The Synthesis Wizard

Half a month later.

At the top level of the Dragon Skeleton Tower, beside the Elemental Pool.

Sunan glanced at the hundred engraved gems in his spatial ring, a satisfied smile on his face.

These gems should suffice for dealing with the Lightning Elemental Spirits.

Steeling himself, Sunan opened a spatial portal and stepped through.

With a dizzying shift, he found himself in the Lightning Elemental Plane.

Before him stretched an endless expanse of dark clouds, filling every inch of his vision.

Within the clouds, lightning raced and thunder roared, occasionally splitting the clouds with blinding flashes, evoking a raw, primal sensation.

"A Lightning Elemental Plane without solid ground."

Below him was also cloud, but fortunately, Sunan had already cast Levitation before entering, so he wasn't caught off guard and didn't fall.

Without hesitation, he reopened the spatial portal and exited.

In such cloud-filled, visibility-reducing elemental spaces, the variables in battle were too great—not the best choice.

Since he could switch entry points indefinitely, at the cost of a few gems, Sunan could afford it.

In the subsequent attempts, the elemental spaces were either too harsh or had energy particle concentrations that were too high, leading Sunan to decisively abandon them.

Only on the fifth attempt did he find an elemental space similar to the last one.

Casting an Elemental Energy Shield on himself and activating the Forbidden Zone, Sunan flew deeper into the space.

His target was the Elemental Spirit, which typically roamed the depths of the elemental plane.

Sunan didn't linger as he traveled, ignoring any elemental spirits that attempted to attack him, quickly outpacing them with his speed.

As he delved deeper, the concentration of energy particles in the air grew denser.

Suddenly, Sunan's expression shifted as he looked ahead to see a vaguely humanoid figure, over ten meters tall, crackling with arcs of electricity, charging towards him at high speed.

"An Elemental Spirit!"

Sunan felt a thrill instead of fear.

He had finally found his target.

Without hesitation, Sunan threw an engraved gem.

Considering that lightning energy particles couldn't harm the Lightning Elemental Spirit and might even replenish it, Sunan's latest batch of engraved gems contained no "Lightning Burst" but were instead filled with "Blazing Flame," "Icy Chill," "Nether Shadow," and "Gale Force."

As the gem emitted a blinding light, an intense cold erupted, enveloping the Lightning Elemental Spirit.

In an instant, the spirit's form was coated in a layer of frost, significantly dimming its crackling arcs.

While the spirit was slowed, Sunan hurled two more "Blazing Flame" and "Gale Force" gems, engulfing the spirit in flames and wind, while his Liquid Metal surged forth, transforming into a mighty silver giant that charged at the spirit with unmatched force.

Caught off guard by the engraved gems and then struck by the silver giant's fist, the Lightning Elemental Spirit, despite its ethereal form, was unable to withstand the elemental energy within the Liquid Metal and staggered back.

The spirit, inherently violent, was infuriated by the unanticipated loss and roared, swinging its fists at the silver giant.

Both the Lightning Elemental Spirit and Sunan were wizard-level entities, yet their combat was raw and brutal.

They met force with force, strength with strength. Despite their bare hands, the clash was like two titanic armored figures colliding, producing deafening booms.

Visible energy flares and shockwaves radiated from their clash, distorting the void in waves.

The ground beneath them cracked and crumbled, forming a massive crater in moments.

After a brief exchange, Sunan had gauged the battle.

Perhaps because they hadn't reached the core of the elemental space, this Lightning Elemental Spirit's power was unremarkable among its kind, akin to a newly ascended first-level gaseous wizard at best.

However, with the home field advantage, its combat power was enhanced to nearly a first-level liquid wizard's level.

Fortunately, this was within his capability to handle.

Having assessed his opponent's strength, Sunan no longer held back, directing the silver giant in a fierce assault while liberally throwing engraved gems.

With his increased mental refinement, he could now synthesize up to twenty-two gems, each with power roughly four times that of a standard rune engraving.

Even formal wizards couldn't ignore such power.

As over ten gems bombarded the Lightning Elemental Spirit, it was quickly overwhelmed.

In just a few breaths, the spirit's dazzling electric glow visibly dimmed, and its massive form shrank by nearly half.

Seizing the opportunity, Sunan pressed the attack with growing intensity.

After ten minutes, with a final roar of defiance, the Lightning Elemental Spirit shattered, dissolving into countless light particles, leaving behind an egg-sized, irregular blue crystal falling to the ground.

Sunan emerged from the silver giant, deftly catching the crystal.

Admiring the gem-like blue crystal in his palm, a pleased smile spread across his face.

An Elemental Core.

A crystal containing concentrated elemental energy, a superior material to elemental dust.

Only elemental creatures of the Elemental Spirit level or above contained Elemental Cores.

But this wasn't the source of Sunan's delight; rather, it was the divine energy within the Elemental Core.

Placing the core into his synthesis cube, Sunan quickly obtained detailed information.

"6 standard units of divine energy, a bit less than expected."

Spider-based creatures typically housed 8 standard units of divine energy, making the elemental spirit's quantity less.

Reflecting on it, Sunan understood.

Spider creatures were entirely created from divine energy, whereas elemental spirits were a fusion of elemental and divine energy, with the former predominating. It was natural for the divine energy to be lesser.

"It should boost my mental refinement by about 0.4%."

Previously, this amount of divine energy could enhance mental refinement by 0.5% to 0.6%, but as refinement advanced, so did the difficulty.

Sunan estimated that at the first-level liquid stage, the divine energy needed for a 1% increase might soar to fifty or sixty standard units.

For now, though, the benefits of a single Elemental Core were quite substantial.

One battle had consumed eighteen engraved gems.

Sunan calculated that each gem currently cost about 5,800 gold coins, making eighteen gems just over 100,000 gold coins.

Spending 100,000 gold coins for a 0.4% mental refinement increase was, overall, a fair trade.

In the energy-rich elemental space, Sunan quickly recovered his mental energy to its peak and resumed hunting.

Without delving into the core, he circled its perimeter, searching for more Lightning Elemental Spirits.

Soon, Sunan found his next target.

This time, he charged forward before the spirit could strike.

The battle resumed.

Two days later, when Sunan returned to the Dragon Skeleton Tower, his spatial ring contained three Elemental Cores.

The cost was over fifty engraved gems.

Beside the Elemental Pool, Sunan sat cross-legged, beginning to absorb the divine energy from the Elemental Cores.

Natural divine creatures like elemental spirits had inherently pure divine energy, free of any belief pollution, ready for direct absorption and synthesis.

Once all three cores had crumbled to dust, Sunan's mental refinement reached 76.06%.

Delighted by the panel's data, Sunan's joy was palpable.

At this rate, he would soon break through to the first-level liquid stage.

The only issue was the high consumption of engraved gems in this enhancement method.

To reach the first-level liquid stage, he would need to invest at least six million gold coins in gems.

Although the Star Alliance's annual income now exceeded ten million gold coins, many areas required funding.

Crafting secret puppets, making Crystal Soul Potions, manufacturing wizard tools, and, most significantly, building the wizard tower.

A sudden expenditure of six million gold coins would strain the Star Alliance's cash flow.

"If only there were a cheaper way to hunt Lightning Elemental Spirits."

Sunan pondered.

But he knew he was being somewhat greedy.

What first-level gaseous wizard could hunt Lightning Elemental Spirits in the Lightning Elemental Plane like he could?

Without certain resources and methods, an ordinary first-level gaseous wizard facing a Lightning Elemental Spirit would end up as charred remains.

Only True Spirit descendants might have higher-tier wizards gather Elemental Cores for their cultivation.

Shaking his head, Sunan dismissed unrealistic thoughts, focusing on the elemental dust left by the crystalized cores.

Even with the divine energy absorbed, the elemental energy remained, essentially reverting to elemental dust.

Wait!

A thought struck Sunan like lightning.

Elemental spirits evolve from lesser elemental beings, with the elemental dust in their bodies coagulating to form Elemental Cores.

In essence, an elemental being's evolution into an elemental spirit mirrored the transformation of elemental dust into an Elemental Core.

Could this mean that elemental dust could be synthesized into divine energy-containing Elemental Cores?

Sunan was invigorated by the possibility.

This seemed plausible.

Similar to the blood of the Doom Knocker, which contained special factors from the divine being Screamer Worm. Activating these factors generated divine energy.

Elemental spirits likely contained a similar factor. Once elemental energy concentration reached a threshold, a qualitative change would activate this factor, enabling their transition to elemental spirits and the generation of divine energy.

If his hypothesis held, he could synthesize Elemental Cores from elemental dust!

Hunting lesser elemental spirits was far simpler than hunting full elemental spirits!

Resolutely, Sunan prepared to test his theory.

The elemental dust he collected from the Lightning Elemental Plane remained in his spatial ring, ready for use in the synthesis cube.

[Elemental Dust, Purity 28.35%, containing concentrated lightning elemental energy, usable for crafting potions, magical items, and constructs, or for setting up arrays.]

Without pause, Sunan added more elemental dust to the synthesis cube, watching the synthesis interface intently.

The purity of the elemental dust rapidly increased.

Once it surpassed 100%, the synthesis interface finally changed.

[Elemental Core, a crystal containing immense lightning elemental energy, also holding a trace of pure divine energy (0.1 standard units), usable for crafting potions, magical items, and constructs, or for setting up arrays. Divine energy can be directly absorbed to enhance mental strength.]

"It worked!"

Sunan was overjoyed.

Elemental dust could indeed be synthesized into Elemental Cores!

Though it only contained a scant 0.1 standard units of divine energy, it was a success.

A small amount was better than none.

Even a minuscule quantity could be synthesized to enhance growth.

Taking a deep breath to calm his excitement, Sunan poured the remaining elemental dust into the synthesis cube, ultimately creating an Elemental Core with 2 standard units of divine energy.

He absorbed the core's divine energy, increasing his mental refinement by 0.13%.

While the gain wasn't huge, it was enough to excite Sunan.

With this method, he no longer needed to risk or spend heavily to hunt Lightning Elemental Spirits; he could simply hunt lesser elemental spirits instead.

Originally seeking an additional source of divine energy, he had discovered a low-cost method for rapidly enhancing mental refinement—Sunan was elated.

Focusing on the elemental dust from the latest synthesized core, Sunan had a sudden inspiration.

Could this elemental dust be reused?

If so

Sunan's eyes lit up as he added all the powder to the synthesis cube.

To his disappointment, the resulting Elemental Core lacked divine energy.

"Is it because the special factor was absorbed along with the divine energy?"

Despite his disappointment, Sunan quickly understood.

Without the special factor, the elemental dust couldn't regenerate divine energy and could only be used as regular material.

Shaking his head, Sunan soon regained his composure.

While it was a pity, finding a method to synthesize Elemental Cores was already quite an achievement.

With this approach, he could reach the first-level liquid stage in two to three years.

This was far less time than originally anticipated.

"At this rate, I might have a chance to ascend to a second-level wizard before the planar barrier fully restores."

Sunan smiled.

Even in the vast multiverse, a second-level wizard was considered powerful.

He could confront the [Dark Throne] or join another wizard faction.

No wizard faction would refuse a second-level wizard with a clear background.

Ascending to a second-level wizard and constructing a wizard tower.

These were Sunan's goals for the next seven hundred years.

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