Chapter 00117: Hand
# Hand
Chapter 117
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 117: Hand
In the dead of night, Professor Ye finished his tasks and lowered his head to gaze at the amber-colored crystal in his hand.
This was the crystallization of a blessing.
By simulating the environment of the soul through solid spiritual essence, and sealing it with a loop of leftover spiritual essence, it ultimately formed this temporary vessel for the blessing.
"It's good, quite decent, and aside from some contamination left from the first casting, it did not damage the essence of the blessing itself. It's enough for practice," Ye remarked, nodding slightly.
Then he asked, "Do you have any ideas for the first creation of a blessing?"
"How about a ring?" Ji Jue suggested.
"That works."
Ye nodded in agreement.
After all, when it comes to blessings of this type, any artisan considering their options would naturally choose jewelry as the first choice.
A pendant would also be acceptable, but Ji already had one around his neck.
Wearing two identical items at the same time could lead to interference, resulting in unforeseen problems.
There might be a risk of overloading or failing to activate fully, and either situation would harm the items themselves.
Thus, even someone as wealthy and influential as Lord Lou would not consider filling all ten fingers with rings.
In the end, it would only be practical to wear one or two items that could be used simultaneously without hindrance.
Moreover, even without considering the consumption of spiritual essence, using alchemical objects would place a burden on the soul, especially the more powerful the items.
In every sense, to pull a cart with a tiny horse would not end well.
"What about the structure of the spiritual essence?" Professor Ye inquired again.
Ji responded smoothly, "For the vessel of the blessing, I want to use a ‘three-phase knot,’ binding transformation, wasteland, and ember."
The three basic symbols of excellent virtue, combined with the loop of the three-phase knot, would represent spirit, matter, and change.
This design would be stable yet adaptable, allowing for the incorporation of the blessing while also ensuring scalability for future modifications.
"And the contact portion?"
"For a single blessing, there's no need for complexity. I think a simple classical circular design will suffice."
"That sounds suitable."
Professor Ye pondered for a moment before suddenly asking, "Have you considered a bracelet?"
Ji shook his head.
"The weight of the blessing itself isn’t excessive, and its effects are relatively simple. A bracelet would waste materials."
After all, for a unique blessing, a ring was more than enough to carry it.
While a bracelet would indeed make the manufacturing easier, the increased size wouldn’t change the efficacy.
It would just save some effort at a higher cost.
Too expensive!
"What about materials?" Professor Ye continued to inquire.
"Seven grams of transformational gold as the base, three grams of solid polymer silver as the spiritual essence loop carrier, one gram of liquid marten solvent, and four grams of standardized azure crystal to meet the needs for transformation," Ji Jue replied confidently.
This time, Ji did not wait for the professor to ask again and continued, "For the process, I'll use modern alchemy, but I want to try fluid alchemy for the material handling. In that case, after the reaction, the weight should be controllable at around 8 grams, ensuring no inconvenience while wearing it."
"You’re looking to challenge yourself?"
Professor Ye suggested, "If you want to save money, you can drop the transformation materials a bit more."
"Reducing them any further would make the stability of the three-phase knot pointless. There’s no chance of not reworking the first creation, and if it turns out inconvenient later, I’d want to make adjustments," Ji chuckled, "So, let’s accept the challenge."
Ye nodded in understanding.
There were no fancy hopes of instant success for a newcomer.
His thinking and design were quite straightforward, characterized by stability.
Considering cost-effectiveness, he aimed to maximize the effect and power of the blessing with techniques suited to his current stage.
If this were an exam, Ji Jue had not considered any bonus questions from the start; he simply aimed to earn all the scores he was supposed to achieve.
"Very good."
Ye nodded slightly, not critiquing her student’s choices.
If she had done it herself, she would have found better methods and options, but she said nothing.
If she were to interfere in every aspect with her masterly skills, she would only cultivate a miniature version of herself.
She did not want a follower who merely mimicked her every step.
Instead, if one day, Ji Jue could break away from her guidance and turn to walk his own path through the vast wasteland of embers, creating his unique realm, that would be her greatest achievement as a teacher.
"The grandest words mean nothing if they are not put into action; we shall see how much you’ve learned these past few days."
She rose slowly and said, "Let's go."
"Now?" Ji Jue was startled.
"What else?" Ye countered, glancing back.
"You don’t want to do what those fortune-tellers do, bathing and fasting for good luck, do you?"
Ji Jue let out a bitter smile, lifting his hands, his ten fingers trembling slightly.
"I'm not in great shape."
Aftereffects.
He had forcibly powered through the disintegration technique without being grounded, causing a violent breakdown that ruined the pendant and almost ruined himself, leaving his hands numb and his sense of touch jumbled.
If it weren’t for the non-offensive buffer and control, the pendant would have survived unharmed but his hand would have been the first thing sliced apart by the high-pressure vibrations.
This was truly a case of bringing trouble upon oneself.
"Isn't that just perfect? It allows you to break free from your reliance on innate talent and focus on mastering the fundamentals," Professor Ye said as she walked in front.
"As long as you have enough spiritual essence, everything will be fine. Moreover, I won’t have time tomorrow."
Now that last point was crucial.
Ji Jue followed behind without a word.
However, looking on the bright side, how many apprentices could invite a master to personally oversee their first creation of a blessing?
Wrong; how many apprentices could even start on crafting a blessing three months into their training?
Something about this speed felt off.
He scratched his head and sighed helplessly as they headed toward the workshop.
This time, they used the outer workshop area previously opened to Ji Jue, the first place he had seen numerous devices.
Compared to Professor Ye’s own studio, the equipment was lacking, but to Ji Jue, as an apprentice, it was more than sufficient.
Moreover, Professor Ye had the lowest tolerance for greenhouse dependents who couldn’t do anything without expensive equipment.
Those who couldn’t even purify materials outside of their own workshop had no reason to live and tarnish the name of craftsmen.
"Don't second-guess yourself; your abilities are enough."
She stood beside him and added a final reminder: "If something goes wrong, I'll help. But if it's due to your own mistakes, don’t expect me to intervene."
"Understood."
Ji Jue activated the non-offensive matrix in his palm, skillfully starting the furnace and adjusting the temperature.
With the mechanical assistance, there was no need to fiddle with the knobs; everything soon fell into order.
Though theoretically, Ji Jue could demonstrate a non-offensive technique, it would be foolish not to use the equipment available.
His skills, no matter how exceptional, would benefit from equipment during complicated creations.
And paired with the non-offensive technique, the effectiveness would be even more exaggerated.
Soon, a tray was sent in through the opening in the wall.
Four massive jars—glass, stone, lead, and even plastic—each held different materials submerged in various substances.
The tray and jars were substantial, but the combined weight of the materials was less than twenty grams.
Holding them felt light as a feather, and yet Ji Jue dared not tremble.
He held his breath while his fingers steadied as if carved from stone—ninety-one thousand! Ninety-one thousand! For such a little bit, it costs ninety-one thousand!
Even if he had the money, it wasn’t easy to earn! If he messed this up, he’d only be able to go home and cry into his sheets at night.
Stay calm, Ji Jue, stay calm!
He took a deep breath and first tossed the transformational gold into the furnace.
Letting it melt into liquid, its color transformed, releasing a hint of brilliant light from within the original golden hue.
In an instant, he controlled the temperature to keep it at melting point.
Material activation was complete.
Transformational gold had great flexibility and spiritual essence conductivity, fully sufficient as the main body for the ring.
Next, he would add the solid polymer silver that would carry the spiritual essence structure.
It was particularly sensitive to temperature, hence he could only gradually increase the heat around it.
If a sudden temperature gap occurred, it would evaporate into a mist and be wasted.
Even if he managed to condense it again, once vaporized, the material would lose its original suitability for the spiritual structure.
As the temperature rose slowly, the polymer silver melted, gliding like silver droplets from the furnace, getting closer to the transformational gold.
Until, at the moment of contact—
Ji Jue’s eyes lit up.
Now’s the time!
Spiritual essence flowed into his hands, maintaining stability as he operated the furnace, causing gravity to momentarily disappear.
The droplets of molten metal floated upwards, following the precise workings of the non-offensive technique, expanding and changing.
Like dough, they melded together.
A silver thread appeared from the gold for just a moment before embedding deeply within.
Ji Jue continued his motions, treating the spiritual essence like a knife.
Intricate spiritual essence circuits emerged, flowing like a stream, swiftly vanishing from the inner layer of the ring.
Then, amidst the intense hissing, large amounts of thick smoke and colors split from the droplets; it was the purification of fluid alchemy, until...
"A transfer sequence?"
Professor Ye understood instantly.
Such spiritual essence circuits were indeed the fundamental construction of fluid alchemy, and one of the most classic examples.
The effect was to subtly absorb the user’s slight spiritual essence over time, nurturing the piece long-term and enhancing the compatibility between the carrier, the blessing, and the user.
However, performing purification and transfer simultaneously was perhaps a bit too challenging for Ji Jue at this moment.
Professor Ye asked, "Can you manage?"
"Absolutely."
Sweat streamed down Ji Jue’s forehead as his eyes fixed on the blazing flames, not wavering for even a moment.
The engraving of the transfer sequence took shape seamlessly, and he did not relax for an instant.
What he had just done was merely the basic material handling; the real challenge lay ahead.
With the special materials, he must stimulate the fusion of metals while activating the blessing to integrate it into the carrier.
Most artisans fail here.
Balancing both operations used not just double the effort; amidst a confused multitude of tasks, even a slight lapse in concentration could lead to total failure.
The liquid marten solvent and azure crystal were indeed suitable reactants; however, the reason it was called marten was that this solvent reacted too vigorously, changing rapidly and chaotically, making it hard to control.
He focused on remaining calm, taking deep breaths, but at the moment the blessing was inserted, and the seal shattered, he couldn’t help but get tense.
He poured all his energy into expanding his perception, to catch every fluctuation within his sight.
But as he absorbed himself in the task, his pupils widened, losing focus, as if in a trance.
Yet, that sensation of tranquility was not disorientation but a deeper sense of calm and composure.
For a brief moment, he felt like an observer, admiring everything happening before him.
Material excitation, material transformation, blessing operation...
Everything became clear, no longer complex or obscure.
It was as though all changes lay within his grasp, even when his hands were not in the flames; nothing tangible touched him.
Yet this strange perception kept pouring in.
A vast array of intricate shifts was conveyed to him with remarkable detail; he could feel the intense heat, the gentle touch of the metal droplets, the gradually changing temperature, and even the directions of all the spiritual essences.
It felt as though an invisible hand had grasped the impending transformation, bringing it into proximity!
At that instant, a vision unexpectedly surfaced from within his mind—the myriad hands of mercury that once covered the sky during the rifts, distinctly revealing their non-offensive marks even within the distortion.
Clearly illustrating their essence to successors hundreds of years into the future.
【Hand】
The intrinsic tool of humanity, the part of the body that has never forgotten since the moment of opening one’s eyes, to touch, to test, to grasp, to hold; spreading into a palm, clenched into a fist.
With wood, one can start a fire; with stone, one can create plows.
Beams rise to build great houses, iron and stone forged into weapons.
In the end, everything a person possesses is held in their hand.
Everything created by man originates from within the palm.
In the moment the first human reached out to the world before them, they shaped the glories and boundless transformations of this world centuries later!
All things flourish from this hand.
Everything in the world is comprised of ten fingers’ worth.
"Understood..."
At this moment, a true sense of enlightenment and understanding emerged from Ji Jue’s heart:
"—This is the non-offensive technique!"
From that moment, everything sprang forth from empty hands; his ten fingers would cover the earth and reach the sky.
To grasp everything, to control it all, such dreams as expansive as mercury felt too far-fetched for Ji Jue to hope for.
He merely wished to tightly hold onto what he had painstakingly acquired, keeping it within his grasp.
So now... he needed to move his fingers.
Just like a newborn reaching out their hand for the first time, not in prayer, nor in request, but instinctively wanting to grasp everything before them.
To hold onto the extraordinary vistas he had never experienced, to seize all the tremendous possibilities just out of reach!
Ji Jue stretched out his hand.
Bang!
The explosion echoed from the rising flames.
Ye's expression changed drastically, instinctively wishing to raise her hand, but the moment she did, her fingers stiffened in place.
The eyes behind her glasses lifted, reflecting the fiery light.
Then she saw something incredibly familiar.
That was her... disintegration technique?!
The fierce transition between movement and stillness showed itself like flowing water, once again cloaking everything in the furnace under the control of an invisible hand, causing even the delicate blessing to tremble.
In the violent shifts of spiritual essence, that radiance seemed on the verge of shattering but did not break.
Instead, the first traces of pollution left over from the initial creation began to wash away, as if restored to life under the combined applications of the disintegration technique and fluid alchemy.
As if reborn!
The invisible hand controlled everything, seamlessly managing the operations within the furnace, eliminating all changes and preventing unexpected sounds; this wondrous phenomenon could only manifest within alchemical creation, a unique legacy of the non-offensive method!
In an instant, purification and cleaning were complete.
Then, upon the gradually emerging shape of the ring, the structure of the three-phase knot was effortlessly established!
The intricate spiritual essence circuits tangled like ropes, at the points of intersection, the emblems of transformation, wasteland, and embers materialized from the reformed spiritual essence, solidifying, as the circuits intertwined with the blessing, merging into one.
Everything unfolded naturally according to Ji Jue’s design and intention.
Thus, it was accomplished!
In that moment, Ji Jue raised his palm outside the furnace.
While the invisible hand reached towards the flames beyond.
The tangible and intangible brushed against each other in passing, resembling a fleeting moment, as if touching, then vanishing without a trace.
Only the heated ring fell into Ji Jue’s hand.
Burning with a layer of spiritual essence.
It crackled.
Quickly, the last remnant of heat dissipated in evaporation, and the ring shed its radiant sheen, becoming a simple iron gray.
Yet the moment the spiritual essence was infused within for the first time, it quivered intensely, releasing a faint sound from its iridescent flow.
Like a chick breaking its shell and calling out to the world.
So faint yet so distant.
Ji Jue became entranced, lost in the moment!
“Alchemy is truly beautiful, Teacher.”
He raised his hand against the light, marveling at the wondrous creation at his fingertips.
Unable to contain his joy, he broke into a smile.
Filled with pleasure and happiness.
It felt almost like bringing life into existence!
Ah, it’s the last day of the month; please cast a vote for the monthly ticket, sobbing! Beautiful pictures to come later.
(End of Chapter)