Chapter 16

Soon, the same notification popped up on Song Duoduo's and the others' communicators.

It seemed the search for the Ice Soul Dragon would continue for some time.

Xu Jintang silently picked up some food and chewed it.

Just as Brother Long had said, no one would ever imagine that the renowned divine beast was currently hiding inside a first-tier ability user's mental sea.

Their search could only focus on Blizzard Forest.

Sigh, who knew how much longer they would keep searching?

Chapter 16

After leaving the cafeteria, Xu Jintang still felt uneasy.

With little to do that afternoon, she made a special trip outside the academy to ask around.

She went to the stall owner she had worked with before and asked with an innocent expression, "Boss, have you heard about the recent lockdown and alert across the entire star domain? Do you know what's going on?"

People in the secondhand trade were usually well informed. She couldn't go wrong asking him.

The stall owner waved the fan in his hand. "Isn't it all because of that Ice Soul Dragon? This sort of thing has nothing to do with ordinary folks like us, so don't worry yourself over nothing. Still, sales of fire-attribute inscriptions have gone through the roof because of it. I need to find a chance to restock."

Xu Jintang pricked up her ears. "Sales of fire-attribute inscriptions have gone through the roof?"

The stall owner said, "Yes. That Ice Soul Dragon has the ice attribute, right? Who knows where the rumor came from, but people are saying fire-attribute inscriptions might be able to counter it. Everyone's afraid that demonic beast will go on a rampage and kill them too, so they've all started stockpiling fire-attribute inscriptions. Market prices have at least tripled."

Xu Jintang said, "..."

Why did this sound a little like people buying and hoarding salt in her previous life?

Xu Jintang continued, "Boss, can they actually catch that Ice Soul Dragon?"

The stall owner waved his fan at her. "If they could, they would've caught it already. Why else would they have to seal off Blizzard Forest? But with the Federation making such a fuss, that Ice Soul Dragon definitely won't dare show itself and cause trouble lightly. We're still safe. Don't worry."

Xu Jintang nodded thoughtfully.

It looked like the investigation probably wouldn't lead to her, so she could rest easy.

After gathering the information, Xu Jintang chatted with the owner a little longer before leaving the secondhand market.

She pressed her lips together, a profound gleam flashing through her eyes.

She had only meant to find out how far the investigation had progressed, but unexpectedly, she had stumbled onto a business opportunity.

With classes suspended at the academy anyway, she suddenly had a large stretch of free time with nothing to do.

She had to seize this opportunity.

After returning to her dorm, Xu Jintang ordered ten stalks of fire spark grass online.

Fire spark grass was a spiritual plant that grew on the Interstellar Continent and contained abundant fire energy. Adding fire spirit grass while making an inscription would imbue it with the fire attribute.

She had never tried making an inscription with an attribute before. This was the perfect chance to learn.

She placed an expedited order, and two hours later, a delivery drone arrived at her door.

Xu Jintang checked the quantity of fire spark grass, returned to her dorm, and buried herself in research.

After searching through a mountain of information online, Xu Jintang was puzzled. "Brother Long, do you know how to add fire spark grass to an inscription and give it the fire attribute?"

The Ice Soul Dragon said, "...I'm just a dragon, not an inscriptionist."

Xu Jintang slumped over her desk in dejection.

She hadn't found a single tutorial online about making fire-attribute inscriptions.

These advanced tutorials were probably all kept at the Inscriptionist Association.

Normally, once inscriptionists could successfully make a basic first-tier Inscription Talisman, they would choose to join the Inscriptionist Association in exchange for more cultivation resources and knowledge.

But she didn't want to expose the fact that she had two abilities. Joining the Inscriptionist Association was too risky for her.

Besides, with the entire star domain on alert and the situation so tense, she really needed to keep a low profile.

After a long silence, Xu Jintang abruptly raised her head. "It's fine. It's just a fire-attribute inscription. I'm sure I can teach myself!"

Her fighting spirit instantly flared. She picked up a stalk of fire spark grass, stared at it, and activated her mental power.

Mental power with a stellar attribute slowly flowed from her palm, enveloping the fire spark grass.

The moment her mental power touched the fire spark grass, Xu Jintang sensed the abundant fire elements within it.

Xu Jintang fell silent for a moment and soon thought of a method.

She condensed her mental power into threads and extended them into the fire spark grass, hooking the fire elements and forcibly pulling them straight out.

There were plenty of fire elements. Before long, Xu Jintang had pulled out a whole pile.

The specks of starlight-like fire elements glimmered as they floated in front of her.

After losing its fire elements, the fire spirit grass gradually withered into dead grass.

Next, she should succeed if she added these fire elements to an Inscription Talisman.

Xu Jintang took out an attributeless raw stone and an inscription pen. Just as she was about to begin making an inscription, the fire elements floating before her began to slowly dissipate.

She reached out to try to catch them, but within seconds, the fire elements vanished without a trace.

Xu Jintang frowned. "Why did they disappear?"

The Ice Soul Dragon said, "Attribute elements can't exist independently in the world. After pulling out all the fire elements, you didn't immediately infuse them into an Inscription Talisman, so naturally they dissipated."

"So that's how it works." Xu Jintang understood.

She threw away the ruined stalk of fire spirit grass and took out a fresh one.

If fire elements couldn't exist independently, couldn't she just make the Inscription Talisman first and extract the fire elements afterward?

She switched the order around and made the Inscription Talisman first.

Just before the inscription was complete, Xu Jintang stopped channeling her mental power, took out the fire spark grass, and began forcibly extracting its fire elements.

After gathering all the fire elements again, Xu Jintang grinned and activated her mental power, pouring them all into the Inscription Talisman.

A few seconds passed, and brilliant light burst from the Inscription Talisman.

It really worked!

Xu Jintang toyed with the fire-attribute attack inscription in her palm and marveled, "I'm an absolute genius."

The Ice Soul Dragon didn't reply, a little puzzled.

As far as it knew, inscribing the human world's Inscription Talismans seemed quite difficult.

Why did making inscriptions look so easy every time Xu Jintang did it?

After mastering the technique, Xu Jintang immediately began mass production.

In just one week, she made over forty first-tier fire-attribute attack inscriptions.

To avoid arousing suspicion, Xu Jintang specifically sold them through several different channels, selling only a small portion each time.

Watching her account balance soar, Xu Jintang felt a deep sense of security.

Two more days passed. Jiang Lu returned to the academy from a meeting in the main city and held a class meeting.

"In short, this incident has had very serious repercussions. Both the Federation and the military academy have sent experts here. Things might not be so peaceful for a while. Keep a low profile, everyone, and don't cause trouble at a time like this," Jiang Lu earnestly warned them.

Xu Jintang raised her hand. "Sir, how long will this go on? Our assessment won't keep getting delayed forever, will it?"

Jiang Lu shook his head. "It should be over soon. I'll notify you once everything returns to normal."

Xu Jintang pressed her lips together and sank into thought.

No one had connected Brother Long's situation to her yet, but having so many Federation experts staying in the area was still somewhat unsettling.

Once the class meeting ended, Jiang Lu hurried away, probably to discuss how to handle this matter with the other teachers.

The students didn't think much of it. After all, something like this had virtually nothing to do with them.

"Class rep, what's our plan for the next few days?" Song Duoduo turned around and leaned over the desk in front of Xu Jintang as she asked.

Song Tianqi leaned over from the desk behind them too. "Are we still going to the simulated battlefield?"

To prepare for the assessment, Xu Jintang and the other two had long since made plans to train extra at the simulated battlefield every day.

Now all assessments had been suspended, and no one knew when they would resume.

Xu Jintang raised her head. "Let's stop training for now. This seems pretty serious. We'll wait for word from the teacher."

Song Duoduo and Song Tianqi both nodded. "Sure."

Xu Jintang silently rose and walked out of the classroom.

Hopefully, this would all be over soon.

Chapter 17

Since most of the academy's teachers had been called away to provide support, many practical combat classes had to be temporarily suspended.

Xu Jintang devoted all this unexpected free time to making fire-attribute inscriptions.

A week passed, and another batch of fire-attribute attack inscriptions was ready.

Xu Jintang changed out of her academy uniform into an all-white outfit, put on a mask, and headed out with the new batch of inscriptions.

After making her way through several sales locations, she safely sold all the inscriptions.

By the time she returned to the academy, the sky had darkened.

Xu Jintang returned to her dorm, shut the door and windows, removed her mask, and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her shoulders.

"Brother Long, when exactly will those people from the Federation and the military academy leave? They won't stay here forever, will they?"

The Ice Soul Dragon said, "People from the Federation and the military academy can't remain away indefinitely. One month at most. If they can't find me, they'll have to go back. Otherwise, if other demonic beasts take the opportunity to revolt and besiege the cities, they won't be able to bear the cost."

Xu Jintang sighed softly. "Day after day, what's there to fight over? Wouldn't it be nice if everyone lived peacefully in their own territories? Why do they insist on going to war?"

Born in a peaceful era, she was used to a stable life.

Only after she accidentally transmigrated and learned that wars broke out here every day did she realize how fortunate she had been.

The Ice Soul Dragon was silent for a while. "In the past, when demonic beasts couldn't cultivate, they could only become food for humans. That hatred had been building for a long time. Then, thousands of years ago, spiritual energy erupted during the interstellar era, and humans and demonic beasts alike could cultivate. High-ranking demonic beasts could even awaken spiritual intelligence and take human form. Only then did they gradually begin thinking of competing with humans for territory and resources."