Chapter 136 It’s Just an Experimental Accident (4k)
The first Monday of November.
Professor Shylph finally returned from her external duties. In class, she briefly mentioned the progress of that incident and then harshly criticized the students’ enthusiasm for adventuring in the labyrinth.
She claimed that golems would be deployed within the secret passages to increase nighttime patrols. Anyone caught night-traversing these passages would lose a significant number of credits. If caught after curfew, they would also face detention!
Additionally, Professor Lily would no longer send out “guiding imps” to retrieve people.
Those who got lost within the passages would have to bear full responsibility!
…
“So, as long as one doesn’t go into the passages at night, or if they do but aren’t caught by the golems, and they don’t get lost, everything is fine?”
Dark felt he had correctly understood Professor Shylph’s intentions.
The academy not directly blocking the entrance to the passages was essentially a statement. They did not oppose students entering any place for adventure, but they were intentionally reducing the number of people entering the passages. This had little impact on most people.
After all, most hadn’t discovered anything in the passages, so there was no need to go. After so many days, the initial excitement had worn off.
Only a small portion of students with strong purposes might play hide-and-seek with the golems in the passages.
Regardless, Wit and Robert were gloomy throughout.
…
With Professor Shylph assigning more than twice the usual amount of homework, the summoning class came to an end. The first-year students finally looked forward to the mana guidance class!
They temporarily put aside their complaints about the increased workload and brought large and small bags of materials, waiting early in the classroom for the Mana Theory lecture.
Professor Kazel entered the classroom right on time and humorously addressed the students below, “It seems everyone has plenty of credits, bringing so much material?”
Not to mention, there really was a lot.
After all, the materials for a “Magic Bullet Spell” cost around 100 credits, so it was normal to bring extra copies just in case of failure.
Most students were not overly ambitious— their credits didn’t allow them to be.
In summary, starting with the “Magic Bullet Spell” and mastering the method of imprinting spells before attempting more difficult and expensive ones like “Push Spell” and “Barrier Spell,” was a relatively rational choice.
To ensure completing at least one card-making task in class, bringing two to three sets of materials was a safer approach.
For instance, Diana and Rose together brought five sets of “Magic Bullet Spell” materials and three sets of “Push Spell” materials, costing a total of 1,100 credits.
This was quite a significant expense for them.
Similarly, Emma, who had ample credits, prepared three sets of “Magic Bullet Spell” materials, two sets of “Push Spell” materials, and one set of “Barrier Spell” materials.
Of course, there were students like Wit, who were credit-rich, purchasing two complete sets of “Flash Spell” materials.
However, his neighbor Robert was less fortunate, only buying two sets of “Magic Bullet Spell” materials and one set of “Push Spell” materials.
Regardless, it seemed Wit was determined to create a “Flash Spell.”
…
Professor Kazel glanced over and immediately understood each student’s intentions.
His teaching experience was extensive; he could almost instantly sense the outcomes for some students.
Sometimes, young people had the privilege of learning through mistakes.
Unlike older individuals, who gradually lost this privilege.
A hint of melancholy flashed across Professor Kazel’s face, then he regained his smile and loudly announced, “Alright, as you all expect, we will learn the proper method of crafting Magic Spell Cards in this lesson!”
…
“Professor, hurry up!”
“My materials are eager to be used!”
“Shoot him, Magic Bullet!”
Okay, someone was already fantasizing about using the “Magic Bullet Card.”
…
As a teacher, the ultimate hope was to see students displaying their enthusiasm in class.
Professor Kazel did not waste time with extraneous talk and quickly advanced to the card-printing phase.
He detailed how to imprint spells onto blank mana cards while writing on the blackboard.
The sound of scribbling filled the room.
Students only needed such moments without urging.
About half an hour later, the entire blackboard was filled with dense notes.
But this was still insufficient.
There were too many details to consider when imprinting spells.
One or two classes couldn’t cover it all.
Students needed to practice and ask questions based on their problems, which the professor would answer during class time.
Such experiments required guidance from a professor; otherwise, reading alone wouldn’t suffice.
…
Ultimately, it was time to start making the cards.
Almost all students started with the “Magic Bullet Spell.”
This was the most basic and simple spell card, essential for beginners to master.
Even Dark was no exception.
He fully understood the importance of mastering the basics.
Even the tallest buildings start with a solid foundation.
In the entire classroom, only Wit was tackling the “Flash Spell,” perhaps embodying the spirit of a hero!
…
The process of making spell cards was quite similar to that of mana potion cards.
One core element in both processes was the preparation of “ink.”
For mana potion cards, the “ink” was the corresponding potion, while for spell cards, different “inks” were needed according to the specific spell.
Dark had far more experience in this area than other students. He spent five minutes preparing the appropriate “ink,” which was a liquid similar to cola.
In class, it was called “expanding water.”
“Expanding water” was made primarily from expanding grass.
Injecting mana into it caused the “expanding water” to rapidly expand and spray out of the container, creating a sensation similar to a cola eruption.
Young magi sometimes injected too much mana during the process, triggering this mechanism, causing the “expanding water” to spray out of the cup, splattering everywhere.
“BOOM!”
Diana’s expanding water erupted.
She became drenched.
Dark pursed his lips but did not laugh.
Rose quickly grabbed a towel to help clean her.
The front-row students turned to laugh, but their own expanding water sprayed out!
As wave after wave of expanding water shot into the air, the classroom gradually filled with a joyful atmosphere.
One person failing would be laughed at.
Two people failing would invite even more laughter.
Ten or twenty people failing, and no one would laugh anymore.
Dark flipped through his copied “Magic Bullet Spell” and began to imprint the spell.
Professor Kazel unknowingly approached him from behind.
Imprinting spells required not only precise ink preparation but also accurate and stable mana input when using a mana pen to write mana language.
This was extremely challenging for young magi whose mana had only recently awakened.
The higher the level of the spell card, the stricter these requirements were.
Over eighty percent of young magi failed in their initial attempts at making spell cards due to this.
Dark was recording spells for the first time using standard methods. To quickly become proficient, he prepared numerous 10-credit mana cards and practiced about five to six times before beginning to write on the processed mana card.
The format for writing spells varied.
The “Magic Bullet Spell” was a standard nine-square grid, requiring only nine characters to form the spell.
However, writing these nine characters was no easy feat.
Dark focused intently, spending a full ten minutes to perfectly copy this nine-character spell!
Only after he succeeded did Professor Kazel nod slightly and turn to observe other students.
…
Young magi underestimated the difficulty of making “Magic Bullet Spells,” thinking it was merely copying.
But they failed faster than expected.
Based on some students’ failure rates, even thirty sets of materials would be insufficient.
Fortunately, most learned from their first failures and practiced copying the “Magic Bullet Spell” on blank paper.
While practicing on paper wasn’t as effective as practicing on blank mana cards, it did increase proficiency somewhat.
…
The final step in making spell cards involved using a formation known as the “Demeter Formation Array” Number 5.
Demeter was one of the original developers of mana language, compiling the 63 mana characters that formed the basis of mana language.
…
After successfully drawing the Number 5 formation array, Dark inserted the core material for the “Magic Bullet Spell,” completing the entire process.
Then, after waiting approximately two minutes, the spell card was finally crafted.
Next, Dark used the same steps to create a second “Magic Bullet Spell.” This time, his speed was noticeably faster, showing further improvement in proficiency.
Then…
Dark paid no attention to the progress of other students and immediately began crafting the “Push Spell.”
Indeed, the “Push Spell” was more difficult than the “Magic Bullet Spell.” Even though he was careful, he still failed once.
He did not become discouraged and continued with the second attempt.
Midway through the process, the class bell rang.
But Dark was unaffected and continued.
Most students in the classroom were similarly undisturbed.
For young magi who were eager to leave upon hearing the bell, this was quite remarkable.
But the charm of mana card crafting experiments captivated them.
Time continued to flow.
Professor Kazel did not leave the classroom.
Gradually, under his meticulous guidance, several students completed their “Magic Bullet Spells.”
These students smiled with immense satisfaction as they left or stayed to observe.
Three focal points of interest in the Knight Academy and Noble Academy:
Dark, Emma, and Wit sat in three distinct spots in the classroom, all still fully focused.
Emma’s progress was not much slower than Dark’s.
She had three sets of “Magic Bullet Spell” materials, failing one and succeeding with two.
Now, she had begun studying the crafting of “Push Spells.”
Wit Gold, however, was still working on the first “Flash Spell.”
He appeared under immense pressure, furrowing his brows deeply, taking a long time to continue each step, and resorting to guessing when he couldn’t figure it out, making his progress abnormally slow.
The material for this “Flash Spell” was worth 1,000 credits!
Even with his second-place finish in the masquerade event, he could only afford three sets of “Flash Spell” materials.
This resulted in immense pressure during the crafting process.
Tense emotions even affected his neighbor, Robert.
Robert watched closely, gripping tightly with his toes.
As for Robert himself, he had already wasted two sets of “Magic Bullet Spell” materials and one set of “Push Spell” materials.
…
Twenty-eight minutes after the class bell rang.
Dark finally completed the second “Push Spell.”
This time, he learned from his first failure and did not repeat the mistake, thus succeeding.
“Now, I have two ‘Magic Bullet Spells’ and one ‘Push Spell.’ I’ll continue the experiment this afternoon.”
“Hmm, it seems Wit is crafting a ‘Flash Spell’? Watching this might give me some experience?”
Dark packed away his materials and turned to look at Wit on the other side of the classroom.
But his luck seemed poor.
Just as he intended to watch, something went wrong with Wit’s crafting process.
Whether due to excessive mana input or something else, the mana card being crafted suddenly exploded!
“BOOM!”
Wit jumped back sharply, demonstrating exceptional reflexes.
Although he fell over due to the chair behind him, he managed to avoid the explosion.
But his neighbor, Robert, was not as lucky.
The black smoke from the mana card explosion nearly hit him in the face.
He sat motionless, completely blackened.
Professor Kazel swiftly stepped forward, summoning a water elemental, which wrapped Robert in a water bubble.
“It’s not a serious injury, just singed hair.”
Professor Kazel sighed and walked out of the classroom with Robert wrapped in water, saying, “I’ll take him to the infirmary. Don’t forget to tidy up the classroom when you leave.”
…
This experimental accident happened quickly and was resolved quickly.
When the students regained their senses, Professor Kazel had already taken Robert away.
And the fallen Wit was呆滞地呆滞地
