Beads of sweat rolled down Ning's face as he put all of his focus on the cauldron in front of him.
The cauldron was different from his Hollow Jade cauldron. It looked much sturdier, was much wider, and had things that didn't look like alchemy ingredients inside.
Instead, the items inside looked like they were molten metal. Ning focused on the metal until he felt that the metals inside were at a certain equilibrium.
He immediately pulled out the liquid metal using his Qi and started forming it into different pieces of separate items.
Once they were all done, he started assembling them. He already had leathers from different beasts prepared as well as wood from a very strong tree.
Before he knew it, he had finished assembling the items. Next, he had to align the newly-formed item's Qi lines to do what he wanted them to do when he poured in Qi to the item.
Not every craft required Qi lines, but most did. Ning touched onto the item and started sending in his Qi to forcefully make new Qi lines. The better the Qi lines, the better the grade of the item would be.
His Qi ran rampant, but in an orderly manner as it entered the metal, leather, and wood. After nearly an hour of concentrating and more beads of sweat, he was finally done.
"Phew!" he wiped off his sweat and looked at the final Artifact he had created. The artifact was a chariot that could fly in the sky at incredible speed.
Unlike other flying artifacts, this one had seats in it for him to just sit down normally, instead of sitting on the ground.
Ning took the chariot outside and started using it. He got onto it and poured in his Qi. Soon, the chariot started hovering, and it started flying away.
"I did it!" he shouted and finally showed a smile on his face when he realized that he had been successful.
He roamed the back of the house for a few minutes and came back down to the backyard.
Eleonora was there waiting for him.
"Oh, he Ely. When did you come out?" he asked.
"Just now. You were in there for about 3 days; I see you've made a new one. What grade did it come out to?" Ely asked.
"4th," Ning said happily.
"Hey, that's not too bad. You can make 4th-grade artifacts in just 3 months, people would be jealous if they find out," she said.
Ning just laughed.
"What grade do you think you could make if you didn't try to learn it all on your own?" Ely asked.
"After a couple of days of practice, I would consistently make 8th or 9th grade, and soon reach 10th grade. Having almost all the knowledge is not that fun honestly," Ning said.
"Well, I wouldn't know. I had to learn most of it on my own," Ely said.
"Yeah, I'm trying to do that too. It's so much more fun. Every little advancement makes me feel like I've grown as an Artifact crafter," Ning said.
"You already know pills and beasts. Now, you are learning Artifacts. Are you going to learn about Formations and Talismans too?" Ely asked with a chuckle.
"Maybe. I do have quite a lot of years that I need to stay here. At the same time, I can't hurry up either. It's very annoying," Ning said.
"How long do you have to stay again?" Ely asked.
"Hmm… let me check," Ning said.
"Status"
[Status
Name: Ning Ruogong
Energy: 168.48 Trillion
Separated Energy-
Heat Energy: 920 Billion
Sound Energy: 22 Billion
Qi Energy: 167.32 Trillion
Kinetic Energy: 218 Billion
Aether Energy: 0
Skill: …]
"Sigh, I need close to 2200 years just to get the body," Ning said. As for the other stuff, I might have to forget about them for a while," Ning said.
"2200 years…that's not possible for even the strongest people to live. Unless one goes into closed cultivation, it should be impossible," Ely said.
"It's fine, I can add a thousand or 2 more years to someone's lifespan by simply giving them the new body cultivation that I will buy soon. In fact, I should look it up right now," Ning said and started checking his interface.
"Oh, it costs about 40 Trillion energy and needs you to be at least a level 37 body cultivator. I don't think neither Hyesi nor Anya and their families are at that level yet," Ning said. "Oh right, here. Take this is a form of payment for letting me stay here for the last 3 months."
Ning took out two talismans and handed them over to Ely. Ely caught it and read it. "These are the cultivation techniques? Ooh, I will gratefully take these. Thank you," Ely said with a chuckle.
"Alright, it's been a while so I will go check up on my disciples and their family. I will go to the academy in about 4 days," Ning said.
"Oh, you're not returning with us?" Ely asked.
"I don't know when I will get the next free time, so I will go now," Ning said. "Goodbye."
He disappeared.
"Shit! That ability always makes me jealous," Ely lightly said. She then looked at the cultivation techniques in her hands and was very surprised.
"Wow, these are much better than I expected. No wonder he is so strong. Once father and brother learn this, we won't have to keep staying low-key anymore," Ely thought.
Finally, Ely decided that it was time for her family to grow, to take on more business ventures, and do riskier things.
She walked back inside and quickly copied the techniques down into 4 more talismans and handed it over to Ember and Ender.
"Ning already went ahead, so we t0o will be going now, father," Ely said and walked outside.
A carriage was waiting for her, but she shook her head. Instead, she brought out a flying boat that could house both her and her brother.
Once the two of them were settled, they said their goodbyes and flew towards the academy.
