Vanity could only take them so far, but the other core disciple had ended up helping them out. With access to a private workspace, they could form a much better item, and the access to tools made it even better. Sage was wary of using up any consumable items like Fire Stones, since the workshop wasnt equipped with any Earth Flas. Stealing things would be more noticeable than adding random objects like he was now.
When no one was using the workshop it was sealed up with an isolating array that was placed over the whole area, which kept any in progress projects in a preserved state as well as maintaining the quality of ingredients in the nearby storeroom. It also blocked sounds and energy fluctuations to prevent anyone outside from disturbing those within. It also hid what he was doing inside and made for a perfect place to experint. Once this place presented itself, Sage started training using a Blacksilver Pawn to forge. It wasnt a task outside the realm of possibility, but it wasnt sothing hed tried before. With the Inner World it ant that he could quickly beco an expert. Since the Soul Fragnt allowed him to transfer his Qi and the Pawns body gave him hands to work with, then he could conceivably create most items.
The first thing to learn was whether or not he could use other Heavenly Materials with the Blacksilver Pawn and he found that the answer was no. Only, it wasnt quite that simple. While he was blocked from sending a wisp of Samsara Flas through, it felt like he was pushing at a wall. Testing followed up next and while a great amount of Qi didnt help, a greater amount of soul energy did. By enlarging the Soul Fragnt, the wall blocking him got thinner. With more he felt that it started to beco perable and instead of sending the fla through he used the fragnt to shape the Samsara Flas on its own. With the Pawn using the flas on its own he was pleased, but there were still two problems. First of all, he had to enlarge the Soul Fragnt from afar, rather than up close and personal like on the Inner World. Worse yet, using the Heavenly Materials on the Inner World was too easy.
More tests followed. Soul Fragnts couldnt be sent through another Soul Fragnt. He also couldnt just send soul energy through either. It wasnt sothing he knew how to manipulate. Yet, theyd just proven another option and so it was the Eye of the World that was the solution to the problem. The Qi he sent through could be converted into the dark water from the Eye of the World, the dark water that nourished the soul. The only problem was that it would take so ti and so the Soul Fragnt ford a sliver of Blue Icesilver and slid into the crack between two pieces of wood on a nearby storage cabinet. The Hamr was left to be used as a material while the Soul Fragnt slowly strengthened itself with a constant flow of Qi from Sages body. It wasnt a quick process, but there was another benefit to the many years long process as it gave Sage the chance to improve his control over a Heavenly Material wielded through the Soul Fragnt.
A couple decades in, his control finally improved enough that he could start the next part of the plan. It also gave quite the buffer from disciples randomly finding, and being gifted, Blue Icesilver items. He never knew if soone else claid credit for the fan gifted to that core disciple, but he cared little. The goal now was to create sothing that could catch the attention of the Sect Elders. With the access to the workshop, he forged a set of nested accessories. He didnt know if hed be able to access this sort of area again anyti soon so he made an earring that could be hidden within a ring that could be hidden within a bracelet, that could be incorporated into a necklace, and finally a vaguely crown-like hat. It was sowhat ridiculous, but ant it could change hands five tis while staying hidden. It also ant he needed to make five different Magic Tools, each with a slot to cleverly disguise the smaller accessory in a way the owner wouldnt notice when it was gone and filled with Blue Icesilver instead.
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The research teams had paid careful attention to the mbers of Chain Ocean Palace and there would be whole rooms full of reports and profiles on them if they didnt have the Adjutors and other Bio-computer to store and catalog everything. There had even been argunts over whether they should split off a few very tiny Soul Fragnts to spread around the Spire to use for gathering information, but it was already difficult enough for Sage to use the Blacksilver Pawn to sense things in the first place.
The Research Teams had worked many centuries to develop eyes and ears for the Blacksilver Pawns. Since they were only connected to Sage through Qi transferred by a Soul Fragnt they designed special organs made only with Heavenly Materials that could replicate vision and hearing and then convert it into a signal that could be sent back to him through Qi. The Adjutor was responsible for receiving those signals and relaying them to the Inner World. With this advancent, it beca possible for the Pawns to be used like a clone rather than just a puppet that had no senses or autonomy. While they were tedious to keep track of and control, the ti dilation of the Inner World gave him plenty of ti to process everything and took only a sliver of his main bodys attention.
With such a crude thod of control and only a sliver of his attention, these clones wouldnt be very capable, but they could gather information quite well, as the researchers could do the hard work of monitoring what it saw. Since the Qi was transferred through his Soul Fragnt there was no need to worry about the limits of his body and how much Qi his ridians could handle. With the Magic Tools finished they snuck out of the workshop, sprouting so liquid tal limbs to move the crown around and heading out towards the Elders part of the Spire. Unfortunately, they didnt make it all the way there. The little crown leapt up onto the ceiling, anchoring itself with tiny spikes at the ends of its limbs, but eventually his luck ran out and soone too powerful approached without leaving him enough ti to hide. The crown slumped down to sit upon the ground and the tiny limbs combined together, forming into a small plaque shoved into the crowns decorative sculpture work. The jewelry designs from artists on the Inner World were once again extrely beautiful and elaborate, but they had only one material to work with so it made them look much more subdued than the intricate sculpture work would suggest.
They were trying the sa trick as before, putting a na on a little tal card to get the crown gifted to the Elder they felt would get them closest to their goal, but this Elder that found the crown simply put it into his Storage Ring and left it there for a few years before taking it out. They heard murmurs from a very jealous man, who had kept it a secret to ensure nobody would be looking for it or recognize it when he started to use it. Just like that, the first magic tool was lost and the many layered chain necklace unraveled from the inner band of the crown and replaced itself with Blue Icesilver. The chains slithered out of the room like a snake while the Elder slept, sothing that only happened once a month.
On the plus side, despite the years lost, the Elder had brought them into the living areas of the higher level mbers of the Spire. It stopped in front of a door bearing a na it recognized as a pri target and ford a small box of Blue Icesilver on the floor beside the door fra. Then it lifted the lid and slithered inside. There was another small hiccup as the Elder they were targeting didnt seem to care. Instead, they gave the necklace to their Direct Disciple, but this ended up working out in their favor as the disciple in question lived with their master like a servant and allowed them to collect much more useful information than they had before.
By the ti Sage rose up to the next rank and gained his Immortal Body, it beca even easier to manipulate the Blacksilver Pawn and to interpret its senses. He now felt he could keep a few of them going at the sa ti before even noticing any strain. Theyd also gathered the information they were looking for.
When the Shifting Jade Mountain arrived at the Spire once again, Sage knew exactly what he had to do.
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