Chapter 309: Optimization

These Gu worms, are they weaving cloth themselves?

No, it's not even weaving cloth; they're spitting silk directly into the shape of clothes from the very beginning.

Li Qi knew this technique; some Gu worms cultivated by Shamanes had this function, able to directly spin silk into clothing.

It seems Liu Canzhi has also learned this technique?

This is how it can be 'natural'.

Li Qi continued to observe, only to find that these Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts continued to spin silk. Soon, in less than two quarters of an hour combined, they had consumed a damaged armor and spun out a new garment.

This new garment was made of extremely fine iron threads, looking incredibly soft. To the touch, it was no different from cloth, only revealing its hardness when force was applied.

Each of these iron threads was finer than a hair, so no matter the original material, the fabric's feel after weaving was incredibly soft.

"This thing, is it re-processing?" Li Qi tilted his head, speaking the essence in one sentence.

Isn't this just re-processing?

It disassembled the previous armor and then made it into this garment.

Liu Canzhi laughed heartily, patted Li Qi's shoulder, and gestured for him to pick it up: "This is not that simple, Brother Li. Try this Spiritual Artifact and compare it to the previous armor. This is a genuine Shaman Dao Tool, though only Ninth Grade, it possesses unique mystical properties."

Li Qi was also curious about what made this thing different, so he picked it up, concentrated, and read the information scanned by the True Knowledge Dao Resonance.

As soon as he got his hands on it, he noticed a subtle difference.

This thing…

It had changed so much.

The weaving technique had changed, the spells contained within had changed, and even the original flaws had changed.

The previous armor seemed to be designed entirely for defense, capable of forming a Qi shield on the outer layer to resist all external influences, just like a protective suit.

But this current garment was completely different from the armor just now.

The spell had changed; now it could only defend against spells but was ineffective against physical attacks. However, its spell defense had greatly increased, with the runic constructions and various structures completely altered.

Aside from the material and the Qi it contained being the same, there were no other similarities.

If not told, it would be very difficult to discern the origin of this item.

Liu Canzhi said proudly: "These Gu worms, as long as you throw in Ninth-Grade Spiritual Tool Materials, will continuously produce. However, they require Spirit Soul-type Materials, the purer the better. I calculated that using the remnant souls of demon beasts is best, most economical and practical. Other things are either too expensive or not as convenient to acquire."

"This change… wait, can it be mass-produced? No, but that wouldn't be very useful; it offers no advantage over standardized Spiritual Tools." Li Qi pondered for a moment but couldn't find any advantage to this item.

It was fun, but it had no value, and this technique showed no prospects.

Li Qi knew that Humanity already had Spiritual Tool assembly lines, and they were highly automated, capable of producing Spiritual Tools in large quantities and stably.

The regular soldiers of Tang Nation and a host of auxiliary troops, similar to servant armies, could all be equipped with a complete set of Spiritual Tools appropriate for their grade.

This kind of thing is basically a degraded version, right?

Moreover, it still requires the remnant souls of demon beasts, which are not cheap. Even in Tang Nation, where there are slaughterhouses that allow for cheap acquisition of large quantities of remnant souls, the industrial Spiritual Tool assembly lines next door don't even need that.

The cost couldn't be driven down, and the efficiency was incredibly low, producing only one item in two quarters of an hour, or half an hour.

On a mature assembly line, half an hour would be enough to equip ten people.

However, Li Qi still asked: "Can this thing learn? That is, can it weave different Spiritual Tools?"

Liu Canzhi explained: "No, these Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts, for now, can only weave this one garment. Other logic is too difficult to program; I haven't designed a good method yet. And they can only weave clothes; after all, they can only spit out fibers. Shields or weapons are difficult. Perhaps in the future, I can try to make some jadeite silk ornaments; that should also be possible."

After explaining, he walked over to Li Qi again, snatched the garment: "And I must say, Brother Li, you've misjudged this time."

"Misjudged? How so?" Li Qi was curious.

This was detailed information scanned by True Knowledge Dao Resonance; there should be no omissions. It indeed had no advantage over mass-produced standardized Spiritual Tools.

"Indeed, in terms of production efficiency, it has no advantage over standardized Spiritual Tools, but do you know the disadvantages of standardized Spiritual Tools?" Liu Canzhi asked with a smile.

Li Qi replied: "The disadvantage is simply that they cannot be adapted to each person, so they cannot exert their full power. But the Spiritual Tool you produced is the same; there's nothing special about it."

The difference between standardized Spiritual Tools and custom-made Spiritual Tools lies here.

Custom-made Spiritual Tools can easily adapt to one's cultivation method, one's habits, and perfectly integrate with the human body's microcosm, allowing for the exertion of greater power.

But standardized Spiritual Tools, no matter how optimized their design, must always be mass-oriented, so they cannot achieve this level of integration, and the power exerted will naturally be weaker.

Therefore, people with the means generally prepare their own Spiritual Tools. Standardized Spiritual Tools are only used in places like Tang Nation for large military armaments or urban infrastructure.

"Wrong, this is where you misjudged, Brother Li. Look at what this thing truly is." Liu Canzhi picked up the garment, put it on, and activated it.

Then, the spell contained within began to operate, and a layer of protective barrier subtly enveloped Liu Canzhi.

And… it perfectly fit his body.

It wasn't a fit that was pre-made according to his body, but rather this Spiritual Artifact rapidly changed itself to adapt to the user.

"Hmm?" Li Qi immediately noticed this as well. He said in astonishment: "How is this done?"

"Haha! This is the amazing part of the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts. This thing isn't some standardized Spiritual Tool of Humanity, but rather something I created by combining the Shaman Dao's method of innate Spiritual Tools. Those Shaman Dao Spiritual Tools you sold me, I discovered certain 'living' qualities within them, and after extracting them, this is the result."

"This garment, in essence, is a living creature, which is why it needs Spirit Soul-type Materials like remnant souls to form. You've used Shaman Dao Magical Artifacts; you should know this characteristic, right?"

"In other words, this is an item that combines the Shaman Dao's method of innate Spiritual Tools with Humanity's existing automated manufacturing. How about it, isn't it amazing!" Liu Canzhi threw the garment to Li Qi, letting him try it.

Li Qi no longer just looked; he put it on and began to use it.

Just as Liu Canzhi said, the garment gradually adapted to his body, becoming increasingly compatible with his cultivation method.

However… Li Qi found that because his cultivation method was too strange, mixing too many things, the item seemed to run out of power halfway through its transformation and got stuck there.

But it was still very impressive.

He immediately realized the power of this thing.

Business opportunity!

This thing can make a fortune!

Because he was still burdened with Mount Luofu's debt, Li Qi's first reaction was to make money!

"Brother Liu, what are the costs and efficiency of this thing? Can new types of Spiritual Tools be developed?!" He immediately looked at Liu Canzhi and asked eagerly.

Liu Canzhi saw Li Qi's shocked expression and was immediately smug. He knew Li Qi would be shocked.

So he shook his head proudly: "As for the cost, it's about fifteen times more expensive than standardized Spiritual Tools, mainly because it requires Ninth-Grade Spiritual Tools directly as raw Materials, and also needs to add corresponding grade demon beast remnant souls. The quality of these cannot be poor, otherwise the degree of change will decrease, and the adaptability will be too low."

Li Qi shook his head as soon as he heard it.

Are you kidding me!

Fifteen times more expensive? That's enough to find an Artifact Refining Master to customize one for himself, and it can also incorporate the Artifact Refining Master's own techniques and understanding, which would definitely be much stronger than this thing.

"As for new types of Spiritual Tools, for now, only this one can be refined. If other Spiritual Tools are needed, new Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts need to be cultivated from scratch. A nest of Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts can only learn the refining method for one Spiritual Tool, and with my current ability, the Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts I cultivate can only produce Ninth-Grade Spiritual Tools at most."

"If I want to cultivate a new nest, it would probably cost the price of a Seventh-Grade Spiritual Tool for just one nest." Liu Canzhi said, pointing to the nest of Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts.

After listening, Li Qi kept shaking his head.

The cost was too high, there were too many restrictions, and the initial investment was also large.

Although it seemed like the technology still had room for improvement, trying to make money with it now was probably wishful thinking.

However, Li Qi naturally also saw that this thing was very likely to have future prospects. Although it wasn't great currently, if the technology matured, it might be of great use.

Therefore, he said to Liu Canzhi: "Brother Liu, there's no need to be discouraged. Although Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts currently seem to have no competitive advantage, they do have their unique characteristics. If they continue to develop, there will certainly be a day when they shine. If costs are driven down, efficiency is increased, and the speed of new product development is accelerated, this thing… perhaps it could replace the current mass production lines?"

"Replace mass-produced Spiritual Tools? Wouldn't that be overturning the Dao foundation of the contemporary Mohist Grandmaster? I don't have the guts for that. If it can be improved to a practical level, I'd already be very happy." Liu Canzhi received Li Qi's praise, but instead shook his head, no longer looking smug, and instead began to consider the practical situation.

It seemed he also had a good grasp of the situation; he just wanted to show off his achievements to Li Qi.

After all, it had only been a month.

It had only been a month since he got Li Qi's Shaman Dao Spiritual Tools, and to have made such progress, it only goes to show that Liu Canzhi is indeed a Genius capable of studying at the Imperial Academy.

Everyone has their own abilities. Li Qi only then realized that besides his fast cultivation speed, he didn't seem to have any other notable strengths.

Liu Canzhi excelled at Artifact Refining, Shen Shuibi was skilled in medicine and alchemy, Bo Yue was strong in arithmetic, Zhong Minglou was a charlatan, and Yan Ke was adept at social maneuvering and also understood the Law of Cosmic Light.

As for Li Qi himself, basically everything he knew was limited to theoretical discussion. He could speak eloquently, citing various theories and classics offhand, but he was clueless when it came to practical application.

He couldn't fight, his combat talent was basically zero, and there were no special characteristics in his cultivation.

If he had to name a characteristic, it would be speed.

Entering Seventh Grade in less than four years, his cultivation speed was ridiculously fast. He relied on this point to stand alongside other Geniuses.

As for other things… his cultivation speed was too fast, so he didn't have time to develop any special talents.

Thinking about these things, Li Qi comforted him: "Was the Grandmaster so powerful back then? Was the assembly line like this from the beginning? If you develop it further, even if it can't replace them, it might still carve out its own path."

"That's true. Thank you for your auspicious words, Brother Li. Alas, there was still room for improvement, but unfortunately, I can't find anything more suitable than demon beast remnant souls to provide such activity, and I don't know what Shaman Dao relies on to cultivate Gu worms. What should I do?" Liu Canzhi looked unwilling, staring at Li Qi, then blinked.

Li Qi was stunned.

Uh…

This guy… called him over for this?

However, it seemed so. If he wanted to make progress in this area, he had to understand the Shaman Dao methods better, and there was clearly no good way to do that in Chang'an.

So, directly asking Li Qi was the best option, after all, Li Qi was the Young Master of Shaman God Mountain, and Liu Canzhi's Shaman Dao Spiritual Tools were obtained from Li Qi. Li Qi must have some understanding.

But perhaps due to his personality, Liu Canzhi didn't ask directly but chose this indirect approach.

Li Qi understood the reason and smiled: "How to cultivate Gu worms, I don't know; that's Shaman Gu Art, and I'm a Shaman; there's a huge difference between the two. However, if you're talking about Materials better than demon beast remnant souls, I do have a little."

Saying that, Li Qi flicked out a wisp of golden flame from his hand.

This flame had no temperature, only brilliant light.

Bright light and flickering flames, with smoke rising, and a murmuring sound seemed to echo all around, with a buzzing like mosquitoes and flies constantly in his ears.

This was the Sacred Flame from the Holy Flame World's Holy King.

This was something Li Qi had just thought of.

Liu Canzhi had just said that demon beast remnant souls were added for self-adaptive activity. So, what if it was a Spirit Soul product with higher activity?

If one wanted to cultivate the activity of such Gu worms, then… so far, the most active and most suitable Material for a Divine Kingdom's cornerstone that Li Qi had seen was, without a doubt, the Sacred Flame.

This wisp of Sacred Flame was created by the Holy King back then, and Li Qi brought it back to use as a sample for promotion.

And now, it seemed it could be put to use.

"This item is a special product from one of my worlds. Why don't you try it?" Li Qi gestured with the Sacred Flame.

Liu Canzhi's expression was solemn.

"Do you have any of lower quality, preferably Ninth Grade? This one in your hand… I can't discern its depth, which means it's at least Seventh Grade in essence. My Shamanic Silkworm Artifacts probably can't handle it," he immediately said.

Liu Canzhi did not refuse.

He also felt that this activity far surpassed that of dead remnant souls!

The Sacred Flame was originally a product of spiritual resonance, possessing extremely strong spiritual will, which is why the Divine Dao liked it. No matter how much remnant souls were used, they were still dead matter and simply couldn't compare to the Sacred Flame!

"I naturally have Ninth-Grade ones as well." Li Qi immediately took out another wisp of Ninth-Grade Sacred Flame and handed it to him.

This was resonated by the Holy Flame Clan's strong practitioners.