5: Three Elements of a Scroll

Chapter 5: The Three Elements of a scroll

Mechanical scrolls can be said to be the most accessible and down-to-earth scrolls.

They cater to the general public, permeating all aspects of people's lives.

Their only drawback is their relatively low upper limit; in terms of high-end combat power, mechanical scrolls are generally weak.

"You're planning to arrange a mount and mechanical battle armor for the Jade Rabbit. How exactly will you achieve that?" Wu Xian was curious about this.

"Naturally, I'll conceive a beautiful encounter between the Jade Rabbit and the great God of Machines."

Tang Tiaotiao's eyes were filled with hearts, clearly immersed in her own melodramatic concept.

"That's all it takes?" Wu Xian was deeply skeptical.

Tang Tiaotiao chuckled, "That's just the initial background setting. Whether it ultimately succeeds still depends on the pigment blending and drawing skill."

"Pigment blending?" Wu Xian was startled, "You also know how to make pigments?"

"Of course," Tang Tiaotiao said without hesitation, "The core of mechanical scrolls is pigment blending; it can even be considered an independent field of study. Unfortunately, I never thought of becoming a Scroll Master before, so I didn't learn much, but I'm catching up now."

"Speaking of which, how exactly are spiritual pigments blended?"

"Actually, it's very simple. It's about using Mental Energy to infiltrate and extract various spiritual substances from the Materials, and then blending them to create various spiritual characteristics. However, the blending of mechanical pigments also involves the spiritual construction at the level of mechanical principles, so it's more troublesome."

"Thank you for the guidance, Student Tang."

Wu Xian took a deep breath and expressed his gratitude.

"Sister Tiao! Sister Tiao! Sister Tiao!"

"Alright, Sister Tiao."

Ending the video call, Wu Xian's mood remained unsettled for a long time.

Tang Tiaotiao's seemingly simple popular science and guidance directly enlightened him.

The core of mechanical scrolls lies in pigment blending, in the spiritual construction at the level of mechanical principles. Is it not the same for other types of scrolls?

To put it plainly, for [Extraordinary Scrolls], scroll conception and pigment blending are equally important.

Pigments are used to construct the body, and scroll conception bestows the Soul.

And the drawing process is like the Fusion process of body and Soul.

scroll conception, pigment blending, and drawing skill—these three are interdependent and indispensable.

Due to their special nature, mechanical scrolls focus more on the 'body' aspect of construction, but Wu Xian held reservations about this view.

In his opinion, although machines are cold, the 'Soul' is equally crucial.

"No wonder mechanical scrolls have always been at a disadvantage in terms of high-end combat power."

The mechanical Scroll Masters of this world have clearly gone astray.

Of course, the focus at the moment is not mechanical scrolls, but pigment blending.

This is the only thing he currently lacks.

These 'garbage' from the North District are perfect for research and exploration.

"Using Mental Energy to infiltrate and extract spiritual substances from Materials?"

He tried picking up a scrap piece, which looked like the edge of an insect carapace. He activated Mental Energy to infiltrate it. The complex material structure was chaotic yet orderly, and he could feel clear spiritual fluctuations—these were the spiritual substances.

Since it was a scrap piece, the spiritual fluctuations emitted by these spiritual substances were quite mixed.

Upon further sensing with Mental Energy, he could perceive a series of complex spiritual element information: insect, keratin, toxicity, proliferation, toughness, and so on.

He attempted to use Mental Energy to extract and separate several spiritual substances.

Strands of multicolored Qi dissipated from the Material, and, enveloped by Mental Energy, gathered into a mass of multicolored energy substance.

The entire insect carapace then disintegrated into a pile of residue.

"So that's how it is."

As Wu Xian pondered, he roughly understood the principle of spiritual pigment production.

Spiritual substances of different natures all have different colors, lusters, and textures. To blend suitable pigments, some other spiritual substances must be added for color adjustment.

Next, he tried to incorporate this mass of multicolored energy substance into the bottle of light-blue custom pigment.

From the spiritual fluctuations, this light-blue pigment was primarily water-attributed, energy, and plant-characteristic, with a few 'Impurities' characteristics mixed in.

And the moment the multicolored energy substance was incorporated, the color, texture, and luster changed at a visible rate.

Then, accompanied by a 'cracking' spiritual energy fluctuation, it completely lost its spirituality.

"Sure enough, it's not that simple."

Clearly, the blending of spiritual pigments is not just about color adjustment; it also requires maintaining the stability of the overall spirituality.

And in terms of how to balance color adjustment and spiritual stability, the remaining pigments in his hand were undoubtedly an excellent reference.

He continued to try extracting various spiritual substances from the scrap pieces, sensing the characteristics and mysteries of different spiritual substances.

"Hmm?!"

While extracting spiritual substances from a bone fragment, the [Xuantan Zhenjun - Zhao Gongming] scroll beside him suddenly glowed faintly, as if sensing something.

He picked up the scroll and, with hesitation, brought it closer to the bone fragment.

The next second, from the multicolored light emitted by the bone fragment, a few strands of spiritual substance were absorbed into the blood-colored life axis of the scroll.

These were primarily [Lightning] spiritual substances, along with some chaotic spiritual substances too faint to identify.

"Could it be...?"

He quickly unrolled the scroll to examine it. Some lines and colors on the God of Wealth's body had undergone subtle changes.

Most importantly, the original 13 points of spirituality had increased to 14 points.

Ancient Scrolls seemed capable of directly absorbing spiritual substances for improvement and growth, a capability that contemporary scrolls clearly lacked.

As far as he knew, contemporary scrolls could only be improved in spirituality and Rank through [Re-drawing] or [Coloring].

Re-drawing, in essence, meant replacing the drawing paper and pigments with better ones and re-drawing the scroll while retaining the painting spirit's Rank.

Coloring, on the other hand, involved replacing, modifying, or adding colors to the original painting.

However, [Ancient Scrolls] seemed to bypass these troubles; they could improve simply by absorbing suitable spiritual substances.

"Is it really a growth-type scroll?"

This discovery excited Wu Xian immensely.

Unfortunately, he did not encounter any suitable spiritual substances for the God of Wealth afterward.

By the end of the night, all the 'garbage' in his hands had been thoroughly used up.

Although there wasn't much progress, he was still eager for more, having vaguely stumbled upon some insights.

"It seems necessary to visit the North District more often."

After telling his grandfather Wu Changming, he immediately set off for the North District.

In the North District, the people coming and going were diverse.

He had intended to purchase some otherworldly Materials to practice with, but after visiting several material shops, he was immediately deterred by the exorbitant prices of various Materials. His two hundred thousand yuan was simply not enough.

Even the cheapest insect Materials made Wu Xian hesitate.

One should know that insect Materials are always known for their large output, and their prices are generally much lower. They are the most used raw Materials by pigment manufacturers and also the best practice Materials for pigment blending.

"Forget it, it's more practical to personally go down to an otherworldly copy."

He turned to a tool shop and spent 12,800 spiritual yuan on a cost-effective [hyperspace bracelet].

An essential storage device for all Spirit Masters, it also belonged to the category of mechanical scroll products.

Unpacking the exquisite packaging, a bronze scroll with white edges came into view.

[hyperspace bracelet]

Type: Rubbing (White Edge)

Rank: bronze scroll

Device Rank: ★★

Feature: Hyperspace Storage

At this price, being able to buy a two-star bronze scroll Rank bracelet was already quite good.

If it were a well-known brand bracelet, it would start at at least twenty thousand.

If it were an upgradable [copy] bracelet, then another zero would have to be added to the price.

He left a Mental Energy imprint with his mind, activated it with Mental Energy, and the scroll slowly unfolded in a soft light, transforming into a silver-black bracelet full of technological flair.

Probing it with Mental Energy, he could glimpse an internal storage space the size of a house.

"I'll make do with this for now. When I have money later, I'll get a cosmos sack to play with."

As long as he had the pigment Materials, various awesome Divine Artifacts and Magic Treasures awaited him.

In a word: the future is promising!

And today was also a day full of hope.

Emerging from the tool shop, he was full of vigor, heading straight for the trash cans in the street corner.

Under the influence of the God of Wealth's [Attract Wealth and Treasures] characteristic, Wu Xian could instantly sense the value of different garbage. After picking up the garbage, he could even generate a tiny bit of Qi, which, though small, accumulated over time.

He had just picked up garbage in a few spots when he encountered a turf war between two groups of scavengers.

One of the parties was Scarface's gang from yesterday. Poor Scarface, with old wounds unhealed, now had new ones. His gang was beaten black and blue and retreated in disarray.

"Is the competition that fierce?!" Wu Xian marveled with a click of his tongue.

Although the 'wealth' scent from that pile of garbage was strong, he did not go forward to contend for it.

It was just picking up garbage; it wasn't worth fighting over.

He quietly left, picking up garbage along the way in a few spots, contributing to urban sanitation and civilization, and eventually arrived near the Dimensional Gate.

The vast Dimensional Plaza was bustling with people.

There were vendors selling goods, middlemen buying Materials, teams going into copies, and rows of food and drink stalls nearby, making it feel like a market fair.

Among them were also some young Spirit Masters, full of aspirations for otherworldly training, completely unaware of the dangers of the otherworldly dimensions.

For example, the chattering university student team that passed by Wu Xian.

A dozen young men and women, all vibrant and dressed in bright, fashionable clothes. One might have thought they were on a picnic.

The male teacher leading them, around thirty years old, had a stern face. "Be serious, all of you. You're here for training, not a picnic!"

Hearing this, the students quieted down, but their sloppy demeanor clearly showed they weren't taking it seriously.

They were full of confidence in the scrolls their parents had spent a fortune to equip them with.

"A training team?"

Wu Xian couldn't help but take a few more glances.

Calculating the time, the university freshmen's training should indeed be starting this year. Those who could participate were generally from well-off families.

Freshman training, also known as Spirit Master training, required at least one combat scroll to participate.

"I advise you to get your attitudes straight. Don't think you're impressive just because you have a few scrolls. You're still far from becoming an excellent Spirit Master!"

The team leader scolded coldly, but he also knew that preaching was futile.

Only through personal experience could they realize the horror of otherworldly monsters and the meaning of being a Spirit Master.

This was also the main reason he chose to lead the team to the [Mysterious Abyss].

The biggest characteristic of the Mysterious Abyss was its eerie terror, making it undoubtedly the best choice for freshmen to be baptized and undergo their transformation.

Looking at the students who still seemed nonchalant, the team leader secretly chuckled mischievously.

Laugh now. I hope you can still laugh after entering the Mysterious Abyss.

At the foot of the magnificent Dimensional Gate, there were various large and small otherworldly nodes. Each node corresponded to a different area of the [Mysterious Abyss], and each dimensional node was marked with a different danger coefficient.

This was Wu Xian's first time going into a "copy"; to be safe, he naturally chose the dimensional node with the lowest difficulty.

"Admission fee is 100. Special identification grants an 80% discount."

The staff member at the entrance raised a hand and pointed to the notice board nearby, his voice tinged with a certain numbness and monotony.

Wu Xian quietly paid. Although it stung a bit, he understood.

After all, the Dimensional Gate, as an otherworldly Seal, also required regular maintenance and inspection.

One hundred yuan wasn't expensive. Even if he just managed to get some valuable Materials inside, he would still make a steady profit.