Sorcery Models

On a road through White House Academy, Green strode toward his mentor Lilian's laboratory.

"With the Chip, I don't need to worry about how hard it is to construct a sorcery model. Choosing the right element matters much more!" Thinking of his Elemental Affinity, Green felt a little helpless.

Generally, the purer someone's Elemental Affinity, the easier it was to cast sorcery of that type. But an overly pure talent brought its own problem: casting other types of sorcery became an uphill struggle for little reward.

Green expected life and nature sorcery to cost him less than half as much as it would an ordinary apprentice, with barely any backlash. But negative energy and corrosion sorcery would cost him several times more Mental Power, and even if he cast them successfully, they would harm him.

"Nothing in this world is perfect. The way of heaven takes from what has too much to make up for what lacks; the way of man takes from what lacks to add to what already has too much. No one is without flaws. I should play to my strengths and cover my weaknesses, not chase perfection." After reassuring himself, Green quickened his pace.

"Mentor! I've finished Spell Model Construction. I'd like to collect my free sorcery models and buy a few more!" Green said when he reached Lilian.

"Hmm! You came as soon as the course ended. Green, your talent really is extraordinary!" Lilian set down the beaker in her hand and spoke with a sigh of wonder.

Looking at Green, Lilian felt another wave of amazement. She had been following his progress and knew he was talented, but she had never imagined his talent was this extraordinary. He grasped any subject as soon as he studied it; the slightest hint was enough. Nearly every School in the Academy had approached her, hoping she would give Green up, even offering to pay a price. If she had not been an alchemist, she might not have been able to keep him.

"I won't interfere with your other courses. I only want to know how your Alchemy is coming along," Lilian said, asking the question she cared about most.

"I've mastered everything in Alchemy Fundamentals and have a basic understanding of the medicinal properties of various plants. I'll start making beginner Potions within a month at most," Green replied calmly, his voice full of confidence.

Lilian was clearly pleased with his progress. A smile spread across her aged face.

"Second-Class Apprentices can collect two models for free. Your Elemental Affinity leans mainly toward life and fire, so I prepared these for you in advance: Treant Summoning and Lesser Energy Fireball. You're a Grand Knight, and Life Barrier can shield you from any Apprentice Level attack. There's no need to strengthen your defenses further." Lilian walked to a wooden rack beside her, took two Crystal Orbs from a pile, and placed them on the table.

Green was both surprised and flattered that Lilian had prepared sorcery models for him in advance. Even at the Academy, it was rare to see a Formal Wizard care so much about an apprentice.

"Thank you for looking out for me, Mentor." Green hurriedly expressed his gratitude and took the two Crystal Orbs from the table with both hands. They glowed green and red, reflecting the attributes of the sorcery within.

"These two spells suit you very well, especially Treant Summoning. Other apprentices can only use it to delay an enemy, but with your Life Force Affinity, the Treants you summon will be much stronger. Remember, though: before you leave the Academy on a mission, you must master at least five spells." Lilian was afraid that learning sorcery might make Green overconfident, so she added the warning.

"Don't worry, Mentor. I won't leave the Academy unless I'm sufficiently prepared."

Lilian thought of Green's ascetic way of life over the past three months and felt that her warning might have been unnecessary.

"As long as you understand!"

After saying goodbye to Lilian, Green hurried back to his dormitory and took the Crystal Orbs from inside his clothes.

"I can finally learn Zero-Level Sorcery. Until now, Wizard's Hand was the only spell I had. At last, I'll have more ways to handle different situations." Joy flashed in Green's eyes as he looked at the two Crystal Orbs before him.

"Constructing a spell model is tedious for ordinary apprentices, and failure can damage their Mental Power. But it's no problem for me. With the Chip, there's almost no chance of failure."

Green closed his eyes, entered a meditative state, and extended his Mental Power into a Crystal Orb.

"Chip, extract the contents of the Crystal Orbs."

[Extracting]

[Extraction complete: Treant Summoning. Lesser Energy Fireball]

[Beginning model construction]

[Optimizable structures detected. Optimize?]

The Chip's prompt left Green bewildered.

"Chip, why wasn't there an optimization option for Wizard's Hand?" Green asked.

[Previous knowledge reserves were insufficient. This optimization draws on sorcery principles, methods of improving energy flow, Origin and Use of Mental Power, and other texts. The Wizard's Hand model can also be optimized. Optimize it simultaneously?]

Hearing the Chip's explanation, Green felt a surge of delight.

"Optimize it now! Optimize all of them!" Green said without hesitation.

As he watched the models being optimized, Green's delight only grew. Improving a model was no simple task. Even First-Class Apprentices rarely attempted it. Most publicly available models had already been refined to their limits, and few people could improve them further. Even if they did, the gains would be small. No one wanted to put in so much effort for so little reward.

"What results can the optimization achieve? How long will it take?"

[Estimated total Mental Power cost of optimization: 14 points. Estimated time: 3 hours, 27 minutes.]

[Estimated results: Wizard's Hand casting time reduced to 0.2 seconds; Mental Power cost reduced from two units per hour to one unit per hour. Treant Summoning casting time reduced to 1 second; Treant strength increased by 27.3%, with Fire Element resistance increased by 32.1%; Mental Power cost reduced by 13%. Lesser Energy Fireball casting time reduced to 0.1 seconds; sustained burning and explosive effects added; estimated direct damage increased by 72%; Mental Power cost reduced by 15%.]

Green drew a sharp breath at the Chip's projected results. To most Wizards, improvements on this scale would not be called optimization. They would be called reconstruction.

As the three spells underwent optimization, Green could clearly feel himself growing tired.

"So this is the Mental Power cost of increasing the Chip's computing power?" Green could bear that much.

"Show me my attributes."

[Green. Strength: 6.2. Speed: 6.2. Constitution: 6.2. Mental Power: 22 (decreasing continuously)]

[Talent: Life Barrier (All-Element Resistance)]

[Skill: Wizard's Hand (optimizing)]

"My strength, speed, and constitution have all risen by 0.1. That must be because of the Extreme Meditation Method." Looking at his improved physical attributes, Green silently thought of the technique.

Green paid no attention to the All-Element Resistance note beside Life Barrier. After reading a detailed explanation of Grand Knights' barriers in a book, he had told the Chip to add it. All-Element Resistance meant that Life Barrier could effectively block attacks of any element, with no weakness against a particular one.