Chapter 76: Laboratory Explosion

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Laboratory Explosion

Flame Compression essentially allowed energy to erupt more rapidly, resulting in greater lethality. After briefly cleaning himself up, Chen Shang summoned the dark gold flame once again and began his attempt at compression.

Using his Spiritual Power, he enveloped the flame’s outer edges, slowly and evenly applying inward pressure as if squeezing a balloon with an invisible hand.

The flame shrank by a fraction, reducing from a finger’s height to half a finger. Its color remained the same dark gold, but its brightness surged noticeably. He continued compressing. The half-finger height shrank down to the size of a fingernail, growing even brighter. A hint of danger began to seep from the dark gold hue.

Simultaneously, the flames began to create friction against one another, emitting a faint HISS that sounded like drops of water falling into a pan of boiling oil.

Sweat beaded on Chen Shang’s forehead. His Spiritual Power was depleting twice as fast as usual, yet he didn’t stop. He pushed further.

When the fingernail-sized flame was compressed to the size of a soybean, the dark gold morphed into a brilliant, radiant gold. The internal boundaries of the Samadhi True Flame began to blur as the flame’s Rune structures were forced to nest within each other. A palpable sense of danger emanated from his palm, much like the final seconds before a balloon was about to pop. This time, Chen Shang didn’t hesitate. He tossed the soybean-sized orb of light out just in time.

The orb struck the wall but didn’t detonate immediately. Instead, like a bamboo skewer piercing a block of tofu, it first drilled a hole into the surface before finally erupting.

BOOM!!!

Dark gold flames spewed from the hole, instantly engulfing the entire room. The protective Runes on the walls flickered violently, extinguishing one after another. A wave of scorching heat crashed into him, burning Chen Shang’s skin and curling the charred edges of his robe. He immediately activated his Energy Shield. A pale Blue halo enveloped his body, blocking out the roaring flames.

"What’s going on? What happened here? Who is blowing up a laboratory again?" an elderly voice rang out from beyond the door.

Chen Shang deactivated his Energy Shield and stepped out of the room, looking thoroughly disheveled and covered in soot.

An elderly man stood in the corridor. He had gray hair, wore the work uniform of the static experimental field, and held a Crystal Plate in his hand. A look of sheer helplessness was plastered across his face. The man peeked into the room, spotting a new fist-sized hole in the wall with edges that looked like glass melted by extreme temperatures. A large patch of the ceiling was charred black, and the remnants of burnt-out protective Runes were scattered across the floor, leaving a thick, acrid smell lingering in the air.

"I’ll pay for the damages," Chen Shang sighed.

The old man glanced at him, then back at the room, and shook his head. "Young man, the power of this Witchcraft of yours is quite something. Are you hurt?"

Chen Shang dusted the ash off his robe. "I’m fine. How much will this cost me?"

The old man didn’t immediately give him a number. Instead, he tapped on his Crystal Plate a few times. "The protective Runes are burned through, and the wall itself is damaged. It needs to be recast. Just register your name for now, and we’ll talk about the cost once the repairs are done."

Chen Shang signed the screen. The old man took back the Crystal Plate and gave him another look. "Next time, you might want to consider renting a higher-tier room. The protection limit of an Ordinary static field is three hundred degrees. Yours... that was almost five hundred degrees, wasn’t it?"

"You have quite an eye for this." Chen Shang looked at the old man with a hint of curiosity. The man showed absolutely no signs of Cultivation, yet he could accurately gauge the power of his Witchcraft.

The old man waved his hand dismissively. "Don’t overthink it. I’m not a Wizard Apprentice. My son is a Wizard. I’ve just seen plenty of people blow up laboratories over the years, so I’ve gotten used to it."

Chen Shang understood. This old man was an accompanying family member.

"Are there a lot of people blowing up laboratories these days?"

The old man shook his head. "There used to be quite a few. Those Apprentices would compete to see whose Witchcraft was stronger, and they even took pride in blowing up the labs. Later on, the higher-ups issued regulations demanding compensation and set up dedicated testing grounds for Witchcraft, which finally put a stop to that unhealthy trend."

Chen Shang nodded and asked, "How much is a higher-tier room?"

The old man paused. "The ones exclusively for Third Level Apprentices cost fifty Wizard Coins a week. But their protection limit is a thousand degrees—more than enough for you to mess around with."

Several months passed quietly. Chen Shang’s life became a simple routine between the Recording Platform and the static field.

His stack of Rune Diagrams grew steadily thicker, while the Crystal Core within his Sea of Consciousness expanded at a slow but steady pace. He could now stably control the compression of the Samadhi True Flame down to the size of a soybean, though his Magic Power input still hovered around thirty degrees.

Upon returning to his laboratory one afternoon, Chen Shang recorded his recent experimental data on his Crystal Plate. When the Samadhi True Flame was compressed to its limit, it leveraged an Attack Power multiplier of about fifteen times. This was composed of the Samadhi True Flame’s inherent ten-times multiplier, compounded by a 1.5-times multiplier brought about by the compression. He had inputted thirty units of Magic Power, resulting in an outburst of approximately 450 units of attack—which perfectly aligned with the old man’s estimate.

Chen Shang’s base Attack Power ranged from 85 to 120. At a fifteen-times multiplier, his theoretical limit would sit between 1,275 and 1,800. Of course, he couldn’t yet proficiently control such a massive input.

This made Chen Shang itch with anticipation. Because the Samadhi True Flame had high base stats, whether he pursued the path of fusion or self-compression, even a slight development could unlock devastating attack multipliers.

However, Chen Shang soon discovered something far more difficult to control than the Samadhi True Flame: his own ledger.

That evening, he pulled up his income and expenditure records on his Crystal Plate. In terms of income, the advance payment and loan for the cooperative experiment with the Spiritual Power development project team were nearly depleted. His paper subscription fees brought in an unstable few dozen to a few hundred coins per month. He also had a surplus of ten thousand from his last mission and eight thousand from his transaction with Solem.

But his expenses were vast, with the materials for Zhong Kui’s Armor making up the bulk of the cost.

While using Marcus’s body saved him a considerable amount of Alchemy Materials, the high-purity Energy Conduits, Stabilizers, and Carrier Substrates required for engraving Runes could not be scrimped on. A recent purchase of Thunder Pattern Steel scraps and Deep Sea Sinking Silver shavings alone had cost him nearly eight thousand.

In addition, renting the static experimental field cost anywhere from a few dozen to over a hundred coins a week. There were also Spiritual Power Potions required to supplement his Meditation, not to mention Surtr’s food expenses. The little fellow had grown from the size of a fist to half a person’s height, and his appetite had multiplied more than tenfold alongside his growth.

Adding it all up, his basic monthly expenses came to around four thousand coins. Yet, the balance on his Crystal Plate only showed 2,473 remaining.

Chen Shang fell silent for a few seconds. More than twenty thousand Wizard Coins had bottomed out in just a few months; he truly was spending money like water. After pondering for a moment, he opened his Space Book and took out a pile of Throne Fragments. The grayish-white fragments no longer glowed, as all residual Divinities had been extracted. However, the fragments themselves remained excellent Alchemy Materials.

Chen Shang posted a listing on the trading platform: "Elf God’s Throne Fragments. No residual Divinity. Unique material, suitable for use as a Rune Carrier..."

He set the price at eight thousand, and someone quickly reached out to inquire. The buyer was an Alchemist who left a message stating that this material was perfect for crafting the substrate of a Rune Carrier, and asked if he had any more in stock.

Chen Shang replied that he was completely out. After completing the transaction and deducting the platform’s handling fee, he received 7,800 coins—enough to sustain him for another two months.

"I still need to find a suitable mission to support myself..." he sighed.