The Sea of Learning Has No Shore

Yinsen and Isendra arrived at Akara's tent together. As they had agreed earlier, Yinsen helped Akara make potions.

The work he was responsible for was not difficult, merely tedious. It required enough patience and a considerable amount of time to process the herbs in various ways.

Only after he had properly handled these herbs could Akara use the semi-finished materials to make the finished potions.

During this process, Yinsen could combine the knowledge he had seen the previous night with practical work, deepening his understanding and absorption of it. Then he could observe Akara's entire potion-making process and thoroughly learn the methods and procedures behind making Magic Potions.

"More or less, this is how Magic Potions are made."

Akara pointed at the raw materials before her, then at the finished potion—a transparent little bottle filled with red liquid.

"Choose suitable raw materials and first give them simple treatment, such as washing them, removing useless parts, or using spells to dispel energy with unsuitable properties. Then dry them in the sun or use spells to dry them directly. During this process, you must use the appropriate spells to ensure the necessary properties in the raw materials are not damaged. Of course, some herbs can skip this step, such as the Healing Herb you gathered this time."

"Then comes extraction and refinement. Extract the essence from the herbs, then mix in auxiliary materials to create the potion you want." For example, the auxiliary material in Akara's potion was clean water, which made it easier to use... Right, the reason it was made into a liquid potion was simply for convenience.

In truth, there was nothing particularly special about the earlier steps. The crucial part of making Magic Potions was the final stage: how did one extract the "effect" one wanted and turn it into a potion?

Akara did not explain that part in much detail. What she said was even somewhat mystical. After listening for a long time, Yinsen could only understand it as this: this thing depended entirely on personal insight. If you figured it out, then you truly understood it. If you did not, you could work yourself to death and still never learn it.

"This is just too..."

After thinking for a long time, he could not find a suitable word to describe it. It could not be helped. Much of the knowledge in the Mystic Arts was this cryptic and mystical, which was why the entry threshold for the profession was so high. If you were not smart enough, you truly could not achieve much.

"First you need outstanding physical qualities, and now you also need high intelligence and insight. No wonder mages are always portrayed as cheat-code-level beings in some works. With requirements like these, if the person trained turned out to be trash, who would still become a mage?"

No helping it. Time to practice!

Fortunately, making Magic Potions had almost no requirements for magical power. Although some spells had to be used, they could be carried out with Magic Arrays that drew upon external power.

The working principles of these Magic Arrays also became one of Yinsen's learning goals. After all, when he lacked sufficient Mental Power and could neither generate magical power himself nor draw it from elsewhere for his own use, this ability to extract power from the current environment or items containing magical power and produce an effect could solve many of his problems.

He had even considered modifying the Magic Array so that he could cast a few small spells by himself. The power supply issue for the Magic Array would be easy to solve as well—he thought of those inferior magic stones in the Sea of Tranquility. The energy contained in those stones was enough to cast a few minor spells.

Thinking of this, Yinsen became even more enthusiastic. He studied with greater vigor, not only listening carefully but constantly raising all kinds of strange questions. Quite a few of them even left Akara unsure how to answer—having lived in a world flooded with information in his previous life, Yinsen never lacked wild ideas.

Fortunately, Akara still had quite a few herbs with different properties on hand. She handed them all over to Yinsen for him to practice potion-making and using Magic Arrays.

Over the next few days, Yinsen helped Akara process herbs in the mornings. Then, in the afternoons, while Akara made Red Potions, he practiced nearby with lower-quality herbs.

Akara would also take time to give him pointers, telling him what he had done wrong and what he had done well. At the same time, she answered some of Yinsen's wild questions about using Magic Arrays.

Compared to his earlier pure flights of fancy, after using Magic Arrays for several days and gaining a clearer understanding of their operating principles, some of the ideas he raised again received Akara's approval and praise.

"If you can find a stable source of magical power, then the few Magic Arrays you just mentioned are feasible. However, the construction of the Magic Arrays will need to be redesigned. That requires you to clearly understand the spells you intend to use."

How could Yinsen possibly know that? According to his earlier idea, he wanted to design a Magic Array that could cast a fireball. It did not even need much power—a fireball the size of a fist would be enough.

As for the flame's temperature, degree of concentration, or explosive power, he did not have particularly high demands. Even a simple ball of fire would be sufficient for him at present.

But even such a simple requirement could not be achieved casually. It required a very clear understanding of the fireball spell. At the very least, he had to understand its principles—otherwise, how could he construct a Magic Array?

The current situation was that Yinsen understood the principles of supplying power and had solved the issue of the energy source, but he knew nothing about the construction and final casting stages.

Akara was, after all, a priestess rather than a mage. What she excelled in were healing divine spells, not elemental offensive magic. Therefore, if Yinsen wanted to complete the Magic Array he had envisioned, he needed to formally and systematically study the relevant Magic Knowledge.

Previously, even if he had wanted to learn, he would not have known whom to seek out. But now there happened to be a suitable candidate: Isendra, the outstanding witch from the Sorcerer Guild. She was a powerful mage skilled in the use of fire, frost, and lightning Elemental Energy.

"You want to study magic with me?"

Isendra had been staying in the camp during this period. Every day, she made a large circuit around the camp, investigating Dark Energy while also helping the camp clear out some nearby Dark Creatures.

With such a powerful mage as Isendra helping them, the Rogues in the camp felt much less pressure. As a result, Isendra's prestige in the camp rose by the day.

The benefit was that finding Isendra became extremely easy for Yinsen. With a casual inquiry, he could almost always learn where "the powerful Mage Isendra" was and what she was doing.

"Simply put, I want to learn the principles behind various spells."

Yinsen explained his ideas, along with his plan to make several pieces of equipment engraved with specific Magic Arrays.

After hearing his detailed explanation, Isendra merely frowned. "Making Magic Equipment like that is indeed not difficult, but it has little value."

What Yinsen wanted to make were all the simplest tools. There were not even any material requirements—he merely wanted to engrave a Magic Array onto an ordinary piece of equipment, then use Mental Power as a trigger to cast the spell preset within the Magic Array. Equipment like that was not uncommon in this world. It was simply that no one would use such inferior materials to inscribe such basic magic at the same time.

Such things could even be called "crude and rudimentary!" It was obvious that Lady Isendra, a mage of orthodox lineage, did not think much of this approach.

"Pondering these things will not do your path as a mage any good. You should focus on training and improving your Mental Power. In fact, once your Mental Power improves a little more, you can formally begin learning spells. At that point, you can cast these simple spells with your bare hands."

Yinsen shook his head helplessly. "But right now, I do not have even the slightest ability to protect myself. I could die at the hands of Dark Creatures at any moment. If I die, how am I supposed to cultivate Mental Power or learn magic?"

"Uh..." Isendra could not refute that. It was indeed a very realistic problem. "All right. I can teach you the principles behind some basic spells."

These basic spells were not secrets that could not be taught. Once someone formally began studying magic, every mage would learn these things.

Isendra had originally intended to teach him a few simple introductory offensive and defensive spells, but she quickly changed her mind and took a book from her luggage.

"This is Basic Magic Principles. I'll give it to you. It records all the spells you need." Isendra looked at Yinsen's delighted face, then added, "But I still have to remind you: simple basic spells are one thing, but if you want to construct more advanced magic on objects, ordinary materials will not be enough."

Yinsen nodded. He knew that much. Akara had mentioned it to him before. "In fact, even for the Magic Arrays of a few introductory spells, I'm planning to make weakened versions."

Even introductory magic could not be engraved onto just anything if the Magic Array was constructed for maximum power. Magical conductivity and whether it could withstand the impact of greater amounts of energy would directly affect whether a Magic Array could be successfully set up.

Materials with excellent conductivity and the ability to withstand massive energy impacts were all exceptionally rare magical materials. Given Yinsen's current circumstances, he could not obtain any of them.

Therefore, even after obtaining an entire book of introductory spell principles from Isendra, his plan did not change. He would still focus on weakened versions of minor spells.

Just as he was preparing to return and carefully read Basic Magic Principles, selecting suitable minor spells to make several pieces of equipment, Isendra suddenly called out to Yinsen as he was about to leave.

"While scouting outside during this time, I finally discovered the place in this region where Dark Energy is most concentrated. It is an Underground Cave called the Den of Evil. After discussing it with Akara, I believe it may be the gathering place of all the Dark Creatures nearby."

"So?" Yinsen did not think Isendra had come to ask him to form a party and clear the Den of Evil. He did not have that kind of Combat Power.

"I need you to do me a favor." Isendra handed him a letter. "Before I came here, I met a priest of the Rathma Cult. He is also investigating the reason behind the surge in Dark Energy, so I hope you can deliver this letter to him and ask him to come here and eliminate those Dark Creatures with me."