Chapter 22: Is the magic array etching really not for sale?
Ancia raised her hand and cast a healing spell on Skalk, who was at the forefront. As the last monster fell, her body was washed by a gentle warm current, and her level reached 15.
At this rate, she will reach level 20 before the competition begins, allowing her to participate as a two-star priest.
A beam of golden light traversed the mountains and arrived before Ancia.
"Is this a sound transmission spell?" Skark approached curiously. "There are no other mages nearby, and it can travel at least the distance from Red Maple City to the Monster Mountain Range. It looks like it was cast by a high-level mage."
"It must have been sent by Professor Cheryl." Ancia clicked on it and indeed heard Cheryl's voice.
Cheryl: "The materials for repairing the Light Dome are ready. We can start preparing the magic circle etching after class on Tuesday."
Unable to hear the contents of the telepathic spell, Heligaluo asked worriedly, "Wasn't the academy's punishment over? Is there any follow-up with Cheryl?"
Upon hearing the punishment, Ancia recalled her reckless behavior in the high-risk restricted area that night, and awkwardly cleared her throat, "It has already been completed; it's an agreement with Instructor Cheryl."
When the agreement between the apprentice and the apprentice mentor was mentioned, Ancia's expression became expectant. "Mentor Cheryl and I agreed that if I could complete the magic array on the newly built wall of the Light Dome independently, we would become formal mentor and apprentice."
"Cheryl's mastery of Radiant Inscriptions is unmatched in the entire Holy See. Congratulations in advance on finding such an excellent mentor, Ancia." Heligaluo was genuinely happy for Ancia.
"So it's that light mage." Skalk suddenly realized, ruffled her hair, and said with a smile, "Ancia will definitely become even more powerful than her in the future!"
"I'll try! And don't touch my hair!" Ancia pushed his hand away, and in the end, Heligalo carefully helped her restore her bangs to their neat state.
*
When Ancia returned to the Tower of Light, the wall that she had destroyed had been restored and looked exactly the same as before.
However, having been there once before, Ancia keenly sensed that the rate at which her magic power recovered had slowed down.
The dome and walls of the Light Tower are made of semi-transparent material, allowing light to shine from all directions. Combined with the magic arrays on the walls, low-star magic mages within it can have an almost inexhaustible supply of magic power.
This lesson is an etching practice of the Starry Protection Array. Everyone received a stone slab and used their own light magic as a carving knife to etch the array on the stone slab.
The stone slab was wide and thick, so even if a mistake was made in one stroke, a new space could be found to start carving again. In addition, the intensity of the magic was deliberately restrained, and the energy dissipated from the failed etching was absorbed by the stone, so no accident occurred again.
Heligalo chose to practice with the temporary Starshine Protection Array, while Ancia placed the two array diagrams together and started carving from the same point on them.
Once the common structure was complete, Ancia temporarily stopped outputting magic power and focused her gaze on the two magic circles.
Why do the lines and inscriptions of the magic circle change from temporary to permanent?
Guide Inscriptions, Node Inscriptions, Transformation Inscriptions, Stabilizing Inscriptions, Activating Inscriptions, Restraining Inscriptions...
Points connect to form lines, lines intersect to create points, and inscriptions are added to the intersections.
"I see." Ancia murmured to herself, abandoning her cautious approach and quickly began etching on the stone slab. Judging from the array pattern that gradually unfolded on the stone slab, she was directly etching a fixed-type Star Protection Array.
Ancia was so engrossed in the etching process that she was completely unaware when Cheryl walked up to her.
One wrong stroke destroyed the almost completed magic circle. Ancia decisively flipped the stone slab and re-etched it.
Cheryl's eyes flashed with admiration. When she saw Heligalo next to her, who had finished etching the temporary Star Protection Array and was now etching the fixed array on the back of the stone slab, she sighed almost imperceptibly.
The students took the unfinished slates with them and handed them in at the next class. Very few students were able to finish them in class.
Ancia handed in the fixed star array as the bell rang, leaving only her and Cheryl in the Light Dome Tower.
"Huh, Heligalo has finished etching two magic circles?" Ancia saw the stone slab left on Heligalo's table, gently turned it over, and saw another magic circle on the back.
"Yes, he finished around the same time as you," Cheryl said calmly.
"Mentor, does Heligalo have the potential to become a magic array scholar?" Ancia asked curiously.
"No." To everyone's surprise, Cheryl immediately gave a negative answer.
Under Ancia's questioning gaze, Cheryl shook her head. "His personality is too cautious, while the study of magic arrays requires curiosity, adventure, and even taking desperate gambles. Moreover, even if his personality were suitable, the Holy See of Light would not agree to him becoming a magic array scholar; in their eyes, this path is fraught with danger."
Heligalo was indeed not an adventurous person; he was usually quite indifferent to even basic curiosity, and it seemed that nothing could make him lose his composure.
Ancia walked to the repaired wall and noticed a semi-transparent brick without any etching marks.
"You can practice with the extra materials first." Cheryl snapped her fingers, and a large pile of glittering bricks appeared out of thin air at Ancia's feet, stacked up to Ancia's waist.
"My mentor prepared so many practice materials for me?" Anxiya was a little confused.
“Is that a lot? This is less than a tenth of what I prepared,” Cheryl said meaningfully.
The array diagram of the magic gathering array is even more complex than that of the fixed-type Starry Protection. It is the most complex array diagram that Anciya has ever seen. It is relatively simple to draw on paper, but when it is applied to small bricks and stones, the array, which is several times smaller, is extremely challenging for the etcher's micro-operation. The delicate and fragile crystal bricks cannot withstand the energy that bursts out when the array fails.
As the crystal bricks around her were destroyed one after another, Ancia skillfully used her damage reflection shield to block the small explosions, swept away the debris and powder, and picked up a new crystal brick.
“Mentor, I suddenly feel that you haven’t prepared enough crystal bricks. How about doubling the amount?” Ancia said with a bitter face.
“Take your time carving, we’ll talk about it when you’re done.” Each lost crystal brick represented a loss of one thousand gold coins. Cheryl’s expression remained unchanged, and she even had the mood to joke with Ancia, “During the first lesson, I was thinking, how could there be such a reckless student, daring to challenge the most difficult formless magic array before even mastering the basics? Turns out, they didn’t know anything at all. Now that they do, do they still dare to try?”
“Actually, I still dare to try. The feeling of being in a flow state is so wonderful, as if I’m about to touch the tail of the right result. If I could do it all over again, I would still make the same choice, and I will in the future.” During a break from yet another failure, Ancia took a short rest and chatted with Cheryl.
Ancia's words were calm but firm. After she finished speaking, she smiled apologetically at Cheryl and picked up another crystal brick to continue trying to etch.
Cheryl watched quietly as Ancia, who was working diligently with her head down, became her chosen apprentice.
Even without full affinity with the Light element, Cheryl will still extend an invitation to her to form a mentor-apprentice relationship.
Cheryl placed a crystal on the table.
Another one ruined. Ancia sighed, then noticed the new crystal on the table, picked it up to examine it, and asked, "What's this?"
"This is the teleportation crystal to my mage tower. It can be used once a month. Hold it and input magic power, and you will be teleported to the mage tower. There is a one-way teleportation array in the mage tower that will take you to Gracia."
"If I'm not at the academy, I'm usually researching magic arrays in the Mage Tower. If there's anything urgent, you can come to the Mage Tower to find me. The protection of the Gracia Light Dome Tower is too weak. The Mage Tower can absorb the energy when etching fails, allowing us to try without any worries. If you want to conduct the research we did last time, remember to come to the Mage Tower."
Ancia solemnly put the teleportation crystal into her system inventory.
"Thank you, mentor! My mentor is so kind!"
Aside from a bunch of already ruined crystal bricks, Ancia's proficiency in magic circle etching was increasing at a rapid pace. In just the second week, she completed her first fully etched crystal brick.
“Although it can’t compare to the crystal bricks that my mentor etched himself, it’s still finished! Mentor! This is my first successful work!” Ancia held up the crystal brick and presented it to Cheryl like a treasure.
Cheryl examined it carefully, then said with a serious face, "The node inscriptions are too rough, and the lines are unstable. They can only be considered acceptable."
"It will only get better and better in the future!" Anciya said with a smile.
"Okay, keep up the good work." Cheryl waved her away, but didn't return the crystal brick to Ancia.
Ancia walked briskly back to the table and continued etching the magic circle.
Cheryl took the crystal brick and, for the first time ever, attended the teachers' meeting. In the tower by Moon Lake, the crystal brick beside Cheryl reflected the light from the wall lamp onto the wall, attracting attention.
Yesika asked curiously, "Cheriel, what is this?"
Cheryl brushed her fingers across the non-existent dust motes, her tone nonchalant. "Oh, this is a magic array etched by my apprentice Ancia. It's nothing valuable."
Upon catching the keyword, Murtrie's ears twitched as he stared at the ordinary-looking crystal brick. "Can you sell it to me? How much?"
Cheryl put the crystal brick away and said coldly, "Not for sale."
Disappointed, Murtrie retreated into the shadows.
Yesika hesitated for a moment, then whispered to Cheryl, "You'd better keep it safe, or Merriel might try to snatch it; we can't beat him."
Cheryl nodded, thanking Yesika for her kind reminder, "I have a protective magic array; he can't take it away."
Yesika breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good. Also, could you give me one of those protective magic arrays?"
After the teachers' meeting, Cheryl was stopped by the dean.
"Cheryl, wait a minute."
"What's wrong, Dean? Is something important?"
"Hmm...you really aren't selling that crystal brick of yours?"
"Not for sale!"
A week before the Harvest Festival, Ancia finally completed the etching of the magic array on all the crystal bricks, and the Light Dome was restored to its original state.
A note from the author:
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I'm begging for your favorites by rolling around and acting cute! [cat emoji] My drafts already have a month and a half's worth of updates left! Wow, that's fast! When I first started writing, it only had a month's worth left. [let me see]
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