Chapter 599: Cooperative Resonance Casting, Oscillating Differences

Before long, Xia Duo had set up a fine wooden scaffold around the "floating" Fielder Spellbook. In truth, if not for the concern that anomalies in the Magic Net environment might affect the decryption work, Xia Duo would have preferred to conduct all these experiments in a zero-gravity environment.

Although the conditions for setting up an Anti-Gravity Field are quite demanding (mainly because it is expensive and requires stabilization), if it were truly feasible, conducting the decryption work in a zero-gravity environment would save a lot of trouble.

At the very least, the small wooden "scaffolding" Xia Duo just built would not be needed.

After finishing this, Xia Duo looked toward the upper end of the U-shaped laboratory bench, which was the middle section containing the alchemy array. At this moment, the alchemy array was still working, and Niya had not yet finished crafting the mithril components.

However, several finished Mithril Components were already placed to the side. Since Xia Duo had also participated in the design of these Mithril Components, he could tell at a glance that there were enough of them for tonight's experiment.

Thus, he stepped closer, came to Niya's side, and said softly, "These components are enough. Are you not returning to Seventon tomorrow?"

Niya's "hand" paused, and the Mithril Component taking shape in the Alchemy Array suddenly scattered. However, this time, Niya did not continue crafting; she had already heard Xia Duo's words just now.

She knew her behavior today was somewhat unusual. According to the original plan, the preparatory work was to be completed in advance, and most importantly, the time was to be scheduled ahead of time.

It was because of what the two uncles said at noon that Niya's heart was in a state of confusion. She had wanted to talk to Xia Duo first, but could not bring herself to speak, so she could only find an excuse about the bridging experiment.

At this moment, Niya felt the tips of her ears burning hot. Seeing that Xia Duo was still looking at her, she could not help but feel flustered. She actually forgot that the finished Mithril Components were made of delicate Mithril Wire and needed to be handled with care; she crushed two or three components in one go.

However, at this time, Niya did not want Xia Duo to see her flustered appearance, so she forced herself to calm down, picked up other Mithril Components, and covered up the ones that had been crushed.

"It's enough, I know. Then let's begin!"

Saying this, Niya did not look at Xia Duo's eyes, walked directly around him, and came to the side of the Fielder Spellbook.

Seeing this scene, Xia Duo felt it was even more strange, but he did not say anything. Right now, the experiment was the most important thing; other questions could be asked of Niya later.

……

In Niya's private Laboratory, in front of the Fielder Spellbook, Xia Duo and Niya stood side by side.

Xia Duo carefully placed a set of Mithril Components onto the "scaffolding" around the spellbook. This set of Mithril Components totaled twelve, and they would be used to replace a set of elements in the spellbook later.

Only if this first step succeeded could there be subsequent decryption. Even though he had calculated it many times before and it would basically not fail as long as he was careful, Xia Duo still felt a bit nervous when the moment to start arrived.

He glanced at Niya beside him, wanting to confirm her state one last time, "I am going to start. I will lead, and you will coordinate with me!"

"Okay."

Niya's voice was a little small, but Xia Duo heard it very clearly. Having received the signal, he no longer hesitated and began to chant rapidly according to the pre-prepared incantation.

……

At the same time, the Magic Net responded instantly.

Of course, it was not Xia Duo's incantation that made the Magic Net respond, but rather that he and Niya were performing 【Cooperative Resonance Casting】. The incantation itself was meaningless; it only gained meaning when the Spellcaster selected them as a prompt for a certain spellcasting operation.

Human Mages uphold pragmatism; although they sometimes use incantations to assist in Spellcasting, they mostly just need them to work, and they do not, like the Elves, deliberately pursue the semantic fluency of the incantation even if it requires no actual meaning, turning it into beautiful poetry.

Naturally, Xia Duo had neither the time nor the interest to deliberate on turning an incantation that might only be used once into meaningful lyrics. As long as the pitch of every syllable in the incantation was correct, everything else was a minor detail.

As for the coordination issue, as long as one knows the rules of the incantation, Joint Casting between two people is the simplest.

If there are many people, it is equivalent to an orchestra. The coordination of various instruments, in addition to the chief conductor, also involves setting up sub-conductors based on the breakdown of the spell's constituent elements—that is what requires multiple rehearsals! (The conductor must chant the incantation.)

In fact, for fewer than 5 people, as long as they are familiar with the rules of the incantation, there is basically no need for any prior rehearsal because there is only one conductor. And this is also the most common situation in the Tower of Time—

One mentor, bringing two Apprentices, occasionally performing two 【Synergistic Resonance】 experiments.

Of course, the situation between Xia Duo and Niya was completely different from those Mages in the Tower of Time; he and Niya were coordinating to reduce the difficulty of Spellcasting, which was Joint Casting in the true sense.

It was not like those Mages, who performed 【Cooperative Resonance Casting】 purely to squeeze and exploit the Spellcasting ability of Apprentices.

……

After the Spellcasting was finished, Xia Duo wiped the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead; this first step was finally a success.

At this moment, this set of 12 Mithril Components around the spellbook had become one with the spellbook.

Of course, it was only one at the Magic level.

On the physical level, these 12 Mithril Components were fixed around the spellbook with the wooden "scaffolding." If Xia Duo accidentally bumped into it, the spellbook might be damaged as a result.

Xia Duo bumped his arm against Niya's and asked, "Can we continue?"

Although Joint Casting reduced the difficulty of Spellcasting, it also required the consumption of energy. He did not know if Niya had conducted spell experiments before; if she was fatigued from Spellcasting, then naturally they could not continue.

"I can! Let's continue!"

With these words from Niya, Xia Duo began to assemble the Mithril Components again, his attention highly focused throughout, fearing that he might accidentally touch the set of Mithril Components that had already been connected to the spellbook at the Magic level through the previous Spellcasting.

Moreover, as more and more external Mithril Components were added, the bridging experiment would gradually increase in difficulty. By then, it would not be feasible just by being careful; it might also require a little bit of luck.

Soon, the second set of external Mithril Components had all been assembled. Xia Duo performed 【Cooperative Resonance Casting】 with Niya again, a swift and urgent incantation was chanted, and the second bridging was completed smoothly.

However, the feedback from the second bridging was slightly different from what was expected. Xia Duo frowned, thinking about where he had been negligent, but Niya bumped his arm, "Why aren't you continuing?"

Ha! This time it's your turn to ask me?

Xia Duo's frown deepened. Besides the unexpected experimental result, there was also Niya's state, "I'm not continuing. Look at this set of Mithril Components just bridged—is the oscillation amplitude of the Earth element different from what we predicted before?"