Lou Gao's eyes erupted with immense joy as he carefully held up the piece of refined iron plate he had personally inscribed with the soul-guided formation, treating it as if it were a priceless treasure.
Although it was just an experimental piece, this groundbreaking first step carried enormous significance.
"Xiao Xia, look! It worked! We've successfully completed the first step!"
Lou Gao's voice trembled with excitement, his face brimming with uncontainable ecstasy.
Lin Xia also felt his heart pounding violently, his eyes full of eager anticipation.
"Teacher, try it now!"
Lou Gao nodded heavily, unable to contain himself, and picked up a fist-sized ordinary iron ore set aside for testing.
He drew a deep breath and slowly infused the soul power into the iron plate inscribed with the formation, while placing the ore near the formation's center.
Under the intense gaze of both of them, a miracle occurred!
The moment the ore touched the glow of the formation, it seemed as if it were swallowed by an invisible space, vanishing instantly without a trace!
"Hahahahaha! It worked! It really worked! Storage! Spatial storage!"
Lou Gao was overcome with ecstasy. The sheer excitement made him almost jump like a child, his face radiating an unprecedented sense of accomplishment.
The mystery of soul tools that had troubled him for over ten days or even longer was finally partially unveiled by his own hands!
However, in the instant Lou Gao was drowned in joy, Lin Xia sharply sensed something amiss.
The soul power fluctuations on the iron plate, instead of stabilizing after the ore disappeared, flared violently for a moment, then quickly dimmed. The lines of the formation became extremely faint, even emanating a subtle sense of unstable "exhaustion."
"Teacher!"
Lin Xia's heart tightened as he immediately called out, his voice urgent.
"Quick! Try to see if you can retrieve the ore?!"
Lou Gao was snapped back to reality by Lin Xia's shout, and the smile on his face froze instantly.
He suddenly realized that he had overlooked the most critical step—retrieval!
To store energy but not be able to retrieve it—what kind of storage soul tool is that?
A sense of foreboding surged through Lou Gao's chest.
He hurriedly channeled soul power again, focusing all his attention, trying to communicate with the formation space inside the iron plate to retrieve the ore he had just stored.
Soul power flowed in, and the lines of the formation flickered faintly, but the light was extremely dim, like a candle struggling in the wind.
Lou Gao's mental focus probed the weak spatial nodes formed by the formation, sensing and searching… yet no matter how hard he tried, the vanished ore was gone as if it had sunk into the depths of the ocean, leaving no trace!
The air in the forging room seemed to freeze.
The previous joy was instantly extinguished, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over it.
"Not… there?"
The color drained from Lou Gao's face. His eyes were filled with shock, confusion, and immense disappointment.
He repeatedly tried, even increasing his soul power output, but the formation on the iron plate only flickered a few times, as if making poor contact, and gave no further response.
It felt as if he had opened an extremely unstable spatial rift that collapsed immediately, tossing the ore into an unknown void, leaving no stable "space" from which to retrieve it.
"Failed…"
Lou Gao's voice was dry, heavy with frustration. He stared blankly at the iron plate in his hands, as if it had lost all vitality.
"How could this be… the formation was inscribed perfectly, and it successfully sent the object away… why… why can't I retrieve it?"
The massive contrast plunged Lou Gao into brief bewilderment.
He had seen the dawn of success, only to fall to the bottom at the moment he could almost touch it.
Lin Xia watched his teacher in dismay, brow furrowed, his mind racing.
He forced himself to calm down, searching through fragmented memories for deeper knowledge of soul tool crafting.
Faint impressions from his previous life, snippets mentioned in the original work, and the understanding he had accumulated from recent research—all rapidly pieced together in his mind like a puzzle.
Step one: design and conceptualization—this had been completed. Lou Gao had perfectly replicated the core formation of the storage soul tool.
Step two: material preparation and metal forging—Lin Xia's gaze suddenly locked onto the ordinary refined iron plate in Lou Gao's hands. A crucial insight struck him like lightning.
"Materials!"
Lin Xia blurted out, his voice tinged with sudden excitement.
"Teacher! The problem is very likely with the materials themselves!"
Lou Gao abruptly lifted his head to look at Lin Xia, the confusion in his eyes instantly giving way to focused inquiry.
Lin Xia stepped forward quickly, pointing at the refined iron plate as he analyzed at rapid speed.
"Teacher, look! The metal we used is just the most ordinary refined iron! Even though you refined and forged it to perfection, by its very nature it is neither a special metal that can properly conduct and store soul power, nor does it contain even the slightest trace of spatial properties!"
He pointed at the dim, lusterless formation lines.
"The core of a storage soul tool is the creation of a stable subspace or spatial node! That requires formations to guide and construct it, but the 'foundation' and 'container' that sustain this space must be the metal itself!"
"Ordinary refined iron simply does not possess the inherent properties needed to bear spatial power! Its structure, its affinity with soul power, and especially its compatibility with spatial laws are all far from sufficient!"
Lin Xia recalled the crucial steps of soul tool crafting from his memory.
"Step three: inscribing the core formation. You succeeded at this step—the formation was carved onto the metal but the metal itself is incapable of sustaining it stably!"
"The result is that the space collapses instantly. Naturally, whatever was stored is lost, and may even be torn apart by spatial turbulence!"
"The formation itself is also damaged because its carrier cannot withstand the power, rendering it unable to operate stably again!"
Lin Xia's tone was decisive and firm.
"So failure was almost inevitable! The metal we used is fundamentally incompatible with spatial formations! It's like trying to build a precision, pressure-resistant dam out of mud, it is doomed to collapse!"
As Lou Gao listened to Lin Xia's clear and logical analysis, the confusion in his eyes was swiftly replaced by sudden enlightenment and an even deeper gravity.
After all, Lou Gao was a divine craftsman he understood the moment it was explained.
He carefully examined the refined iron plate in his hands, sensing the nearly vanished trace of soul power fluctuations and the lifeless stillness of the formation lines, finally grasping the root of the problem completely.
"So that's it… so that's how it is!"
Lou Gao let out a heavy sigh, the disappointment on his face replaced by an intense thirst for understanding.
"I was mistaken."
He looked at Lin Xia with eyes full of admiration and relief.
"Xiao Xia, your analysis is absolutely correct! The crux of the issue lies in the materials! Not only do we need special metals capable of carrying soul power, but we also need… materials that contain spatial attributes!"
Lou Gao rubbed his chin, thick brows drawn tightly together as he fell into deep thought.
"Materials with spatial attributes… those are truly rare! Star Sand? Void Stone? Those are legendary substances, things one can only encounter by chance! In the vaults of Gengxin City… I seem to recall records of a tiny amount of Star Sand powder stored in the early years? I wonder if it's still there…"
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