Chapter 36: Practicing [Light]

Because he had been studying under the apple tree, Xia Duo was quite fond of this type of apple wine. It was said that most of the fruit wine recipes in the Mage Tower came from the Elves, with a light, sweet taste that left one with an endless aftertaste.

However, one could guess that what was supplied to the Apprentices every day certainly couldn't be authentic Elf Fruit Wine. In any case, Xia Duo couldn't taste much alcohol; it was essentially fruit juice diluted with water, though the taste was not bad.

Just like that, it was provided for a limited time during lunch every day, and often someone would fail to get any because they arrived late.

But Xia Duo had never once arrived late; he only arrived early and never late. This might have been related to his mindset before transmigrating; the Huaxia people like to suffer first and enjoy later, to be strict first and relaxed later.

The time in a day is fixed, and the time needed for rest varies from person to person, but for an individual, it is also roughly fixed. Allocating time reasonably is a science.

But Xia Duo had seen many Apprentices who had no concept of time, always thinking that as long as they slept late and got up early, they would definitely be able to learn more. In fact, doing so was a waste of time instead.

Xia Duo certainly wouldn't remind them. For one, everyone has inherent concepts and cannot be persuaded just by talking. Furthermore, the most critical point was that Xia Duo was not related to them, and to some extent, he was even a competitor, so how could he possibly remind them?

……

The afternoon was still the second half of Kelin's "Overview of Ring Spells" course—【Read Magic】 and spell analysis.

Because Dien had already demonstrated it for him, this time Xia Duo didn't need to ask how to practice spellcasting, but instead asked one of the several questions left by Donald and the others yesterday.

Before class, Donald had not informed Xia Duo that a certain question had already been solved, so Xia Duo chose a question he himself urgently needed to know and asked Kelin after class.

5 Gold Coins were already beckoning.

After Kelin left and the Apprentices dispersed, Donald and the others stayed behind, and Xia Duo didn't leave either.

"Xia Duo, 5 Gold Coins!"

Donald placed the 5 Gold Coins on the cover of Xia Duo's notebook. "Three of yesterday's questions don't need to be asked anymore, but I still have a few questions to leave for today."

"No problem."

Donald discussed it with his four little partners, then said: "It's about the question of spell structure. You take note: in the process of analysis, I discovered..."

Four questions in a row were reported, and Xia Duo noted them down smoothly. In fact, he could answer some of the questions for Donald right now, and that was exactly what he did.

"Donald, I know one equivalent variation for the connection configuration. Do you need it? It's still 5 Gold Coins."

Donald hesitated a bit because this question wasn't raised by him, but by his partner. Before he could answer, an Apprentice named Maxi immediately agreed, "I'll give you 5 Gold Coins."

"Right here?"

Xia Duo pointed to the surroundings. At this moment, they were in a corner of the hall on the first floor, but it was already dinner time, and besides Donald and the others, other Apprentices had been arriving one after another.

However, these people coming to eat wouldn't pay too much attention to them. Xia Duo's subtext was actually asking whether he should say it in front of Donald and the others. This was different from asking questions after class; in any case, everyone in the class could hear, and paying money was just to let Xia Duo ask the questions he wanted to ask.

But if Xia Duo were the one answering, he naturally hoped that fewer people would hear, as that would mean he could answer multiple times and earn more money.

Maxi hesitated a bit; after all, he was just a child who had just come of age, and 5 Gold Coins was not a negligible amount. If he could, he naturally wouldn't want to share it with others, as the others weren't entirely of one mind with him either.

If everyone had no selfish motives, the Mage Tower wouldn't be in its current situation.

"Just say it here." In the end, Maxi didn't choose to listen alone.

Xia Duo wasn't annoyed either. He didn't believe these people would keep sharing information forever. As long as someone's progress was slightly faster or slower, it would immediately cause dissatisfaction among others, and they would also be dissatisfied with others. The splitting of the small circle was sooner or later.

Regarding the question of the equivalent variation of the connection configuration, Xia Duo had only heard Dien mention it in the Spell Practice Room. If he were to demonstrate it himself, because he didn't have the Permission Level to cast spells on the first floor of the Mage Tower, Xia Duo could only describe it on the Parchment through his writing.

The process was quite complicated, but Maxi didn't refuse to pay the fee. After receiving the Gold Coins, Xia Duo left quickly; he had a feeling that these five people were about to split up.

Picking up his dinner, Xia Duo didn't go to find Dien, but went to the Library Layer to rent a Fashushiyanshi.

In the morning, he had already recorded all the details from the 【Light】 Learning Scroll. Although he hadn't fully understood it yet, this didn't hinder his practice at all.

He had been impatient ever since he finished recording it in the morning.

……

Spell Laboratory.

Without time to mourn for the 5 Gold Coins that had just arrived and left so quickly, Xia Duo had already devoted himself entirely to the practice of 【Light】.

The structure of this spell was quite simple. According to Xia Duo's understanding, it could be roughly divided into two parts: pulling Positive Energy and shaping it into a sphere. Among them, shaping was the easiest, because energy itself didn't care about form, had no fixed trend of change, and could be altered at will.

It was just that for the sake of a specific effect, a specific shape was molded.

For example, for 【Light】 to provide the widest range, longest duration, and most stable light source, adopting a spherical shape was a good choice. Molding it into a lamp tube was, of course, also possible.

But that would cause the Positive Energy to be insufficiently concentrated, appearing dimmer.

In the beginner stage, Xia Duo wouldn't consider how to improve or change the spell structure, casting the spell entirely according to the operations in the Learning Scroll.

Concentrating, entering the vision of Magic, the calm Magic Net was waiting for him. The first attempt failed because of lack of proficiency, leading to the time spent pulling Positive Energy being too long; the part of the Magic Net structure that was distorted was smoothed out, and the pulling of Positive Energy failed.

At the moment of failure, Xia Duo felt the Magic Net fluctuate violently at a distance of an arm's length in front of him, but it immediately calmed down again. Xia Duo was startled; if this were outside the Laboratory, it might have affected him.

He also didn't know what the consequences of a failed 【Light】 cast would be! In any case, no matter what the consequences were, Xia Duo didn't want to try it himself.

……

The first attempt ended in failure, but Xia Duo wasn't discouraged. He hadn't thought he would succeed on the first practice at all; it was just that he had had a thought of contempt in his heart just now.

Next, Xia Duo decomposed the spell structure of 【Light】, decomposing it until he couldn't decompose it any further, existing in a form similar to 【Prestidigitation】.

One by one, discrete structures, each capable of triggering the Magic Net, but the manifested effect was extremely weak, mostly existing in the form of a faint glimmer.

Just like that, Xia Duo practiced mechanically and repeatedly until he felt somewhat proficient and was preparing to try it in its complete form, but—

There wasn't enough time!

(End of chapter)