Liya and Shen reviewed many techniques in the antidron.
Connecting one's mind with the antidron let one receive information straight in their mind. It was even faster than speaking with D+ agility, especially now that Shen's mind had improved to become comparable to C-rank. The information inside was organized into categories and lists that could be further filtered. The lists contained a title and a concise summary.
Liya's assistance was illuminating at that point. She could connect to the antidron with him, though they couldn't access different information simultaneously. A single glance at a description was enough for her to point out creative ways a technique could be helpful beyond what it said.
Then, actually comprehending the technique depended entirely on Shen—at first. Qi techniques were very different from Guardian's non-magic ones. Guardian skills were all about movements, Concepts, Laws, and ability. However, a single strand of qi on a specific muscle could change everything. Its density also changed everything. Liya didn't know much about that.
However, Shen now found out that structure also mattered.
Shen's only contact with a qi construct's unique structure had been on the dagger that had come from his clan's— Or rather, from Feng Clan's artifact. The structure its qi formed had allowed the energy blade to enter his soul without issue. It had caused no damage, but it was still astonishing.
None of the techniques he had memorized as a Keeper of Knowledge in training had dealt with that. So, he had believed it to be an advanced secret technique. Now, after seeing similar structures used in many techniques, he researched and found a thorough explanation in a document.
It expanded his horizons.
It was no novelty that qi form affected what it could do. Qi techniques were based on that. When Shen cultivated, he rotated his qi in a specific way that resonated with Concepts. He had also engraved a few special runes on his dantian—his qi core—to make it absorb and refine qi automatically.
Mana had many advantages on that front. A Guardian could achieve anything by using mana, wishing for something to happen, and having some knowledge of how that could be achieved. Unlike cultivators, they also weren't limited by the Concepts they had touched. Though, naturally, touching a Concept or Law made it easier to use related magic.
Qi structure reminded Shen a little of mana usage. It was meant to accomplish things beyond one's Path.
It didn't look like it at first. Such structures debuted as a way to lower a technique's qi expenditure. It was similar to using bricks with holes instead of filled ones. The needed qi amount decreased.
In the beginning, they were seldom worth it. Using holed bricks almost always caused techniques to grow unstable. However, in a few instances, it actually increased their power. Cultivators had to research to merge it with already existing skills.
From there, the method further evolved to deal with willpower in three different ways, making it truly impressive.
First, specific structures allowed the cultivator to "spend" less willpower in a will-battle clash to accomplish the same as they could without it. When such clashes happened, one's will connected to the enemy's through their connected energy. This kind of structure let willpower traverse's one's own qi more easily, thus making the process smoother and less "wasteful."
It wasn't an insurmountable advantage. At most, it lowered willpower expenditure by 5%, but it could be the difference between life and death.
Second, some structures allowed one to hide their willpower in attacks. That prevented willpower battles from happening when competing energy met each other. The disadvantage was that it weirdly made any attack harmless when it met a soul.
Liya and Shen estimated it was great for training or competitions. Especially training. He had no doubt that the Eternal Empire experts had grown considerably more powerful because of that. It could also be used to confound enemies who didn't know the technique or warn opponents.
Third, the final structures allowed one to use a technique, then disconnect their will from it without consequences. The technique could then keep going for as long as it had qi to sustain it. Energy attacks, be it with qi or mana, usually couldn't be used like that; if you disconnected your will from the magic or skill, it immediately ceased to exist.
Usually, Guardians and cultivators worked around that limitation by producing physical phenomena with momentum. An explosion was the most obvious example. After something exploded, the shockwave would keep going regardless of the mana behind it. Shen's invisible atom-splitting blade was an advanced use of the technique. He formed the blade, and it kept going, a qi-empowered Concept-filled physical phenomenon that continued after initial momentum until it was spent.
"Enchanted items are like this, too," Liya explained after Shen raised a question. He knew little about enchanting. "They require willpower to produce their initial effect, but crafters cheat by creating a 'willpower echo' or 'null mind,' two different techniques with similar results. I like the first one the most. The willpower I use on an enchantment while creating it is enough to keep it going. It has advantages and disadvantages over null minds."
Although it wasn't the focus of his research, Shen got curious about it. "Oh?"
Liya smiled. She liked talking about crafting. "I spend more willpower to craft using the willpower echo technique but also learn more because I have to be more intimately involved with the process. It also gives me a greater degree of freedom while crafting. A null mind requires specific materials and assembling techniques. Null-mind items are easier to mass produce, but it limits the crafter's growth." Her smile widened but in derision. "You could see it as the difference between an artisan and a button pusher."
Shen nodded, then changed topics. "What about enchantments going against soul defense? My spear doesn't get less sharp when it enters a body."
"Soul defense still applies. That's why most combat items' effects are limited to the item or wearer. The wearer won't resist the enchantment, while the item, being a physical existence, won't be stopped by a soul. Whatever is affecting it also won't be countered."
Shen pointed out, "That's why I didn't see many high-tech energy guns yet."
The big crystals Marzia had used in the rift war created plasma beams. Plasma was a physical attack, not a metaphysical energy one. However, such attacks would be useless against a peak D-rank like Shen. He had only seen high-tech-looking guns in Australia.
He continued, "But enchanted bullets would still deal damage, right?"
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Liya nodded. "Of course. Arrows, too, and they are less expensive and difficult to enchant than bullets. You found some in the gnoll rift. The issue is that physical objects have no soul. An aura or domain can simply destroy incoming projectiles no matter how enchanted they are. Then again, auras are rare, and domains are usually only wielded by B-ranks. You'll see plenty of such weaponry as you explore the Alliance. The drow simply don't need them to control our populace, while deploying such projectiles on Earth would be a waste of money. A D-tier arrow is still a D-tier enchanted item. It's not cheap to buy, especially in bulk. It's all about balancing cost and projected gain.
"Moreover, if you shoot a thousand enchanted arrows at your enemy, even if you kill a thousand enemies, you'll just have given the remaining enemies that same thousand arrows to shoot back. Large-scale enchantments that affect gravity or the weather are much more useful and harder to change hands. Or consumables, like explosives. Though even they are useless against True Path Walkers, who can also ignore indirect effects generated from mana attacks.
"So, you see, Guardians are still supreme. From C-rank onwards, enchanted projectiles are very rarely used. At B-rank, you'll only see very expensive high-tech items now and then, like phase bombs. But even they are useless against domain holders."
Shen had received training to dodge or destroy any incoming item, but the explanation had not been this thorough.
The conclusion was clear: enchantments beyond those that personally improved a Guardian's abilities had to be strategically used after careful consideration. Whoever didn't weigh the pros and cons before deploying them was either stupid or rich enough not to care about the cost.
Although Shen had gone a bit on a tangent, he was glad for it. It gave him a better perspective on how good both his atom-splitting blade and the qi structures were.
Liya had mentioned nothing about enchanted items producing Concept- or Law-based attacks like his blade, so it was likely impossible. That was the domain of beings with willpower and understanding. Which also highlighted the importance of the antidron.
As for the qi structures that let his qi attacks keep going without being connected to his will, they were a cheat.
They basically became physical attacks that competing energy wouldn't automatically stop. No more than any other projectile would, at least. After all, if there was no will on the attack, there would be no willpower battle. They could only be stopped like any other projectile would. More importantly, they bypassed the issue of high costs to create projectiles.
They were still not as good as a pure Concept attack like Shen's, which even required the correct technique or competing Concepts to defend against. But at mid-D-rank or lower, they were still outstanding.
In fact, such structures overhauled his understanding of cultivator battle style so much that he would not touch on techniques that used them until after the summit. Adding multiple long-range qi attacks to his Path would change a lot.
"You'll become something else altogether," Liya agreed. "These attacks might not be too powerful, but not having to worry about willpower battles adds variety and can be used creatively. If I were D-rank, I would be tempted to give up on mana and become a cultivator instead."
The structures were that important.
"You can't do that anymore?" Shen asked.
She shook her head. "C-rank changes a Guardian at a too fundamental level. You also won't be able to use the system to improve your stats from then on, right?"
"Yeah," he replied.
"I can only hope to find a similar mana technique in the future, but I don't have high hopes. Qi and mana are quite different, after all."
The qi dagger Shen had felt used structures to make it harmless to souls and disconnect the artifact's null mind from it. The latter was important because enchantments, especially low-rank ones, had limited range. With both techniques, the dagger could reach further and go through any living being that it wasn't intended to reach without hurting them or slowing down.
That went to show how valued the new methods were and how widespread they had become.
It wasn't easy to adapt techniques to them. Combining lower qi expenditure with willpower-affecting structures was especially harsh. Yet, over half the techniques in the antidron took advantage of them.
Shen was forced to learn how they worked, even if he couldn't fully utilize them yet. It was pretty easy, to be honest. More importantly, their explanations compared them to other qi base concepts, leading Liya to significantly improve her understanding of qi. On top of a few pointed questions that he answered for her, her understanding became as good as possible for someone who had never felt qi the way a cultivator did.
After taking the time to understand the qi structures, time became even tighter, so Liya and Shen didn't waste time on weak skills. Although one might gain sudden enlightenment at any moment, it was unlikely to happen when reviewing subpar techniques. They started from the top and made their way downwards.
A little less than two Standard hours after they began to study the antidron, Shen found subtle ways to refine his abilities with novel takes. It wasn't about the qi structures. Instead, coming in contact with martial techniques he had never thought about—and the things they aimed to accomplish—expanded his horizons, too. He took them into his Path, almost automatically changed them, and used them to improve a few rugged corners.
That wouldn't be possible without his solid foundation. His C-rank mind also assisted. And Liya's help was also enlightening.
Just like that, his power improved by about 2%, and using it in battle would likely help him hit 4%. Shen was also confident that learning everything he could from the antidron, testing it in the field, and correcting it further, would give him up to a 10% boost in his overall power.
Alas, they ran out of time.
"We're almost late," Liya said with a sigh, then turned serious yet still gentle. "We must discuss something before we go."
"What is it?"
She smiled sadly. "We can't reveal anything about our promise to wait for each other. It's too dangerous."
The cultivator agreed at once.
To begin with, Shen was already one of Liya's weaknesses just for officially being her charge. If it became public knowledge that they were romantically involved—or close enough—it would only get worse.
"Of course," Shen said. "I don't want to be a burden." The words left a bad taste in his mouth, but that was the truth.
She smiled. "I appreciate the sentiment, but that's not the main issue. Because of how the Alliance works, all Guardians learn that they can impose their worldview on the world once they are strong enough. Many beings find it unacceptable that a 500-year-old B-rank is interested in an 18-year-old D-rank. Some won't care about our wait or want to investigate how we do things. They might capture or attack either of us just to rid the multiverse of this unsightly imbalance."
"When you put it like that, it does sound horrible," Shen said, only half-joking.
"Which is why we're waiting while getting to know each other. All we have is a promise. Anyway, we should pretend to be nothing but martial master and student."
"Okay," Shen confirmed his agreement again.
To be honest, he didn't like it, but he understood the need.
Liya then produced two sets of... armored clothing?
They looked like a mix of plate armor, military uniform, and a noble's garb. Thick white plate pieces were placed over black leather, but while the plates were close to each other, they didn't touch, leaving plenty of weak gaps. The plates were also nicely cut, and the contrast with the leather below was a nice touch. However, the clothing's defense was symbolic at best. Her boots and leather gloves were also white with black details.
Shen's own clothes were similar but with inverted colors, black on white.
"As I said, time is tight," Liya said as she erected separate rooms with her domain. "We should wear this to get to the Summit."
"Is this some sort of official clothing?" Shen asked after they changed. "It offers no defense. Anyone can target the gaps between plates. It's only G-tier, too."
"It's a statement," Liya replied with a dangerous smile. "The ones behind the Summits claim they're absolutely safe. That only demonstrations are dangerous and only for the talented beings involved. So, they also forbid wearing armor or carrying weapons outside demonstrations. This is the drow way of saying we don't believe or trust them."
"Armor is forbidden?" Shen asked, gesturing to the clothes he now wore.
"The definition of weapon is clear, but armor is much more fluid. Should they banish padded clothing? Leather? Only allow a specific cloth? It's not set in stone, but G-tier equipment that doesn't obviously look like armor and leaves at least one vital organ unprotected is permitted. This is the farthest the drow chose to push."
Shen nodded. "You mentioned a demonstration?"
She didn't reply immediately. She paused for an instant, then shook her head, "I just got ordered to teleport away. Let's go. Teleport us to the First-Class Talent Summit."
The world turned white.