Bedroom.
Sunlight filtered in through the window, landing on Li Luo's back. He had a jade-tablet scroll in his hands, held up to his brow. His eyes were closed as he flipped through it. [1]
On the jade-tablet scroll was the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art that his parents had left him.
A long time later, he finally opened his eyes. He massaged his brow lightly. Despite his fatigue, his eyes were full of fire.
Li Luo had been looking forward to his second acquired resonance for a long time.
As he finally started to get familiar with the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art, Li Luo was starting to realize just how hard it was to get acquired resonances.
The Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art was made of many materials imbued with various strands of energies that were forged into the required object. For example, in order to forge an acquired fire resonance, one would need to find all sorts of fire-energy materials and then use a special method to forge and temper them until their varied energies reached harmony. And then one would need to use blood essence from one's own spirit soul to activate it. Finally, you would have produced a passable acquired resonance.
The most tedious part of this process was accumulating the materials, and the repeated calibrations to find a harmony.
In other words, the Godly Forging Art was not just a labor of skill, but also one of hard work.
After reading the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art, Li Luo knew that much of his remaining years would be spent on this.
But the good news was that Li Taixuan and Tan Tailan had left some notes at the back of the jade-tablet scroll detailing some of their past attempts. This was valuable experience that could help Li Luo save precious time, something that he barely had.
Most importantly, they had left him a hint. It was a suggestion that perhaps it would be good if the primary attribute of his second acquired resonance was wood.
The reason for this was tied to the blood essence and lifespan that Li Luo had lost in gaining his first acquired resonance. Although the waterlight resonance could help replenish losses, for safety's sake, a wood resonance was a good insurance policy.
This was because a wood resonance would not only have restorative properties, it would also have detoxifying properties. It would further boost his survivability. With water, wood, and light resonances, any damage that Li Luo took would no longer hurt his core.
"Wood resonance, eh..."
Li Luo lapsed into deep thought. He had originally thought to choose an offensive second resonance. But his parents had suggested the wood resonance. He would have to adjust his thinking.
Well, his waterlight resonance had been sufficiently modified, and he was getting by offensively. Perhaps a primary wood resonance would be workable.
Besides, the wood resonance was more about control. He could explore that further. First trap his opponent, then make them a pincushion for his arrows.
Still, that didn't seem very fitting. Maybe he would be seen as a sadist who loved torture...
Regardless, he already had handsome looks. No need to care about how he looked when he fought.
Li Luo made his decision. Channeling resonant power to his palm, he pressed it on the jade-tablet scroll.
Twang!
A beam of light shot out from the scroll, pouring out before expanding. Finally, it took shape as a six-colored wheel of light.
On the wheel of light, there were many holes. 128 of them, to be precise. One side had 86, the other 42.
The one with more holes was the primary, the one with less was the secondary.
And in the center of the wheel was a curious indent with many arcane patterns running out from it.
This was the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Wheel.
This was a support item that was crucial to getting an acquired resonance. It was fairly tricky to make, definitely way beyond Li Luo's current abilities. Luckily, his parents had left him one.
If he wanted to forge his second acquired resonance, he would have to gather all sorts of materials and learn special methods to distill them. Finally, he would have to fill the holes on the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Wheel. When both sides were fully complete, he would have to add his own spirit soul and blood essence to finish it.
Li Luo stared at the six-colored light wheel for a long time, then he shook the jade-tablet scroll to stow it away.
If wood was going to be the primary attribute, what about the secondary? How should he choose?
He sat in front of the hearth, deep in thought.
The harsh rays of sunlight gently transitioned into the dull red of evening.
Li Luo finally exhaled deeply and put brush briefly to paper. He wrote two words.
Wood.
Earth.
This was the best he had come up with. Primary wood, secondary earth.
Woodearth resonance!
Since wood's specialty was in control, then it should be honed to the fullest. The best support for a wood resonance was an earth resonance.
Their synergy would further reinforce the control he could bring.
Besides, both water and light would synergize quite well with a wood resonance as well.
And the defenses of an earth resonance would further help his survivability...
For all these reasons, Li Luo made his decision.
Done, he hesitated no longer, leaving the room in search of Cai Wei at the old manor. He told her his request.
"Young Lord, you need materials with wood and earth energies?" Although Cai Wei found this request strange, she accepted.
"There are some leftover things in the old manor's storehouse. I will retrieve them for you. If they are insufficient, I'll send someone to purchase what you need from the market."
Although these materials were not cheap, the Suncreek Villa was swimming in skygold. Much of the financial pressure had been alleviated, so they were no longer forced to pinch pennies like they did at the start.
"Thanks, Sister Cai Wei."
Li Luo gave her a jaunty wave and left her to her business.
Her lovely eyes watched his back, and she smiled as well. She could sense that Li Luo was in a good mood today.
After putting away her account book, she personally went to take care of his errand.
Thanks to her frightful efficiency, she had the first batch of materials delivered to his room within two hours.
In the room.
Li Luo pulled out a green plant from a jade box. It had green, windchime-shaped flowers.
This was a woodbell flower, a rare flower with wood properties.
Mouthing the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art's incantation, Li Luo pressed it with his fingers and pushed his resonant power in.
Weng, weng!
After a moment, a thumb-sized flame appeared on his palm. This flame was special. It had a translucent sheen to it, as though devoid of any element.
"This is the Acquired Resonance Flame?"
Li Luo looked at it curiously. The flame was the core of the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art, and only materials forged within the Acquired Resonance Flame could become acquired resonances.
However, Li Luo's own resonant power was still too weak. That was why the Acquired Resonance Flame he had summoned was only a small one.
"Well, I’ll do my best."
Li Luo shook his head exasperatedly. Plucking one woodbell flower, he lit it with the Acquired Resonance Flame.
However, he failed to control the heat properly the first time, reducing it to smoking ash.
No matter, failure was the mother of success.
The second, third, and fourth woodbell flowers all met the same fate.
"Come on! Why's it so hard?" Li Luo was feeling frustrated now. He could only take it as a learning experience. He moved on to another material and tried again.
After burning away several materials, Li Luo finally felt like he was getting the hang of things. He finally managed to forge a rare grass with earth properties.
He formed a dark-brown liquid, which he put into one of the holes on the six-colored light wheel. It immediately lit up, shining with a faint light, and a connection formed to the hole beside it.
Li Luo's heart leaped when he saw this. He forged yet another material, this time putting it into the hole that was connected.
However, the moment he added it, the six-colored light wheel started to quiver, as though trying to expel the material.
A rejection reaction
Li Luo hurriedly pulled it out. This meant that the material was not suited for his acquired resonance.
Next, Li Luo continued to try out various kinds, until he finally found one that was not rejected.
With the second hole filled, another strand of light extended out from it towards a third hole...
Li Luo would have to fill all the holes on the six-colored light wheel, and also achieve a balance between the primary and secondary sides before the acquired resonance was properly forged.
But when night fell, Li Luo had only managed to fill four holes. And he was completely drained.
This was an exhausting process.
However, he was not impatient. After all, he was still some time away from the Resonant Master Stage. Before that, he had time to slowly experiment with materials and piece the six-colored light wheel together.
That would be the time when he would get his second acquired resonance.
He could not wait.
1. It's hard to explain exactly what the Acquired Resonance Godly Forging Art is written on, but you can imagine many jade tablets strung together to form a long scroll. Here are some images: https://wantubizhi.com/pic/%E7%8E%89%E7%AE%80/