TN: And we're back! sorry for the week long hiatus, it was not intentional since I had to get my right leg in a cast after tripping 3 floors down a stairwell (like an idiot ://) and be unable to use my PC setup upstairs BUT I should be OK now.
Anyways, Thanks for Arcanic Madness, WeissAkumu and WolfWTF for becoming as Supporters!
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Having mastered Electro–Dendro Quicken, Victor Wang was still not satisfied.
Because Dendro cannot be Swirled, even though he previously had the [Portable Elemental Particle Generator] to create Dendro elemental particles, the quantity was so minuscule that it was nowhere near enough to trigger elemental reactions.
Now that he had mastered Dendro itself, in addition to Electro–Dendro reactions, he could also use Anemo to Swirl Hydro and Pyro elemental particles and make them react with Dendro.
No sooner said than done.
He immediately began experimenting.
In the Pyro–Dendro Burning reaction, Pyro is the absolute main element. No matter how much Dendro is invested, the moment it touches Pyro, it turns into fuel that aids combustion—though there are differences within that.
When the amount of Dendro is less than half of the Pyro, the Burning reaction is incomplete. The Dendro is consumed, and only part of the Pyro is enhanced, producing abnormally high temperatures.
When the amount of Dendro exceeds half of the Pyro but does not surpass the total amount of Pyro, the Burning reaction reaches its peak, and the Pyro is fully enhanced.
When the amount of Dendro exceeds the amount of Pyro, the result is still Burning, but compared to Pyro being strengthened, it is more like the Pyro igniting the Dendro.
These three proportional relationships are vividly analogous to going from "throwing a single dry log into a bonfire," to "adding an appropriate amount of firewood to a bonfire," and finally to "letting that bonfire burn down an entire forest."
In short, there is not much depth to explore with Burning—no matter how it burns, it is still fire.
After clearly grasping the Burning reaction, Victor Wang began testing what interested him more: the Hydro–Dendro reaction.
The Bloom reaction between Hydro and Dendro leans toward Dendro as the main element, but it is not as complex as Pyro. The invested Hydro and Dendro either fail to trigger a reaction at all, or once a single Dendro Core is produced, Dendro becomes the absolute main element.
Because Dendro absorbs Hydro and transforms into a Dendro Core, and the Dendro Core still carries Dendro, it will continue reacting with Hydro to form more Dendro Cores until the Hydro is fully consumed.
Victor Wang suddenly thought of Barbara, and of the hidden power of a combat priest—the legend of infinite Dendro Cores.
Unfortunately, "infinite" was unrealistic. Although there is no restriction such as "only five Dendro Cores can exist at the same time," a Dendro Core is essentially a form of Dendro elemental construct. One Dendro Core corresponds to one portion of elemental power. Dendro may not require further exertion, but Hydro elemental power is still power, after all.
Additionally, without a limit of "only five at a time," they also do not automatically explode when exceeding five. If one wants them to explode—Victor Wang tossed a Dendro Core into the distance, and with a single thought, it detonated.
That's right. As an elemental construct, the Dendro Core is still controlled by its creator. That made things much more convenient… whether in actual combat or in testing.
Victor Wang raised another Jade Shield. He first attacked with Thunder Surge, then with a Dendro Core. The result showed that the explosion of a single Dendro Core was weaker than Thunder Surge.
Then what about Hyperbloom?
Dendro Cores generated by the Hydro–Dendro reaction can further react with Electro or Pyro.
When a Dendro Core comes into contact with Electro, it absorbs the Electro and strengthens itself—this is Hyperbloom.
When a Dendro Core comes into contact with Pyro, it triggers a violent, wider-range explosion—this is Burgeon.
Dendro plus Hydro plus Electro or Pyro—reactions involving three elements—can be considered the most complex of all.
According to the records of [Advanced Elemental Reaction Theory], although Quicken and Bloom belong to different systems and are inconvenient to compare directly, Hyperbloom and Burgeon are clearly stronger than basic Bloom.
[Advanced Elemental Reaction Theory – Elemental Reaction Multipliers] [Multipliers do not represent final damage; cross-type comparisons are not possible]
Curious about this, Victor Wang prepared another Dendro Core and attempted to stimulate it with Electro.
The Dendro Core reacted violently, quickly entering an activated state similar to Quicken. Its size faintly swelled, and it carried a force that seemed eager to soar. Without needing any additional assistance, it flew a considerable distance on its own.
Then it slammed solidly into the Jade Shield—and exploded.
A reaction that required three elements to complete was indeed domineering. With the same consumption as a single Palm Vortex, it inflicted the greatest drain on the Jade Shield. When he aimed it at the stone previously pierced by Thunder Surge, a single strike reduced the stone to dust.
The only flaw in this attack sequence was that it was far too cumbersome.
Because he had not yet mastered Hydro, he had to first use the [Portable Elemental Particle Generator] to create Hydro particles, then use Swirl with Anemo, just to obtain enough Hydro to react with Dendro.
Originally, Hydro and Dendro forming a Dendro Core already required a bit of "negligible" time. Now the three-element reaction had expanded into a four-element reaction—one more Swirl, one more use of a gadget, and the entire process had to strictly follow the sequence of "Swirl → Bloom → Hyperbloom." Each of the three stages had to wait for the previous one to complete…
Several instances of "negligible" time added together became a noticeably sluggish casting wind-up.
Burgeon was even more problematic. Compared to Hyperbloom, it required yet another Pyro Swirl and another gadget usage, so Victor Wang never intended to use Burgeon in real combat from the very beginning.
When Aggravate and Spread could already be executed instantly like wind blades or Geo constructs, it was frustrating that Hyperbloom, despite its impressive power, had to sacrifice efficiency…
There was no helping it. Once I master Hydro, it'll be fine. That way, he could eliminate one Swirl step.
Even after comforting himself like this, Victor Wang still felt somewhat regretful.
He pushed his palm forward. Dendro and Electro appeared simultaneously in his hand, maintaining a distance that prevented them from reacting as they spiraled around each other. During their flight, they intertwined, completing Quicken, and then completing Aggravate.
Setting aside the fact that he needed one extra Swirl on his end, both Hyperbloom and Aggravate actually involved two steps. But Hyperbloom required only two elements overall, whereas Aggravate required three elements to participate.
Being slower is only natural… right?
No—wait.
Does having more elements in a reaction necessarily mean sacrificing convenience?
Although Aggravate involves only two elements, it undeniably reacts twice, just like Hyperbloom.
Victor Wang suddenly realized something.
Earlier, he had simplified Electro–Dendro Quicken from "triggering it on the target" to controlling the trigger timing himself. That had been an extremely successful simplification, directly turning Thunder Surge into an instant attack.
So, it was only natural that he had also shifted Hydro–Dendro Bloom to his own side—but that was wrong.
Why wait for Hydro and Dendro to form Dendro Cores before triggering Hyperbloom?
If he released Hydro and Dendro directly, letting them generate Dendro Cores while traveling toward the target, he could save the waiting time. Electro should follow closely behind, so that Hyperbloom could be completed the instant the Dendro Core appeared—but it absolutely must not trigger the reaction too early.
That way, the entire sequence of reactions would be transferred to "during the attack's flight" or "on the target."
If all reactions could be completed "during the attack's flight," the efficiency would be practically instant!
And if the final reaction were completed "on the target," it would still be faster than preparing everything on his own side before attacking.
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