Returning to the storeroom, Li Chen began refining the Puppet Core once more.
Unlike before, when he had stumbled through the process and taken three full days and nights to finish, this time he succeeded in just one day.
Li Chen spared no time for rest and continued his work.
This time, he first took a sufficient quantity of conductive stone, melted it in his hands, and kneaded it like dough.
As he channeled his magic power, azure glow gathered in his palms, and the refining continued.
Shifts and alterations reaching deep into the molecular structure, and even down to the atomic level, drastically changed the internal structure of this silicon-crystal conductive stone. Lines of rune script restrictions were inscribed upon it, almost like typesetting and printing.
Once one exceedingly tiny magic array had been inscribed, he began inscribing another on a layer an infinitesimal distance away.
With practiced ease, Li Chen fetched sealing clay and refined it together with the stone into one black box after another. Once their final packaging was complete, they became Sealed Box magic arrays.
Beneath the lamplight, the dark-red core shone with the brilliance unique to crystals, looking like a ruby from the outside. Within it, however, fine, dark-gold lines flickered rapidly as the rune script operated. Once magic power was poured into it, the component activated as though endowed with a spirit.
Li Chen nodded in satisfaction, feeling that his unique "mechanical intelligence architecture" was ready for practical use.
"It's an application derived from the Swarm of Bees Technique, and a key component for assembling a puppet army in the future. I'll call it the 'Worker Bee Core.'"
"The initial model will be generation one. Any future improvements will receive separate names."
In Li Chen's conception, "Worker Bee One" was merely a trial