Chapter 148: Become a Formation Grandmaster within three months?

He had Jasmine move all of those precious Formation Materials into the basement of the guild headquarters, inside a specially cleared-out secret chamber measuring several hundred square meters.

After dismissing everyone, Zhuge Kongming closed the heavy refined steel doors.

Inside the secret chamber, only he remained.

He took a deep breath, adjusting his mind and spirit to their optimal state.

Then he closed his eyes.

There were two paths laid out before him.

The path of the Formation Master was divided into two schools of thought.

The first was the Legacy School.

As the name implied, it meant studying and using mature Formation blueprints that predecessors had long since designed.

The biggest advantage of this school was its stability and high success rate.

After all, they were the products of countless Formation Great Masters spending painstaking effort and undergoing countless trials.

Walking the path paved by predecessors was naturally secure.

Ninety-nine percent of the Formation Masters in Great Xia Country walked this path.

With advantages, there were naturally disadvantages.

Formation Masters of the Legacy School often lacked innovation, and their upper limits were not high.

The fatal flaws and cracking methods of many classic Formations had long since been no secret within the circles of Formation Masters.

Once encountering a Formation Master of the same Rank, it was very easy to be targeted and fall into a passive state.

The other path was the Pioneering School.

Formation Masters of the Pioneering School were never bound by the blueprints of their predecessors.

Their thoughts were unrestrained; they explored independently and created all sorts of completely unheard-of, bizarrely effective new Formations.

The upper limit of this school was extremely high.

Powerful ones could even rely on their own strength to create Grade 8 divine Formations.

But corresponding to that were extremely high difficulty and failure rates.

Those who chose this path would ultimately only give rise to two kinds of people.

One was an unearthly Genius, one in ten thousand.

The other was a madman who could not succeed even after exhausting his entire life.

Zhou Huai opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth gently rising.

"With my SS-Rank talent, if I were still to walk that Legacy School, it would simply be too beneath me."

"Furthermore…"

He glanced at his own hands.

"Even if I can't do it, isn't there still the smart core ai?"

Zhou Huai controlled Zhuge Kongming, walking to the center of the secret chamber.

He did not rush to pick up those precious talisman papers and ink ingots.

Instead, he took out a most ordinary refined steel carving knife from his toolbox.

The moment he grasped the carving knife, a miraculous comprehension surged into his mind.

Countless complex Formation patterns and profound rune structures spontaneously deduced and combined in his mind.

Those originally obscure and difficult-to-understand Formation knowledge had now unexpectedly become as simple as breathing.

He walked in front of a blank stone wall, his wrist moving slightly.

The carving knife fell.

"Rustle…"

A crisp and subtle frictional sound rang out in the silent secret chamber.

The tip of the knife wandered across the hard stone wall like floating clouds and flowing water, without the slightest stagnation.

Zhou Huai's gaze was focused to the extreme.

His breathing was steady and long, as if merging into one with the rhythm of the carving knife.

Time lost its meaning at this moment.

In his world, only this stone wall before him remained, along with the carving knife fluttering endlessly in his hand.

This was a process that required even more patience and focus than forging.

Any minute mistake, even a deviation of zero point one part in strength, would cause the entire Formation structure to collapse, wasting all previous efforts.

Beads of sweat oozed from his temples, sliding down his cheeks.

But he did not care in the least.

Five hours later.

When the final stroke of carving was completed.

Zhou Huai gently exhaled a breath of foul air, withdrawing the knife and standing straight.

He raised his hand, and within his palm, a wisp of magical power slowly surged out, pouring into the stone wall.

Hum—!

Across the entire stone wall, hundreds of complex runes suddenly lit up!

They linked with each other, reflecting each other's brilliance, and ultimately converged into a complete Formation.

A light blue energy barrier emerged out of thin air in front of the stone wall, emitting a soft halo.

It succeeded.

A most basic Grade 1 defensive Formation.

The generated barrier was enough to withstand the full-strength blow of an exotic beast below Level 10.

Do not look down on it just because it was an ordinary Grade 1 Formation.

For the vast majority of Elementary Formation Masters, wanting to independently complete a Grade 1 Formation required at least several weeks or even months of time.

This was still under the condition of having ready-made blueprints.

Like someone like Zhou Huai, who started with the Pioneering School on his very first attempt and succeeded on the first try.

Spoken aloud, it would be enough to cause the entire Formation Masters Guild of Great Xia Country to shake.

Right at this moment.

[Ding!]

The cold System prompt tone rang in Zhou Huai's mind.

[Challenge Quest triggered!]

[Quest Name: Path of the Grandmaster]

[Quest Objective: Successfully design and create a set of Grade 6 Formations within three months.]

[Quest Reward: Professional Orb Draw Chance X1!]

The smile on Zhou Huai's face instantly froze.

Three months?

Grade 6 Formation?

He could not help feeling a bit of a headache.

The difficulty of this challenge quest seemed to be a bit beyond the syllabus.

Nowadays, worldwide, there were clear standards for the Rank evaluations of Formation Masters.

Those who could make Grade 1 Formations were Elementary Formation Masters.

Those who could design Grade 2 and Grade 3 Formations could be called Intermediate Formation Masters.

Those who could handle Grade 4 and Grade 5 Formations were Advanced Formation Masters.

As for Grade 6 and Grade 7 Formations, only true Formation Grandmasters had the ability to get involved.

As for that legendary Grade 8 divine Formation, only the existence revered as the "Formation Sovereign" could catch a glimpse of its mysteries.

Looking across the entire world, those qualified to be called "Formation Sovereign" did not exceed the number of five fingers.

In the entire Great Xia Country, there was only one on the surface.

The teleportation Formation Zhou Huai wanted to make belonged to a type of spiritual Formation.

The most basic cross-region teleportation Formation fell under the category of Grade 4 Formations, and one must reach the standard of an Advanced Formation Master.

For Zhuge Kongming, who was currently only at Level 1, this was already a considerable challenge.

Let alone designing and creating a Grade 6 Grandmaster-level Formation within three months.

You must know that many talented Formation Masters, exhausting their entire lives, might not even be able to touch the threshold of a Grandmaster.

Short as ten years, long as fifty years.

These were all the norm.

Yet the System only gave him three months of time.

"Forget it."

Zhou Huai shook his head.

"With challenges, there is motivation."

Nowadays, the only way to raise the Formation Master Rank was to continuously carve Formations.

Every time he succeeded, he could gain the corresponding experience points.

The higher the Rank, the stronger the Mental Energy, and the success rate of carving Formations would naturally rise accordingly.

Over the next few days, Zhou Huai started up Zhuge Kongming's smart core ai.

Letting it stay in this underground secret chamber, carving Formations day and night.

Cycling endlessly, without stop.

The Formations on the wall were carved and scraped off, scraped off and carved again.

Those precious talisman papers and ink ingots were also consumed at an astonishing speed.

If the Materials were not enough, he would have Jasmine buy them.

Anyway, the thing he lacked the most right now was money.

As Ou Yezi's name as a "Divine Craftsman" spread louder and louder in Donghai City, even radiating to several surrounding cities.

Countless Professionals waved checks, coming upon his reputation, only begging the Great Master to tailor-make a piece of equipment for them.

The Eternal Night Guild nowadays, relying solely on the income of Ou Yezi selling equipment, had already accumulated tens of millions in liquid funds.

Rich enough to rival a nation, perhaps that couldn't be said yet.

But wealthy enough to own one side of the region was definitely more than enough.

Time passed day by day amidst this boring practice.

Three weeks later.

Inside the underground secret chamber.

"Hum—!"

Accompanied by a burst of violent energy fluctuations, a Formation dozens of times more complex than before slowly lit up on the ground.

A much heavier, more solid energy barrier rose from the ground.

Grade 4 defensive Formation, [Wall of Xuanwu], succeeded!

At this moment, Zhuge Kongming's Rank also successfully increased to LV10.

Zhou Huai's face finally revealed an inspired expression.

"Finally… I can begin preparing to carve the teleportation Formation!"