The first step in creating my demo loadout for this Endbringer slaying army was to work through the long list of options I had compiled over the last few weeks. Most of these ideas were barely thought-out scribbles, things I came up with to demonstrate my flexibility while also showcasing my mass production capabilities. While I wouldn't be mass-producing this batch, I needed to go into the design process with the intent of mass production, since working backwards from a ritual that only produced one piece of equipment would be much more difficult than ensuring it worked from the start.
Essentially, for the best and most efficient effect, I needed to design each ritual and enchantment as something that could be mass-produced. It meant more time now, but it also meant a more realistic and immediately useful design.
That actually brought up a good point, namely that I needed to unlock more flexible enchantments as soon as possible. I was familiar with several enchantments from my larger subject, such as druidcraft. I could even bend and flex many of them to achieve interesting effects, especially with the application of magical mass production, since that heavily modified and expanded all of my other subjects in line with its purpose. Despite that, I was still far behind my enchantment abilities when compared to rituals or spell crafting.
Most likely, enchantment design was going to be my next topic. In fact…
I closed and focused inward, immediately finding my connection to the Marvelous Mage system. Sure enough, sitting there, just waiting to be used, was a lone extra charge. I had earned it a while back for assisting in the Endbringer aftermath, since it was the only part I actually participated in. Previously, it had acted as insurance in case my first purchase for my last cycle wasn't what I needed, but now it was just sitting there. Having a spare point to throw around was… nice, but right now, having some more enchanting knowledge was more important.
I debated for a minute or two on how exactly I should define the charge, before settling on "Enchantment Design and Crafting." After that, it didn't take long to push the charge into the subject, and for knowledge to spread. It was far from the three levels of ritual crafting I had, but that was to be expected. Instead, I gained knowledge of basic enchanting, most of which was below what I had learned from my other subjects. Mass production connected to it, of course, pulling some ideas for enchanting multiple items at the same time, as well as putting multiple enchantments on one object at once.
"Well… It's a start," I said, leaning back in my chair, my notebook on my lap.
"Will it be enough?" Alya asked, sitting in a semi-corporeal form nearby.
"No, I'll need to at least put another level in," I responded. "Probably even bump it up to level three. Then I can focus on esoteric things for my next cycles, like barrier magic or siege magic, stuff like that."
On top of making equipment for people, Olivia also pointed out this morning that creating larger magic objects, things like heavy weapons, vehicles, deployable defenses, could all be extremely useful, especially if, or rather when, we "tested" the army on S-class threats, like Nilbong.
Not only would firing a magic cannon at Leviathan be awesome, but it would also make my dimensional partitioning levels useful. I could imagine a trio of soldiers climbing up to a rooftop, pulling a cannon and some defensive equipment out of a messenger bag, then blasting chunks off of their target. Of course, in order for that to happen, the previous pattern of getting multiple cycles of focus on the same "random" purchase would need to continue.
Either way, my options were particularly limited for now by my lack of enchantment knowledge, but even the low-level one I unlocked was giving me some ideas. I would do the best with what I had at the moment, and then push for time so that the next cycle could turn over before starting the official batch. Either that, or make sure to do as much as possible for the next quest my system pushed me towards.
Once I had explored my new limited branch of knowledge, I finally got to work. My first target was a pair of leather boots. There was nothing special about them, they were a simple pair of mass-produced combat boots with steel toes and everything. I could have gone with something more bespoke, like something hand-made or well-worn, but I wasn't likely to get that option for mass production later, so it was better to avoid that for now.
I debated on what I would put on the boots for a moment, but eventually I settled on the beginnings of a solid mover rating, since I had plans to re-create the dexterity cuffs I had made for Panacea. They were quite potent and would take an already trained individual and elevate them to the mover one or two category on their own.
Combined with boots of sure footing and another mover aspect, that would turn them into a mover three, maybe even four, depending on how powerful I could make them.
I spent about two hours puzzling out my options, before finally settling on the simplest choice. I would crank the shore-footed aspect of the boots until they could act like boots of spider climb, as well as increasing the user's speed. This would be a potent combination, but would ultimately have a hard drawback. While I was ultimately able to triple the user's speed, and let the boots climb even upside down, the draw of power ultimately meant they had a time limit. Both abilities drew from the same source of power, a circle of gold and rubies I fused onto the boot's collar.
The power source was my first custom enchantment, and was just a general, slowly recharging storage vessel for power. The ritual that I layered onto the boots would drain from it, twice as fast if they use both abilities at once.
The stable foot ability was passive, while the spider climb would drain the power from the ruby. And if you were activating any level of the increased speed, it would drain even faster. The duration of the charge would vary depending on the intensity of use, but the system would not break down due to overuse, it was too stable for that.
When I was finally done with the design, I quickly set up the ritual, which would have technically allowed me to run twenty-four boots at once. Combined with my iron chalk, I could have made seventy-two of them in just over an hour and a half, since each ritual took forty-five minutes to charge. I just used my blood-enhanced chalk, which worked fine.
Setting the now-completed boots aside, I got to work on the companion piece to the boots, the second part of the loadout's mover rating, the dexterity-enhancing cuffs. For those, I got a little creative. I didn't want there to be any loose jewelry in this loadout, so I bought a pair of leather wrist wraps, which I fused with double bands of silver. With some finagling, I was able to add a slight spatial awareness to the leather cuffs. It wasn't quite a danger sense, more like a subtle peripheral sense, like when you see something past the corner of your eye, but now all around you. After testing it, I almost scrapped it, as it was a very bizarre sensation. However, after wearing it for about an hour, my brain started to make sense of the sensation, and it became less distracting.
I imagine that with training, the extra perception would eventually become normal. I also assumed that tying it to myself with blood would make it even less obtrusive, but unfortunately, that wasn't an option with these creations. Considering I would be making several thousand pieces of equipment at the very least, tying each one to an individual person was not something I was capable of.
The new leather cuffs took about an hour to redesign, and another thirty minutes to ritualize. By then, I was getting a bit bored, so I took a break for lunch. As I was eating, Kali stopped by and invited me out to see the dogs, where she used me as a guinea pig to help them get used to people. The progress she had already made was incredible, especially considering that, in normal circumstances, most of them, if not all of them, would have had to be put down.
Of course, I did get bitten several times, but they were the ones I ended up needing to heal, since my skin was about as tough as tungsten. They had learned their lesson, and it was clear that Kali was a significant influence on them, as they all seemed happy and healthy.
When I was done with my break, I decided to put off working on another project for the Endbringer army and take a crack at making something to fly. Taylor's request for a flight had reignited my own previously tamped-down drive, so I pulled out a new, fresh page in my notebook and got to work.
I had already previously experimented with several ideas, but none of them ever balanced out for a ritual. The problem was that, while it was easy to say, creating a method of flight was extremely complicated. I could easily develop a ritualized piece of equipment to fling myself into the air. I could also come up with something to fling myself in various other directions. I could slow myself, speed myself up, glide, dive, and pretty much anything else you could imagine. I even had a few spells that could do those things.
I just couldn't do them all at once in a cohesive object. And any spell I made to do all of those things would be so mana-intensive, it would drain me in seconds. Considering it would take considerably longer to cast such a complicated and power-intensive spell than I could keep it active for, even with quick cast, it wasn't exactly worth it.
I had spells like slow fall to save me from things like falling, anyway.
Still, there had to be a way to work everything together. Flying was such a huge tactical advantage, just giving up on it because it was hard to come up with one ritual…
"Oh, goddammit," I muttered to myself, Alya looking over at me with a raised eyebrow.
"What is it?"
"I had the solution all along," I said, shaking my head, rubbing my eyes. "I couldn't crack flying because it was too complicated to put into one object, and if I put it into multiple, it was too difficult to control. If only I had a scalably complicated control mechanism capable of complicated magical manipulations."
"... A golem core?" Alya asked, and I needed.
"Exactly," I responded. "It means the final product won't be small, so no rings of flight, but a small backpack of flight? Very possible."
Still annoyed at my oversight, I went through my notes and pulled out my older attempts. These were a treasure trove of mechanics that would work perfectly, at least now that I could separate them out from one ritual into several.
Unfortunately, even with my solution, the process remained complex. While I had figured out how to actually make the system work, I was now working with a lot of moving parts, a difficulty I didn't often encounter with rituals. Additionally, my notes didn't contain all the answers, and as I worked on the design, I realized that I still hadn't uncovered every problem that needed solving. Still, now that I had cracked the overall issue, each new problem just meant adding a new module to the list.
The sun was starting to sink by the time I was finally ready to give the process a shot, making sure I had enough materials to complete each stage twice, once for myself and another time for Weaver.
I started with the most straightforward and most robust part of the system, the thrust. I was hard-pressed to find one cohesive group of natural things that created thrust, so I was forced to use a variety. Bug wings, flight feathers, and wing bones, as well as the internal parts of a squid, specifically the siphon, which was where they squirted water from to propel themselves forward. It was a somewhat dense ritual, stretching the concepts a bit further than I was usually willing to, but with some layering and the inclusion of precious stones, I was able to draw enough power from the ritual to make it work.
After that, the process continued far into the night, first working on a ritual for shifting in pitch, and then one for moving in yaw. Initially, I was going to keep those together, but I quickly realized that I would have considerably better control and potency if I kept them separate. I then needed to create a function that would secure the equipment to the user in a way that spread out the load, so that when I activated it, I wasn't yanked around by whatever I fused all of these things to.
Finally, after several unforeseen additions, including how the golem would read my intentions, I designed the golem brain required to control it all. It was very complicated, requiring nearly two dozen layers that used a good chunk of my gemstones and a fair bit of silver to refine the control, something most of my golems didn't have, since I couldn't really spare that much precious metal.
When the brain was finished, I finally attached all the ritualized parts to a thick leather belt. I then used my skills in leather craft, gained from arcane focus crafting, to secure and cover them. The result was a sort of leather travel or utility belt, with bags and sleeves around the front and back, but none of the small bags opened. The final step was to ritualize and connect it all together with a final enchantment, as well as Weaver's blood. That was thankfully pretty simple, so my single charge in enchanting was happy to show me how.
I then proceed to assemble a belt for myself, this time using my leather spell crystal holster. I was forced to cut some of the crystal slots out to make room, but that was a sacrifice I was happy to make. With the ability to fly, I was likely to teleport around a bit less anyway.
When I was finally done duplicating the finishing process on my own version, I quickly wrapped the belt around my waist, feeling the connection lock in almost instantly and securely fasten it to me. While I couldn't feel it constantly, I knew that the forces set into the pieces of the belt were now firmly anchored to my body.
With a grin, I looked over at Alya, who was watching with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.
"Wish me luck?"
"Good luck," She responded with a nod. "Break a leg?"
I chuckled, before focusing on the new item, letting out a slow breath before jumping into the air. I could feel the sudden thrust coming from the belt, pushing me up through the branches, toward the faint light of the sky above. I could see it getting closer, the thrust pushing me upward...
Until I slammed into a deceptively thick branch, hidden by the leaves. I, of course, smashed through it, but the force was enough to spin me out of control. I spun through the branches until I hit something else, something solid enough to stop me completely, falling through the canopy until I smashed into the ground with a bone-rattling shaking thud.
I lay there for a moment, feeling stupid and a bit dizzy from all the spinning. When I opened my eyes, both Kali and Alya were looking down at me.
"Well... you didn't break a leg?" Alya pointed out, prompting me to collapse back with a groan.
Heavenly laws
Among the myriad Tao of rules, time and space are supreme. As for the Chaos rules?
When the world opened, Chaos rules evolved into myriad Tao of rules, so they are not included in this category.
As a Thirteenth Rank weapon, the small cauldron had long since transcended the realm of a mere weapon. It, too, contained a vast world within, with numerous Tao of rules in operation.
These operating Tao of rules were the owner's understanding of the Tao of rules for this small cauldron—
That is to say, the Tao of rules understood by that Thirteenth Rank Time existence were different from the Tao of rules of the Chaos Void.
Especially the way time and space intertwined within it, for Lin Yuan, it was an unprecedented revelation.
"So that's how it is."
The time and space in Lin Yuan's eyes suddenly became simple and orderly, as if tangled threads had been completely straightened out.
[Your Unrivaled Insight, observing the operation of world rules, has greatly increased your comprehension of time-space fusion rules.]
A vast amount of time-space comprehension converged, and Lin Yuan's eyes shone brightly, as if he had seen through the essence of countless time and space in the Chaos Void.
"The nine Ranks of time and space, this is the nine Ranks of time and space."
Lin Yuan was radiant. His comprehension of time and space had already reached the peak of the eighth Rank.
Now, through contact with the operation of time and space within the vast world of the small cauldron, he naturally entered the ninth Rank of time and space.
In the Chaos Void, the comprehension of time and space by those Chaos Great Saints generally remained at the eighth Rank.
As for the ninth Rank? That was exclusive to Supreme Saints, and only a small number of Supreme Saints, or indeed Invincible Supreme Saints who dominated an era, would reach the peak of the ninth Rank in their comprehension of time and space.
"No wonder Mysterious Sovereign's comprehension of time and space subtly seemed to transcend the ninth Rank during his final period..."
Lin Yuan thought of the way the Mysterious Sovereign's tomb was integrated into time and space. That method of utilizing time and space had reached an inconceivable level.
At least at that time, Lin Yuan couldn't comprehend it at all.
Thinking about it now, it should be what Mysterious Sovereign gained after comprehending this small cauldron.
Lin Yuan was able to gain great insights and push his time-space comprehension to the ninth Rank right at the beginning of his comprehension.
An Invincible Supreme Saint like Mysterious Sovereign, even if his insight was far inferior to Lin Yuan's, would eventually gain something by comprehending it for a longer period.
And once one reached the peak of the ninth Rank of time and space, every further step was incredibly difficult, but similarly, the improvement in mastery of time and space would also surge significantly.
Lin Yuan speculated that Mysterious Sovereign's ultimate attainment in time-space comprehension had already taken half a step beyond the ninth Rank.
"It's a pity that no matter how high one's time-space comprehension is, it's useless for breaking through the time loop. In fact, because of one's proficiency in time-space comprehension, the trials faced within the time loop will have nothing to do with time and space."
Lin Yuan thought to himself, this was one of the reasons why Mysterious Sovereign did not continue to comprehend the small cauldron.
If one could step into the Thirteenth Rank, with the surging of life essence, time-space comprehension would naturally reach beyond the ninth Rank.
"But I don't need to consider these now."
Lin Yuan shook his head slightly. One of the other reasons why Mysterious Sovereign hastily tried to break through to the Thirteenth Rank at that time was that the small cauldron was almost impossible to suppress anymore.
But now?
After being suppressed by Mysterious Sovereign for over thirty million cosmic eras, this small cauldron would not break free within the next hundred cosmic eras.
And a hundred cosmic eras?
Lin Yuan has only lived for about ten thousand years since his birth, even counting his transmigration time. If a cosmic era is a boundless ocean, then the time Lin Yuan has experienced is merely a drop of water, or even one-billionth of a drop.
From the Dominance Rank to the peak of the Chaos Rank, Mysterious Sovereign's expectation for Lin Yuan was to reach it within a hundred cosmic eras. This was based on the premise that he didn't know Lin Yuan's actual cultivation time.
Lin Yuan continued to comprehend the small cauldron.
In a trance, Lin Yuan vaguely saw a blurry, towering bald figure. Before him, more than a dozen weapons floated, and among them was a small cauldron.
As the small cauldron floated, an endless aura of power spread in all directions. Everything within the range of ten thousand, one hundred thousand, or even a million Void Domains was completely annihilated by the cauldron's power.
"That should be the mark left by the true owner of the small cauldron, a Thirteenth Rank Time existence."
Lin Yuan understood in his heart and naturally dared not touch it, fearing it would attract the attention of that Thirteenth Rank Time existence.
In fact, the reason why this Thirteenth Rank Time existence had not taken back the small cauldron for so long might not be that he had forgotten, but rather that the concept of time for a Thirteenth Rank Life is fundamentally different from that of a Twelfth Rank Life.
Thirty million cosmic eras? Three hundred million cosmic eras? Perhaps in the eyes of a Thirteenth Rank Time existence, it was just a blink of an eye.
A Thirteenth Rank Time existence can see through many future timelines. For them, perhaps they would only recall the small cauldron at a certain future point when they needed it.
As for what the small cauldron would experience during that time, or into whose hands it would fall, that Time existence simply didn't care much.
"Heavenly Void Cauldron?"
During his deeper comprehension of the small cauldron, Lin Yuan learned its name.
Heavenly Void Cauldron.
This was also an imprint remaining within the small cauldron, which could be discerned with a little comprehension.
"Is this a Thirteenth Rank Time existence?"
Lin Yuan's thoughts were very complex.
Just the lingering power naturally emitted by a Thirteenth Rank weapon could easily annihilate the range of hundreds of thousands to millions of Void Domains.
If that Thirteenth Rank Time existence were to exert full effort, wouldn't it be able to destroy almost half of the Chaos Void?
And this was just in terms of pure power. For a Thirteenth Rank Life, the most important point was their mastery of future timelines.
A Thirteenth Rank Life can see through various future timelines and then choose a predetermined timeline to follow. Of course, they would be influenced by the interference of other Thirteenth Rank Lives during this process.
The dimensional rift that Mysterious Sovereign experienced was a place where two Time Lifeforms acted. Perhaps at a crucial time node, the two Time Lifeforms fought fiercely for the future they desired.
For Time Lifeforms, all beings below the Thirteenth Rank are pawns; only a Time Lifeform at the same level are opponents, are the chess players.
Within his internal universe.
While comprehending the Heavenly Void Cauldron, Lin Yuan also separated a consciousness and descended into his internal universe.
"The root items of these mysterious places..."
Lin Yuan looked at the floating Life Godstone, Primordial Ore Crystal, Ninth Heaven Thunder Core, and so on.
"I'll ask senior to see if they can be integrated into my internal universe."
With a slight thought, Lin Yuan appeared beside the jade gourd and took out more than ten root items.
Although Lin Yuan had the idea of integrating these root items into his internal universe when he obtained them, he ultimately decided to ask the red-clothed girl for her opinion.
After all, she was a spirit created by a Thirteenth Rank Time existence, and she was specifically used to guide the Thirteenth Rank inheritance, "Infinite Void."
Through comprehending the Heavenly Void Cauldron, Lin Yuan gained a clear understanding of the power of a Thirteenth Rank Life, and he became even more aware of his own insignificance.
"These?"
The red-clothed girl's eyes widened when she saw the more than ten root items.
Root items are the foundation of a great mysterious place. The spirits of those mysterious places would never voluntarily throw them out.
Even an Invincible Supreme Saint who dominated an era would find it difficult to obtain a root item. The Life Godstone that Mysterious Sovereign obtained back then was not acquired through normal means, but rather 'stolen' at a certain opportune moment.
"What did you do? How did those guys hand over so many root items?"
The red-clothed girl was incredulous. Throughout the long years, past cultivators of "Infinite Void" had also reached the level of Invincible Supreme Saints.
They had naturally entered many mysterious places, but they never dared to push the spirits of those mysterious places too far.
After all, if they pushed them too hard, they would definitely seek help from the Time existence behind them. No Twelfth Rank being could bear such consequences, not even an Invincible Supreme Saint cultivating a Thirteenth Rank inheritance.
To make them honestly hand over these root items, one would need an enormous background and not fear the threat of a Thirteenth Rank Time existence. But if one truly had such a powerful backer, they wouldn't care about these root items in the first place.
"Just luck," Lin Yuan said.
He now roughly understood how Mysterious Sovereign had managed to meet those 'old friends.'
If Mysterious Sovereign was destined to perish, then forcibly entering a mysterious place naturally meant he wouldn't care about a Thirteenth Rank Time existence.
Anyway, he was going to die.
"Can they be integrated into my internal universe?"
Lin Yuan immediately asked. This was the question he was most concerned about.
"Yes."
"Of course, they can."
The red-clothed girl immediately jumped up. "These root items are not very meaningful for other peak Chaos Rank beings to integrate into their internal universe. At most, they would just form an environment similar to those mysterious places."
"Because the upper limit of their internal universe is fixed, they simply can't unleash the usefulness of these root items."
The red-clothed girl looked at Lin Yuan. "But you are different. Your internal universe is transforming towards the Chaos Void. Nurturing these root items in advance, allowing them to form mysterious places, will naturally bring great benefits, immense benefits."
The red-clothed girl clicked her tongue in wonder. "Originally, I planned to wait until you reached the peak of the Chaos Rank, or possessed the strength of an Invincible Supreme Saint, before trying to obtain these root items from those mysterious places."
"With your strength, growing to the peak of the Chaos Rank should surpass a normal Invincible Supreme Saint. At that time, going to those mysterious places, with coercion and temptation, there's a good chance of success."
"But now..."
The red-clothed girl looked at the root items in front of her.
She felt that she had underestimated Lin Yuan. He didn't need to wait until he reached the peak of the Chaos Rank at all.
"In that case, I'll start integrating them."
Lin Yuan immediately said.
"Go ahead."
The red-clothed girl nodded and looked at Lin Yuan: "I'm becoming more and more eager to see what level your internal universe will grow to, and whether it can reach the theoretical seventh layer..."
"The seventh layer of 'Infinite Void'?"
Lin Yuan's thoughts expanded. According to the creator of this inheritance, that Thirteenth Rank Time existence, the internal universe nurtured by the seventh layer of "Infinite Void" would be comparable to the Chaos Void, perhaps even on par with a Thirteenth Rank Time existence in terms of internal universe?
Of course, "on par" here was limited to the internal universe.
The internal universe was vast and mighty.
After his time-space comprehension reached the ninth Rank, Lin Yuan's internal universe once again underwent a frantic expansion.
Its diameter directly surged from a trillion light-years to eighteen trillion light-years.
It should be noted that Lin Yuan's internal universe had never been about sheer size; it focused on quality.
A universe spanning a trillion light-years was enough to shake internal universes spanning thousands of trillions or even tens of thousands of trillions of light-years.
Now, reaching eighteen trillion light-years, the immense improvement in its foundation and depth was unimaginable.
"Integrate."
Lin Yuan took out the Life Godstone.
This Life Godstone was only fist-sized, but vaguely, it was filled with a majestic aura of life, like an ocean.
Swoosh.
The Life Godstone was thrown out by Lin Yuan, and then the origin of the universe surged, rapidly devouring and integrating the stone.
Swoosh.
After integrating and absorbing the external Life Godstone, Lin Yuan vaguely felt that he could grasp a wisp of the most fundamental power of life.
"Gather."
Lin Yuan thought.
That wisp of the most fundamental power of life began to spread, vaguely forming a 'pond' composed entirely of life aura.
Lin Yuan looked down at the small pond. "The mysterious place 'Sea of Life' is vast and boundless, yet I've now formed a small pond with its root item?"
Lin Yuan didn't feel surprised. The Sea of Life was left behind by a Thirteenth Rank Time existence. Lin Yuan was inferior to a Time existence, so the mysterious place nurtured by the Life Godstone would certainly be far inferior to the former.
Of course, this inferiority was only temporary.
As Lin Yuan's strength increased and his internal universe continued to transform, these nurtured 'mysterious places' would also continue to grow.
Next.
Lin Yuan proceeded to integrate the Primordial Ore Crystal and the Ninth Heaven Thunder Core into his internal universe.
Numerous root items continuously evolved within Lin Yuan's internal universe, forming 'miniature' mysterious places.
"Void Golden Leaf?"
Lin Yuan looked at the last root item.
This root item came from a mysterious place called the Void Divine Tree. It was its core leaf, and it felt to Lin Yuan as if he was observing the Chaos Void itself.
"It's said that the Void Divine Tree connects heaven and earth, and a single leaf is the size of a Void Domain. This Void Golden Leaf is a leaf from the crown of the tree. Since ancient times, no Supreme Saint has ever touched it, nor has any related information or intelligence been passed down."
Lin Yuan thought to himself.
Lin Yuan ultimately chose to integrate all the root items that Mysterious Sovereign had obtained for him into his internal universe, not only because this would lead to the most direct and profound improvements for himself, but also for another reason: he didn't know what else these root items could be used for.
Trading?
Even a Supreme Saint would find it difficult to offer a price that could be exchanged for such a root item.
And if Lin Yuan were to rashly expose that he possessed these root items, it would also attract many troubles.
"Just integrate it directly."
Lin Yuan threw the Void Golden Leaf, and a large amount of universal origin power surged.
The Void Golden Leaf was rapidly integrated and absorbed, and strands of golden power containing infinite space immediately spread throughout the entire universe.
...