Acid Splash

Gao De entered a meditative state once more, his thoughts sinking into the Spell Starsea.

The first starseed was successfully fixed in place as the origin.

He caught the second starseed and began moving it. Coordinates: (4/3,1,1/4).

He caught the third starseed and began moving it. Coordinates: (2,3/2,-1/4).

The second starseed shifted. Its coordinates changed to (4/3,9/8,1/4). He corrected the second starseed's position.

Correction complete.

The fourth starseed, coordinates—

The third starseed shifted. He began correcting it. Correction complete.

Damn it. While focusing on the third starseed, the first starseed had shifted.

The first starseed's position had shifted. He attempted a correction, then abandoned it. Failure.

Gao De left his meditative state somewhat discouraged. As he rubbed his brow to clear his head, he pondered.

This attempt at constructing the Spell Model had originally been proceeding smoothly according to Gao De's expectations, but when the first starseed shifted, he had been forced to halt the attempt.

Because a problem he had not considered before had emerged.

The first starseed served as the origin, and the coordinates of all the other starseeds were established based on it.

If the other starseeds shifted, he could use the origin as a reference to correct them. But what if the first starseed itself shifted?

The first starseed had no reference point of its own, so its position could not be corrected like the others'—he could infer the location of (0,0,0) from the coordinates of the other starseeds that had not shifted, but that raised another problem:

Without the origin as a reference, how could he ensure that the other starseeds had not shifted?

Wouldn't that mean starting all over again?

Gao De did not abandon his idea over this.

When a problem arose, he would solve it.

No matter what, his approach to Spell Model construction was more efficient than the original method:

At the very least, he only had to start over when the first starseed shifted. In all other cases, he could continue constructing the Spell Model by promptly correcting the shifted starseed's position.

Yet this exception was precisely what Gao De found especially vexing.

If it were merely a cantrip, it would be fine. A cantrip's Spell Model had at most ten starseeds, so starting over was just starting over.

But for First Circle Spells, or even Second Circle Spells, whose Spell Models consisted of dozens or hundreds of starseeds, having to start over after completing more than half of it because the first starseed had shifted—that would truly drive anyone mad.

"If only I could find a fixed point," Gao De muttered.

But within the Spell Starsea, there was nothing besides spell starseeds and Spell Models. The spell starseeds were certainly in constant, irregular motion, so where could he find a fixed point?

A fixed point, a fixed point...

"Wait!" In a flash of inspiration, Gao De caught hold of a crucial detail. "There's nothing in the Spell Starsea besides starseeds and Spell Models? That may be true for everyone else, but there's one more thing in my Spell Starsea!"

His eyes abruptly lit up.

"Wind Spirit Moon Shadow"!

Right, Wind Spirit Moon Shadow.

Gao De did not know where Wind Spirit Moon Shadow had come from, but it floated silently and steadily at the very center of his Spell Starsea, radiating a pure, luminous glow.

Without moving in the slightest.

Wasn't that a ready-made origin?

Gao De picked up his charcoal pencil and recalculated the coordinates of the nine nodes in the Acid Splash Spell Model.

With Wind Spirit Moon Shadow as the new origin, the first starseed was no longer treated as the origin, so its coordinates were naturally no longer (0,0,0). Gao De set them as (1,1,1), using it as the equal-distance scale for the Spell Model.

Then, based on that, he derived the second starseed's coordinates as (7/3,2,5/4), while the third starseed's coordinates were—

Before long, Gao De had written the new nine coordinates onto the spell formula.

After spending several minutes memorizing these nine triples once more, Gao De endured the slight swelling pain in his head and entered a meditative state for the third time, constructing the Spell Model for Acid Splash.

He fixed his gaze on Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, which radiated a luminous glow, and caught the first wandering starseed near it.

Using Wind Spirit Moon Shadow as a reference, the first starseed was successfully moved to position (1,1,1).

The second starseed: (7/3,2,5/4).

The third starseed.

The fourth starseed.

The second starseed's coordinates shifted. He began correcting it. Correction complete. He continued catching the fifth starseed—

The fifth starseed was successfully moved to its coordinate point. The first starseed shifted. He began correcting it.

Gao De immersed himself completely in constructing the Spell Model. It was like solving an interesting mathematics problem, and for a time, he entered a state of complete absorption, no longer even feeling the swelling pain in his head caused by the drain on his Mental Strength.

The sixth starseed.

The seventh starseed.

The eighth starseed.

He corrected the shifted sixth starseed.

He moved the ninth starseed to its coordinate point. The nine starseeds were in position. He began "connecting the lines."

Following the optimized procedure, Gao De proceeded step by step in an orderly fashion.

Starting from the first starseed, his Mental Strength began to extend toward and connect with the second starseed.

Since the nine starseeds had already been fixed in place and there was no need to drag those unruly things around, the connection of the "star track" was extraordinarily fast.

In almost the blink of an eye, Gao De's Mental Strength connected all nine starseeds.

In an instant, a stunning star track appeared among the brilliant nine starseeds.

The track gleamed with faint starlight. Beginning from the first starseed, it trailed a long beam of starshine through all nine starseeds.

The star track formed, and the Spell Model appeared!

A brand-new, constellation-like Spell Model appeared in Gao De's Spell Starsea.

The moment the Spell Model was successfully constructed, Gao De sensed that he had mastered a wondrous power.

"It worked? It worked just like that?"

Though he had been confident that his optimized method of Spell Model construction would surpass the traditional method, he had never expected it to go so smoothly. He had actually succeeded on his second attempt.

Under normal circumstances, for a Mage Apprentice like him who had not practiced for long, mastering a cantrip would take at least half a year, or as much as a year.

Even an experienced Mage Apprentice like Mage Seda needed over a month to master a cantrip.

Yet the time Gao De had spent was merely—

One day!

This level of efficiency in learning spells was something only formal mages could achieve.

And Gao De, according to the mage ranking system, was still at the very bottom among Mage Apprentices: a First-Order Apprentice.

—The training of Mage Apprentices was divided into three levels: First-Order Apprentice, Second-Order Apprentice, and Third-Order Apprentice.

Compared with formal mages, the division of apprentice levels was much simpler, determined solely by two indicators: mana and Mental Strength.

Take the apprentice Meditation Art as an example.

Manifesting one lotus petal or more through the Meditation Art, while also being able to cast one cantrip, made one a First-Order Apprentice;

Manifesting eight lotus petals or more through the Meditation Art, while having enough mana to cast five cantrips in one go, made one a Second-Order Apprentice;

Manifesting sixteen lotus petals or more, while having enough mana to cast twenty cantrips in one go, made one a Third-Order Apprentice.

From this, it was clear that although they were both Mage Apprentices, the difference in strength between a First-Order Apprentice and a Third-Order Apprentice was the difference between heaven and earth.

"Let's test its effects!" Having successfully constructed a Spell Model and mastered supernatural power for the first time, Gao De could not wait to try out his new spell.

Acid Splash, he silently recited.

At that moment, his mana began to flow. It surged up from his lower abdomen in an instant, then entered the Spell Starsea, racing along the newly constructed Acid Splash Spell Model as its track. It transformed into a new power, surged out of his body, and under Gao De's guidance, gathered in his right hand.

A bowl-sized sphere of acid abruptly appeared, held in Gao De's loosely clenched right palm.

Then Gao De swept his right hand, sending it shooting toward the corner of the wall some distance away.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

The moment the sphere struck the wall corner, it burst apart like a water-filled balloon being pierced. The acid splashed everywhere, and whatever it touched was immediately corroded, giving off wisps of blue smoke.

After roughly three seconds, the acid vanished as if it had evaporated, as though it had never existed.

Yet the scorch marks on the floor by the wall corner and the faint corrosion marks on the wall both attested to Acid Splash's destructive power.

If even wooden walls and stone floors could not completely resist this acid, how could a human body possibly withstand it?

"This is far too interesting!" Gao De exclaimed, filled with boundless exhilaration and wonder.

Constructing a Spell Model was like solving a difficult mathematics problem. The process was arduous and exhausting, but the thrill of arriving at the answer after solving it was addictive.

And the positive feedback brought by successfully constructing a Spell Model was ten or a hundred times greater than solving a math problem—every Spell Model represented an entirely new supernatural power.

"Onward to conquer the next spell!" Gao De was brimming with fighting spirit and was about to begin constructing another Spell Model, when his vision suddenly went black. His body swayed involuntarily and nearly fell over, followed by an empty dizziness and swelling pain in his head.

"I've overdrawn my Mental Strength." Only then did he realize it.

Constructing Spell Models three times in one evening had already exhausted Gao De's Mental Strength.

This sort of overdraft could not be recovered through meditation. He had to rest.

Though he could hardly wait to master the other two spells, Gao De understood that excess was as bad as deficiency. He put away the three spell formulas and obediently returned to his room to rest.