Chapter 296: No Misnamed Nickname

“Where is he? The aura was right here! How did it vanish again?”

Along the coastline, Bigelei stared at the empty shore and the demons bustling about hauling materials, having followed Feng Xue’s aura all the way—she felt like she was about to explode.

Knowing there were likely no intelligent beings here, she grabbed a demon that vaguely resembled a human and pulled out a talisman.

“Blood Trace!”

Her sharp fingertips pierced the demon’s body; the talisman Feng Xue designed activated. Though these demons were merely mass-produced familiar-like entities, their ability to understand commands already indicated they possessed some form of “memory function.”

But for creatures that couldn’t even speak, memory was normally inaccessible, and Bigelei had no time to teach them reading or writing. Fortunately, she had now unlocked several classic skills. As the demon’s body withered, its memories flashed before Bigelei’s eyes.

“Aaaah! I’ll kill you!”

Seeing the scene of Feng Xue and Mei Luo heading toward the Hidden Village, Bigelei felt her entire bat body ignite. Her blood-red wings snapped open, whipping up a gale that scattered the construction site…

…

“Waaah, I’m dizzy… Your teleportation ability is way too dizzying! Ugh, if only we could build a Great Vortex!”

Mei Luo’s eyes spun like spinning tops, yet she uttered lines that left Feng Xue speechless.

“A Great Vortex sounds even more dizzying, doesn’t it?”

Hearing Feng Xue say that, Mei Luo shook her head vigorously before replying:

“The Great Vortex isn’t dizzying at all! The direction stays consistent, and your vision remains fluid the whole time—unlike your constant blinking. Forget it, someday I’ll definitely take you on a ride on a Great Vortex!”

“Fine, fine, fine. But right now, let’s run a spell test first. I’ve laid out some ritual circuits here, and the blue bar is easier to use. Any divine arts you want to test?” Feng Xue didn’t bother arguing with Mei Luo, instead quickly pulling out talisman materials, ritual components, and paper and pen for calculations. Mei Luo had already planned this before arriving and didn’t hesitate:

“The first one to study? Definitely the Enlightenment Spell!”

“Can you explain its specific effect?” Though the name “Enlightenment Spell” made its purpose obvious, Feng Xue asked anyway to avoid cultural misunderstandings.

“In my world, it’s a divine art that enhances intelligence. The entire sea race was built upon this spell. But here, it’s become a status spell requiring constant energy to maintain.”

As Mei Luo spoke, she began using Feng Xue’s tools to prepare an altar. Though there was no Sea God here, Little Bell had once absorbed part of the ocean’s authority and could temporarily serve as a substitute, offering Mei Luo some divine support.

The first spell casting went without incident: the demons and wild animals showed signs of increased spiritual awareness. Though far from “intelligent,” the changes were clear.

“In my original world, this spell’s effect was weak but permanent and reusable. Every year during the Sea God Festival, each race used the year’s accumulated faith to cast Enlightenment Spell—to enhance the innate talent of newborns and increase the sea race’s population.”

“But now this skill has become a status spell, lasting only half an hour before fading. I have to keep recasting it, then teach them meditation during the window—only for them to forget everything as soon as it ends…”

Mei Luo mumbled about her behavior since crossing over, but Feng Xue barely listened—his full attention was on Little Bell’s recorded spell changes.

From the ritual circuit, it was clear this blue-bar spell was a classic “divine art,” even structurally resembling a “divine descent” technique.

“In conclusion, the core of this spell is actually to manifest the ‘Sea God’ upon the recipient, letting them share the ‘Sea God’s intelligence’ to gain wisdom—so your sea race’s intelligence is shared?” Feng Xue dismantled individual basic constructs from the spell circuit, his expression slightly odd.

Mei Luo shook her head:

“The principle is correct, but only during infancy. Once intelligence is gained, one can meditate independently, strengthening the soul—and as the soul grows stronger, intelligence rises too!”

As Mei Luo spoke, she suddenly seemed to grasp something and smacked her forehead—

“Oh my god! That’s it! No wonder I’ve been getting dumber!”

“So you’ve been giving away your own intelligence to those sea creatures?”

Feng Xue stared at Mei Luo in shock. Now that he thought about it, since meeting her today, she really had seemed to be getting smarter…

“So it’s not an illusion—the intelligence I gave to the sea creatures is returning now that I’ve stopped casting? No wonder she doesn’t seem dumb, but why did Bigelei and the others call her ‘stupid fish’? Wait—that doesn’t make sense!”

Feng Xue suddenly froze—

“You mean… this blue-bar spell—this spell under this world’s rules—still lets you share your intelligence with others?”

“I never realized it before. After casting, I’d get dumb, and when not casting, I wouldn’t notice.” Mei Luo shrugged, then fell into thought. After a moment, she nodded:

“The mechanism must be that the divine power of this spell carries ‘the Sea God’s wisdom,’ but since there’s no Sea God, wisdom can’t be created from nothing—so it draws from mine? This world’s rules are insane!”

“I think it’s more insane that you managed to cast this spell for years without noticing until now!” Feng Xue rolled his eyes, his gaze toward the ritual circuit deepening.

If she could give away her own brain matter, didn’t this ritual circuit contain a “server” component?

His previously casual attitude instantly turned fervent. His fingers danced, dismantling and reassembling constructs, which rapidly took shape under Little Bell’s exhaustive analysis.

Thanks to his prior collaboration with Bigelei, this process was far smoother. In mere minutes, a new talisman was complete.

But…

Considering the brain-matter-sharing issue, Feng Xue handed the spherical talisman to Mei Luo:

“Uh… wanna try it again?”

(End of Chapter)