174: Chapter 174 Detailed Explanation of Spirit Rune Inscription

Let's get to work.

Xu Yanchiu immediately began the operation.

Su Ming tucked himself into a chair in the corner.

Leaning against the wall, he watched quietly.

The wall in front slowly parted.

The heavy alloy doors slid open to both sides, revealing a large casting furnace inside. The temperature was extremely high, and the moment the furnace opened, a wave of heat rushed towards them, causing Fang Yuanxing to shrink his neck.

Xu Yanchiu was unaffected.

She put on specialized heat-resistant work clothes, put on her goggles and gloves, and stood in front of the casting furnace.

Data pulsed on the operation panel.

She fed the star abyss mysterious iron into the smelting zone, followed by proportioning, then plastic forging, and precision machining.

Su Ming watched for a while.

Then he closed his eyes to rest.

He couldn't help with this part; every trade has its Master, and professional matters should be left to professionals.

Xu Yanchiu went in and out by herself.

Occasionally, the sounds of metal clashing and machines roaring could be heard.

Time passed quietly.

Until night fell.

Outside the window, the sky changed from orange-yellow to deep blue, and then to pitch black.

"It's done."

Su Ming opened his eyes.

In the center of the operation table, a spear lay quietly.

It had no flashy decorations.

The spear body was slender.

It was dark silver all over.

The spear tip was polished extremely finely, shimmering with a cold metallic luster under the blue light.

Su Ming stood up.

He walked forward.

His fingers hovered half an inch away, gripping the void. The spear body emitted a subtle energy resonance, which was on a completely different level from the feeling of the lieyuan spear, which became more sluggish the more it was used.

Good spear!

Fang Yuanxing also leaned in, exclaiming repeatedly.

"Good spear."

"It's basically formed."

Xu Yanchiu stood opposite the operation table, took off her goggles, and held them in her hand. "There is one last step remaining."

"Spirit Inscription."

When she said this.

Her tone was calm.

But she didn't move.

She just stood opposite the operation table looking at the spear, clutching the goggles in her hand, her thumb slowly circling the frame.

Su Ming waited for a while.

She still didn't move, and his gaze swept over.

Xu Yanchiu's lips moved.

Her eyes drifted elsewhere, then drifted back, then drifted elsewhere again, then drifted back, like a fly that couldn't find a place to land.

She pushed up her glasses.

"The last step, Spirit Inscription..."

"Hasn't been done yet."

"Mm, and then?"

Su Ming waited.

"The Materials are too good."

Xu Yanchiu weighed her words, "A full star abyss mysterious iron spear body, with a purity of nine-nines, and all auxiliary Materials are top-tier configurations. The carrying limit of the entire spear exceeds the 7th Realm, approaching the Eighth Level. Theoretically, Spirit Inscription shouldn't be difficult for me..."

She paused.

Su Ming's expression didn't change.

He just watched her.

"But now..."

A flush crossed Xu Yanchiu's face, and her voice dropped by half a tone, "Maybe, possibly, probably, who knows, there's a high probability it will be interrupted."

Silence.

A long silence.

Fang Yuanxing tilted his head, "What do you mean by a high probability it will be interrupted?"

"Inscribing high-level Spirit Inscription consumes a massive amount."

Xu Yanchiu lowered her arm.

Her fingers gently circled the edge of the operation table, "If Mental Energy can't hold out, it will be interrupted. Forcing it to continue would result in an incomplete Spirit Inscription at best, and the spear body's stress collapsing at worst."

She paused, "Then this spear would be ruined."

Fang Yuanxing was dumbfounded.

Su Ming frowned.

So, that means...

The Materials are too good.

So good that her ability isn't enough to control it?

Spent an entire night forging the spear, only to get stuck at the last step?

"Call your Master to come?"

Xu Yanchiu's face flushed red.

She almost couldn't keep a straight face.

Just after acting tough, turning around and calling her Master to clean up—what kind of situation is that?

"It won't come to that."

She straightened her back, "I'll think of another way."

"How long?"

"...Not sure."

Su Ming looked at her.

Xu Yanchiu felt a bit uncomfortable being watched by those eyes, but she didn't look away; she stared right back.

The two of them stared at each other for three seconds.

Su Ming spoke, "Let me try."

Xu Yanchiu was stunned for a moment.

She didn't realize what Su Ming was talking about.

Fang Yuanxing reacted first, "Huh? You try? You're going to do the Spirit Inscription? No way!"

"You?"

Xu Yanchiu shook her head.

"Inscribing high-level Spirit Inscription isn't something you can just decide on a whim."

"It requires extremely high Mental Energy, as well as highly pure Protective Aura. Just these two things alone are not something an ordinary Martial Artist can achieve, not to mention that the inscription itself requires extremely precise control, needing years and years..."

"How much Mental Energy is considered enough?"

Xu Yanchiu gave a number.

Xu Yanchiu paused, "For a 7th Realm material weapon, theoretically, you need over 15,000 Mental Energy to control the entire inscription process without interruption."

Su Ming opened his panel.

[Mental Energy: 25438]

More than enough.

"Mental Energy is enough, as for Protective Aura..."

Su Ming raised his right hand.

He extended his index finger; at the edge of his nail, a wisp of pale purple sharpness slowly condensed.

As thin as a hair.

Its sharpness overflowed.

The room temperature dropped suddenly, and the faint sharpness in the air made people's skin sting.

"Is it enough?"

A wisp.

Just this one wisp.

The data stream on Xu Yanchiu's glasses activated, collecting the purity of that wisp of sharpness. The moment the reading popped up, the smile on her face instantly vanished.

Fang Yuanxing took two steps back.

His eyes scanned back and forth between the two.

Xu Yanchiu was silent for a while.

"You really want to try?"

"Mm."

She looked at Su Ming.

She thought for a good while.

She reached out and touched the operation table on the side.

A light screen expanded.

Densely packed.

From the ceiling to the floor, it was all text and symbols: the basic rules of the Spirit Inscription System, arrangement logic, common errors, energy flow charts. The text was tiny, so dense it made one's scalp tingle.

Xu Yanchiu crossed her arms.

She leaned back against the edge of the operation table.

"Learn it."

Fang Yuanxing looked up and gasped, "My God, how much does one have to memorize..."

Su Ming stood there.

He looked up.

His gaze moved downward at a constant speed.

He didn't frown, didn't pause, sweeping down line by line.

Xu Yanchiu said softly, "Take your time, no rush."

Her tone carried a hint of imperceptible amusement.

Go ahead!

You brat, letting you act tough!

I'll scare you to death!

From the principles of inscription to the trajectory of the brush strokes, the entire set of Materials was systematically compiled by her Master over twenty years. When she learned it herself, just the introduction took her three months.

Letting you act cool, now you're going to explode!

Let's see how long you can keep up the act.

Five minutes at most.

You'll have to give up helplessly.

She silently calculated in her heart.

This guy can't be counted on.

She herself was still a bit lacking.

If it really doesn't work, she'll have to ask her Master to step in.

Su Ming's gaze moved downward at a constant speed.

The densely packed Spirit Inscription System had an absurd amount of information.

For a normal person, looking at this stuff would make their brain explode first.

But Su Ming read three lines.

In his mind, a crisp System notification sound rang out.

[Detected Detailed Explanation of Spirit Inscription]

[Record it?]

"Record."