Now There Is an Opportunity Here

The next day, at the Clock Tower.

Having an elder at home was like having a treasure. Li Mo now felt that saying was absolutely right.

After a night of exploration together with Brishisan, he had basically figured out the golden power within his body.

How should he put it? It was indeed powerful, better than magical energy, and the magecraft cast through it was even stronger.

But what spells could Li Mo, a heaven-sent genius, actually use?

Boom! Nonsense barrage, Mana Burst!

But when he used magical energy to unleash that move before, those who could not block it still could not block it, while those who could block it still could.

With the demon blade drawn—hey, move, move! The opponent was not a stationary target. Did Li Mo think that, just because his magical energy torrent was rigid, an opponent who could not take it had no choice but to stand there?

Conclusion one: fucking useless.

Then there was Reinforcement Magecraft plus Projection Magecraft.

Using golden power to cast Reinforcement Magecraft did make it stronger, but...

Brishisan: You're a mage, not a berserker!

Keep using it to reinforce his tongue? Would that not really turn him into an idiot? There were so many changes in power that, if he failed to reinforce his tongue properly, he might turn into someone with a huge tongue instead.

As for Projection Magecraft? No matter how realistic the projection was, it was still fake, wasn't it?

Was there really such a huge difference between being thirty percent real and fifty percent real?

Besides, to project something, the caster had to understand it and know its origins. But aside from that Holy Grail, Li Mo could only project a few daily necessities...

Conclusion two: still fucking useless!

As for the rest, such as Flower Magecraft, the minor magecraft he had learned at the Clock Tower, and the Words of Power Brishisan had taught him... also useless!

How was he supposed to enhance things that did not require his own magical energy to cast in the first place?

Conclusion three: truly fucking useless!

In Brishisan's words, "Young people should throw themselves into the ocean of knowledge and study the things passed down by their predecessors, instead of thinking about that brute-force Mana Burst nonsense all day."

Of course, if they were being serious, Li Mo's gains had actually been enormous.

Both the nature and quantity of his power had changed. How could his gains not be huge?

If the magical energy in Li Mo's body had once been comparable to a grenade, then he was now a Dongfeng-5 ballistic missile.

There were probably only a few people in the entire world now who could withstand one of his Mana Bursts!

And his control over this power was different too. Perhaps because the magical energy in his body had been too vast before, he had only been able to use it at around sixty percent efficiency. But with this golden magical energy, he could reach ninety percent. It felt like power he had cultivated himself!

That alone had made Brishisan jealous all night.

Naturally, Brishisan would never say that aloud. He would only say things like, "Mm, not bad," or, "Still a little worse than me. After I cultivated at the spiritual vein back then, I only needed three days to completely master my power."

No one knew what the actual truth was, but one thing was certain: whether it was Li Mo's original magical energy or his current golden power, he had far more of it than Brishisan could ever hope to have.

Putting that aside, although this golden power seemed to offer little benefit to Li Mo at the moment, he had discovered its nicest feature.

That golden power would automatically circulate through the 365 Magic Circuits in his body!

Li Mo already had a rough idea of what that meant.

Everlasting and unceasing—perhaps after a hundred years, Li Mo might truly become a god!

That was, provided he could survive the Incineration of Humanity in 2014.

"Still, I wonder when I'll be able to open the world inside this Withered Lotus again." Li Mo carefully placed the Withered Lotus into a box and muttered to himself.

Yes, he could no longer enter the world within that Withered Lotus.

After discussing it with Brishisan, he had tried every method he could think of. Yet he had never managed to communicate with the lotus again, nor could he sense the starry world within it.

Blood binding, spiritual communication—he had even tried bonding with the thing physically!

Perhaps the power in his body had already reached saturation, so he could no longer absorb more power and thus could not communicate with it?

Li Mo did not know. Even now, he had not figured out what exactly this lotus was.

But that was the only possibility he could think of.

Gathering his thoughts, Li Mo rose and prepared to head out.

He felt that Brishisan was right. As a mage, he really should not only know those three tricks.

But since he had decided to learn more magecraft, why not start by learning Touko's Puppet Magecraft?

After all, Li Mo had coveted puppets that obeyed only him for a long time!

Were there not countless legendary shut-ins in the main world who obsessed over figurines of the goddesses from anime and games?

Not only would he make one life-sized, it would move, talk, obey only him, and even warm his bed!

If he brought that to the main world, those shut-ins would go insane, would they not?

Thinking of a crowd of shut-ins shouting, "Give back our goddess!" and "Save the goddess, kill Li Mo!" before charging at him all at once, Li Mo shuddered all over.

Too terrifying. So Li Mo decided:

Make two more!

However, just as Li Mo was about to leave, Brishisan pushed open the door and walked in with a bang.

His carefully worked-up mood instantly collapsed. Li Mo's face fell as he said, "Teacher, I'm about to come of age, at least. Could you knock before opening the door next time?"

Brishisan seemed to think of something. He backed out of the room, closing the door behind him again.

"You continue. Call me when you're done."

Li Mo: ???

A few seconds later, Li Mo finally understood.

Good heavens, Teacher Brishisan seemed to have misunderstood something!

He got up, opened the door, and rushed out of the room in one fluid motion!

"Teacher Brishisan, listen to my explanation!"

In the living room, Brishisan held a magecraft book in his hand. He turned to look at Li Mo, his expression unchanged. "You don't need to explain. I was once your age too. I understand whatever you want to say."

Then Brishisan stood up, forcing a stern expression onto his face. "Mō-san, it's normal for young people to have such urges. But precisely because you're young, you must learn to restrain yourself. You cannot go down those crooked paths!"

Brishisan spoke earnestly, while more and more black lines appeared over Li Mo's head...

Then... "Teacher, enough! Can you just tell me what you came for already?!"

I wasn't doing anything weird at all, okay? Li Mo felt utterly wronged.

"Fine~" Brishisan dropped his forced expression and said seriously, "Haven't you always wanted to learn real magecraft?

Now there is an opportunity here. It just depends on whether you want it."