Chapter 527: Cracking the Spellbook

The specific operations still depend on her, but Xia Duo is not entirely unable to help; he is no stranger to the Principles of cracking Magic Items, which is roughly like cracking software on Earth.

If the essence of software is a specific route of electron flow, then Magic is a specific route of energy flow.

The essence of Spellcasting is the manipulation of the Magic Net; energy runs through the Magic Net, and no matter what the Magic Item is, it ultimately boils down to the combination of Magic Net Strings (energy routes).

Similar to how software does not have encryption at the machine language level, Magic does not have encryption at the level of individual elements; theoretically, any Magic Item or any Spell is open source.

This is also why Mages do not like to cast Spells in front of Mages of the same rank, because it is very easy to leak their own secrets.

Encryption during Spellcasting has some effect, but it is of little significance; Spellcasting itself is a brain-draining task, and encryption instead makes the Spellcasting process fragmented and unsystematic, which is detrimental to one's own memory and mastery.

Encryption is usually used in the creation of Magic Items.

If one is not very proficient in the Principles of Spells, a Mage cannot even tell if it has been encrypted.

In fact, if one does not consider understanding the specific Spells involved in the design of the Magic Item, nor the time cost, any encrypted Magic Item can be perfectly replicated one-to-one.

This is like the replication of software, which is actually a perfect replication from the lowest level, information like "01010," except that the replication of a Magic Item not only has an information replication link but also a production link.

But to know the source code of software, unless it is unencrypted, one can only crack it through methods like decompilation.

Magic Items are similar.

The Spellbook that Xia Duo obtained is an encrypted Spellbook, but he also speculates that what is encrypted should only be the "shell," and the content inside should be unencrypted.

After all, who would write a diary in riddles! But at the same time, this encryption should also have some destruction characteristics; otherwise, the encryption would be meaningless, as one could still see the content inside after forcibly dismantling it.

In addition, this encryption should also be divided into different Permission Levels; otherwise, wouldn't it be very troublesome to have to decrypt it every time one uses it!

Therefore, if Xia Duo wants to open this Spellbook, he must at least complete the step of seizing the Permission Level; otherwise, he can only unlock it slowly.

……

"I will first check if there are any trigger-based damage Spells."

Niya did not take action immediately; after all, it is a Spellbook of a strange Mage, and she is not sure if that Mage Feierde would attach damage Spells to the Spellbook.

Of course, it is not just damage Spells; any trigger-based Spell needs to be avoided.

Before checking, Niya first cast all-around Protective Spells on herself; a burst of Magic Aura flashed by, and in Xia Duo's Magic Vision, Niya had turned into a glowing ball of light.

Xia Duo also cast Protection.

"Tower Spirit, switch the Spell Laboratory to protection mode, Type 2 test mode."

Just as Niya's voice fell, Xia Duo discovered that the Magic Net environment in this Laboratory had undergone slight adjustments, becoming—becoming somewhat indescribable; in any case, he did not discover any abnormalities.

Immediately after, Niya controlled the Arcane Energy, attempting to link to the open Magic Net Strings of this Spellbook; this is a necessary step for using a Magic Item; if there is no Arcane Energy, one can only connect the Magic Item to oneself.

However, generally, only relatively Advanced Magic Items have such settings; for ordinary Magic Items, as long as the user is in long-term contact with them, a link will be automatically generated, and this time ranges from a few minutes to dozens of hours.

From this perspective, the number of Magic Items a Mage can use at the same time is limited, and it is unlikely that one person would wear ten rings on their hand.

Niya's linking attempt was not successful, but it was not a failure either; at least it did not trigger any trigger-based Spells, and this light yellow-covered Spellbook still lay safely in the lead box.

"It seems that no trigger-based Spells were set in terms of linking; I want to pick it up and see if there are any trigger Spells set for direct touch."

Niya's eyes were shining, and her tone was a bit nervous and a bit excited, but seeing her like this, Xia Duo was a bit worried about her state:

"Wait a moment, I will first try to use 【Identify】; you see if Giles Tower has any tamed alien Slave, and let the Slave try to touch it."

"This Spellbook is linked to at least the fifth layer of the Magic Net, and we have no way of judging how many more there are behind it; Identify should not be able to work, right?" Niya was a bit puzzled.

"Trying it doesn't cost anything; as for you, your current state does not look like a calm Spellcaster."

When Xia Duo said this, Niya was startled at first, but quickly reacted, "Sorry, this is also my first time conducting this kind of cracking experiment; I will go find a Slave now."

After speaking, Niya left the Laboratory.

Xia Duo also mentioned the Slave in a slip of the tongue; he did not expect that Giles Tower really had Slaves. Xia Duo was somewhat repulsed by the use of Slaves, whether out of civilized moral concepts or considerations of realistic interests.

But in Netheril, Slaves are a very realistic problem; besides aliens, even Netherese can become Slaves.

In addition, even without using Slaves, as long as one is willing to pay, there will be plenty of people willing to participate in Magic experiments.

Even on Earth, there are various medical experiment volunteers, but compared to the fact that Slaves here in Netheril have no choice, a complete set of volunteer recruitment procedures has long been formed on Earth, which can guarantee the safety of volunteers to a certain extent.

As long as there are no evil intentions, Xia Duo does not reject using living bodies for experiments. As for the danger, that is actually something for the volunteers to consider, or something for some review committee that has not yet been formed to consider.

If Netheril wants to develop, it will certainly form a relatively perfect experiment volunteer recruitment procedure; after all, taking a step back, volunteers who participate actively will at least bring higher experimental efficiency than those who are forced to participate.

……

Just in the gap while Niya left to contact a Slave, Xia Duo prepared to use 【Identify】 to try it out; although he knew that the probability of being able to identify it directly was very slim, just as he said to Niya, trying it does not cost anything.

And regardless of whether all the information about the Spellbook is identified, at least there will not be no gains at all.

(End of this chapter)