After modifying the matrix, he was able to fuse it on his arm and consume as much knowledge as he wanted. How much knowledge one could take depended on one's soul. Bastian's greatest talent was without a doubt his soul. Knowledge flooded his mind but Bastian was like a lone mountain unmoved by the strong winds around it. He breathed in and out deeply while accepting that knowledge.
Bastian had not managed to perfect the spell, chance the books that were analysed got destroyed in the process, but Bastian was sure he could fix this with time. After all, why not upgrade the Matrix using the matrix?
That's when another superb idea hit Bastian.
'If I can use the Matrix to process new knowledge, can't I use it to look back at the knowledge I lost and also process that?'
Humans, no matter how intelligent, would always often forget small details. Bastian had read many books as a physicist. But what he truly understood was only a portion of what he observed.
Who on Earth could claim to understand all of physics? But now Bastian had the opportunity to revisit every book he had ever read. Every paper, every documentary, every debate. He looked through and analysed, along with the knowledge he had gained from the Sovereign Continent. Bastian's knowledge of Earth's pure sciences increased by leaps and bounds, to the point that Bastian found it ludicrous.
'I can't believe this was the answer, so simple. If I take this and apply it there...'
Millions upon millions of ideas were processed through the Matrix. Bastian could feel the yuan in his body starting to run out, after all, every spell had a weakness. The Medici matrix still had a weakness in magic output. One would get completely drained of yuan, regardless of cultivation level. Bastian was only able to activate the Matrix for a minute, but he had made more progress in his research than in all his years of existence across both lives combined.
Bastian calmed himself and sat. Looking over his gains. Even his pressure magic had improved drastically. He could now cast a much wider variety of spells, with greater efficiency as well. After modifying the spell matrix for pressure magic, he could now use a spell for only a tenth of the yuan. Bastian resisted the temptation of trying to process everything because he only had a minute at that time. So he focused on improving the matrix further. In particular, his focus was on improving one of the Four Great Medici Spells.
"The Medici Vault," whispered Bastian as he recovered his yuan bit by bit.
"Think fast." Without even looking back, Bastian knew it was Kenshin. The latter had thrown a small round object at the former, that was caught without Bastian needing to run around. His sensitivity to wind was too high for him to miss air displacement that violent. Not to mention that he added a sensory aspect to his pressure magic matrix. He had not come up with a name for it, but he was sure it would be an extremely useful ability.
When Bastian felt the object in his hands he couldn't help but smile. It was a fire-type dantian. Bastian estimated that the beast had cultivation at least equivalent to a peak teacher. This would no doubt allow him to recover faster.
One could choose whatever element they wished to use as the basis for the Medici Matrix, and Bastian chose fire. Because it was the best element for manipulating energy forms. Hence he needed to absorb fire-type World Energy to replenish himself for the next round of processing.
"Kenshin, great timing, I was about to call you. bro. I need you to do the thing." Said Bastian with a wink. Kenshin sighed in resignation and said, "What thing?"
"I did some calculations. I found that there are a few interesting things I can fuse into the Medici Matrix, but first I need your help. For this to work, first we have to imbue you with the matrix."
Kenshin tilted his head and said, "Didn't we agree to only do so once you had modified the Matrix after gaining data?"
Kenshin may have Bastian's memory and perspective, but he was not Bastian. He still had a different body with different attributes. Imbuing a spell in one's body was a practice that warriors frowned upon because continuous revisions to the magic could affect their ability to use techniques. Kenshin was a specialist, one whose energy was heterogeneous in some manner, so he could handle the changes better than an ordinary warrior, but he didn't want to make unnecessary changes to his Spiritual Pathways and meridians.
The dantian is a region two inches below the navel. This is where yuan is stored. Qi is stored in the body, mana in the mind and yuan in the dantian.
Thousands of spiritual veins transport energy to different areas of the body. Acupoints are places of intersection of the spiritual veins; a player can control these acupoints to direct energy. These energies and networks are not in the same dimensional plane as the physical body and do not interfere with the function of the body.
Meridians are valve-like points that exist along the network of spiritual veins. 20 meridians are divided into two classifications, the Eight Gates, and the Twelve Doors. The amount of meridians that are unsealed in the beginning is a measure of a player's talent for harvesting energy.
The more a cultivator trains by absorbing World Energy, the more doors they can open and the more control over the energy they gain. The number of open gates never changes; it is fixed for each player. Gates are named according to the attributes that they modify and enhance.
Bastian had 3 Doors unsealed and four open gates. One of the results of harmonization is having your first door unsealed. The Doors had no attributes and mainly dealt with the rate of flow of energy. They were named according to the order in which they were opened, from the First Door all the way to the Twelfth Door.
Bastian's bloodline awakening further gifted him with two more open doors, but he was still unable to open them at will.
Bastian's open gates were the Water, Spirt, Balance, Space and Fire gates. He would never be able to access his Earth, Metal and Wood gates. The types of open gates allow for the potential to use abilities that have the attributes that the gates enhance.
Bastian was only able to access the Water and Fire Gates thanks to his bloodline awakening, and also because his abilities were still very limited. Nevertheless, he retained confidence that he would be able to access the other three gates as he improved his abilities and skills
Imbuing one's body with matrices was a practice that was often frowned upon precisely because it altered one's spiritual network. But in recent millennia it had been accepted more and more thanks to the efforts of many a Magic Theorist, including Medici himself. After all, one could not use the Medici Matrix without Imbuing it in their body.
"When I was processing I learned a way to fuse and modify the matrix in a way that will benefit you, trust me on this." Kenshin was initially hesitant but he had no choice but to acquiesce. His trust in Bastian was at its peak, after all, he knew everything there was to know about the man. How many people had the ability to freely expose their minds in such a way? Was it great breadth of mind or was it insanity? Only time will tell. Kenshin had the perspective, but he was only human. Some emotions were beyond his comprehension.
Bastian smiled and surprised Kenshin with his next action.