In some ways, the Spirit Gathering Formation was simpler than the Parting Storm Formation his master imparted to him. The symbols were easier to draw, but there were far more of them, and this made the calculations and setup considerably harder.
As a general rule, a formation master should always seek to use as few symbols as possible to achieve a desirable effect, as more variables meant more room for error and harder calculations. For some formations like the Spirit Gathering one that gathered and condensed Spiritual Energy, though, the large amount of formation plates was necessary.
‘I wonder if I could simplify it…’
It was not an uncommon for masters to try to replicate formations with fewer materials. However, the idea was soon struck off of Red’s mind when he remembered these were all his Master’s hand-written formations. He wasn’t so arrogant to think he could improve on that man’s work.
At least, not just yet.
…
The entire process lasted for almost a week. Formation-making wasn’t a practice that had a well-established point of absolute success, such as pill-making or the mastery of a technique. It was a matter of assembling many smaller pieces into a greater whole, and while said pieces could be tested individually or in groups, there was really no way to know whether you succeeded until the formation itself was fully assembled.
This was what Red went through.
The symbols themselves were not difficult for him. They took work and time, but he had a good grasp of how to draw them.
The real problem were the calculations and connections. One symbol too big or a few degrees too skewed on the formation plate could snowball into a problem that would prevent the formation from working. And as it turned out, with a formation this large, mistakes like those were far more common than one might imagine.
These were things Red had to solve himself too. The manual only gave him instructions on how to build a formation, but there were too many variables one had to account for themselves, like size, environment, purpose.
The problems didn’t immediately make themselves apparent, either. Sometimes, an issue with a plate formation would only reveal itself when connected to another of its siblings. This would make it so Red had to go through all those parts in search of a mistake or miscalculation he wasn’t even aware about.
These issues only increased as the parts were united into the final assembly.
On that week alone, Red made more calculations on this formation than all his other works combined.
The living room was a complete mess. Papers with numbers and geometrical drawings strewn everywhere, while discarded paint bottles could be found atop every surface. A sickening smell of paint filled the workshop, but Red had gotten too used to it to even notice.
The imp offered to clean the room many times with the maid’s help, but after the second time being told off by the youth, he gave up. It wasn’t that he liked to work in this mess, but that every paper counted.
What if the imp discarded a calculation that Red would later need? It happened more than a few times, so he gave up on the idea of cleaning the room just yet. This did reinforce his earlier ideas, though.
‘This is too small for a workshop.’
“Are you done, master?”
Emer’s voice came from the other side of the room. He seemed to have noticed Red had stopped moving his hands, a rare sight over the last week.
“Almost…” The youth said, with a tired voice. ”I need to test it again. Help me move the papers out of the way.”
The imp and the maid went about their business, carefully avoiding the lines and formation plates. The formation itself looked awe-inspiring - being composed of marble-white round plates connected by both strings and golden symbols drawn directly on the ground. It was composed of 25 plates organized in three circular rings, the outer one with 18 plates, the middle one with 6 plates, and the inner one with a single plate. This last one was far larger than the others, being almost 3 meters in diameter, and also a designated place for the cultivator to sit and absorb the energy.
As soon as the environment was cleared, Red took a deep breath.
‘Here it goes.’
He fished out a Spirit Stone from his pouch and placed it on one of the outer formation plates. It was possible to regulate the amount of energy this formation used by placing as many as 18 Spirit Stones as fuel, the amount of outer plates in the formation’s composition.
The formation was quick to light up, and Red felt the energy from both the stone and his surroundings moving towards one of the middle plates, which also lit up, and finally towards the center of the formation. While the gathering process was quick, though, it took a few moments until he felt the density of Spiritual Energy increase around the central plate. In fact, it seemed to cause a small shimmer to appear in the air.
“It worked, master! It worked!”
The imp jumped around in undisguised joy, but Red wasn’t as relieved.
“One gathering plate worked.” He shook his head. “We need to test the other seventeen.”
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“O-Other seventeen? T-That means…”
Red nodded. Eighteen spirit stones in total just to test a formation.
It was a ludicrous amount, but it was necessary if the youth wanted to make sure his work was successful. Besides, it was not like he would need to drain every stone to their last drop.
‘Just a large part of them.’
So Red went about testing the formation with various configurations. He tried to make sure no problems would crop up, no matter how many plates he used in how many ways.
The density of energy in the room increased substantially over the tests, and every breath Red took filled him with unprecedented energy. Then, it was time for the final trial - the absolute limit of what this formation could produce.
He placed Spirit Stones on the formation one by one, observing as the energy around the formation became more substantial. When he had placed the 18th stone on its spot, the Spiritual Energy seemed to undergo a fundamental change.
Its ephemeral state became more solid, and a glimmering mist took shape around the center of the formation.
Red shook in surprise.
‘This is…?’
The density of Spiritual Energy could also correspond to state of matters. Its normal density made it invisible to mortal eyes, and as it got more condensed, it would eventually manifest into a gas, a liquid, and sometimes even a solid. Spirit Stones were an example of this last state of energy, but while it was a good way of storing said energy, cultivators couldn’t directly absorb solid pieces through their veins.
The best way to absorb energy was then in between a gas and a liquid, a state of equilibrium between both states where the energy wasn’t solid enough to be blocked by the pores and acupoints and not ephemeral enough that its density was too small. This was the exact phenomenon Red was witnessing here, something he had never expected.
‘I didn’t imagine that-’
“You idiot! Look at the Spirit Stones!”
Aurelia’s voice snapped him out of his daze, and he looked down. The glow of the Spirit Stones on the plates was diminishing at a rapid rate, and their edges began to crumble as Energy was seeped from them.
Red frowned and waved his hand. A wind swept past the Spirit Stones, throwing them off the plates and stopping the absorption. The glow of the formation didn’t immediately dissipate, only diminishing and disappearing after some 10 seconds. The same went for the gathered Spiritual Energy, which remained in the air for 30 seconds further before dissipating into nothingness.
Red could still feel a somewhat increased density of energy in his surroundings, but it would return to ambient levels in a matter of hours.
‘Gone, just like that.’
He sighed and approached the Spirit Stones.
“M-Master, did something go wrong?” The imp asked, following behind him.
“No…” Red shook his head.
‘At least, I don’t think so.’
The sudden increase in energy density was unexpected, but it couldn’t be said to be a failure. When he picked up one of the Spirit Stones, though, he couldn’t help but frown.
‘Almost empty.’
In those few moments of absorption, the stones had been reduced to less than 10% of their reserves. Before, a Spirit Stone could last maybe even a few days under that absorption, but as soon as all 18 slots were filled, the formation seemed to undergo a transformation.
There was nothing Red read about such transformation in his manual, though.
“Is this normal?” He asked Aurelia.
“Not as far as I can tell.” She said. “We have formations that can achieve the same effect in our sects, but none of them are this simple.”
When he received this answer, Red immediately arrived at one conclusion.
‘Another surprise from my master.’
This formation wasn’t quite the same as the ones he saw on the market, and it utilized some different symbols and materials which Red thought he knew the purposes of. Yet, this was clearly not the case, as his master once again surprised him with a hidden feature of this formation of his.
The expenditure of fuel was insane, though, and Red couldn’t imagine how many Spirit Stones he would need to keep this density up for any substantial amount of time. However, couldn’t this be a useful tool if he was ever on the edge of a breakthrough?
“So, have you figured it out?” Aurelia asked.
“Figured out what exactly?” Red asked in confusion.
“Why this formation can do this?”
“I assume this is…”
Red trailed off as he examined the formation. Now that he thought about it, what parts of this formation were such a mechanism hidden in? Sure, the symbols and composition were slightly different from most other Spirit Gathering Formations, but such a wondrous effect wouldn’t come from just a few changes.
It would require altering the entire formation, adding more symbols and plates, as well as other connections. And yet, there was no such thing here. It was still similar enough to be called a Spirit Gathering Formation. So whence, exactly, did such a change come from? What symbols or connections interacting with each other cause this phenomenon to sprout?
Red couldn’t even begin to fathom it, no matter how hard he stared at the complex lines and symbols. The feelings of success were soon replaced by a gloominess he couldn’t truly understand.
In his head, when the formation worked, he thought he had mastered it, and yet as he looked at it, a feeling of puzzlement filled his mind.
Aurelia’s sneer reached his ears. “You have no idea, do you?”
Red shook his head. “None.”
“I suppose I can’t expect too much from a beginner. Oh well, what matters is that it worked, isn’t it?”
Her words, which hardly ever bothered him anymore, made the youth frown. Before he could do anything else, though, the imp cleared his throat.
“Uh-uh, master, I’m sorry to interrupt, but…”
“What is it?” Red turned around to stare at Emer.
“A-Ah, it’s just that… Someone came around a few nights ago.”
“Someone?” Red frowned. “How did I not notice such a thing?”
“I-I think you were too focused with work, m-master.”
‘Was I?’
In truth, he couldn’t remember much about the last week besides his work. He didn’t rest nor eat, or do much of anything else other than work on his formation. Yet, to be so focused as to not realize when even someone was at his own door… Wasn’t that too risky?
“He’s right.” Aurelia said. “Someone came by. More than a few times.”
“And I didn’t notice?”
“It’s not too uncommon for cultivators to block out the world around them when they are focused on something. Besides, they didn’t seem to have any unfriendly intentions, so it’s unlikely any of your instincts would have kicked in.”
This explanation made sense, as his crimson sense could also somewhat detect ill intent from other people. Perhaps the youth had become too reliant on it, such that when it didn’t give him any warnings, he didn’t bother to become alert while focusing so strongly on something else.
‘I should be more careful in the future.’
No matter how strong this power was, it wasn’t all-powerful.
Red nodded and looked at the imp. “Did you greet them?”
“I did.” Emer nodded, before panicking and shaking his head. “N-No, I mean, I didn’t! The maid did!”
“What did they want?”
“T-They wanted to give you a report on something you asked them.” The imp said. “Something you asked the Northvale family. I told them you were busy and to return the next day… But then the next day came, and you were still busy… And then the next day came and-”
“I understand.” Red cut him off. “Will they come here again?”
“Yes, tonight.” The imp nodded. “They said they didn’t care how many times they had to come, they would only speak about their business with you.”
“I see…”
Red was surprised that Leon had already investigated the matter even before a week had gone by. Now that he was done with the formation, though, it was time to verify this information and enact the next part of his plan.