Will was in his room. Not really *his* room, but it was a room he was staying in, so it was close enough.

He had already used the pill and the knife, so next on the agenda was the books. His hope was that they might help with the marble, though it wasn't very likely in his opinion.

There were four of them in total. Two books of arrays, and two books on making them. Will focused on the two books on making them first.

One seemed like a beginner level book, while the other seemed like another beginner level book, but for people who had read the first one. He embedded both and looked at the first array he'd bought. He still didn't recognize all of the symbols, but he understood a few more.

There was a bit of overlap with the original book on arrays he had, but not that much. It was mostly just in the really basic symbols and the principles of making them. The second book had almost no overlap at all. All things considered, he could make a better array than his old heat one, but he wasn't able to make anything amazing.

He turned to the other two books. One seemed to be full of basic arrays, while the other had more advanced ones. He looked at the basic one first.

It had arrays for things like heat, fire, cold, stealth, sound-cancelling, darkness, light, and some other simple things like that. It also talked about how to use them. Apparently they could be made with qi, and used on the go or in battle. Will couldn't use qi, so that didn't help much. But it did give him some insight.

Until now, all his arrays had been pretty much permanent after turning on. As it turned out, it was because he used spiritual energy. Apparently, normal people couldn't just blow spiritual energy onto an array. At least not until a higher cultivation level.

When a regular person inhaled spiritual energy, they did so through a cultivation method. That isn't to say they couldn't bring it in without one, but doing so would give them qi deviation. Though both Will and a cultivator might inhale and bring in spiritual energy, a cultivator would bring in a manageable amount and circulate it according to their method until it was ready to enter their dantian. It was why good spiritual roots mattered, because they allowed fine control over greater amounts of spiritual energy, allowing for a cultivator to circulate bigger amounts at a time. Better cultivation methods would either take less time to circulate, or offer some other powerful effect to make up for it.

In that sense, Will's cultivation method would be a heavenly technique that anyone would consider him a peerless genius for creating. Only, it wasn't, because that would only be the case if his method made qi. Considering more than just circulation time, his method would be not even a technique that anyone would consider him a moron for creating.

Basically, normal people couldn't take in spiritual energy in a way that let them spit it back out. This meant that normally, they'd use qi. And qi didn't last as long in an array.

He moved on to the next book. It had fewer arrays in it than the first, but they were a bit better. There were arrays that worked as traps, arrays that worked as barriers, ones that worked as traps that trapped someone in barriers. There were also ones that affected the mind. They didn't do much, of course. It couldn't mind control anyone, but it could make them more likely to overlook an area, or influence their emotions ever so slightly, or confuse them, or make them disoriented, or other simple stuff like that. They were also all pretty easy to counter, though all to varying extents.

Will embedded both of the array books and moved on, pulling out the marble.

It was currently in a glass box of some sort, just like the fire was, though this one had the effect of blocking spiritual energy. Neither of the boxes seemed to be actual glass, more likely some clear jade kind of thing or spiritual glass or something.

He examined it. How would he get it into his dantian?

“I don't know. Doing weird shit like that is your thing. I'm just a genius, not a mad genius.”

Will sighed. He couldn't think of any way to do it. Disappointed, he put it back in his ring and took out the vibrating ring he'd grabbed.

He examined the ring. It wasn't vibrating currently, so he put it on the middle finger of his left hand. It started vibrating as soon as the tip of his finger was in. It seemed similar to laser-activated things. As soon as anything was in-between the sides of the circle, it turned on. It seemed to be slowly shrinking to fit his finger as well. He took it off, and it only stopped vibrating once it was fully off his finger. Once it was off, it stopped shrinking and started returning to normal at around twice the speed.

The vibration wasn't very strong. About the same as an electric massager. The ring itself seemed to be made of some purple rubber-like material, though it seemed to have something else as a core, since it kept its shape without bending. The shape was like a regular ring only a little bit thicker.

He put it back on and examined it again. It didn't seem to be using spiritual energy. Not lifeforce either.

He brought it to his ear and listened to it. No meaning, just the buzzing noise of a vibrating thing.

It was confusing. Why was it vibrating? It didn't make any sense. Was it like his martial arts? Was it a profound ring? That didn't make any sense.

He licked it. It tasted like buzzing. He took it off and tried again with it not vibrating. It tasted like nothing. He put it back on.

He closed his eyes and tried to sense it with his heart. He sensed vibrating on his finger. He opened his eyes.

He asked the black gas to look at it. It appreciated that it was doing that without spiritual energy, but didn't know anything.

Maybe the old man would know? He left the mansion and went to the alleyway store. The door creaked open as he entered.

“Why are you back? Can you not just leave me alone, already?”

He walked over and held out the ring for him to see.

“Do you know what this wing is?”

“Which one?”

He took it off his finger and put it on the counter.

“This one.”

The old man picked it up and looked at it.

“It's a purple ring.”

Will nodded.

“It vibwates.”

“Alright.”

“Do you know why?”

The man looked at the ring.

“No. Now take it with you and go somewhere else.”

Will took the ring, put it on his left middle finger, and left. He headed back to Li Rencai's house. Maybe it was mana? He'd need to ask once he woke up.

He headed to Duodibunu Lili's room. The door was closed. He found a maid and asked them where a needle would be.

“Why do you need one?”

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“Wing that vibwates?”

“Huh? What ring?”

He held out his hand.

“The purple one.”

The maid looked closely. It seemed to be vibrating.

“How is it doing that?”

“I don't know. Can I have a needwe now?”

The maid remembered the original topic.

“Why would you need a needle for a vibrating ring?”

“Weasons.”

It wasn't her business, anyway. The kid was already holding a sword, she doubted he'd be in much danger with just a needle.

“Follow me.”

She led Will to a room that seemed to be used for sewing. She grabbed a needle from a drawer and handed it to Will.

“Here.”

Will smiled.

“Thanks!”

He ran off back to his room, shutting the door behind him once he entered it.

He took off the ring. It stopped vibrating. Once it returned to normal size, he put the needle in it. It started vibrating and shrinking.

Will watched as it shrank. It shrank until it was as tight around the needle as it was around his finger. He took it off and it started returning to normal.

If it could shrink, could it grow too? He tried to fit three fingers into it. Only the fingertips could fit. Once he fit them in enough of the way that it was tighter around them than it usually was around his finger, it started growing, then when he'd move it even farther it would grow a bit more. It seemed to stay in the same circular shape no matter what. He took it off his finger after confirming it could grow.

He put all of his fingers in it and wore it like a bracelet, then took it off and put it back on his middle finger. He took out a wooden board he'd taken from the Sick Freak.

He used Sarah to cut it. He cut it in a kind of double-sided arrow shape. One side of the arrow was a full triangle, while the other was just the two lines in a v shape, both connected by a thin rectangle.

He laid the shape he'd cut against the side of the bed, with the full triangle side facing up. Then he took off the ring and tried to fit it around the board. He was able to do so without issues. He got it past the triangle, and it started shrinking to fit the rectangle part. Once it was done shrinking, he pulled it against the triangle part again. He wanted to see if it would expand around a right angle like that. It didn't grow when he did so.

He could always just loop his finger inside and pull it away from the wood to make it grow, though. He did that until it could fit around the triangle and took it off.

The ring seemed to gain weight proportional to its size. Will didn't get how that was possible, either. This ring was really weird.

It seemed like the sun had risen now, so he went to go look for Li Rencai.

He walked for a bit before he found a maid to ask.

“Do you know where Li Wencai is?”

The maid thought for a moment.

“He should be having breakfast about now.”

“Can you bwing me there?”

“Of course.”

The maid led him to an overly fancy dining hall before heading off to do maid things again. Though he'd explored the house a bit, he hadn't made it here yet. Even if he had, he had no way of knowing if this was where the man would have breakfast, or if he may even have some second dining hall just for breakfast. Or if he had a bunch that he rotated between. That was honestly a pretty aggravating thought until he realized he'd just made up a guy to be mad at for no reason.

The whole family seemed to be in the dining hall right now. Li Rencai sat at the head of the table on the far side of the room, his wife and concubine sat on his left and right respectively, and his daughter sat on the left side beside her mother. They all say pretty close together for the size of the table, so there was still about three fourths of it left empty of anything but chairs.

Li Rencai, since he was facing the entrance, was the first to see Will come in.

“Will! Didn't think you'd be up! Come over and have a seat!”

He was mostly yelling because he was far away, but he was also happy to see the kid.

Will headed over to join them. More than the breakfast they were having, eggs, he was interested in the beverages they had. They had orange juice. As for companionship or whatever, it wasn't a factor.

Will was thirsty. He hadn't really realized it, since the lifeforce had been covering it up with its effects, and that didn't change with it turning into the whatever it was. However, now that he had seen orange juice, it settled in how thirsty he was.

He'd seen the tea in the tea room back at the Dragon Flame Clan, of course, but he didn't really drink tea, so it didn't remind him of being thirsty. Orange juice on the other hand, well, he'd had a good bit of that.

A servant was already coming back with a plate and a cup for him by the time he sat down.

Will didn't talk much throughout the meal. He mostly just asked for more juice. Everyone else talked about something, but he didn't really listen much. Once the meal was done (and Will had had enough orange juice), Will asked Li Rencai to follow him to his room. Considering how he'd only talked about the other world stuff in private, he got the feeling he might not want to share it openly.

Once they reached the room and Will closed the door, he took off the ring and showed it to Li Rencai.

“Hey, is this mana?”

Li Rencai looked a bit… Will couldn't describe it, it was a mix of awkward and confused, maybe?

“Why are you showing me something like that?”

Will was confused too now.

“Something like what? It's a ring that vibwates. Does that mean you know what it is?”

The man sighed.

“You really don't know?”

Will was excited. He definitely knew something!

“I don't! Does that mean it's mana, then?”

The man finally registered the full situation. How would that thing be here? And didn't the kid say ‘vibrating’? Didn't the vibrating kind usually have a spot for batteries? And again, how would it be in this world?

“Wait, how do you have this? What even is it?”

And there went Will's hope. Most of it anyway, it could be something mana-related that Li Rencai didn't recognize.

“It's a ring that vibwates. It doesn't use spiwitual energy or lifefowce, and it can shwink and gwow itsewf. I picked it fwom the Dwagon Fwame Cwan as a reward.”

The man considered it for a moment.

“Hmm. Can I see it?”

Will passed it over. Li Rencai messed with it, putting his fingertip through and taking it out again. He observed it. While he wasn't an awakened before his death, he could feel the mana back in his world. When someone lived their life without it, and it suddenly was added, it was a noticeable thing. He'd also dealt in a few dungeon relics, man-made relics, and mana crystals, so he knew what those felt like as well.

This ring didn't feel like them. He didn't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't like the things from his world. It didn't give off any of the stuff he felt from relics and mana crystals, nor from any other dungeon or mana related things.

“It's not mana. Not anything else from my world either. Sorry, kid. I wish I could be of more help.”

Will sighed as he accepted the ring back from Li Rencai. At least he knew another thing it wasn't. That was good at least.

“You've still hewped a bit. I know one mowe thing it's not, now.”

“Well, in that case I'm glad I could help. Did you need anything else?”

He eyed the bloodstained hole on Will's shirt as he spoke.

“No. That's aww.”

“Alright. Then, I'll see you later.”

He left the room, leaving Will on his own again. Alone with a weird ring. He put it on his finger again. He tried talking to it.

“Hey, anyone in there?”

The ring responded. By vibrating. Like it always did.

Yeah, that one was a long shot. It seemed like the least likely ring to have a ring grandpa in it. He doubted an immortal would hide their soul in some rubber purple ring that vibrates. Maybe in a rusty one, or a pretty one, or one with a scary design, but not a purple rubber vibrating one.

He was really stumped by this ring. He couldn't even think of a way to use it right now. He thought of putting it on Sarah to enhance her cutting power, but he doubted it would work. The ring didn't vibrate back and forth, but in all directions, and it didn't vibrate fast or strong enough either. So that idea was out.

The only thing left he could think of was trying to cut it open. He brought out the pan he'd taken from the Sick Freak, and put the ring in the center, then tried to use the tip of Sarah to make a cut on the ring, very lightly pressing down. It didn't work.

He pressed down harder, still nothing, even harder, still nothing. He picked up the sword and swung it down on the same spot as hard as he could.

The floor broke and the pan dented. The ring was fine. What the hell? Maybe this thing had a good use after all. It was strong as hell. Picking it up to examine it, the rubber wasn't even scratched.

Hmm. It seemed to be pretty much immune to physical attacks. What about other things?

He used an array from the new books he got, one that made fire. He exported it onto the floor, then blew on it to turn it on. He placed the ring in and watched. Nothing happened.

Then he realized that he probably shouldn't start a fire on a wooden floor in a very likely flammable house. He scratched out the array immediately before the fire started spreading.

He headed outside to the courtyard of the house. He hadn't been there before, but he had seen it through windows that overlooked it. It was pretty big, and the center of it was stone, so he could make arrays safely here. He was thankful that there wasn't a fountain.

He exported the fire array, blew on it, then copied it. He couldn't make a second one beneath it, as the fire wouldn't be able to escape from underground. He decided to stick with just a single fire array for now.

He tossed the ring into the flame. Then he waited for fifteen minutes, playing on his phone. He scratched out the array and immediately picked up the ring.

It was hot and hurt a fair bit, but he could handle it. The ring seemed to be rapidly cooling. Only once it reached a temperature cool enough to be seen as comfortable while still being hot, it stopped. He put it on his middle finger. He waited for fifteen minutes, playing on his phone again.

The ring seemed to have barely cooled. He took it off, put a finger from both hands in, and pulled outward to make it grow. Feeling it once he had, it felt just as warm. Which made no sense at all, how was the heat spread out through a big ring the same as heat condensed in a small one?

It seemed to be cooling faster, though. Which still didn't make sense. But it was something.

He was really wondering what this ring was running on. It was honestly a bit bewildering that it ended up in the junk room when it had effects like this. Maybe they hadn't tested it enough.

Well, it's not like he'd actually gotten anything useful out of it. The energy it was running on didn't matter if all it could do was vibrate at a comfortable temperature.

That gave him a thought. This ring had to be running on something, right? A weird supernatural mass. Like spiritual energy, like qi, like lifeforce, like the black gas, like the healing energy, and probably like mana too. When he encountered lifeforce he didn't know what it was. He just inhaled it.

So why would he need to know what it was that was powering the ring? There was no need to. He just needed to inhale it. Inhale it and decide how to use it afterwards.

Will put the ring on the middle finger of his left hand. After a bit of thought, he moved the storage rings to his right hand just in case.

Then he inhaled. And the ring stopped vibrating.

He examined the thing he'd inhaled. It was a strange one, for sure. It seemed to be some see-through gelatin-looking thing with a very minimal light grey tint in the shape of a cube with rounded corners. It seemed to not be stuck in that shape, but instead just gravitated towards it. But that was just the appearance. Will was more intrigued by what it was.

It was seemingly related to the concept of space. But in a different way than was usually seen. Space was almost always used externally. From wormholes to space blades, it was all external. Even storage rings made an external pocket dimension that they acted as a doorway for.

But this thing was the opposite. It was all about a form of spatial manipulation done to one's self. Now that he knew, he was able to understand the anomalous effects the ring had had.

The vibrating was it moving itself around through space. It was a very original usage of the concept. Usually, moving using space meant making some kind of wormhole and walking through it, or shortening space and walking through it. The constant was that the movement was done by the self, and the use of space just assisted it. This just moved through space using space.

Then there was the growing. Basically, it was making itself be in multiple places at once and warping its own space. What looked like two different sections of ring could actually be just one section and a spot linked to that section. If he'd had a way to damage the ring, the damage he caused one part would show up identically on others. Each duplicated section also had the same effect on the world as the original, so each one had weight as well. There was also warping, as it altered the curvature of itself to fit all the duplicated ones.

The shrinking was making multiple things be in the same place at once, along with warping the curvature to make it close. It was basically just the growth in reverse.

As for the heat, there were a few things. For the rapid cooling, it was linking the outside to the inside. It made it so that everything hot was exposed directly to the open air. It stopped doing so once it was at a good temperature. From what he could tell, it staying hot for a long time was just a feature of the materials. When the ring was grown, the heat showed up in multiple places at once, and as such was exposed to the air multiple times.

And as for why it couldn't break, that was also just the materials. It could be damaged. Will just wasn't able to.

Will decided on the fate of this self space stuff. Its fate would be dantian two for the time being. And in it went.

Looking at his finger, it seemed like the ring had turned into a bunch of pieces that had fallen off his finger. He picked them up since they were made of strong materials.

He examined himself for any effects from the thing he'd gotten. He didn't feel any different at all. He couldn't do any space manipulation either. Well, either way, he'd solved a mystery, and that was the important part, kind of.

And he still had more goodies to mess with.