Chapter 19: Amy

In the quiet workspace, the candlelight flickered dimly and brightened intermittently.

Gao De sat motionless for a long while, then suddenly raised his right hand, extending his index finger to point diagonally forward.

Just watching this gesture seemed bizarre and mystic.

But after Gao De made this motion, a strange energy fluctuation emerged at his fingertip, shooting out a blue-white beam of light into thin air.

The beam itself was not thick, yet it carried an inexplicable chill.

The next instant, the cold beam shot forth like a flying dagger, striking directly at the dead gray mouse Gao De had placed ahead.

When the beam touched the gray mouse, a faint sound of ice cracking could be heard in the air.

A thin layer of ice instantly formed on the mouse’s fur.

The ice remained for about twenty seconds before dissipating.

“Twenty seconds on a dead gray mouse—if the target were Master Seda, three seconds would be impressive.”

Gao De calculated silently in his mind.

Then he exhaled deeply.

“Six days—mastered all three cantrips!”

After fully refining his new method for constructing spell models, he pressed forward and successfully constructed the Acid Splash spell model.

Although the main reason was that his construction method was vastly more efficient than the traditional one, a bit of luck was still involved.

Perhaps there really is a beginner’s bonus in spell study.

In any case, for the next two spell models—“Resist Energy” and “Freezing Ray”—Gao De did not continue his good fortune from day one.

Both spells failed after exhausting his mental energy, requiring him to wait until the next day, when his mental energy recovered, to attempt a second or even third time.

Six days had passed since he purchased the three spell formulas from Yom.

Just now, Gao De finally succeeded in constructing the Freezing Ray spell model.

This meant he had mastered all three new spells.

A first-rank apprentice, six days, mastering three cantrips.

No one in the world would believe it if they heard it!

This is the advantage of Gao De’s current method for constructing spell models.

Yet Gao De did not consider himself a genius.

He clearly understood that the reason he achieved this incredible transformation was simply because he stood on the shoulders of giants.

In truth, he was merely picking up the crumbs left by predecessors.

For the people of this world:

One must first abandon the fixed notion of the traditional method—linking star tracks while determining star positions—and switch to a new method: first determine star positions, then connect the star tracks; further, use analytical geometry to establish a coordinate system to pinpoint star positions, which requires both the courage to question authority and the knowledge to solve the new method’s problems.

More importantly, one must have a “Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.”

The traditional method of constructing spell models had been passed down for countless years.

The stronger the mage, the longer they had trained under the traditional method, and the more deeply ingrained their habitual thinking became, making it harder to question or change it.

Meanwhile, weaker mages would never even entertain such a fantasy.

Like heliocentrism: today, it seems obvious, but back then, geocentrism was considered sacred, inviolable truth, beyond question.

But for Gao De, a traveler from another world, he had no such rigid notions of truth or dogma.

He was still a brand-new, utterly new apprentice, his thinking about spells not yet fixed.

Moreover, as an excellent math student, daring to question and daring to change were fundamental qualities.

If the teacher’s method was wrong or inefficient, one simply used one’s own method to solve the problem—that was perfectly normal.

For the people of this world, analytical geometry and Cartesian coordinates were entirely new knowledge, opening a new conceptual frontier.

But for Gao De, they were merely retrieving a practical method from his own knowledge base.

In Gao De’s past life, analytical geometry and Cartesian coordinates were not advanced knowledge; any ordinary middle school student encountering this situation could have thought of them.

But for the people of this world, conceiving a coordinate system was as difficult as climbing to heaven.

Some things, once thought of, seem simple in principle—but reaching that thought can stall countless people.

Not thinking is not thinking. Apples fell countless times; only Newton thought of gravity.

Even the seemingly simple Cartesian coordinate system was only born in the seventeenth century; before that, no one had ever thought of it.

“Now that I’ve mastered five spells, my mana is just enough to cast all five cantrips.”

Gao De rubbed his slightly swollen temples, murmuring to himself.

There are shortcuts to constructing spell models, but increasing mental energy and mana requires steady, grounded effort.

He had tested it: after casting five 0-level spells, his mana would be completely drained.

—Go through all five cantrips once, and your mana bar is empty.

This awkward situation could be summed up by a common saying: “A mage in full gear with no mana is still trash.”

Gao De had no solution.

Mana growth cannot be rushed; at least this awkward state would persist for some time.

“Money, and essence.”

Since mana growth was unrealistic in the short term, he needed to find ways to do more with limited mana—like enhancing spell effectiveness.

For others, this was impossible; for Gao De, however, there was a path.

Because he had Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, which allowed him to “allocate points.”

But allocating points consumed essence.

Thinking of this, Gao De felt a pang of regret.

He shouldn’t have so easily used the little essence from the gray-eyed mouse on Repair+.

Although Repair+ was excellent, it couldn’t be used in combat or killing.

…

The spell issue was temporarily resolved; the next focus was acquiring new essence.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the commercial district again and see if I can find any leads,” Gao De mused in his mind.

Eleven days had passed since he arrived in this world, and as time slipped away, his anxiety grew.

Even if there were leads, they required money—and after purchasing the three spell formulas, his savings had shrunk to thirty silver and eight copper.

Thinking of this, Gao De sighed again.

Indeed, in any place, in any world, having no money was utterly impossible.

Gao De left the workspace and returned to his small bedroom, where his roommate Amy was already asleep.

These days, he had been absorbed in constructing spell models and returned very late.

Gao De quietly took off his outer clothes, lay down, and prepared to rest.

“Gao De, you’re back?” came Amy’s voice from the dark, quiet room.

Gao De froze, then softly hummed an affirmation, apologizing: “I’ve been training longer these days, so I came back late. Did I disturb you?”

“No, I came back late too—I just got into bed and haven’t fallen asleep yet.”

Amy’s voice was quiet, hesitant; after a moment of struggle, he finally spoke carefully: “Gao De, are you planning to confront Master Seda?”

In the darkness, Gao De’s expression changed, his heart jolted—he instinctively feared he had been exposed these past days.

“I know. Long ago, you told me: if we don’t do something, we’ll both die.”

Amy took a deep breath, as if making a firm decision: “Master Seda is too powerful. I always thought no matter what we did, nothing would change.”

“Master Seda is indeed powerful,” Gao De replied ambiguously.

“You asked me that day,” Amy imitated Gao De’s tone from that day, repeating his exact words: “If someone wanted to kill you, what would you do?”

“I couldn’t answer then, but I’ve been thinking about it these past days,” he nodded firmly in the dark, saying: “At least we can’t do nothing, right?”

“I will never sit and wait to die,” Gao De declared his stance.

“Master Seda specializes in necromancy. One of his spells—I don’t know its name—but I know that if he touches a target, the target becomes powerless.”

Gao De remained silent, offering no reply.

Amy added: “I heard Yilan say one of the three mage principles is ‘Never let others know your spells.’ I don’t know exactly what it means, but I think it might help you a little.”

(End of Chapter)