Douluo: Ant Power Breaks the Sky

Chapter 16 Core Array
One year later, in Shi San's blacksmith shop.

"Brother, this sword is very well made. It is made entirely of iron. But why did you make the sword body and the hilt together? This not only uses more iron but also increases the weight of the sword. Wouldn't it be better to use a lighter material as the hilt?"

Shi Yi nodded and said, "I don't want to make an ordinary sword. The hilt is easily crushed if it is made of ordinary lightweight materials. If the materials between the sword body and the hilt are not compatible, the flow of soul power will be problematic."

Hearing this, Tang San was slightly surprised, and asked uncertainly: "Brother, do you want to make a sword that a spirit master can use?"

Shi Yi nodded and said, "That's right, now we are just one step away."

Looking at the sword that was shining with cold light, there was a hole on the hilt.

Melee soul guide device was the first project that Shi Yi tried. Compared with other soul guide devices, it had an unparalleled practical basis. If we were to ask what the most commonly used weapon was for non-soul masters on the mainland, it would be the sword, and for the army, it would be the spear.

This sword was also made of materials that Shi Yi saved up bit by bit with his daily soul master subsidy. In fact, for Shi Yi, long weapons such as spears and sticks are more suitable for him than swords, but he is too poor now. A spear made entirely of iron essence can be sold for at least 500 gold soul coins on the market. He was able to obtain iron essence at a low cost because he practiced the Chaos Cloak Hammer Technique with Tang San.

"One step away?" Tang San asked doubtfully.

"Xiao San, if this sword wants to be truly successful, it needs another thing, something that can make the soul power show the properties you want and amplify this property." Shi Yi chuckled.

"What is it?" Tang San asked puzzledly.

"A brain, the core formation of the soul guide." Shi Yi said with a smile.

After saying this, Shi Yi put the sword he had made into his soul guide.

Tang San's face was filled with even more surprise. He had also studied with Yu Xiaogang for a year, so he naturally knew what a soul guide was.

"As for weapon-type soul guides, I wonder how powerful they are compared to hidden weapons?" Tang San thought secretly.

Tang San did not continue asking, it was obvious that Shi Yi's soul guide was still in the research stage.

Seeing that Tang San had no problem, Shi Yi continued to think about the design of his first soul guide.

"Iron is the best material I can use at the moment. Most of the weapons of the elite army are also made of iron. Its biggest advantage is that it is tough, but it is too heavy, far heavier than ordinary iron. If I hadn't absorbed the spirit ring of the Thousand-pound Ant, I would not be able to lift it, let alone wield it at will. The material used in the core magic array has the best wind attribute, which can not only make the weapon light, but also enhance the cutting ability."

"I can only ask the teacher for help with the materials. Let's think about the design of the core magic circle first."

Thinking of this, Shi Yi took out his little notebook from his soul guide and began to think.

According to Shi Yi's research on soul guides, a core magic array represents the underlying logic of the soul guide's operation. Take the storage belt that Yu Xiaogang gave him as an example. It only has the function of storage, and the core magic array is divided into two different layers.

Under Shi Yi's careful observation, these two parts represent storage and taking out respectively. Shi Yi tried to carve the same core magic circle on other materials, but it had no effect. Shi Yi had two guesses. One was that the carving was incomplete or there were errors in some subtle places. The other was the material problem. Every jade on the belt was not a simple material.

"The main function of the core array of a melee soul guide is to store and amplify energy, so that the soul master can burst out with power beyond his own in each move when using soul power normally. If it is based on wind-attributed materials, since soul masters can speed up their cultivation speed through special soul power circulation routes, the core array for storing energy must be in the shape of a closed loop, just like the soul power circulating in the soul master's body. Different materials have different properties and patterns. If you want to speed up the energy storage speed and amplify the soul power burst, you must experiment with the most efficient soul power circulation route and shape on the material."

"No wonder most core magic arrays are mainly circular."

Thinking of this, Shi Yi couldn't help but curl the corners of his mouth slightly. He already had his own experimental ideas for the depiction of the core magic circle, and now he only lacked materials.

Shi Yi had no choice but to accompany Tang San in forging iron.

After Shi Yi and Tang San finished a day's work in Shi San's blacksmith shop, at dinner time, Shi Yi couldn't wait to go to the second floor of the cafeteria to wait for Yu Xiaogang to appear.

Yu Xiaogang also appeared in the cafeteria on time. When he came to the second floor, Yu Xiaogang saw a look of surprise on Shi Yi's face. Shi Yi came very early today.

After skillfully ordering a few dishes at the cafeteria window, Yu Xiaogang slowly sat down in front of Shi Yi.

"Just tell me what's going on." Yu Xiaogang looked at Shi Yi helplessly.

Shi Yi chuckled and said, "Teacher, do you have money? Or can you help me get some special materials with wind properties that are particularly conductive?"

Yu Xiaogang looked surprised and asked, "In just one year, you have made some progress in your research on soul guides?"

Shi Yi smiled and said, "All that's left is the experiment."

"I don't have money, but maybe I can help you with special materials with wind attributes." Yu Xiaogang said to Shi Yi.

Shi Yi showed a look of surprise and stretched out his hand towards Yu Xiaogang.

"Not now, but maybe in a few days." Yu Xiaogang said lightly to Shi Yi.

"After a few days? You won't set your sights on your two old friends, will you?" Shi Yi said with a smile.

Yu Xiaogang looked at Shi Yi and sighed slightly, "It seems that you already know my origins. I haven't contacted Flanders for a long time."

"How do you know that old friend has what I want?" Shi Yi asked puzzledly.

Yu Xiaogang fell into reminiscence after hearing this and said, "Because it is Flanders' dream to build an academy. When we traveled around the continent, Flanders collected a lot of materials with different properties. The most important thing for an academy is the simulated training environment. Only when a large number of special materials with the same properties are piled together through special means can a simulated training environment suitable for soul masters be created."

Shi Yi's eyes suddenly lit up. Flanders's family background was much richer than he had imagined.

“If I can successfully create the first soul guide, then when I go to Shrek in a few years, I will be able to get in touch with the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and won’t have to worry about materials and money anymore.” Shi Yi said secretly in his heart.

"Okay, let's eat first. Since you have some idea, I will write a letter after dinner and get some materials for you." Yu Xiaogang said to Shi Yi.

Shi Yi nodded happily when he heard that.

……

Three days later, Shi Yi finished his day's work and returned to his room.

When he opened the door, he saw the various materials with green light piled up in Yu Xiaogang's room. Seeing this, Shi Yi's young eyes were full of excitement. At this moment, Shi Yi had a clearer understanding of Soul Saints. Shi Yi originally thought that Soul Saints like Flanders who did not bow to the powerful would be very poor, but Shi Yi was sure that the wind attribute materials in this room were enough to make his experiment successful.

Shi Yi made a simple inventory and found that there were not only special metals, but also many wind-attribute materials produced from soul beasts, hard claws, feathers, inner elixirs and the like.

Shi Yi tapped the special metals casually.

"Oh my god, these materials cannot be carved with an ordinary carving knife." Shi Yi couldn't help but mutter to himself.

"These things are used as the core of the iron-made things. I am afraid that if the soul power is condensed to a certain extent, it will cause the collapse of the entire soul guide."

Shi Yi picked and chose among various materials and finally found a large piece of special metal with wind attributes among the pile of materials.

Although ordinary wind crystals are not very precious, this piece of wind crystal is valuable because it is pure enough, which ensures that it is easy to carve and has sufficient material so that the iron essence will not be unable to withstand the power.

Finally, Shi Yi found a feather among the pile of materials, an extremely sharp feather. Shi Yi could feel a breeze blowing across his hand just by holding it in his hand. You have to know that this was in the room, how could a breeze appear out of nowhere?

"This thing is a natural carving knife. If it is made into a hidden weapon for Tang San, the damage it causes will not be low." Shi Yi looked at the power of the feather with joy.

Shi Yi carefully tried to use the feather to cut the large piece of wind crystal into small pieces. It turned out that the sharpness of the feather was far beyond Shi Yi's imagination. It cut the wind crystal with a casual stroke. Seeing this, Shi Yi was sure that the thing in his hand came from a wind-attributed soul beast that was at least 30,000 years old.

Shi Yi marked the large piece of wind crystal with a pen, divided it into several pieces, and couldn't wait to try it.

In fact, in Shi Yi's opinion, the core magic array of the soul guide is similar to the CPU of the computer in the previous life, and the carving of the core magic array is to continuously add cores and threads to the core array on the basis of materials to ensure the improvement of efficiency. And in order to make the core magic array multi-core and multi-threaded, it requires extremely high eyesight and mental strength to continuously and accurately carve in the already extremely small core magic array.

"No wonder the soul guide has to wear glasses. It would be great if I could learn the Purple Demon Pupil from Xiao San. Let's get started first. Without Zhang the butcher, will I have to eat hairy pigs?" Shi Yi thought secretly.

“Start with the simplest circular closed loop, and try to create multiple loops in it…”

Shi Yi was concentrating on carving and didn't even notice the sound of Yu Xiaogang opening and closing the door after he came back.

Yu Xiaogang nodded with satisfaction when he saw Shi Yi's condition. It was the first time he saw Shi Yi look so serious. Of course, this also means that the research on soul guides is very difficult.

Although Shi Yi is still a child, Yu Xiaogang has never treated Shi Yi as a child.

In this way, Shi Yi switched back and forth between constantly carving and changing the wind crystals in his hands, and even forgot about the most important daily meditation.

Seeing Shi Yi like this, Yu Xiaogang did not disturb Shi Yi and went into meditation on his own.

I don't know how long it took, but when Shi Yi's last knife fell, a breeze appeared from the wind crystal in his hand, and Shi Yi understood that he had succeeded.

Shi Yi used a simple circle as the formation base and, drawing on the Tai Chi of his previous life, drew two sets of interdependent and interconnected cores in the formation base to speed up the efficiency of soul power circulation.

Then Shi Yi excitedly took out the long sword made of iron essence from his soul guide. He had already reserved a groove on the hilt, and then inlaid the wind crystal with the core magic circle in his hand into it.

Looking at the sword in his hand, Shi Yi couldn't help but said happily: "I succeeded."

Shi Yi came to his senses and looked out the window. Unconsciously, it was already daybreak. A simple dual-core magic array took him a day and a night, and he didn't know where Yu Xiaogang had gone.

Just as Shi Yi wanted to try out the first soul guide he had forged, he felt an intense sense of fatigue and his eyelids suddenly became as heavy as Mount Tai.

The long sword in his hand fell and Shi Yi fainted.

After an unknown amount of time, Shi Yi gradually woke up, feeling a sense of emptiness all over his body.

"Awake?" Yu Xiaogang's voice came into Shi Yi's ears.

Shi Yi tried to turn his head away, but saw Yu Xiaogang looking at the sword he had forged.

Shi Yi smiled weakly and said, "How is it? Very good, right?"

Yu Xiaogang put down the sword in his hand, took out a bowl of porridge from somewhere, fed Shi Yi a mouthful and said, "Not bad, with the blessing of wind attribute, the sharpness is far beyond that of ordinary swords. The speed of sword drawing and the weight of the sword will change with the injection of soul power. The most important thing is that when the soul power is continuously injected, it can easily produce wind attribute sword energy. With this sword and your strength, ordinary great soul masters will not be your opponents."

"Really? It's just as I expected." Shi Yi said, then he slowed down, struggled to sit up, took the bowl of porridge from Yu Xiaogang's hand and started eating it himself. He was indeed a little uncomfortable with the feeling of being served.

"Remember, don't tell others easily that you can make soul guides." Yu Xiaogang placed the sword next to Shi Yi and warned softly.

Shi Yi nodded slightly and said, "I understand."

Yu Xiaogang looked at Shi Yi with emotion. The child in front of him had achieved something that he could hardly imagine.

"It's better to use this sword less often. It won't be good if it's targeted by someone with ulterior motives. Compared to this offensive soul guide device, I think it's better for you to study more about defensive soul guide devices. I can't imagine what the world will be like if soul guide devices become popular." Yu Xiaogang said.

After drinking a few mouthfuls of porridge, Shi Yi gradually regained some strength.

Shi Yi smiled and said, "Teacher, there is nothing wrong with weapons themselves. Soul guides are not popular nowadays. Does that mean there are fewer conflicts?"

Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly and said, "What you said makes sense, but I am more worried about soul beasts rather than soul masters. Once this kind of soul guide becomes popular to a certain extent, the strength of soul masters will increase dramatically, and there will be no place for soul beasts in the entire continent."

Shi Yi also nodded in agreement.

"Take a good rest for a few days. Your age is not suitable for such a long period of research."

After saying that, Yu Xiaogang took out his little notebook and began to observe the sword forged by Shi Yi.

……

(End of this chapter)