Experiment (Part One)

Though the idea was somewhat fanciful, Chen Lin was brimming with excitement. Whatever happened, he had to give it a try.

If the experiment succeeded, he would gain another trump card that no one knew about.

More importantly, neither Yu Yuehai nor Ye Jingyun would know about it.

If he could make it, and its power proved as great as he anticipated, it might offer him a chance to break free of their control at the right moment.

The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, until he was pacing back and forth across the room.

Only after quite a while did he calm down.

He worked through its feasibility once more, and after confirming that success was possible, he began attempting to make it.

Despite his burning enthusiasm, Chen Lin did not rush into action. Instead, he took out the damaged Artifact Refining Grimoire and reviewed its contents.

To ensure he understood everything thoroughly, he even expended an Enlightenment Pill. While its effects lasted, he went over everything again, including his own proposed method.

Only after confirming that there were no problems whatsoever did he begin refining.

First, he cast a Vajra Cover on himself. Then he picked up the Thunderbolt Beads one by one and carefully inscribed array patterns on them.

Just the first bead alone left him drenched in sweat.

Thunderbolt Beads were detonated with mana, yet he had to use mana to inscribe array patterns on them. The danger was easy to imagine.

The slightest mistake would make the Thunderbolt Bead explode.

Fortunately, his technique was practiced enough that he succeeded on his first attempt.

He inscribed the second bead next, again succeeding on his first attempt.

With things going so smoothly, Chen Lin's confidence soared. He immediately laid out the supplementary material and prepared to proceed.

The supplementary material was a substance resembling mercury, but slightly harder. Its dark color had earned it the name dark silver.

Dark silver conducted mana extremely well and could be formed into all manner of shapes. It was a low-grade material commonly used in refining magical tools.

Although dark silver was inexpensive, it was still the costliest material used to make Thunderbolt Beads.

Chen Lin spread the dark silver into a flat sheet.

His proposed method was to wrap the two inscribed Thunderbolt Beads inside it, then inscribe a connecting Magic Array on its surface. This would superimpose the array patterns on the two beads and fuse them into one larger bead for convenient use.

Moreover, according to his deductions, the resulting effect would not be simple addition. Its power would increase severalfold.

Of course, he would have to finish refining it to find out what actually happened.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Lin carefully placed the two Thunderbolt Beads inside the supplementary material, then circulated his mana to inscribe the array patterns.

As he traced the patterns one after another, he soon reached the final, crucial step.

Once he joined the ends of the array patterns to form a complete Magic Array, the refining would be finished.

But this was also the hardest part.

His previous attempts to refine individual Thunderbolt Beads had all failed at this step. The energy that leaked out when the Magic Array connected could easily disrupt the materials' internal balance and blast them apart.

Chen Lin's expression grew solemn, and he even cast another Vajra Cover on himself.

This time, his materials were two Thunderbolt Beads. If he failed, the resulting explosion could be tremendously powerful. He had to take precautions beforehand.

He certainly did not want to blow himself up just to invent a new magical tool.

Just as he was about to begin, Chen Lin thought of another oversight.

His reason for making this combined Thunderbolt Bead was to deal with Yu Yuehai or Ye Jingyun at a critical moment. He could not refine it so openly.

If it caused too much of a disturbance, wouldn't they notice?

Although refining individual Thunderbolt Beads had also caused some noise, it had been about the same as a failed pill-refining attempt. Now that the materials themselves were Thunderbolt Beads, however, things were different.

With the power of two Thunderbolt Beads, he might even blow the house apart.

After some thought, he went to one side of the room and removed the floorboards one by one, revealing an opening three feet square with a ladder inside.

This was a vegetable cellar, used to store winter provisions and keep them from freezing, not an underground passage.

He had not dug it himself, either. It had already been there when he rented the house.

At first, he had indeed planned to dig a tunnel from it to the outside. But he had not possessed a Storage Bag then, which made removing the excavated soil inconvenient. Nor was he the courtyard's only resident; there were too many prying eyes.

The whole purpose of digging a tunnel was secrecy. If everyone knew about it, there would be no point, so he abandoned the idea.

Even so, he had deepened the vegetable cellar and widened it considerably, even excavating a small room off to one side at the bottom.

His thought had been that if monster beasts attacked, he could hide inside to escape danger.

Now it would serve perfectly as a place for artifact refining.

He took out a night-shining stone, climbed down by its light, then reached back to close the cover.

Rather than use the ladder, he cast the Wind-Walking Art and floated down.

The vegetable cellar was over thirty feet deep and grew wider toward the bottom.

There was little inside beyond ordinary stored food and some household belongings of the body's original owner, which he had tossed down here.

As it happened, there was also an old, damaged tabletop he no longer used. Chen Lin picked it up, wiped it clean, and nodded in satisfaction.

Even if his experiment triggered an explosion here, it would not sound too loud outside. It should be about the same as the disturbances he often caused.

As for collapsing the cellar, the explosion probably would not be powerful enough.

Even if he was buried alive, it would be fine. He still had an Earth Escape Talisman to get out.

After making his preparations, Chen Lin took out the unfinished product, which had reached the crucial stage of refining. He placed it on the tabletop and cast a Vajra Cover on himself.

Thinking that this was not quite safe enough, he also took out the Vajra Talisman he had bought earlier and activated it, forming another light barrier. Only then did he relax a little.

In truth, even with two layers of protection, Chen Lin was not very confident. His greatest safeguard was the Liuding Xuanjia Talisman. Without it, he would never have dared take such a risk.

He took out another night-shining stone and set it into the wall above his head. Its light was just right.

Then Chen Lin stood before the tabletop, steadied his mind, and carefully began inscribing the final array pattern.

Bang!

The instant the ends of the array patterns touched, a bang rang out, and two bursts of flame exploded.

The impact sent Chen Lin staggering backward, but an astonished expression appeared on his face.

He had expected failure, but the power of the resulting explosion was far outside his expectations.

It was too weak.

Never mind activating the Liuding Xuanjia Talisman-it had not even broken the outer protective barrier created by the Vajra Talisman. It had merely made it tremble slightly.

With power like that, even someone with no defenses would only have their clothes scorched. They might not suffer so much as a flesh wound.

"This defies science!"

Chen Lin could not understand it.

He had secretly tested the power of a Thunderbolt Bead before. A single bead had been stronger than this, yet here, two had exploded together.

Could Thunderbolt Beads vary in strength, and these two just happened to be weak ones?

Chen Lin considered it, then decided that was impossible.

They had all been refined from the same materials. How could they differ? Besides, they were all products of his talent ability, so there definitely could not be any variation.

Then there had to be another reason.

He could not help sinking into deep thought.