Chapter 142: Mage Hand

Night Moon, 25th.

Gao De entered the quiet Dean Jia Wen Building with practiced ease.

Passing through the long corridor, he reached the third floor, encountering only two strangers along the way.

There was no small talk; everyone seemed to have urgent matters to attend to, their footsteps hurried.

Gao De liked this atmosphere.

As he stepped into the rune workshop on the third floor, his expression instantly turned solemn.

It was as solemn as if he were facing a formidable enemy.

For Gao De, the ten basic zero-circle runes were indeed formidable enemies.

He was not afraid of the monotony of study.

On the contrary, he found learning runes to be a deeply satisfying endeavor.

Both the aesthetic beauty of the runes and the acquisition of knowledge brought him immense gratification.

Yet, no matter how much he enjoyed learning runes, he could not change the fact that the process consumed significant physical and mental energy.

His solemnity stemmed from this.

The moment Gao De entered the workshop, that familiar, aged voice sounded calmly.

The voice still didn't greet him; like a machine, it issued the day's "instruction" directly.

"Read the materials on the table. You don't need to complete the rune drawing in the workshop; just bring them to me tomorrow for inspection."

"You may take the magic paper, rune pen, and magic ink with you."

Compared to the previous two days, He Xi's words were finally not a "copy-paste."

Gao De listened in silence, his hands already opening the materials on the table.

The beginning covered the basic brush techniques required for rune drawing.

These included "dotting," "releasing," "touching," "flicking," and "lifting."

These techniques allowed a runemaster to better control the brush strokes, thereby increasing stability and reducing mana consumption.

Additionally, there were basic mana transmission methods, which allowed for more stable mana flow during the drawing process, increasing the success rate.

The more Gao De read, the more he felt this should have been learned before drawing runes yesterday—though he did not know that He Xi's intended order was indeed this.

Yesterday, he had only intended for Gao De to recognize runes, not to master those ten basic runes immediately.

The actual attempt at drawing runes should have come today, after learning brush techniques and mana transmission.

—Yesterday was Gao De's first rune lesson; if the intensity and difficulty were maxed out from the start, it would only have caused Gao De to develop resistance and fear.

In a sense, He Xi was indeed a good mentor, aside from being too sparing with his words.

Though this wasn't much of a flaw, he happened to encounter Gao De, who was even more sparing with his words.

Thus, Gao De relied on his own understanding, asked no questions, misunderstood the intent, and finished all ten zero-circle basic runes in one go. Consequently, the logical order of instruction was reversed.

Of course, this was not a major issue.

Gao De continued to flip through the materials in silence.

At the end of the materials were the rune diagrams and corresponding explanatory text.

The meaning was simple and clear: just learn them.

However, there were only five zero-circle basic runes today.

This meant Gao De could complete today's study in a relatively relaxed state and have more energy and time for other things.

This made him breathe a sigh of relief.

If every day were like this, his worries would vanish—he had also selected eight elective courses, which would begin next month, undoubtedly requiring much of his energy and time.

In a slightly more relaxed mood, Gao De even had the mental capacity to wonder what kind of person this rune department head was, who he hadn't seen once in three visits and who remained holed up in the small room.

So far, Gao De's impression of him was limited to the words "mysterious" and "busy." While Gao De speculated about what kind of person He Xi was, the old man was similarly thinking about the young student, or rather, the student outside the door.

Both in name and in fact, he had already taken on the responsibilities of Gao De's mentor.

He had never imagined that a young man who had never touched runes could rely on "intuition" to propose the concept of an "interference constant," which had troubled him for years.

Nor had he ever seen a young man who could display such a calm demeanor and such astonishing talent in the dry, monotonous process of rune learning.

Undoubtedly, the young man outside, his first student in so many years, possessed boundless talent in the field of runecraft.

Such talent, even in his birthplace—the place on the continent with the most advanced rune technology—He Xi had never seen.

Thus, the problem before him was: how to protect and unleash Gao De's boundless talent.

He Xi had thought for a long time last night, and the first thing he did was to lighten Gao De's burden.

His original intention was only for Gao De to master ten basic runes in ten days, but Gao De's misunderstanding had inadvertently revealed his limits.

Yet, there was no need for such limits; this was still a very young child, and there was plenty of time ahead.

Long-term limit-pushing study would only grind away a person's spirit and passion, overdrawing their potential.

"Too much is as bad as too little" was a universal truth in any field.

Of course, he couldn't let Gao De be too relaxed either.

At the very least, one basic rune was too few for such a "genius."

Therefore, after consideration, He Xi set the number of basic runes Gao De needed to master daily at five.

In the following days, Gao De's life gradually became regular: he would go to the Dean Jia Wen Building at a fixed time to collect and read the daily materials, then master five new zero-circle basic runes, which generally took only the morning.

The afternoon and evening were for cultivation, as well as 【Poison Insect Cultivation】 and reading books borrowed from the library.

Gao De cherished these days.

He knew that once the elective courses began, he would have no spare time or energy to read general books unrelated to his courses.

His understanding of this world was rapidly improving with the volume of books he read.

Improving just as rapidly were his mastery of basic runes and his source progress bar.

The last day of the Night Moon.

Source:

0-Circle—【Fire-Kissed Ant】 (7/7), 【Hemp Scorpion】 (7/7)

1-Circle—【Phantom-Thorn Centipede】 (2/7)

Except for the 【Phantom-Thorn Centipede】, which was 1-circle and had a total of only 43 eggs, the source progress for the other two 0-circle poisonous insects was already full.

Returning to his dormitory, Gao De sat cross-legged, focused his mind, and chanted in his heart.

"Feng Ling Yue Ying."

The simple spell interface popped up immediately.

Gao De scanned the spells he hadn't upgraded yet, having already made his decision.

He skillfully tapped the yellow "+" sign flashing after the spell entry with his consciousness.

The next moment.

Feng Ling Yue Ying, activated! The Big Dipper representing the 【Fire-Kissed Ant】 source combined with Gao De's original spell model and expanded. An instant later.

【Mage Hand+】 (Transmutation, 0-Circle):

A floating spectral hand appears within the spell range, persisting until the spell ends or is actively dismissed.

If the spectral hand exceeds 30 feet (10 meters) or if Mage Hand is cast again, the existing spectral hand disappears.

Mage Hand can perform simple actions, such as manipulating an object, opening an unlocked door or container, or pouring contents from a small bottle, but it cannot carry objects exceeding 10 pounds (about 4.5 kg) or activate spell items.

Extra: You can control two "Mage Hands" simultaneously and perform relatively complex actions, just like your own hands.

(End of Chapter)