Chapter 1114: The Intricacies of Magic Net Repair and the Heteromorphic Field Scheme

The outskirts of the Tower of Time.

With Xia Duo's involvement, the macroscopic Magic Net structure in this area that had been alienated soon showed changes that were almost visible to the naked eye.

The originally twisted and tangled structure was now beginning to unfurl, and the partially preset structures were also being completed and combed through from the wider, normal Magic Net environment on the periphery, under the "bridge-building" guidance of Xia Duo's Arcane Fire.

The situation was very encouraging!

If there was any downside to this method of repair that balanced both the macroscopic and microscopic, the only drawback was that the repairer had to remain focused at all times; although no Spellcasting was required, it was still very easy to become mentally exhausted and tense.

If one were merely repairing the Magic Net Strings at a microscopic level through Arcane Fire, the repairer would only need to find the corresponding damaged or twisted target Magic Net String, then deploy Arcane Fire to link and assimilate it, without needing to worry about anything else.

One could simply wait for the Micro Magic Net to automatically repair and adjust itself; it leaned more toward passive repair, requiring time rather than focus or profound knowledge.

However, the Elven method of macroscopic repair leaned more toward active repair, requiring an understanding of and insight into the essence of the Magic Net to accurately grasp the pulse of the macroscopic Magic Net's rhythm, treating the root cause to achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Otherwise, if one understood nothing, the efficiency might not even be as good as passive repair with Arcane Fire!

From a macroscopic perspective, changes in the Magic Net structure are slow and macroscopic, but the microscopic Magic Net Strings corresponding to any location needing repair are not immutable.

After all, the Magic Net itself has background fluctuations; it is possible that a Magic Net String that had just been linked with Arcane Fire a moment ago needed repair, but the next moment it no longer did.

Or more accurately, repairing this Magic Net String at that moment might actually cause the repair progress to regress.

This is why Arcanists generally leave a small portion of the Magic Net unrepaired when fixing it, which eventually evolves into a Magic Net Dead Zone.

It is because they do not understand the macroscopic trend of the Magic Net and do not know what it means for a single hair to affect the whole body; they only organize the Magic Net Strings that can be managed from the microscopic perspective before them, and the rest becomes a complete dead knot, difficult to repair.

It is not that a Magic Net Dead Zone cannot be repaired, but the difficulty is imaginable; one must certainly first break up the seemingly normal Magic Net structure around it to "melt" the "dead knot" of the dead zone before normal repairs can proceed.

This is also the reason why the Magic Net is easiest to repair immediately after a Mythallar collapses; because although the "puzzle pieces" behind it are chaotic, at least the number of pieces has not yet decreased much.

Once predecessors have picked out a few that could fit and taken them away, does the remainder not become increasingly difficult?

Fortunately, the eight Arcanists who previously repaired here were not novices who understood nothing and relied entirely on passive Arcane Fire repair, but rather experts who were relatively senior in the field of Magic Net repair.

Xia Duo inferred from the repair progress they left behind that those people perhaps had guidance from a certain macroscopic perspective; the macroscopic perspective of the Magic Net is by no means exclusive to Elves, as Netherese Mages can likewise deduce the existence of macroscopic structures by meticulously studying the laws of microscopic Magic Net Strings.

Not to mention, every time a Spellcaster comes into contact with deeper levels of the Magic Net, they catch a glimpse of the Magic Net's macroscopic structure for an instant.

The eight Arcanists who previously repaired here had already treated repairing the Magic Net as a daily task, so it was only natural that they had explored and summarized certain experiences and techniques through constant practice.

If time were turned back to before the Murloc Tide at the end of last year, and Xia Duo had not obtained the special spell 【Eye of Amastacrinaz】 from Master Bailun that guides Spellcasters into the macroscopic Magic Net perspective, he would never have imagined that there were so many intricacies to Magic Net repair alone.

……

From afternoon until dusk, Xia Duo did not rest for even a moment during this half-day, devoting himself entirely to the work of Magic Net repair.

By the time Niya called him to have dinner together, he felt as if he had just finished an exceptionally intense battle, and exhaustion surged into his heart instantly.

"I've become a bit impatient!"

Although he was confident in completing the repair work by the end of the month, as long as it was not finished for a single day, Xia Duo felt uneasy in his heart, and this ultimately reflected in his attitude toward his work.

He was always thinking about finishing as soon as possible, to the point of forgetting to rest.

Xia Duo rubbed his forehead and sighed slightly; the sunset was no longer visible, and only a bit of the setting sun's afterglow shone upon him, plating him in a dim, yellow radiance.

He did not contact Aiboke, but instead took off directly, flying through the clouds to the Lord's Villa in the west.

……

After dinner, Xia Duo returned to the Tower of Time as usual to study the implementation of the Magic-based CNC Machine Tool spell, but the high-intensity work in the afternoon made it difficult for him to concentrate on his research, so he only tentatively decided to focus his subsequent research direction on the Heteromorphic Field.

The next day, Xia Duo did not play any morning games with Niya, but instead arrived early at the area on the east side outside the Tower of Time to repair the Magic Net.

To prevent himself from becoming too immersed in work and forgetting to rest, Xia Duo specifically set an Alarm Clock to remind him every hour.

Just like that, for every hour he spent repairing the Magic Net, he would return to the Tower of Time to study the Magic-based CNC Machine Tool for an hour.

Since he had roughly determined his approach last night, Xia Duo felt that everything was smooth and fell into place while researching today.

In fact, without relevant auxiliary facilities, it was almost impossible to carve a target bit by bit through external force.

Only by making one-time modifications through field coverage was it possible to achieve this.

The key to this, even in his mentally exhausted state last night, Xia Duo had quickly realized could be achieved through a Heteromorphic Field.

The "heteromorphic" here does not refer to some kind of parasitic creature, but rather to a specific, unusual shape.

Generally speaking, field magic only has two basic forms: one is the Open Field, and the other is the Convergent Field.

In layman's terms, an Open Field is like the gravitational field on Earth, starting from the Spell Source Point and spreading to infinity; of course, such fields are stronger the closer they are to the Spell Source Point.

A Convergent Field, however, has a limited range, such as the most common spherical shape, the Elemental Cell type, or any arbitrary shape.

Among these, the spherical shape is the easiest form to cast, and the Elemental Cell type is the most energy-efficient form; when the Magic Net provides energy and there is no need for one's own power, most Mages prioritize the spherical shape when casting field-type spells.

Beyond the two main forms of the Convergent Field, there is the so-called Heteromorphic Field, which usually requires the advance design of relevant spellcasting elements when casting.

It is similar to having only a ruler and compass in hand; drawing a straight line or a circle is very simple and can be done directly, but to draw a square, a certain drawing process is required.

Basically, one would not choose a Heteromorphic Field when temporarily casting a field-type spell.