Chapter 487: Encryption Spells, Twin Marks

In fact, the Arcane Empire of the Projection Plane did not solve this problem either; they chose to encrypt the Communication Array to spare the users the trouble.

However, if Xia Duo wanted to adopt this method, the design of the Communication Magic Tool would become extremely complex; in layman's terms, the cost of an encrypted version of the Communication Magic Tool would be several times higher than the non-encrypted version.

Actually, the best method would be for the authorities to step in and build a Communication Array, keeping the encryption process within the Communication Array, but in a situation like Netheril, it is very difficult to get all parties to cooperate.

The popularization of communication is conducive to the spread of Knowledge, which is not necessarily something everyone wants to see, and Xia Duo wants to minimize the difficulty of use for users, thereby making this method of communication easier to proliferate.

As long as the threshold is low enough, even if the authorities do not promote it, spontaneous communication among the public will quickly flourish.

……

Soon, another three days passed. This day, while communicating with Niya, Xia Duo was still pondering the issue of information encryption. He mentioned it inadvertently, and Niya, upon receiving the message, immediately replied with a wordless smiley face.

Messages forwarded through the Tower of Time can also transmit sound and images. Niya sending such a silent expression left Xia Duo somewhat confused.

But soon, Niya's explanatory voice came through, "You can encrypt it via 【Arcane Mark】; Giles Tower already has similar Spells."

【Arcane Mark】?

At this moment, Xia Duo's train of thought suddenly opened up. Perhaps because he is a transmigrator, he always chooses the methods from Earth first when considering problems. For example, when thinking about encrypting information transmitted by Spells, he was still stuck in the quagmire of algorithms, unable to extricate himself.

But in fact, encryption methods that are simple in form but difficult to crack are not hard to find in Magic; it was just that Xia Duo had never seen 【Arcane Mark】 encryption and had no corresponding concept at all.

Previously, the 【Arcane Mark】 he understood was nothing more than a personal mark; no matter how complex or exquisite the design, it was still possible for it to be imitated by others.

In that game from Earth, for the sake of gameplay, there was a setting where personal marks could not be copied or imitated, and the reason was attributed to the Magic Goddess; the Magic Goddess was responsible for supervision, and forging another person's mark would result in a curse.

But in the real magical world, the Goddess would not be so bored as to act as a personal mark administrator for a group of mortals; Her Domain is the Magic Net and Magic, not order.

The Lord of Radiance might possibly do such a thing, but the problem is that Xia Duo had never heard of a similar situation.

But if one sets aside the factor of gods, can a Spellcaster design an encryption system derived from 【Arcane Mark】 themselves?

The answer is certainly yes; didn't Niya say that Giles Tower already possesses such Spells?

Without permission from Giles Tower, Niya could not directly provide Xia Duo with the specific details of the Spell, but after further communication between the two, Xia Duo gained some understanding of the design Principles of this encryption Spell.

One party must hold the other party's Arcane Mark in order to perform encryption, after which the encrypted information is sent out and decrypted by the other party.

The information here is not information sent via a Magic Array or 【Message】; in fact, most of the time it is physical objects, such as confidential Documents or secret items.

And once the information is delivered, the Arcane Mark of the other party held by the Spellcaster disappears.

In layman's terms, it is actually that the other party prepared a lock and a corresponding key, gave the lock to the sender first, and kept the key themselves; then the sender wrote the letter, added the lock, and sent it out.

After the other party received the locked letter, they used the key kept previously to unlock it and obtain the letter.

In Xia Duo's view, this encryption method is very primitive and also very cumbersome.

Of course, in practical Application, one can prepare many locks (Arcane Marks) in advance, but the fact that the Arcane Mark is a consumable has not changed.

If two people are separated by vast distances, or even not in the same Plane, and when chatting at a critical moment, they suddenly discover that the Arcane Mark is gone, then should they continue to chat naked, or find a way to get an Arcane Mark first?

The actual user experience is very poor.

There are many encryption concepts on Earth, and this method of sending a lock for encryption is considered very primitive. Going a step further, one can turn the key-lock into a password-lock; there is no need for one party to send a lock in advance, one only needs to transmit the password before transmitting the confidential information.

Of course, one can go even further and agree on a password in advance.

Xia Duo was naturally aiming for the latter.

……

After interrupting the connection with Niya, Xia Duo's mind was full of inspiration.

First of all, 【Arcane Mark】 is different from a "key" on Earth; it actually functions as both an "encryption algorithm" and a "key."

This allows the encryption form to become simple, while the actual difficulty of cracking it remains very high.

The first step Xia Duo needed to take was to redesign the encryption Spell of Giles Tower into a version that does not consume the 【Arcane Mark】. The original Spell itself had nothing much to say; for Xia Duo, just a single spark of inspiration was enough.

Not to mention, Niya also provided some specific ideas.

Xia Duo was confident in being able to fully Huanyuan it. Although it might differ in details from the original version, the Principles were the same, and it was not difficult in itself; the key lay in the inspiration of "using an Arcane Mark for encryption."

With the inspiration, not to mention Xia Duo, even a Primary Mage, as long as they have a certain foundation, could potentially research a similar encryption Spell. And if they hadn't heard that Arcane Marks would be consumed, their thinking wouldn't be solidified, and they might even directly research a version that doesn't require consuming an Arcane Mark.

Xia Duo, who came from Earth, certainly did not have the solidified thinking of the Netherese. Perhaps he might have some solidified thinking from Earth, but the longer he stays in the magical world, the more flexible he will become.

And possessing the wealth of two worlds, he will surely be able to perform even more brilliantly.

……

Two days later, Xia Duo completed the design of the encryption Spell, at the 1st Circle level, and named it 【Encryption】.

Of course, an encryption Spell is a system, a set of Spells; there is also a corresponding inverse transformation, called 【Decryption】, which is also at the 1st Circle level.

Now, Xia Duo is designing a brand new 【Arcane Mark】.

The so-called consumption of an 【Arcane Mark】 is actually sending the 【Arcane Mark】 to the recipient, which is equivalent to the 【recipient's Arcane Mark】 held by the sender being consumed.

This is because during decryption, if there is no corresponding 【Arcane Mark】, the recipient cannot unlock it. (An Arcane Mark cast personally cannot remain exactly the same every time.)

Perhaps this is also the reason why Giles Tower developed such a "lock-sending" encryption method.

Then, at this time, an 【Arcane Mark】 that can appear in the hands of both the sender and the recipient is needed. Xia Duo cannot yet achieve an effect similar to "quantum entanglement," but it can be approximately equal.

It is enough to have two completely identical Arcane Marks appear in one casting.

In Xia Duo's vision, the future use of Communication Magic Tools will be similar to "adding a friend on WeChat." Before communicating, both parties need to meet face-to-face and jointly cast a mark Spell, leaving a completely identical Arcane Mark in both parties' Communication Magic Tools simultaneously.

In the future, the communication between these two people can be encrypted or decrypted through this 【Twin Arcane Mark】.