Chapter 347: Who Is the Protagonist?

When Chen Shu returned to the Yujing Academy, only Brother Meng was in the dormitory.

Brother Meng was busy copying the Saint Character Stele.

"Oh my! Isn't this Brother Meng, a freshman in the Traditional Cultivation Academy studying Spell Principles? Why aren't you researching spells, but practicing calligraphy instead? Anyone who didn't know better would think you were from the Literature Academy..."

Chen Shu leaned over to take a look.

The so-called Saint Character Stele was the language and writing textbook established by Shengzu after he "created the characters" back in the day.

Due to the backward technology of ancient times, even though Shengzu pioneered simple printing, the reproduction of books often still relied on manual transcription. Transcription brought great instability; anyone who has ever copied homework knows that sometimes a single character can be transcribed into a martial arts manual. Therefore, to avoid this situation, the ancients would carve some important classics onto stone tablets. The world used this as the standard, so if something was accidentally passed down incorrectly, it could be corrected based on this.

Thus, many classic works carved on stone tablets in ancient times served as authoritative textbooks.

If, during an archaeological process, two versions of a poem were discovered simultaneously—one written in a book and one carved on a tablet—without other references, the academic community would generally tend to believe the one on the tablet was the original.

The Saint Character Stele was the same.

However, because it recorded not literary works but purely language and writing, it also had a regulatory function.

Without the Saint Character Stele, language and writing would deviate significantly as they evolved through the generations. Shengzu placed the Saint Character Stele on the peak of Mount Tai, cast from Star Iron; without the power of gods, it could not be destroyed or moved. He issued an imperial decree to future generations that for thousands of generations to come, it must be obeyed. After the Xia Dynasty, the inheritance of China remained unbroken; every dynasty claimed to inherit the legitimacy of the previous one, knelt to worship Shengzu, and prayed to the gods, so they truly obeyed the holy edicts of Shengzu generation after generation, continuing to use the Great Xia language and writing.

The Saint Character Stele recorded most of the characters currently in use, along with their pinyin and simple definitions.

To Chen Shu's eyes, this was standard Song typeface.

However, nowadays, the Song typeface only existed on the Saint Character Stele and a few unearthed stone tablets. Because not two dynasties after the Xia Dynasty, there was a foolish Emperor who abolished the status of the Song typeface as the standard printing font and switched to another, and it changed again later. Although the commonly used printed text today is also relatively square, one can still see significant differences from the Song typeface overall.

"Brother Chen, does what I wrote look good?" Meng Chunqiu held his brush and turned his head to look at him.

"It's fine, it's like a printer."

"Brother Chen, can you guess what typeface this is?"

"You're showing off in front of an expert, aren't you!"

"Oh!"

Meng Chunqiu slapped his own forehead and said with a smile, "I forgot that you have researched the history of Great Xia quite deeply."

Meng Chunqiu paused, and just as he was about to put his brush down, he turned his head to say to him, "But Brother Chen, tell me, just how omnipotent was Shengzu to be able to create such a perfect and mature language and writing system single-handedly, and also leave behind so many classic scholarly works?"

"A transmigrator, obviously."

"Brother Chen, you think so too?" Meng Chunqiu looked slightly surprised.

"What other reason could there be?" Chen Shu spread his hands.

"Doesn't the academic community generally believe that these characters and classic scholarly works weren't actually created by Shengzu, but were jointly created by others in the Xia Dynasty, and just attributed to Shengzu?" Meng Chunqiu looked at him curiously. "Brother Chen, you actually don't think so, and instead believe in the transmigration theory from the internet?"

"Yeah."

"That's really strange..."

Meng Chunqiu shook his head and said to him, "I, on the contrary, believe the guesses of these scholars. Transmigration is simply an unfounded guess; it's impossible. I prefer to believe that Shengzu was a peerless genius like me, the kind who was proficient in both literature and martial arts."

"???"

Chen Shu had a confused expression.

Seeing this, Meng Chunqiu patiently said to him, "Brother Chen, you have to admit that there are indeed peerless geniuses in this world."

"..."

Chen Shu twitched the corner of his mouth and asked, "Aren't you going to emulate the King, work hard at cultivation, and hide behind the scenes to protect the Imperial Family?"

"That's right."

At this point, Meng Chunqiu couldn't help but sigh.

"Sigh..."

"What? Regret it?"

"Not at all."

"Then why... what are you sighing for?" Chen Shu was always inexplicably led astray by him when they talked.

"I sigh that my talent is world-class, yet it cannot be displayed in the end." Meng Chunqiu's brows were knitted with sorrow, as if he were depressed. "I have probably realized that perhaps I am not the protagonist of this era; the true protagonists are others."

Chen Shu immediately became interested and urged:

"Quick! Elaborate!"

"The true protagonists of this era should be my Imperial Brother, Zhang Suannai, and even the likes of Brother Jiang..." Meng Chunqiu said with emotion. "My Imperial Brother has been the focus of the whole world since birth; it looks like smooth sailing, but in reality, he is walking on thin ice. It looks like he has infinite glory, but in reality, he is treading on thin ice. From birth, he has shouldered the immense pressure of maintaining the Imperial Family in this new era; the hardships behind the scenes are unknown to anyone, and the risks he has faced are known to no one."

"Zhang Suannai was abandoned in the wilderness at birth. Her parents didn't just abandon her; they effectively killed her. Yet she was adopted by the Sword Master and ultimately displayed the strongest Sword Cultivator talent in history, with infinite glory."

"Brother Jiang also came from an orphan background. Although his martial arts talent was extremely high, he couldn't open his Spirit Sea. Ultimately, through his own efforts, he gained the recognition of an existence from another realm, and it is already confirmed that he will become the first High-level Martial Artist in history."

"Tsk tsk..."

Meng Chunqiu shook his head and said, "Compared to them, I am ultimately too fortunate; I am destined not to shine with such brilliance in the history books."

"No! Is that all you've listed?"

"What's wrong, Brother Chen?"

"Nothing else?"

"Oh, that Miss Yan as well. She came from an ordinary background but obtained the Imperial Sect inheritance that had been lost for a thousand years. At a young age, she is already invincible among her peers. Yes, she should be added to the list of protagonists of this era."

"That's it??"

"Perhaps there are others, but I just don't know them. For example, those from the Royal Court, the Buddhist Sect, and the Daoist sects; I'm not very familiar with them yet. I'm even less familiar with geniuses from other countries like Yaoguo and Lan Ya."

"..."

Chen Shu was silent for a moment, then lowered his eyes to glance at the writing on his desk: "Just this? My cat writes better than you!"

After saying this, he turned and left.

Meng Chunqiu scratched his head, looking at him in confusion.

Come to think of it, Brother Chen is actually not bad...

It's a pity that Brother Chen's background is not ordinary, he has both parents, his journey has been too smooth, and his own personality is too much of a slacker; he is ultimately lacking something.

Eh? Brother Chen wouldn't be angry about that, would he?

Meng Chunqiu shook his head.

He hadn't expected Chen Shu to be as conceited as he once was, yet while he had already awakened, Chen Shu was still lost in it...

"Sigh..."

Meng Chunqiu picked up his brush and continued to copy.

Outside of cultivation, this was a rare form of relaxation.

Chen Shu left the Dormitory and arrived at the faculty dormitory of Teacher Shi Qian.

"Hi Xiao Jin!"

He first greeted the dog belonging to Teacher Shi Qian.

"Woof!"

Look at that bark, full of vigor; nothing like that fake dog Taozi, whose bark is thin and delicate, with a tail-end that curls—you can tell it's a cat meowing just by listening.

"Sit."

Teacher Shi Qian said to him, "Pour your own water."

Chen Shu smiled at the dog, sat down, looked at Teacher Shi Qian, and got straight to the point: "Teacher, I want to modify the Tracer Technique."

Teacher Shi Qian raised his eyes to look at him: "No longer useful?"

"It's feeling a bit weak."

"Switching from offense to defense, are we?"

"You hit the nail on the head."

"Many excellent Spirit Cultivators do this, it's just that they usually wait until after the Seventh Stage to give up using the Tracer Technique as a standard offensive Spell," Teacher Shi Qian said with the tone of someone who had been there before. "You're quite early."

"I suppose so!"

As soon as Chen Shu heard this, he knew he had come to the right person.

He immediately began to explain his thoughts to Teacher Shi Qian, which was a necessary step when seeking guidance from a teacher: "I plan to imitate the Spirit Power Secondary Cannon of warships to modify the characteristics of the Tracer Technique's Spirit Power Bullet, reducing its aggressiveness and penetrability, while increasing its instability and Spirit Sensitivity. By appropriately reducing its power, I can increase the number of Spirit Power Bullets that can be fired at once, to be used mainly for defense and intercepting enemy attacks in the future."

"Not bad, that's basically how it's done."

Teacher Shi Qian commented calmly: "Your thinking is quite comprehensive. However, to achieve better interception results, you could also increase the diameter of the Spirit Power Bullet to further increase its instability and the area of interception per shot. The main offensive Rune of the Spell should also be adjusted to increase its Spirit Power destructiveness; borrowing the Runes from shield-breaking Spells can achieve this effect, which can further increase its interception effectiveness against attacks composed of Spirit Power from the enemy."

"That's amazing."

This was something he hadn't thought of.

Chen Shu hurriedly took notes.

It really is different when you have an experienced person.

The corners of Teacher Shi Qian's mouth curled up, and he continued to say to him: "You have no problems in other aspects; it is nothing more than a regressive improvement of a Spell, so I won't give you suggestions or references for now. You have good talent in this area and plenty of ideas; you might even be able to come up with a different Spell structure. There is only one thing you might have less contact with, which is Spirit Sensitivity; I will give you a Rune structure for 'Spirit Inspiration Thunder' as a reference."

"Great!"

This was exactly the purpose of Chen Shu's visit.

Teacher Shi Qian's phrase "regressive improvement" was very interesting, yet it hit the nail on the head.

The Tracer Technique was born as a purely offensive modern, excellent Spell. It is a single-target attack, and the process of its development and improvement over generations has always been one of enhancing its aggressiveness, penetrability, and stability, while striving to make the Spirit Power Bullet smaller and harder to intercept.

And what Chen Shu was doing now was exactly the opposite; wasn't he just going against the developmental history of the Tracer Technique?

Regressive improvement—the summary was nothing short of brilliant.

Spirit Inspiration Thunder is a military defensive weapon mainly used for ambush-style defense, and its main characteristic is that it only activates when it senses Spirit Power.

The initial Spirit Inspiration Thunder was easily triggered by area-of-effect attacks, causing it to fire at nothing. Later, after generations of development, the current Spirit Inspiration Thunder is very intelligent; typical area-of-effect attacks cannot activate it, as it identifies the nearest starting point of an attack and actively flies toward that direction after activation.

This, conversely, brought trouble to Chen Shu's analysis.

Because it was too complex and too intelligent.

What Chen Shu needed was the original, crude principle of the Spirit Inspiration Thunder, and now he had to restore it from the complex Spell structure; this was likely a bit of trouble Teacher Shi Qian had intentionally found for him.

"Wait!"

Chen Shu was suddenly stunned—

Automatically identifying Spirit Power and actively flying toward it?

Chen Shu scratched his head.

When he looked at Teacher Shi Qian again, he saw that the teacher seemed to have seen through his thoughts and raised an eyebrow at him.

As if to say: Want to try?

This is interesting.