The Paladin in the Abyss

Creating array flags was originally a task for Qi Refinement Realm Cultivators, but Lancelot had neither a master to guide him in person nor the luxury of a great sect's Pill Furnace and Earth Fire to use, so everything had to be done by himself, leading to inevitable moments of fluster. Moreover, since his True Yuan was cultivated in the Abyss, its nature was quite violent, and just controlling it to a certain temperature after ignition proved to be a significant struggle.

But after all, he had already reached Foundation Establishment, and after several attempts, he quickly mastered the trick. Once the temperature issue was resolved, the next step was to start the actual crafting. Lancelot pulled a fruit from the Dimensional Bag and threw it into the cauldron. These were the fruits borne by the flowers that had ripened with the green liquid yesterday, containing a rich concentration of Wood Attribute energy.

Then, he began to operate a special Cultivation Technique, carefully prompting his True Yuan to 'refine' the materials in the cauldron, but due to his unfamiliarity with this new technique, the seeds instantly turned somewhat charred.

Anxiety surged in Lancelot's heart; a slight fluctuation in the True Yuan output from his Dantian caused the seeds in the cauldron to instantly turn into a cloud of ashes that sullied his face. With a helpless twist of his mouth, he stopped the output of True Yuan, cleaned out the dregs in the cauldron, adjusted his mentality, and reignited it.

The second attempt was a bit better than the first; the seeds used for the crafting began to melt normally, and his mood remained steady. However, he encountered a snag at a point where he needed to lower the output of True Yuan. The cultivation insight vaguely described it as 'lower by three points,' leading to another failure.

Despite some disappointment, Lancelot's mood did not fluctuate too much because he had fully anticipated this situation. The articles in the cultivation insights were as concise as possible, to which he had grown accustomed. This was also why he chose to refine the Wood Attribute array flags first — the raw materials were his own plants, and the ample supply allowed him to repeatedly experiment until he found the correct method.

After roughly an hour and countless failures, Lancelot finally refined the berries into a dark green liquid. He cautiously dipped his finger into the green liquid, then clumsily wrote a special symbol on the leather small flag. The symbol, with leftward slants and rightward hooks, complex in its intersection of horizontal and vertical strokes, belonged to the unique script of the bamboo slips. This was his first time using such script in reality.

What he wrote was somewhat ugly, but it did not affect the flag's efficacy. After finishing, the small flag gave him the feeling of a thriving shrub, exuding dense and refined Wood Attribute power.

This was another difference between Spiritual Cultivation arrays and Arcane magic. Kalalin once explained to them that when crafting scrolls or arrays, each arcane symbol must be drawn with extreme precision; imprecision in any line's angle or length could at best result in spells failing to activate. Worse, unintended magical effects might occur, such as violent explosions, deadly gasses, sudden vacuums, or the uninvited arrival of creatures from other worlds. In fact, many famous Mages in history have perished in severe spellcasting accidents.

The successful crafting of the Wood Phase array flag greatly encouraged Lancelot, and he immediately began crafting array flags of the next element. Having gained experience, and due to the nature of his own Spirit Root, the Fire and Earth Phase array flags were quickly successful as well. The materials for Metal and Water Phase presented some difficulties, but his Foundation Establishment Cultivator Realm compensated for the deficiencies of the Spirit Root. After using up three times the crafting materials, all five elemental array flags were completely crafted.

With the array flags ready, the next step was to create the Array Plate. The Array Plate is the core of the array, determining the array's effect, manifested as dots and lines engraved on the surface of an object. Small Array Plates can be carved on stone or iron plates for easy carrying, and in emergencies, temporary engravings can be done on wood or even dirt. Permanent, large-scale arrays can use some exaggerated materials, like a Heavy Cauldron cast from extraterrestrial Metal or gigantic, invaluable jade stones. It is said that one sect carved their Mountain Protection Array directly onto a Great Sword, which became the treasure of the sect. Within the range of the sect's gate, its power was comparable to a Mysterious Heavenly Spiritual Treasure, becoming the sect's greatest reliance.

Of course, Lancelot didn't know what a Mysterious Heavenly Spiritual Treasure was, at least not in the unlocked spiritual cultivation insights, but the name alone sounded mighty.

The formation Lancelot was preparing to create was the most basic one: a Qi Hiding Formation. As the name implied, the function of this formation was to conceal one's breath. Cultivators usually didn't like others discovering their lairs (the term used in the cultivation insights was 'cave dwellings'), especially when there were many treasures inside, thus the necessity for such a formation.

The blueprint of the formation was detailed on the small bamboo slips left by Han Tianzun. Lancelot could simply duplicate it. He used a square iron plate, one foot in size, as the base for the array plate. He first used a piece of chalk, which he obtained from a Dwarf blacksmith, to sketch the outline of the formation on the iron plate. After repeatedly comparing it with the image in his divine sense and confirming there were no errors, he then carefully carved out the formation outlined on the iron plate with the Sword Aura from the Qingyuan Sword Technique.

The formation wasn't complicated. Although the Sword Aura of the Qingyuan Sword Technique was not very effective against metal, it only took Lancelot a few minutes to complete the engraving. Before activating the array plate, he first returned to the surface with five small flags of different colors.

"You're out? What were you busy with down there?"

In the living room, Alamir greeted Lancelot first thing. He stood on Bruto's back in a rather elegant pose, while the latter was doing push-ups on the floor. The Dwarf's gaze indicated he was aware of Lancelot's arrival, but his flushed red cheeks said he was not in a position to talk at the moment.

"I was... researching magic," Lancelot scratched his head. "What are you guys doing?"

"Bruto is exercising, and I am acting as his weight," the Elf said, bobbing up and down with the movements of the Dwarf while maintaining his balance. Lancelot could tell he was also engaging in some kind of training. "Researching magic? Is it that strange power of yours?"

"Something like that, I don't know how to explain it, but every now and then I come up with new ideas in my head," Lancelot shrugged. "Remember my ability to summon vines? It came to me in the same way."

"Well, I have heard that Magicians are like that. Some people are brutes, but suddenly in the middle of a fight, they'll throw out a magical Fireball. These things just happen and there's no explaining them," Alamir shrugged while shifting his weight back and forth between his legs. "Or maybe next time you could pray with me to Shuni? Perhaps the Goddess could reveal the source of your power, like if one of your ancestors had a romantic affair with a Dragon. Lady Huofa could surely give you an accurate answer."