**Chapter 36: Talisman-Rune Artifacts**

After learning of the trial, time seemed to speed up.

In the blink of an eye, half a year passed, and the trial loomed near.

During this time, Jie Ming poured nearly all his time and energy into the final stages of his research on combining runes and talismans.

Admittedly, having focused most of his efforts on runecraft and alchemy over the years, his progress in potioncraft lagged behind.

However, in the field of talisman-rune fusion, he achieved a breakthrough.

Thanks to years of deep study in runecraft, despite the runecraft core runes being the last group he inscribed in his mental sea, he successfully constructed the foundational wizardry model of the runecraft school—Analysis Technique.

If his “Alchemy Technique” specialized in analyzing and controlling the composition of matter and souls, the “Analysis Technique” focused on understanding rules, energy, and more abstract concepts.

The Analysis Technique allowed him to “see through” the essence of energy, the principles of runes, and even the workings of certain rules.

By combining the Analysis Technique with Alchemy Technique to dissect the operational principles of wizard runes, the structure of immortal cultivation talisman seals, the energy properties of materials, and the anchoring methods of concepts, Jie Ming managed to parse and “translate” a portion of basic talisman principles in just a few years.

With the trial approaching, Jie Ming unhesitatingly shifted his focus to practical applications.

He decided to attempt creating the new talisman he had long envisioned—or more accurately, an artifact combining the strengths of both civilizations’ technologies.

“No, though it’s only a half-finished concept, it deserves a different name…”

Jie Ming gazed at the blueprint he had just drafted, pondering for a moment.

Per wizard world naming conventions, the inventor’s name was often included to distinguish the creation.

“Let’s call it ‘Jie Ming’s Singular Runes’…” Jie Ming didn’t dwell much on the name.

“As for the artifact… since it’s inscribed with both runes and talisman seals, how about ‘Talisman-Rune Artifact’?”

Casually settling on the name, Jie Ming swiftly moved to the production phase of the Talisman-Rune Artifact.

He didn’t design it as a one-use item like a talisman—that would be too wasteful, and the cost would be prohibitive even for him.

Drawing on methods from the Great Dao Book Pavilion for crafting reusable talisman treasures that could absorb spiritual energy or ambient essence to replenish power, and combining these with wizard world artifact creation theories, Jie Ming decided to make his Talisman-Rune Artifact repeatedly activatable and permanent.

For materials, he used his accumulated stockpile.

As his strength grew, Jie Ming could employ a relatively standard refinement method from the Great Dao Book Pavilion to extract “metal essences” imbued with specific concepts and energy properties from various metals.

Over the years, besides gold, he had experimented with refining many other metals. Since he never intended to sell them, he had amassed a considerable amount of these special materials.

“For the main body of the Talisman-Rune Artifact… it’s got to be my old friend!”

For the artifact’s core base, Jie Ming chose refined gold as the foundation, supplemented by several metal essences discovered in wizard world material studies that excelled at storing and harmonizing energy, as well as one that strongly resonated with mental power.

Refined gold provided stable conceptual anchoring, while the latter materials handled energy flow and activation.

Blending these materials in precise proportions and forging them with his “Alchemy Technique” wizardry, he created a sturdy base for the artifact.

The rune patterns on the artifact’s surface, the core talisman seals, were made of another metal essence highly attuned to elemental forces.

This essence could efficiently draw elemental energy from the environment and channel it into the internal talisman structure.

Testing the material proportions, forging, and shaping methods for the base alone took Jie Ming considerable time.

He repeatedly experimented, calculated, and adjusted, referencing the Great Dao Book Pavilion’s artifact crafting methods while cross-referencing existing wizard world artifact recipes and theories, finally finding a relatively stable material ratio.

“Now, what type of Talisman-Rune Artifact should I make?” Jie Ming looked at the tested materials with satisfaction, nodding.

“For combat, the three main needs are attack, defense, and mobility. Which one should I prioritize?”

Only children make choices—Jie Ming wanted them all!

With ample materials and credits, he crafted three prototype Talisman-Rune Artifacts for attack, defense, and mobility.

The attack-type artifact was inscribed with a seal combining an immortal cultivation flame spell talisman and a wizard fireball rune.

This was a classic fireball technique—powerful, fast, and destructive when activated, optimized over generations of wizards.

Without deliberate control, it would release a standard fireball.

But using alchemy and the flexibility of talisman seals, Jie Ming made it manipulable with minimal mental power, allowing the fireball to split or alter its trajectory.

The defense-type artifact bore a seal derived from an immortal cultivation protective charm and a modified wizard basic energy shield rune, forming a full-body energy shield upon activation.

Its unique feature was its ability to absorb and convert different elemental energies, creating shields with varying properties.

For instance, earth elements formed a heavy, highly defensive shield; wind elements created a light shield that could deflect ranged attacks; fire elements produced a searing shield with a flame retaliation effect.

The mobility-type artifact was based on the wizard world’s flight rune, enhanced with a touch of an immortal cultivation light-body technique seal.

When activated, it granted flight, and thanks to the light-body effect, it allowed faster and more agile movement than a standard wizard flight spell of the same level.

With all necessary knowledge and preparations completed earlier, crafting these three artifacts didn’t take Jie Ming long.

“Done!”

Gently controlling the array, Jie Ming let the three freshly made Talisman-Rune Artifacts float down, feeling an inexplicable thrill.

After a quick test with lab instruments confirmed the runes were sound, he eagerly took the newly crafted artifacts to the training field.