: Five Elements Grunt

Author: Gu Zhenren

Date: 2024-09-19

The arena was divided into three sections.

Two sections were designated as mechanism construction zones, each belonging to a contestant.

The central area was the mechanism combat zone.

Before Ning Zhuo stood a long table laden with various materials.

He quickly scanned the materials, noting they were all at the Qi Refining level—so basic it felt almost nostalgic.

They included Fist Gold, Fire Essence, ancient wood with spirit patterns, a large water droplet凝结霜花的大水滴, and炭烤黏土. Finally, there was also one mid-grade spirit stone.

"Are there tools for crafting mechanisms?" Ning Zhuo wondered inwardly.

He didn’t see any for the moment.

Without proper tools, relying solely on handcrafting would increase the difficulty of mechanism-making by at least tenfold.

However, Ning Zhuo noticed the table was covered with numerous array patterns. This immediately reminded him of the surgical tables in the medical hall.

"Perhaps this setup is similar to those surgical tables, with many mechanism tools stored within."

Ning Zhuo wanted to test this idea but found himself unable to move. An invisible force was restraining him.

It wasn’t until the start of this round of the palace examination was announced that the invisible force suddenly vanished, allowing Ning Zhuo to move freely.

Ning Zhuo first looked directly ahead, where his opponent should have been.

The view was blurry and indistinct.

Ning Zhuo took a few steps forward to the table. He reached out and touched the tabletop, channeling his法力 into it. Sure enough, he retrieved many mechanism tools, such as a welding torch, vise grips, and more.

After confirming his guess, Ning Zhuo instinctively glanced ahead again, but the view remained blurry.

He decided to ignore it and focused on inspecting the materials provided for the palace examination.

Pieces of Fist Gold lay stacked together. At first glance, there were at least thirty pieces, each resembling a tightly clenched fist—hence the name "Fist Gold."

Ning Zhuo knew well: This was a type of hard metallic ore with high strength and durability.

"I can use it to construct the skeleton of the mechanism puppet."

The quality of the Fist Gold was average, the most common type found on the market.

Ning Zhuo continued his inspection.

The second item was Fire Essence.

This was one of the specialties of Huoshi Immortal City, something Ning Zhuo was extremely familiar with, so his inspection was the quickest.

Next was the ancient wood with spirit patterns...

Ning Zhuo lifted a large section of the ancient wood and placed it before him for observation.

Even though it had been cut, the wood still emitted a faint vitality.

The cross-section of the wood was covered with spirit patterns.

Whenever plants absorbed spiritual energy over a long period, such patterns would form. The longer the time, the denser and more intricate the patterns.

Conversely, the more spirit patterns there were, the higher the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy.

"This piece of ancient wood must have been a spirit plant in its lifetime."

While inspecting this material, Ning Zhuo paid close attention to the distribution and direction of the spirit patterns.

"It can be used to store the spirit stone and construct a spiritual energy transmission pathway. Since there’s only one spirit stone, part of it must be reserved to create the array disk for a spirit-gathering formation!"

Ning Zhuo moved on to the next item.

The large water droplet凝结霜花的大水滴 was as big as a washbasin.

The droplet resembled a giant, round, azure steamed bun. Its surface was dotted with patches of frost flowers, each as large as an adult’s palm.

As Ning Zhuo’s hand approached, the frost flowers on the droplet’s surface quickly melted.

"It can be used to make weapon components or cooling auxiliary parts." Ning Zhuo thought of two main applications.

Next was the炭烤黏土.

This clay had a grayish-black appearance.

Its properties changed dramatically with temperature.

At high temperatures, it turned into a solid. At low temperatures, it became sticky and easily malleable.

Additionally, it had remarkable fire resistance.

Sometimes, it could even be used as coal, serving as a base for combustion to accumulate heat for mechanized creations.

Finally, there was the sole mid-grade spirit stone.

"Average quality."

"A single spirit stone isn’t enough for prolonged combat. So, a spirit-gathering formation within the mechanism puppet is essential."

"This spirit stone can, at most, act as a starter stone."

While inspecting the materials, Ning Zhuo had already formulated many ideas.

Without resting, he seized every moment and began crafting in earnest.

The first step was constructing the skeleton.

Ning Zhuo started with the炭烤黏土.

He first lowered its temperature to make it easily shapable.

With skilled hands, he molded the clay into a deep vessel, standing on the table like a small, upright well.

Ning Zhuo then took the welding torch and melted the Fist Gold. Under the scorching flames, the gold quickly turned into a pool of molten liquid.

The flowing gold was stored in the small well made of炭烤黏土.

Ning Zhuo cast the Gold Retrieval Spell on it!

This spell, acquired from the trial stages, allowed him to extract metals according to his will.

Under normal circumstances, purifying gold from solid Fist Gold was difficult and slow. But in its liquid state, the process became much more efficient.

"How many rounds of purification are optimal?" Ning Zhuo pondered this question.

Theoretically, more purifications were better. But in practice, he had to consider the time constraint.

Once time was up, he could no longer continue crafting. Too many purifications would affect the final product.

The question of how many purifications to perform was essentially about managing the entire crafting process holistically.

If he could accurately plan the time for each step, that would be even better.

This problem didn’t stump Ning Zhuo.

He had a clear plan in mind: three rounds of purification at this stage were optimal.

Such a small detail already revealed the caliber of a mechanism cultivator.

Accumulating such details would significantly impact the final product.

Ning Zhuo quickly completed this step and moved on to the next.

He shaped the molten gold into a skeletal framework.

Notably, these skeletal parts were hollow.

After completing this, Ning Zhuo began working on the spirit-patterned ancient wood.

Since there was only one spirit stone, Ning Zhuo first cut a array disk from the wood and inscribed a spirit-gathering formation on it.

Once that was done, he followed the spirit patterns to cut the wood into thin cylindrical strips, inserting them into the golden skeleton as bone cores.

Ning Zhuo again used a spell from the trial stages: a three-inch cylindrical wood strip could grow up to five inches. Any longer would be excessive, causing the entire strip to wither and die.

After completing this step, Ning Zhuo rested for a dozen breaths.

Skilled mechanism cultivators often had such good habits—not constantly rushing but balancing work and rest.

This was because Ning Zhuo needed to ensure his condition was optimal for handling the Fire Essence next.

He began processing the Fire Essence.

This was a material he knew inside and out.

Ning Zhuo crafted the Fire Essence into firecrackers. This was a component he was very familiar with—his Blaze Monkey mechanisms commonly used such firecrackers as standard offensive tools.

When it came to the frost-flower water droplet, Ning Zhuo fully demonstrated his mastery of formations!

He inscribed at least three spell formations into the droplet, swiftly and steadily. At the formation’s core, he embedded several frost talismans he crafted on the spot.

In the end, the water droplet could change shape freely according to Ning Zhuo’s will.

He attached it to the skeleton.

Then, he molded the炭烤黏土 again, shaping it into muscle tissue that fully covered the skeleton.

With the remaining time, he went back to mass-producing firecrackers.

Ning Zhuo named the final mechanism puppet—Five Elements Grunt.

Its primary attack method was the mechanism firecrackers, while defense was handled by the frost-flower water droplet, which could emerge at critical moments to form armor or a shield.

(End of )