I, a cultivator, have ended up in the wizarding world.

Chapter 285 Future Visions and Spatial Anomalies

He has been thinking about how to solve the two major flaws of the talismanic artifacts.

The first issue is stability.

Traditional magical artifacts are stable but have a limited number of uses, while talismanic magical artifacts are theoretically usable indefinitely but are highly susceptible to fluctuations in the laws of different planes, leading to their failure.

His previous solution was modular design and rapid battlefield refitting, but this was still inefficient and relied on advance preparation.

Another issue is supply.

The creation of talismanic artifacts is time-consuming and labor-intensive. A few thousand are the limit for a single war, and they will only decrease as the battle progresses, making it difficult to sustain.

Now, with this automated factory that can be stored inside the body, everything is solved!

He can mass-produce talismanic artifacts in his internal space at any time using a factory.

Once you enter a new dimension and determine the approximate parameters of the local elements, you can directly adjust the production line within the space to create talismanic artifacts that are perfectly adapted to the current environment!
In Jemin's vision, once the internal space expands further in the future, he might be able to try moving the entire cannon fodder production line inside.

To achieve a true "portable army," enabling combat and production to proceed simultaneously.

If the cannon fodder he researches has a high enough resource utilization rate, it could even achieve a perfect cycle of replenishing itself with battlefield resources while fighting!

By then, he alone will be a swarm!
However, those are things that will happen a long time from now.

Suppressing his excitement and anticipation, Jieming began to study the operation methods, maintenance procedures, and the meaning of the core control runes of this complex machine in accordance with the accompanying instruction manual.

After spending several days getting a basic understanding of its operation, he took a deep breath and went down to the bottom of the suspended factory.

Consciousness sinks into the dantian, connects with the golden core, and draws upon the power of the internal space.

An invisible, enormous suction force emanated from him, enveloping the automated factory above.

The protective array on the factory's surface sensed the sequence code that Jemin had prepared in advance, and instead of resisting it, it shone with a soft light in response.

Soon, enveloped by the power of space, the massive factory began to blur and distort.

Ultimately, it transformed into a stream of light and was successfully absorbed by Jemin into his now vastly different internal space.

Next, a suitable "home" location will be found for this behemoth within the internal space, followed by initial adjustments and installation.

……

……

After successfully integrating the automated factory into the internal space and setting up the relevant production procedures, Jemin couldn't wait to conduct several trial production runs.

The talismanic artifacts were produced from the pre-designed production line, undergoing basic shaping, rune inscription, and energy infusion as smoothly as flowing water. The efficiency far exceeded that of handmade production, which greatly satisfied him.

However, problems also emerged.

The first thing to be affected is the energy supply.

Relying on energy crystals or small portable element pools to power factories not only results in unstable output power, affecting the processing quality of high-precision components, but also consumes energy at an alarming rate.

After producing only a few batches of talismanic artifacts, the reserves of high-purity crystals have visibly dwindled.

At this rate, he would probably need to carry a crystal mine with him to sustain the costs of continuous combat.

"Energy is the lifeblood of industry; it's true everywhere." Jemin sighed, his consciousness exiting his body and reconnecting to the magic network terminal.

He checked his current military merit balance. Although the previous bulk purchases had consumed a lot of it, the stable income brought by the "self-stabilizing field adjustment protocol" still gave him a lot of confidence.

Without much hesitation, he quickly placed an order in the Norren Workshop's internal shop to purchase a level 4 large elemental pool.

Unlike element pools of level five and above that are often used to support the energy of an entire plane, level four large element pools are specifically designed for large war machines, high-energy-consuming research equipment, or small and medium-sized production bases.

In order to fit into the war machine, its size is relatively controllable. Through precise spatial folding technology, it can be fully accommodated in Jemin's current internal space, and there is even a lot of room to spare.

The manufacturing process of a Level 4 large element pool is not that complicated, and the reserves are quite abundant.

Not long after Jemin placed the order, the elemental pool, radiating stable and powerful energy fluctuations, was delivered.

Jemin carefully placed it next to the automated factory and completed the connection of the energy interface.

With the official activation of the elemental pool, a vast and pure energy instantly surged into the factory's energy network, significantly improving the stability and efficiency of all equipment. It is estimated that this large-scale, level-four elemental pool, without recharging, is sufficient to support the automated factory's continuous operation at full power for over a century!
Breakthroughs in energy issues revitalized Jemin's thinking.

“Since the internal space can accommodate a factory, why can’t it accommodate a mobile laboratory?” He stroked his chin, his eyes shining.

Although the command would set up a public laboratory at the camp when participating in the interdimensional expedition.

However, those facilities are often general-purpose and have limited precision, far less reliable than his own carefully configured and familiar custom equipment.

Of course, with the current capacity of his internal space, he cannot fit an entire fully functional large-scale integrated laboratory inside.

However, it is entirely feasible to prioritize moving some key, rare, or frequently used core experimental instruments in.

The energy provided by the four-level large element pool is also sufficient to power these sophisticated devices.

"Hmm... We also need to plan out enough storage areas to store various raw materials, as well as spoils of war and biological samples collected during the campaign..." While planning the division of the space in his mind, Jemin took stock of the items currently stored in the space.

Automated factory, level four elemental pool, spare energy crystals, some commonly used magical materials, several dormant black giant cores... His consciousness swept over these items like a scanner.

Suddenly, his consciousness abruptly stopped as it swept over an inconspicuous metal sealed box in the corner!
A very uneasy feeling welled up inside me.

He remembered it clearly: this box contained his most important asset—those twenty-nine strands of hard-won dimensional origin!
When they were first placed in the test tubes, each one emitted a dazzling and captivating energy.

But at this moment, through conscious perception, the test tubes in that box... seem to have become unusually "dim"?
Jemin's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately used his mind to open the metal box.

The sight before him caused his pupils to contract instantly, and his breath to catch in his throat!
Inside the box, the twenty-nine crystal test tubes that should have been neatly arranged and shimmering with light were now twenty-eight completely transparent!

The liquid, luminous essence within had vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

The last remaining test tube glowed extremely faintly, like a candle flickering in the wind.

Its volume has shrunk by more than half, and it continues to decrease at a rate that is barely perceptible to the naked eye, but which Jemin can clearly sense!

"Where...where is my origin?!"

Shock, bewilderment, and even a hint of absurdity instantly gripped Jemin.

He treasured these resources, intending to use them to acquire crucial resources at critical moments. How could they have vanished into thin air?!

And this happened inside his body! What's the difference between this and gold bars in a vault disappearing into thin air?!
His inner space is an independent area completely under his control. Currently, apart from himself, there is no other sentient being capable of absorbing the source!

So, it seems there's only one answer left...

Jemin's consciousness suddenly turned to the internal space within his body, which was created by the "Internal Circulation" technique and existed based on the Golden Core.

Could it be... that this space is "stealing" his essence?!

To verify this conjecture, he suppressed the turmoil in his heart and spent several days observing the condition of that last wisp of origin with intense concentration.

He clearly "saw" that the faint light was being drawn in by invisible roots, seeping into the "barrier" and "earth" of space, and finally disappearing completely.

Just as the last wisp of origin was completely absorbed, Jemin keenly sensed that an extremely subtle and indescribable change seemed to have occurred within his entire body.

The boundaries of the space seemed to have become slightly more stable, and the sparse spiritual energy that spontaneously arose in the air seemed to have become slightly more active. The texture of the spatial barrier underfoot also seemed to have become more "real".

This change was so subtle that he would have been completely unaware of it had he not been the master of the space and had not been paying close attention throughout.

From the perspective of the "cost-effectiveness" of input and output, exchanging precious resources for this negligible "foundation-building" effect is simply a huge loss!
From the most rational perspective, the optimal solution is to immediately stop this "wasteful" behavior and firmly grasp all the resources that may be obtained in the future.

Jemin fell silent.

On the one hand, there are tangible and precious resources.

On the other hand, there is the potential for growth in space, which is elusive and whose final outcome is unknown.

However, this kind of choice doesn't actually require too much effort.

It took almost no time for Jemin to make a decision: from now on, he would regularly set aside a portion of his income to continuously purchase the essence of the plane to "feed" this internal space that seemed to have a unique "appetite"!

He didn't know what this would ultimately lead to, but he had a strong intuition that it was by no means a bad thing.

"It just means I'll have to live a little more frugally in the future and buy fewer unnecessary knowledge and research materials," Jemin comforted himself. "But if being stingy with this investment now leads to some inherent defects in my internal space at crucial moments in the future, or causes me to miss some vital evolutionary opportunity... that would be the real regret!"

(End of this chapter)