"It seems there is a payoff after all." Ron silently calculated the gains and losses in his heart.
The advantages of being first in the sequence are obvious. Aside from higher prestige and influence, there is more resource allocation and freedom.
This is undoubtedly a strong guarantee for the upcoming Path of Truth impact he will attempt.
The information Hayek revealed about using Abyssal Material as a medium made him envision new possibilities for the "Flowing Shield Wall."
"Activation... autonomous defense and flow... even possessing erosion abilities..."
Ron murmured, already beginning to ponder how to apply these traits to his shield wall.
The Abyssal Material he acquired earlier was mostly used for charging the Stand-In Puppet, but he still retained some unused samples.
Perhaps he could consider using part of it for the "Flowing Shield Wall" experiment.
"However, with the Abyssal Material being so active, ensuring it doesn’t lose control or cause self-pollution during use is a question worth pondering deeply."
Ron frowned, contemplating this thorny problem.
Exiting the Central Tower, Ron decided to head straight back to the workshop to begin the experiment.
With only two months left until the Star Ring Convergence, he must seize every minute for preparation.
Inside the workshop, Lilia was organizing a batch of newly arrived herbs.
Seeing Ron return, a hint of joy flashed in her eyes, but she quickly returned to calmness: "Teacher, you’re back. Dinner will be ready soon."
"No hurry yet." Ron shook his head, heading straight to the laboratory:
"I need to conduct some new experiments, which may take some time. If I don’t come out, start dinner without me."
Lilia nodded silently, without asking further questions.
Since the meeting with Lady Allen, she became even more silent but also more focused and diligent.
It seemed she wanted to learn as much as possible from Ron in the limited time available.
Ron entered the laboratory, carefully locked the door, and then retrieved the metal box gifted by Hayek, inspecting its contents. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novｅlfire.net
The materials inside were far more abundant than he had anticipated—various colors and textures of metal powders, crystal-clear Crystal Stone fragments, and even a few Unknown Materials emitting a strange aura.
Each medium was contained in a separate small bottle, with the bottle labeled with concise names and main traits.
"Iridium Gold Powder—very high physical defense, able to resist most direct impacts."
"Starlight Crystal—energy absorption and conversion traits, suitable for resisting energy attacks."
"Spiritual Sand—high perceptiveness, able to capture subtle energy fluctuations and changes."
Ron examined each medium, and his experimental plan gradually became clear.
"Start with the most basic ’Multiple Media Integration.’
He mumbled inwardly, taking out Iridium Gold Powder, Starlight Crystal, and Spiritual Sand, preparing for the first group of experiments.
Actually, in his own previous explorations, he had already mastered some essentials of multi-media, but consulting with Hayek inspired him further and provided specific configuration ratios.
Following Hayek’s teaching methods, Ron began attempting to mix these three media in specific proportions.
This process requires extreme precision—any slight deviation in the proportion of each medium could lead to significantly different shield wall effects.
"Iridium Gold Powder serves as the main body, providing basic defense; Starlight Crystal is auxiliary, responsible for energy conversion; Spiritual Sand acts as the perceptive medium, enhancing the reaction speed of the shield wall."
He carefully mixed these materials, while simultaneously injecting Spiritual Power for initial fusion.
This preprocessing allows the energy traits of different media to adapt to each other, laying the foundation for subsequent Magic Construction.
When the three media were fully mixed, Ron took a deep breath and began constructing the magic model for the "Flowing Shield Wall."
The skilled level "Magic Construction" skills allowed him to easily control this process.
Spiritual Power, like fine threads, precisely guided energy flow, weaving the hybrid media into a perfect protective network.
With his soft command, the hybrid media flew out from his palm, quickly expanding around him to form a semi-transparent shield wall.
This shield wall exhibited a peculiar flowing texture, with a faint glow on its surface — the result of the interaction of the three media’s traits.
Ron carefully sensed the energy flow of the shield wall.
Compared to an ordinary "Flowing Shield Wall," this multiple media version had significant improvements in both stability and strength.
More importantly, its energy efficiency was higher, allowing for a longer duration with the same amount of Spiritual Power input.
"Now, test the defense effect."
He took out a specially crafted small crossbow, shooting a series of arrows at the shield wall.
An ordinary shield wall might fluctuate under such intensive attacks, but this enhanced version remained almost motionless. The arrows were immediately deflected upon touching the shield wall’s surface.
"The physical defense effect meets expectations."
Ron nodded in satisfaction, then took out an energy emitter, setting it to middle strength, and fired an energy beam at the shield wall.
The result was equally satisfying—the shield wall not only absorbed this energy attack, but the beam’s energy formed a graceful ripple on the shield wall’s surface,
which was then evenly distributed throughout the entire shield wall structure, without causing any fluctuations or unstable points.
"Energy conversion efficiency exceeds expectations." Ron wrote down this discovery in the experiment record: