Chapter 186: Origin Substance

“What?? You chose a pile of crappy rocks as one of your treasures?” Wang Doushan yelled in shock, his eyes wide.

They had returned to the Origin Tower.

At the time, Wang Doushan couldn’t help but wonder what Su Chen had chosen for his three treasures after working so hard to obtain first place.

However, neither the spirit tablet nor the Golden Scripture Art directly increased his strength. The last “treasure” was even worse – he had picked a pile of useless rocks.

A wide smile covered Su Chen’s face as if he had gotten a great bargain.

He said, “Did you know? It’s immensely satisfying for other peoples’ trash to become my treasures. I can turn things that most people consider worthless into necessities, giving me a value that most people cannot attain.”

Patelocke, who was inside the spirit tablet, was an Arcana Master during his time period. Even though Ancient Arcana Techniques had gradually become neglected over the years, people wouldn’t neglect the understanding and knowledge that the Arcana Race had towards their continent. While these things might not seem valuable in the eyes of others, they were peerless treasures to Su Chen.

The Golden Scripture Art was the same. It was an absolute necessity for his instructor to develop a cultivation method allowing those without bloodlines to reach the Yang Opening Realm.

Each item had a true value that far outstripped its face value.

However, Su Chen was actually the most delighted about the pile of rocks.

While he had been inside the storeroom, Su Chen had inspected the rocks with his Origin-Energy-seeing eye. He discovered that the rocks contained more than ten unique Origin Substances.

It was extremely significant that so many Origin Substances could coexist within a seemingly ordinary rock.

Even though Su Chen didn’t understand why it was significant yet, it was already worth it for Su Chen to choose them simply because of the ten-plus Origin Substances inside.

Su Chen had analyzed a large number of bloodlines, but he had only really controlled two Origin Substances. Merely extracting the Origin Substances from the Soaring Serpent Bloodline and the Thunder Spirit Bloodline had resulted in the Snaking Mist Steps, Flying Flower Hands, and Thunder Blade to surpass the theoretical limits of his bloodline restrictions, reaching the stage of large success. In fact, the Erupting Firebird and the later upgraded versions were also built upon this foundation.

As for the others, he was still diligently researching them.

Now, more than ten unique Origin Substances had appeared in the stones, and they were the kind that would sit there obediently and let Su Chen perform all kinds of experiments with them. How could Su Chen not feel excited?

To Su Chen, the pile of rocks really was a treasure. He wouldn’t trade them even if someone offered him a divine-tier Origin Tool in exchange.

Upon hearing Su Chen’s words, Wang Doushan said helplessly, “Fine, it’s your opportunity anyways. What treasures you chose is your business.”

The two of them chatted casually for a bit before Wang Doushan took his leave.

Su Chen returned to his research lab and pulled out the spirit tablet. “Come on out.”

Patelocke’s specter appeared and bowed to Su Chen respectfully. “Master!”

Su Chen sat down. “You’ve seen what’s happened these past two days. I used up an opportunity to select a precious treasure to bring you back. I hope that you won’t make me regret this decision.”

Patelocke hurriedly replied, “I will demonstrate my worth.”

“Very good. Then, you are my research partner from now on. Right, what do you think about reverse diffusion of a substance through a surface?”

This was a test, as well as an opportunity to learn.

Patelocke said unhurriedly, “Reverse diffusion has three main factors: permeability, adhesiveness, and isomerization. Let’s look at permeability first……”

Su Chen listened diligently and intently.

Underneath the yellow candlelight, the old specter and the young human began to discuss both the ancient and modern knowledge they had accumulated.

To Su Chen, Patelocke really was an invaluable treasure store of information.

The Arcana Race placed a lot of emphasis on developing foundational knowledge. They possessed a unique understanding and point-of-view of the world that they lived in.

For instance, the Origin Substances that Su Chen discovered had actually been discovered already during the Arcana Kingdom’s existence. However, they were called Particles instead.

The Arcana Race discovered that Particles were the foundational element of Origin Energy, with different Particles having different uses. Once these Particles gathered in large enough numbers, they would manifest themselves as an Origin Energy Attribute – for instance, fire-type or wind-type Origin Energy.

Demonic Beasts and Desolate Beasts were so powerful because they had a large number of compatible Particles inside their bodies. Humans borrowed bloodlines to strengthen themselves because they could obtain the particles that corresponded with their bloodline.

This was completely in line with Su Chen’s discoveries, but because he was always researching on his own, he lacked information networks.

“If bloodlines can be inherited, does that mean that an organism can also produce Particles itself?” Su Chen asked.

Patelocke shook his head. “A Particle is the most elementary substance in the universe. No organism can produce Particles, but they are constantly converted into different forms. Bloodline inheritance occurs because humans develop a mechanism for absorbing the appropriate Particles floating about in the air when a human obtains a bloodline.”

Su Chen understood. “So those who are considered ‘talented’ mostly have a superior mechanism for absorbing Particles? For instance, I cultivate fire-type Origin Energy, so I should cultivate in a place with a lot of fire because the density of fire-type Particles will be the highest, right? But if I don’t cultivate in the right place, it doesn’t matter how much talent I have. This is why members of Bloodline Nobility Clans need to awaken their bloodlines; this awakening process is actually just triggered by the absorption of enough Particles. Only when a person has reached this critical threshold will the strength of their bloodline be manifested.”

“That’s right. And the Bloodline Medicines you humans have created are the product of forcing doses of Particles corresponding to a given bloodline into a human body but without altering the body’s ability to absorb the right Particles from their surroundings. This is the reason why humans with mixed bloodlines are not only weaker but are also unable to pass down their bloodlines to their offsprings.”

“If that’s the case, we might be able to improve Bloodline Medicines by specifically aiming to improve this drawback,” Su Chen muttered. However, his goal was to eventually break through the restrictions of a bloodline, not to create some kind of extremely powerful bloodline, which was why this thought disappeared in a brief moment. At the very least, he wouldn’t be researching this anytime soon.

They continued to converse.

Patelocke was truly a Chief Arcana Master. His knowledge was profound, and his foundation was solid; Su Chen was able to glean a lot of information related to the foundations of Origin Energy.

For instance, during the Arcana Kingdom’s time, someone had proposed the existence of substances even more elementary than Particles known as Origin Seeds. They could be combined to form different Particles, resulting in the corresponding attributes; Origin Seeds were the true source of everything.

However, until the destruction of the Arcana Kingdom, not much progress was made in analyzing these Origin Seeds. There were records in an ancient book of someone who had verified the existence of Origin Seeds, but there wasn’t much more detail provided beyond that.

Su Chen felt quite regretful about that.

If his own Origin Eye could see even smaller objects, perhaps he could uncover even more profound secrets in that microscopic world.

He had a feeling in his heart that his eyes would perhaps reach that level of sight someday.

At that point in time, the mysteries of the universe would be right in front of his eyes.