Chapter 78: Playing a role in deterring opponents

"Okay, teacher, hold my hand."

Shelly dealt with the remaining attack magic, silently pulled down his sleeve to cover the wound, then squatted by the pit and reached out his hand to Edith below.

Edith stepped on the edge of the pit to gain leverage, grabbed Shelly's arm, and climbed out without much effort.

"It's really terrible. Why would there be man-made traps deep in the primeval jungle?" She complained and opened her arms, letting Shelly cast a spell to blow away the remaining dirt on her body.

"Since there are rumors of ancient ruins, there must have been people who came in." Shelly helped Edith adjust the position of her cloak. Unexpectedly, she touched a scratch on her neck. She frowned and chanted a spell in a low voice to heal it.

"Ah, it's okay." Edith herself didn't even notice the tiny wound. She shook her head disapprovingly, "Save your magic power. Don't waste it on something like this."

"It's not a waste. If any pollutants left in the air get into the wound, it will be more trouble than it's worth." Shelly took back his wand and helped Edith. "Be careful, there may be residual attack spells."

After making sure Edith was standing firmly, Shelly stood up and sighed, "I told you, you don't have to come in person—"

"How can we know if the ruins are real or fake if we don't come here in person?" Even though she had just fallen into a trap, Edith was still enthusiastic. "It's okay. I brought scrolls and potions that can help me avoid ordinary attacks."

Shelly pursed his lips and said nothing, then put another protective shield on Edith.

"...Enough, I say enough, this is the fourth one you've put on today."

“It turns out that this is necessary preparation.”

Shelly looked at the collapsed pit and still felt a little scared. Who knew who had designed the trap, but there was no trace left. Edie stepped on it without any awareness and was instantly penetrated by the attack array below.

Fortunately, he had put a protective shield on her, and Edith reacted quickly, tearing a levitation scroll and throwing it under her body to avoid being burned by the flames at the bottom. Shelly wanted to pull her up quickly, but he was hit in the arm by the attack spell from above. He could only cast two spells to destroy the magic circle, let Edith hide at the bottom of the pit, and focus on the danger above.

Fortunately, the attacks set up above were not too sophisticated, and were probably just a supplement to the magic circle in the pit. Shelly cleared them all in less than ten minutes.

But it was still too dangerous for Edith.

Shelly's eyes were dark and unclear.

It seems that the optical potion is still not working. I must practice the spell more after returning from here.

"But stacking shields won't improve the protection effect." Edith also remembered the danger just now and waved her hand nonchalantly, "Okay, stop talking. Just maintain the status quo and don't add any more."

Shelly had no choice but to give up.

The two continued to move forward, and Edith couldn't help but sigh. Although she didn't feel much regret about not having magic power, it was also true that it was inconvenient.

"The scrolls are too expensive, and most importantly, the number that can be carried at one time is limited." She pondered, "Except for the necessary luggage, I can only carry five more scrolls. If I carry more, it will affect my speed."

"And there are too many scrolls to choose from, so it's hard to predict what you'll need in advance." Shelly nodded and added, "Even if you bring ten, you may not be able to find the right one at the critical moment, and end up in danger."

Therefore, the safest way is for me to come alone——

"——You are right. To address these issues, I think I can try to develop a variable magic array."

Edith said solemnly.

Shelly: “…”

No, what he meant was that you can just avoid facing danger without having to solve the problem yourself.

Edith has already become the head of the laboratory. She has a large number of researchers at her disposal, but it is too hard for her to do everything herself.

Edith was completely immersed in her own world. "To be honest, some of the symbols of the magic circle are really similar, maybe only one or two parts are different, so you can leave them blank at the beginning and fill them in when needed.

Is it possible for us to create a portable semi-finished magic array that is lightweight and can adapt to a variety of environments?"

Shelly thought calmly for a while: "What about the materials?"

Traditional magic circles are usually drawn on the ground. The materials are directly buried under the soil layer, and then the patterns are drawn at the corresponding positions on it and magic power is injected.

However, in order to ensure the requirements of speed and lightness, the scroll needs to be drawn on paper, and those materials can only be refined into essence and applied to the paper under the corresponding pattern.

The materials needed for refining are almost twice that of traditional magic circles, and the steps are quite complicated. Failure will occur if you are not careful. Magic power must be injected and sealed in advance to ensure that it will take effect as soon as it is torn when used. Therefore, the cost will be much higher than that of traditional magic circles.

It is easy to change the pattern, but it is much more troublesome to change the material underneath.

"Change the magic circle and find a compromise material to replace it." Edith took out a piece of paper, a pen and a bottle of ink the size of a fingernail from somewhere, and used them to draw a schematic diagram. "For example, the magic circle that releases electricity is essentially creating water and ice crystals, making them collide and rub against each other, so the moonlight grass with the function of condensing water droplets is used."

"The Ice Spike Array also includes this. It also needs to condense water droplets first and then use the wind to remove the heat. However, because it requires more water, the matching material is wave crystal.

But the materials used to condense the water droplets can be replaced with the same one, with more water condensed by Moonlight Grass and less water attracted by Wave Crystal - just use Rain Mushrooms. "

Shelly focused on Edith's movements and thought about the feasibility: "Those two magic circles cannot achieve their maximum effect?"

"For the sake of convenience, we have to sacrifice some effects." Edith didn't care.

Shelly frowned. "But it's easy to make two magic arrays compatible. If you want to achieve more than five functions, it's not as simple as just replacing one material."

"Then adjust it slowly."

The exploration time passed quickly, and two weeks later, Edith and Shelly returned to the royal capital.

"I didn't expect someone else would get there first." Edith collapsed on the sofa in the apartment, feeling a little regretful but not too upset. "It seems like we were a little unlucky."

Shelly said nothing. He was still thinking about the magic circle pattern that was scraped off the pillar of the ruins, and silently memorized the barely preserved marks in his heart.

"Anyway, array research is not our main focus," he consoled her, "Just come back safely."

"That won't work. I plan to compete for the position of president of the General Association in the future, and only knowing about potions is not enough." Edith stretched lazily. "Let's go while the vacation is still going on! Let's go study the variable magic circle mentioned earlier!"

Shelly frowned and pulled the man back: "You are already very tired. The most urgent thing is to get a good sleep and get enough rest. Don't go to the laboratory again."

"I'm not tired."

"I won't help you inject magic into the magic circle." Shelly finally stopped her with one sentence. Edith had no magic, so even if she made the finished product, she couldn't activate it. "Go to sleep. When the vacation is over, I will study with you."

......

"......What is this?" A week later, Shelly stood in front of Edith's apartment, ready to take her to the laboratory. Unexpectedly, when she opened the door, she saw a pile of waste paper on the floor. "......Don't tell me you have been studying behind closed doors for a whole week."

Edith didn't know why she felt guilty, but when she remembered that she was the teacher, she immediately returned to her original state, "Inspiration is a matter of a moment."

We must seize the time when things are fresh.

She pushed Shelly out, took the sketch she had drawn and walked out of the house, leaving Langjie behind. "That's perfect. We'll go to the lab later. You can help me infuse magic into these magic circles."

Shelly: “…”

Shelly: "I think you need to take another day off to rest—"

He finally failed to persuade Edith and followed her to the laboratory. But due to his personal insistence, he did not allow Edith to move any more energy. He moved a sofa for her to sit down and stuffed a cup of tea into her hand. "I'll show you, and you just move your mouth."

A blanket flew over from not far away, and Edith had no choice but to take it and cover her legs. She instructed Shelly to complete the magic circle: "Get the essence prepared earlier from the warehouse, and apply it according to my notes. You should know the next steps."

Shelly nodded, lowered his head, finished everything, and tore the scroll in front of Edith.

A transparent golden protective shield rose from the ground.

"It looks like it's working well." Edith was excited by the success of the first step. "Very good, touch any side of the shield next."

Shelly did as he was told, and a small and exquisite magic circle appeared in the middle of the wall in the form of a projection.

"Change the characters in the upper left corner and rotate the angle of the magic circle at the same time." Edith held her breath. "Be gentle. This thing is too precise."

Shelly nodded, skillfully erased the characters, and wrote new parts. The golden house narrowed instantly, and a thin line of electricity gathered at the top of the pointed protective shield.

Shelly looked a little surprised: "It can maintain both the protective shield and the lightning array at the same time?"

Edith coughed softly, "Actually, I can't."

Shelly: “?”

Edith: "The outer protective shield is currently only a shape, barely maintaining the illusion of protective magic fluctuations, but in fact it only exists as a tool to attract electricity."

Shelly: "So, if someone outside wants to attack me now, they can completely penetrate this protective shield?"

Edith rolled her eyes. "...For now, yes."

We only have one week to research, and it’s already very good to be able to come up with such a prototype. We can’t set our standards too high.

Xie Li touched the outline of the protective shield with his fingertips and was instantly electrocuted and took a step back. "That's because we are indoors now, so there is less lightning. If we were outside without any shielding, it would be entirely possible that the person inside would be electrocuted and knocked unconscious."

He turned to look at Edith. "Why don't you remove the outline of the shield? That way it won't conduct electricity and it'll save a bit of magic."

Edith: "It serves as a deterrent to opponents."

Edith's creativity is still as vigorous and amazing.

Shelly looked at the manuscript in his hand. Although the magic circle still looked a little strange, with long-term polishing, maybe it could be completed in the future.

“But I disagree.”

Shelly looked away. "You can continue your research, but you must not take it to a dangerous place alone. At present, it seems that this magic circle still has too many uncertainties and cannot replace my role."

Edith was a little surprised: "Who said I would replace you?"

"Research is research, but if we need to go out in the future, we should go together. After all, you are different from the magic circle that can be replicated. You are unique." The limited scrolls are not as useful as Shelly, who can move by himself without being carried and can cast different spells at any time according to the situation.

Shelly was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Edith, only to find that she had immersed herself back in the world of knowledge, studying how to improve the structure of the magic circle.

......

If she remembered correctly, this magic array research project was later shelved - she was striving for the position of chief researcher at the time and had to come up with more convincing creations in the field of potions, so she had to shelve it temporarily.

In other words, what Alec is currently controlling is the wild and rough version of what she originally asked Shelly to experiment with.

Edith looked away silently.

I couldn't even empathize with myself at that time - the design of this magic circle was so horrible.

But the audience in the surrounding stands obviously did not share her feelings.

"Oh my god - this magic circle is running two completely different functions of protection and attack at the same time!?"