Dreams Are Always Out of Reach

Feng Xue's face darkened as he flipped through the so-called incomplete manuscript. To his surprise, it was much better than he had imagined.

First, it was important to clarify that this cultivation manual likely originated from the official release of The Taikoo Scroll, not the test version. The reason was that it consisted of one general chapter and five individual volumes, unlike the ten pages from the test version.

Furthermore, as a Phantom, this book was unlike conventional books. Although it contained specific content and text internally, it possessed the extraordinary power to grant the user the cultivation method directly upon finishing the general chapter.

The Bu Tiange cultivation method was a sixth-grade technique from Jieqingmen, a sect of Assassins, and could be considered a "miraculous skill." While it certainly couldn't compare to those "Divine Grade" or "Supreme Grade" immortal cultivation methods, in a wuxia novel with a focus on Metal or Ancient elements, it would be considered a secret, unshared technique of a first-rate sect.

It was a shame, however, that it was incomplete.

Unlike the reading methods in the test version, such as "Wei Rong Rong," this official version of the cultivation method had a very troublesome set of rules for completion. As the notes stated, Feng Xue would have to write it himself.

He needed to use his own knowledge to fill in the missing parts of the book and turn it into a complete cultivation method. Only then could he cultivate this internal energy technique to its highest level. Otherwise, he would only be able to generate internal energy but wouldn't be able to enjoy the various wondrous effects of the cultivation method.

Fortunately, Bu Tiange was very different from other cultivation methods. Or rather, all cultivation methods from Jieqingmen had this characteristic: they not only conveyed meaning but also form.

Simply put, although the Bu Tiange manual was filled with text, if a nearsighted person were to look at it without their glasses, they would see a star chart. This was the so-called "within sentences there are images, beneath words there are phenomena, whether abundant or sparse, nothing is lost or left over, it is the depiction of the myriad celestial phenomena within the text."

To put it more vividly, it was like the common emoticon or large text-based emoji found online, made up of characters.

So, even though every page of this book looked as if the ink had spread, as if it had been soaked in water, as long as one held the book further away, a rough star chart could be discerned. After that, it was only a matter of filling in the appropriate text based on the star chart and then modifying it according to the meaning of the words.

Although this fill-in-the-blank game was also very troublesome, it was at least much easier than writing a book from scratch.

Moreover, even without the subsequent content, just from the general chapter alone, Feng Xue could clearly feel the help that internal energy brought him.

He had only just begun, hadn't accumulated internal energy through cultivation, nor had he improved his mastery of the cultivation method through "Experience," yet he already felt like he had an extra Mad Face (Note ①) – though it didn't drain blood.

"To create this, one needs Divination... in simpler terms, Astronomy and Mathematics... perhaps even involving the I Ching and such. I don't have those Tags right now." Feng Xue sighed with a headache, then rolled up the manual and stuffed it into his Storage Bag.

This kind of thing needed to be kept safe. Even if he couldn't complete it in the future, it would be good for training subordinates.

With the cultivation manual as a promising start, Feng Xue couldn't help but turn his attention to the remaining cards. However, considering his skills, the remaining ones probably wouldn't allow him to create another "book." So, he decided to smelt all the ones with Elements like [Item] and [Toy] and then began to ponder his two biggest gains of the day.

Compared to the unexpected joy of the internal energy manual, the true focus was still on the Elements [Perpetual Motion Machine] and [Fate].

However, the problem lay here as well. Unlike Elements like [Death] and [Time], which sounded grand but often had tangible carriers, Perpetual Motion Machine and Fate were extremely rare Elements. Perpetual Motion Machine was somewhat manageable; knowing that this Landfill Area dropped D Wheels, it could eventually be farmed. But Fate...

He had picked up no fewer than eighty [Fate Card]s in the Garbage Dump, but there was only this single Opportunity Card with the [Fate] Element.

Because of its rarity, Feng Xue had to consider a problem –

Smelting could fail.

Although based on his current experience with large-scale smelting, the success rate of extracting an Element from an item was around 30%, and it would increase with the number of Elements present. The issue was that no matter how many Elements an item had, only one could be extracted after smelting.

This meant that for this card, which had the Elements [Opportunity], [Fate], and [Encounter], the probability of extracting [Fate] upon smelting would not exceed one-tenth.

Therefore, the only choice for Feng Xue to maximize the retention of the [Fate] Element was to use this card as the base.

Cards with the [Fate] Element were not few, nor were they too many. For example, Yu-Gi-Oh!'s Destiny HERO series was quite large. However, getting the [Fate] Element after so much effort and then creating a Destiny HERO summoning card felt like a waste.

Of course, if he could get Destruction Phoenix Man or Blood Demon D, that would be quite appealing.

This hesitation caused Feng Xue to dither for a long time. It wasn't until he casually smelted the D Wheel Engine in his indecision that he finally made up his mind –

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush! Even if I hoard the Fate Element, it won't reproduce. Since the Landfill Area is connected to the Monopoly World, if I'm willing to search, I'll definitely find it!"

With this thought, Feng Xue took a deep breath, spread the card flat on the table, and timidly began to select the Elements to add.

However, just as he was starting to consider what Elements were needed to create Destruction Phoenix Man, a flash of inspiration struck him. He suddenly remembered another type of card that could be linked to Fate!

"Blasphemous Cards are also cards!"

Once this thought arose, Feng Xue couldn't control himself. Although Blasphemous Cards were just recipes, they themselves were enhanced by the extraordinary characteristic of the Law of Aggregation. If it were another world, Feng Xue wouldn't gamble, but this was a "Garbage Dump," after all. Who knew if the main ingredients for Potions might drop somewhere?

People should have dreams, shouldn't they?

It could be said that Feng Xue was now hooked, or rather, this was a typical gambler's mentality –

Since he was going to gamble anyway and was prepared for the possibility of losing, why not gamble bigger?

"Wheel of Fate, I'll bet on this one!"

Feng Xue took a deep breath and selected some suitable Elements from his Element pool.

"[Mystery], [Luck]... Hmm, should I add [Machine] or [Monster]?"

Feng Xue mumbled to himself, beginning his smelting journey. However, he soon didn't need to hesitate, because the moment he infused the first [Mystery] Element, the Elements and Garbled Code on the entire card began to spin wildly...

"Shit!"

Note ①: Mad Face refers to "Mask of Madness," a Dota 2 item. Besides its passive lifesteal, its active ability can increase attack speed and movement speed.