Chapter 46: The Attempt

Bald Liu thoroughly explained the process of engraving beast veins to Su Hao: how to adjust the structure, solidify it, and confirm whether the structure was compatible with one's body.

Before leaving, Bald Liu added, "Oh, by the way, there will be an annual competition among the first, second, and third-year students in a month. You don't need to participate. You going would just be bullying the others. So, focus on engraving the beast veins here in peace."

Su Hao didn't mind; this freed up time for him to handle his own matters, so he agreed.

Unexpectedly, Bald Liu added, "The first place in the competition will receive a powerful combat technique, but it probably won't mean much to you."

Su Hao chuckled, "But who wouldn't want more combat techniques?"

Bald Liu smiled, "If you're eager to learn, once you successfully break through to the master level, I can teach you a thing or two."

"Thank you, Teacher Liu!"

Su Hao realized that Bald Liu truly treated him well. Others didn't seem to receive the same kind of treatment. This gratitude could only be kept in his heart.

He understood that Old Liu didn't expect anything from him in return. Old Liu simply saw him as someone with potential and was dedicated to teaching him, hoping he would grow into a strong warrior capable of supporting humanity. Perhaps this was the faith of a teacher—to always maintain respect for the teaching of knowledge.

Su Hao felt increasingly that every piece of knowledge he gained was a heavy responsibility. He thought that if he could live long enough, one day, he would offer humanity a great gift.

….

After Old Liu left, Su Hao found a quiet spot on the third floor and opened the beast vein scroll—Perception.

The scroll depicted a complex and intricate circular pattern, resembling clusters of electrical signal waves, twisted and entangled together. The lines interweaved, creating an indescribable sense of beauty.

Perhaps this was the beauty of nature, the beauty of life.

At the moment he saw the design, a question popped into Su Hao's mind: 'Can one really engrave such a complex pattern onto their body in just one year?'

Anyone who could do it within a year must be a genius. And as for the Emperor who had originally created this method—it was hard to imagine how incredibly talented he must have been.

Taking a deep breath, Su Hao murmured, "Not only do I have to engrave this, but I also need to modify and adjust the structure to make it fit my body's configuration. With that level of difficulty, even two years might not be enough. But… fortunately, I have [Cosmic Light]. With [Cosmic Light]'s help, maybe I can speed things up a bit?"

As soon as Su Hao saw the beast Veins, he had immediately recorded it into [Cosmic Light], creating a new knowledge entry titled [Runes].

These beast veins could be categorized as part of the [Runes], representing a branch of that system. As he collected more [Runes] in the future, Su Hao planned to study them thoroughly.

His consciousness entered the Marble Space, where the complex rune network was floating in mid-air. He carefully considered how to analyze and adjust it.

With [Cosmic Light]'s assistance, the process of memorizing and recording had become extremely simple. He only needed to set up a program and follow [Cosmic Light]'s prompts.

The current issue, however, was that directly engraving the vein (rune) as it was wouldn't work. It wouldn't be compatible with his body and would lead to failure. According to Old Liu, one should rely on their instincts and gradually adjust the structure until it worked.

"Instincts?"

Su Hao's mouth twitched. If instincts were reliable, he would've won the lottery years ago. In his opinion, "feeling" was one of the most unreliable things. Whenever someone started a conversation with "I feel like...", it was usually wrong. That was a hard-learned lesson for Su Hao.

Since instincts were unreliable, he had to rely on science.

But lacking comparative data, Su Hao didn't know where to start.

"Well, I might as well try first. Once I take action, I can gradually figure things out."

With a wave of his hand, the environment in the Marble Space transformed into a scientific laboratory, with a large experiment table in the middle.

"[Little Light], gather real-time body data and project a 3D hologram of my body."

[Command received.]

In an instant, a nude projection of Su Hao's body appeared, hovering over the experiment table. The projection was incredibly detailed, capturing even the smallest aspects of his body.

Not only did it depict his physical body, but it also showed the flow of his blood Qi.

Su Hao gave another command: "Adjust transparency to 50%."

The projection instantly turned semi-transparent, revealing the internal organs. He could see the heart beating, blood flowing, and even the digestive system in motion.

"Adjust the size of the Perception rune (vein) and begin the simulation of an engraving attempt."

The beast pattern floating to the side began to shrink and moved toward the semi-transparent body projection, eventually embedding itself between the chest and spine.

"Magnify the engraved area by 2x!"

The engraved area enlarged, and Su Hao focused intently on the changes occurring within both the rune and the body.

He then gave another command: "Simulate body function with the rune in place."

A few moments later, [Cosmic Light]'s voice echoed,

[Simulation failed. Reason for failure: insufficient data.]

Su Hao sighed.

As expected, without reference data, it was impossible. It seemed he needed to manually attempt the engraving several times and collect enough data before he could properly analyze and compare the results.

Without delay, Su Hao issued a new command: "Create a task for engraving the 'Perception' rune."

[Task created successfully.]

With everything set up, Su Hao exited the Marbel Space, sat cross-legged on the floor, and quickly entered a meditative state.

In his enhanced perception, his physical body overlapped with the projection created by [Cosmic Light]. A glowing dot appeared on the inner side of his spine—this was where [Cosmic Light] indicated he should begin engraving.

Immediately, Su Hao summoned his elite-level blood Qi to the glowing spot. The spot began to move forward, like a GPS navigation guide, and Su Hao's blood Qi followed closely behind.

Carefully controlling his blood Qi, Su Hao traced the lines of the pattern. As he became more familiar with the process, his speed increased, and soon the pattern was nearly complete.

In just ten minutes, Su Hao had successfully completed his first rune engraving.

As the blood Qi maintained the shape of the rune, ensuring it wouldn't dissipate easily, Su Hao opened his eyes and smiled. "With [Cosmic Light]'s help, the process really is much simpler. A few more tries, and I might even successfully engrave it soon."

Su Hao re-entered the Marbel Space, using the 3D projection of his current body status, adjusting the transparency to 50%, and began to closely observe.

It didn't take long for him to spot some inconsistencies.

The blood Qi rune inside his body was subtly being rejected by his body, causing slight cracks in various places. In some areas, the rune even began to disintegrate.

Su Hao didn't panic. He continued to monitor the rune's behavior carefully.

"Not all areas are incompatible! Out of the 89 key points, 86 are misaligned, but three spots are very stable."

Su Hao's eyes gleamed with insight.

He quickly recorded these two phenomena and added them to the database.

Then, he exited the Marbel Space and manually dissolved the blood Qi rune, returning his body to its normal state.

"Let's try again!"

Su Hao entered a meditative state once more, slightly adjusting the rune without affecting the three stable points. He rotated the pattern and began the second attempt at engraving the rune.