Smelting Star
Using Originium to inscribe Dao patterns is, in a sense, a luxury, much like using large denomination banknotes to cut paper snowflakes when Deep Sea Star was still called Earth. However, Originium is the most abundant material in Gu Ding's current Storage Space, while other materials are limited.
A single Originium stone, only the size of a thumb, would be extremely difficult for an ordinary person to carve on, but for Gu Ding, size is not an issue. With Gu Ding's current power, he can easily carve words onto nanoscale bacteria, let alone an Originium stone the size of a thumb.
However, the difficulty in inscribing Dao patterns lies in the fact that if one does not master the corresponding Dao patterns, the inscribed lines will automatically become distorted. It feels like being slapped on the hand holding the pen while drawing, ruining all the hard work on your artwork.
Gu Ding spent three days carving the first Dao pattern, using over a thousand source stones and failing nearly seven thousand times. Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Gu Ding swallowed a Cosmic Fruit and entered a state of enlightenment once more.
Gu Ding's second entry into a state of enlightenment surprised the Sea Emperor, because entering a state of enlightenment after consuming the Cosmic Fruit is a rare occurrence, and usually, the probability is not high. However, Gu Ding entered a state of enlightenment twice in a row after consuming it.
In a state of sudden enlightenment, Gu Ding's understanding of those Dao patterns finally deepened.
It took only fifty-five attempts to successfully inscribe the first rune.
In the past, Gu Ding have been overjoyed, but in this state of enlightenment, he remained absolutely rational. Without the slightest hesitation, he began to inscribe the second Dao pattern.
The second inscription was successfully created after fifty-four attempts.
Next, the third inscription. It was successfully inscribed after fifty-three attempts.
The fourth Dao pattern, successful in fifty-three attempts...
The subsequent Dao patterns were successfully inscribed in about fifty attempts.
Gu Ding completed the inscription of all 3,600 attack runes in less than 90 days.
Dao patterns are extremely mysterious. Once they are successfully inscribed, it is equivalent to being recognized by the Dao patterns, and it will not be a problem to inscribe them again in the future.
According to the Sea Emperor, without a state of sudden enlightenment, even with Gu Ding's monstrous talent, it would be quite good if he could comprehend one Dao pattern within a year. Even someone with Miko's extraordinary intellect would likely find it difficult to comprehend a single Dao pattern in less than two or three months.
However, in a state of sudden enlightenment, Gu Ding comprehended forty Dao patterns in a single day, which is the benefit of sudden enlightenment.
After the three thousand six hundred attack Dao patterns were inscribed, the effects of the sudden enlightenment gradually faded.
Because enlightenment is extremely taxing on the brain, there should be at least a three-day interval between each use of the Cosmic Fruit.
Gu Ding spent a few more days practicing the Dao patterns he had already learned.
Three days later, Gu Ding consumed another Cosmic Fruit and successfully entered a state of enlightenment once again. This seemed somewhat unbelievable to the Sea Emperor, but the facts were undeniable, and the Sea Emperor could only attribute this high probability of entering a state of enlightenment to Gu Ding's special physique.
Gu Ding mastered all 3,600 defensive Dao patterns in 92 days.
If it weren't for the 500x time acceleration effect of this Cultivation Tower, half a year would have already passed.
After practicing defensive Dao patterns for several days, Gu Ding consumed the Cosmic Fruit for the third time and quickly entered a state of enlightenment once again.
These are three thousand six hundred other types of Dao patterns. Gu Ding spent a longer time, more than one hundred and twenty days, mastering them all.
By this time, more than 300 days had passed, Gu Ding had mastered all 10,800 Dao patterns that the Sea Emperor had engraved in his mind.
"Now that you've mastered the basic Dao patterns, let's begin learning how to arrange and combine them." The Sea Emperor's voice sounded wicked.
Gu Ding then realized that he seemed to have accidentally jumped into a deep pit. It took him nearly a year to learn more than 10,000 basic Dao patterns, only to be told that there were still permutations and combinations to follow.
"Actually, it's not that complicated. If it were someone else, they would definitely have to calculate what the effects of various combinations would be, but I've already calculated all of that. You just need to copy the combinations I give you. If Miko learn this, I would definitely let him calculate it himself, because it's also a great way to train your brain," the Sea Emperor said with a smile.
Gu Ding was slightly relieved. If he had really been asked to make the calculations, he would probably have collapsed. Fortunately, he only needed to directly record the combination that the Sea Emperor had already calculated.
"Let's start with the simplest binary combination. If we combine them arbitrarily, there are hundreds of millions of binary combinations of Dao patterns alone. However, I have simulated all of these hundreds of millions of combinations, and the number of effective ones is not many, only 120,000. You will record these 120,000 combinations three times to familiarize yourself with them, and then I will teach you the triple combination."
Upon hearing the Sea Emperor's words, Gu Ding's lips twitched slightly, "120,000..."
But Gu Ding quickly got into the zone, swallowed another Cosmic Fruit, and spent 180 days recording the dual combination three times, achieving complete mastery.
"There are only a few effective combinations out of three, only a little over 100,000. You can continue to familiarize yourself with them."
After consuming this Cosmic Fruit, Gu Ding spent over 150 days fully mastering the triple combination.
Following that, Gu Ding completed the quadruple, quintuple, and hexaple combinations in about 500 days, and all the Cosmic Fruit he had were also used up.
"The basic Dao patterns can have up to nine combinations. From the first to the fifth combination, the crafted artifacts correspond to one to five-star divine objects. The sixth combination is enough to craft Pseudo Spiritual Object, which is also the limit that your current soul strength can reach. Smelting Star is already sufficient." The Sea Emperor did not allow Gu Ding to continue trying the seventh combination, firstly because Gu Ding's soul strength was insufficient, and secondly because Gu Ding no longer had Cosmic Fruit for enlightenment.
"But, the materials for Smelting Star ..." Gu Ding was somewhat troubled, as he had almost no forging materials on hand. Most of the spoils he had acquired before, except for some usable items, had been sold at Auction House, including some useless Pseudo Spiritual Object, spiritual items, and forging materials.
"It's alright, let's refine two Star Embryo first, and then add materials slowly later." The Sea Emperor had already planned it out. "As for the main materials, let's use those two platinum skeletons of Half-Step True God."
The two skeletons mentioned by the Sea Emperor were none other than the two Platinum Skeleton that Gu Ding had obtained from the Ancient Ruins. Gu Ding originally intended to keep them and absorb their life essence when his divine fire became powerful enough.
"I'm not skilled enough to refine those two Platinum Skeleton right now. Even if I could, it would be such a waste to just let all that vital energy go to waste..."
"Those vital energies won't actually boost your Combat Strength much. Besides, resources to replenish vital energies are things that can be bought with money, but materials suitable for refining into stars are extremely scarce. As for what you said about not being able to refine them, you've completely forgotten the function of Spirit Vein Hot Spring. As long as it's not at the level of a true god or spiritual object, Spirit Vein Hot Spring can melt it into a liquid state." The Sea Emperor offered a different opinion, and it was incisive.
"Alright then." Gu Ding had no choice but to nod, unable to refute the argument.
After taking out the Spirit Vein Hot Spring, Gu Ding threw the two Platinum Skeleton into it one after the other. The hot spring melted into two clumps of platinum liquid in just a few days.
Under the guidance of the Sea Emperor, Gu Ding nurtured two spheres of liquid with Five-Colored Divine Fire, and inscribed all eight six-fold attack Dao patterns, six six-fold defense Dao patterns, as well as three solid, three gravity, two toughness, two repair, one miniaturization and one deformation Dao patterns into them.
After the Dao patterns were imprinted, the inside of the metal sphere began to churn, like boiling water. After several days, the metal sphere seemed to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller each day.
The two enormous metal spheres, each over three meters in diameter, shrank to the size of a thumb in less than ten days before finally stopping.
Unbeknownst to Gu Ding, more than two days had passed in the outside world while he was inside the Cultivation Tower.
The arena had originally told Gu Ding that he would have a day off, but Gu Ding didn't show up for two days. This left many people who were looking forward to watching Gu Ding's match disappointed when they arrived the next day to find themselves stood up.
Meanwhile, news finally came from the Cultivation Tower that Gu Ding had entered the Ninth Layer and had been cultivating for two days.
The warden had already come up with rules regarding winning streaks of over a thousand games.
For matches exceeding 1,000, the 100-match winning streak bonus is no longer applied; instead, it's now doubled for every 1,000 matches won. In other words, where points previously doubled after 1,100 wins, it now requires 2,000 wins to double.
And that's not all; every thousand battles, an Interception Tournament is added. Challengers in the Interception Tournament are prospective members of the Order Keeper of the Gate of Purgatory. Only by winning the Interception Tournament can one obtain double the points.
These two new rules also drew boos from the incarcerated prisoners.
Gu Ding was unaware of what was happening outside, as he focused all his energy on cultivating Dao patterns and refining stars.
"Is that all?" Gu Ding could sense the terrifying aura emanating from the two stars.
"It's good enough. Although it's just a rough draft, it's a great success. I doubt any of those Pseudo Spiritual Object in the Universe Sea can match the attack power of your star." The Sea Emperor had Gu Ding enhance it with precisely calculated Dao patterns, a total of twenty-six sixth-level Dao patterns. In the Human Race Camp's Universe Sea, anyone who could enhance Pseudo Spiritual Object with more than ten sixth-level Dao patterns was already Refining Grandmaster. Of course, this was also thanks to the fact that the two Platinum Skeleton themselves were excellent crafting materials.
Holding two silver beads as heavy as mountains in his hands, Gu Ding felt a sense of joy as he carefully examined them. This was his first time refining artifacts, and although he had only crafted two rough drafts of stars, he still felt a great sense of accomplishment. He immediately dripped his blood onto them, binding the two stars to himself, and then stored them in his Miniature World.
Having completed these tasks, Gu Ding finally stepped out of the cultivation room...
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[On the last day of 2014, those who still have monthly tickets should clear out their slots, as they expire tomorrow~~ There will be another update at midnight, so don't wait up, read it tomorrow morning~] (To be continued~^~)