Immortality begins with meditation puppets

Chapter 17: Initial Training of a Lizard Warrior.

Lizard Warrior

[Type: Bionic Combat Puppet]

[Rank: Mid-grade, Tier 1]

[Function: A puppet capable of understanding complex commands from its master and engaging in combat. Driven by spirit crystals, it mimics a mid-grade Tier 1 demonic beast, the Claw Demon Lizard. It excels in lizard combat techniques, boasting high attack but weak defense.]

[Required materials: Spirit Wood (8 feet 3 inches), Demon Lizard Claws (two), Mystic Iron Crystal (15-300 catties), and other materials as needed.]

[Rank Requirement: Tier 1, High Grade]

[Rune Requirements: Bionic Rune (Tier 2), Intelligent Rune (Tier 2), Immortal Rune (Tier 1), Combat Rune (Tier 1).]

【Usage Costs: Daily: 5 Spirit Crystals (absorbing Moon Essence reduces consumption by 30%), Combat: 5-50 Spirit Crystals (depending on combat costs)】

Inside the puppet-making room, Su Qing glanced at the panel's description of the lizard warrior one last time before starting the crafting process, so that she would have a clear understanding of what to expect.

The difficulty in crafting the Lizard Warrior lies in the puppeteer's mastery of bionic and intelligent runes.

The biomimetic runes determine whether they can mimic the various abilities of the Claw Demon Lizard. The higher the degree of biomimicry, the more and stronger the abilities of the Claw Demon Lizard can be mastered.

Intelligent runes determine their ability to think independently and take appropriate measures for different environments without requiring additional instructions from their owners.

Compared to these two types of runes, the requirements for immortal runes that allow the puppet to absorb moonlight and slowly recharge, thus saving on usage costs, and combat runes that allow the puppet to slowly grow during battle, are not high. In fact, their presence or absence has little impact on the success rate of puppet crafting.

"Of the four runes, only the bionic rune meets the standard. The other three are a level below. The success rate of refining them in the early stages is probably extremely low!"

Su Qing muttered to herself, preparing herself to lose money.

That's what a puppeteer is like.

When you get involved with a new puppet, you have to go through an initial investment process. The key point is that there is no guarantee of a stable return later on.

It's not uncommon for people to invest heavily in developing a puppet, only to find that the success rate is still unsatisfactory and they fail to make a profit.

This is also why many puppeteers, after mastering two or three types of puppets at a certain level, no longer come into contact with new types of puppets.

Having just escaped poverty with the Witch Puppet, he dares to try new puppets because once he improves his proficiency, he can reliably produce such puppets in the future, making profits incredibly easy.

Take out a piece of spirit wood and have the wood spirit servants create the main structure of the lizard warrior according to the blueprints.

This process doesn't require much skill; it's similar to carving wood. The wood spirit servants are small and skillful, and they are much more meticulous in this kind of work than he is.

And he wasn't idle either.

On the stone table in the center of the courtyard, they began to prepare the talisman water.

The red bottle contains biomimetic talisman water. In addition to spiritual materials such as spirit wood and heart-clearing grass, this bottle also contains powder made from various parts of the clawed demon lizard, mixed with demon lizard blood. It smells entirely like the clawed demon lizard, and the taste is absolutely authentic!
The blue bottle contains intelligent talisman water, which is made primarily from the brain fluid of a second-tier demon beast, mixed with other spiritual materials.

The white bottle contains Immortal Talisman Water, which Su Qing does not know how to make at the moment. It is purchased from the Treasure Pavilion at a price of eight spirit crystals per bottle.

The purple bottle contains combat talisman water. Su Qing also doesn't know how to make this kind of talisman water, but there are people selling this kind of talisman water in the market area. He bought dozens of bottles at a price of three spirit crystals per bottle. After inspection, there was no inferior product being passed off as superior, and the quality was trustworthy.

Just as the talisman water was prepared, the hardworking and diligent wood spirit servant, who never slacked off, had already erected two wooden sculptures of demonic lizards.

The wooden carving is over eight feet tall. The moment it is completed, it can mechanically shake its tail and turn its head. When the lizard opens and closes its mouth, you can see two rows of sharp wooden teeth inside. Its legs move slowly, making a dull sound.

This was a sign that the puppets were beginning to take shape, so Su Qing dared not be negligent. Holding a bottle of intelligent talisman water and using a triangular ladder, he worked with both hands, his brushstrokes flowing like dragons and snakes, instantly drawing some runes on the chests of the two wooden sculptures.

Injecting magic power to activate the runes, the rune patterns glowed faintly, and the two wooden sculptures immediately fell silent.

Having successfully controlled the two wooden sculptures, Su Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief and chose one of them to begin drawing the remaining runes.

With a steady hand, he controlled the direction of the talisman brush, drawing out smooth lines—a process that was extremely demanding.

Each line contains a specific amount of talismanic water and magical power, and there are specific rules to follow. If even one stroke is wrong, the entire rune will become ineffective.

Even though Su Qing was being extremely careful, the second-tier intelligent runes were ultimately beyond his current capabilities.

With less than one-tenth of the runes inscribed, a line of text appeared in his mind.

[Failed to draw a Tier 2 smart rune. Proficiency +3. Current proficiency: 1896/3000 (Tier 1)]

"So it's already a failure? I didn't even feel it!"

Su Qing shook his head in frustration. One wrong move and the whole game was lost. The intelligent rune failed, and if he continued to draw it, the lizard warrior was also destined to fail.

A normal puppeteer could give up at this point, saving the remaining materials.

However, this doesn't apply to Su Qing. The higher the completion rate of the puppet, the more proficiency it provides even if it fails. In that case, the proficiency of the corresponding runes will also receive a new boost.

He knew very well that besides increasing his own safety, the more important reason he was creating the lizard warriors was to lay the foundation for creating the meditation dolls later.

Therefore, even knowing that failure is inevitable, one must still continue.

Su Qing meticulously completed the drawing of the remaining intelligent runes. He vaguely noticed a few errors, but he figured there were probably many more that he hadn't noticed.

It took about half an hour to complete the drawing of the intelligent runes.

The next step, drawing the bionic runes, went extremely smoothly, until the lizard warrior's entire body was covered with red lines.

[Successfully drew a second-tier bionic rune, proficiency +10, proficiency: 51/5000 (second tier)]

"If we keep grinding like this, once the intelligent runes reach the second tier, the bionic runes might even be able to reach the third tier."

"You're overthinking it. A third-tier rune can drain my mana with a single stroke. Don't even think about it until you reach Foundation Establishment!"

As he muttered to himself, Su Qing began drawing battle runes again.

Although it was his first time encountering first-tier combat runes, he was able to apply his knowledge to other runes. With his current understanding of runes, he was able to draw them quite well even though he had just started. It wasn't until he had drawn about one-fifth of them that a failure warning appeared.

[Failed to draw a Tier 1 combat rune, Proficiency +60, Proficiency: 60/1000 (Not yet advanced)]

Su Qing was not disappointed by her first failed attempt; in fact, she was quite pleased.

Although it's harder to increase proficiency as you go higher, proficiency before reaching a certain level increases faster compared to the first and second levels. However, being able to gain 60 proficiency points in a single failure at least proves that he has some talent in combat runes.

The little surprise on the battle runes vanished as he drew the immortal runes.

"Damn it, I only drew one stroke, and it's already wrong?"

Looking at the pitiful 10 points of proficiency he had gained with the Immortal Path Runes, Su Qing suddenly realized that his cultivation aptitude was beyond words, and his understanding of Immortal Path Runes was even worse than that of ordinary people. The difficulty of getting the Immortal Path Runes to the second tier might be much greater than he had imagined.

(End of this chapter)