**Chapter 63: Advancement**
In the laboratory, various alchemical tools and runic carving knives were neatly arranged.
“I can’t just copy the wizard system’s runes…” Jie Ming picked up an energy-absorbing ore and a crystal sensitive to life fluctuations.
“Then I’ll have to draw on the methods cultivators use to connect with the external world…”
He inscribed a life-sensing rune onto the crystal and a modified linking rune from the cultivation system onto the ore, connecting them with a conduction rune.
The first attempt cracked the crystal.
The second attempt caused the ore to emit a strong energy fluctuation, more noticeable than the life signals it was meant to detect.
“This direction seems off.” Jie Ming wiped the sweat from his brow.
Though he established a link with the crystal, the ore didn’t understand “life.” Even with the life-sensing rune, it merely emitted detection waves outward.
To progress, he needed a method with higher discrimination efficiency.Flipping through resources, Jie Ming stumbled upon a theory about “planar resonance” on the magic network. Though obscure, it mentioned that all matter in a plane’s deep structure subtly resonates with other matter, enabling mutual perception.
A spark of inspiration struck.
Resonance!
Instead of actively emitting detection waves, what about using passive resonance?
“Resonance…” he murmured.
Perhaps he could combine the concept of “perception” with a material that resonates with specific fluctuations, using runes to capture and amplify this resonance, then store or covertly transmit the amplified “information” within the artifact.
He began redesigning the runes, centering on “passive resonance” and “perception capture.”
Time flew by in his research.
On a quiet, late night, Jie Ming carefully embedded a complex array of over a dozen tiny runes into a thumbnail-sized transparent crystal.
The crystal, refined using the Great Dao Book Pavilion’s methods and consuming various materials, was a special substance imbued with a trace of the “perception” concept, highly sensitive to energy fluctuations.
He activated the talisman. No sound or energy fluctuation emerged; the crystal merely trembled slightly.
Jie Ming closed his eyes, extending his mental energy.
At first, nothing.
Undeterred, he followed prior knowledge, forging a deeper “resonance” connection between his soul and the crystal.
Then, he *felt* it.
A faint, blurry fluctuation came from the crystal—the life aura of plants stored in the lab’s storage room!
Success!
Though faint, vague, and limited in range, he had created a prototype talisman artifact capable of passive perception linked to his soul!
Shaped like a small, transparent eyeball, it could float in the air, sense life and energy fluctuations within a limited range, and relay vague information to Jie Ming through their resonance.
“Let’s call it the Eye of Detection. It’s rough, but the direction is right.” Excitement gleamed in his eyes.
In the days that followed, Jie Ming refined the Eye of Detection.
He tested different materials, improved rune structures, and added stealth runes to enhance range and clarity while reducing detectable energy emissions.
Through repeated trials and failures, his understanding of runes and energy deepened.
This intensive research unexpectedly brought him to the bottleneck of his Qi Refinement cultivation.
“My current cultivation is starting to feel insufficient.”
Jie Ming had countless ideas, but his cultivation level limited their realization.
Due to his contract, advancing to a formal wizard was off the table, but the cultivation system had no such restrictions.
It was time to break through.
…
…
The seventh layer of Qi Refinement marked the late stage, bringing not only a significant increase in true essence but a leap in divine sense strength and range.
Jie Ming felt his cultivation ready to advance naturally. His long-term refinement of true essence and soul was like a taut bowstring, poised to release.
In the training room, he adjusted the control terminal to maximize elemental particle density, sat cross-legged, and prepared for the breakthrough.
Closing his eyes, Jie Ming immersed himself in guiding his true essence and divine sense.
His inner true essence, like a calm lake, stirred under an invisible force.
Following the technique’s guidance, he gathered and compressed the vast true essence, charging toward a higher energy state.
It was no easy task.
Each compression brought a slight sting in his meridians, each surge testing his willpower.
Not every compression succeeded; at times, the true essence recoiled like a raging tide, causing his meridians to rumble.
Sweat beaded on Jie Ming’s forehead, but his resolve never wavered, his mental energy acting like a relentless compressor.
Time blurred—perhaps a day, perhaps longer.
*Crack!*
A faint sound, like shattering glass, echoed in his perception.
His true essence, no longer restrained, surged into broader meridians like it had found new horizons.
Its volume skyrocketed, becoming denser, flowing like quicksilver.
Even more thrilling, his mental energy exploded in growth.
His divine sense, once limited to under a hundred meters, now effortlessly extended hundreds of meters!
Everything around him appeared with unprecedented clarity.
The lab’s faint energy hums, the crisp crackle of splitting ore, the subtle winding of plant roots underground—all these minute details flooded his mind, amplified.
The world felt more vibrant, filled with perceptible “threads” and “pulses.”
His surging mental energy sharpened his perception of surrounding elements, allowing him to distinguish their types, concentrations, and even faint “emotions”—active, dormant, restless…
He had successfully advanced to the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, officially entering the late stage!
Feeling the surging true essence and radiating mental energy, Jie Ming smiled with satisfaction.
This power growth was far more pronounced than any previous advancement.
His first thought post-breakthrough was his detection talisman research.
With his current cultivation, he could craft a better prototype.