Free Web NovelChapter 5: Chapter 5: A Wizard Who Doesn’t Understand Divination Is Not a Good Wizard
The Ink Tube Pen in Mo Ning’s hand continued to write, its strokes swift and elegant.
"Although the quarters the Academy assigned are a bit spartan, the research environment is infinitely better than that rickety carriage.
"Honestly, I really miss those six months in the Royal Library of the Holy Spear Kingdom. I could immerse myself in an ocean of knowledge every day.
"I heard the library has a collection of over eighty thousand volumes. It’s a shame I only managed to read a small fraction of them."
He stopped rambling and got to the point.
"I’ve had a few new ideas these past few days. Now that I’m finally settled, I can’t wait to test them out.
"I have a feeling that this time, I might be able to make some optimizations to the structure of the Sub-zero Level Witchcraft, ’Flash.’"
So-called "Sub-zero Level Witchcraft" can be simply understood as a simplified version of Level Zero Witchcraft.
In orthodox Wizard terminology, they are often referred to, with a hint of mockery, as—Tricks.
This is because Sub-zero Level Witchcraft is too weak to be used directly in combat, like a child’s toy in the Magic World.
But because of their simple structure and extremely low energy requirements, even an Apprentice who has not yet condensed a Spirit Ring and has meager Spiritual Power can manage to activate them through precise hand gestures, Curse Sounds, or a medium.
For almost every Apprentice, Sub-zero Level Witchcraft is the first window through which they glimpse the principles of how Magic Power operates.
And "Flash" is one of the most basic Light Element Sub-zero Level Tricks.
Its only Effect is a momentary burst of blinding light. Aside from causing temporary blindness, it has almost no other use.
However, it is a classic template for studying the process of "Light Element excitation, convergence, and release."
Mo Ning’s pen tip moved rapidly, pouring out more words that seemed random but were, in fact, carefully structured:
"The first idea is to reconstruct the resonance model of ’Flash’s’ basic energy flow pulse, in hopes of improving its light energy conversion efficiency.
"The second idea is to improve the resonance frequency of the activation incantation, which might slightly increase the gathering speed of the Light Element.
"The third..."
The pen tip paused slightly, and the ink blotted a small dot on the paper, as if his thoughts had solidified at that point.
Then, the words began to flow again:
"The third idea comes from my experience passing through the ’Secluded Forest Path’ today. That wondrous Witchcraft gave me a huge inspiration.
"Since the surrounding medium can so exquisitely affect perception and one’s sense of space, could the ’Flash’ spell also transcend a simple burst of intense light? Could it instead pursue a brief intervention at the target’s ’visual information processing’ level?"
"Specifically, by trying, at the very instant of the light burst..."
*****
「Deep within the Black Tower.」
「In a Secret Chamber concealed by layers of runes.」
Countless fine threads of Magic Power shuttled and interwove in the void, finally converging into several hundred hazy orbs of light suspended in mid-air, like an inverted river of stars.
A Female Apprentice in a gray robe was gazing up at this "river of stars."
On the edge of her robe’s sleeve, three silver threads shimmered with a cold glint—a Third Level Apprentice.
In the Black Tower Academy’s hierarchy, this could barely be considered the lowest level of management.
Of course, the ones being managed were not Wizards, but Apprentices numbering in the tens of thousands.
The most precise number was—58,419.
Compared to the just over two thousand Wizards, the number of Apprentices was nearly thirty times greater.
This staggering ratio also offered a glimpse into just how difficult it was to be promoted to a Wizard.
The Female Apprentice’s appearance was vastly different from an ordinary human’s. Her face was exquisitely beautiful, her skin had a cold pallor like moonlight, and the curves of her figure were still breathtaking even under her loose robes.
Most eye-catching were the small, delicate, translucent amber horn on her forehead and her ears, which were even longer and sharper than an Elf’s.
The latter seemed to indicate the inheritance of some ancient bloodline.
Each orb of light reflected a moving image, showing the rookies who had just completed their registration and were now in their respective quarters.
Some collapsed onto their beds in exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep, some curiously explored every corner of their rooms, and others simply stared blankly at the Birch Forest outside their windows.
The confusion, excitement, or bewilderment of the newcomers entering this strange place was all on full display.
’I wonder if any Dark Wizard spies have snuck into this batch of rookies. It’d be great if I could catch one.’
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice stared at the orbs, her heart filled with anticipation.
Because if she could expose a single Dark Wizard spy, she would receive a handsome reward from the Academy.
That was why she wished all several hundred of these newcomers were operatives sent by Dark Wizards to infiltrate the Academy.
For the Academy, having the Witch Spirit monitor the newcomers all day would waste too much energy. Arranging for experienced Apprentices to do it was undoubtedly more cost-effective.
’Hmm, this kid looks shifty-eyed. He might be connected to the Dark Wizards. I’ll have to keep a close eye on him.’
’This one doesn’t look like a good person. Could be a Dark Wizard’s spy. I must watch him carefully.’
’This one looks honest and simple, but Dark Wizards are experts at disguise. I’ll have to keep a tight watch on him, too...’
The Female Apprentice stared at the faces in the orbs with a gaze as sharp as a hawk’s.
The way she looked at the newcomers was as if she were seeing a pile of "walking Black Tower Points."
"Huh?"
A soft sound of surprise escaped the Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s red lips as her emerald eyes suddenly locked onto one of the orbs.
The blue-robed figure reflected in the orb was neither resting nor exploring, but was sitting upright at a desk, writing furiously.
It was none other than Mo Ning.
Among the hundreds of scenes, some still and some restless, this quiet, focused posture of writing stood out as particularly special.
’Writing in a diary right after arriving? What an interesting newcomer.’ The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s lips curved into an amused smile.
She stretched out a slender finger and made a grasping motion in the air toward that orb.
The orb traced a gentle arc and floated before her. Then, the light rippled, and its size expanded by more than ten times.
The scene within it instantly became as clear as if she were there herself: Mo Ning’s steady hand movements, and even the Secret Spirit Text pouring onto the scale pattern paper, were all revealed in perfect detail.
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s gaze quickly swept over the sentences:
"...This research environment is simply an intoxicating Holy Land of Witchcraft!"
"’Holy Land?’"
She scoffed, her voice tinged with cold sarcasm.
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice extended the tip of her tongue, licked her crimson lower lip, and added a "narrated" footnote to the words "Holy Land":
"That’s right, a holy, knowledge-filled Holy Land!
"And at the same time, a luxurious graveyard that constantly devours flesh and soul. I’ve seen far too many fresh bodies grow cold here.
"Tsk, tsk. Those bodies, freshly deceased and still containing lingering Spirituality, are rare, high-quality materials for certain experiments."
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s gaze moved down to the next lines of text:
"...Perhaps I can make some optimizations to the ’Flash’ spell’s structure."
"’Optimize the structure?’"
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s slender eyebrows shot up, the amusement in her emerald eyes instantly replaced by unconcealed contempt.
With a slight shift of her will, she pulled up the person’s information—Serial Number 7-118-256, Mo Ning, 16 years old, Spiritual Strength 0.52, Spiritual Potential rating: Low, no dominant bloodline talent detected.
She glanced at it, then shook her head. ’A rookie who hasn’t even condensed a Spirit Ring, with talent this abysmal, dares to speak of ’optimizing a Witchcraft structure’ less than a day after setting foot in the Black Tower Academy?’
’I’ve been at the Academy for fifty years and seen dozens of batches of newcomers. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a rookie this audacious.’
She crossed her arms in front of her chest, an unconscious action that made the curves beneath her gray robe even more striking.
She tilted her head slightly, her emerald eyes locked on the enlarged orb, waiting to see how this newcomer would end his clumsy performance.
In the orb, the tip of the Ink Tube Pen didn’t stop, and lines of Secret Spirit Text continued to flow:
"...a brief intervention at the target’s ’visual information processing level’?"
"Specifically, by attempting to superimpose an extremely faint ’visual disturbance pulse’ at the critical moment of the light burst."
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s crossed arms unconsciously fell to her sides.
Years of immersion in Witchcraft research had forged an almost instinctual academic intuition, which immediately told her that this idea seemed... actually somewhat feasible.
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice involuntarily leaned forward, eager to see the following deductions.
Mo Ning’s pen continued to move:
"This wouldn’t count as a true Illusion Technique. It’s just that for the instant the target is blinded by the strong light, their visual-neural-spiritual link is in an ’overload-reset state.’ By embedding a resonant structure of a specific frequency at this moment, it’s possible to briefly interfere with their perception mechanism.
"It could be called a—’low-spec Illusion Technique’ or an ’Illusion-like Technique’.
"Although the depth and duration of the interference from an Illusion-like Technique are far inferior to a true Illusion Technique, in actual combat, if the target is unprepared, there’s still a very high probability it will cause a momentary misjudgment.
"According to my preliminary calculations, even if the target is a First Level Apprentice... hmm, with a Spiritual Strength of less than 2.0, otherwise their spirit and soul could resist the overload... the probability of the Illusion-like Technique being effective would exceed sixty percent.
"If the target is in a negative state, such as having consumed a large amount of Magic Power or being mentally fatigued, the probability of the Illusion-like Technique being effective will increase even further."
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice unconsciously murmured, "Interesting!"
As a Third Level Apprentice who also happened to have done some research on Illusion Techniques, at least three viable basic Spirit Seal structures that could perfectly achieve the "Illusion-like Technique" Effect Mo Ning described flashed through her mind almost instantly.
She glanced at Mo Ning’s focused face in the orb and whispered, "I didn’t expect this kid’s Spiritual Talent to be so poor, yet he has quite a knack for Witchcraft research."
At this moment, the Apprentice had completely forgotten her earlier scoffing.
The Sharp-eared Female Apprentice was now genuinely interested and began to carefully watch Mo Ning’s subsequent arcane derivations.
She even unconsciously took half a step forward, wanting to see more clearly.
After briefly outlining his three ideas, Mo Ning’s pen returned to the starting point:
"Now, to perform the basic derivation for the first idea: ’Optimization of the energy flow pulse resonance model.’
"The model structure is as follows..."
The Ink Tube Pen began to sketch out complex symbols and formulas on the scale pattern paper.
Secret Spirit Text and unique arcane mathematical symbols interwove, forming a model diagram full of geometric beauty and mystical rhythm.
In the world of Wizards, the derivation and construction of a Witchcraft Model was, in essence, an intellectual drudgery—a battle against endless complexity.
The arcane mathematical calculations involved were vast, with variables as tangled as a knotted mess. Every iterative deduction could generate dozens of pages of formulas.
This was precisely why the research process consumed scale pattern paper like water, and it was the biggest headache for countless Wizards.
For a Sub-zero Level Trick like "Flash," although its structure was too simple to be divided into complete "Spirit Seal Units," it was usually composed of only three or four simplified units.
But in essence, the arcane mathematics of Sub-zero Level Tricks and Level Zero Tricks were on the same level of research.
Therefore, the workload for the arcane calculations related to Sub-zero Level Tricks—such as energy flow models and phase matching—was still not to be underestimated.
Originally, the Sharp-eared Female Apprentice had judged based on her own experience that even if this newcomer named Mo Ning’s ideas were clever, it would take him at least a week to complete the preliminary derivations for these three concepts.
This was already an optimistic estimate, taking into account the possibility that "this person possessed a decent talent for arcane mathematics."
For an ordinary newcomer, spending one or two months on it, or even giving up halfway, was the norm.
However, the Sharp-eared Female Apprentice’s prediction rapidly crumbled before the image in the orb.
After watching for just one minute, a clear look of astonishment appeared on her exquisite face.
