How Valuable Was Bubu's Research Potential, Really?

Jia Xiu had been a little less busy lately.

In the final stretch before the exam, cramming intensely every day was no longer appropriate. It was enough to do a few problems each day like completing daily quests; the important thing was to get into the right mindset.

It was his first time taking an exam on the magic side, so he was still somewhat nervous.

As for Jia Xiu's main job, Cult Cave Escape, it had temporarily suspended operations as well.

After all, the core employees had either had their heads explode or were currently squatting in prison.

The new employees were all undergoing training, with Jack—the "Most Holy Master" of the sleazy cultist world, playing to his true nature—teaching them how to properly act like cultists.

There was not much entertainment in Creekwood Town either, so Jia Xiu was now devoting all his energy to the research work he loved most.

And the highest priority of that work was naturally Bubu, who was currently wielding half a pair of scissors and battling an imaginary powerful foe.

Bubu stood atop a tablecloth, fighting its imaginary battle while providing its own sound effects.

"Ding! Shhk! Swish! Ha..."

Who knew why something with only 3 Strength and Constitution was so obsessed with melee combat.

Here, knight was merely a noble title; it did not mean one had to ride a mount around and chop people up.

"Bubu, stop for a moment. Take a look—is the current version about the same as the one you used?"

"Just a second! I'm about to defeat it!"

Jia Xiu flexed his slightly tired fingers. Watching this felt like seeing his childhood self pretending to be Ultraman. Who had not been a Don Quixote when they were young?

"What are you about to defeat?"

"A giant praying mantis that weighs a hundred kilograms."

Its imagination really was something.

With Bubu's help, Jia Xiu was trying to recreate the healing spell that had made its hair grow back in various colors last time.

This was an extremely difficult task.

Because Jia Xiu and Bubu had vastly different understandings of spells.

To Jia Xiu, magic was an exceptionally rigorous discipline. What effect each rune produced and what purpose it served were all certain and tightly interconnected.

But to Bubu, magic was something natural, used mainly by feel. If it felt right, then it was right.

This was probably a racial talent of fairies. Their innate ability to cast spells allowed them to use a considerable number of spells without learning them.

Fairies, dragons, certain demon races, and even human sorcerers all cast spells through this kind of "feeling."

They had inherited something incredible in their genes. Just as ordinary people would naturally figure out how to walk upright, their genes determined that they would figure out how to cast spells.

Casting spells sounded far more impressive than walking upright, but in essence, they were indeed much the same.

Thus, communication between Jia Xiu and Bubu, who had learned spells through entirely different paths, was like two people talking past each other.

"City gate towers" and "hip joints" were desperately trying to align their levels of granularity.

As for why Jia Xiu insisted on recreating Bubu's color-changing hair-growth healing spell—

That was naturally because he truly could not find any other angle to start from!

Detection Spell was entirely to blame.

It had determined that Bubu was a high-value research target, yet it did not explain where that value lay or where he should begin researching.

Jia Xiu felt like he had just downloaded some "super exciting resources," eagerly tried to open them, and discovered that he needed an extraction password.

Annoying.

Bubu being able to use a new spell by feel as soon as it saw it seemed like the most research-worthy aspect.

Because in most cases, species or professions that cast spells innately through inheritance and feeling could not simply use a new spell the moment they encountered it.

"I won!"

Bubu performed an elaborate flourish, shook off nonexistent insect blood, then smoothly sheathed its sword.

The sense of ceremony was maxed out.

"What a thrilling and intense duel."

"Alright, posing for a few seconds is enough. I'm your only audience."

"I'm coming, Boss! Bubu's here to help!"

Bubu skipped over and picked up the draft.

"Hmm..."

Its bean-like eyes narrowed into slits as it studied the draft with great focus, casually grabbing an elemental crystal and drawing out the magic within.

This was Bubu's "food."

Undead were not perpetual-motion super-creatures. Their existence also required magic power to sustain, which was why Bubu had fallen dormant before.

But the amount of magic Bubu consumed made it exceptionally easy to keep fed.

Jia Xiu had originally thought it needed to eat magical items to survive.

Instead, he discovered that the residual magic in experimental materials was enough to sustain Bubu.

It even spared him the step of demagifying discarded materials.

To prevent discarded materials from causing harmful effects, the Association required all used materials to undergo demagification treatment. It had originally been a troublesome task.

Now he could simply let Bubu eat them.

Bubu's utility really was absurdly overpowered.

"Hmm..."

After staring at the draft for several minutes, its eyes nearly disappearing into slits, Bubu finally offered its suggestion.

"Here, here, and here. These parts feel a little wrong."

Though it could not say exactly what was wrong, being able to point out where the problem was already marked a major step forward in communication between this human and spirit.

It was a step they had only taken after nearly five days of spell reconstruction and Jia Xiu teaching Bubu a great deal of basic magical knowledge.

Jia Xiu looked at the places Bubu had indicated.

"Are you sure the problem is here?"

"I'm sure, Boss."

"But these are already the most basic runes. They can't be broken down any further; they can only be used this way..."

They could only be used this way?

They could only be used this way at his current level. Could the most basic runes truly not be broken down further?

Or rather, perhaps they could not be broken down from a human perspective, but they could from Bubu's perspective.

Jia Xiu suddenly felt as though an itch in his nose had lingered for ages, and the sneeze he had wanted but could not release had finally burst out.

If the basic runes were treated as library functions, then was it possible that Bubu and he were calling different libraries?

The fairy race had its own unique rune library.

It overlapped with mainstream magic, but it was not completely identical.

When Bubu cast spells, it instinctively replaced runes it did not understand with fairy runes. That was why he could not recreate the spell perfectly.

He had gone off track from the very foundation.

So Bubu's high research value did not lie in Bubu itself, but in the fairy race's unique rune "library."

Mastering fairy runes could lead to a whole host of new magical discoveries.

At that moment, a prompt suddenly appeared.

[Research into the Fundamental Principles of Magic—Fairy Runes Analysis (Stage 1)]

[Estimated Total Score: 1100–1200]

[Recommended Attributes: Intelligence and Perception above 16]

[Reward: Fairy Poem (Legendary)]

[This is what real research is]

You had to be kidding!

Jia Xiu frowned. That prompt would have been better off never appearing. What an enormous pie in the sky.

A score over a thousand, a legendary item—

Yet the attribute requirements were so high.

Was that not the same as just downloading some "super exciting resources," even finding out how to obtain the extraction password, only to discover that it had to be purchased at an outrageously high price?

And what did that final line, "This is what real research is," mean?

Was it slandering all his previous work as not counting as research?

Wait.

Jia Xiu abruptly calmed down.

He could not eat that enormous pie in the sky anytime soon, but could he first earn some experience through research that was not real research?

Jia Xiu turned to Bubu.

Bubu grew a little nervous under his gaze and blinked innocently.

"What is it, Boss?"

"I have some very good experimental ideas. I need your cooperation now. The workload will be fairly heavy, but an outstanding knight does not fear throwing itself into the most demanding scientific research."

"Can we negotiate?"

"Three elemental crystals."

"Five."

"Deal."

Judging by how quickly its boss agreed, Bubu felt that it had probably asked for too little.