325: Chapter 325 Artificial Spirit

Over the next two months, Nie Ning began learning how to manufacture an Artificial Spirit.

Belen taught him with great detail and sincerity; his understanding of Artificial Spirits was simply breathtaking to Nie Ning.

This was especially true in the mental domain. It seemed there was nothing the man didn't know, as he could answer any tricky question Nie Ning threw at him.

Furthermore, Belen had a good temperament and was a natural teacher—diligent and highly responsible. In Nie Ning's heart, he was the perfect mentor.

The difference between having a teacher and not having one was indeed vast.

While Heloise was exceptionally intelligent and gifted in alchemy and Runology,

she was, after all, young and lacked teaching experience.

She would essentially just answer whatever Nie Ning asked; if she couldn't answer, she'd tell Nie Ning to look it up himself.

The contrast was stark...

Belen, on the other hand, couldn't fathom how Nie Ning had even become a Fourth-Order Wizard.

As a wizard, runes are the most fundamental and important subject—one could even say there is none more vital.

Yet Nie Ning's knowledge of runes was so poor it made Belen question his own life.

After all, the classification of runes is very clear, yet Nie Ning couldn't even recognize all the basic runes.

It was as if he cherry-picked only what he could use to learn, while completely ignoring anything he deemed unnecessary.

This left Belen momentarily at a loss for words.

Every time they reached a critical point, he had to explain the uses of the runes to Nie Ning to prevent him from tinkering around blindly on his own.

After all, Runology is a very rigorous discipline; the slightest oversight can lead to a massive disaster.

However, to be fair, while Nie Ning's ignorance was shocking, his learning speed was extraordinarily fast.

He had an excellent talent for Spiritual Power and an extraordinary sense for runes; he could grasp simple runes almost instantly with just a hint.

If Nie Ning didn't constantly ask such moronic questions, he would be the ideal student for any teacher.

Moreover, Nie Ning's ideas were wild and unconstrained. Though they seemed highly illusory, they often achieved unexpected results.

When it came to dumb luck...

Belen had nothing to say but give a thumbs up.

During their time together, he had roughly analyzed Nie Ning's strength and talent.

His strength mainly stemmed from his bloodline, being a Knight, a Wizard, and a Psionicist, and he possessed a very rare and powerful fusion-type spell.

As for talent, he had a massive Spiritual Power boost, a powerful physical body, extraordinary luck, various elemental talents, and a strange bloodline whose origins were indiscernible.

Furthermore, the energy within his body was a chaotic mix.

In terms of aura, Nie Ning resembled an exotic beast more than a human.

He carried a very thick aura of corruption.

However, despite such heavy corruption, he hadn't become a Corruptor. Clearly, Nie Ning's Psionicist talent had an anti-corruption effect, or he had some other method to resist it.

What was even stranger was Nie Ning's fusion spell, which was the thing that surprised him most.

Nie Ning had once consulted him on some basic runic array diagram issues.

While it was technically feasible, it wasn't something a person could replicate; using it to design a formation was a decent idea, though.

This was because it required a massive mana attack, extraordinary elemental control, and a balanced elemental talent.

If any one aspect failed, the most likely outcome would be blowing oneself up on the spot; only a stable formation could satisfy this series of conditions.

Otherwise, the consequences would be severe; a slight slip could send one flying into the sky in pieces.

A normal person might manage the first two—one could find other ways to get massive mana, and elemental control could be practiced slowly.

But a balanced elemental talent—and one that reached a terrifying eight-fold elemental talent—was simply inconceivable.

For many Transcendents, elemental talents vary in strength; it's rare to even find two elemental talents that are perfectly equal.

Yet Nie Ning possessed an eight-fold balanced elemental talent, and it was perfectly balanced, which defied all logic.

In other words, Nie Ning might possess some kind of Psionicist-type elemental talent, or it was an ability granted by his strange bloodline.

One could only say that Nie Ning's entire being exuded an air of oddity.

Unknown origins, powerful elemental talents, extreme runic comprehension, an extraordinary and bizarre bloodline, and a never-before-seen super fusion spell.

Strange!

Very strange!

It was a pity that Nie Ning's philosophy didn't align with his own; otherwise, the two might have become master and disciple...

...

...

Basement, laboratory.

Nie Ning and Belen were currently inside, and before them stood a two-meter-tall, strange metal container.

Inside the transparent glass window, a pink glowing sphere floated, emitting a unique Spiritual Power fluctuation.

"It's still missing something. Another failure."

Belen felt the unstable mental fluctuations within the pink sphere and shook his head with a slight sigh.

"I think it's okay. Maybe we really can create a true soul."

Unlike Belen, a flash of excitement crossed Nie Ning's eyes.

If things continued at this rate, he might truly be able to complete the manufacturing process of the Mirror Pupil without relying on human souls.

"The ratio between spiritual essence and spiritual light is too far off. If we do it this way, it won't stay stable for long before collapsing."

As he spoke, Belen cast a strange look at Nie Ning beside him.

After spending this time together, he had discovered that Nie Ning's purpose for creating an Artificial Spirit wasn't simple.

A normal Artificial Spirit was a peculiar spiritual body capable of learning and recording, with a high capacity for discernment and communication.

In fact, Nie Ning had already succeeded half a month ago.

Although it only displayed the intelligence of a three-year-old, it could be used with some nurturing.

But Nie Ning wasn't satisfied, and last time, Belen had even caught him secretly manufacturing an Artificial Spirit.

More importantly, the spiritual essence and spiritual light of that Artificial Spirit were extremely unbalanced, as if the spiritual light effect had been forcibly expanded, which would only cause the Artificial Spirit to collapse directly.

With Nie Ning's level, it was impossible for him not to foresee the consequences of doing so.

However, perhaps Nie Ning's talent for whimsical ideas was at work; maybe he just had some peculiar thought in mind.

"Sir, you are widely experienced. Do you know of any materials that can carry a soul without letting soul power leak away?"

Nie Ning masked his inner excitement and looked at Belen to ask.

The manufacturing process for the Mirror Pupil was very cumbersome, and the materials used belonged to a very ancient craft; some materials had even gone extinct.

Since Jonnamon was dead, he didn't know Jonnamon's source for the materials, or if the process had been improved.

Regardless, he needed to find a new way to manufacture it.

After all, finding extinct materials was too difficult; it was easier to find new fusion materials.

Besides, since he had already modified the soul requirement, perhaps changing other parts could result in a new alchemical tool.

...