His voice was light, yet carried a hint of helplessness.
He placed the artifact back on the workbench.
Although it was still one step away from true completion, he could already foresee the final result.
There remained a subtle energy blockage in the core runic array.
Such a defect would be negligible in an ordinary Talisman Imprint Rune Artifact, but for the new generation he intended to forge, it was enough to render the entire system meaningless.
So, once again, he had failed.
Jie Ming looked at the neatly numbered array of failed pieces on the workbench and could not help but gently rub his brow.
Five hundred years.
Ever since his spiritual sea had fully recovered, he had poured almost all his energy into upgrading the Talisman Imprint Rune Artifacts.
He continuously absorbed new knowledge and, based on it, researched higher elemental output schemes, then installed those schemes into the artifacts. The Law-Crystallization Domain Enhancement Technique had solved the problem of cross-planar adaptability. Logically, the new generation of Talisman Imprint Rune Artifacts now possessed the foundation to once again become the core of a combat system.
However, only when he actually began the forging did Jie Ming realize that matters were far more complex than he had imagined.
A sixth-tier Talisman Imprint Rune Artifact had to simultaneously satisfy three nearly contradictory requirements.
Higher energy density.
Stronger energy maneuverability.
And more stable cross-law compatibility.
The three were mutually entangled, like three taut strings.
If any single parameter was adjusted even slightly, the other two would fall out of balance.
Over the past five hundred years, he had modified tens of thousands of design blueprints, and the discarded experimental records would have filled an entire library.
Yet a finished product that truly met the requirements had never appeared.
Staring at the unfinished piece before him, Jie Ming was silent for a while, then raised his hands again.
A radiance of alchemy flowed gently from his palms, re-enveloping the half-finished artifact.
His mental power once again covered the entire workbench, and as it penetrated, all sorts of transcendent metals began to soften bit by bit.
The solidified rune grooves once again turned liquid, flowing slowly under the manipulation of his mental power.
At the same time, he activated both the True Illusion Void-Breaking Eye and the All-Purpose Eye.
Two completely different perspectives overlapped, turning the entire artifact into a transparent world.
Every rune’s thickness, every energy circuit’s oscillation frequency, and even the minute deviations produced by each cycle of rule circulation inside the Law-Crystallization Domain— all were reflected with perfect clarity in his consciousness.
Jie Ming’s mental power was stable without a single tremor, like the finest engraving tool, gradually correcting the internal structure.
Time slipped away.
Within the laboratory, only the faint hum of alchemy in operation echoed through the air.
Until the final rune was about to close.
Suddenly.
An extremely subtle feeling emerged from the depths of his consciousness: “…I can make it even finer.”
Jie Ming’s movements paused briefly.
There was no basis for it, but he suddenly had that feeling.
It was not feedback from any ability, but rather the sensation that, after five hundred years of countless failures, countless disassemblies, and countless reconstructions, all his experience had quietly fused at that moment.
Like a blacksmith who had wielded a hammer for decades, finally knowing without measurement exactly where the hammer should fall.
Jie Ming barely thought; his body acted first.
His mental power instantly delved into the deepest layers of the material.
The runes, already refined to their own limits, were adjusted once more with minuscule changes.
One stroke, two strokes, three strokes…
The modifications were so small they were almost unmeasurable, yet they were like the last feather that tips the balance.
Hum…
The entire artifact suddenly emitted a low resonance, and the previously sluggish energy circuit burst open.
The Law-Crystallization Domain, the energy-absorbing runes, and the high-order spell formula finally connected into a complete whole for the first time.
A faint glow flowed gently along the patterns, like the first breath of life.
Jie Ming’s pupils contracted sharply.
Success?!
He once again performed a full scan with his True Illusion Void-Breaking Eye, and a flood of data poured into his mind.
The core arrays all met the criteria.
Energy loss decreased by thirty-seven percent.
Output efficiency increased by twelve percent.
Range of ambient element absorption increased by twenty-five percent.
Those few runes he had modified on the fly had completely resolved the bottleneck that had plagued him for five hundred years.
He slowly clenched the Talisman Imprint Rune Artifact in his palm.
Feeling the steadily flowing power inside, a long-lost smile finally appeared in his eyes.
However, what truly excited him was not the artifact in his hand.
It was that feeling just now.
It signified that his alchemy had finally broken through once again.
Jie Ming slowly closed his eyes.
Scenes of his journey flashed through his mind.
Several millennia of accumulation had finally pushed his alchemy past the last threshold.
According to the classification from the information he knew, at this level of alchemy, there was no longer any such thing as “skill high or low.”
What determined one’s level were only the wizard’s own cognition, perception, and manipulation ability.
And alchemy at this level had reached a state where it could easily manipulate complex organic matter.
Simply put, the most notable hallmark of alchemy at this grade was… the creation of life!
A gleam of alchemical radiance lit up Jie Ming’s palm once more.
Elements in the air rapidly converged, forming the various substances he needed.
Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen…
Then, these basic materials began to reassemble in predetermined proportions.
Carbon chains extended.
Amino acids combined.
Proteins folded.
Cell membranes slowly closed…
Minutes later, a milky-white mass of tissue floated silently in midair, gently writhing.
With his current perception, even without activating the All-Purpose Eye, Jie Ming could clearly see the cells inside the tissue continuously dividing. This indicated that the tissue’s metabolism was proceeding steadily.
Though it lacked consciousness and a soul, it was already living tissue in the truest sense.
With just a bit more fine-tuning, a low-level life form could be born.
Jie Ming placed it into a culture tank and began recording various life parameters.
Overall, the data was perfect.
He quietly gazed at the growing tissue, but there was not much joy in his eyes.
Because he knew that this was far from the end.
With his current knowledge, alchemy could only create a physical body.
A true life was still missing one final thing.
The soul.
Thinking of this, the corners of Jie Ming’s mouth lifted slightly.
If one talked about pure understanding of the internal structure of the soul, few in the entire Noren Workshop could boast an advantage over him.
Wizardry studied the structure of the soul.
Immortal cultivation studied the Three Souls and Seven Spirits, the Primordial Spirit, and Divine Sense.
These two completely different knowledge systems exhibited astonishing complementarity in this field.
If he could truly fuse them…
Jie Ming looked at the living tissue in the culture tank.
When that day came, he would not only create life but also endow life with a true soul.
And that day was not far off.
Not only because Jie Ming had previously studied relevant content, but also because the Spirit Awakening Technique and Temporary Enlightening Technique he had researched before were largely based on the cognition of the soul.
“Then next… I’ll temporarily shift my research focus to the direction of the soul.”