Excuse me, what does it feel like to pull a stunt on your very first day as an apprentice and have your entire wages and stipends docked for the next four years?
Before going anonymous, the unlucky bastard Ji Jue could only say: if you know, you know.
Truth be told, Professor Ye's workshop was relatively humane. Even apprentices received formal wages and stipends, not to mention worker's compensation and other benefits.
Alas, such humane treatment lost all its applicability when up against a creature as questionable as Ji Jue.
Still, he had never planned on making money off the professor in the first place anyway. Rounded off, he had only lost something he never knew existed.
At most, he would shed a couple of tiny pearl tears in his dreams once he got home.
And so, at Professor Ye's request, he demonstrated his ability once more using the scrapped workpiece.
Ever since the Mandate Conscription made him an official Celestial Chosen, his ability had advanced by leaps and bounds, breaking free of its former shackles. He no longer needed physical touch to issue commands and communicate with machinery.
Any target within ten meters could be linked instantaneously without a hitch.
Faster, stronger, and far more mana-draining.
A pity that 'when Golden Wind and Jade Dew meet, they surpass countless encounters in the mortal realm'... Now that Ji Jue had achieved his breakthrough, he no longer had Teacher Lawrence's infinite mana supply.
Vortex Planting truly was a wonderful thing!
Looking back, he really should have held Wen Wen back a little instead of letting her kill him so cleanly. If they had saved some scraps of minced meat and planted a couple more Teacher Lawrences in the field, harvesting one and siphoning one with his regenerative abilities, couldn't they have mass-produced spiritus batteries?
No, the more he thought about it, the more tragic it felt... When would he ever get another opponent whose whole body was a treasure trove?!
Just as Ji Jue's thoughts were careening down an increasingly unhinged slope, Professor Ye, having observed the entire process again, adjusted her glasses and let out an enlightened sigh. "I see."
Through those lenses capable of discerning the flow of spiritus, she had observed the entire process.
Superficially, it appeared to be a control-type ability leaning toward Tianyuan.
Yet in essence, it was completely different.
If it were merely controlling machinery, the circulation of spiritus was far too frequent and far too massive.
If it were purely issuing commands, provided the target had an energy source, it shouldn't have incurred such a colossal drain. Skilled control-type Celestial Chosen could use their abilities dozens or hundreds of times a day. Celestial Chosen of the Heart Pivot could even control ordinary people with a mere sentence.
Yet with Ji Jue... a fifth of his spiritus flowed out, and less than half of it returned, with most simply lost.
If he were an ordinary, good-for-nothing Celestial Chosen, that might be normal.
Yet could a Celestial Chosen Conscription amount to only this much?
Her brows furrowed.
Something wasn't right.
Something, somewhere, was off...
Spiritus does not appear out of nothing, nor does it vanish into thin air, unless it has performed 'work' and been converted. In that case— Professor Ye turned around abruptly. "You said just now that you can talk to them, right?"
"Yes, though most of the time they don't say much," Ji Jue replied. "So far, the ones I've run into have been pretty easy to talk to."
"..."
Amidst the silence, Professor Ye suddenly asked, "Is it possible that the ones speaking aren't them?"
"Huh?"
"Ordinary matter possesses no thoughts, Ji Jue. Without spiritus, there is no prerequisite for thinking, nor do personality, likes, or dislikes exist."
She reached out and tapped the casing of the workstation. Instantly, the machine broke free from Ji Jue's control and fell dormant once more.
"Take this machining center, for example. I assembled it with my own hands. Unless I've grown so senile and decrepit that my eyes are failing me, I wouldn't have overlooked such an interference or possibility. Yet since it possesses no will of its own..."
She turned her head and asked, "Then the moment you establish communication, who is it that's speaking with you?"
Ji Jue was thoroughly baffled.
If the machine wasn't talking, then who else could it be? Could it be... Holy shit, wait. Don't tell me it's me?
Oh no, am I schizophrenic?!
I was already discharged from the hospital—don't tell me I have to go back?
Wait, that's not right. The doctors said I was completely healthy!
Only then did he hear Professor Ye continue.
"If I'm not mistaken, the essence of your ability is imparting your spiritus into other objects, temporarily animating them," she said. "As for the dialogue that occurs in your mind... it is likely a temporary pseudo-personality produced when the object's history, experiences, and accumulated past combine with your spiritus. It then spontaneously responds to your commands and operates of its own accord."
From her contemplation, she stated decisively, "If an ability like this could take a step further, it might even bring machinery completely to life, altering its own structure to do your bidding."
Ji Jue stood dumbfounded.
She hit the nail completely on the head. After watching it just once, she seemed to understand it even more deeply than he did. Furthermore, without even knowing about Cousin's Emergency Survival Protocol, she had already deduced the exact circumstances of the 'Dual Transmutation' Ji Jue had used only once.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, she reached out, drew a spherical object from her pocket, and handed it to Ji Jue.
"Try this."
It let out a crisp chime as it met his palm.
Intricate, magnificent patterns covered the surface of the fist-sized spherical object, carved with exquisite craftsmanship, and pierced by nine coin-sized holes. Peering inward, one could see a slightly smaller sphere identical to the exterior—sharing the same complexity and splendor, yet nested layer upon layer, reaching inward, deeper and deeper, across nine whole layers!
It was said that in ancient times, artisans poured their heart and soul into carving ivory to create such miraculous wonders of supernatural craftsmanship.
Ji Jue had only ever seen such gorgeous handicrafts in history textbooks, yet this one harbored a fierce, sinister aura that sent chills down his spine.
It was even more terrifying than the blade Xiao'an he had once seen in Lawrence's hands!
"Is this... a puzzle ball?"
He held it in his hands, examining it closely, and instinctively channeled a sliver of spiritus into it to sense its material—only for his vision to suddenly go black.
In that fleeting perception, the feedback from his spiritus revealed countless branching paths, layers of spiritus conduits as complex as integrated circuit chips, and hundreds upon thousands of runic imprints whose sophistication far exceeded his comprehension...
If this fist-sized puzzle ball were unfolded and laid flat, it would probably cover the entire colossal factory grounds and stretch all the way into the ocean.
Yet when Ji Jue's ability acted upon it, it felt like a bottomless pit. The puzzle ball devoured his spiritus like a whale swallowing water, gorging itself voraciously. Aside from that, however... it didn't return even the faintest signal!
Even when Ji Jue completely drained his spiritus and was about to collapse on the spot, the only thing he heard was a single contented voice: [Thanks, bro, I'm good.]
After that, it remained completely impenetrable.
What atrocious manners!
Ji Jue's eyes nearly popped out of his skull: *Who told you to be good?! Suck it back in!*
Unfortunately, the puzzle ball gave no further response.
It even detached itself from Ji Jue's palm, returning to Professor Ye's hand as if pulled by an invisible cable. Whirling smoothly, it gradually expanded, displaying its dizzyingly horrific complexity before Ji Jue, docile as a loyal hound.
"See that? Learn your lesson after taking a hit: don't go sticking yourself onto everything you touch."
Ye Xian said slowly, "Certain objects possess their own innate spirituality, capable of automatically distinguishing friend from foe and verifying permissions. Under these circumstances, unless your ability is potent enough to completely overwrite their underlying circuits and directives, they won't respond to your requests. However, once you can craft alchemical items and become a formal craftsman, you should know how to modify underlying directives."
She paused briefly, flashing a smile laced with subtle malice. "You could even make it turn traitor on the spot, turning on its original master without a second thought."
Imagine an opponent confidently pulling out their trump card, activating it at any cost, only to discover their weapon had become the enemy's hands and feet. For any foe, that would surely be an absolute nightmare, wouldn't it?
Especially for opponents who were Celestial Chosen of Embers steeped in this craft—such an ability was the ultimate bane of alchemical items! No matter what weapons or equipment were brought against Ji Jue, they would be rendered completely useless, leaving the user as good as naked.
And it didn't end there...
Only now, after shock upon shock, did Ye Xian once again arrive at a realization...
A realization of the terror of a Mandate Conscription!
It was not a disparity in talent, nor a difference in courage, but a fundamental distinction in essence!
Any workshop apprentice could probably recite it in their sleep: the essence of alchemy was to impart a soul to matter, bestow miracles upon mundane things, and elevate fine materials through transcendent craft. To temper gold from iron and stone, to fuse the Virtues within spiritus, all the way until attaining the boundless realm of all phenomena!
Yet the basic ability of a single Celestial Chosen could actually encompass all four cardinal elements of alchemy—Ascension, Transmutation, Purification, and Harmony?
It was simply too bizarre.
What was even more absurd was that while Ji Jue had somehow mastered the advanced principles, he had none of the preceding fundamentals.
It was like a castle in the air—no, a living hanging garden... relying on Ji Jue alone, an ability that lacked any foundation had been forcibly elevated to an utterly illogical height?!
An illiterate eighty-year-old grandmother teaching you the secrets of nuclear fusion; an old village farmer tilling fields that aligned with warp engine jump parameters—it practically reeked of punk rebellion.
In all her life, she had never witnessed a situation so absurd.
She had even suspected, more than once, that she had fallen into an illusion of Mirror or the beguilement of Heart Pivot.
Difficult, uncanny, bizarre.
But... so fascinating!
From her reverie, her smile grew increasingly dangerous and deranged.
The Virtue of Embers governed the domains of creation, change, and innovation... Every Celestial Chosen who truly walked this path was a technical fanatic whose head was filled with research. If a corrupted creature or mutant jumped out on the street, they couldn't resist dissecting it twice just to figure it out.
And now, such an extraordinary specimen had delivered itself right to her doorstep?
Her hands were already itching.
Purely in terms of research value, a Heaven's Choice Conscript was the true treasure trove.
They possessed astonishing compatibility with their corresponding Virtue, not to mention that Ji Jue resonated with a full nine Virtues. The scope of application was simply too vast.
Blood and bone marrow could be drawn to brew potions; bones and flesh could be ground up or processed for cultivation; souls could be cleaved and melted down into heavenly artifacts; even spiritus could be steadily siphoned to promote material fusion.
From head to toe, through and through, even his ability possessed near-infinite possibilities!
What a pity that her own strengths lay in engineering and Purification. Had she been an artisan focused on living spirits, she probably wouldn't have been able to resist tossing this kid straight into the furnace already.
Her unblinking stare made Ji Jue's skin crawl.
Suddenly seized by an urge to call the police, he shrank back instinctively, trembling with dread.
"Get ready, Ji Jue."
Beneath the pale white light, Professor Ye slowly flashed a 'kindly' smile. "Starting tomorrow, your postgraduate courses begin ahead of schedule."
Chapter 32