Free Web NovelChapter 22: Chapter 22: Crazy Research Speed
To Mo Ning, the High Mountain Breathing Technique was far more than just a Secret Technique for temporarily boosting his Spiritual Strength.
In a way, it was his first "guide" on the path of researching Secret Divination and Divination.
This all started half a year ago.
After his Spiritual Talent was detected, he threw himself into the Holy Spear Kingdom’s Royal Library, spending his days and nights among the silent rows of bookshelves.
On his first day in the library, everyone told him the same thing: Secret Divination and Divination were essential tools for studying Witchcraft.
A Wizard who was not proficient in Divination could never become an outstanding Wizard, let alone a powerful one.
Mo Ning readily accepted this advice and focused his efforts on the Divination Domain.
The Royal Library’s collection of Divination Books was immense.
If there weren’t twenty thousand volumes, there were at least fifteen thousand.
The Holy Spear Kingdom was two thousand years old, and the Royal Family of the Falei Clan had ruled this land for twelve hundred of them. Collecting so many books was hardly a difficult task.
Mo Ning even unearthed quite a few Ancient Divination Books dating back fifteen hundred years.
Surprisingly, these books looked no different from new ones.
This was thanks to a specialized Level Zero Witchcraft—the Book Repair Skill.
Even if the pages were yellowed and brittle, even if they were damaged and incomplete, even if they had been torn to shreds, a single cast of the Book Repair Skill would make a brand-new book appear.
As a side note, besides the Book Repair Skill, the Wizard World had all sorts of specialized repair skills—the Clothes Repairing Skill, the Wall Painting Restoration Skill, the Floor Repair Skill, and the Pipe Repair Skill.
Every year, the academy would post repair-type missions, hiring Apprentices who had mastered various Repair Techniques to fix the never-ending list of basic facilities in need of maintenance.
When Mo Ning first heard about this, he truly thought it was absurd.
He had no doubt that if someone brought a car over from another world, the Wizards would probably invent a Car Repair Skill on the spot.
Even after being driven for a thousand years, the car would remain in the same pristine condition as when it first rolled off the factory line.
From the perspective of a market economy, this type of restorative Witchcraft was practically a "cancerous tumor."
But back to the topic at hand. After burying himself in the study of Secret Divination and Divination at the Royal Library for several months, Mo Ning gradually discovered a problem:
Most of the Divination Books treasured in the library primarily explained either "pure Knowledge of Divination" or "Sub-zero Level Witchcraft Models."
Books that described "using Divination to improve Witchcraft Models" not only made up less than twenty percent of the collection, but they were also generally written in an esoteric and obscure manner, making them very unfriendly to beginners.
He had once asked the head librarian about this matter.
The head librarian told him, "With insufficient accumulated Knowledge of Divination and a shallow understanding of Witchcraft Models, it’s very easy to create flawed models when trying to improve them.
"Even the academy doesn’t recommend that First Level Apprentices try to modify Witchcraft. When Wizards recruit assistants to research Witchcraft, they typically only choose Apprentices at the Second Level or higher.
"If you want to try improving Witchcraft, you’d best become a Second Level Apprentice first."
Mo Ning was rather unconvinced.
’Can’t a newcomer improve Witchcraft?’
That was, until three months ago.
He unearthed a fragmented copy of the High Mountain Breathing Technique from a corner of the library.
Coincidentally, the Eye of Truth had just produced its first wisp of the Light of Truth that very day.
The Light of Truth was the most powerful ability of his "cheat."
Every ninety days, this illusory eyeball would condense a wisp of the Light of Truth.
The Light was like a key that could unlock a hidden door to an endless ocean of wisdom, allowing him to receive enlightenment in an instant.
Mo Ning decisively used the Light of Truth to try and complete the fragmented text.
What happened next shocked him.
He "heard" many whispers.
It wasn’t "hearing" in the auditory sense, but his soul directly receiving some kind of mysterious resonance.
Some whispers spoke of the missing parts of the Breathing Technique.
Some described how to convert the Breathing Technique into a Divination Model.
Others explained how to optimize the model from a purely Divination-based perspective.
And yet others detailed how to convert the improved Divination Model back into a new Breathing Technique.
The Eye of Truth compiled, analyzed, and deduced all this knowledge, presenting before him a complete, standardized process for researching and improving a Secret Technique based on Secret Divination and Divination.
From identifying the problem, to deconstructing the model, to optimizing it with Divination, and finally to reconstructing the Secret Technique.
Every link in the chain was clear, every step perfectly understandable.
The most crucial "application" of Secret Divination and Divination—how to transform theoretical knowledge into practical improvements—a door that had always been shut tight, was suddenly thrown wide open.
Although the High Mountain Breathing Technique wasn’t Witchcraft, the method for improving it was universal.
It was thanks to this that on his very first day at the academy, he was able to attempt an improvement on the Sub-zero Level Trick, Flash, ultimately startling the Rose Council and earning his life’s "first pot of gold."
「At this very moment.」
Mo Ning sat upright at his desk, smoothing out a fresh sheet of scale pattern paper.
He held the Ink Tube Pen in his right hand, its tip hovering above the paper, and once again began to write with fluid, powerful strokes.
"Yesterday, I accidentally discovered something shocking."
He started with a clickbait-style opening.
It was a little trick he’d learned in his past life.
The web pages he’d browsed and the headlines he’d clicked on over the years had long since forged an indelible memory. He knew what kind of opening would grab people’s attention and what kind of wording would pique their curiosity.
Although the Wizard World had no "Ministry of Shock," the weaknesses of human nature transcended different Crystal Wall Elements.
He continued to write:
"During the first general assessment, I was fortunate enough to receive an additional reward—the Magic Potion, Calming Ointment. Driven by curiosity, I tried a small amount and attempted to circulate the High Mountain Breathing Technique.
"As a result, I entered a state of severe spiritual exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep for a full day. When I woke up, I was amazed to find that my Spiritual Power seemed to have undergone a slight transformation."
He deliberately paused before writing the next sentence:
"From a Witchcraft research perspective, I believe this is a topic with immense research value and potential."
These initial records were essential if he wanted to "milk" the academy for another handsome sum of Black Tower Points.
And the High Mountain Breathing Technique was clearly a "money-making" opportunity he couldn’t possibly miss.
As the Ink Tube Pen danced across the paper, an illusory interface, visible only to Mo Ning, hovered motionlessly before him.
At the very top of the interface was a line of text:
"High Mountain Breathing Technique · Divination Calculator (Iterative Version v4.0)."
Before today, the version number had been "3.5."
Today, it became "4.0."
The reason it wasn’t "3.6" was that Mo Ning was planning a major update.
The research spanning dozens of previous versions was the foundation of his confidence in improving the Breathing Technique.
He was even certain that his understanding of the Breathing Technique had surpassed that of its original creator.
Just yesterday, while using the Eye of Truth to collect data on the Breathing Technique, he had relied on his almost instinctive intuition for Divination to determine that this time, he would make a significant discovery.
On the interface, four calculation windows lit up simultaneously.
Four torrents of data began to flow rapidly.
Every piece of data collected yesterday flowed into the torrents one by one, joining in this carnival of Divination.
Some of the data replaced old parameters from version 3.5, while other data merged with the old structure to form new nodes.
Every second, tens of thousands of calculations were performed in silence.
This wasn’t a minor tweak to the structure.
This was a complete restructuring, starting from the base "code."
The rough approximations that had been barely adequate in version 3.5 were replaced by more precise formulas.
The previously vague boundary conditions were redefined.
The subtle correlations hidden deep within the data were unearthed one by one and woven into new Divination units.
The amount of calculation the Eye of Truth completed every second would take an ordinary Second Level Apprentice at least eight hours to finish.
And for a Second Level Apprentice, performing eight hours of Divination calculations a day would push their mental stamina to its absolute limit.
Therefore, one could roughly conclude: one second of work for the Eye of Truth was equivalent to a full day’s work for a Second Level Apprentice.
*****
「Deep within the Black Tower’s Observation Room.」
"...a topic with immense research value and potential."
The Secret Spirit Text flowing from Mo Ning’s pen was immediately captured by the academy’s powerful surveillance Witchcraft, appearing word-for-word within a sphere of light.
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice, Nasha, glimpsed this text and immediately sat bolt upright.
Her emerald eyes went wide, and her pretty face was a mask of astonishment.
The moment she saw the word "topic," she instantly understood what Mo Ning was up to.
The Third Level Apprentice blurted out, "This kid is applying for a new research project already?!"
Her voice was filled with disbelief.
On his first day at the academy, this kid had successfully applied for a project to improve the Sub-zero Level Trick, Flash, and received a grant of 300 Black Tower Points from the Rose Council.
Only a few days had passed, and he was already applying for a second project?
To be honest, his speed was a little frightening.
