Hand

Late at night, having finished her work, Professor Ye looked down and gazed at the amber crystal in her hand. A solidified blessing. Solid spiritus had been used to simulate a spiritual environment, with the exterior sealed by an Embers spiritus circuit, ultimately producing this temporary vessel for the blessing. "Not bad. Aside from some residual contamination left over from the initial casting, the blessing itself wasn't harmed. For practice, it's more than enough." Ye Xian nodded in appraisal and asked, "Do you have an idea for your first blessed creation?" "What about a ring?" Ji Jue asked. "Works for me." Ye Xian nodded without objection. After all, for this kind of blessing, any artisan would consider jewelry as their first choice. A pendant would work too, but Ji Jue already wore one around his neck. If someone wore two items of the same type and tried to use them simultaneously, the alchemical creations would interfere with each other, leading to unforeseen consequences. They might overload and overclock, or fail to activate completely, but either outcome would damage the items themselves. That was why even someone as wealthy and influential as Young Master Lou never dreamed of filling all ten fingers with rings. After all, two was the maximum number one could safely use at once while guaranteeing their effects. Besides, even setting aside spiritus consumption, an external blessing imposed a burden on the soul when an alchemical item was activated. The more potent the effect, the more staggering the strain. In every sense, biting off more than one could chew never ended well. "What about the spiritus structure?" Professor Ye asked again. Ji Jue answered fluently, "For the blessing's carrier, I'd like to use a 'Tri-Phase Knot' to anchor Ascension, Desolate Ruins, and Embers." Three Sovereign Virtue insignias, linked through the spiritus circuit of a Tri-Phase Knot, representing the three fundamentals of spiritus, matter, and transformation. It was stable yet flexible, more than sufficient to accommodate the blessing while ensuring expandability for future modifications. "And the contact surface?" "There's no need to overcomplicate a single blessing. I'd like to use a classic, small-profile band." "That does suit it." Professor Ye pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "You're not considering a bracelet?" Ji Jue shook his head. "The blessing itself isn't extraordinarily heavy, and its effect is relatively straightforward. A bracelet would waste too much material." For a solitary blessing, a ring was entirely adequate. Making it a bracelet would certainly lower the manufacturing difficulty, but scaling up the volume proportionally wouldn't change the effect in the slightest. Spending that much extra money just to save a bit of effort? Way too expensive! "What about materials?" Professor Ye continued. "Seven grams of transmuted gold as the base material, three grams of solid polymerized silver as the spiritus circuit carrier, one gram of liquid ermine solvent, and four grams of standardized azure crystal to meet the requirements of sublimation and transmutation." This time, Ji Jue took the initiative to elaborate before she could ask. "As for the process, I'll follow modern alchemy, but for material processing, I'd like to try Fluid Alchemy. "That way, once the reaction settles and forging is complete, the weight should be kept to around eight grams, which won't cause any inconvenience while worn." "Looking to give yourself a challenge?" Professor Ye suggested, "If you want to save money, you could downgrade the transmutation materials a bit." "If I drop them another grade, the stability of the Tri-Phase Knot becomes pointless. There's no way a first attempt won't need adjustments down the road, and if it feels awkward to use later, I'll want to modify it." Ji Jue smiled. "So bring on the challenge." With that, Professor Ye nodded. He harbored none of the flashy illusions common to novices trying to reach the heavens in a single leap. His concept and design were remarkably grounded, defined entirely by prudence. With cost-effectiveness taken into account, he aimed to maximize the blessing's effects and power using techniques best suited to his current stage. If this were an examination, Ji Jue hadn't even looked at the bonus questions from the start. He wasn't trying to show off anything fancy; he simply wanted to secure every point he was owed, step by steady step. "Very well." Ye Xian gave a slight nod, finding no fault with her student's choice. Had she been the one at the bench, there would undoubtedly have been better methods, sharper handling, and superior choices. Yet she said nothing. If a master meddled and dictated every single detail using their own attainments, the person they cultivated would end up nothing more than a watered-down miniature replica of themselves. She despised sycophants who did nothing but tag along in someone else's footsteps. On the contrary, if Ji Jue could one day step off her path, turn around, and walk toward that infinite wilderness of Embers along a course of his own making to carve out his own unique domain, that would be the greatest reward she could ever receive as a teacher. "Talk is cheap. How well this actually lands depends on how much you've absorbed over these past days." She slowly stood up. "Let's go." "Right now?" Ji Jue blurted out in surprise. "Why not?" Ye Xian countered, looking back. "Do you want to bathe, fast, and put on red underwear like those superstitious idiots?" Ji Jue forced a bitter smile and raised his hands, his fingers trembling slightly. "I'm not in great shape." Aftereffects. On an impulse, he had forced an overclock on his unrefined Dissociation Art and violently dismantled the pendant. He had totaled the pendant and nearly totaled himself in the process, leaving his hands numb and his sense of touch completely out of whack. Without Non-Offensive to buffer and regulate the feedback, his hands might have been the first things shredded by the high-pressure spiritus vibration blade before the pendant even took damage. It had been nothing short of asking for death. "Isn't that perfect? It'll wean you off your reliance on Masterwork Nature so you can take a good, hard look at your fundamentals." Professor Ye walked ahead. "As long as you have enough spiritus, you move when it's time to move. Besides, I won't have time tomorrow." *That last part is the real reason, isn't it?* Trailing behind her, Ji Jue didn't dare say a word. Still, looking on the bright side, what apprentice could get a master to personally supervise their very first attempt at crafting a blessed item? Wait, what kind of apprentice was even allowed to touch blessed creations after just three months of study?! Somehow, this pace felt completely insane. He scratched his head and sighed helplessly. He headed toward the workshop. *** The room they used this time was still the outer workshop bay open to Ji Jue—the very place where he had first seen all the equipment upon arriving at the workshop. Compared to Professor Ye's private studio, the gap in equipment was immeasurable, but for an apprentice like Ji Jue, its capabilities went far beyond what he needed. Moreover, what Professor Ye despised most were hothouse flowers who were useless the moment they left their expensive machinery behind. Useless wretches who couldn't survive outside their own workshops and couldn't even purify materials on their own didn't deserve to sully the title of artisan. "Don't second-guess yourself. Your abilities are sufficient." Standing beside him with her hands clasped behind her back, she offered a final reminder: "If an accident happens, I'll step in. But if you blow the furnace through your own careless mistake, don't expect me to lift a finger." "Understood." Across Ji Jue's palms, the Non-Offensive matrix manifested. He skillfully fired up the furnace and adjusted the temperature. With Deus Ex Machina, he didn't even need to fiddle with the control panel; everything snapped into orderly alignment at once. While theoretically Ji Jue could have shown off crafting it purely with Non-Offensive right before the professor's eyes, refusing to use the workshop equipment sitting right in front of him would have been brainless. Even Quicksilver, whose skills reached into the heavens and earth, made use of workshops when engaged in certain complex creations. What was more, pairing Non-Offensive's operational precision with workshop equipment produced effects that were all the more staggering. Before long, a tray was delivered through an opening in the wall. Four large containers—glass, stone, lead, and plastic—each held different materials submerged in various media. The tray and jars were substantial, yet all the materials combined weighed less than twenty grams. They felt featherlight in his hands, but Ji Jue didn't dare let his fingers tremble. Holding his breath, his hands became as steady as stone. *Nine hundred and ten thousand... Nine hundred and ten thousand! A tiny pile of stuff like this costs nine hundred and ten thousand!* Even if he had money now, you couldn't just burn it like this! If he botched it, he'd be left crying into his blanket at home tonight. *Calm down. Calm down, Ji Jue, calm down!* He took a deep breath and began by casting the transmuted gold into the furnace. He let it melt into a fluid liquid. As its hue shifted, a faint sliver of radiant brilliance shone from the original golden sheen. In an instant, he brought the temperature back down, holding it precisely at the melting point. Material property excitation complete. Transmuted gold possessed excellent ductility and spiritus conductivity, making it more than adequate as the ring's body. Next went in the solid polymerized silver responsible for carrying the spiritus structure. It was extraordinarily temperature-sensitive; heat could only be raised gradually from the periphery. A sudden spike in temperature difference would flash-vaporize it into mist, ruining the material entirely. Even if condensed back down, material that had once vaporized lost its original affinity for spiritus structures. Under gradual heating, the polymerized silver slowly dissolved like a droplet of silver-white water, swirling within the furnace and drifting closer to the transmuted gold. Until the instant they touched— Ji Jue's eyes flared with light. *Now!* Into his hands, the spiritus that had been waiting for so long surged forth. Maintaining its stability, he engaged the furnace controls. Gravity vanished in an instant, and the droplet of molten metal rose into the air, unfolding and shifting under Non-Offensive's meticulous manipulation. Like dough, the two gradually blended. A single streak of silver flashed across the gold before sinking deep within. Then, without pausing, Ji Jue moved his hands, spiritus sharp as a blade. Densely woven, intricate spiritus circuits emerged, stretching like flowing water. Sweeping across the inner layer of the ring, they quickly vanished beneath the surface. Next, amid a fierce hissing, dense smoke and impurities were excised from the liquid droplet. That was the purification of Fluid Alchemy, and even... "A Trans-Ascension Sequence?" Professor Ye understood immediately. Such a spiritus circuit was also a fundamental construct of Fluid Alchemy, and the most classic of them all. Its function was to gradually absorb minute traces of the wearer's spiritus over time to nurture the piece, imperceptibly enhancing the compatibility between the carrier, the blessing, and the user. However, carrying out purification and Trans-Ascension simultaneously was pushing the boundaries of difficulty for Ji Jue's current level. Professor Ye asked, "Can you handle it?" "No problem." Sweat dripped from Ji Jue's forehead. His eyes remained locked onto the blazing firelight, without a single flicker of wavering or distraction. The engraving of the Trans-Ascension Sequence was completed in one smooth stroke, yet he didn't relax in the slightest. That had only been basic material preparation. The real hurdle lay ahead. Using specialized reagents to trigger the metallic fusion and transmutation, while simultaneously activating the blessing and merging it into the carrier. The vast majority of artisans failed right here. Managing both processes at once demanded far more than just double the mental effort. Amid a thousand interwoven threads, the slightest hesitation or confusion would spell total collapse. Ermine solvent and azure crystal were indeed the ideal reactants, but the solvent was called "ermine" precisely because it was far too volatile during reactions—shifting rapidly, chaotic, and notoriously difficult to tame. He fought to stay calm and took a deep breath, but the moment the blessing was introduced and the seal cracked open, tension gripped him nonetheless. He pushed his perception outward with everything he had, striving to keep every single change under his watchful eye. Yet as he poured his absolute focus into the task, his pupils gradually dilated, losing focus as if dazed. That placid sensation was neither absentmindedness nor confusion, but rather an even deeper, reassuring tranquility and composure. For a fleeting second, he felt like a detached bystander. Admiring everything unfolding before his eyes. Excitation of material properties, reagent transmutation, blessing operation... Everything became crystal clear, no longer complex or unfathomable. It was as though every change had already fallen into his hands—yet his hands were not in the flames, and there was nothing physically there. Still, that mysterious perception flowed without end. It conveyed every microscopic shift to him with exquisite detail. He could feel the searing heat, the soft suppleness of the molten metal, the shifting temperature, and even every current of spiritus. It was as if an invisible hand had already closed around the impending transmutation! The moment he realized it, a scene abruptly surfaced in his mind: the posture of Quicksilver's myriad hands blanketing the sky back in the Border Realm. Even amid the aberration, the imprint of Non-Offensive had remained unmistakable. It bluntly laid bare its essence to a successor hundreds of years later. *The Hand.* Humanity's innate tool. The limb never forgotten from the moment one opens one's eyes. Touching, probing, gripping, grasping, opening into a palm, tightening into a fist. Rubbing wood to kindle flame, chipping stone to shape a plow. Raising beams to construct grand halls, gripping iron to forge blades. In the end, everything humanity possessed was held in its hands. Everything humanity created originated in the palm. The very moment the first human reached out toward the world before them had paved the way for the boundless brilliance and infinite creations of this world thousands of years later! All prosperity was wrought by this hand. All things under heaven were shaped by ten fingers. *So that's how it is...* At that moment, a profound realization and comprehension blossomed in Ji Jue's heart: *—This is Non-Offensive!* Everything began from these empty hands. His ten fingers would eventually cover the earth and reach across the sky. Holding all things and mastering everything—a vision like Quicksilver's was too distant, and Ji Jue didn't dare indulge in such extravagance. He only wanted to tightly grip what he had bled and suffered to seize, keeping it firmly in his grasp. So now... he needed to move his fingers. Like a newborn reaching out its palm toward the world through its cries for the first time—not in prayer, nor to beg, but on pure instinct, wanting to seize it all. To grasp within his palm this splendid scenery never before comprehended, this vast expanse once beyond reach! Ji Jue reached out his hand. *Bang!* A sharp crack erupted from the surging flames. Ye Xian's expression changed instantly. She instinctively moved to raise her hand, but the fingers she had half-lifted froze in place. Behind her lenses, her eyes lifted, reflecting the fierce glow. Then she saw something she knew intimately well. That was her own... Dissociation Art?! The violent shift between stillness and motion unfolded seamlessly. Under the dominion of that invisible hand, it swept over everything in the furnace once more, making even the fragile blessing tremble violently. Amid the furious shifting of spiritus, the halo looked ready to shatter, yet it never broke. Instead, the contamination clinging to it—the residual flaws left from its first creation—peeled away like rinsed grime under the dual application of the Dissociation Art and Fluid Alchemy. As if reborn! The invisible hand held dominion over all, instinctively governing every operation in the heart of the furnace, eliminating every variance and ruling out unexpected noise. This was a miraculous marvel that could only manifest in alchemical creation, an exalted legacy belonging exclusively to Non-Offensive! In a flash, purification and cleansing were complete. Then, upon the embryonic ring taking shape, the Tri-Phase Knot fell into place in a single stroke! Intricate spiritus circuits twisted together like cords. At the intersections, the insignias of Ascension, Desolate Ruins, and Embers emerged from the transmuted spiritus, solidifying as the circuits intertwined with the blessing into a unified whole. Everything evolved naturally, precisely as Ji Jue had envisioned and designed. Success! At that instant, outside the furnace, Ji Jue lifted his palm. And inside the furnace, before dissipating, the invisible hand reached out beyond the flames. Tangible and intangible seemed to brush against one another in a fleeting instant, before vanishing without a trace like a phantom. Only the red-hot ring dropped into Ji Jue's hand. Scorching the spiritus plating. Hissing loudly. Soon, the final wisp of heat evaporated away. The ring shed its brilliant gleam, settling into an unassuming iron-gray. Yet the moment spiritus was first channeled into it, it vibrated fiercely, giving voice to a delicate hum amid swirling iridescent light. Like a fledgling chick calling out to the world as it cracked its shell. So subtle, yet so resonant. It swept Ji Jue in, leaving him utterly captivated! "Alchemy really is wonderful, Teacher." He raised his hand against the light, gazing at the exquisite creation resting on his fingertip. He couldn't hold it back any longer and began to laugh. Filled with delight and joy. It truly felt... like creating life itself!