Ling Tian had not expected that the spirits of the spatial realms before him would all possess the potential of mad scientists. As soon as Ling Tian finished assigning tasks, they got to work. Ling Tian watched as the spirit named Qiao dismantled the Frost Staff in a flash.
Then, these individuals began to discuss animatedly. Although Ling Tian had mastered a certain level of artifact forging, he was not a professional, and he couldn't participate in the discussions of those craftsmen.
More than two hours later, Qiao approached Ling Tian with a brand-new Frost Staff, respectfully handing it over. Then, he began to explain to Ling Tian the functions of the new Frost Staff and their design philosophy.
Ling Tian carefully examined the Frost Staff before him and found that it had undergone changes.
The main body of the Frost Staff, which was the staff made of ten-thousand-year-old ice meteorite iron, had been recast. New formations were inscribed upon it.
The length of the staff had been shortened from one meter to half a meter, but it had also become thicker. At the tail end of the staff, a circular jade tablet was embedded, inscribed with a spirit-gathering formation.
At the other end of the staff, between the two wing-shaped sculptures, a large blue ice-attribute gem was set.
Additionally, the circle of five blue gems below the wings had been replaced by five circular jade pendants, upon which formations were faintly visible.
Ling Tian picked up the staff and infused it with his spiritual power. Instantly, he felt as if he and the staff had become one, the staff seeming to be an extension of his arm.
Ling Tian was overjoyed, "Haha, excellent stuff!"
Returning to the courtyard, Ling Tian raised the staff, aiming the blue gem at the tip of the staff at a large tree. With a flash of thought, a thick ice cone flew out.
The ice cone pierced the large tree and then embedded itself in another tree more than ten meters away, suddenly exploding. This tree was also frozen into an ice sculpture by the burst of cold air.
Ling Tian could feel that compared to the original Frost Staff, the ice cones released by the new staff flew faster, were more potent, and while the original ice cones had a maximum range of only about 30 meters, these ice cones could now reach up to a hundred meters.
Next, Ling Tian raised the staff, aimed into the distance, and with a series of thoughts, fired more than a dozen ice cones like a machine gun, one after another.
A patch of forest in the distance was battered, with broken branches and fallen leaves frozen solid by the cold air.
Qiao stepped forward and explained their modification ideas to Ling Tian, who listened with a gleam in his eyes.
The circular jade tablet at the bottom of the staff was inscribed with a spirit-gathering formation, allowing the staff to continuously absorb the surrounding spiritual energy from heaven and earth to replenish its power.
Of course, due to the great power of the spells and the high energy consumption, it would take about 10 days to recover enough energy to release a single ice cone.
However, if one wished to accelerate the energy replenishment, they could directly inject true essence, psionic energy, or other magical powers into it.
Originally, this staff was very picky, only able to absorb ice-attribute spiritual energy, but now, any attribute of energy could be injected into the staff, and it would be automatically converted into ice-attribute energy.
These functions were all realized by the patterns, or formations, inscribed on the surface of the staff.
Looking further up the staff, the original five blue gems had been removed and replaced by four circular jade pendants. Each jade pendant was inscribed with a spirit-storage formation, capable of accumulating and gathering spiritual energy from heaven and earth. The energy stored in each jade pendant could release five ice cones.
If the energy in all four circular jade pendants were full, the staff could consecutively unleash twenty ice cones!
Considering the power of these ice cones, this staff was practically comparable to a small machine gun!
Ling Tian continued to examine the new Frost Staff. The most striking feature was the blue gem at the tip. Ling Tian discovered that this was not the original blue gem on the staff.
Qiao explained to Ling Tian that this blue gem had been frozen in ten-thousand-year-old ice essence for a long time, causing its internal structure to change completely. Therefore, it was placed at the tip of the staff to serve as an amplifier.
Suddenly, Ling Tian thought of a problem.
"Qiao, this staff was originally over a meter long, but now its length has been shortened so much. Although the staff has become much thicker, where did the remaining materials go?"
Ten-thousand-year-old ice meteorite iron was a valuable item, and Ling Tian planned to use this material to forge some artifacts for Aurora.
Qiao smiled upon hearing this, "Master, please rest assured, those materials have not been wasted!"
As Qiao spoke, he reached out and took the staff. Ling Tian noticed his posture: the two small wings at one end of the staff were about a dozen centimeters away from the blue gem at the tip.
And on this section of the staff, repetitive patterns were carved. Ling Tian didn't understand what kind of formations these patterns were at first, but upon seeing Qiao's posture, he understood.
These patterns were not formations but were for decoration and to increase grip friction!
Qiao gripped this section of the staff with his hand, and with his other hand holding the center of the staff, he twisted slightly. With a click, the staff surprisingly split into two parts.
The main body of the staff and the jade pendant at the other end formed one part, while the other part became a short sword!
It turned out that the remaining materials had been forged by Qiao and Duan into a short sword, hidden within the staff, with the staff itself serving as a scabbard.
If the energy within the staff was depleted during combat, or if an opponent managed to get close, the short sword hidden within the staff could be drawn.
And the pair of small wings at the tip of the staff perfectly served as the guard for this short sword! This design was incredibly ingenious.
Furthermore, through Qiao's explanation, Ling Tian learned that this short sword was also forged from ten-thousand-year-old ice meteorite iron, thus it had a certain amplification effect on ice-attribute spells. This short sword also became a weapon that could be imbued with ice attributes, and could even be used as a spellcasting amplification device.
"Marvelous, truly marvelous!"
Ling Tian reinserted the short sword back into its scabbard, and it transformed back into the staff, fitting perfectly, leaving no trace of the hidden short sword!
"Master, this item has given us some new ideas. If you are willing, we can research and create more similar artifacts."