41 artifact

author's note: new artifact process. How is it? Seems better?

Honestly even after studying all the books about alchemy I was not confident in weapon making. I was still lacking a lot of things in that branch of studies. I had a rough plan about what to try in my head, but still did not have any idea on the process needed to make it there.

Obviously I could not forge weapons by myself. I did not have the necessary knowledge and technique. There was only one thing I was good at. I was a cultivator. The only thing I was able to learn was how to use the ki to change myself and my environment, so I tried changing direction. Since I could not create the weapons by myself I would leave that part to the specialists in the artof forging. I'm going to make the central part of the artificial artifact. I will create the core, even though I still did not understand how to do it. What is needed to make a connection with the world's law? How could I create such a thing?

I kept thinking about it for days and it finally came to me the idea I was waiting. I could just create a core just like the one inside my body with the surrounding ki. A core that would keep growing, making the weapon stronger over time. It would probably not evolve in some sentient presence, but I would be able to create a strong weapon this way.

I wanted to try it immediately, so I asked Azazel-san to get a little further since I did not know what would happen. The first time I tried making my core I almost bursted after all. Now that I think about it, I was very lucky when I managed to condense my dantian.

I concentrated all my ki and spiritual energy into attracting the external energy and condensing it in one point. It was going well, the energy was gathering and condensing slowly, but at a certain point the process become unstable and just like the water breaking free from a dam, the external ki flowed outside. In one single moment a big explosion with me at the center happened and I was thrown away like a broken kite, since my body was defenseless without the ki.

My body hurt everywhere. My ears kept ringing and I could not feel my limbs. With the little energy still present in my body I started attracting ki and began converting it into life energy. In the end I managed to fix my body without much problems. When I opened my eyes I could see that I was inside a big crater. Honestly I did not know how much but I was grateful to the me of the past that chose to do this in the mountain and to Azazel-san who seems to have put some sort of barrier around.

Normally someone would stop trying after an accident like that, but not me. I kept repeating that for the entire day, failing miserably every time. I don't have a single pair of clothes on me now. They got destroyed during the experiment.

But I had Azazel-san with me, so I did not have to walk butt naked home this time. I consider this an evolution.

I kept trying the next day too. I still could not understand what I had to do to avoid exploding every time. I felt like controlling the energy inside the core was impossible, just like someone who can't move a arm that is not attached to the body. To avoid that I tried mixing a part of my ki into the core to stabilize the process from the inside. It was really hard getting the proportions right but, after some explosion, I managed to keep it stable. The only problem now was that it would not keep that form, if I released my control. It seemed like there was something lacking in the formula. Something to stabilize and keep condensed the core.

After a lot of trial and error with Azazel-san, I came to the conclusion that the core was lacking a body. It needed some real solid biological component to keep it stable enough. Since I was able to regenerate my limbs and numb to the physical pain I used my flesh, blood and bones in the mix.

Only then was I able to create a core that did not explode. In my hands I was holding a scarlet sphere of ki. The sphere wasn't bigger than a pin pong ball and seemed to be pulsing in my hand just like a human heart. It was really creepy but I considered this as a success. Now the next step is trying to build a weapon with it. I still didn't know how to make it convert the pure ki energy in other elements like fire.