Eating a space pocket, or more accurately having Rockette 'consume' a few, was odd.
They sort of... showed up in the Crystal Caverns. Like tiny pearls. All the same size.
Which was inconvenient, as Adam had been choosing the smallest ones possible, getting frustrated, then searching their foam for an even SMALLER snack for Rockette to nom on.
And even though THIS pearl was a pocket of space large enough for several big oceans, THAT pearl was only big enough for a small country.
Still, narrowing down the size available was progress, annoying or not.
He had kind of hoped that these things would convert into types of Space spiritual energy, or expand Rockette's internal storage area. Maybe act as doorways or something.
Instead, identical gray pearls. Felt strangely cold too.
Meh, they may be useful at some point.
Thankfully, after all those issues, Adam could now easily grab storage pockets of the right size with ease, have Rockette consume them (No reason to leave them floating out somewhere, that seems like a good way to lose your stuff!), and start fiddling with the fun part.
The formations.
Adam had a few advantages here.
For one, unlike other artificers, he had high levels of control when choosing his working materials. He had a hundred 'Master Pockets', all identical in scale and (mostly) the same shape. There were no fears that they would wander off, pop, expand, or get accessed by others.
'Research' was testing different formations recorded from the scanned rings, but that only needed a dozen or so bubbles. The rest?
Adam shoved Blue energy into another bubble.
Hmm. Right, do the following:
Baseline: Check Master Pocket for stability. Create array of dimensional addresses. Scan addresses. Define address volume.
Interface: List contents. Scan inputs, determine if it maps to existing pockets. Measure input, select next largest bubble. Update lists.
Maintenance: Add, delete, modify space bubble clusters. Assign, delete, modify owner. Assign, delete, modify access controls. Shift, copy, delete Master Pocket hard coded address location.
...Did that do it?
He frowned as the energy did SOMETHING inside the pocket... and tossed the results to 'Research'. This 'organic formation' stuff was nearly unreadable even if everything went EXACTLY as desired, he wouldn't know for a few hours if it worked correctly or if it SEEMED to work correctly.
Adam sighed as he started the process again with the next bubble.
At some point, the raw data being collected would provide enough examples that 'Research' could finally begin extrapolating the actual rules of these chaos formations. The ability to tie the symbols to elements outside of the current reality, so that they could be established and moved LOCALLY without making them fail.
Then he could design a 'cultivation circle' formation inside a cluster pocket, and basically print out a bunch of 'cultivation rings' that would project the correct shapes externally when someone was ready to meditate. Maybe with a few other spiritual storage spaces inside that the cultivator could store energy into, so they could delay the absorption process until they could relocate to somewhere safe. Maybe absorb attacks?
This was his current goal, because he didn't want to spend FOREVER with this caravan, and the kids couldn't use his abilities once they returned to their Sect. Creating custom equipment that only worked for the children or their bloodline would free up his future work... and this time, he would have the lead guard do the bartering when it came time for compensation.
Eventually.
For now, he was basically throwing thousands of units of purified spirit energy to create a larger sample size for 'Research' to work off of. Which, like a lot of the fiddly bits when researching, was a bit annoying.
Side note, he had been doing a bit of an internal audit and checked the quarry inside his Martial Spirit earlier. There were observable color splotches now, as the 'seeds' of the many various metal and crystal samples were taking root.
According to Rockette, while slow, this should eventually experience a massive increase in growth rate... the application of 'Mass Creation' having great synergy with 'Growth' inside the Martial Spirit.
Each fragment of generated metal reduced the energy required to increase the available volume as it converted the generic 'Crystal' that formed the floor in that cavern. One rock becomes two, becomes four, becomes eight, etc.
It would level off after a certain volume was reached... Basically when they run out of Crystal and start trying to convert each other. This meant that the 'cheap' materials, those without significant complicated internal structures or powerful conceptual abilities, would end up converting the largest percentage of the Quarry room after everything settled down.
Which was... annoying. The most expensive, slowest growing stuff... that tended to be the GOOD stuff. But whatever, this was good enough for now and he could always seed a new Quarry with a custom ratio after this one 'fills up'. With his current cultivation base, 'Mass Creation' could only be applied to a limited area at a time anyway.
A pulse of energy, and Adam moved another identical Master Pocket to the side for review.
In other news, the Four Eye Flame Bull parents laid another four fertile eggs. Once hatched, there would be eight balls of fuzz wandering around the crystal caverns, begging scraps from people and generally being turned into pampered pets.
They could (and did) eat almost anything, but they had an tendency to try and chew on Adam's flames when he was meditating. It was one of the reasons he had brought out the flaming wagon and meditated out here now, even if he didn't think the small creatures could actually hurt him in the process. Or the wagon, which they also gnawed on.
They almost acted like fluffy dogs. Which made the egg laying thing even stranger, even if everyone else just considered it 'one of those things' and ignored it.
He was sort of GLAD he hadn't managed to pick up other animals for the pastures yet, as it looked like in a couple of years he would have a whole damn HERD of creatures laying eggs and raising adorable fiery fluff balls.
Meanwhile, the Steak Shrubs were starting to mature. And, aside from the various seasoning options, the results were fairly fascinating!
Rockette was growing a new batch to test things out, but it seemed that using different spiritual energy ratios during the final growth phase would change the 'meat type' of the 'fruit'.
It was mostly discovered by accident, as if NO changes were made the resulting meat was... bland. Nutritious and fast growing, but tasted like boiled chicken with less flavor. But with only minor changes at the end of the fruiting periods? BIG improvements.
Only a few plants near the edge of the cavern got exposed to other energies, but THEIR fruits had different colors, textures, and flavors. With or without seasoning. Only one was recognizable to the tasters (It was like roast beef, apparently), but ALL of them were better appreciated than those Steak Shrubs only exposed to 'Optimized' energy ratios for maximum growth.
Thankfully, the unripened meat pods would still accept 'flavor energies' once they neared completion, so they didn't have to pull up the whole garden and start from scratch to begin testing for the best results.
All the super bland 'perfect' pods were being stored away as filler, as they basically tasted like any sauce or stew they were added to and helped make ingredients last longer.
In Adam's opinion, this was part of the lure process. Until the final stage, these Steak Shrubs focused on pure growth as the number one priority... then they used the natural spirit energy ratio in the air to ensure the resulting 'fruit' products would attract the local wildlife more successfully.
It would ensure that each meat pod would taste MOST delicious to those creatures that lived in areas with this local heavenly energy pattern... hopefully attracting more and more 'customers'.
Adam was just glad he didn't need to make a separate meat garden for each flavor discovered, thanks to this odd trait. Most of the girls avoided this area to begin with, the wiggling tentacles with meat pods a bit too disturbing for some... So Adam ended up being in charge of this section by default basically.
Well, him and Rockette.
For a plant that moved and created meat lures, the resulting fruits were surprisingly safe for civilians to eat. Probably used up the massive amounts of spirit energy involved shifting the flavors and textures of the final product towards a conceptual ideal of 'delectable, delicious, and desirable'.
So he gave a good portion of the bland stuff to the merchants, whom were quick to see how useful a healthy but tasteless meat could be used in various dishes. Not for roasts or steak, but anything cut thin or smothered in flavorful toppings or sauce.
Needless to say, with the uptick in food quality morale was high for the caravan. Everyone was still stuck in town as trades continued, but the cultivating kids were being given individual instruction, quality food, powerful spiritual treasures and 'normal water'... they were beyond content.
Sister Dian was... well, going along with stuff. HIS people knew that wasting time was the whole POINT, so they were also fine with this.
Adam sighed, another Master Pocket formed and tossed on the pile.
That said, even if Adam was the only one able to do this... whatever he was doing right now, the scientific process got a bit repetitive. Rockette had tried to duplicate his actions, but even with her better control of his Qi and his Blue energy, she wasn't able to just... feel outside of reality like him.
And if Rockette couldn't do it, even as part of his Soul? No point in asking the others.
He did ask the lead guard anyway, he had been wrong before after all... and she made him add it to the list of things to not tell anyone but the Sect Patriarch.
The list was getting longer.
He blinked. Right, she had sent off a few jade slips he had made in some sort of secret Sect treasure cube. Sure, it had exploded pretty impressively into a depressing pile of dust, but still! When he got back to the Burning Sword Sect, he was going to buy a few.
Speaking of Sect items... Absently tapping another Master Pocket with his powers, he opened his free hand and examined another interesting Sect purchase.
A camping kit.
It was one of those things that everyone had, everyone knew about, and people didn't think about until they were missing one. Unlike the basic ones used on this journey, back when they actually set up camp before Rockette turned into a crystal cavern village, THIS camping kit was the super duper expensive one he had tossed onto the purchasing pile back when they left.
It was clearly not purchased often back then, and the reason was a tad obvious as well... It was too expensive.
WAY too expensive.
A canteen with MASSIVE storage within, able to provide water for hundreds of people for years. Required over a month of being submerged in a good source of water to fill the damn thing, and if it got tainted or poisoned you had to clean it out over several weeks and empty it all before trying to fill it again. Over another month.
A thin blanket which was an artifact. It would use the owner's Qi to become more heavy, warm, or (if desired) cool... it could stretch in size and stayed clean, could even repair minor damage or rips or tears. It also cost more than several thousand regular blankets, was a bit too finicky to store casually without using the included custom storage container, and worst of all... it GLOWED in spiritual energy senses. Forget every being stealthy with THIS thing being used. Half the functions of the carrying case is to retain the energy this thing spewed everywhere.
A fire starting tool. High quality, easy to use, small size, no one knew how to refill it. After an unknown number of uses, you might as well throw it away. Also, it might explode.
An expandable tent... but it had so many 'comfort' features that only one person could fit inside, even though it was big enough for a dozen people. And it cost more than setting up a new outpost in the wild from scratch. But if you needed a temporary tent that would automatically set itself up, dig a toilet pit, control temperature, ensure proper temperature of stored snacks and drinks, includes a washer and dryer and steamer and ironing press and toaster and... Sheesh.
Then there was the campfire toolset. Able to turn a 'normal', 'boring' campfire (Using the handy dandy hope-it-didn't-explode fire starter!) into a kitchen good enough for a master chef. Aside from the dozens of tools and accessories (Yes, I WOULD like to saute my broiled roast!), the trickery and what not that allowed it to squish down to such a portable size made the already stupendous price multiply by many folds.
Oh, and to make all this junk small enough to be considered a kit, most of it had materials so thin and fragile, well... yeah.
It was CLEARLY designed by some psycho for 'Rich Young Masters' so stuck up that they could smell their own... anyway. Expensive, overpriced as well, technically not useless but realistically barely purchasable...
Adam chuckled as he remembered buying the damn thing. Not like he didn't have money to burn, but the absolute look of shock had been half the reason he went through with the purchase. He knew it was crap. The Sect store knew it was crap. Sister Quan knew. His guards knew. The crowd knew.
Good times.
Still, while fragile, expensive, and over developed as this kit was? It had some interesting tricks. Internal space expansion couldn't be done with formations if the object needed to be moved, not easily at least. Instead, each component that could hold a bit too much were formed of expensive materials and exposed to heavily dense energy with powerful will imposed within.
Concepts were brute FORCED into the parts by some high powered cultivator with clearly too much time on their hands and a desire for cash inflow. Considering that cultivation led most people to gain massive amounts of civilian wealth anyway, it was odd. Especially since the needs of cultivators tend to vanish as they progress.
No need to eat, sleep, drink, or even really wear mortal clothing. Why use a blanket when you could force power into basic unenhanced clothing? It wouldn't be like Adam's 'Mass Creation', the resulting product wouldn't have conceptual power or history... just 'Energy forced to act like a shirt', which was really only worth hiding your body.
Then again, at some point every battle was DEVASTATING to one's outfit. What was the point of buying a dozen robes if every attack or punch ripped them apart? At least with energy generated clothing they were free to replicate once you survived whatever most recent fight you battled.
So cultivators focused on what was valuable to them. Resources. Specifically, cultivation resources. Many societies even abandoned normal currency and traded low quality spirit pills, which at least were useful to beginning level cultivators if no one else. Or if they had the skills, the more difficult to obtain Beast Cores from Spirit Beasts.
It made the camping kit all the more inexplicable.
Are you strong enough to make this? Why ask for Sect Contribution points for something so strange? You would be powerful enough to earn more points through assignments anyway.
Are you rich enough to design this? Why? These same materials could have made stuff actually useful AND desired, instead of this gaudy package of strange objects.
In a way, the pointlessness of it all WAS the appeal to Adam. This section of the tent was a miracle of development, while THAT component looked like someone broke it with a hammer and used tape to fix it. That lighter was amazingly compact, but so intricate even the crafter had no idea how to maintain or refuel it. And so on.
At least it was interesting.
He absently added another Master Pocket to the pile.
None of these storage ring designs would be used in the end, of course. He wanted control of any tools he made in the future, and 'wishing' things into completion like this had strange issues.
One of the pockets only worked if used with the right hand. Why? No idea. Nothing inside the strange formation seemed to require it. That one over there only operated if the materials being stored within were slightly colder than the room's temperature. Too cold? Everything gets expelled from within in a massive mess.
In Adam's opinion, half the reason storage rings were so rarely provided to the market was random issues like this. They not only required time, energy, materials, and power... but even if everything 'works', it might require you to be bald or something to use it.
He didn't want to think about how many failure attempts were being stored somewhere for every ring that made it into the Sect Store for potential purchase. And by the time he eventually found that trivia out, he would be making his OWN rings for much lower cost and with much higher abilities.
Still, he found his metaphysical eye wandering over to one of the many time pockets floating 'nearby'. He wouldn't touch them here, so close to the trading town and his people... but personally he was VERY curious.
Would time pockets only have space when connected to, in a reverse of space pockets? Would they affect his local time awareness, like a distortion in reality, or simply cause him to be unable to sense what was going on until the exposed bubble popped?
Adam continued making a mound of Master Pockets as he watched the foam of reality bubble.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan sighed. "Yes, he's gone fully transparent." But still on fire, so... probably fine. Glancing around... nope, couldn't see her. "Rockette?"
The blue crystal suddenly floated up to her shoulder, holding on to a strand of her hair and waving the other at the 'guarding' children. "Ding?"
She couldn't really hold back a smile. "Glad to see you are doing alright." She waved at Brother Adam. "Any idea what he is up to now?"
The tiny floating head bobbled affirmative. "Ding."
She blinked. "Well... huh." A look at the bored cultivation students... "Well, that is fine then. Let me know when he reaches a stopping point, we are trying out a new stew with those strange peppers that taste like onions."
The tiny rock woman waved both arms. "Ding!"
She watched the crystal fly back to the transparent boy on the flaming wagon, and begin dancing in the flames.
...Well, as long as she was having fun.
