Return

After Ancient One had instilled the contents he would need to learn next, Bai Jing returned to his room carrying a stack of books.

These books included the applications of mirror magic, spells, spatial magic incantations, as well as a large number of books on formations, materials science, runic writing, and more.

Formations were not meant for people to use directly. They were generally inscribed onto objects, such as magical artifacts or houses.

The most basic formation was the energy-gathering formation, which could draw dimensional energy. After that came illusion formations, defensive formations, trapping formations, tracking formations, levitation formations, and so on.

By combining formations flexibly, one could create all kinds of incredible magical artifacts.

The materials books recorded a vast number of materials that could be used to create magical artifacts. No one knew who had compiled them, but they had even thoughtfully made a materials ranking.

The number-one magical material was a branch of the World Tree. The wood was exceptionally tough, considering it could support worlds. It also had excellent magical conductivity, making it suitable for the handles of all kinds of magical artifacts, such as Thor's Hammer.

There were also magical artifacts primarily made from World Tree branches, such as the Scepter of the Living Tribunal and Merlin's Staff.

Ranked second was Uru Metal, a metal produced by neutron stars. After the Dwarves processed it with special techniques, it became a magical metal with extraordinary spell-bearing capacity. It could carry every spell currently known, and its most famous creations were Thor's Hammer and the later Storm Axe.

Ranked third was something called Blood of the Umbra. The Umbra were a form of life that lived in the Dark Dimension, secretive and powerful. Their blood was also highly adaptable to magical energy and could be used to inscribe formation runes onto magical artifacts.

If an ordinary person studied these things, it might take thirty to fifty years, and they still might not understand them.

But if someone possessed photographic memory, they could finish reading them in three to five days. Afterward, they merely had to meditate step by step and increase the depth of their spiritual power.

That was the difference between geniuses and ordinary people, and one of the reasons Strange could become the Sorcerer Supreme.

Being able to remember everything at a glance really did save an enormous amount of time.

Bai Jing felt that whether it was science or magic, both treated the talented extremely well. Freaks like Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, who could master several doctoral degrees while others were still undergraduates, would surely achieve great things even if they studied magic.

As for ordinary people, they only needed to spam "awesome" while others saved the world.

"Hello?" There was a knock at the door.

"The door isn't locked. Come in!" Bai Jing replied.

"Here's your meal!" A dark-skinned girl of indeterminate age entered carrying a tray and a bowl, then placed them on the table.

"Uh..." Bai Jing suddenly realized that he had not eaten anything since last night.

Or rather, he had not eaten anything since diving into the sea to absorb water. It had already been a full day and night!

Had his excitement over learning magic overwhelmed his hunger?

Bai Jing shook his head again. That did not seem to be it. Rather, the energy flowing into his body from the dimension had replaced some of the effects of the energy normally obtained from food.

"Does everyone get this?" Bai Jing asked, wanting to verify his guess.

"Newcomers get a little more. Older mages who have achieved success in their training get a little less!" the girl answered honestly, keeping her head lowered as she spoke.

She was a local Nepali. China was already a great celestial empire in her eyes, so she naturally treated its visitors with more respect.

Especially given Bai Jing's appearance...

"Oh..." Bai Jing nodded. Just as he had expected.

"Thank you!"

"Mhm. After you finish eating, just leave the bowl and utensils outside the door. We'll collect them!" the girl said.

"Okay, okay!"

Looking at the food in the bowl, Bai Jing fell into thought.

Practicing magic could even produce the effect of fasting. No wonder it could extend one's lifespan!

Those who fed on qi would become divine and immortal. There was actually a scientific basis for that. The food people ate underwent chemical reactions with oxygen, producing oxygen free radicals that struck telomeres, shortening them and reducing the number of times cells could divide.

That was why people could not live forever.

From that perspective, oxygen really was poisonous. It was because people breathed oxygen that they could not even live to one hundred and twenty.

So the first step of most cultivation methods was fasting.

Because the dimensional energy that was easiest to sense was scarce and could not completely replace the function of food, mages still had to eat. Therefore, their lives remained limited.

But Ancient One drew energy from the Dark Dimension, which could completely sustain her body's daily consumption. Her cells could therefore divide indefinitely, and her life naturally became long.

Of course, there might have been other reasons as well. Bai Jing had never encountered the Dark Dimension, so he had no way to speculate.

"Come to think of it, I know the coordinates of another dimension too!" Bai Jing thought of the space connected to Banner's body.

According to the knowledge he had learned at the Sanctum, the space within Banner's body was also an Alternate Dimension. Its energy could likewise be drawn out and used with the methods taught by the Sanctum.

No sooner had he thought of it than he acted. Besides, Bai Jing could now travel through space!

With one hand, he sliced open a spatial gateway and stepped straight through.

New York was ten hours behind Nepal. It was nine in the morning in Nepal, while it was eleven the previous night in New York.

Fortunately, Banner was a scientist and stayed up late.

Bai Jing arrived in his room and saw rows upon rows of components laid out neatly on the table.

Banner had actually dismantled his phone already!

"How's it going?" Bai Jing asked.

"The principles behind these components aren't complicated, but many of them can't be manufactured with our current processing capabilities!" Banner pointed at the largest screen. "For example, this screen uses an active-matrix organic light-emitting diode panel, AMOLED. I checked the database. This material is still only theoretical at present, and no company has produced it yet!"

He looked at Bai Jing curiously. Where had he gotten materials that had not even been invented yet?

"Uh..." Bai Jing was stunned. "You could tell it was AMOLED just by looking?"

"I checked the phone's factory information. It said so itself!" Banner replied.

"Uh!" Bai Jing was speechless. "I don't think that's a problem. You already have the actual item, so you should have some idea of how to make it, right?"

"I'm a theoretical scientist. I'm not particularly good at turning theory into engineering technology!" Banner shook his head.

Bai Jing was anxious. You could build a time machine, yet you said you were not good at it?

"But I can try!" Banner continued.

Bai Jing was speechless. Could you stop pausing halfway through your sentences like that?

"Also, this battery's capacity is astonishingly high!" Banner picked up the battery again. "A battery this small has a capacity of an incredible 4200mAh. Our current batteries..."

"That definitely isn't a problem!" Bai Jing said. "I know Stark Group is developing a battery. They'll have results by the end of the year at the latest. We can just use their batteries then!"

Hadn't Stark Group abandoned military manufacturing and switched to new energy? Batteries were new energy, and they were also Tony's specialty. He could buy from Stark Group when the time came, and if Tony refused to sell, he would beat him up.

"Then the only thing left is the chip!" Banner said. "This phone uses a 5nm-process chip, but the most advanced chip available right now should only be 90nm!"

If he had not seen this phone, he would never have known that chips could develop to such a degree in the future!

But since Bai Jing did not even want to discuss the screen, Banner could not be bothered to ask where the chip had come from either. He would not get an answer even if he asked.

"That isn't a problem either!" Bai Jing was confident in his cultivation speed. Would he still be unable to master spatial magic by the end of the year?

By then, he could make a magical artifact capable of shrinking chips several times over. Wouldn't a 90nm chip then work like a 5nm one?

As for overheating or computational instability, Banner could solve those!

"So what other problems are there?" Seeing Banner still looking at him eagerly, Bai Jing continued asking.

"It's still the laboratory..." Banner said. "We need actual experimental reports and technical pathways to verify the technology and apply for patents."

"Wait for now!" Bai Jing had not even mastered mirror dimension magic yet!

"I finally came back once. Let's unify Hell's Kitchen first!"