Jie Ming ultimately didn’t choose those body enhancement techniques with grandiose names. Instead, he selected a rather ordinary one.
Charles’ Elemental Body Tempering Technique.
This was the body enhancement technique Jie Ming purchased from the Magic Network.
This technique was among the most basic types of elemental body tempering, with origins so ancient it could even be called outdated.
Modern wizards had largely abandoned this technique, as there were plenty of improved elemental tempering methods available.
However, despite its obsolescence, Charles’ Elemental Body Tempering Technique had indeed laid the foundation for many aspects of elemental tempering. Over half of the modern elemental tempering techniques were derived from improvements upon it.
Most importantly, because it was so basic, there was an abundance of related research.
Using Charles’ Elemental Body Tempering Technique as a keyword, Jie Ming searched the Magic Network and found over tens of billions of foundational research papers related to it.
Spending days filtering through various restrictions, Jie Ming finally narrowed it down to a few thousand papers exploring the inner principles of Charles’ Elemental Body Tempering Technique.
“Damn it, the Magic Network… its search system is way too user-unfriendly…”After muttering this, Jie Ming, as if completely burned out, collapsed onto his bed and slept soundly for an entire day.
For a long time afterward, besides studying the divine faith network, Jie Ming also had to read through the papers he had purchased.
Beyond the content of these papers from the Magic Network, he also made time each day to visit the Great Dao Book Pavilion deep within his consciousness.
Before the white jade pavilion in the depths of his consciousness, Jie Ming’s spiritual body sat cross-legged, reading a book of cultivation insights.
Besides the book in his hands, various other books floated around him.
At the center of these books, a cultivation method titled Body Forging Technique was surrounded like stars orbiting a planet.
The books around him, including the one in his hand, all contained insights related to this Body Forging Technique.
From the very beginning, when Jie Ming decided to enhance his physical strength, he had thought of the cultivation world.
In the wizarding civilization, body enhancement techniques were merely a supplementary path for orthodox wizards to address their weaknesses. In contrast, body cultivation was one of the legitimate great paths in the cultivation world.
No matter what path a cultivator took, they could not escape the three treasures of essence, qi, and spirit—only the focus of cultivation differed.
In terms of body enhancement alone, the body cultivation techniques of the cultivation world were far more mature and advanced.
However, Jie Ming didn’t dare to seek out overly profound body forging methods. Instead, he chose to study a widely available, basic forging technique.
The reason lay in the differences between the two worlds.
In fact, shortly after cultivating his spiritual energy, Jie Ming had already attempted to practice body forging techniques.
The results were deeply disappointing. The body forging techniques provided by the Great Dao Book Pavilion weren’t entirely useless, but they were close to it.
Combined with the long time it took to even begin cultivation, Jie Ming had genuinely believed his talent was lacking.
But as he became a wizard and gained more knowledge, Jie Ming began to suspect that the ineffectiveness of those body forging techniques wasn’t his fault.
After carefully studying the most fundamental body tempering methods of both worlds, Jie Ming confirmed that his inability to practice them wasn’t due to his own shortcomings—it was the world’s fault!
Though the wizarding civilization and the cultivation world both appeared human on the surface, their underlying structures were completely different.
This difference wasn’t about organs or cells, though those varied significantly as well.
The greatest strength of the cultivation world’s body forging techniques was their inclusivity. Even beasts with entirely different internal structures could cultivate them.
The underlying structure Jie Ming referred to was something deeper—the fundamental particles that made up matter, namely the difference between “spiritual energy” and “elements.”
Through his recent research, Jie Ming had basically confirmed that the cultivation world’s body forging techniques essentially involved altering the structure of the spiritual energy that formed a cultivator’s body, continuously refining it toward a more “perfect” and “powerful” state.
Different creators had different ideas about what constituted perfection and power, leading to the development of various cultivation methods.
The wizarding civilization’s elemental tempering body enhancement techniques followed a similar principle.
This was also why, despite Internal Circulation being an exceptionally excellent body forging method that could construct an inner world within the body, Jie Ming’s physical growth hadn’t been particularly remarkable.
The Internal Circulation method he practiced only manifested the parts related to “spiritual energy,” while the aspects related to physical enhancement had never taken effect.
So, Jie Ming’s current goal was simple: by studying the foundational principles and related techniques of Charles’ Elemental Body Tempering Technique, he aimed to gradually integrate body forging techniques into this world.
“Strictly speaking, this should be my first serious attempt at fusing the technologies of both worlds,” Jie Ming suddenly said with a smile.
While his runic artifacts had been quite effective, Jie Ming hadn’t fully understood the internal meanings or differences between runes and sigils when researching them.
His results had come purely from relentless experimentation and “piecing things together.”
Even the accelerated runic artifact developed through studying the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror followed a similar process.
However, years of researching runic artifacts had given Jie Ming a certain foundation, which was now the source of his confidence in formally studying the fusion of the two worlds’ technologies.
Both the Body Forging Technique and Charles’ Elemental Body Tempering Technique were widely circulated “basic” knowledge in their respective civilizations.
But their simplicity was an advantage. The content was straightforward enough, and with so many practitioners, Jie Ming could extract what he needed from numerous research papers and cultivation insights.
As for Internal Circulation, which he had been practicing, Jie Ming still couldn’t understand how it created an inner space out of thin air, let alone its effects on physical enhancement.
So, if he wanted to strengthen his body, starting with these simpler methods was the most suitable approach.
Of course, both the wizarding and cultivation civilizations had other methods to enhance the body beyond using supernatural forces, such as flesh modification or alien fusion techniques.
In the wizarding world, these posed no major issues, but in the cultivation world, such techniques were typically used to create cannon-fodder soldiers and were considered unorthodox among unorthodox methods.
However, Jie Ming chose this path not only because orthodox body cultivators were undeniably powerful in combat but also because he wanted to familiarize himself with the process of technological adaptation.
“Not only can I strengthen my body, but it also lays the technical foundation for transforming my plane. That’s a win-win.”
Satisfied, Jie Ming closed the book in his hand, watching as the surrounding books turned into streams of light and returned to the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
Just as he was about to leave the depths of his consciousness, his body paused slightly, and he hesitated, glancing back at the pavilion.
Moments later, a stream of light shot out from the pavilion, transforming into an ordinary-looking book before him.
The book’s cover clearly bore three large characters: Qi Refinement Technique.
This was the method Jie Ming was currently cultivating, the foundation of his cultivator’s path.
He hadn’t been wrong about the ineffectiveness of the cultivation world’s body forging techniques in the wizarding world, but there was one exception: the Qi Refinement Technique he was practicing.
This method was adapted from the Refining Essence into Qi system, characterized by the harmonious unity of essence, qi, and spirit during cultivation. Improving any one of the three treasures would drive the growth of the others.
This was common in the cultivation world, but combined with Jie Ming’s earlier theories, this method’s capabilities were almost absurdly extraordinary.
Jie Ming could confirm that his mental strength and body had not yet been transformed by spiritual energy. The only aspect truly unique to the cultivation world was the true essence within his body.
Yet, even so, this method completely ignored the fundamental differences in the composition of the two worlds, achieving the unity of the three treasures.
If Jie Ming were to rank what he most wanted to study, this method would undoubtedly take the top spot.
But… he couldn’t understand it.
The content was deceptively simple, yet it inexplicably generated spiritual energy out of thin air, even ignoring differences in fundamental particles to forcibly enhance mental strength and the body.
“The more I know, the less I understand.”
Jie Ming had a hunch that if he could fully grasp the principles of this method, he would master all the technologies of the cultivation world.
“Unfortunately, facing this thing, I’m like a primitive man staring at a smartphone.”
Using its functions was simple enough, but understanding the principles… he might as well give up and sleep.
Shaking his head to dismiss the thought, Jie Ming let the book turn into a stream of light and return to the Great Dao Book Pavilion before “turning” to leave the depths of his consciousness.
Opening his eyes, Jie Ming let out a long breath.
Leaving the basement and stepping outside, the Elosia plane was now bathed in twilight.
Looking at the sky, which seemed ablaze with fire, Jie Ming strolled through the garden, checking the operations of various facilities.
Along the way, the workers he encountered bowed respectfully to him.
In the past, Jie Ming would have nodded in return, but recently, finding the gesture too troublesome, he stopped bothering with them.
After circling the golden garden and absorbing all the mortal dust qi generated that day, he contacted the “construction team” through the Magic Network terminal to confirm the progress of the preliminary construction on the Infernal Sulfur plane.
After handling these miscellaneous tasks, Jie Ming returned to the laboratory to continue his research for the day.