Repair

Passing through the narrow, dim corridor, Gao De's view suddenly opened up, and the light grew bright.

The fragrance of medicinal herbs washed over him. Before his eyes lay a vibrant expanse of green, making Gao De feel as though much of the decayed stench clinging to him had been dispelled.

Though this herb-growing area was not particularly large, it contained several plots with different kinds of soil.

Herbs were, by nature, extremely delicate "flowers and grasses" that required meticulous care.

Different herbs had different requirements for their growing environments, some of them extremely demanding.

Leaving aside external conditions such as temperature and water quality, the soil requirements alone varied greatly from herb to herb.

Most herbs could grow in loose, fertile, well-drained soil.

But some herbs preferred forest humus soil rich in organic matter; ginseng-type medicinal herbs were a typical example.

Other herbs preferred acidic or slightly acidic soil, while some thrived on sandy riverbanks.

Therefore, one had to choose suitable soil according to each herb's growth habits and characteristics.

Cultivating medicinal herbs was a profound field of study. It required more than merely recognizing medicinal materials and thoroughly understanding their habits; one also had to know how to create an environment suited to their growth, ensuring their survival rate while increasing yield and enhancing their medicinal properties.

This work included, but was not limited to, preparing nutrient soil, thinning seedlings, setting seedlings, deep plowing combined with fertilization to improve soil structure, intertillage, hilling, weeding, fertilizing, watering, preventing diseases and insect infestations, and adjusting plant shape.

Most of Gao De's work in the morning consisted of intertillage, hilling, fertilizing, watering, and checking for diseases and pests.

Under normal circumstances, once one became proficient at such tasks, they were merely simple repetitive labor.

That was because the varieties of herbs Mage Seda cultivated were all fixed.

So even though this was Gao De's first time handling these tasks, relying on the memories left behind by the previous owner of this body, he completed the herb cultivation work cleanly and without a single mistake.

After finishing that, only one final task remained for his morning work.

Gao De hurried to a small room.

The room contained many iron cages. Each cage held between five and ten grayish-brown rats.

These were Gray Rats specially bred by Mage Seda for use in live potion experiments.

Although testing medicine on humans produced the most accurate results, even if human lives were not particularly precious in this world, things had not reached the point where Mage Seda could freely test drugs on living people. In most cases, animal testing remained the norm.

Gray Rats reproduced quickly, were cheap to raise, relatively unaggressive, and, under those conditions, were quite similar to humans—genetically, not in appearance.

Thus, Gray Rats naturally became the ideal subjects for live experiments.

Gao De poured feed into the food bowls in each cage and filled the water containers, then checked the condition of every Gray Rat. He found one that looked sickly, lacking even the energy to compete for food.

After observing it more closely, Gao De discovered that a small patch of fur on the rat's back had completely fallen out, like patchy baldness, revealing slightly reddened skin beneath.

"Looks like some kind of skin disease," Gao De judged, nodding. "Then you'll do."

He lifted the sick Gray Rat out of its cage.

Of course, Gao De was not planning to treat it.

First, he did not know how. Second, there was no need.

Since Gray Rats were far less valuable than medicinal herbs, the apprentices in the herb garden did not care for them as attentively as they did the herbs. As a result, some Gray Rats fell ill from time to time.

The fate of those sick Gray Rats was always the same: "discover early, euthanize humanely," lest they spread the disease to the other healthy Gray Rats.

Gao De did not hesitate. He grabbed the Gray Rat by the head and twisted hard along the direction of its neck. With a crisp crack, the Gray Rat died without even managing to struggle.

He casually tossed the dead Gray Rat aside, but his attention was focused on his mind.

Deep within his mind, an exquisite Crescent Gem was radiating spiritual light.

Some changes had occurred. Inside the gem, two points of light and twelve dotted lines had appeared, forming two Big Dipper-shaped ladle diagrams.

Each ladle diagram had seven points and six dotted lines, but at the moment, only the point at the starting position was glowing. The remaining six points were dim.

It was not hard to infer that all seven points needed to be lit for completion.

The next instant, a familiar information panel appeared before Gao De's "eyes."

Origin:

Zero Circle—Human (1/7), Ash-Eyed Rat (1/7)

Spells:

Zero Circle—Mage Hand, Repair

Compared to before, the Origin section had gained another entry: Ash-Eyed Rat.

That was the "scientific name" of the Gray Rat.

"Just as I thought," Gao De muttered.

The first time he had seen this information panel, Gao De had already concluded that Origin could not be obtained solely from humans. Like the Spells section, it should be capable of expanding into multiple entries; he had merely unlocked the human entry for now.

When he had gone to the back mountain to bury Ilan's corpse, Gao De had casually crushed several unidentified insects to test his hypothesis, but no new entry had appeared in the Origin section.

Either killing was not the method of obtaining Origin.

Or those insects were too weak to provide Origin.

After all, the human entry had a rank classification before it: Zero Circle.

To obtain Zero Circle Origin, one likely could only acquire it from Zero Circle creatures.

Ilan had been a Mage Apprentice. According to the mage rank system, that made him a Zero Circle mage, just enough to provide Origin.

The latter possibility was clearly more likely.

Guesswork would not yield the correct answer. He needed to experiment.

And within the herb garden, aside from the Mage Apprentices, there happened to be another kind of Zero Circle creature.

Ash-Eyed Rats—what most people called Gray Rats—were weak enough to be slaughtered at will, but in terms of rank, they were indeed the same as Mage Apprentices: both were Zero Circle.

That was because Ash-Eyed Rats carried an extremely thin bloodline of Leyline Creatures.

That trace amount of Leyline Creature blood could not grant them any supernatural abilities, nor could it give them the powerful strength of Leyline Creatures. But it did mean they were no longer ordinary animals; they belonged to the Zero Circle ranks instead—there were differences even within Zero Circle.

His hypothesis had been confirmed, so what came next followed naturally.

Killing seven people was difficult, but killing seven Gray Rats was as easy as turning over one's hand.

Gao De immediately got to work.

He pulled another healthy Gray Rat from an iron cage.

The Gray Rat kicked its little legs frantically in Gao De's hand and let out sharp squeaks, but it was all futile, like a frail girl about to be violated yet powerless to resist.

Gao De carefully examined the Gray Rat for dozens of seconds. Only after confirming that the panel had not changed did he silently extend his other hand toward the Gray Rat, which seemed to have become accustomed to being held and had stopped struggling.

With a crisp crack, the Gray Rat immediately fell silent.

The next moment, another point of light lit up within the gem.

Origin:

Zero Circle—Human (1/7), Ash-Eyed Rat (2/7)

"Sure enough, death is a necessary condition. I just don't know whether it has to die by my hand for it to count."

Gao De muttered inwardly.

That could be tested later. There was no need to rush it for now.

His top priority was obtaining his first complete Origin.

He set down the dead Gray Rat in his hand, his gaze sweeping across the Gray Rats in the iron cages, still unaware of what was about to befall them.

Gray Rats were not worth much, and losses were common. Even if seven died in a single day, no one would care.

Moreover, Gao De was eager to learn the effect of "Origin," so another five Gray Rats immediately offered up their lives.

Very soon.

Origin:

Zero Circle—Human (1/7), Ash-Eyed Rat (7/7)

At this moment, the crescent-shaped gem remained suspended motionlessly at the very center of Gao De's Spell Starsea.

However, inside the gem, there were now seven flashing points of light. The six dotted lines had become bright solid lines, and together, the points and lines formed an inseparable model. Like the Big Dipper, it slowly rotated, exceptionally beautiful.

"Come on. Let me see what you can really do."

Gao De spoke to himself inwardly as he shifted his attention to the two cantrips he had mastered in the Spells section.

Each had a small flashing yellow plus sign beside it.

After hesitating briefly, he decided to test Repair.

Repair (Transmutation, Zero Circle):

This spell repairs a single break or tear in an object you touch, such as a broken chain link, a key snapped in two, a torn cloak, a leaking wineskin, and so on.

As long as the break or tear is no more than 1 foot in any direction, you can repair it without leaving a trace.

This spell can physically repair a magic item or a construct, but it does not restore the magic on such objects.

Gao De once again used his thoughts to tap the yellow plus sign behind Repair.

Add a point.

The change occurred instantly.

Within the gem, the complete Big Dipper representing Ash-Eyed Rat Origin stopped rotating and began to flow, swimming directly out from within the Crescent Gem.

It moved toward the Spell Model representing Repair.

A Spell Model was the foundation upon which a mage cast spells.

It was formed from Starseeds within the Spell Starsea, resembling constellations made up of individual stars in the vast universe.

However, the lines between commonly seen constellations in books were artificially drawn to make their formations easier to observe and understand, while the lines within Spell Models genuinely existed.

Following the guidance of a spell formula, mages used Mental Strength to draw Starseeds through the Spell Starsea, using Mental Strength as a framework to hold the Starseeds in place and thereby construct a Spell Model made of Starseeds.

Once a Spell Model was successfully constructed, it meant that the mage had initially mastered that spell and could thereafter cast the corresponding spell through the Spell Model.

The structure of every Spell Model differed, even drastically so. There were nearly stringent requirements concerning the number of Starseeds and the distances and directions between them. Even the slightest deviation would not do.

Therefore, mastering a spell was an extremely difficult and time-consuming matter. Under normal circumstances, one had to endure hundreds or even thousands of failures before successfully constructing a Spell Model.

And now, the Big Dipper's target was this Spell Model, something that could be called the most important thing to a mage.

The Big Dipper moved quickly. In the span of a moment, it had already collided with Repair's Spell Model.

There was no collision like sparks striking the earth.

The next instant, spiritual light flashed, and the seven glowing points merged into the Spell Model like fledglings returning to their nest.

"This is..."

As Gao De stared in astonishment, the originally complete Repair Spell Model seemed to experience a second spring after the points of light merged into it. New branches began to grow from it, extending outward from certain nodes as new lines and Starseeds appeared.

The entire process was remarkably stable and natural. Some nodes extended a line and one Starseed; others extended even more. Yet none of these changes damaged the original foundational structure of the Spell Model.

Only seven points of light had joined it, yet far more than seven Starseeds ultimately extended from the Repair Spell Model. It did not stop until thirteen new Starseeds had formed.

The Big Dipper had vanished, and the Repair Spell Model had returned to stillness, with no further changes.

As he looked at the Spell Model, now entirely transformed and vastly different from the theoretical Repair model, some information surfaced instinctively in Gao De's mind.

That information told Gao De that the new Spell Model before him was still the Zero Circle Transmutation spell Repair. Its effect had not changed either; it could still repair minor damage to the target object.

But compared to the original Repair spell, it had gained something extra.

Repair, under this new Spell Model, could restore the magic originally attached to a magic item when repairing it.

It seemed to be only a minor change, but Gao De's vision was not so shortsighted. He clearly understood that this was already a qualitative leap.

In the terminology of the world he had lived in before transmigrating, this process was "skill enhancement."

And this enhancement was not merely a simple increase in numerical values. It was a higher-level improvement to the underlying mechanics.

The crude information panel had also changed somewhat.

Origin:

Zero Circle—Human (1/7), Ash-Eyed Rat (Used)

Spells:

Zero Circle—Mage Hand, Repair+

The Zero Circle spell Repair had become Repair+ under the effect of Origin. Correspondingly, the yellow plus sign after its name had disappeared.

Repair+ (Transmutation, Zero Circle):

This spell repairs a single break or tear in an object you touch, such as a broken chain link, a key snapped in two, a torn cloak, a leaking wineskin, and so on.

As long as the break or tear is no more than 1 foot in any direction, you can repair it without leaving a trace.

This spell can physically repair a magic item or a construct, but it does not restore the magic on such objects.

Extra: While repairing a magic item, you can restore the magic on that item.