Translator: AnubisTL
Before attempting to release the talisman, Jieming had already prepared for failure. But what was this?!
Judging by his senses, the talisman had indeed been activated successfully. So why was it only producing such a tiny flame?
Undeterred, Jieming tried again several times.
He quickly discovered a pattern: the size of the flame was directly proportional to the amount of true essence he channeled into the talisman. The more true essence he poured in, the larger the flame became.
When he poured in most of his true essence from the third layer of qi refinement, the released flame finally reached the power described in the ancient texts.
This was utterly useless!
If the power of a talisman depended entirely on the amount of true essence he channeled into it, he might as well cast the same spell directly with his bare hands. At least that would be more flexible and wouldn't require advance preparation!
Moreover, casting the spell manually to achieve the same power required less true essence. Using the talisman actually consumed a significant amount of extra energy.
This was completely different from the ancient texts' claim that talismans "only require a wisp of spiritual energy to activate"!
After several more attempts to refine his understanding of the issue, Jieming immediately accessed the Great Dao Library Pavilion.
After spending another half-month meticulously studying the books provided by the Great Dao Library Pavilion and advanced alchemy texts, Jieming finally grasped the fundamental difference between the talismans of the cultivation system and the extraordinary artifacts of the Wizard World.
"The essence of a talisman isn't merely energy storage or activation. It's more like a precise 'launcher' or 'program'," Jieming mused, holding up a golden talisman and examining its intricate patterns.
"The talisman seals act as 'indexes' and 'invocation' commands for the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. During activation, the talisman draws upon the user's meager spiritual energy as a 'key.' Then, using the talisman seal as a 'program,' it summons, gathers, and amplifies vast quantities of ambient spiritual energy from the environment, releasing a complete and immensely powerful spell."
"Of course, if conditions allow, one can also pre-prepare potent forces and directly invoke them through the talisman."
"In the immortal cultivation world, spiritual energy permeates every corner of existence. With just a sliver of activation energy, a talisman can automatically draw upon the boundless spiritual energy in the environment to unleash formidable spells."
"However, the Wizard World lacks spiritual energy. Talismans cannot draw upon the ambient spiritual power, so their 'programs' cannot function fully. The size of the flame is merely the result of the true essence you inject being temporarily concentrated and ignited within the talisman's structure, not the talisman's inherent power. In fact, because it wastes additional energy trying to activate non-functional 'programs,' it's even weaker than casting the spell directly."
Jieming pulled out another scroll, this one made entirely of animal hide. Similar to talismans, it could unleash a fire wizardry spell with just a touch of mental power.
Although these scrolls were cheap, costing only 10 merit points each, few people bought them.
Wizardry artifacts with the same effect, though priced at least 100 merit points, could be recharged and reused indefinitely.
"The mainstream extraordinary artifacts in the Wizard World, such as wizarding scrolls, wands, and disposable talismans, operate on entirely different principles than talismans."
Jieming activated the scroll against a target in the training ground. The scroll instantly turned to ash, transforming into a fireball that shot forward with a boom.
Throughout the process, the surrounding elemental power remained unchanged.
"They store a complete wizardry spell, along with all the energy required to cast it, within a carrier. The wizard simply injects a small amount of mental power as a 'switch' or 'password' to directly activate and release this pre-stored spell, which possesses a fixed potency."
"The advantage of this method is that, unless in extreme environments or under specific rules (such as artificial anti-magic zones), the wizardry artifact can unleash a complete wizardry spell anytime, anywhere. Afterward, it only needs to be recharged to be used again."
"The drawback is that its power is independent of the user's own strength, relying solely on the skill of the artifact's creator. Its flexibility is also poor; if it stores a fireball, it can only release a fireball, with no room for adjustment or control."
After summarizing the technological differences between the two worlds, Jieming's eyes suddenly lit up!
He had found the key to combining the strengths of both worlds' technologies!
The advantage of immortal cultivation talismans lies in their low activation cost and reliance on environmental energy. The strength of wizard artifacts, on the other hand, lies in their stability and ability to unleash wizardry of fixed power in any environment.
The environmental energy of the Wizard World is not "spiritual energy," but rather the ubiquitous elemental energy.
What if... what if he could learn the principles behind immortal cultivation talismans, but instead of storing wizardry energy in advance within a carrier, he inscribed the Witchcraft Model and instructions for drawing upon the Wizard World's elemental energy directly onto a wizard artifact?
In that case, as long as the wizard artifact remained intact and the external elemental power hadn't dried up, he could activate it repeatedly, just like using talismans, with only a tiny amount of mental power as the "key." The artifact would automatically draw elemental energy from the environment and unleash wizardry again and again!
Such a wizard artifact, provided elemental energy was present in the environment, would have no usage limit and require only a minimal amount of mental power to activate.
Of course, similar devices existed in both the Wizard World and the immortal cultivation world. However, wizards' efficiency in harnessing external energy would undoubtedly pale in comparison to cultivators who revered the unity of heaven and humanity.
In times of energy scarcity, wizards preferred constructing elemental pools to enhance their energy supply rather than drawing upon external forces.
The immortal cultivation world also had jade talismans that could store a single strike from a powerful figure as a life-saving measure. However, these talismans were difficult to create and prohibitively expensive.
Jieming aimed to graft the advantages of immortal cultivation talismans—low activation cost and the ability to draw upon environmental energy—onto the Wizard World's system of harnessing elemental energy with stable activation.
By combining the strengths of both systems, he sought to develop a unique power of his own!
After the initial excitement, Jieming realized the immense challenge ahead.
To realize this vision, he couldn't simply copy the talisman seals.
He needed to fully understand the underlying logic and function of every stroke in each talisman seal—which part served as the activator, which part indexed environmental energy, which part constructed the spell model, and which part triggered the release...
Next, relying on his understanding of the Wizard World's runes, energy structures, and Witchcraft Models, he needed to gradually replace the talisman's "functional modules" with corresponding Wizard World runes, energy circuits, and even conceptual guidance. These components would interact with elemental energy and mana to construct Witchcraft Models.
This required not only mastery of the Wizard World's runes and wizardry theories but also a thorough understanding of the principles behind the talismans in the Great Dao Library Pavilion.
"Still... compared to the native wizards of this world, I already have a significant advantage."
At least he had a clear direction now, and plenty of examples to "copy," unlike the wizards of this world who were completely clueless.
"Ah, if only I'd known I'd have this idea sooner, I should have inscribed the core rune of rune studies onto my fourth truth rune first..."
Jieming felt a pang of regret. "Well, no matter. Fortunately, my cultivation speed isn't slow. I'll just take it one step at a time..."
(End of the Chapter)
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