My health recovery is incredibly fast.

"Your Excellency, is the teleportation crystal itself made of light? And what is its connection to the black crystal?" Xia Zuo asked, staring at the illusionary image.

"You guessed right, the teleportation crystal is essentially a light element, but it is a collection of light elements, containing millions of tiny light elements."

Selena clasped her hands together, then opened them again, using illusion magic to condense a black crystal.

"As for this black crystal, that's what I'm going to tell you in detail."

She took a triangular glass bottle out of the pocket of her robe.

"Drink the secret medicine to break the memory seal first. It can help you recover your memories about spirits, but it won't allow you to use spirit magic. I hope you can understand why we're doing this, after all, it concerns the dimensional portal between the [Land of Eternal Slumber] and the natural world."

“Of course, Your Excellency Selena, I support the inner palace’s approach.” Shazo picked up the glass bottle, drank the secret medicine, and then skillfully entered deep meditation to wait for the medicine to take effect.

Today, he no longer needs external assistance to maintain his balance. With the significant increase in his eight-dimensional attributes, even when entering deep meditation in a seated position, he will not lose his balance and be forced to stop meditating.

Soon, Xia Zuo opened his eyes, recalled his knowledge of spirits, and felt no sharp pain in his head.

"My memory has returned, Your Excellency."

"Let's begin. To understand what the black crystal is, we'll need a little tool."

Selena placed the two secret message rings on the table.

She placed one of the rings together with the illusionary image of the black crystal.

Then, she used illusion magic to summon an image of a human spirit and placed it together with another secret message ring.

Xia Zuo raised his eyebrows slightly, as if he had understood something, but he didn't speak, instead listening patiently.

"The black crystal is called the Chaos Container. It is composed of chaotic elements." Selena gently tapped the image of the black crystal, and it immediately disintegrated, revealing the elements it contained.

"The Chaos Container is the true form of the Ocean of Spirit. It is a product of the elemental laws of nature. It can only be used to contain elements. Things like our bones and flesh cannot coexist with it."

Selena summoned an image of the Crystal Remnants.

"During the Second Era, the Crystal People were the first to reach the Great Volcano and discovered the existence of black crystals in the magma. They also understood the relationship between the black crystals and themselves. They clearly knew that these black crystals were the ocean of the spirit."

"Your Excellency, have the Crystal Remnants discovered that enormous light element?" Xia Zuo asked, raising his hand as if he were giving a lecture.

"No, perhaps I didn't explain clearly. That enormous crystal only appeared after the Dark Chamber was taken over by the Church of the Otherworld," Selena explained patiently.

She snapped her fingers, and the image she had conjured with illusion changed. The Crystal Remnants attempted to take the black crystal away and use their unique alchemy to integrate it into their own bodies.

While working in Hillenburg's group, Shazo gained a deep understanding of the alchemy of the Crystal Remnants.

They were a group of alchemical fanatics who wanted to contain the elements with their physical bodies, rather than their spiritual ocean.

Based on the disciplines of jewelry making, enchanting, and magical alchemy, they successfully pioneered a path that fused obedient elements with bones, flesh, and internal organs, which is the prototype of the elemental body.

Even today, the people of the Crystal Kingdom still retain this tradition, as evidenced by the jewel-like threads and patterns on their skin.

Based on this concept of integrating elements with the body, the Crystal Remnants, after discovering the black crystal, wanted to incorporate it into their physical bodies to completely control their own spiritual ocean.

The Crystal Remnants failed; their bodies could not fuse with the black crystal.

In Selena's demonstration, as soon as the Crystal Remnants finished processing the black crystals and placed them into their bodies, their bodies quickly melted and turned into a pool of black, rotten mud.

The flesh and bone fragments in the mud quickly crystallized under the influence of the black crystal, turning into countless tiny black octahedral crystals.

"So, using a physical body to contain a chaotic vessel is not feasible," Xia Zuo pondered for a moment. "Then what about our spiritual bodies? I remember seeing elemental auras emanating from spiritual bodies when I was in a state of soul-seeing..."

Selena nodded slowly. "You're very close to the right answer."

She pointed to the secret communication ring on the table and said:

"There is a one-to-one correspondence between the spirit and the chaotic container, just like these two secret message rings."

"Human mage—spirit—chaos container—elements within the container, these four correspond to: the holder of the left secret message ring—the left secret message ring—the right secret message ring—the holder of the right secret message ring."

So that's how it is...

Xia Zuo understood.

"Your Excellency, I understand. So what we need to do is to construct a new spiritual thread from the spirit body and connect it to the elemental body, right? In this way, we can have both a physical body and an elemental body at the same time."

“No, Shazo. You’ve fallen into another misconception. What’s connected to the elemental body is the container of chaos, not the spirit body.”

Selena rubbed her hands together, altering the illusionary imagery until it transformed into an elemental body enveloping a chaotic container, within which the elemental form resided.

“This is the correct way to use the elemental body.” Selena paused. “You can think of it as us creating a new spirit body using elemental energy and a binding energy field, based on the characteristic that the spirit body can interact with the chaos container, and then using the new spirit body to contain the chaos container.”

Selena pointed to the castle behind her. "Using an elemental body is similar to using a battle puppet. Our physical body enters a shallow meditation and connects our five senses with the elemental body. Then, we use the elemental body to fight against the monsters and otherworldly beings in the starry sky. In this way, we avoid the fate of our physical body being corrupted by the starry sky."

Xia Zuo nodded.

Selena continued:

"The fundamental reason why our physical bodies cannot contain the container of chaos is that the physical body has no spirituality."

"As long as a small part is separated from our spirit body and integrated into the elemental body, giving it a spiritual quality, it can be perfectly combined with the chaotic container."

Selena took out a carving knife and placed it on the table.

Xia Zuo recognized the origin of the carving knife; it was the same spiritual carving knife he had seized on the ring-shaped island. This knife could be used to gain insight into the soul and could be used to harm the spirits of others.

“I don’t think I need to explain the purpose of this carving knife.” Selena moved the carving knife in front of Shazo. “Before this knife was discovered by the temple, we could only use the spirit magic [Spirit Splitting] to slowly cut our own spirits. It would take at least several hundred years to obtain a sufficient amount of spirit fragments.”

Xia Zuo picked up the carving knife, rubbing the handle between his fingers, and said, "This knife can easily cut a large piece off a spirit body... Does this mean that the efficiency of temple mages in creating elemental bodies has increased by at least ten thousand times?"

“That’s right,” Selena said. “After you create your own elemental body, we would like you to conduct an experiment.”

Xia Zuo looked at the blade of the carving knife. "Do you want me to try to see if the fragments of spirit matter cut out with this knife can be imbued with spirituality in an elemental body?"

"Yes. You, along with several other high-ranking mages who have not yet mastered the Spirit Splitting Technique, are the best test subjects. In comparison, the Inner Temple thinks it would be better for you to try. Pure-blood mages have much higher physical vitality than normal mages and can better overcome the negative effects of damage to their spirits."

Xia Zuo put down his carving knife, pondered for a few seconds, and said, "No problem, sir. I'm willing to give it a try."

Selena smiled and said, "Thank you for your efforts, Shazo. Regardless of whether the experiment succeeds or not, the Temple will compensate you for your loss. If the experiment succeeds, it will prove that the Spirit Carving Knife is of extraordinary significance to the Temple, and you will be recorded in the Temple's annals."

She took out a square metal box from her alchemy pouch. "This is part of the reward that the temple paid in advance."

The metal box opens to reveal a miniature tower model.

"After becoming a high-level mage, if you want to advance to the level of an archmage, you need a stable and safe environment. The Mage Tower is the first choice."

Selena placed the tower model on the table. "This is a tower model exclusive to core members of the Tower Mage. After you infuse it with attribute-free energy, you can see the blueprint of the tower and the internal structure of the model in a shallow meditative state. With it, you can easily learn [Binding Field], [Shaping], and the Weaver's Language, and build your own tower faster."

Xia Zuo reached out and placed his hand on the model, inputting a tiny bit of attribute-free energy. The blueprint for the illusion and the internal structure of the model appeared before his eyes.

Layer upon layer of blue background construction drawings, countless diagrams of the energy field scheme that obscures the sky, and a massive amount of textual descriptions and animated demonstrations together constitute the astonishingly rich theory of tower construction.

At the same time, the Golden Finger also sent a message:

"The host has activated the Tower Model, and its contents can be transcribed by consuming experience. It is estimated to consume 8000 experience points. There is currently insufficient experience to transcribe it."

It's good news that we can use experience to transcribe.

Based on Xia Zuo's learning experience, it would take at least two months to manually learn and memorize the theory of tower construction.

Using 8000 experience points to save 2 months of time is a win-win situation no matter how you look at it.

Xia Zuo considered for a moment, then withdrew his right hand. "I really like this reward. Thank you, Your Excellency."

As Selena put the model back into the metal box, she said, "You'll have to gather the materials needed to build the tower yourself. That will cost a lot of money. Many high-ranking mages are held back by money, which is why they give up on becoming archmages. I heard you made a lot of money with Hillenberg and even signed a long-term patent lease agreement with Lumington. So the cost of building the tower won't be a problem for you."

“Alright, I’ve finished the procedures here.” Selena pushed the metal box to Shazo and put away the spiritual carving knife. “Take the box with you. I’ll take you back to the foot of the volcano. For the sake of the ritual’s integrity, you need to return to Everwinter City yourself.”

Xia Zuo put the metal box into his pocket, stood up with the other person, and reactivated his elemental body.

Selena carried him out of the glass dome of their dwelling and flew straight toward the base of the Pillar of Creation.

Under the influence of gravity, going underground is much easier than going into space.

About five minutes later, Selena put Shazo down at the foot of the volcano.

Before leaving, she reminded him, "Don't forget to include the scene of the Pillars of Creation in the Image Orb."

"Okay, sir, thank you for the reminder." Xia Zuo waved to her and watched her fly upwards back into the stars high in the sky.

The journey was very rewarding, especially the origins of the Chaos Container, the Pillars of Creation, and the Mega Teleportation Crystal, which left a deep impression on Xia Zuo.

At this point, the general historical framework of this world was imprinted in my mind. As long as I read some more books, write down historical events, and fill in the details of the historical framework, I will be able to fully grasp the historical knowledge of the Eastern Continent.

Xia Zuo found a low, high slope near the volcano and used his ice-controlling magic to build an igloo to rest in.

After fully recovering his energy, he embarked on his return journey, heading straight for the Everwinter City of the Silvermoon Federation.

...

Noon 10 days later.

In the outer sanctuary, in Christo's office.

Xia Zuo's figure appeared in the teleportation light.

He placed the image jewel on his desk and waited a moment before Christo arrived.

“Serenepolina has a pretty good impression of you, Shazo,” Kresto said with a smile as soon as she appeared. “As a reward for accepting the experimental commission, I’ll give you a little secret.”

Xia Zuo was taken aback. "What secret?"

“Actually, you were already connected to her before you met Selena,” Christo blinked her right eye and smiled. “She is Lady Starry Night, that’s her physical identity. Just like my physical identity is a professor of the Tower Scholars’ Detection School.”

"???" Xia Zuo was somewhat surprised, but then he thought that it was quite normal for inner temple mages to have different identities for their elemental bodies and physical bodies.

If he were to acquire an elemental body in the future, he would probably do the same.

The elemental body battles invading monsters and otherworldly beings high in the sky, while the physical body guards a side on the ground or teaches in the teaching area of ​​the outer hall.

In this way, the elemental body won't feel lonely when it stays high in the sky for a long time, and the physical body can continue to contribute to the temple when there is no star invasion.

What's this called?

On call 24/7, high-intensity work, double working hours, the ultimate corporate slave with no days off all year round?

Chapter 106 Border Defense Line

“Your Excellency, I have a question.” Xia Zuo scratched his head. “I remember Headmaster Beatrice once said that Lady Starry Night only became an Archmage in the last 200 years. Am I mistaken?”

Christo smiled. "That's the public version, both to protect the secrets of the inner sanctum and to mislead the Church of the Otherworldly Demons. If those Otherworldly Demons knew that Lady Starry Night, who was stationed in Poseidon City, was actually an Eternal Mage, the Otherworldly Demons they sent wouldn't just be high-level mages."

That makes sense… Xia Zuo nodded in understanding.

Under the premise of security guarantees, showing weakness to the enemy to a limited extent can indirectly control the overall strength of the invaders.