The weather was getting a bit cold. Sylutia looked outside. There was a layer of pale frost on the windows and the sky was a little gray.
There was no class this morning, so she took a nap and didn't get up until after nine o'clock. She put on warm socks and a knee-length dress, and finally put on the light cloak issued by the Academy and walked out of the house.
First, we went to the restaurant to eat some fruit and bread. Sylutia looked at the time. It would be exactly ten o'clock. The teacher should be in the office, and then he went to the building not far away.
Arriving at the on-duty office for the freshmen class on the third floor, Sylutia lightly knocked on the wooden door, and after a while a voice came from inside.
"Come in."
She opened the door and walked in. The teacher inside saw her coming and smiled.
"Why did you come here suddenly today? Is there any problem with the course?" In the eyes of the teacher, this girl is probably the most worry-free student. Not only is she smart and good at studying, she is also very polite and abides by the rules. Unlike some geniuses, although their talents and abilities are good, they often do things that give teacher Academy a headache and trouble.
"It's not a question about the course." The girl shook her head first, then walked closer and asked.
"I want to know what advanced secret techniques Academy has that I can learn and choose."
"Advanced?" The teacher quickly realized something and then looked at the girl.
"For ordinary students, it's a bit anxious, but if it's you..." He thought for a while.
"It seems we can start preparations."
"Follow me." After saying that, he stood up, took Sylutia out of the office, and then went to the other side of the Academy. Here is "Hall of Silver Wheels". The interior of the whole building is like multiple overlapping silver gears Rotation, and on the inner wall of each gear are placed precise stone tablets, which store various secret techniques and spell models.
After entering here, the teacher had a few words with the guardian here, and then took Sylutia to the underground part, which was divided into several circular underground libraries, and he took Sylutia into one of them.
"This is it." He turned around.
"Hedra, here are stored a variety of Core Secret Art from the "Mithril Clock" school, which you can choose at the third level."
"Considering that this is your first time here, let me give you a general introduction."
"First of all, our school originated from a group of "Watchmaker". Because the production of clocks requires high quality and a lot of knowledge and skills, it developed into an organization."
"Later, the school slowly absorbed many similar knowledge theories and became one of the important factions in the early days of the Mage Alliance. Now it has accumulated a large number of secret techniques and techniques."
"The current members of the "Mithril Clock" school can be roughly divided into three mainstream advancement directions. One is mainly focused on making precision Enchanting Creation. They can also be called traditional Watchmaker, who are good at enchantment, Enchanting Creation production, precision instrument creation, etc."
"The second one is mainly about laws and analysis. They are familiar with various legal rules and are good at identifying and analyzing, breaking through illusions, distinguishing authenticity, investigating data and information, etc."
"The third is the time and space star track. This direction has the least number of people and the highest difficulty. It needs to gain the perception of "Alien Star" and fully grasp the power of "Alien Star" without being eroded or shaken. You can use the power of the Astral Realm creatures from other worlds, or you can combine the power of Star-Drawing track with the school's original time system secret method to gain the ability to interfere with time."
"Don't make a decision in a hurry. I'll show you Core Secret Art in each advanced direction, and then you make a decision." The other party pulled out a silver stone tablet on the wall, and then cast a special decryption spell.
A shining trace lit up on the stone tablet, like a flame, uncovering the hidden pattern and writing, revealing its true appearance. Then he took off several more stone tablets one after another, unsealed them, and placed them on the table for the girl to watch.
"Mercury Page" is one of the advanced core secrets that can improve one's mental stability and enchantment precision, which indirectly improves Enchanting Creation and spell quality. (Mental stability +2, enchantment quality +3)
"Manifestation Page" is one of the advanced core secrets that can greatly improve the effect of Enchanting Creation. If Magic Orb is used, the power of transformed Aspect Power will be more powerful. (Enchanting Creation effect +3, Magic Orb consumption reduction +2)
"Silver-Engraving Page" is one of the advanced core secrets that can increase the power of Construct Spell and control more complex structural capabilities. (Construct Spell power +2, complexity +3)
"Command Page" is one of the advanced core secrets, which can greatly increase the power of Command Spell, and inscribe a law on Title Page, which will automatically add the effect of the law to the attack spells cast. (Command Spell power +3, attack spells are additionally equipped with a law)
"Spell-Breaking Page" is one of the advanced core secrets that can improve one's ability to analyze and gain stronger ability to break spells. (Analysis ability +2, spell breaking effect +3)
"Star-Praying Page" is one of the advanced core secrets that can enhance one's perception of Alien Star and gain partial resistance to Alien Star erosion to communicate and summon more and more powerful Alien Star creatures. (Perception Alien Star+2, Resistance Alien Star erosion +2, Summoning lineage +1)
"Star-Selecting Page" is one of the advanced core secrets. Designate a single star, strengthen the connection with the star, and obtain the protection given by the star. (Perception Alien Star+1, resistance to Alien Star erosion +1, star protection +3)
"Astronomical Clock Page" is one of the advanced core secrets. It relies on perceiving the stars to indirectly gain the perception of real time, and gradually masters the ability to accelerate thinking and interfere with time. (Perception Alien Star + 2, true knowledge of time + 2, time interference + 1)
Although there are many choices, when Sylutia saw "Astronomical Clock Page", he knew that this was his inevitable choice.
As early as the Woodland, she heard Woodland Alliance's senior executives talk about this advanced secret technique, but at that time their name was "Arcane Astronomical Clock". The perception of real time would involve Hour's authority, so this advanced secret technique, Mage Alliance, has always been covered up.
This should be considered inevitable. Many secrets of the "Mithril Clock" school involve rules and regulations, and once such things are traced back to the source, they will involve Hour.
"I choose Astronomical Clock Page." Sylutia picked up this stone tablet. The silver Astronomical Clock pattern was engraved on it, which was particularly beautiful.
"This..." The teacher looked at the girl with a slightly hesitant expression.
"Astronomical Clock Page is the core advanced secret technique that His Majesty decentralized twenty years ago. It does not have much advantage in the early stage. Instead, it will face the erosion of Alien Star, making you spend extra time and energy to deal with it."
"There have been students who have chosen it before, but many of them regretted it at the third and fourth levels, because subsequent advancements on this path will become more and more difficult. In the end, they have to spend a lot of money to change their core before they can continue on the extraordinary road."
"If you want to choose Core Secret Art to advance, you need to be mentally prepared."
"I'll be ready." Sylutia nodded solemnly, indicating that she was not joking.
Seeing that the girl was determined, the teacher no longer tried to dissuade her, but talked about the advantages of Core Secret Art.
"Although it is the most difficult, the benefits are rare among other secret arts. It is like a Key, which opens the door to the truth of this world for you and allows you to get a glimpse of the secrets hidden by Hour."
"The time perceived by most people is actually controlled by "Clock of Four Seasons", and the real time and the time described by "Clock of Four Seasons" do not completely coincide. They sometimes produce errors. At this time, Hour is often adjusting the timing and changing the world."
"However, as "Clock of Four Seasons" rotates, this error will slowly disappear and coincide again."
"At the third level, this Core Secret Art can only speed up your thinking at most. At the fourth level, it can slightly speed up your body's reaction speed. And at the Fifth Order, it can Deceleration the passage of time in a small range. As for the time that most people think about turning back time, I'm afraid it will take Seventh Order to interfere with time and make it flow back briefly."
"However, this ability to interfere with time is ultimately challenging the authority of Hour, and it also relies on the power of "Alien Star" from this world. Even if you reach a high level, you still need to use it with caution." He paused.
"If you choose this Core Secret Art to advance to Fifth Order, you should be able to meet your majesty and he will tell you the way forward."
"What do you mean by your Majesty?" Sylutia had a vague guess in his mind.
"That person is the one who led the "Mithril Clock" school to glory, and is also one of the Named Ones of the current Mage Alliance. His True Name has been engraved on World Wall. Once I read it, it will induce a reaction, so I will not say it unless necessary."
"But this is not a secret. Sooner or later, you will know who is your crown prince." The other party put away the other stone tablets, put them back on the stone shelf, embedded them in the grooves, and then sealed them again.
"Today you will be Core Secret Art in this memory stele. When the memory is completed, just return the stele to the guardian here."
After that, he explained some more things, and then left Sylutia behind.
Sylutia sat down at the table with the stone tablet, gently touched the silver patterns and writing on it with his hands again, then closed his eyes and immersed himself in it.
Soon, waves of fog broke through her mind, and then a precise and grand scene appeared in her consciousness.
It was a scene above the sky. A majestic clock stood like the sky, with numerous vines and floral decorations on it, surrounded by many Fairy. Four hazy figures were guarding the clock, and it was hard to see clearly...
A kind of enlightenment suddenly appeared in Sylutia's heart. This should be the legendary "Clock of Four Seasons". It is said that in ancient times, Fairy people used it to determine the seasons when all things grow and wither, and divide the four seasons of rotation.
Although the Fairys once lost their position as Hour, the Law Dragons who replaced them in charge of Hour did not destroy this magnificent creation.
Later, Alien Star came into the world. This giant clock was damaged. A "Alien Star" penetrated the clock dial, causing a hole in it. The power of the Astral Realm also penetrated through this and changed many rules of the world.
At the end of Seventh Era, the Law Dragons and Fairy reached an agreement that they would repair this magnificent bell and transfer some of their positions to Hour. Then the four Fairy Hours would jointly take charge of this giant clock.
The picture in her field of vision gradually zoomed in, Sylutia went deep into the dial of the magnificent clock, and wandered through it. Her eyes gradually Penetration the clock dial, and saw the complex structure inside. The inside of this giant clock was not controlled by complex mechanical gears as she imagined, but was filled with countless shells, conches, and fish bone fossils.
The lines on those conch shells accumulate traces of "time", and the dead fish bone fossils also symbolize countless time cycles in the past. The time interval for a water droplet to pass through the gap of the conch shell is one second, and the accumulation of water to fill a shell is one minute. Each additional water stain pattern deposited on the fish bone fossils is one year.
The length of minutes and seconds in this world is not fixed, but is determined by this magnificent clock, but all things will not be aware of this, because under the influence of Hour, the operation of all things is affected by it. It will lengthen the time of one second, the reaction time of living things will also be lengthened, and the time for the water to fall will also be lengthened simultaneously. Therefore, under normal circumstances, all things will not be aware of the difference at all.
However, such a perfect and powerful divine creation eventually had a loophole. A cracked "Stars" was embedded in the dial, and its power penetrated into the surroundings. Although it is currently suppressed, it still brought strange changes to this perfect creation.
Inside the dial affected by "Stars", complex precision gears are slowly taking shape and rotating. Its appearance represents the birth of new concepts and rules in an independent world, and the creature that can accomplish such a feat will be called "Named One".
Although "Named One" is not Hour, it has already touched some changes in the rules.
After memorizing Core Secret Art in the stone tablet, Sylutia felt like a world away. It was only one afternoon, but it seemed as if more than ten years had passed.
She slowly stood up, hugged the stone tablet, and handed it back to the guardian of "Hall of Silver Wheels". The other person was an unknown person wearing full body armor. She didn't even know whether the other person was a real human being.
"I received your return, classmate Hedra, you can leave normally."
Sylutia nodded to express his gratitude and then left "Hall of Silver Wheels".
After understanding the direction of advancement, she will start preparing various things needed for advancement.
First, make the "Astronomical Clock" required for the advanced level yourself, and then learn "Star-Praying Meditation Technique", a set of intermediate Meditation Technique. This set of Meditation Technique can strengthen your resistance to the erosion of "Alien Star" and help you perceive some information about the Astral Realm.
The next step is to engrave Title Page, which also requires a lot of resources and materials, and then to learn "Star-Sensing Method" so that you can get inductive contact with "Stars" in Clock of Four Seasons.
The last step is to formally advance, seal Astronomical Clock into Title Page, and use it as the core to deploy the runes on Title Page. Then, synchronize the entire Title Page with Clock of Four Seasons, and finally complete the engraving, so that she can know the current time no matter where she is.
ps: In the previous chapter, it was said that "Arcane Astronomical Clock" comes from Tower of the Silver Bird, but now it is changed to "Mithril Clock"