Chapter 2477: Mind Synchronization, Spellcasting Instructions

The spellcasting ritual Xia Duo prepared this time splits the single spell source point of a standard solo spell into one core source point, three secondary source points, and three tertiary source points.

Using source points as units, he divided the New City Construction Phase I spellcasting team into multiple nested spellcasting units.

Generally speaking, the ideal configuration for a spellcasting unit is one guide and three collaborators, but collaborators can also be served by lower-level spellcasting units.

By the same logic, higher-level spellcasting units can also serve as collaborators within even higher-level spellcasting units.

Because High Mages are scarce in the Tower of Time, the core spellcasting unit where Xia Duo acts as the guide can still be served by secondary spellcasting units—that is, coordinated by small groups of people.

However, the collaborators of a secondary spellcasting unit cannot all be served by tertiary spellcasting units; they must use individual Spellcasters as collaborators.

With Xia Duo's current configuration of three secondary source points and secondary spellcasting units, it can be further split into at least nine tertiary source points, corresponding to nine tertiary spellcasting units.

But in this way, at least 39 High Mages (or above) would be required.

Yet, after picking and choosing, Xia Duo only obtained 21 people who basically met the spellcasting requirements; even adding those 14 newcomers, he could not assemble a full configuration of tertiary spellcasting units.

This is still just a configuration of one guide and three collaborators; if the configuration required more collaborators, Xia Duo might not even be able to assemble a secondary spellcasting unit.

This is the greatest dilemma currently facing the Tower of Time—High Mages are in extreme short supply. Besides assisting Xia Duo with Coordinated Casting, a large number of High Mages are needed for launching numerous new projects, mass-producing Magic Items, Territory protection, and so on.

Even if the quotas for the Inheritance Ritual are continuously opened, it is difficult to assemble the scale Xia Duo wants (over a hundred people) in a short time. After all, the Inheritance Ritual is not omnipotent; participants need at least a certain foundation in Magic to ensure they still have the potential to continue progressing afterward. Otherwise, Xia Duo does not approve of such pure "pulling on the seedlings to help them grow."

……

Blue Crystal Plane.

In a nameless expanse of water, suspended in a void-like space with nothing above or below, Xia Duo and the other twenty-one members of the spellcasting team stood in the positions rehearsed while in the Main Plane.

Subsequently, Xia Duo issued a series of time-stamped Spellcasting Indication through the brain-computer interface, which was also connected to the Spirit Thought Network, on the public New City Construction channel—

00:01, No. 21, 1-ΞΩΔΠΞΔ;

00:01, No. 20, 1-xΞΔΠxΛ;

……

00:01, No. 15, 2-ΨΛxΞΔΠ;

……

00:01, No. 01, 4-ΠΓΘΛΔΛ;

Everyone cast their spells simultaneously under the Magic Moment time Indication agreed upon beforehand, with guides and collaborators performing their respective duties; naturally, this included Xia Duo acting as the core.

Once the brain-computer's Indication transmission began, it would not stop unless someone made a mistake or the spellcasting ended, running from the 00:01 start time all the way to the final 55:17.

In other words, most people needed to maintain a highly focused spellcasting state for as long as 55 minutes. Although they were not casting spells every single second, they needed to concentrate their attention every single second.

Such a state is difficult enough for Xia Duo to maintain, let alone for some "shoddy" High Mages who were rushed up through the Inheritance Ritual.

From this, one can see how heaven-defying it is to express a 9th Circle Spell using 1st Circle elements and hand it to a Level 1 Mage to complete, requiring three years of continuous spellcasting without eating or drinking; it is theoretically feasible but practically impossible.

……

As each Indication was quickly completed, a trace of joy rose in Xia Duo's heart, but the next moment, he abandoned further spellcasting without hesitation, then controlled the Mythallar to lower a Spell Suppression Field, wiping out the locations of the seven spell source points entirely, and immediately cast his gaze toward Niya's position:

"Niya, what are you thinking about? Why the mistake?"

"I—" Niya lowered her head without explaining, "I'm sorry, it won't happen next time."

"Focus your attention, do not be distracted."

Xia Duo gave a reminder, then issued instructions through the brain-computer again; dense strings of instructions shuttled rapidly through the Spirit Thought Network, accurately delivered to every person in the spellcasting team.

However, when executing the Indication at the 03:22 mark, a tertiary spell source point suddenly experienced abnormal tremors. Xia Duo sighed inwardly and once again controlled the Mythallar to dissipate the impending spell riot.

"Ai Ta, what's the problem?"

"President, I'm sorry, I was a bit slow just now."

"……"

Xia Duo took a deep breath, telling himself this was just a trial, the next time would be better, the next time would be better. In reality, this was indeed a trial; the rehearsal in the Main Plane only covered the general process, not the actual execution.

He had long anticipated that having many people would lead to poor coordination, but he hadn't expected that neither of the two attempts would last even five minutes, while actually completing this spellcasting ritual would take nearly an hour.

"Is it too little training, or did I overestimate these people in the Tower of Time?"

Even with the assistance of the Spirit Thought Network's mental synchronization, completing Coordinated Casting is this difficult; if it weren't there, wouldn't it be even more impossible?

Thinking of this, Xia Duo once again envied the convenience of Elven Magic's coordinated casting. It is a pity that Elven Magic is not suitable for humans, and the Netheril Magic System also has coordinated casting, though very few involve more than twenty people.

Even if they do, it is mostly through the aid of Resonance Magic Artifacts rather than direct physical Coordinated Casting.

The Spirit Thought Network and Resonance Magic Artifacts each have their advantages; the former has broader application prospects and is more universal, while the latter requires preparing Resonance Magic Artifacts in advance. With the spellcasting scale of Xia Duo's current New City Construction Phase I, if he used Resonance Magic Artifacts, it would be less convenient than casting alone.

Moreover, once a Resonance Magic Artifact is crafted, it cannot be changed and can only execute a fixed spellcasting process. Xia Duo chose to use the Spirit Thought Network out of the idea of reducing his own burden and cultivating the middle-tier strength of the Tower of Time.

This is only Phase I of the New City Construction; there will be Phase II and Phase III later, and other projects may also require Coordinated Casting. Cultivating them now is never wrong.

"Again!"

Again, and another mistake. This time the instructions only executed for 17 seconds before someone made a mistake—it was Ai Ta again, this time half a beat early.

"Ai Ta, don't be nervous. I let you join this spellcasting ritual because I believe you can do it. If it doesn't work once, then twice, three times. If we can't finish today, there is always tomorrow."

Xia Duo provided psychological construction for everyone, and at the same time, he leveled his own mindset. He wanted to strive for success on the first try, but he never thought he could truly succeed on the first try.

As long as he leveled his mindset, there was nothing he couldn't accept. Now he was only worried that Saville might not be willing to play along with him anymore.

……

"Get ready!"

Xia Duo issued the instruction for the eleventh time. This time it was unexpectedly smooth, and the time-stamped instructions were executed up to 30 minutes. But unfortunately, good things never come easy; this time it failed again.

Fortunately, he had the Mythallar he prepared in advance. There is a significant difference between the Magic Net environment of the Blue Crystal Plane and the Main Plane. Considering that he would often use this place in the future (as a base for Floating City construction and maintenance), an Adaptive Mythallar capable of providing the Main Plane's Magic Net environment was naturally indispensable.

Of course, currently, besides the function of the adaptive framework itself providing the Main Plane's Magic Net environment, this Mythallar only had the Spell Suppression Field function.

It could be slowly perfected later along with the Floating City base.