Chapter 220: A Dangerous Secret and a Ruinous Cost
Benton braced for the massive infusion of knowledge he’d just purchased, and the System soon crammed it into his brain. Despite the onslaught of information, he didn’t feel overwhelmed. Nor underwhelmed; the download was one of his biggest yet, and he definitely felt it fill his mind.
But he suffered no headache. No real ill effects at all, actually.
If anything, he was whelmed.
He chuckled at his own joke, amazed that he was in any condition to make light of the situation. The experience hadn’t been nearly as bad as he had expected.
Mind Cultivation for the win. He should have maxed out his realm in that regard long ago.
With his mental faculties unimpacted, Benton examined the data he’d received, piecing together the process for creating qi sources. Ugh. It was going to be expensive and require obtaining many resources that he had no idea where to find.
Each source required three separate materials that produced or emitted qi of a particular element. And not just any three materials would do. One had to come from a plant, one had to come from a person or beast, and one had to come from a mineral. Not only that, but the quality of the materials was one of the determining factors for the quality of the qi source.
And obtaining those materials was only the first step out of many.
The second step required a master alchemist of at least the Golden Core realm to use a high-grade cauldron to extract the essence from each of the materials. Next, he had to find a supply of origin qi and infuse it and the three essences into a single mixture.
The next-to-last step required an expert blacksmith to use a high-grade inert metal to forge a holder for the mixture. Finally, a complex formation was required to activate the mixture inside the holder, turning it into a qi source.
Of the five steps, only the third and the last were something he could currently accomplish. Since he’d bought a Concept for origin qi, he could create spirit coins using that as the element, and creating an array was not a challenge for him.
The fourth step was the easiest for him to learn how to do. He simply needed to buy the necessary techniques and knowledge to become a master blacksmith. Since the pavilion provided facilities good enough to forge the metal he needed, all he’d have to do was practice enough to turn the knowledge the System would give him into actual ability.