Chapter 1251: Battle Mage, Enlightenment Ritual

Xia Duo gave Dailike brief instructions regarding the trade with the Halan Chamber of Commerce and had him take charge of the subsequent handover of the Halansaide estate.

Of course, it was even more important to teach Aiwa some business matters, as well as some routines, techniques, or methods for interpersonal interaction.

In the future, Aiwa would become the supervisor of the office for Xia Duo and the Tower of Time in Seventon; although he would not necessarily have to handle every specific matter personally, he at least needed to have an understanding of all the affairs passing through his hands.

In the past, Aiwa was merely a Rogue; although he was skilled in combat, in Seventon, Xia Duo did not need to use him for fighting.

Abilities outside of combat were what Xia Duo valued most.

Xia Duo did not even value the combat abilities of the mages of the Tower of Time; he valued their abilities in learning, research, innovation, and production more.

As for combat, there would be more professional people to do that.

Xia Duo had already decided that once the first batch of New Apprentices "graduated," he would select from among them those willing to specialize in combat to form a dedicated mage Army.

As for the Territory Guard, they would still be converted into "Spell Breakers" according to the original plan, which would serve as a second-line combat force or auxiliary force in the future.

The first line, without a doubt, would be the specialized Battle Mages. (Operating floating warships or magic-energy machinery does not necessarily require casting spells by hand.)

……

After instructing the Sorcerer Deacon Tom to settle Dailike and Aiwa, Xia Duo casually gnawed on two steamed buns and walked back into the Laboratory.

After half a day and a night of trial production, the manufacturing process for the Demon-Slaying Arrow was no longer unfamiliar to Xia Duo; the only problem now was the issue of compatibility with Elven Magic.

Generally, before an Elf Mage becomes an Official Mage, there is a considerably long apprenticeship stage, during which they will form a magical worldview based on the Elven Magic System and gradually align their consciousness with the Magic Net.

Xia Duo did not expect that a human like him could catch up to an Elf in a short time.

In fact, the human mages in Netheril recorded to have studied Elven Magic only reached the level of Elite Mage at most, roughly equivalent to a human High Mage.

There was nothing higher.

It is truly because Elven Magic requires too much time to align with the Magic Net; such magic is naturally incomparably elegant for Elves, but for short-lived species like humans, the developmental period is far too long.

It is no wonder that Netherese Mages decisively abandoned Elven Magic after discovering the 【Nether Scroll】.

Xia Duo was now just repeatedly trying his luck; the casting process, lasting over four minutes, caused his compatibility with the Magic Net to be shockingly low.

The success rate was not even ten percent!

Regrettably, until evening, Xia Duo had not succeeded even once; this was not a probability in a game where there is a guaranteed success every ten failures—the reality was that the success rate of every casting was less than ten percent.

If one were unlucky, one might not succeed even once in ten thousand tries!

If he could really try once every five minutes, that would be fine, but Xia Duo was a human and leaned more toward Netheril Magic.

Before each casting, he would spend at least ten minutes adjusting his mental state, similar to the synchronization process of Resonance Casting, in order to achieve higher compatibility with the Magic Net.

If he did not do this, the hope of success would be even more remote.

Additionally, there was the energy consumed by casting; it was not that there was no consumption if the spell failed—in fact, the consumption of a failure was even higher than a success.

Because, considering his own safety, he needed to actively suppress the Magic Net riot after a failure to a certain extent; he could not pin all his hopes on the Spell Suppression Field in the Laboratory.

Not to mention at the Arcane Union, even at the Tower of Time, Xia Duo had never completely relied on the Spell Suppression Field; since he had this ability himself, why not add an extra layer of Insurance!

Not to mention distant examples, just within the Tower of Time, Xia Duo had seen with his own eyes Xiaolei turn himself into a dog.

Xia Duo did not want such a thing to happen to himself.

Just like on Earth, for some dangerous chemical experiments, even if one follows the safety operating procedures completely, the experimenter themselves will be extra vigilant.

Safety operating procedures are one thing, and experimental accidents are another; no one can guarantee that an accident will definitely not happen (contamination by undetected materials could lead to serious accidents).

……

This entire day, along with the previous night, totaling eighteen full hours, Xia Duo tried while recovering, attempting nearly thirty times in total; the closest he came to success was the one time the previous night.

Later, whether it was because his mindset changed or his mental state was poor, the speed of progress was very limited.

"Sigh!"

Looking at the pile of unprocessed Mithril Component remnants on the workbench, Xia Duo frowned deeply; such aimless and progress-less attempts made him feel very frustrated.

Moreover, there was a more realistic problem: he had already used up one-third of the first-grade Mithril he had refined the day before yesterday.

If the remaining two-thirds went the same way as today, it was estimated that none would be left.

From this perspective alone, the deal he agreed to—trading ten Demon-Slaying Arrows for the Halansaide estate—was a complete and utter loss!

Even though Xia Duo had bought this Mithril from the Arcane Union at the price of Standard Mithril, he still felt a sharp pain in his heart.

With so much Mithril, what could he not do? Why did he have to make Demon-Slaying Arrows!

While the material usage was high, the finished product rate was almost invisibly low!

Xia Duo knew he could not go on like this; he had to find other ways. Relying on luck was not the right path, but the compatibility of Elven Magic—

"It's difficult!"

……

With the Demon-Slaying Arrows on his mind, Xia Duo had little appetite for dinner and just gnawed on a few steamed buns to pad his stomach, just like at noon.

"Teacher, I would like to ask, is there any way to temporarily increase compatibility with the Magic Net?"

After searching his own memory to no avail, Xia Duo finally chose to seek help from Iolum; wasn't the purpose of a teacher supposed to be reflected here!

Besides Iolum, Xia Duo also asked President Zhenna of the Ming Shui Chamber of Commerce; as for Bailun, he had already received news from Niya that Bailun was busy with Life Extension Magic, so he did not go to disturb him.

In the Laboratory, Xia Duo continued to process the tubular Mithril Components for the Demon-Slaying Arrows while waiting for the replies from the two Great Arcanists.

Soon, President Zhenna's reply arrived first: "I have heard that Elves receive a kind of Enlightenment Ritual during their magic initiation, which can permanently increase a spellcaster's compatibility with the Magic Net, but it is said that the ritual has long been lost."

Hmm? Enlightenment Ritual?

Xia Duo immediately searched his memory and indeed found a similar existence in the high-level mage knowledge within the 【Sword of Ruling】, but that was not an Enlightenment Ritual; it was a ritualistic spell performed by a teacher when an Elf formally takes on a master, used to establish the master-disciple relationship.

However, in the cognition of the high-level mages whose knowledge was infused, that ritual could not increase Magic Net compatibility; it was merely a tradition.

But regardless, at least this was a clue that could be tried!

Xia Duo immediately expressed his gratitude to Zhenna, and immediately after, Iolum's reply also arrived—