Come, Let's Give Her a Show!

The long, rectangular base was covered in complex structures resembling circuits, extending from the indentations where the hands were placed all the way into the interior of the spherical crystal.

It was a design and structure he had never seen before, inexplicably bizarre.

"Professor, this isn't one of those things that lights up as soon as you put your hands on it, is it?"

It was just like the stories from long ago, where the magic academy would test one's aptitude, and it would flash with light just like screwing in a lightbulb.

Ji Jue didn't hesitate; he placed both hands directly onto it. Just as he had expected, a faint glimmer suddenly lit up from within the sphere.

Unfortunately, the brightness wasn't even two watts—about the same as sticking a potato between two electrodes—which left him feeling a slight sense of frustration.

Then, he felt the spirit essence within his body begin to stir, eager to try. It was as if it had detected some kind of attraction, creating an urge to flow outward.

"Do not resist the circulation of your spirit essence. Input it, layer by layer, moving inward. You can go slower; take your time."

"The base is called a Simple Spirit Essence Probe. It helps the Chosen One's own spirit essence maintain a stable structure and state within the material. Using the probe to create constant spirit essence pathways, runes, and imprints within the material—this is the foundation of Modern Alchemy."

Professor Ye said slowly, "Focus on stabilizing your own spirit essence, keeping it in a fixed form, maintaining a state of convergence and stability."

As she spoke, wisps of light emerged within the crystal ball, resembling flowing Copper Light. Carrying an introverted, brilliant radiance, the light was channeled from the spirit essence pathways in his ten fingers. Ten thin, thread-like lines of spirit essence swam smoothly through the crystal, following her guidance, converging in one place to outline and weave a stable ring.

"Now, you may let go."

Following Professor Ye's words, Ji Jue slowly lifted his hands.

In the silence, neither of them spoke, merely watching. The ring woven from Ji Jue's spirit essence inside the crystal ball rotated slowly. The dim glow gradually faded until, ten minutes later, it finally collapsed from the center and dissipated.

"Next, use your spirit essence to expand and fill the entire sphere, keeping it uniform." Ye Xian asked suddenly, "Can you feel anything?"

"It seems... inside here..." Ji Jue hesitated, "The material inside the crystal ball seems to be shifting between liquid and solid states?"

"Normal. What is injected inside is a High Spirit Essence Reaction Crystal. It liquefies after spirit essence is injected. Next, you must control the ratio between the liquid and solid states—mobilize it, guide it, make it move."

Professor Ye's voice was slow and solemn, each word enunciated clearly, echoing in his ears.

Soon, when Ji Jue let go again, a golden vortex had appeared inside the sphere; it was Ji Jue's spirit essence guiding the liquefied crystal to begin rotating and swirling.

Professor Ye pressed the stopwatch. It lasted for thirteen minutes and sixteen seconds before the spirit essence dissipated and the rotation stopped.

Next, following Professor Ye's instructions, he liquefied a portion of the crystal inside the sphere while keeping the rest solid, forming standard hexahedrons, dodecahedrons, spheres, or nested structures.

After some experimentation, Ji Jue grew increasingly excited. He felt that under the extension of the probe, his spirit essence was like a carving knife, sculpting all sorts of contours.

He even self-taught himself to successfully perform turning, milling, planing, grinding, and other techniques, carving a pattern of a Little Lamb inside the crystal.

Good heavens, there's such a good thing in this world?!

Ji Jue found it increasingly novel.

Isn't this much simpler and more convenient than a CNC machine?!

You don't even need to program it; you just have to move a thought.

"Is this what alchemy is?" he murmured subconsciously, "It feels like it's still..."

Quite simple.

That was what he wanted to say, and in reality, that was how it felt—not as troublesome or difficult as he had imagined; it was easy, simple, and intuitive.

No, he couldn't be careless!

Everything is easy at first and difficult later. This introductory level was nothing more than kindergarten; who knew if it would become difficult enough to make him cough up blood later on.

He was terrified that Professor Ye would tell him: "This is running, this is rolling, this is attacking. Alright, now let's go slaughter these ridiculous enemies called the Soul of Cinder, the Orphan of Kos, and Malenia..." How is this any different from entering an online game where you die if you mess up, only to find out the supervisor is Hidetaka Miyazaki?!

"Very good, maintain the state."

Professor Ye remained expressionless. She took a thick, massive book from the box beside her. Every page was actually made of sharp, heavy copper foil. She flipped open the cover and pointed to the first dark, engraved symbol at the top.

It was complex and strange, looking like a blurred mass of Flames rising upward.

"Use your spirit essence to replicate this symbol within the crystal as precisely as possible. Starting from the left, the first stroke goes from top to bottom. Do not be constrained by a flat plane; it is three-dimensional. Follow your own intuition, and the spirit essence will complete its structure on its own. What you must ensure is absolute stability. Yes, that's it..."

Snap!

Ji Jue felt as if he had been shocked by electricity and instinctively let go. Because he had been careless, his spirit essence lost stability, and the symbol, which had only been one-third complete, burst silently and dissipated entirely.

He couldn't help but want to slap himself twice!

Why did you have to go and remark on how simple it was! The difficulty spiked immediately!

"Failure is normal. Continue."

Professor Ye's expression remained calm, without the slightest change. "Do not doubt yourself. What you need is to integrate your own perception and will into the spirit essence. Do not let the spirit essence lead you; it is a part of you. Yes, that's it..."

Snap!

Soon, another mistake.

"Again."

And so, very quickly, another mistake. Ji Jue was drenched in sweat, but Professor Ye remained indifferent, only saying, "Continue."

"Keep going."

"The final stroke just now was wrong. Your spirit essence density changed. Recall the feeling you had before."

"Spirit essence is not just a knife; it is not merely a knife. It is also the very thing that constitutes the imprint. They are a single entity. Continue."

"Again. Maintain it, shrink it a little more."

Time and again he started over, with only the crisp ticking of the clock to keep him company. Ji Jue's face gradually turned pale, his breathing grew heavy, and he felt dizzy. Yet, in his trance, the stability of his Spiritual Substance improved once more. Guided by the probe, it gradually shifted, circulating bit by bit through the crystal.

Until, a dreamlike light bloomed beneath Ji Jue's hands.

Once Ji Jue's Spiritual Substance dissipated, the rune left within the crystal began to operate as if it were a living thing. It released soft colors, flowing with such magnificence that it illuminated Ji Jue's eyes.

He forgot to breathe.

It was as if, in an instant, the Spiritual Substance had turned into a bridge, connecting him to that operating rune, and some inexplicable realization welled up in his heart.

His soul was like a flame, burning incessantly, rising endlessly. Thinking, feeling, comprehending—all the philosophies and true essences of the world flowed out from this source of miracles, permeating everything.

And so, its name was...

--[Ascension]!

This was the emblem and totem of the Twelve Supreme Goodnesses!

Then, his vision went black.

A drop of blood suddenly appeared on the crystal ball, followed by a second, then a third...

Scarlet dripped from the tip of Ji Jue's nose, splattering onto the console.

He stumbled back a step, wanting to steady himself against something, but collapsed into his chair and cushions, gasping violently. It took a long time for him to regain his senses, staring at the now-blurring rune within the crystal.

"Professor, did it succeed?"

Professor Ye did not speak.

She stood where she was, bowing her head to look at the crystal, lost in thought.

She merely wiped away the bloodstains with a gentle touch, then reached out and tapped a finger against the crystal. The rune, which had been on the verge of dissipating, suddenly stabilized, becoming even more dazzling than when Ji Jue had first finished writing it.

It shone with a brilliant, boundless light!

It was as if a searchlight had suddenly been activated right before his eyes. Countless tiny branches extended from the rune, solemn and glorious, a hundred, no, a thousand, ten thousand times more magnificent than before!

That was the absolute gap between the two in their understanding and comprehension of the Path of Ascension.

It was as vast as the heavens and the abyss.

"Not bad."

She said suddenly.

It wasn't just that he could use the Spiritual Substance probe on his first attempt; it was this shockingly high level of control over his Spiritual Substance.

Stability, continuity, precision... To a master, it was full of holes and far too immature, but for an apprentice, it could already be called flawless.

What if this apprentice was encountering all of this for the first time?

What if he had absolutely no foundation in Alchemy beforehand?

What if he had successfully created the imprint of a Supreme Goodness rune in just half an hour?!

If someone had told her this yesterday, she would have scoffed, but even witnessing it with her own eyes today, she felt it was completely...

A fantasy!

Skillful use of the probe, controllable operation of Spiritual Substance, the development and maintenance of Alchemy Circuits, the application and mastery of rune imprints... Had someone really completed the entire content of a standard apprentice training course in one go, within half an hour?

Back then, it had taken her a week to complete her introduction to Alchemy. Her progress and efficiency had been at the very forefront of her peers, and even her teacher had marveled at it.

She had thought it was ordinary and didn't care, even despite the fearful and jealous gazes behind her back.

And now, more than twenty years later, she finally understood the frustration of her peers back then, and the astonishment in her teacher's heart.

And even... a sense of relief that she hadn't let Ye Chun come down to observe.

If she had seen this, it would probably have been another devastating blow, wouldn't it?

"You are very good, Ji Jue."

Ye Xian finally raised her eyes and looked over: "Better than I imagined... Does this have anything to do with your ability?"

"Uh, it seems somewhat similar, but some parts are a bit different."

Ji Jue scratched his head, gesturing for a long time, unable to describe it. He simply reached out and pointed vaguely toward the Dragon Gate Machining Center in the distance: "It's probably something like this."

[Bro, move! Give me something big!]

The moment the command was issued, the massive CNC machine tool suddenly shuddered. The power connected, the program started, and indicator lights flickered on one by one. Amidst a low hum, the machining center responded happily: [OK!]

Then, a harsh, grating sound erupted from the workbench!

The Dark Gold Strange Cutter Head, which Ji Jue had never seen before, emitted a dazzling light and descended abruptly, causing the massive Titanium Alloy Octagonal Ingot to shudder violently.

Amidst the spray of cutting fluid and coolant, thousands of metal threads splattered out from beneath the cutter head.

It was fucking like a hot knife through wax!

The difficulty of machining this stuff—which had insane hardness, was brittle as hell, and had terrible thermal conductivity—used to be a nightmare for Ji Jue. But now, he felt as if he had accidentally stumbled into a barbershop.

At this moment, the once-unruly ingot had been pressed down by the barber, being ravaged, cut, and styled at will, dancing lightly amidst the rotation of the five-axis linkage.

Like a foolish boy who had lost himself in the silver-tongued flattery of a barber!

Fast, too fast.

Without any assistance or pre-arranged preparation, he just went for it—damn it all—and amidst the hallucinatory, manic laughter of the machine tool, the ingot was shaped and remade at will. It shed layer after layer of cumbersome casing, and though metal shavings flew everywhere, not a single one could become entwined with the cutting head, which moved with a dexterity that bordered on a manic seizure.

In less than four minutes, a bust of Professor Ye had already emerged from the original ingot. He lifted it up, holding it across the glass as if to match it from afar.

It was just like looking into a mirror; every strand of hair and every wrinkle was flawless.

Even Professor Ye froze in place.

His eyes widened.

After a long while, he raised a slightly trembling hand to adjust his glasses, as if suppressing his emotions: "Ji Jue..."

"Yeah?"

Ji Jue grinned, his smug head held high, "How does it feel, sir?"

"...Very bad."

Professor Ye let out a long, slow breath, ultimately deciding not to punch his head in: "That custom ingot was originally intended to be an engineering prototype for an Armored Transmission Spine. I had almost finished programming it."

"Ah, this..."

Ji Jue's smile stiffened on his face.

An awkward silence descended suddenly, and Ji Jue's head was pressed down by a Formless Power. He opened his mouth to speak several times, but finally gathered the courage to ask: "Is it... expensive?"

"It's fine, only two hundred and sixty thousand," the professor comforted him, "I'll just deduct it from your salary."

Ji Jue was even more shocked: "I have a salary?!"

Professor Ye finally turned his head to look at him, studying his shocked expression for a long time before slowly nodding:

"I originally did."