Free Web NovelA week later, Sylutia's Star Prayer Meditation Method had reached Lv.3, and by then, everything else she needed was also ready.
Tonight was the night. She glanced at the weather outside—clear and bright, with no clouds to block the sky tonight.
Arriving at the garden behind the house, Sylutia began her preparations. First, she set up protective magic arrays around the garden's walls to ward off sudden outside disturbances and interruptions. Then, she arranged a ritual magic array in the center of the garden to draw down starlight, using special Star-Drawing Ink to inscribe words and carve runes, ensuring it could sense the star hidden within the Four Seasons Clock.
Once that was done, it was mostly set. Even when she had advanced to become a gardener before, she hadn't been this solemn.
Returning to the house, she ate a dinner she'd cooked herself, then took a short nap. By nine at night, she came back to the garden beneath the starry sky.
Sylutia placed the Astronomical Clock in the magic array before her, knelt on the ground, and began to gather her spirit, sensing the faint starlight in the void. The ability she had just practiced—Star Sensing Method—officially activated, starting its search through the vast sea of stars for that elusive wisp of stellar radiance.
About half an hour later, Sylutia finally sensed the sleeping star hidden deep within the Four Seasons Clock. Then, carefully, she began to establish a hazy sympathetic connection, making sure not to let this thread-like, fragile bond break.
Next came the construction of the frontispiece.
The maiden took a deep breath, concentrating on her Fate Card—The Maiden Who Comprehends Runes (Second Tier·Secret Word). free𝑤ebnovel.com
At that moment, the card emitted a faint silver glow. Strands of Secret Word aspect dispersed, projecting a virtual book page before her. Sylutia then began to carve runes onto each of these pages.
After inscribing the three core runes—Quicksilver, Clock, and Pointer—Sylutia focused again and began carving the next nine runes.
The core runes were bound to the frontispiece and could not be swapped. As for the other runes, she could choose them according to her needs. She selected the runes recommended for use with the Astronomical Clock Page in the core secret arts records: Acceleration, Deceleration, and Star Attraction. For the remaining six empty rune slots, there weren't as many requirements.
Here, she chose Levitation, Thread, and Synesthesia. Levitation seemed unimpressive at first glance, but it was an extremely versatile rune—she often used related spells in daily life. As for Thread and Synesthesia, they also had many supplementary effects.
With three rune slots still open, Sylutia thought about how she had, after all, inherited Instructor Nox's legacy. At the very least, she should inscribe one rune from the Bionics School.
She decided on Bird. It was practically the representative rune for all bird-type symbols.
For the remaining two runes, Sylutia deliberated at length before choosing Hardening and Charging. Hardening was a core rune essential for learning Steel Shadow Magic Hand, while Charging was a versatile rune similar to Quicksilver. It could enhance spell power and provide sustained energy for certain continuous spells—also a necessary rune for Steel Shadow Magic Hand.
Feeling like she might be biting off more than she could chew, Sylutia looked at the twelve rune pages before her. They touched upon the core teachings of three major schools: Bionics School, Puppet Shadow School, and Mithril Clock. Thankfully, the Astronomical Clock Page was a core secret art with a more supplementary orientation, making it quite versatile—unlike the Sovereign Page, which was entirely focused on Sovereign Spells.
Overall, many of the Mithril Clock School's traditions leaned toward supplementary roles—such as enchanted creations, sovereign laws, and time interference—with no direct attack or defense capabilities. But that precisely fit the philosophy of the Mage system: under powerful supplementary abilities, all kinds of spells and skills could be freely unleashed with excellent results.
Among the Alliance's top three schools, only Solar Furnace had strong offensive means. Origin Hourglass also primarily focused on supplementary methods like archaeology and academic research.
After inscribing all twelve rune pages, the virtual rune pages began to bind and take shape. At the same time, the Astronomical Clock slowly rose and sank into the bound pages.
Half an hour later, a special frontispiece appeared on the front of the bound pages, sealed within it the core Mithril Astronomical Clock. At this point, the most critical phase arrived.
It was time to establish a permanent connection between the Mithril Astronomical Clock and the star sensed moments ago.
Second Tier Ti Ya took a deep breath, finished carving the final sensing array beneath the Astronomical Clock, and drew the starlight down to it...
Time flowed swiftly. The Astronomical Clock floating behind her emitted a faint silver glow. Then, suddenly, the silver light contracted. One by one, the star marks on the clock's face lit up. With a soft click, the clock began to turn for the first time.
At first, it moved quickly. All three hands began to rotate, spinning round and round, until finally, they stopped at a specific position. Golden fragments scattered from the hands, and then the entire clock's time stabilized—signifying that it had calibrated itself to the true passage of time.
Once that was done, the Astronomical Clock sank back into the frontispiece, transforming into an exquisite mural on the page. The entire frontispiece blazed with brilliant light, merging with the Fate Card. Then, a powerful force spread across the Fate Plate, causing the life force to gradually advance.
[The Maiden Who Comprehends Runes] (Second Tier·Secret Word) → [The Maiden Who Holds the Astronomical Clock] (Third Tier·Secret Word)
Name: Ti Ya·Meizhalansi
Race: Human (※※※)
Status: Healthy (No Anomalies)
Talents: Star [Unknown Tier], Cornflower's Affection [Perfect]
Fate Card: [The Maiden Who Holds the Astronomical Clock] (Third Tier·Secret Word)
“The maiden who holds the Mithril Astronomical Clock; the true flow of time is now perceived by her—this is the delicate texture of history.”
- Effect [Discernment Eyes Lv.6]: Derived from a special talent and constitution, you can distinguish five layers of color that ordinary people cannot perceive, as well as the intrinsic essence of things. (When you raise the rank of your Fate Card, this ability also receives a synchronized boost.)
- Effect [Inspiration Lv.4]: Can subconsciously piece together vast amounts of information stored in your mind to help solve problems. (The performance of this effect is not stable.)
- Effect [Rune Mastery Lv.6]: You are exceptionally familiar with runes, allowing you to achieve better results and faster response times when constructing spell models. (Spell Effect +3, Response Speed +3)
- Effect [Bloodline Advancement]: Upon entering Third Tier, all your abilities receive a comprehensive upgrade, allowing you to ignore the effects of many low-tier abilities.
- Profession [Mage Apprentice Lv.5]: A fully developed profession that enhances memory and trains the spirit. (Mnemonic Method·Meditation Method Lv.5)
Core Card: [Astronomical Clock Page] [Secret Word]
You carefully selected 12 types of runes, carved them into pages, and crafted the Mithril Astronomical Clock, validating your learned skills and achievements.
- Influence [Spellcasting Ability]: You can freely invoke the runes inscribed on the frontispiece to cast spells, without needing to occupy Ability Card slots. (Quicksilver, Clock, Pointer, Acceleration, Deceleration, Star Attraction, Levitation, Thread, Synesthesia, Bird, Hardening, Charging)
- Influence [Mithril Astronomical Clock]: You can harness the power of the Astronomical Clock to perceive true time and gain a thought-acceleration effect.
Ability Cards: [Star Prayer Meditation Method Lv.3] [Star Sensing Method Lv.3]
After everything was complete, the light around Sylutia faded, and the aura she radiated stabilized at Third Tier.
Checking her own state, Sylutia willed it, and her body rose lightly, as if walking on invisible steps in the air, ascending above the garden.
So this is spellcasting through the Spell Frontispiece. There was almost no delay—no few-second activation period like before. The moment she thought of it, the spell's effect manifested.
Then, light swirled in her eyes, and silver threads wove together beside her, forming a bird that circled around her, flying endlessly.
[Spell·Sensing Bird] (Bird, Acceleration, Charging, Thread, Synesthesia)
This bird shot into the sky, then looked down at the land. The entire view of the academy where she was located was captured in its sight and transmitted back to Sylutia below, allowing her to see it all as well.
After that, Sylutia shifted the spell model of the bird again. Its feathers became sharper and harder.
[Spell·Silver Steel Bird] (Bird, Acceleration, Charging, Quicksilver, Hardening)
This bird flapped its wings, then dove sharply downward. Its spread wings grew increasingly sharp and hard, finally grazing a stone in the garden, slicing it clean in two.
The power is quite strong. Compared to the spell models she had built before, the intensity was directly elevated by a whole tier. And controlling it was effortless. Sylutia willed it, and one identical Silver Steel Bird after another materialized, until twelve birds were circling the sky. Only then did Sylutia feel some kind of limit.
During the Silver Bell Festival before, she could control at most five. Now, that number had instantly expanded to twelve, and each bird's strength had doubled. By that measure, compared to her Second Tier self, her strength had at least quintupled.
Truly, core secret arts provided a massive boost to individual power.
Finally, Ti Ya dispersed all the birds, landed back on the ground, and closed her eyes to sense the flow of time. The night wind rustled past. The delicate time, like droplets of water, slipped through her hair—each strand of varying length with subtle differences. But when joined together, they formed another kind of rhythm, like some ancient song of the ages.
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