Emil's Intelligence

Emil's Intelligence

In the quiet workroom, the candlelight flickered between bright and dim.

Gao De remained motionless for a long while. Then, all of a sudden, he raised his right hand, extended his index finger, and pointed it diagonally ahead.

Judging by the gesture alone, it seemed rather baffling, almost like some mystical mumbo-jumbo.

Yet after Gao De made the gesture, a wondrous fluctuation of energy arose at his fingertip, and a blue-white beam shot forth from thin air.

The beam itself was not thick, but it carried an inexplicable chill.

In the next instant, the frigid beam burst from Gao De's fingertip with a whoosh like a flying knife, striking the Gray Rat corpse he had placed before him.

The moment the beam touched the Gray Rat, a faint crack of ice could be heard in the air.

A layer of thin ice instantly formed over the Gray Rat's fur.

The thin ice lasted for around twenty seconds before fading away.

"It can last twenty seconds on a dead Gray Rat. If the target were Mage Seda, three seconds would already be pretty good."

Gao De calculated silently.

Then he let out a long breath.

"Six days. All three cantrips mastered!"

After completely refining his new method for constructing Spell Models, he had struck while the iron was hot and successfully constructed the Spell Model for Acid Splash.

Although the main reason was that his construction method was far more efficient than the traditional one, there had also been a small element of luck.

Perhaps learning spells came with a so-called beginner's blessing as well.

In any case, when Gao De constructed the Spell Models for Resistance Boost and Ray of Frost, he did not carry over the Good Fortune of that first day.

Both spells remained unsuccessful even after his Mental Strength had been overly depleted. He had to wait for it to recover the next day before making a second, or even third, attempt.

Six days had passed since he bought the three spell formulas from Yom.

Just moments ago, Gao De had finally succeeded in constructing the Spell Model for Ray of Frost as well.

That declared that he had mastered all three new spells.

A First-Order Apprentice mastering three cantrips in six days.

No one would believe it if they heard it!

That was the superiority of Gao De's current method for constructing Spell Models.

Yet Gao De did not smugly consider himself a genius.

He understood perfectly well that the only reason he had achieved this incredible transformation was that he stood on the shoulders of giants.

At the end of the day, he was merely picking up the crumbs left by those before him.

For the people of this world:

First, they would have to change their ingrained notions, transforming the traditional construction method of determining Starseed positions while connecting star tracks into a new method of first determining Starseed positions, then connecting the star tracks.

Then, they would need both the courage to question authority and the knowledge to solve the problems inherent in the new method, using the approach of analytic geometry to establish a coordinate system and break down Spell Models to determine Starseed positions.

More importantly, they would also need a "Wind Spirit Moon Shadow."

No one knew how many years the traditional method of constructing Spell Models had been passed down.

The more powerful a mage was, the longer they had practiced according to traditional methods, and the harder it was for them to question or change it under the weight of habitual thinking.

As for weaker mages, they would not even dare to entertain such a wild fantasy.

It was like heliocentrism. Looking at it now, it was nothing more than an obvious truth, but back then, geocentrism had been a sacred and inviolable truth, never to be questioned.

But Gao De, a visitor from another world, had no such pedantic notions of truth or untruth.

He was also a Mage Apprentice as new as could be, and his way of thinking about spells had yet to become fixed.

Besides, for an outstanding mathematician, daring to question and daring to change were basic qualities.

If the teacher's method was wrong, or if it was not a good method, then solving the problem with one's own method was the most natural thing in the world.

As for analytic geometry and the Cartesian Coordinate System, to the people of this world, they were knowledge from an entirely new field, the creation of a brand-new concept.

But to Gao De, it was merely a practical method taken from his own store of knowledge.

In Gao De's previous life, analytic geometry and the Cartesian Coordinate System were not particularly profound knowledge. Any ordinary middle school student encountering such a situation could make the connection.

But for the people of this world, thinking of a coordinate system was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.

Some things seemed simple once the principle was laid bare, yet reaching that step could stump countless people.

If one could not think of it, one simply could not think of it.

Apples had fallen countless times, yet only Newton thought of universal gravitation.

Even the seemingly simple Cartesian Coordinate System had only been born in the seventeenth century. Before that, not a single person had thought of it.

"Having mastered five spells, my mana can now just barely support me casting five cantrips."

Gao De rubbed his slightly swollen temples and muttered to himself.

There might be shortcuts for constructing Spell Models, but the growth of Mental Strength and mana required steady, solid effort.

He had already tested it. After casting five Zero Circle Spells, his mana would be completely drained.

—Casting each of the five cantrips he had mastered once would leave him out of mana.

This awkward situation could be summed up with a common saying: "A mage in god-tier gear without mana is still trash."

Gao De had no solution to this.

Mana growth could not be achieved in a single stroke. At the very least, this awkward predicament would continue for some time.

"Money, and Origin."

Since rapid mana growth was unrealistic in the short term, he had to find a way to do more with his limited mana, such as enhancing the effectiveness of his spells.

That was unrealistic for others, but Gao De had a trail to follow.

Because he had Wind Spirit Moon Shadow and could "add points."

But adding points consumed Origin.

At that thought, Gao De felt some regret.

He should not have used the little Origin from the Ash-Eyed Rat so casually on Repair.

Though Repair plus anything was good, it could not be used in actual combat or killing.

The spell issue was temporarily resolved. His next focus was obtaining new Origin.

"I'll go to the commercial district again tomorrow and see whether there are any avenues," Gao De pondered inwardly.

It had been eleven days since he arrived in this world. As time continued to pass, the anxiety in his heart grew ever stronger.

But even if there were avenues, they would require money. After buying those three spell formulas, his savings had shrunk to 30 silver and 8 copper.

Thinking of this, Gao De could not help sighing again.

Sure enough, no matter where one was—even in any world—having no money was absolutely impossible.

When Gao De left the workroom and returned to the cramped bedroom, his roommate Emil had already gone to bed.

For the past few days, Gao De had been focused on constructing Spell Models and had returned very late each night.

Gao De quietly removed his outer clothes, lay down, and prepared to rest.

"Gao De, you're back?" Emil's voice came from the dark, quiet room.

Gao De froze for a moment, then softly acknowledged him. "I've been practicing longer these past few days, so I came back late. Sorry for waking you."

"No, I came back late today too. I only just lay down and haven't fallen asleep yet."

Emil's voice was very quiet. He seemed to be hesitating over something. After struggling for a while, he finally spoke cautiously. "Gao De, do you want... to deal with Mage Seda?"

In the darkness, Gao De's expression changed. His heart gave a jolt, and he even instinctively thought he had exposed something over the past few days.

"I know. A long time ago, you told me that if we don't do something, we'll both die."

Emil took a deep breath, as though making some kind of resolution. "Mage Lord is too powerful. I always thought that no matter what we did, we couldn't change anything."

"Mage Seda is indeed very powerful," Gao De replied ambiguously.

"That day, you asked me," Emil said, imitating Gao De's tone from that day as he repeated his exact words, "if someone wanted to kill you, what would you do?"

"I couldn't answer at the time, but I've kept thinking about that question these past few days." He nodded firmly in the darkness. "At the very least, we can't do nothing, right?"

"I'm not going to sit still and wait for death," Gao De stated his position.

"Mage Seda specializes in Necromantic Spells. There is one spell—I don't know its name—but I know that as long as he touches a target, the target becomes weak and powerless."

Gao De remained silent and gave no response.

Emil continued, "I heard Ilan say that one of the Three Tenets of Mages is, 'Never let others know your spells.' I don't know exactly what it means, but I think it may be of some small help to you."