Free Web NovelChapter 54: Chapter 52: Diligent Study and Hard Training
Back when he was still in the Holy Spear Kingdom, Mo Ning had often read notes in the Royal Library’s collection about learning Witchcraft from the Mysteries Hall.
Without exception, they all used one word to describe this process—magical.
As long as one paid the corresponding Black Tower Points, the Secret Hall would use the power of Witchcraft to directly infuse the complete Witchcraft Model into one’s brain.
The key point—infusion.
The books contained many detailed descriptions of this process.
One Apprentice wrote:
"At that moment, I felt my head begin to heat up, and my consciousness slipped into a daze. When I came to, there was something new inside my head—and I mean my physical brain, not my Spiritual World.
"Without having to pore over thick tomes or burn the midnight oil studying, I could understand the entire model’s structure. It truly saved an incredible amount of time.
"I only have one thing to say: Praise the Mysteries Hall!"
The notes also offered a reminder: "This doesn’t mean you don’t need to spend time figuring out the Divination principles behind the model’s operation.
"Nor does it mean you can skip understanding what each Demon Seed Group represents—otherwise, you’d be completely unable to construct it in your Spiritual World.
"But without a doubt, it drastically reduces the time investment."
The book offered a specific example:
"I can use one case to illustrate the benefits of having a model directly infused from the Mysteries Hall—let’s take the signature Witchcraft of a Second Level Apprentice, [Magic Hand], for example.
"If an Apprentice tried to learn this Witchcraft relying entirely on books, even if their Spiritual Strength met the requirements, it would take a considerably long time. Two or three years, or even longer, wouldn’t be surprising.
"But by having the model infused via the Mysteries Hall, you can save at least half a year.
"During the subsequent process of studying the model, your learning speed will be significantly enhanced because the structure is clear at a glance."
The author concluded, "One must admit that the Mysteries Hall plays an indispensable role in the academy’s ability to cultivate so many outstanding Wizards and Apprentices."
However, despite the undeniable importance of the Mysteries Hall, the most agonizing part for any Wizard was thoroughly understanding the model.
There was a well-known saying in the Wizard World: you can never cast a Witchcraft you do not understand.
The eight types of Demon Seeds that constituted Magic Power seemed to possess a hazy consciousness of their own.
If you didn’t understand a model, you might still be able to forcibly capture Magic Power to form a Demon Seed Mapping or even manipulate Magic Power into a Demon Seed Group.
But you could absolutely never fuse them into a Spirit Seal node.
Due to this lack of understanding, the Demon Seed Groups would instinctively repel each other—much like forcing the same poles of two magnets together. The harder you pushed, the more they sprang apart.
And without Spirit Seal nodes, one could not form a Spirit Seal, let alone construct a Witchcraft Model in the Spiritual World.
Another book Mo Ning had read used a particularly vivid analogy to explain this phenomenon:
"It’s like learning to write Secret Spirit Text by simply copying the characters without understanding what each one means. Naturally, you wouldn’t be able to read the sentences they form."
Mo Ning’s situation was the exact opposite.
Back when he was studying Sub-zero Level Witchcraft in the Royal Library, piecing together the complete model from books had been the most time-consuming and laborious step for him.
Once the model’s structure was clear, he could use the powerful deduction functions of his [Eye of Truth] to quickly and thoroughly grasp the underlying principles.
Piecing the model together consumed eighty percent of his time.
Studying it took up only the remaining twenty percent.
Of course, he had been studying Sub-zero Level Tricks, so their models were easy to analyze.
As the Witchcraft Level increased, the models would become more complex, and even the [Eye of Truth] would require more time for analysis.
In short, from Mo Ning’s perspective, the direct model infusion from the Mysteries Hall conveniently skipped his most agonizing step: assembly.
At this very moment, Mo Ning watched the ball of light slowly descend, his heart filled with eager anticipation.
「One second later.」
The ball of light gently touched the top of his head.
In that instant, Mo Ning clearly felt a searing Heat Flow surge from the ball of light.
The heat poured in from the crown of his head, flowing down some unseen pathway until it reached the depths of his consciousness.
Just as the books described, his consciousness rapidly began to blur.
It wasn’t the fog of drowsiness, but something more complete—a sensation of being gently drawn out of reality, until he forgot where he was.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Then, a message exploded in his mind like a clap of thunder, yanking him from his daze.
[Witchcraft Model infusion complete.]
[Please digest and understand the model. May you succeed in establishing a new monument of Witchcraft in your Spiritual World.]
[The next infusion will be available in two hours.]
Mo Ning blinked, only then realizing, ’So *that* was the Witchcraft Model infusion.’
He also knew that successive infusions were damaging to one’s spirit, which was why the Mysteries Hall had set this "cooldown" period.
The higher the Witchcraft Level and the more complex the model, the longer the cooldown.
A Sub-zero Level infusion only required a two-hour wait, but in the future, if he were to infuse a Third Level Witchcraft, it wouldn’t be surprising to have to wait ten to fifteen days.
「A moment later.」
Another reminder sounded.
[The Mirror Image Mysteries Hall is closing.]
The tome in the Obsidian Statue’s hands snapped shut with a CLICK. The statue then retreated, its form quickly vanishing into the boundless darkness.
A sliver of light shone down, and the darkness receded like the tide.
The scene within his apartment returned to view—the desk, the manuscript paper, the Ink Tube Pen. Everything was exactly as it had been, as if nothing had happened at all.
Mo Ning stood stunned for a few seconds before sighing in genuine wonder, "Incredible."
Anyone who hadn’t experienced an infusion could never comprehend the sheer shock of it.
The power of his [Eye of Truth] let him know with certainty that from the moment he gave the command until now, a mere two seconds had passed.
Yet, in his subjective experience, simply choosing [Fast Sliding] from over a thousand different Witchcrafts had taken at least ten minutes.
The contrast was truly striking.
Mo Ning focused his mind, and an incredibly clear model structure appeared in his mind’s eye—five simplified Spirit Seal Units, interlinked like a carefully folded silk ribbon.
He felt a rush of joy, like spotting a ray of sunshine on a dreary, rainy day.
In just two short seconds, he had finished a task that would have previously taken him hours of painstaking work to assemble.
He had to admit, the four Black Tower Points were money well spent.
"Praise the Mystery!"
Like countless Apprentices who had stood in this hall before him, Mo Ning whispered the words from the bottom of his heart.
With a thought, the illusory eyeball materialized. A Nebula swirled within its pupil, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.
A screen of light flashed into existence.
The complete model for the Sub-zero Level Trick, [Fast Sliding], immediately appeared on the screen.
Wasting no more time, Mo Ning immediately issued a mental command: ’Analyze model!’
Five windows instantly popped up.
The model was split into five simplified Spirit Seal Units, which flickered once before appearing in each of the five windows.
Streams of data surged forth like a thawing glacier—first reducing each simplified unit into a series of Divination Formulas, then deducing and analyzing the Divination logic within, peeling back the principles hidden behind the symbols layer by layer.
Studying a Witchcraft Model was, in essence, a process of analyzing its Divination logic to understand how it worked.
In a way, it was a "reverse" analysis: knowing the result first and then tracing the process to its origin.
Its difficulty was an order of magnitude lower than, say, modifying a Witchcraft.
With the aid of his [Eye of Truth], Mo Ning could effortlessly understand the model’s operating principles.
*****
「An hour and a half later.」
「Inside the Simulation Space.」
On a barren plain strewn with boulders.
Mo Ning took a deep breath and activated the [Fast Sliding] Witchcraft Model with his Spiritual Power.
The next moment, he clearly felt a strange power descend upon him. It was as if he’d been shoved hard, his body lunging forward violently.
WHOOSH—
The wind howled in his ears.
The ground felt like a slide slicked with oil; there was no resistance under his feet whatsoever. He shot forward like a cannonball fired from a cannon.
Mo Ning had no time to adjust his center of gravity or react in any other way before his head slammed heavily into a boulder.
THUD!
He had deliberately set the pain sensitivity to five percent to practice [Fast Sliding], but the impact was so violent that he still felt a faint sense of discomfort.
Mo Ning went flying, tumbling a dozen times across the ground before finally coming to a stop.
A prompt appeared in real-time.
[Simulation ended!]
The entire world froze.
Mo Ning sighed in frustration. ’It’s too fast!’
After the model infusion, it had taken him a mere ten minutes to completely understand the Witchcraft’s operating principles.
Newcomers generally lacked a solid Divination Foundation and usually needed four to five days to fully grasp a single Sub-zero Level Trick.
The Witchcraft Model for [Fast Sliding] was more complex than that of an ordinary Trick, so it was normal for newcomers to spend ten to fifteen days on it.
To them, fully understanding a Witchcraft in ten minutes was practically unheard of—"light speed."
Then, Mo Ning spent another hour or so using the Divination Visualization Technique to successfully establish the permanent model for [Fast Sliding] in his Spiritual World.
Because it was a Sub-zero Level Trick, the entire process consumed only 3.84% of his Spiritual Power.
After that, Mo Ning activated the [Eye of Truth]’s simulation function, intending to master the new Witchcraft as quickly as possible.
But his first attempt at casting [Fast Sliding] was a rude awakening.
The difficulty of controlling this Witchcraft was far greater than he had anticipated.
Mo Ning wasn’t discouraged. He simply shouted, "Again!"
The scene reset.
Mo Ning was back in his starting position.
He first considered the reason for his failure, then bent his back slightly to lower his center of gravity before activating [Fast Sliding].
WHOOSH!
He shot forward, crashed into the boulder again, and was sent tumbling head over heels.
But this time, the corners of Mo Ning’s mouth lifted into a slight smile.
As he shot forward, he had managed to slightly adjust his posture. Instead of crashing head-on, he had taken the impact with his side.
He still crashed, but this—this was progress.
And that was proof enough—as long as he kept making adjustments, he would eventually master [Fast Sliding].
He wasn’t fixated on this boulder because he was a masochist; he was practicing his ability to avoid obstacles.
There was no point in just practicing on flat ground.
Since this was the Simulation Space, he had to crank up the difficulty.
"Again!"
Mo Ning shouted once more.
He returned to the starting point again.
The [Eye of Truth] had already collected a significant amount of data and promptly offered a suggestion:
[Suggestion: Tilt shoulders at an angle and use arm posture to control direction.]
Time flew by as he tried again and again.
Finally, on his sixty-seventh attempt,
the instant he activated the spell, Mo Ning tilted his body and raised his left arm. He slid across the ground in a perfect arc, neatly bypassing the boulder.
Although the cloth on his shoulder scraped against the stone, he had successfully avoided the obstacle.
Mo Ning quickly leaned back, coming to a stop after sliding only forty meters.
He looked back at the boulder and laughed happily.
But the smile only lasted half a second.
"Again!"
He wouldn’t stop until he had practiced [Fast Sliding] to the point where he could use it as easily as breathing.
After all, the more proficient he became, the higher his chances of surviving the upcoming wilderness survival assessment.
