A Secret Divulged
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
The disgusting woman behind the counter previously had now disappeared, changing into a friendly looking old geezer.
"Where’s the woman from before?" Leylin asked.
"Dakota? Already dead!" A tinge of sadness seemed to appear on the old geezer’s face.
"Give me the spell model catalogue!" Thinking of that fussy woman from before, Leylin felt extremely glad. Even the sinking feeling from the mandatory attendance of the bloodbath had slowly reduced.
"Here!" The old geezer handed over a booklet made from parchment paper over to Leylin.
Leylin opened to have a look. The first page was of Fire element rank 0 spells, on the page number it shone with red light, indicating the element of the spells listed.
Leylin continued flipping. Water element, Plant element, even Necromancy rank 0 spells had all shone in their respective colours.
As for Shadow, Dark Element rank 0 spells, Leylin had already collected almost all, so he did not look any further.
While browsing through the booklet, Leylin realised that the prices of these spell models had reduced by more than half, so they were already selling them at a loss.
It was a pity, however, that for regular acolytes, to master a rank 0 spell, they must take at least months. Towards this imminent bloodbath, it was futile to start mastering them now.
"This Secondary Energy Fireball of the Fire element, Dampened Earth of the Water element, and the manipulation of corpses from the Necromancy Element, and this, and this.... One of them each."
Since the spell model prices have plunged down, and Leylin had magic crystals, he could naturally afford to splurge on them.
To him, it was like a sweep of the warehouse sale.
After handing the old geezer a huge bag of magic crystals, and requested him to send people to carry the books over, Leylin then asked, "Are there any rank 1 spell models here?"
"My apologies, our counter here only sells rank 0 spells for the acolytes." The old geezer shrugged his shoulders and put on a helpless appearance. It seems like Leylin wasn’t the first acolyte to ask him about this.
After obtaining an answer he expected, Leylin nodded his head and left.
His earlier question was just to try his luck, so he wasn’t very disappointed.
* Ka-cha! Creak! *
First, it was the sound of a bronze key entering the keyhole and the turning of the lock.
"We’re here, place the things down!"
Leylin opened his dorm’s door and said towards several servants carrying boxes behind him.
* Boom! * The few servants placed the spell models books onto the ground, letting off a loud noise.
After placing Leylin’s purchase, these servants bowed to Leylin and walked out of the room.
"There is actually no change here!"
Leylin sized up his room. There was still a bright light radiating from within. Apart from more dust being collected, the rest was still the same as before.
"Amansi!"
Leylin snapped his fingers. Suddenly a green whirlwind appeared from within the room.
The spiralling of the whirlwind continued, bringing the bedsheets and tablecloths floating into the air. A few grey dust particles were sucked into that whirlwind.
Very soon the green whirlwind spun around the room once, and many dust particles were trapped in it, turning a murky green colour, finally it dropped into the bin.
"Now it seems much more comfortable and clean!"
Leylin looked at the dorm that was as good as new, and nodded his head in satisfaction, before placing the spell models and ingredients away nicely.
After all was done, Leylin first went to the dining hall to have a sumptuous dinner, before returning to the room and picking up a spell model book.
"Secondary Energy Fireball huh?" Leylin looked at the fire red book. "A.I. Chip! Record!"
[Beep! Scanning in progress!] The A.I. Chip’s voice intoned.
Hours later, the A.I. Chip replied, [The spell model of Secondary Energy Fireball has been recorded, analysing in progress: 9.23%]
After his advancement into a level 3 Acolyte, the A.I. Chip which was part of his soul also obtained an increase in processing capabilities.
To Leylin, other acolytes need continuous memorisation and use of their spiritual force to construct the spell models in their mind. This would require a huge consumption of time, and once something goes awry, it would result in a waste of time.
However, for Leylin, he only needed the A.I. Chip to analyse the spell and send it over to his hippocampus, then he would remember this spell model forever. In future, he only needed to activate his spiritual force, before completely mastering the spell model.
To put it simply, the A.I. Chip had substituted the process of memory and also created a framework for him in his mind. It was like digging a pool, the A.I. Chip would help Leylin in digging a pool, and Leylin only needed to put forth his spiritual force like water into the pool. This saved a huge amount of time, which made Leylin’s learning abilities on spell models much faster than regular acolytes.
"A.I. Chip! Establish mission! With all the rank 0 spells as the foundation, begin simulating the model for a rank 1 spell!"
From what Leylin could see, the might of a rank 1 spell was stronger than a rank 0 spell. Only with enough material, with the A.I. Chip’s calculation abilities, can he manage to simulate a certain rank 1 spell model. There could even be a new spell model that had never appeared before in the Magus World!
[Mission establishing! Information on rank 1 spells missing, beginning simulation....]
Rows of data were projected in front of Leylin’s eyes.
[Estimated might of a rank 1 spell: 20 degrees and above! Information sources: , , , Umbra’s Hand spell model, Secondary Energy Fireball spell model.... Simulation time: Unable to estimate!]
The A.I. Chip listed many sources of material and even replied with an answer that it was unable to estimate for the first time.
However, Leylin smiled. "As expected, although the time is not confirmed, but the A.I. Chip can very well simulate a spell model of a rank 1 spell...."
"What’s next, once I have a standard amount of Grine Water, and reach the requirement of the spiritual force to advance, then I can give it a go...."
For Leylin, he would try simulating a rank 1 spell model with the A.I. Chip. But for the Grine Water, as it was a type of intermediate potion, the formula had always been held by the various large magician guilds. There was no way of them being divulged to outsiders. Many of the ingredients to brew it were also monopolised by these guilds, so there was no way he could brew it on his own.
Hence, his main goal in the upcoming bloodbath, was, under the circumstances of self-preservation, that he would try his best to acquire as many contribution points as possible to exchange for the Grine Water!
If he even had to purchase a spell model with the contribution points, he had no confidence to retaliate under the two academies joining forces and obtaining enough contribution points.
Moreover, even if he did, he would be marked down by the enemy Magi, which was not beneficial for his future growth.
But now he only needed to get one of the two, so the difficulty was reduced by half. The attention he would be getting would be reduced too.
"Also, I have to complete the Fallen Star Pendant for a chance to live on in the bloodbath!"
Leylin’s hand turned over, revealing that silver cross.
Under the bright light, the jewels on the cross glittered resplendently.
"Once I have this low-grade defensive magic artifact, my survival chances will definitely increase in the secret plane!"
Leylin muttered, and came to his experiment lab beside the room, withdrawing the Confining Spirit Sphere that held Roman captive.
The originally dimmed crystal ball gradually radiated with light after Leylin undid the seal. Light reflected from it like amber, with a translucent worm-sized like human figure in it.
"Roman! Actually, I wanted to spend more time on you to pry more information from your mouth. A pity, however, there isn’t much time left...."
Regret surfaced on Leylin’s face.
As for the vengeful spirit, Roman, who was inside the crystal ball, he shuddered. The crazed and bloodthirsty look disappeared from his face, replaced by a pair of eyes that radiated intelligence.
"A level 3 Acolyte’s soul which transformed into a vengeful spirit, can definitely accomplish the final step - Spirit awakening!"
Leylin placed the silver cross beside the Confining Spirit Sphere and began to draw various runes with a feather quill and other tools on the large experiment table.
The runes and characters continuously writhed and twisted, forming a strange magic rune.
Along with Leylin’s incantation and tossing of ingredients, the huge magic rune let off a dim grey glow.
As for Roman who was within the Confining Spirit Sphere, he seemed to have seen something extremely dangerous, and even his voice started to quiver, "No... You can’t do this...."
The final step of synthesizing the Fallen Star Pendant required a sealed spirit that was full of energy, which is the best catalyst for the activation process.
Roman, who had the strength of a level 3 Acolyte in his previous life, was the perfect ingredient for Leylin right now!
After a vengeful spirit is sealed within the Fallen Star Pendant, Roman’s soul will be forever trapped within that silver cross, and suffer from never-ending torment. He could only wait for the day when the silver cross shatters, before his soul will be dissipated.
"You, who is in such a state, have you got any other bargaining chip for me?"
After finishing drawing the spell formation, and sizing up the spirit which was repeatedly begging him from within the Confining Spirit Sphere, a curious smile spread across Leylin’s face.
"I... I am an outstanding alchemist and have mastered many secrets and special skills in alchemy. If only you let me go, I will hand them all over to you...."
Seeing the resolute expression on Leylin’s face, Roman started to reveal everything that he knew, for a sliver of a chance to stay alive.
"Not enough! Most of your things were already recorded inside that Alchemy book, and these benefits will not be able to compensate for the loss of my Fallen Star Pendant!" Leylin’s face turned icy cold.
"I... I also know of a secret about magicians who advance to an official Magus! If only you swear to let me go, I will tell you! That is something that all the higher ups in the magician guilds have done their best to conceal!"