Chapter 139: Outside the Door and Inside the Door

Dark Night Moon, 24th.

Still at the same time as yesterday.

Gao De came to the rune workshop on the third floor of the Dean Jia Wen Building again.

Still the same as yesterday, he didn't see his mentor He Xi Okenli.

But this time, Gao De didn't need to take the initiative to make a sound; the familiar old and calm voice had already sounded from the small room with the door tightly closed inside the workshop... It didn't seem as calm as yesterday; Gao De felt that the old man's voice in the small room today seemed to have a trace of "excitement" that couldn't be suppressed? Maybe it was an illusion.

"Read the materials on the table first; you can leave after reading them."

Still the same sentence as yesterday.

It was even exactly the same, not changing a single word.

If it were in a literary work, one might even suspect the author was lazy and directly copied and pasted the previous text.

But Gao De wouldn't think so much.

For him, it was just receiving another "instruction."

He listened silently, his footsteps already moving to the workbench in the center of the rune workshop.

The workbench that was slightly messy yesterday had been tidied up, and now it was much neater.

And the materials He Xi wanted him to read were now prominently placed in the most conspicuous position in the middle.

No longer needing Gao De to guess and find the materials he should read like yesterday.

"Introduction to Runes."

The name is very simple and easy to understand, knowing at a glance that it talks about runes.

Although in Gao De's view, this is the material that should have been given to him yesterday — at least recognize runes before recognizing the basic rules of runes, right?

But it doesn't matter, after all, the "Six Basic Rules of Runes" are also very "simple," so it doesn't make much difference whether you read them a day early or a day late.

So, the "reversal" in order is also understandable.

The materials are still handwritten, exactly the same as yesterday's "Introductory Theory of Rune Studies."

Gao De opened the materials, and the first thing he saw was not the two characters "Runes": "Everything in the world has its own trajectory.

The wind blowing has its own trajectory, water flowing has its own trajectory, the earth cracking has its own trajectory, and even the mana that is everywhere in the world has its own trajectory.

These trajectories are erratic and have no rules.

However, when one day the wind blows according to a certain specific trajectory, it will become a tornado that destroys the world;

Water flows according to a certain specific trajectory, it will set off giant waves that overturn rivers and seas; the earth cracks according to a certain specific trajectory, it will bring earth-shaking changes.

We call these changes natural forces.

Natural forces are very powerful, but we have no way to obtain them... except for mana.

Don't doubt it, if mana flows according to a certain specific trajectory, it will only bring more powerful power.

The question is, how do we control this powerful mana?

The first answer is spells.

Magic users turn mana into mana in their bodies, and then control the trajectory of mana flow through spell models, releasing spells with different effects.

But this is not the only solution.

A magic user's mana is always limited, and limited mana determines that the natural forces a magic user can control are also limited.

But the power of nature is infinite.

Is there any way to utilize this infinite natural power?

Very simple.

Build a bridge, use knowledge and wisdom to build a bridge between man and nature.

In the era of eating raw meat and drinking blood, the sages used their wisdom and knowledge to grasp natural forces little by little like this.

These wisdoms and knowledge are what we usually refer to as runes now."

"Different design methods, different construction materials, the load-bearing capacity of the bridges built is different."

"Rune masters are bridge designers."

The two characters "Runes," after an extremely long foreshadowing, appeared in Gao De's field of vision for the first time and finally.

He was silent and continued to read down.

"The mana between heaven and earth flows without rules.

The so-called runes are the bridges between rune masters and the mana of heaven and earth. Rune masters build bridges, and once released, mana can make the wind blow, water rise, stars turn, and stars move.

Runes are essentially fixed mana flow trajectories, letting it walk according to a predetermined route.

Multiple basic runes can form composite runes, and multiple composite runes can form magic arrays.

And magic arrays are the final form of runes, a complete system."

"Basic runes are the cornerstone of magic arrays and the beginning of rune studies."

"The total number of basic runes in the world has exceeded 80,000, and new basic runes are constantly being produced."

"But most of these basic runes are obscure runes, and the truly commonly used basic runes are about 3,700."

"And a qualified rune master only needs to master 1,000-2,000 basic runes."

"Because 1,000 basic runes can cover ninety percent of the needs through combination, and 2,000 basic runes can cover ninety-nine percent of the needs through combination."

This introduction gave Gao De a very strong sense of déjà vu. 【139-56

He paused, thought about it seriously, and finally realized:

Isn't this exactly the same as the Chinese characters from his past life?

The number of Chinese characters now exceeds 100,000, but the truly commonly used ones are only about 3,000.

1,000 common characters can cover over 90% of expression needs, and 2,000 common characters can cover 99% of expression needs.

And under the premise that new things are constantly being born, these two thousand long-existing common characters can also perfectly express them through permutation and combination.

For example, the two characters "electric" and "brain," which existed a thousand years ago, can be combined after a thousand years to express the newly born thing, "computer."

And basic runes are the same concept.

With this association, Gao De instantly grasped the importance of "basic runes."

Without a doubt, if one wants to get started with "Runology," it is just like needing to learn characters before being able to write an article; one must first master the common basic runes.

Looking further down, it was indeed so, but there was also a small difference: "Basic runes are divided into eight ranks, namely level zero basic runes to level seven runes."

"The first step for a novice runemaster: master 651 common level zero basic runes."

With this, the "preface" of "Introduction to Runes" ended.

The information below consisted of diagrams and deconstruction explanatory text for the common level zero basic runes.

However, the material did not list all 651 level zero basic runes, but only 10.

Gao De instantly understood: these 10 level zero basic runes were his "homework for today."

Just like the "after-class exercises" in yesterday's materials.

In addition, next to the materials was a stack of blank basic magic paper, a basic rune pen, and a bottle of basic magic ink.

This was the "stationery" He Xi had prepared for Gao De.

The first level zero basic rune introduced in the material was called "Magic Gathering (Level Zero)," and its function was also very simple: to gather the magic power between heaven and earth.

But it was precisely this simple function that made the "Magic Gathering (Level Zero)" rune an indispensable basic rune for almost all magic arrays.

Moreover, the rune diagram for "Magic Gathering (Level Zero)" was not simple either.

Even though it was just a so-called level zero basic rune, it was extremely complex.

And, there were no shortcuts.

One could only rely on copying it over and over, memorizing it, and then comprehending and mastering it.

Gao De did not even spend a second "fearing" the difficulty of the learning that was about to begin.

His focus immediately fell upon the rune diagram and deconstruction of "Magic Gathering (Level Zero)" in "Introduction to Runes," with nothing else in mind.

"Introduction to Runes" was a handwritten document, clearly from the hand of He Xi Okenli.

And this chief rune instructor of the academy undoubtedly possessed an incredibly solid grasp of runology knowledge, so the deconstruction text for the entire rune diagram was very concise, yet clear and easy to understand.

Gao De read it carefully, and before long, he had already finished the first pass.

Then, he closed the material and began to ponder and recall.

After about thirty seconds, Gao De opened the material again to re-read the parts that were unclear or not understood during his review and contemplation.

This time, he spent less time than the first pass.

Then, he closed the material again to ponder and recall.

Twenty seconds later, he opened the material again and began reading once more.

After repeating this seven or eight times, Gao De closed the material once more to review, and it was already smooth sailing, with no more hesitation or stumbling.

And the rune diagrams were the same method.

In the quiet rune workshop, there was only the rustling sound of Gao De turning the pages of the material from time to time.

When he closed "Introduction to Runes" for the last time, he did not open it again.

Gao De took a deep breath, picked up the rune pen, and after soaking it with enough magic ink, he spread out a piece of magic paper and formally began to write on it.

Gao De, attempting to copy a rune for the first time, held his breath, his eyes focused and earnest.

At the same time, the mana within his body was transmitted from his palm to the rune pen in his hand, and then through the tip of the pen, mixed with the magic ink, it landed evenly and steadily on the magic paper.

When he first started writing, Gao De was still a bit cautious, worried about failure.

But once he started, all the distracting thoughts in his mind vanished in an instant, leaving only the rune diagram and its corresponding deconstruction in his focus.

Gao De was completely immersed in the drawing of the "Magic Gathering (Level Zero)" basic rune.

There is a saying widely circulated among magic users: "Magic is a private realm open only to geniuses."

But in the field of runology, genius is merely an admission ticket.

It requires not only transcendent talent but also excellent control, outstanding creativity, powerful mental strength, superior memory, and sufficient concentration and patience.

And, a bit of purity.

And Gao De had always been very pure regarding the matter of "learning."

At the same time, in the room just one door away.

As Gao De's instructor whom he had not yet met, He Xi put down the rune pen and magic paper in his hand.

On the magic paper, a rune diagram that looked like heavenly script to a layman—a rune diagram far more complex than the "Magic Gathering (Level Zero)" rune diagram—was displayed like a work of art.

The old man looked at the complex rune diagram before him, lost in deep thought.

This rune diagram was not a conventional magic array attempt, but a test rune diagram he was conducting for the purpose of deriving the "interference constant."

It included robust value testing precise to four decimal places, a regular energy increment level, and a series of complex rune logarithms and interference logarithm changes.

These things were not easy to deal with.

It required an extremely massive amount of calculation, an extremely solid foundation in runology, and an extremely large number of experiments.

Even He Xi Okenli, who had been immersed in the field of runology and had single-handedly derived the six—or more accurately, 5.5—basic rules of runology, felt a headache at the beginning.

Just thinking about the massive amount of experiments needed, he even felt a sense of not knowing where to start.

He even doubted whether he could complete these experiments and derive the "interference constant" in the final time of his life.

But he understood that this "interference constant" affected whether the six basic rules of runology held true and hid the most essential secret of rune arrangement.

Therefore, after steadying his mind, He Xi picked up the ordinary paper and pen placed to the side again to record data.

This path had only just begun.

Whether he could reach the end was another matter.

He just had to keep moving forward.

He had always been very pure regarding the matter of "runes."

One was an old man, an insider who had been immersed in the field of runology for hundreds of years.

One was a teenager, an outsider who had only been in contact with the field of runology for one day.

Two people with vast differences in age, status, and knowledge were now "in the same room," striving for the same thing.

The distance was merely one door apart.

(End of chapter)