Awakening and Construct Studies

As he turned the pages one by one, suddenly—

"Repairs have reached activation threshold. Converting from conceptual form to quantum form."

What was that sound?! Though Shane was startled, he made no other move besides silently casting Alarm and Needle Dart twice in succession without changing expression. He looked as though he were completely absorbed in reading, his hand still turning pages.

A mage possessed extraordinary control over his will and would not suffer auditory hallucinations. If a voice suddenly appeared by one's ear, then either one had fallen under an illusion or it truly existed.

"Conversion progress: 10... 20... 30..."

The pain across his skin did not stop the voice. Shane silently held a large Fireball at the ready, capable of causing quite a commotion if necessary.

"Quantum conversion complete. Beginning cerebral link."

The voice came from inside his head—or perhaps it was acting directly on his brain? Before he could figure it out, what happened next caught him completely off guard. The arcane residue that usually overflowed from his head while casting suddenly drew inward all at once. Even the mana within his body was sucked toward the space between his brows. His mind, once exceptionally sharp from being filled with magic, instantly became dry and unbearably uncomfortable.

Mana addiction! From the moment the Sunwell was established, it had become the original sin of every high elf. It was impossible for Shane to have traveled through time for so many years without making any preparations. He had no idea when the Sunwell would be destroyed by the Scourge. Faced with the depletion of magic, elves would either find other sources of energy to feed upon, desperately restrain themselves, or become Wretched.

Suppressing his craving for magic, Shane leaned back in his chair and meditated with all his strength. He could directly absorb the radiation from the Sunwell, but the pleasure would erode his will. Through meditation, he converted it and accumulated energy with restraint. The fine, ceaseless trickle of magical power was the greatest difference between him and other elven mages.

This meditation lasted far longer than usual. Only when the sun rose did he open his eyes. The swollen sensation between his brows told him that the thing in his head had finally awakened.

"That actually gave me a fright." Shane sighed, preparing to close the book and take a rest. He needed to sort through his thoughts properly.

"I'll read again tomorrow... Hm? I understood it instantly?" The moment his gaze swept over the page, its contents and meaning flooded into his mind. His thoughts comprehended the material and its applications with incomparable clarity.

"Incredible!" He turned to the next page, and it was the same—it was memorized and understood. Another page... finished... another page... still finished. In one sitting, he had somehow completed the material he had expected to take twenty days to learn. Leaning back in his chair, he thought of the Eye of Truth in his mind.

"Report: Based on this device's capabilities, analyzing each page of <Basic Construct Creature Structure: Explanation and Applications> requires only 0.5 seconds."

The Eye of Truth responded immediately to a mere thought.

"A decoder?" Shane rubbed his temples uncomfortably. After all, not everyone could immediately adapt to something acting directly on their brain. "Since you can respond to my thoughts, tell me about yourself."

"Understood. This device is a crystallization of arcane studies from Faerûn. Creator: an indescribable great existence. Its function is analysis. Its purpose is to assist the user in analytical work, save time, and thereby shorten the time needed to reach the essence of the arcane. Report complete."

"Is that all? That's far too little," Shane thought after listening.

"This device lost its database during the crossing. Only the above information remains."

"Then what state are you currently in within my brain, and what is our relationship?"

"Report: This device is currently attached to the user's cerebral neurons in quantum form. The relationship between host and device is that of user and auxiliary tool."

"In other words, you have to obey me."

"Yes. The user's commands are the highest principle."

Shane gained a somewhat clearer understanding of the situation. A smile curled his lips, making him look no different from a young elf who had encountered a small piece of good news.

"For the next ten days, your task is to help me analyze every spellbook I see."

"Understood!"

<An Introduction to Crafting Magical Weapons and Armor>, An Introduction to Metamagic Casting Techniques, An Introduction to the Eight Schools, ...

Shane spent ten days learning every piece of knowledge he could get his hands on, categorizing and storing it in his mind. With the Eye of Truth assisting him, he was practically a walking library.

"They're all the most basic of basics. I'll have to enter the library before I can learn more advanced arcane knowledge." Shane recalled the jokes from his previous life about struggling poor warriors and privileged mages, and gained a deeper understanding of them in this life. Poor warriors had it hard, but mages had it even harder.

In Silvermoon City, every elf knew one or two cantrips. The floating buildings and everlasting radiance all represented the prosperity and flourishing of magical civilization. Yet prosperity did not mean magical knowledge was widespread and freely available. On the contrary, knowledge circulated only among certain classes, such as arcane spellcasters.

"Obtaining that knowledge does not come without a price. You need to make sufficient contributions. First, live there quietly for a few months and learn one or two crafts. That will give you a source of income, allowing you to pursue further spell studies. Take it slowly. Don't rush. We elves live for a very, very long time."

"I know the library's curator. He is a cold mage focused solely on his own research. You will have almost no chance of receiving any guidance from him. He does not care much about what happens below him either, so everything will depend on you, Shane. There is no gentle, peaceful environment among mages, so..."

"So I answer tooth for tooth and eye for eye." After finishing the introductory letter, Shane gained some idea of the life awaiting him.

The day he was to report for duty soon arrived. Shane adjusted himself to his best condition before going to meet his future superior, Aldorron.

He passed through the busy docks and headed straight for the library.

"I am Shane Dawnblade. Archmage Aldorron asked me to report here today," Shane said to the arcane guard at the entrance.

"Querying records. Identity confirmed. Correct. Time confirmed. Correct. Please enter, Mage Shane."

The single eye atop the arcane guard's head flashed several times as it stepped aside, and a passage naturally appeared. Shane followed it inside. The light dimmed, then instantly brightened again.

"Greetings, Mage Shane. The curator is conducting a very important experiment. Please allow me to guide you." The speaker was an arcane golem, one Shane had seen during quests in Shattrath in his previous life.

"There are twelve apprentice mages like you in the mage tower, as well as three administrators. Some conduct research in private areas of the library, while others are away. In short, you will rarely have the chance to encounter them."

"Your private area is on the second floor. Please follow me." The arcane golem spoke as it walked up to the second floor.

The room was roughly fifty square meters and divided into three areas. The largest was a laboratory, followed by a scroll-copying room, with the bedroom being the smallest.

"The library provides you with a fixed monthly resource allotment. In return, you must copy thirty scrolls each month, or produce an equivalent quantity of potions for the library."

Shane had long known of this arrangement and nodded to show that he understood.

"The library on the third floor mainly contains nonmagical books. You may borrow them freely, as long as you remember to return them at the end of the month. The library on the fourth floor stores magical books, which may only be read inside the library. The fifth floor is the curator's room. Unless summoned, you had better not go up there. The last person who did so has already become seaweed in Sun Sail Harbor."

"Do you understand everything?"

"I understand," Shane said.

"Then, goodbye, new recruit!"

Bang! The magical golem vanished into the air, leaving behind only specks of arcane residue.

Shane took a lap around his room to get a general look at it, then walked into the laboratory. Inside stood a workbench, while the shelves lining the walls were piled with materials: all sorts of herbs, metal ingots, powders, essences, and more. He also spotted an arcane crystal.

"This is probably my monthly allotment."

Without lingering in the laboratory, Shane headed to the fourth-floor library. Knowledge was power, and time was life. Although the Eye of Truth had been activated, he still chose construct crafting as his first magical craft, as he had originally planned. He had finished learning the basics of construct studies. Now, he needed to advance into deeper knowledge concerning the crafting of cores and limbs.

Shane saw no one else on the fourth floor. Even the administrator was a construct creature.

"I need books on construct studies."

"Section C4," the construct creature replied in an electronic voice.

Shane quickly found the books he needed: Construct Creature Core Crafting and Construct Creature Design. He sat down in a corner of the library and began studying.

The moment he opened the book, the knowledge within was directly imprinted into his mind. Just as he was about to turn to the second page—

"Detected attached spell. Function: alarm, tracking." The Eye of Truth's voice sounded in his mind.

"It's the library's anti-theft mechanism. It will probably activate as soon as I leave the library." Shane thought of the administrator's core, flickering with electricity. "In the future, there is no need to report identical spells on books here."

"Yes, user."

The interruption lasted only an instant and did not affect his reading pace. He turned the pages in his hands one after another and quickly finished the first book before immediately beginning the second. Construct studies gradually formed a complete system in Shane's mind. Arcane currents connected like veins, forming a humanoid blueprint.

"The core should be designed in the chest." As Shane thought this, a core was added to the diagram in his mind.

"A single eye in the head, capable of firing a destructive death ray powerful enough to pierce Silvermoon City's walls. Both hands should have drills and giant pincers, with an output of one hundred thousand horsepower. The legs need powerful traction and must also serve as thrusters."

Following his thoughts, and with the Eye of Truth's assistance, he gradually completed the design. It was shaped like a five-meter-tall robot.

"Report: This blueprint contains three hundred and eighty-eight arcane energy nodes and five thousand seven hundred and ninety-one arcane circuits. First, the core output must exceed one hundred and fifty thousand horsepower. Even with sufficient output, existing materials are insufficient to maintain structural stability. Core crafting is also a problem. The greatest difficulty is that the user's current skill is completely inadequate. Furthermore, the leg thrusters make it impossible to guarantee the construct's balance of center of gravity..."

"Wait, wait." Shane hurriedly stopped the voice in his head. Those ideas were merely a man's romance, an interest formed in his previous life. He was only indulging in a bit of fantasy now that he had the chance.

"Do you know what a man's romance is?" Shane asked.

"No. Establishing topic task. Receiving new term. Establishing database. Please provide the user's definition of a man's romance."

Shane knew that the Eye of Truth had learning functions. After thinking for a moment, he conveyed, "A man's romance refers to something that makes men burn from the depths of their souls and sends their blood boiling. Something that is actually useless, yet has long been yearned for in one's heart and feels so beautiful it seems to sparkle."

"Understood. Definition stored. However, this device has detected that whenever the user thinks of this female, the user also burns from the depths of the soul and has boiling blood."

Vereesa's image appeared in his mind.

"A lesser degree of boiling blood is caused by this female."

Then Alleria's image appeared.

Shane admitted that he liked Vereesa and had a small degree of admiration for Alleria as well. But those were thoughts any normal man would have. What was wrong with that? So, "Shut up!"

"Understood. Topic task concluded. How should the blueprint be handled?"

"Save it." Shane thought it would not hurt to keep it.

After dealing with the two books that served as general design guides for construct studies, Shane continued studying the other books. Though it would not take much time with the Eye of Truth's assistance, he did not want to waste even a moment. He began studying Refinement of Construct Components and Construct Metalworking. These two major subjects alone filled dozens of five-meter-tall bookshelves.