Chapter 357: Binding |
Magical items weren’t mere tools enhanced through the Qi. They weren’t living beings, either, but existed in a middle ground that could lean toward each extreme.
As such, magical items had innate defenses, or rather, requirements. Just like it took physical strength to lift a heavy hammer, cultivators had to meet similar conditions.
Those requirements followed the cultivation stages’ increasingly widening gap. There were also other factors to account for, like additional conditions or the items’ very will.
Liam’s opponent was not only of a superior rank. It had even rejected him outright, suggesting the presence of a will, or at least a personal preference, but that didn’t make him powerless.
Alchemists could improve magical items through the Alchemical Refinement, which was nothing short of affecting those objects’ fabric, altering it quite radically, too. In Liam’s case, his knife had gained intense poisonous properties.
However, alchemists could push that one step forward. Since they could affect an item’s fabric, they could also lower its innate defenses, enabling bindings that their lower level should prevent.
Liam’s way to do that obviously involved poison.
Dark smoke rose from the white cauldron as Liam heated it through his black alchemical flame. The ingredient being refined was none other than his venom, of which he had a nigh-endless amount.
It couldn’t be understated what an advantage Liam’s venom glands were. In a world where ingredients were so hard to obtain, he could produce his own, even being of incredible quality, cutting his profession’s costs by a large amount.
Because of that, Liam had long since picked up the habit of stockpiling his venom during dead moments, and even the journey through the inheritance had provided many of those.
Honestly, Liam had stockpiled so much venom by then that he was running low on flasks, so he wouldn’t mind wasting some on projects that might not go anywhere.
Of course, the experiments with the venom were over. Liam knew how it behaved, how it reacted to the alchemical flame, and how it interacted with other ingredients. He had closed the book on that priceless advantage, at least its rank 2 version.
However, the new cauldron was different. Liam was unfamiliar with that rank 2 white item, which could cause devastating variables, but the current concoction was already clearing most of that fog.
If Liam had to describe the white cauldron with one word, it would be "solid". The item was heavy and unmovable, unbothered by the rumblings happening inside. It didn’t leak as much as a faint tremor, remaining perfectly still throughout the concoction.
That was great news. The goal was still distant, but Liam would have to create a rank 3 poison to become a branching expert, and the three rank 1 cauldrons his Master had left him were unsuitable for the task.
With the addition of the white cauldron, Liam could cross one item from his mental list, which still had mountains of spirit stones, fully developing his remaining minor roots, finding rank 3 ingredients, and devising a suitable recipe.
Liam refined his venom for hours before slapping the cauldron’s side, forcing it to expel impurities. He stood right afterward, dipping a finger in what the concoction had created.
The watery, yellow venom was no more, replaced by a black, bubbly slime that stank of pure death. Yet, it was also full of Liam’s Qi, carrying his presence as if it were meant to represent him.
’It’s ready,’ Liam concluded after snapping his finger into the cauldron, throwing down the small chunk of slime he had scooped.
In the past, even if it carried risks, Liam would have used the rank 2 cauldron for the next step because he had no other option, but those times were long gone.
Liam summoned an item from his white ring. It was a ceramic basin made from a rank 2 material, which the list described as specific to those practices.
Pouring the cauldron’s contents into the basin confirmed those descriptions. The ceramic didn’t sizzle at all, welcoming that deadly, corrosive substance, creating a small, slimy pool.
’I should claim inheritances more often,’ Liam couldn’t help but think at the scene, storing the cauldron before moving his attention to the bronze fan on the floor. ’Now you.’
Liam sat behind the basin, seized the fan, and threw it inside. The black slime gobbled it, its bubbling intensifying, bursting to release smelly grey fumes.
Unlike the slow, gradual Alchemical Refinement, that forceful binding method damaged the involved items, but there was nothing to be done. If overcoming the gap between stages were easy, everyone would do it.
Liam placed a finger over the fuming slime. A dim, black drop of blood fell from its tip, mixing with the toxic substance. His awareness immediately expanded, becoming one with the puddle that carried more of his Qi, enforcing a greater pressure on the item immersed in it.
Instead of binding the fan from the inside, that alchemical method allowed to assault it from the outside, relying on the concocted substance to besiege it through a greater force.
And yet, despite the additional Qi at Liam’s disposal and an environment that favored him, the opposition remained strong, far stronger than earlier.
The clash was mental rather than physical. Normally, Liam’s awareness would spread from the item’s center, completing the binding once it entirely covered it.
The opposite was unfolding now. Liam’s awareness was taking over the fan’s edges while advancing toward its center, creating unexpected challenges.
The fan straight-up thrashed, its opposition slamming on Liam’s advancing awareness like violent waves crashing on cliffs. The item initially only attempted to push them back, but switched to destroying them when the approach failed.
Drops of sweat filled Liam’s face as his entire attention was on controlling his advancing awareness. He felt the sharp pain of its destruction echoing in his mind, but that suffering was basically training for him now.
The slime’s level receded as Liam’s awareness used more of its power. The grey smoke’s quantity increased, this time marking the toxic substance’s evaporation.
Neither side gave up, and Liam eventually exhaled loudly, bending forward and opening his eyes, his vision foggy due to his dizzy mind and dripping sweat.
The ceramic basin was basically empty now, only having sparse clumps of the black slime left. However, Liam didn’t focus on it, the uncomfortable weight that had joined his mind claiming his attention.
Binding magical items created a form of mental connection. Yet, minds weren’t boundless, indestructible containers. They had specific capacities and resilience.
Obviously, a rank 3 item’s mental connection was heavier and demanded more room, and Liam’s mind wasn’t suitable to host it. It was as if a boulder had fallen into a small lake, lifting its level, only for its waters to have nowhere to expand.
It was an annoying internal pressure that caused some mental soreness, but also proof of something else, which Liam could soon see in the physical world, too.
A reaction in the mental connection brought Liam’s gaze to the basin. An item slowly rose from it. The folded fan ascended into the air, gradually unfolding to show its new dark-green color, stopping once it was half a meter above Liam’s head.
’It flies,’ Liam gasped internally, recalling what he had once seen Maxwell do. ’Can I fly on top of it?’
Yet, before Liam’s imagination could go wild or he could experience any greed toward his new possession, the fan snapped down, slapping his head.