Chapter 704: Deep Sleep, Spellbook Completed

"Alright, Niya, the trip to Rodney Territory is already a settled matter. No matter what I might face because of it in the future, I have enough confidence to resolve it! You can rest easy!"

Since Xia Duo said so, Niya respected his choice, but after the two separated, she still couldn't help but contact her teacher, wanting to learn more details behind this matter.

However, after sending multiple messages in a row without receiving a reply from her teacher, Niya couldn't help but start worrying.

On the other side, knowing that he would soon be heading to Rodney Territory, Xia Duo blocked all external information and devoted himself entirely to the creation of his Spellbook.

Although he had the Princess's guarantee (conveyed by Greta) that this mission would not have any danger, Xia Duo had never been willing to entrust his own safety to someone else's guarantee.

Even if some of his preparatory measures ended up being in vain, he would not change this mindset.

In fact, a Spellbook could never be considered a waste of effort; even if it wasn't used for this trip to Rodney Territory, it would be used in the future.

Moreover, from the description of Archmage Greta, Xia Duo did not find any time restrictions, which meant—

Theoretically, he could completely agree first, and then go to fulfill the appointment after he became a Great Arcanist.

Although the actual situation would not allow him to operate that way, Xia Duo had already made up his mind: he would absolutely not leave the Tower of Time by even half a step until he finished the Spellbook and made sufficient preparations!

Tower of Time, Xia Duo's residence, Spell Laboratory.

Xia Duo frowned as he linked the Mithril Components corresponding to the last set of Element Units to the Magic Net. Before he could even perform the final actual test, he immediately put away the Spellbook, lay down on the bed, and cast 【Deep Sleep】 on himself.

During this period of "seclusion," Xia Duo discovered another use for mental spells: forcing himself to fall asleep. No waiting, no Guidance needed—one cast and he was asleep, with excellent results.

He didn't know if others had done this before, but doing it himself felt really good, a bit like taking sleeping pills on Earth to aid sleep, and it was very time-efficient.

A single 【Deep Sleep】 took less than four hours to make him feel full of vigor again; this effect was simply comparable to Elf Meditation.

The only gap from Elf Meditation was perhaps the inability to think while asleep; if he could do that, Xia Duo would never have to envy the Elves again.

After recording the various sensations he felt upon waking in his notebook, Xia Duo returned to the Spell Laboratory, preparing to conduct several simple tests on the Spellbook.

The Spellbook was theoretically quite complete; the testing was mainly to check for any deviations that might occur during the process from the paper spell design to the physical Spellbook.

Of course, the possibility of deviations was very small; it was more of a sense of anticipation Xia Duo had for his own Spellbook.

Taking the Spellbook out from his Personal Space, Xia Duo couldn't help but frown—the color didn't look good!

Although Xia Duo wasn't someone who cared only about looks, this Adamantine deep blue color, which revealed the material at a single glance, made him feel very awkward; he always felt that equipment without a paint job was a bit substandard.

Fortunately, these were all unimportant details and did not affect the actual use of the Spellbook. The most important thing right now was still to conduct the actual test.

The first step of the actual test was, of course, the so-called "synchronization," linking the Spellbook with himself, which was also a process of inputting Permission Levels. Without this step, the Spellbook could not be used at all, unless one really treated it as a brick.

The "startup settings" were not complicated. Xia Duo carefully controlled several free Magic Net Strings extending from the Spellbook's fixed ports, coupling and calibrating them with the Magic Net Strings condensed on the Spellbook according to certain rules to determine the final Permission Level.

Afterward, he connected some of the "thread ends" he had pulled out to himself, which completed the dual binding from hardware to software.

Thus, even if this Spellbook were obtained by someone else, the other party could not unlock it through normal channels, unless they were to bridge and replace it step by step, slowly parsing it, just as Xia Duo had previously cracked the Fielder Spellbook.

This was unavoidable, much like software decompilation on Earth; if one cracked it from the lowest level of atoms and electrons, no software could withstand it.

Of course, due to the new Permission System Xia Duo designed, the difficulty of cracking this Spellbook of his would far exceed the Fielder Spellbook, with restrictions set at almost every step. At the very least, one shouldn't even think about cracking it without several or even a dozen years of effort.

However, this was the extent of what he could do. If the Spellbook were truly taken by someone else, even if they couldn't crack it for a lifetime, what meaning would that have for Xia Duo himself!

Honestly, if it weren't for the thought of not letting the enemy have it easy even if he died, he wouldn't have set any encryption measures or Permission Systems on the Spellbook at all; this completely reduced the Spellbook's energy efficiency.

After completing the "startup settings," Xia Duo skillfully activated the Spellbook and saw the Spellbook's original Magic Aura suddenly flare up, then quickly return to its original state.

At this moment, the Spellbook itself nimbly flew up from Xia Duo's hand. Following the command of Xia Duo's consciousness, the Spellbook flew up and down around him, quite swiftly and agilely.

Afterward, Xia Duo activated the Spellbook's built-in portable mode again. The aura flared up suddenly and then quickly returned to its original state, while the Spellbook shrank into a mini form less than half a palm in size and flew toward the silver belt at Xia Duo's waist.

The book and a special buckle on the belt linked together and hung steadily, just like an ordinary ornament, though the colors didn't quite match.

Xia Duo walked back and forth in the Spell Laboratory a few times and did not feel any obvious dragging sensation.

—【Invisibility】!

The Spellbook immediately disappeared from Xia Duo's waist, but a section of the belt at his waist disappeared along with it. Seeing this, Xia Duo couldn't help but shake his head repeatedly, seeming quite disappointed.

Although the main body of this Spellbook had become smaller, the invisibility field it carried had not shrunk accordingly, which was why it revealed a flaw.

"A bit of a miscalculation!"

Xia Duo slapped his forehead, full of regret. He should have thought of it earlier; a spell does not change based on the morphological changes of the object that triggers it.

In layman's terms, the structural characteristics of a spell already pre-determined the energy level and consumption of that spell. Whether it was made into a basketball-sized or a ring-sized spell-casting device, it would not change the effect of the spell.

The only limitation was whether the Mithril Components of the small device could support so much energy flowing through them.

Xia Duo's device certainly had no problem with this; he had tried his best to select the highest-grade Mithril found in the Mythallar Ruins, and none of it had been used in previous experiments (using it would cause Elemental Transmutation, leading to a decrease in purity).

It counted as the best Mithril he could find at the moment.

However, he still overlooked the impact of morphological changes.

As expected, feasibility demonstrations and tests alone were not enough. If there were conditions next time, it would be best to carry out physical trial production, preferably making a version 1, version 2, and seeing how they turned out before deciding.