Cavereach City. Caveheart Isle. Dadangar Archipelago.
Aksai strolled through the bustling streets of Cavereach City, his thoughts focused on the task ahead.
The auction had given him a rare and valuable meteor stone, but now it was time to transform it into something even more formidable. His destination was a rental smithy cave, renowned for its facilities and privacy.
He navigated through the winding alleyways until he reached a secluded part of the city. There, nestled between towering rock formations, was the entrance to the rental smithy cave.
The entrance was marked by a stone archway, with runes carved into its surface. Aksai had already reserved a cave for himself and paid in advance for the same.
He approached the cave and placed his hand on a stone panel beside the entrance. The panel glowed briefly before a section of the rock wall slid aside, revealing the smithy cave. He stepped inside, taking in the sight.
“This looks manageable,” Aksai thought as he looked at the setup. The smithy he had created inside his underground facility on Emerald Cove was obviously more advanced than the rental smithy cave he had reserved. However, the rental cave saved Aksai a lot of time and effort.
Plus, it wasn’t like Aksai needed his own setup to craft items. He had neural link fabric that could adjust to any set of apparatus to derive the desired results after a few recalibrations. As such, Aksai decided it was wasteful to go back to his home to craft his qi-conducive sword.
The cave was spacious and well-equipped, with a central forge that dominated the room. The forge was a marvel of craftsmanship, its firepot fed by a network of bellows and pipes that ensured a consistent and powerful flame.
Surrounding the forge were workbenches laden with tools, from hammers and tongs to chisels and files. A cooling trough filled with water sat nearby, its surface shimmering with enchanted runes that ensured the perfect temperature for quenching.
Aksai reached into his storage ring and withdrew a giant stone, easily two times his height. He used his Earth-element Spirit spell to gently lower the stone onto the ground, its sheer weight causing a deep thud that echoed through the cave.
“Damn. What did it eat? Outer space burgers? So heavy!”
Aksai was sure that he wouldn’t have been able to even lift the meteor stone if he really was a Spirit Refining Perfectionist without any background in Qi cultivation. He re-realized why other buyers in the auction event looked reluctant to even check out this heavy stone.
Satisfied with the initial setup, Aksai turned his attention to sealing the cave. He placed his hand on a nearby boulder, channeling his Earth-element Qi to move it. The boulder rolled into place, blocking the entrance completely.
“Safety and privacy first.”
Next, he took out a barrier-type talisman from his storage ring. The talisman glowed faintly as he activated it, creating a shimmering barrier that would prevent any unwanted intrusions or prying eyes.
The cave was now secure. Aksai took a deep breath and turned his attention back to the meteor stone. Its surface was dark and smooth, with faint, silver veins running through it, hinting at the Qi-conducive properties within.
“Silver lines, huh? Why do I feel that this thing is perfect for my Argent Body Realm?”
He approached the stone, running his hand over its cool surface. The meteor stone hummed faintly under his touch, resonating with the Silver Qi within his body.
“Hmm. This will do nicely,” he muttered to himself, a small smile playing on his lips.
Aksai walked over to the forge and ignited the firepot. He adjusted the bellows, ensuring the flames burned hot and steady. Then, he retrieved a massive hammer from the workbench and approached the meteor stone.
Swoosh. Boom. Crack.
With a series of precise, powerful strikes, Aksai began to break the stone into more manageable pieces, each blow echoing through the cave-like thunder. It was difficult to craft a sword from a stone, especially when the stone was not conducive to Spirit essence.
However, Aksai had the techniques he had received from Martial World Sharang. The meteor stone was the perfect ingredient for him to test these techniques in Dadangar.
Aksai used his Silver Qi and Qi-based Essence Equations to liquefy the stone, turning it into a lava-like gelatinous matter. He followed the steps that were displayed on the spectral screens to a T, ensuring that the gelatinous matter was of the right consistency.
Sweat began to bead on Aksai’s forehead as he worked, but he remained focused. Once he had a sufficient number of smaller pieces, he placed them into the forge, allowing the intense heat to soften the stone. As the meteor stone began to glow, he used his tongs to maneuver the pieces, ensuring even heating.
This Qi-based Essence Equation crafting took a while. It made Aksai almost run out of all of his Silver Qi within his body. Thankfully, he had Flesh Pumpkins to replenish the lost Qi quickly. He ate those flesh-like fruits raw, which turned his mouth bloody and gory. It was as if he had bitten into the flesh of a freshly killed animal, eating the thing raw.
However, the Spirit farmer never really cared about how he looked. Just like his late father, Aksai was fine with getting his hands and clothes dirty while doing the work he was supposed to do.
After replenishing all his Qi using a Qi-based technique available in the Celestial Harmony, Aksai felt refreshed and good as new within just a few minutes. He then used a fire-element formation to maintain the temperature of the lava-like gelatinous matter.
Although the Qi-conducive meteor stone wasn’t responsive to Spirit spells, it had its limits. It couldn’t stay neutral to external factors in the environment at all times. As such, one could say that the meteor stone was highly resistant to Spirit spells but wasn’t immune to them.
It was kind of like the relationship of plastic with electricity. Plastic was non-conductive to electricity. However, it had its breaking point. Once a certain amount of high voltage had been forced to pass through it, even plastic would be forced to act like a conductor of electricity.
Furthermore, Aksai had already made the meteor stone lose its initial resistance for the most part after using his Qi-based methods to process it. So it became easier for him to use his Spirit spells for assistance.
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AN: Plastic (PVC) has a dielectric strength of 10 kilovolts to 30 kilovolts per millimeter. That means for a 1 mm thick piece, you’d need 10 to 30 thousand volts to get it to conduct. Practically speaking, there can only be things that are highly resistant to a broad range of energy types and elemental exposures up to a certain point, not immune to them.