Necromancer, What the Heck Is Summoning a 055? Section 30

"Look at someone else's coursework, then look at what you've written down! Were you off dreaming about your sweethearts during class?"

He mercilessly directed his fire at the whole group, looking utterly pained. "Roy comes from a far better family than any of you and has wealth you can't even imagine, yet he works harder than every one of you! How can you still stand around grinning like idiots?"

"Where's your future? At the bottom of a rice bucket?!"

Under Morton's roaring, all of Glimmer Group Three were driven to the brink by Chen Mo's relentless example, feeling suffocated as never before.

Away from the others' eyes, Morton spent more and more time giving Chen Mo "VIP private tutoring," and Chen Mo's notebook grew visibly thicker.

"There's no absolute hierarchy among the different classes, only differences in strength and specialization. You need to understand how to handle different situations..."

"Summoning uses spatial psionic energy to achieve transfers across realms..."

"A spell model is a bridge, connecting the source of psionic energy to the point where the spell is cast. The more regular the model's construction, the more smoothly the psionic energy it draws upon can flow, and the more powerful the spell will be. That's why the same spell can have different effects when cast by different people..."

"Warriors store psionic energy within themselves, making it an extension of their own arms, so their attacks are faster and more flexible. High-level warriors who can project their psionic energy outside their bodies are especially dangerous. They can strike several times faster than a mage can channel psionic energy. When you encounter a warrior, make sure you keep enough distance..."

"Magic materials are vitally important. As a mage, you must know the materials you use regularly inside and out, and check them carefully before casting! Otherwise, if someone slips a few 'special items' into your casting materials, the spell might simply fail, or your mind could be damaged, potentially causing irreparable consequences!"

"Make absolutely certain you remember that!"

Looking at Instructor Morton's deadly serious, slightly twisted face, Chen Mo seemed to understand something and nodded firmly.

Morton stressed the point several more times. Only after confirming that Chen Mo had taken it to heart did he nod slightly and take out a bag, handing it to him. "I have some specially formulated potions here that can relieve mental fatigue after meditation. You should know what kind of person I am by now. If you trust me, you can try using a little. It should be of some help to you!"

This was incredibly useful!

"Thank you so much! Um, how much are they?"

"I made them myself. Why would I charge you? They're yours."

"If you won't take any money, then I can't accept them!"

"..."

When Chen Mo came out of his one-on-one tutoring session, Kato had already bought him dinner.

"Why are you late again today? I really admire you. I've never seen Old Mo pay this much attention to any apprentice. Hey, what's that in your hand? Did Old Mo give it to you?"

"Yeah, the instructor gave it to me."

Chen Mo casually opened the bag and, while shoveling down his meal, took out two potions and tossed them to Kato. "Instructor Morton made these himself. He said they can speed up recovery after meditation."

"I like to be clear about things. Instructor Morton warned me to be careful with potions, so I'm planning to find someone to test them for five silver coins a time. Ask around for me and see if anyone's willing to try one in front of me, so I can see what happens."

Kato's eyes lit up. Without hesitation, he grabbed the potion packets and stuffed them into his pocket.

"Bro! Why look for anyone else when there's a deal this good? Keep it in the family! What could possibly be wrong with potions Instructor Morton gave you himself? You can put your mind completely at ease!"

"Forget paying people. Even if you charged them, people would still want them."

"Besides, bro, you're way too kind! Calling it 'testing a potion' makes it sound scary. Just say you're 'giving away a potion as a perk,' and they'd even thank you. Wouldn't it be better to save the money?"

Chen Mo shoveled down his last mouthful, wiped his mouth, and said to Kato with a serious expression, "Since you're willing to test it, you should take the money."

"I'm not all that kind. When I have no choice, I'll lie and I'll kill."

"But I think that, if I still have a choice, I'll try not to lie or kill. That's a little something I do to ease my own conscience."

"From now on, don't use my name to deceive people. If you have any ideas or need anything, come straight to me!"

Kato nodded, only half understanding.

Chen Mo got up, slung on his backpack, and headed for the cultivation room again.

Wandering through this world that devoured people, seeing the filth flowing everywhere, he couldn't help thinking of Blue Star and Eastern Xia, which had also once endured a time when every voice was silenced and no light could be seen.

In the end, those who had saved the country weren't master strategists or powerful warlords; they weren't ruthless, overbearing supreme rulers; still less were they economic savants or gods of micromanagement...

They were people with convictions who followed rules, risked everything, and sacrificed their homes and families for their country.

Perhaps it was because he had heard their stories and benefited from their grace that Chen Mo could preserve a trace of kindness deep in his heart.

Walking through another world where no one knew him, with utterly unfamiliar land beneath his feet and an unfamiliar starry sky overhead, he still had to do his best to stand tall.

He couldn't disgrace those predecessors back home whose glory would shine through the ages!

Chapter 49: Learning Psionic Diversion

In a sense, the teaching method used in this world's magic towers was a little like a combination of Blue Star's doctoral supervision and small-group training.

Most of the time, the apprentices never got to see Master Har, the magic tower's true owner. Teaching and guidance were handled by Archmage Har's disciples, or even his disciples' disciples.

Only after reaching a certain rank or displaying outstanding talent might an apprentice be personally taken under Har's wing.

Unlike at Black Raven Castle, the apprentices at Master Har's preparatory mage tower were divided into different levels.

At the top was the advanced group called "Morning Light." On Blue Star, this would have been a "gifted class" or a "teachers' children class," with resources concentrated on its members and bright futures ahead of them.

In the middle were two groups called Dawn Light, while at the bottom were six Glimmer groups.

Chen Mo's group was called Glimmer Group Three, one of the most basic training classes in the mage tower.

Generally speaking, there were three kinds of people who could enter the mage tower to study.

The first were children of noble families who chose to study magic. They had money and resources, and usually didn't need to prove their talent. If they came, they could enroll.

They spent the most money and received the most meticulous instruction. Some were geniuses, some coasted along, and others were merely mediocre.

The second kind were freakishly talented people, whether noble or commoner.

Talent was the foundation of future growth. People in this group were the ones mages were truly willing to nurture with care. Almost every master mage's subordinate mages and personal disciples had come from this group.

There was a saying that applied to warriors and mages alike: talent didn't guarantee someone would become a master, but without talent, they certainly never would.

The third kind were miscellaneous disciples.

They made up the bulk of mage apprentices. In the future, they would form a pyramid with a broad base and a narrow top, their numbers decreasing at each level from unranked preparatory mages to third-rank Solar Corona mages.

Only a very small number of them would complete a fourth-rank class advancement and become part of the Starry World's new elite.

The Glimmer groups' students were plainly children from families of ordinary backgrounds and limited means. Getting into the magic tower might have been their greatest chance in life to defy fate and change their destinies.

It had to be said that, with century-old great families and thousand-year-old noble houses standing across the upper echelons of the continent, ordinary people had pitifully few ways to break through class barriers.

Either their country underwent tremendous upheaval, such as the overthrow of the monarchy or a war to change dynasties, or they themselves underwent a fundamental transformation, such as advancing their class or attaching themselves to someone powerful.

If they couldn't break through that barrier, then for most apprentices of this age, improving their skills as much as possible was a practical matter of making a living.

Even if they ultimately failed to advance their class, they could go out, register as mercenaries, and take on relatively safe jobs. At least they wouldn't have to worry about putting food on the table for the rest of their lives.

That was already better than the situation of ninety percent of the continent's commoners.

At that moment, Chen Mo's classmates in Glimmer Group Three had deeply mixed feelings about him.

Their classmate was more handsome than them, richer than them, and worked harder than them...

The only consolation they could find was Chen Mo's low "dual-energy" rating. Yet when they saw how he cultivated day and night, losing track of time, they felt a chill run through them.

Yes, at this rate, even that last advantage would soon be surpassed.

They felt powerless, as though their last shred of superiority was about to disappear.

Resentment, envy, admiration, a desire to curry favor...

Their feelings were all tangled up!

Chen Mo had no time to concern himself with what his classmates thought. After a period of intensive study to make up for his lack of basic knowledge, he requested to learn Psionic Diversion.

This was an important milestone on Chen Mo's study plan. According to his plan, once he had finished learning Psionic Diversion, he would begin carrying out his next Bloodline Sacrifice.

As Morton explained it, Psionic Diversion was a high-level skill among basic skills.

It was considered basic because its initial mental power and mana requirements were low. It was considered high-level because its model was complicated to construct and demanded extremely precise control.

Morton spent half a day explaining Psionic Diversion's spell model and key operating principles to Chen Mo in meticulous detail. He repeatedly warned him never to attempt to use it to divert an offensive spell until he had mastered practicing the model on its own.

As a model added to a conventional spell model, its function was just as its name suggested: diversion!

For example, if the original spell model was thought of as a circle, Psionic Diversion meant dividing that circle into several equal parts by hand.

The more accurately the model was constructed, the better the effect. If the divisions were too uneven, they could even cause the main spell model to fail.

The single most crucial part of the process was finding the points.

The reason psionic energy could form regular spell models had to do with its natural regularity. As long as two endpoints were properly chosen and given a little guidance, the psionic energy would automatically draw taut into a straight line. The key to diversion was finding that all-important "point"!

It was easy to imagine how much this operation relied on "feel" and "experience." Mages practiced reconstructing models again and again to improve their proficiency through constant training, until they could find the endpoint with ease.

But for Chen Mo, a university student who had studied modern mathematics, couldn't anyone do it by spending a little mana and drawing a few auxiliary lines?

As it turned out, not entirely.

Chen Mo spent half an hour digging out the nearly dead memories in his mind and reviewing the relevant geometry before burying himself in the problem.

Dividing it into four equal parts was no trouble at all. One straight line and one perpendicular auxiliary line, and it was easily done.

Six equal parts were manageable too. Done!

Three equal parts were somewhat more troublesome. Student Chen Mo worked away at it for over an hour and finally more or less solved the problem in theory, though putting it into practice in midair would require more practice.

Only five equal parts gave Chen Mo endless trouble.

Under certain circumstances, being unable to solve a problem was like being stuck at a level in a game: it drew you in so completely that you couldn't stop!

For the first time, Chen Mo skipped his extra cultivation that evening. He wrote feverishly by lamplight through the night, covering the desk with densely filled sheets of scratch paper.

Early the next morning, when he entered the classroom with bloodshot eyes, he immediately drew Instructor Morton's close attention. Morton hurried over to him and asked with concern, "What's wrong? Did the potion make you feel unwell?"

"No, no. It's a question about Psionic Diversion. There are still a few things I haven't figured out."

Morton couldn't help shaking his head. "You're too impatient. How can you expect to understand a skill you've only just learned so quickly?"

"Don't rush! Take it one step at a time."

When the morning lesson began, Morton cleared his throat. "Ahem. Today, we'll review a traditional high-level basic spell skill, Psionic Diversion!"

All the small fry in Glimmer Group Three: "???"

Could the lesson really be changed on such short notice?

Since everyone in the group had already mastered this basic skill, Morton quickly repeated the key points and, contrary to his usual practice, moved on to questions early.

"Does anyone have a question?"

The moment he finished speaking, everyone in the classroom turned as one to look at "Roy," whose seat had been specially moved to the very center of the front row.