Chapter Seventeen: The Puzzle

  Although Xiao Hong only wanted to carve a simple pattern on it, wanting to carve in the narrow space between the patterns was not an easy task, let alone that the pattern carved by Xiao Hong had a "V" shape in cross-section, which further increased the difficulty of carving.

  And even if it is carved out, there are even more difficult things waiting for Xiao Hong, that is to inject the magic pattern liquid into these fine patterns. This requires extremely precise control of one's own power, and slight deviations will cause the injected magic pattern liquid to break free from its restraints, overflow, and the entire magic pattern will be completely declared a failure.

  Ah.

  Although he tried his best to control it, Xiao Hong's knife skills were limited after all, and the needle knife in his hand finally deviated from the trajectory Xiao Hong had expected, failing.

  For such a failure, Xiao Hong's face had no expression. The countless failures he had experienced before had already allowed Xiao Hong to maintain a good attitude towards failure, and naturally threw the failure aside. Xiao Hong then picked up another loadstone and started repeating what he did earlier.

  And casually activated Muxi'er's audio-visual magic pattern.

  Until late at night, beside Xiao Hong's desk, there were already seven or eight discarded inkstones, and a layer of sweat had seeped out on his forehead. The side of his middle finger had been ground by the knife handle until it was somewhat crimson.

  "Hmm..." Xiao Hong let out a long sigh, then leaned his body back against the chair, relaxing while still thinking about the crux of the matter in his mind, how to make the cut to guarantee the highest success rate.

  "Continue." After a short rest, Xiao Hong brought another loaded stone and continued with the previous steps.

  With countless failures that even Xiao Hong himself couldn't count, and with each failure came a summary, finally, until one o'clock in the middle of the night, a simple loaded stone with "wen zhong wen" was finally made, it can be said that the completion was completely stumbling.

  However, for the next step, Xiao Hong was very clear that it would be even more difficult, which is injecting the magic pattern liquid.

  As for what kind of magical liquid to inject into the fine lines, Xiao Hong didn't have a clear concept and could only rely on his previous studies to configure a little bit of A-style magical liquid. The effect of this magical liquid was to optimize the magical lines as an auxiliary magical liquid.

  Based on what he had learned and after a series of deliberations, Xiao Hong basically confirmed that this type of alchemical elixir was feasible.

  He changed into a compact V-shaped knife, Xiao Hong then applied a small amount of semi-transparent A-style magic pattern liquid, and began to mobilize the power within his body. As he injected the power into the A-style magic pattern liquid, he guided the liquid into the fine lines through the power.

  The control of horsepower must be extremely precise, and any slight deviation will either render the desired effect unattainable or result in direct failure.

  Staring at the magic liquid that was as thin as a hair, emitting a soft glow and merging into the texture, Xiao Hong's eyebrows were already furrowed together, his entire nervous system stretched taut.

  Every deviation of the force is forcibly twisted back by Xiao Hong, giving people a feeling as if a drunkard driving a sports car is rushing straight on the road.

  However, this time luck was on Xiao Hong's side. Although the process was fraught with danger and he narrowly escaped failure several times, he finally managed to complete it. However, Xiao Hong was well aware that luck played a huge role in this success.

  He carefully activated the tiny "texture within texture", Xiao Hong took up a regular V-shaped knife and began to inject anti-inflammatory magic texture liquid, this step came easily.

  As the anti-inflammatory medicine was fully infused into the magic pattern, Xiao Hong began to follow his usual method, placing both hands over the magic pattern, preparing to activate it with his own power.

  But at this moment, Xiao Hong's expression suddenly changed. Suddenly, Xiao Hong felt that his driving force was being consumed wildly, and this consumption was not proceeding in a normal way, one stock at a time, but rather according to a specific percentage.

  For example, if Xiao Hong himself has more than 300 points of driving force, then the speed at which it is consumed is 30 shares per second. The feeling it gives people is as if the magic pattern in front of their eyes has turned into a bottomless pit or a monster that devours driving force!

  "Could it be like this?" Xiao Hong silently exclaimed in his heart.

  In just a few seconds, Xiao Hong's internal Qi had less than thirty strands left, but to complete the current magic pattern, he still needed at least eleven more seconds.

  If it is interrupted now, all previous efforts will be in vain.

  In a moment of desperation, Xiao Hong flashed out his hand, took out the cyan-black magic bead, and directly threw it into his mouth, replenishing his internal energy in an instant.

  After a brief 15 seconds, Xiao Hong had consumed over 450 units of Chakra, equivalent to 150% of his own Chakra, before finally completing the Smoke Bomb Seal in front of him.

  Looking at the inflammation medicine in front of him, Xiao Hong realized that without this cyan-black magic rune bead, the "Rune within Rune" technique would be impossible to achieve. It required consuming 150% of his body's energy in an instant, and during the activation process, he couldn't stop or switch people. How could it be done without a magic rune bead?

  Obviously, "texture in texture" technology can only be completed with cyan and black magic texture beads.

  "It's extravagant to consume over 450 units of spiritual energy just for one activation." Xiao Hong muttered to himself, then carefully picked up the anti-inflammatory medicine talisman in front of him and activated it.

  In an instant, a palm-sized magic rune suddenly appeared on Xiao Hong's arm, which was brighter and more dazzling than the same level of magic runes, constantly changing into various colors.

  At this time, Xiao Hong could truly feel that in the anti-inflammatory magic pattern before his eyes, a power was stirring, which was not present in other magic patterns.

  With this discovery, Xiao Hong's heart was filled with a wave of joy. Without a doubt, his previous efforts to revive the many hardships had not been in vain. He seemed to have finally possessed a kind of magical power that others did not have.

  He turned his head and looked at the other arm, a scar about one finger long. It was scratched when he went into the mountain to collect medicine a few days ago, but it wasn't serious, so Xiao Hong didn't bother to take care of it.

  The wound is slightly red and swollen now, which is caused by mild inflammation. It's a good opportunity to test the super-strong Xiao Yan medicine magic tattoo made by myself.

  Five finger guards aligned with the wound's position, a bright green light enveloped Xiao Hong's elbow, then slowly seeped into the wound.

  Suddenly!

  Xiao Hong suddenly felt a sharp pain coming from the wound, and before he could react, the wound that had already started to heal suddenly spewed out a small amount of dark red blood, like a geyser. Xiao Hong had never seen such a violent method of reducing inflammation before.

  However, next, Xiao Hong's expression changed slightly because he suddenly felt that the powerful anti-inflammatory magic contained in his right hand was slowly leaking out, just like a full tire with a small hole.

  Although Xiao Hong had never encountered such a situation, the books on driving magic also mentioned it. He didn't dare to be slow for a moment, so Xiao Hong quickly withdrew the super-strong Xiao Yan magic pattern.

  As the magic circle returned to its original form, Xiao Hong saw that the edge of the stone slab had already developed two fine cracks. Although they were not large, they were indeed an ominous sign - the energy load that the stone slab could withstand was unable to fully support the super-strong medicinal magic circle.

  At this rate, the magic seal that Xiao Hong had originally set up to be usable five times could only be used once more.

  Undoubtedly, Xiao Hong was once again faced with a difficult problem, that is, how to make the stone completely carry "wen zhong wen", which must strengthen the intensity of the stone.

  However, among the Yu Tu-level magic patterns, only the most common white jade can be chosen as the carrier stone. Therefore, the only way is to start with the shape of the carrier stone.

  Following this train of thought, Xiao Hong suddenly realized that the magic bead with patterns within patterns was originally spherical because the most vulnerable part of the stone was its edges, and when the magic bead became a sphere, it seemed as if there were no edges at all.

  "Clever." Xiao Hong sighed to himself, but this could only remain in his sighs. For now, he had barely grasped the plane magic pattern, and wanting to create a spherical magic pattern was almost impossible, as it required a three-dimensional understanding of the magic pattern. Even Sang Hongyun couldn't easily do it, let alone Xiao Hong.

  Most tattoos are still on a flat surface now.

  Because he had been thinking too much today, Xiao Hong now felt that his brain was almost solidified together and really couldn't think anymore. He carefully placed the finished magic pattern on his desk and then directly fell onto the bed, falling asleep immediately... Even in his dreams now, Xiao Hong's mind was full of magic patterns.

  Before long, time arrived at the second day early in the morning. The morning sunlight broke through the darkness and once again spread light over the earth.

  Xiao Hong woke up to find that the place on his elbow where he had used the Super Strong Anti-Inflammatory Tattoo to heal himself had perfectly recovered, without even a hint of scarring. The effect was amazing, but unfortunately, Xiao Hong still couldn't fully master the "Tattoo within a Tattoo" technique.

  Although his brain was still a bit dizzy, Xiao Hong's thinking had become much clearer. He rubbed his eyes, got out of bed, and habitually splashed some water on his face before opening the curtains.

  As a ray of sunlight spilled into the house, Xiao Hong's originally sleepy eyes slightly opened, only to see 7 or 8 villagers dressed up outside the window, constantly walking back and forth near Xiao Hong's home, their expressions filled with anxiety and urgency.

  Since Xiao Hong moved into this abandoned wooden house, except for Li Le, few people came here. Suddenly, seven or eight people appeared out of nowhere, including both men and women. This couldn't help but make Xiao Hong feel puzzled, and a hint of vigilance arose in his heart.

  He picked up the small knife from the desk and put it into his pocket, then slowly opened the door a crack, stuck his head out, and asked in a low voice, "What do you want?"