Over the next few months, aside from keeping up his work for the Boreas family as a tutor and helping Roxy practice magic models,
he devoted almost all his energy to developing the theory behind "waterjet magic" and putting it into practice.
The process was far harder than he had imagined. How could he control mana precisely enough to "grasp" and "compress" water molecules?
How could he keep the water stream stable and "sharp" while maintaining high pressure?
How could he give it enough speed and energy at the instant of release?
The precision of mana control, the strain on his mental power, and the deep understanding of the water element required all far exceeded those of ordinary magic.
Sometimes he roped Roxy into his experiments, using her mana; at other times, he shamelessly approached Philip to ask for some expensive Magic Crystals as a power source. (Having reserve mana was always more convenient.)
Speaking of Magic Crystals, there was the first time Philip handed Cui Ciyou a fist-sized, clear and flawless Magic Crystal.
He had been so absorbed that he forgot to suppress his "Anti-Magic Field" in time, and the result was...
The Magic Crystal, filled with a vast reservoir of mana, silently dissolved into nothing the instant his fingertips touched it, like snow and ice under the sun.
[These things seem pretty expensive—Magic Crystals.]
Cui Ciyou could still vividly recall:
Philip's face, twisted out of shape by the pain of the loss.
And the complicated, heartbroken expression he gave Cui Ciyou, as though he had a spendthrift son in the family.
After that, he would only "lend" Cui Ciyou Magic Crystals a little at a time, like squeezing toothpaste from a tube—one crystal per visit, two at most.
Even though he explained the properties of the "Anti-Magic Field"