Chapter 15: Spell Model

Gao De returned from the spell formulas with three in hand, arriving at the herb garden just as the evening meal was being served.

Suppressing his eagerness, he went to the dining hall and force-fed himself the same bland, over-familiar staple: rye bread and pea soup, before heading to his workshop.

Evenings were the apprentices’ private cultivation time, free from interruption.

Gao De took out the three spell formulas from his robe, paused for thought, then opened the first: [Acid Splash].

Before him was a diagram composed of intersecting lines—a spell model with nine nodes, resembling at first glance a three-dimensional constellation chart, beneath which was the official description of the spell.

The description on the yellow parchment Yeom had given him had been copied directly from this.

The right page showed a magnified section of the model, accompanied by detailed textual explanations.

Turning the page revealed another magnified section and its corresponding textual explanation.

The spell model for a cantrip was not complex, and since no corresponding magic potion was needed, the potion formula section was omitted, making the entire spellbook just five pages.

In just a few minutes, Gao De had skimmed through it.

But that wasn’t enough.

The first step in building a spell model was to memorize it.

Normal mage apprentices would stall at this step for one or two days.

Gao De himself had exceptional memory, and his previous body’s memory was no slouch either—it seemed 1+1 was greater than 2, pushing his memory from outstanding to extraordinary.

In less than half an hour, he had firmly memorized the [Acid Splash] spell model in his mind.

Gao De then closed the [Acid Splash] formula, closed his eyes slightly, and swiftly entered meditation.

Five days of cultivation had made entering meditation far more natural for him.

His spirit sank into the world of the spell star-sea.

In the dark depths of his consciousness, countless stars drifted, beautiful and dazzling.

To construct a spell model, one must use one’s spiritual will to guide and link these stars, forcing them to halt at specific positions, then connecting them with spiritual energy into a spell model.

Once built, the mage could channel mana through the model to manifest the spell.

But these stars moved randomly; guiding and fixing them at precise distances and directions was no simple task.

The [Acid Splash] model required nine stars—not many, but not few either.

In fact, 99% of cantrip models never exceeded ten stars.

Gao De began attempting to construct the model according to the diagram and path recorded in the [Acid Splash] formula, using his spiritual will.

He randomly locked onto one star; his spiritual will crept forward like a hunting serpent, silent and stealthy.

As he drew closer, his spiritual will surged forward, pinning the star—previously drifting aimlessly—in place.

It went smoothly, no unexpected issues.

With his current spiritual strength, controlling one star posed no risk.

But a star didn’t stay still once pinned—it continued to struggle, meaning Gao De had to constantly counter its resistance until the model was complete.

If any star shifted out of position during construction, the entire model collapsed, and he had to start over.

The saying goes that the first step is the hardest—but for building spell models, it’s the opposite: the first star is the easiest.

Because now Gao De had to hold the first star firmly while splitting his attention and spiritual will to lock onto the second.

By the final step, he would need to hold eight stars steady while controlling the ninth—imagine the difficulty. And this was only a cantrip; higher-level spells—first-circle, second-circle—would require hundreds of stars. The thought was terrifying.

No wonder a mage’s two most critical metrics were mana and spiritual strength: without mana, you couldn’t cast spells; without sufficient spiritual strength, you couldn’t build the model; without the model, even vast mana meant no spell could be cast—both were indispensable.

But that wasn’t Gao De’s concern now. His task was to control the second star.

He tried splitting off a strand of spiritual will, just as before, to seize another star drifting near the first.

But this second star wasn’t just to be held still—it had to be moved to a precise position relative to the first.

Gao De took a deep breath; the spiritual thread wrapped around the first star extended outward, forming a straight stellar path that directly connected to the second star.

Then, per the formula, Gao De guided the second star, using the first star’s position as the origin, to begin moving.

“Forward one, right one-third, up one-quarter.”

Any movement involves two elements: direction and distance.

A star’s direction had only three possibilities: “forward-backward,” “left-right,” and “up-down.”

Distance was expressed as pure numbers, with no units.

Because the distance between every star in a spell model was fixed proportionally.

For example, if the distance between the second and first star in a certain direction was two chi, and between the third and second was four chi, changing them to four chi and eight chi wouldn’t affect the model’s structure.

Thus, the “one” in “forward one” was a ratio—each mage’s actual distance varied, but the ratio remained identical, ensuring model consistency.

The spiritual star-track connecting the two stars stretched and lengthened as the second star moved.

Finally, the second star reached its designated position.

Gao De pressed on, capturing a third star near the second, forming another spiritual track linking the second and third, then guiding the third star to move from the second’s current position.

The spell star-sea contained nothing but stars—no reference points, no measuring tools.

Yet the relative positions of each node in the model had to be absolutely fixed and precise.

Thus, controlling the exact distance each star moved seemed an impossible task.

But in truth, controlling distance was the easiest part of building a spell model.

Because the spell star-sea resided within each person’s consciousness, and within one’s own mental space, one possessed mechanical precision in perceiving distance, size, direction, mass, and other physical properties.

The real difficulty lay in controlling the star’s movement and maintaining its stability.

This was because stars constantly struggled, whether moving or still, generating immense resistance whose direction shifted randomly.

“Forward half, right two-thirds, down half.”

Again, this second star-track stretched and lengthened as the third star moved.

Gao De focused his spirit entirely on controlling the third star.

The third star moved at a steady pace.

Then, suddenly, the star-track connecting the first and second stars began trembling violently, the shaking intensifying rapidly.

Before Gao De could react, the track snapped under the violent oscillation; without its restraint, the second star shot off like a runaway horse through the star-sea.

Like dominoes, the collapse of the second star’s track caused the third star-track to break, and the third star naturally slipped from control.

The first attempt to construct the [Acid Splash] spell model ended in failure! (End of chapter)