Chapter 1183: Experimenting

Black, Grey, and White looked around the room and found ten Space Rings. They were only allowed to access one of the Space Rings, which contained the materials for the Formation Array.

'Sure enough, here are the materials. However, they are really running on a tight budget. If I waste even a single bit, I won't have enough to finish the Formation Array. I wonder if this is a special treat for me or if the other ones also only get this much.'

Kyle arranged the materials and thought back to his time as Azure Comet. He had been pretty good at creating Formation Arrays back then, but things had changed. This was like a grade schooler having the ability to beat almost all the other grade schoolers in chess and then trying to get back into chess when they became an adult. Immortal Formation Array Masters were on a completely different level.

'However, Formation Arrays are basically the same thing as math. In a way, math is just a language. As long as you learn enough and know how things work, you can logically deduce most of the equations. Formation Arrays basically just use Laws. I know a ton of Laws, which should help me with understanding how Formation Arrays work.'

Kyle looked at the weird blueprint again and squinted his eyes.

'Where do I even start with this? Not even the instructions make sense. They're asking me to do weird stuff. As far as I know, you're supposed to create your Base first and expand your Formation Array from there, but this blueprint is asking me to design the Connection Network first and put in the Base and Nodes later. That's so weird. It also doesn't ask me to infuse any Laws into the materials, which is even weirder.'

Black decided to follow the instructions and manipulated the first materials. Since Kyle had an Affinity for everything, manipulating the different metals and earths was easy. Other Formation Array Masters might have some issues with the manipulation of materials, but Kyle didn't.

'Wait a second,' Kyle thought as he stopped a couple of his materials from merging. 'It says that I'm supposed to merge them, but it doesn't say anything about ratio or the specific merging process.'

'Am I supposed to find that out myself?'

Kyle looked at the ten sets of materials before looking at the blueprint. 'Creating this Formation Array shouldn't be hard. The hard part is always designing Formation Arrays, not creating them. Why would they give me ten sets of materials?'

'Ah, I see,' Kyle thought as he realized what was going on. 'Another way to keep outsiders out. I'm supposed to create the Formation Array, but the instructions are incomplete. The real test is finishing the instructions. However, the Formation Array is so fucking weird that I can't even begin to guess how it's supposed to work, which means I need to experiment. Experimenting takes materials, and since everyone only has ten sets of materials, there is a limited supply of a resource that everyone needs.'

'In short, materials are currency.'

'The rules state that I'm not allowed to share information contained within the Communicator, but we can freely talk about our own findings. The blueprint doesn't contain the merging ratios, for example. If I give someone some materials, they might tell me about the ratios.'

'And since none of them want me here, I won't be able to trade with them unless I pay a brutal premium. This is a group project.'

Kyle looked at the blueprint for a while.

'You know what? No, I'm not going to treat this as a group project. I'm not a Formation Array Technician. I'm a Formation Array Engineer.'

Kyle thought about the requirements the Formation Array had to fulfill. There were several specific numbers relating to Energy efficiency, maximum size, usability, power output, and so on.

'I think there are a couple of ways I can use to get to my goal.'

Black took out a bunch of Immortal Metals. Red's team had sold all of their Immortal Metals, but Black still had plenty. After all, Kyle wouldn't just put all of his wealth into one team, leaving the other destitute.

Moments later, Black broke down a big chunk of Immortal Metals into countless chunks of weaker metals. Afterward, he grabbed some Immortal Earths and did the same thing to them.

All of Kyle's insights gathered in his mind. He knew all of the Elemental Laws up to the Seventh Level. As long as a bit of matter didn't surpass a certain level of Energy Density, he could create it. With access to all of the Elements, almost everything could be created.

However, creating fitting materials wasn't easy. After all, these materials often didn't just come from a single Element but from several. Even if someone knew every chemical element, they didn't automatically know the properties of all the molecules that could be made with these elements. Someone could only know these things when they knew how the different Elements interacted with each other.

Luckily for Kyle, he had a Complex Law and a Refined Law that fused the Elements. He knew how they interacted. He knew what would happen if someone shot Fire Energy through a thin wire comprised of a certain Minor Metal and frozen crystals of Water Energy.

Black quickly created hundreds of fitting materials that could do what he needed. Then, he made an inventory of all of the materials and gave Grey the task to experiment with them.

At the same time, White sat down and gathered Energy to increase the density of Energy in the room. The more Energy there was, the clearer the Energy moved and transformed.

White and Grey's tasks didn't consume a lot of focus, allowing Black to focus on coming up with a design for a Formation Array.

Coming up with a design also wasn't easy since it required insights into all of the Primordial Forces. Luckily, Kyle also knew the Major Law of Primordial Forces, but that wasn't really anything special. Almost all Adept Immortals and stronger knew that Law.

Several days of designing passed.

'You know, this is actually pretty fucking difficult,' Kyle thought. 'Creating such a distortion requires deep insights into the Primordial Forces. Knowing the Major Law isn't enough. You have to know a little bit about the True Laws as well. If you want to meet their benchmark, at least.'

'However...'

Kyle summoned some Immortal Metals and Immortal Earths. Grey fused and infused them, and moments later, Black created a Formation Array.

'With the Immortal Elements, it becomes much easier. I can use their perception powers to further refine and autonomously calculate the transformations. That increases the Energy efficiency by over 300%. In a way, passing the first trial isn't hard. You just gotta have a Complex Law that includes the Laws of Immortal Earth, Immortal Metal, Immortal Fire, and Immortal Darkness. Alternatively, you can also just experiment until you have the right ratios, but that will take a loooooong time.'

Kyle looked at his created Formation Array. If he wanted to, he could pass the first test already.

'I wonder how many different Formation Arrays I can make that fulfill the criteria? I mean, I'm supposed to learn about the language of Formation Arrays, right? If I just pass this arbitrary test and move to the next task, I will have only learned one way to get to my answer.'

'I don't want to be good at setting up Formation Arrays.'

'I want to be good at designing them.'

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