Chapter 159: Chapter 158: Tracking the "Probe
’Abyss... Shadow...’
Ian gazed at the crystal, his thoughts turning to the prying Shadow Energy. An idea was gradually taking shape.
He carefully used a pair of special tweezers to pick up the smallest fragment, placing it on the insulated tray in the center of the Alchemy Platform.
Then, he started taking a few items from his materials cabinet.
A small vial containing a residual extract of a Shadow Pattern Viper’s chilling blood. He had used this back when he was practicing the Bloodline Purification Technique; it had a strong affinity for Shadow Energy and was excellent at retaining its signature.
A few grams of Silent Dust, an inert powder capable of absorbing and temporarily storing specific energy fluctuations.
Finally, there was a pinch of an extremely viscous, almost solid "inert Spiritual Power adhesive" that he had personally concocted from Blood Essence and a few scrap materials.
He wasn’t trying to refine an offensive Magic Potion, nor was he making a protective item.
He was going to make a "lure."
It was a special lure designed to target Shadow Energy—specifically, the kind with a prying intent.
The entire concept stemmed from his preliminary analysis of the Abyssal Contamination Neutralizer project and the fragments of knowledge granted by the [Abyssal Soul Contract].
The Abyssal Rule possessed extremely strong erosive and contractual properties.
Shadow Energy, in a way, is also a form of Erosion and Concealment against "light" and "existence."
He planned to use physical grinding and energy vibrations to obtain a minuscule amount of Abyssal Crystal Powder.
The process would likely be extremely dangerous, but with the filtered Perception provided by his panel to guide him, there shouldn’t be any mishaps.
He would then mix in materials sensitive to shadow, attempting to create a covert tag that could latch onto the probing Energy and "retract" along with it.
This tag itself would be extremely faint and harmless, almost impossible to detect by conventional means.
But once successfully attached, Ian could use his panel’s special connection to the Abyss to vaguely perceive the target’s location within a certain range.
He might even be able to "sniff out" some of the unique traits of their Spiritual Power.
It was an extremely risky and unorthodox attempt. The success rate was unknown, and the risk of backlash was not insignificant.
But Ian felt it was worth a shot.
"Gaga, keep an eye on our surroundings, especially the windows and door frames. Tell me immediately if you sense any abnormal fluctuations in Shadow Energy."
Ian gave the order, holding his breath as he focused his Spiritual Power with extreme intensity.
He began to handle the Abyssal Crystal Fragment with extreme slowness and caution.
He wasn’t using conventional Alchemy methods. Instead, as if performing a delicate surgical procedure, he guided a faint cutting Energy with his Spiritual Power, carefully shaving off micro-particles finer than dust from the fragment’s edge.
Gaga instantly went on alert, silently melting into the room’s shadows.
Its mismatched eyes glowed faintly, taking in the entire shadow dimension of the residence.
As a future Shadow Messenger, its reconnaissance abilities in this environment far surpassed others of its tier.
"Got it, Ian. If any more ’Insects’ show up, they won’t escape my eyes... or my nose! Ga!"
Time ticked by, second by agonizing second, in a state of tense Concentration.
Fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on Ian’s temples.
Handling the Abyssal Crystal, even such a tiny piece, sent a faint, stinging pain through his Sea of Spirit, accompanied by echoing whispers.
Fortunately, the panel’s Purification ability ran steadily, suppressing the negative effects to a minimum.
At last, a small pinch of powder shimmering with a faint, dark purple light was ready. He carefully mixed it into a base compound.
A tiny Crystal "thorn," only an inch long and sealing a murky fluid within, slowly took shape with the aid of his Alchemy Tools.
It had no sharp edges; its tip was rounded, making it look more like a miniature seal.
Ian picked it up, pointing it toward the window.
The traces of the previous probing were most distinct there.
"By shadow’s guide, by Abyss’s seal..."
He softly chanted the activation Spell he had conceived on the spot, his Spiritual Power coiling around the "thorn" like silken threads.
"HUM..."
After a tremor so slight it was almost imperceptible, the "thorn" quietly dissipated.
It transformed into an invisible Force Field, suffused with a subtle Abyssal ripple, that covered an extremely limited area around the window.
It was like a thin spiderweb with a special "stickiness," silently waiting for the next reckless "shadow-fly" to blunder into it.
Having done all this, Ian let out a long sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
’The lure is set.’
He looked out at the deep darkness of the night, his expression calm but with an icy glint in his eyes.
’Now, let’s see which ’Insect’ can’t resist coming back for another bite.’
After dealing with the Abyssal Crystal Powder, Ian put his things away. His mind settled, and he resumed his Meditation.
The panel’s filter remained stable. The faint connection to the Abyss within his Sea of Spirit was sustained by the operation of the [Starry Sky Festival].
With every Meditation session, a pure stream of Abyssal Spiritual Origin would intermittently flow into him, where it was completely absorbed and refined.
’The pipeline for siphoning this stuff is stable now.’
Ian knew this would be a significant accelerator for his training, but it still wasn’t enough.
On his panel, the Skill Level for the [Concentration Potion] was still some way off from Limit-Breaking, but that didn’t matter.
Once he succeeded in improving it, the Skill Level would increase dramatically, just as it had when he’d improved the [Rock Bear Potion].
But with Tier One Potions, it was no longer a simple matter of piling on ingredients, especially when it involved a Tier One Transformation.
The core of his idea had begun to germinate in his mind the first time he saw the formula for that Tier One Bloodline Potion.
The concept of combining the Centuries-Old Earth Qi with the Vitality of the Dawn Dew to neutralize a potion’s violent, feral nature had given him a great deal of inspiration.
Now, he was applying this same line of thinking to the improvement of a Spiritual Potion.
The core of the Tier Zero [Concentration Potion] was to "organize" and "condense" one’s spirit.
It was like a gentle comb, helping a Wizard smooth out the fraying edges of their Spiritual Power, making it easier to control and grow.
But at Tier One, a Wizard’s Spiritual Power has already transformed from the Void to a state of Vaporization or Liquefaction, with the eventual goal of solidification at even higher tiers.
Simply "organizing" and "condensing" was no longer sufficient; he needed to introduce a more proactive "activity" or "resilience."
Ian’s goal was to retain the potion’s original properties of "stabilizing the mind and assisting condensation," while also embedding a new characteristic: "gently stimulating the activity of one’s Spiritual Power."
This required introducing new ingredients capable of imparting such a property.
Ian scoured the catalog of exchangeable Tier One ingredients and finally zeroed in on two promising candidates for Auxiliary Materials.
One was the Juice of the Living Thought Vine, renowned for its ability to gently stimulate mental vitality, but its drawback was a tendency to cause mental agitation.
The other was Starlight Sand, which contained a faint Star Force and could passively nourish one’s Spiritual Power, but its Tier was too low.
He chose neither of them as a direct substitute.
He recalled something Alevia had said during a lecture.
"The task of a Magic Potion Alchemist isn’t to mechanically replicate a formula. It is to understand the resonance between ingredients, the potential for conflict and transformation, and to guide them to fuse in the desired direction..."
He also recalled the Satori he’d experienced while improving the [Rock Bear Potion].
Finding agility within weight, and resilience within hardness.
The key was to find a "guiding medium" to harmonize the seemingly conflicting energies.
’So, for the [Concentration Potion], what is the key to making "condensation" and "activity" coexist?’
