Human Body Printer

Lux and Sona, having entered their "second year," finally bid farewell to rote memorization and embarked on a new path of magical study.

While the fact that Nullstones were indeed Rune Stones remained worrying, at least the two of them were in good spirits for now—even academic underachievers tend to be enthusiastic about learning on the first day of school, let alone these two academic powerhouses.

Then, Karya gave them a taste of his authority by laying out the facts and reasoning.

"To learn to harness the power within Nullstones, first construct a Magic Circuit for its flow," Karya began, as always, stating his teaching objective clearly. "There are generally two ways to construct a Magic Circuit: one is to draw a Magic Circuit using magical materials, and the other is to control your own Magic Power to simulate a Magic Circuit."

Hearing Karya say this, Lux and Sona exchanged a look—through their past studies, they already knew what a Magic Circuit was, understood some of its models, and had even done a lot of "specialized training" in circuit modeling. So, upon hearing that this was how they could harness the power within Nullstones, the two young girls seemed eager to try.

It's just constructing a Magic Circuit, right?

I can do it!

"Of course, with my patient guidance, your foundations are still quite solid," Karya began with a self-compliment before returning to the main topic. "However, you are still too young, your own Magic Power is not abundant, and more importantly, you lack the ability to control your Magic Power. Therefore, directly simulating a Magic Circuit, this high-level technique, is something you can't handle for now—so, we will start from the most basic direction."

"The most basic direction is drawing a Magic Circuit, isn't it?" Lux said confidently. "We've practiced this before, it's no problem at all!"

"What you practiced was simulation!" Karya snorted. "Let alone casting spells, you're still a long way from even assisting in casting—do you think drawing a Magic Circuit is the same as just imagining what a circuit looks like in your head?"

"Isn't it the same?" Lux asked, puzzled. "Just imagine the circuit you want, and then draw it, right?"

"Alright, then, face Sona and draw her for me," Karya's tone became playful again. "Let me see if your hands can do what your mind can!"

"..."

Finally realizing the problem, Lux awkwardly shut her mouth—just as Karya said, the difficulty difference between simulating in your mind and actually drawing everything out was astonishing. Even though drawing a Magic Circuit wasn't as content-rich as painting, its complexity was even greater.

So, Karya was absolutely right: the gap between knowing what kind of Magic Circuit to draw and being able to draw the correct Magic Circuit was quite large.

"So, are we going to learn painting?" Sona asked, noticing her friend's embarrassment, trying to change the subject. "Hmm, use painting as an excuse to study?"

"That's a good excuse, but the problem is we can't produce any finished work," Lux nodded. "We can use etiquette, music, or socializing as excuses, but if we use painting, even if Mother reluctantly agrees, I won't be able to show anything."

"You don't have to worry about that," Karya's tone held a pretense of restraint, though it was anything but restrained pride. "I know a thing or two about painting. With me here, you'll be able to hand in something acceptable."

"What use would you be?" Lux was very confused. "You can't cut corners in painting by numbering fingers, although I don't understand it much myself, I at least know that things like color, composition, and perspective are almost impossible to complete with simple guidance!"

"That's for others," Karya said confidently. "Trust me, my way of painting is completely different from what you imagine—now, find a piece of paper, get a charcoal pencil, and let's try it, and you'll understand."

Lux, half-believing, found a blank sheet of paper and spread it on the table. Then, as Karya requested, she took a charcoal pencil, commonly used in Demacia for sketching.

"I can paint without composition, directly drawing the whole," Karya once again displayed an astonishing skill. "Now, get as close to my thoughts as possible, and continuously draw parallel, tightly packed horizontal lines according to my commands of connecting and breaking."

"Parallel arrangement, tightly packed?"

Lux blinked in confusion. She extended her hand and drew a straight line on the paper, then, right below it, she drew another one—the two lines were tightly packed, forming a thicker line.

"Isn't this just one line?" Lux frowned. "Is this what you meant?"

"Exactly," Karya confirmed Lux's statement. "Draw it like this, but remember to apply and lift the pen according to my instructions—draw the lines slowly, maintain a steady speed, and follow my commands."

Lux, still skeptical, picked up the charcoal pencil again. Under Karya's direction, she drew line after line, closely packed, sometimes connected, sometimes broken.

Then, to her astonishment, these seemingly random broken lines eventually connected to form a smiling face of Sona!

Although it was just simple black and white, the smiling face was not only lifelike but also possessed artistic shading and lighting. Anyone who saw the painting, with eyes to see, could feel Sona's genuine happiness.

Lux, who had watched the painting come to life by her own hand, was completely stunned.

Lux wasn't unfamiliar with masterworks—in the Crown Guard family's hall, the portraits of past generations were all by master hands, brilliant in color, composition, perspective, and likeness.

But Lux, who had seen her father paint portraits before, knew very well how much effort each oil painting took!

Even the initial stage of sketching with charcoal required first roughly determining the pose, understanding the perspective, and then beginning to paint. Most of the work was spent on auxiliary lines.

Karya's painting method, on the other hand, could be described as "cheating." It was as if he had completely determined the final appearance of the painting from the very beginning, even the state of every point. The entire process was counter-intuitive and illogical!

Having never seen a printer work, Lux couldn't imagine that paintings could be made this way!

"Heh, how is it?" Karya was very satisfied with Lux's astonishment. "Without exaggeration, after half a year, handing in a painting like this should be acceptable, right?"

"It's more than acceptable," Lux nodded mechanically. "It's more than acceptable!"

"But don't be envious," Karya chuckled. "When you reach the second stage, where you can simulate any Magic Circuit with your own Magic Power, you'll understand—compared to that, this level of control is considered simple."

"???"

Hearing Karya say this, Lux and Sona froze in place.

The second stage of constructing a Magic Circuit... was that monstrous?

Could anyone really learn this?