Chapter 797: Truth Spiritual Resonance! Get on the Train First, Buy the Ticket Later!

At Lilith’s Cottage, in the alchemy hut.

Locke looked at the Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance in his hand and entered the advanced meditation state once more, returning his spirituality to a blank state.

Only this way could he avoid interfering with the spiritual traces within the Spiritual Resonance, and perceive its hidden true form.

Locke furrowed his brow. "According to the books I have read, one can only be said to have preliminarily mastered a Spiritual Resonance after seeing the complete hidden true form, memorizing it, and drawing it out in its entirety."

"After mastering the Spiritual Resonance, the next step is to find the corresponding mystical ritual for that wizard."

The final step was not hard to understand.

It meant converting the Spiritual Resonance into some kind of ritual action, so that the process of refining a potion could incorporate the Spiritual Resonance.

Once a potion incorporates a Spiritual Resonance, what is refined is no longer just an ordinary medicinal compound, not just a drug that produces a continuous magical reaction for a period of time after being consumed.

A Spiritual Resonance is the hidden true form of all things.

Once a potion incorporates a Spiritual Resonance, it means the potion possesses a certain kind of... special standing.

Locke's main body at Golden Crown Mountain was in the Second Circle free section reading materials.

"Special standing? Potion standing?"

Locke's expression shifted, and he immediately understood what a Second Circle potion meant.

Ordinary wizard apprentices, first-class wizard apprentices, First Circle wizards, and Second Circle wizards corresponded to four major levels of standing.

The so-called level distinctions existed only within these four major standings. Yet a Second Circle potion apparently had a capacity to slightly elevate one's standing in a specific direction. This meant that Second Circle potions were also enormously important for Second Circle wizards.

Yes. The total magic pressure of a Second Circle wizard was equivalent to a fraction of a small-scale world's. If one followed the logic of First Circle potion refining methods, then unless one literally used a world, or a world-level rare object, as medicine, it would be very difficult for anything to affect a Second Circle wizard.

'In other words, Spiritual Resonance studies represents an unavoidable, major advance in alchemy,' Locke reflected. 'Without the discovery of the Spiritual Resonance dimension, it would not be impossible to continue, but within the domain of First Circle alchemy, one could only use objects of ever-growing magic pressure as ingredients.'

'That would be a complete exhaustion of resources.'

'The entire wizard civilization would fall into a frenzied pursuit of more and more resources, consuming them at a frantic rate until they were all used up.'

This had actually occurred in a past era.

Locke recalled the Age of Stars, when King Otto had passed on his inheritance to him and mentioned that alchemy had not flourished in that age, and that his personal level could not represent the alchemy standards of the entire era.

In that age, there had been at most First Circle alchemists, and so the wizards of that era had been trapped in a desperate pursuit of absolute resources.

Three hundred million magical kingdoms had spread throughout the Age of Stars, competing fiercely over land and water.

Locke's avatar looked at the vivid red Spiritual Resonance floating before him, radiating a faint red glow.

It represented energy from a higher-dimensional level.

"Second Circle alchemy, because of Spiritual Resonance studies, has discovered the hidden true form of things. And so an iron rule of First Circle alchemy, that a potion whose magic pressure differs too greatly from the wizard's magic pressure will have no effect, or will have a reduced effect, does not exist in Second Circle alchemy."

"Because a Spiritual Resonance, as the hidden true form of things, can provide stronger energy with special properties."

"Second Circle potions have become extraordinarily powerful."

"A wizard drinking a bottle of a Second Circle potion is essentially gaining a certain kind of standing."

Locke reflected, 'In that case, the study of poisons at the Second Circle stage should see very significant development. Poisons that were previously difficult to take effect on high magic pressure entities like formal wizards and Second Circle wizards, who also possess permanent defensive force fields, would become very potent at the Second Circle alchemy stage because of Spiritual Resonance studies.'

Locke's main body looked at the materials.

"What is standing? The concept of standing in alchemy refers to the state where an object or person maintains its essential attributes unchanged over time. That object or person is then the same entity."

"And the identity of this same entity is called its standing."

"The Fourth Circle alchemist Paracelsus of the human pure-blood age was the founder of Spiritual Resonance studies. In commemoration of his enormous contribution to the development of alchemy, he was posthumously called the Truth Wizard by the world."

"Later, this honorific evolved into the name of a special fund awarded to outstanding Fourth Circle wizards. Wizards who obtain the Truth Wizard title receive a series of identities along with a corresponding annual financial subsidy from the White Wizard Association."

Locke's main body had a sudden realization.

"So that is it. This is the origin of the Truth Wizard title. And this origin is connected to alchemy."

"I wonder where the Star Sea Scholar title at the Fourth Circle level and the Throne Wizard title at the Third Circle level originate from. I should ask old Blue-Head one day."

Locke continued reading the article.

"It is said that the process of converting the Truth Wizard from an honorific into a specific identity title was itself a form of elevation or change of standing. And so a specific Spiritual Resonance can be extracted from within this process."

"Further, through this foundational Spiritual Resonance, combined with a special Fourth Circle-level method, one can derive the Truth Spiritual Resonance."

"This is the method of obtaining the primary material for the Truth Potion."

"But as I am currently only an expert-level alchemist, this method is currently only something I have heard about secondhand, and I do not yet know whether it is true. However, through Spiritual Resonance studies one can perform derivations to obtain more advanced Spiritual Resonances."

As Locke read this, it was as though someone had lit a lamp in a dark room.

"Spiritual Resonance studies does not only open a new world for alchemists. It is also a tool alchemists can use to explore higher worlds, just like mathematics."

"Through Spiritual Resonance, one can use the small to reach the great."

Although somewhat abstract, Locke had not anticipated that Spiritual Resonance studies, taken to its conclusion, could actually indirectly obtain a Truth Spiritual Resonance by extracting the Spiritual Resonance of the Truth Throne.

This was remarkable.

No wonder the world called Paracelsus the Truth Wizard.

He gave alchemy the path to continue upward, allowing the wizard civilization's pharmaceutical discipline to forge a different path.

And moreover, through the form of alchemy, one could derive unique alchemical truths.

Locke immediately felt brimming with energy and prepared to immediately master Spiritual Resonance and give it his full effort.

Then he calmed himself down.

He looked at the Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance in his hand and shook his head slightly.

"And so, I must first learn the first Spiritual Resonance."

"I have not even learned one plus one yet. It is not appropriate for me to be thinking about more advanced things."

"But learning Spiritual Resonance this way requires an enormous investment of time and resources."

Locke looked at the Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance before him.

Spiritual Resonances were excellent things, but the problem was that learning them was far too difficult.

This Spiritual Resonance of his had even been won in a wager with the Rose Throne. Other wizards would still need to purchase rubbings, which had limited uses and would deteriorate with repeated use.

So repeat purchases would be needed.

The price of a single Spiritual Resonance was above five million.

Ordinary Second Circle potions generally required more than one Spiritual Resonance. And so studying alchemy at the Second Circle stage might very well drain one completely, and one still might not master it.

Locke's avatar took out the Spiritual Resonance paper and Spiritual Resonance pen that he had purchased in the Cloud Marsh Wetlands and began drawing.

These were tools to help alchemists learn and record Spiritual Resonances.

The Spiritual Resonance pen was made from a special magical silver, a recent masterwork of alchemists. It could bear the power of a Spiritual Resonance and force it to reveal its hidden true form, allowing Spiritual Resonances that could previously only be observed but not touched or handled to be drawn by wizards on paper.

The Spiritual Resonance paper was also made by alchemists from a special magical silver paper.

Once inscribed, the image would not fade.

It was one method of forcing a Spiritual Resonance to reveal itself, and could also be used to make rubbings.

An entire night passed.

Locke was drenched in sweat. Observing a Spiritual Resonance, even one that had already taken form rather than observing it directly from within an object, placed extremely high demands on an alchemist's perceptive ability.

His perceptive ability was already far beyond that of an ordinary wizard.

But it was still overwhelmingly difficult to observe, extremely slow, and very tiring.

Locke even felt that his perceptive ability was somewhat insufficient, so he supplemented observation with intuition, using intuition to make educated guesses.

Half based on observation and half based on guessing, it took him three sheets of Spiritual Resonance paper to produce three rubbings.

In the morning, bright light poured into his room. Locke looked at the three failed rubbings, knowing they were his own crude attempts with large deviations from the true Spiritual Resonance.

"However..."

Locke wore an odd expression.

"In the early stages of Second Circle alchemy, the foundational requirements for Spiritual Resonance studies are actually not very high. The key point is mastering the Spiritual Resonance and then reaching the final step."

"Which is converting the Spiritual Resonance into ritual actions used when refining potions."

In other words, a bow during potion refining, a flip of a coin, or even a meaningless shout.

Any of these would do.

As long as the ritual action conformed to the Spiritual Resonance.

This was also why, when he had previously read the Avatar Potion's magical text, it had contained no record of which Spiritual Resonance to use.

Because these actions steeped in mysticism had to conform to the Spiritual Resonance, and this could not be described in words alone. It could only be described using the language of Spiritual Resonance studies.

And so within the Avatar Potion's magical text, there was nothing other than the language of Spiritual Resonance studies that could describe this action.

In a certain sense, Spiritual Resonance studies could be understood as a special tool language similar to mathematics.

Using this language, the special ritual work suffused with mysticism could be described.

The key was not that those actions had to be executed without any deviation, identical in every detail. The key was that the Spiritual Resonance trajectory of Spiritual Resonance studies had to be without any deviation.

Locke looked at the three failed attempts before him and reflected, "Spiritual Resonances have standard forms, but the wizards refining potions differ, and so different wizards using the same Spiritual Resonance will produce slightly different ritual actions."

"Many Second Circle alchemists get stuck at this step and ultimately have no choice but to give up."

"Mastering a Spiritual Resonance requires too many resources and too much time."

"But perhaps I can use the synthesis magic cube to skip this step."

"Spiritual Resonance studies foundations are like mathematics foundations. They are indeed very important, but to enter Second Circle alchemy, one can be a little clever and skip this foundation first. Use first, study later."

"Get on the train first, buy the ticket later."

Locke looked at the three failed rubbings before him, and they showed up as Tier 8 synthesis items, meaning they could actually be synthesized.

Locke immediately chose to synthesize them.

"As expected, Spiritual Resonance rubbings are samples and can be synthesized."

Locke waited a day, then took out the synthesized Spiritual Resonance item: on a sheet of Spiritual Resonance silver paper, a reasonably respectable Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance rubbing had been produced.

It even had an entry description.

Scarlet Bloodstone Spiritual Resonance Rubbing: a Tier 9 synthesis item, the introductory practice work of a Second Circle alchemist. After ten years of training, this alchemist has finally barely managed to draw the first respectable Spiritual Resonance. This alchemist uses this Spiritual Resonance rubbing to convert into their own ritual action, cutting open their own left-hand little finger. Specific description...

This ritual action can add the hidden true form of the Scarlet Bloodstone to the refined potion.

Locke's eyes lit up as he looked at the specific description.

For some unknown reason, that section of the description had simply been omitted. Perhaps no magical text could bear that information, so it had become a memory that appeared directly in his mind.

Locke exhaled a long breath, his mood enormously lifted.

In this way, he could walk the path of alchemy.

According to the entry, at his natural level of talent, it would apparently have taken ten years to master the first Spiritual Resonance.

And this was already with the enhancement of ancient creature bloodlines that had improved his perceptive ability and intuition.

Even so, mastering the first Spiritual Resonance would require ten years.

Although the saying was that all beginnings are hard, and that after mastering the first one, with his foundation in Spiritual Resonance studies, learning other Spiritual Resonances should not take that long.

But if it were an ordinary wizard in his place, would they not need several decades to learn a single Spiritual Resonance?

No wonder so many alchemists stalled before reaching the Second Circle.

It was simply too difficult and the costs too high.

Locke looked at his rubbing.

"What I have done is equivalent to skipping the Spiritual Resonance foundations and going directly for the answer. At least in the early stages of Second Circle alchemy, having this answer allows me to immediately begin refining potions."

"Not to worry. I can first refine Second Circle potions, and use the experience gained from that to feed back into my Spiritual Resonance studies. Get on the train first, buy the ticket later."

Locke reflected that having obtained the hidden true form of the Scarlet Bloodstone, he should now be able to refine potions related to the use of the Scarlet Bloodstone's hidden true form.

He could look up which potions could be refined, and then use Second Circle potions and sell Second Circle potions.

With this, Second Circle alchemy had been made viable for him.

Moreover...

His Synthesis Cube could now synthesize Tier 10 items, which meant he could also produce Tier 9 rubbings by drawing Spiritual Resonances, and then synthesize those into Tier 10 rubbings.

This would allow him to obtain rubbings of higher precision, convert them into ritual actions of higher precision, and thereby improve the quality of his Second Circle potions.

Refining Second Circle potions of greater difficulty.

Locke calculated the cost.

"A single sheet of Spiritual Resonance paper costs only ten thousand magic stones. A single Spiritual Resonance pen can be used ten times and costs only one hundred thousand."

"A normal alchemist would certainly consume paper and pen at a streaming pace. But I can first use potions to earn money, and then use the money earned to draw Spiritual Resonances, gradually building up my Spiritual Resonance studies foundation."

Locke still needed to spend money drawing Spiritual Resonances. After all, getting on the train first still meant buying the ticket later.

Spending money was certainly still necessary.

The difference was just that others spent money first before mastering how to refine a potion, while he would master how to refine a potion before spending money on the study.