Chapter 188 Powerful Effects of the Memory Shelf Spellbook
Is she leaving?
I looked at Sister Bai hurrying away and guessed she must have her own matters to attend to.
I instinctively touched my lips, recalling my impulsive behavior from earlier. Now that I had calmed down, my thoughts had regained their footing.
Sister Bai has been acting quite strangely lately; she has changed a lot compared to before. Could it be that Sister Bai has feelings for me?
But developing such a relationship with Sister Bai… feels a bit… strange, doesn’t it?
When I was still a boy, Sister Bai had no interest in me. I could clearly sense that slight distance due to the gender differences. But now, that feeling is gradually being broken.
Because I’ve also become a girl. Although Sister Bai claims we are just best friends, having reached such a degree, I should have realized by now. After all, I have had a girlfriend if we count Yao Beijuan.
But… sigh, I don’t know how to face this feeling toward Sister Bai. If this feeling is still just friendship, then nothing has changed. If it’s something more…
Sigh, then there’s nothing I can do about Sister Bai.
Anyway, I’ve already owed so much. I think it’s better to deal with this kind of troublesome matter later.
I picked up the spellbook in my hand, titled… Memory Shelf, right?
It feels like everything Sister Bai gifts me is the most useful to me, whether it’s a spellbook or an alchemical item.
Without hesitation, I directly inserted this spellbook into my body. Let’s see what this spellbook can do.
Inside this spellbook, I found the introduction to the spell I was anticipating. After all, it’s a very valuable kind of spellbook. If it didn’t have an introduction, its importance wouldn’t be reflected.
Of course, this also eliminates the need for me to explore on my own; at least I can know how to use it as soon as I have it.
I pushed open the door and returned to the laboratory.
“Xiao Han, who was that just now?”
“She’s a senior I know. She came to visit me and brought me a few things.”
“Oh, I see. By the way, I think I heard someone shouting outside. Who was that?”
“Well, oddly enough, it was an elf from Aphhemia Academy, and… she’s also my ex-girlfriend.”
“Your ex… ex-girlfriend?”
Tan Han’s eyes widened in disbelief. Although current societal views are more open, such relationships between the same gender are still not very common. Even though she knew I had an ex-girlfriend, she didn’t expect her to come here.
“Yes, unfortunately, we parted ways after the college entrance exams.” I nodded and didn’t say more. I had made it clear before that I used to be a boy and that I had such an ex-girlfriend. She shouldn’t be so surprised, right?
“So why did she come here?”
“Oh, I don’t know. But I was chatting with her, she misunderstood something, turned around, and ran away. I couldn’t be bothered to explain.”
“Maybe she came to rekindle your relationship?”
“That seems unlikely. But I didn’t expect you to be the type to pick up on past feelings?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Forget it, I’m not the one involved, and I have no right to comment. Since you’ve made your decision, I don’t need to express my opinion.”
“Yeah, thank you for your understanding.” I nodded and returned to my Earth Vein Operating System. Talking to a top student is indeed less mentally exhausting.
Now, I wanted to understand how effective this spellbook Sister Bai gave me is.
The effect of the Memory Shelf spell requires a large amount of magic power to create a “permanent” spell effect at the first use, essentially creating a bookshelf to hold “books.” This bookshelf exists at the spell-creation level and requires me to communicate with it using mental power, so there’s a threshold to using this spellbook.
First, a large amount of initial magic power is required to meet the threshold, and second, mental power needs to establish a connection with the spell effect, which is to communicate with the “space” that holds that bookshelf.
Using this spell involves continuously consuming magic power to condense blank books and ink, and writing content within them. This process continuously consumes magic power.
Once the content is written and placed on the shelf, it can be communicated between the mental power and my memory.
The greatest value of this spellbook is that there’s no limit to the bookshelf and the books.
Of course, an individual has a limit; the more books there are, the more records made, which adds to the burden of exchanging those memories.
So, the later it gets, the more time one needs to spend organizing those memory books and streamlining the content.
If a memory no longer needs to exchange to be understood, then that book can be discarded.
It can be said that this is a magical device for helping with memory!
It can quickly exchange memories and assist memory. If I remember something, I can also throw that memory out of the shelf to lighten the burden.
What a miraculous spellbook!
However, it should also be noted that after one person uses it, the extensive knowledge base created cannot be transferred. Of course, it can be physically taken out, but the spellbook has a layer of connection on the mental level. If it is to be transferred, that connection must be severed. Without that connection, the effects of the spellbook will immediately dissipate, as no one is using their mental power to maintain its existence, so it will naturally collapse. After all, those bookshelves and books are merely spell effects, not actual physical objects.
Nevertheless, the value of this spellbook exceeds my imagination, even more so than practical spell application… wait, that might be an unfair comparison; after all, practical spell application focuses on learning and mental inspiration. It can be said that the true terror lies in combining these two kinds of spellbooks!
With a massive resource pool and mental inspiration, isn’t that taking practical application to the extreme?
Practical application will speed up self-learning of those memories; it won’t let the bookshelf pile up too many memories and create a burden. Although I still have a long way to go before I experience such a burden, some things just need to be prepared for in advance.
As I began to try out the spell, my mental power mobilized the spellbook, and a vast amount of magic power was drawn out in that moment. I sensed a massive, somewhat ancient-looking wooden symmetrical bookshelf appear before me, indicating that the spell effect had come into play, with a magic power consumption of about a hundred units.
For me, that isn’t very high, but it would deter many people. I wonder if I can replace it with an alchemical item that stores magic power; that should work, since this is a spell.
And that’s the first threshold for using this spellbook. Next come the consumption of books, ink, and the ongoing writing of memories.
I noticed the condensed book also had a wooden exterior—it’s a thick blank notebook, thicker than a dictionary, while the pen is a dipping water white feather pen that I’m not very used to.
Unfortunately, it seems that these are not things I can control. But I’m not sure how to magically modify these items; after all, this spellbook is a field I’d never encountered before.
Rather than expending great costs to alter it, I feel it might be better to adapt proactively since I have used dipping pens before. I hope it isn’t too difficult to use.
Magical modifications can wait until I have free time; it isn’t something that needs to be done immediately.
“Xiao Han, what’s going on here?”
Naturally, my actions caught Tan Han’s attention. After all, she was not familiar with the effects of the spell, and a spell effect of such a large bookshelf was something she had never seen before.
“Oh, just a spell effect. You’ll encounter various strange spells in time,” I said without giving her too much explanation, and she didn’t press for more details.
After all, privacy is something everyone has, and there’s no need to pry; otherwise, it only leads to annoyance.
I certainly appreciate Tan Han’s tact, but my focus remains on the effects of this spell.
Since the bookshelf effect had manifested, the space accommodating this bookshelf would also be opened up.
It’s called space, but not entirely; after all, this is a spell effect, not a physical object. It doesn’t truly create a space. If it did, it could be used as storage equipment, and I have plenty of storage gear, not to mention the large storage equipment that Teacher Ji gave me.
But thinking about it, wouldn’t a spellbook capable of creating a spatial area be nice? It would be difficult to steal and wouldn’t let anything go to waste, but I’m sure such spellbooks must be rare.
Once the bookshelf is integrated into that area, the next threshold for this spellbook is the need to communicate with that “space” using mental power, linking and forming a state of mutual exchange.
This should be a tricky problem for many people. Since Sister Bai could acquire this spell, I assume this threshold is also a significant reason. I wonder if Sister Bai is aware of this.
But this isn’t an issue for me.
In the realm of Spirit Vision at the Floating World level, this kind of existence can’t hide, right? With Spirit Vision guiding my mental power, it’s as easy as taking candy from a baby; this difficulty isn’t even comparable to the challenge of connecting my mental power with the spell effect.
Once I established a connection with the spell’s effect, the kind of clarity feedback from the spell was even more useful than the explanation embedded in the spellbook.
Now that I possessed these two spellbooks enhancing my learning efficiency, the previous regret of not being in the top ten newcomers disappeared completely!
I now directly look down on those newcomers from the past new student competition, who had made me feel uncomfortable for so long, as well as those colleges that insisted on placing their rewards on the exchange competition—every single one of them will be held accountable, especially Aphhemia Academy, which was the first to bring it up and stirred up so much trouble.
Of course, this is just something I think about for now.
I still have more important matters to attend to. I dragged a chair over and sat down, opened the first blank book on the Memory Shelf, dipped some ink, and began recording.
The content to be recorded first is, of course, regarding illusion magic since my plan to magically modify Illusionary Clone has not changed, and I’ve been preparing for it all along.
“It seems we are about to defy the heavens; how could Sister Bai manage to find a spell like this?” At that moment, the clone from Tan Han came over, grinning at me.
“Heh, you didn’t say anything you shouldn’t have to Tan Han, did you?” I shot a cold glance at the clone and asked.
“Something that shouldn’t be said? Your subconscious knows it shouldn’t say that. Do you not trust yourself? I merely discussed our measurements and other things with Tan Han.”
“You talked about that? And you still claim you didn’t say anything out of line!”
“Well, isn’t it your subconscious that wants to show off? You’re the weirdo here, and I… oh, we’re both weirdos~ It’s not even anything remarkable, just solid.”
“Oh~ wait, it’s not solid, but just average. After all, we haven’t been girls for long; we’ll grow bigger later~”
“You don’t need to say that.”
After finishing this conversation, I ignored the clone, almost thinking it would leak my secret. But it did remind me that my subconscious wouldn’t lie to me. Perhaps it’s the clone’s bad personality that made me think of it as an independent entity?
But that’s still me. I wonder if I would be like that without any other factors?
It’s not surprising, really, since I’m aware of my own enjoyment for fun. I’ve just restrained it a lot since school started.
I even neglected the social interactions I had been concerned about.
I clearly vowed to start my new life and change myself after becoming a girl, but it seems now that I’m merely the same person with a different gender; I have not changed at all.
The only thing that has changed is the will to change.
Time passes quickly.
Before I knew it, this day came to an end. I still ordered takeout for lunch, as did Tan Han. However, she didn’t seem to have the habit of eating takeout; her first reaction at noon was to invite me to the cafeteria for lunch, as the Witch Academy’s central teaching area is right nearby.
But I declined. Seeing me like this, Tan Han lost interest in going to the cafeteria, and instead, she ordered takeout like I did to save time.
By the end of the day, I had mastered the Illusionary Clone spell and even developed new inspiration for its application based on my current understanding.
For instance, I can now control the clone more easily with my subjective consciousness and, additionally, distinguish whether the actions of the clone being seen by a spellcaster are based on my subconscious or theirs. Each has its own characteristics, and there’s no clear superiority, rather it offers an additional option.
However, these applications come after a foundational understanding of the spellbook, but compared to this, I still prefer the original version of that rebellious demeanor, even though that version of the clone was indeed quite annoying.
Moreover, I developed another purpose, which is to enable the various methods of manipulating the opponent or the “medium.” Previously, it was all about spell runes, but now it has become more convenient to interact, perceive, and make direct eye contact; mental perception has also spawned potential pathways to manipulate the other.
And… the illusionary clone’s appearance can also change. It no longer has to be my own; it can take the form of anyone I have an impression of, or even someone who doesn’t exist.
In other words, it can even be something beyond human!
With that, the utility of this Illusionary Clone skyrocketed!
Even my imagination could run wild with possibilities.
Indeed, breadth of knowledge isn’t as good as depth of specialization. Of course, having both breadth and depth is naturally better.
This must be the norm for long-lived witches, right? The passage of time makes ancient witches even more formidable. What kind of existence must the Primordial Witch, as the source of witches, be?
It’s hard to imagine…
Today, Tan Han also fully grasped the theoretical basis of the Fireball Spellbook, leading me to feel the terror of a learning prodigy.
Even though what Tan Han understood was the foundational theoretical structure of the Fireball Spell and not something like my approach of starting from scratch.
It’s the simple model that Teacher Ji provided in the morning, but it’s still a spellbook.
Of course, I wouldn’t underestimate the efforts of both my clone and myself, and I have learned what it means to “ask when you don’t understand,” since Tan Han’s potential in this regard even outshines my annoying illusionary clone. Who else but Tan Han can be considered a learning prodigy?
Perhaps there’s still much I need to learn from Tan Han; that’s a very realistic matter. Having a sense of superiority truly cannot help; a true master always maintains the mindset of a student.
I understand motivational quotes, but putting them into practice is far more challenging.
“Are you leaving?”
“Uh-huh, it’s actually quite late. Why don’t you ask Teacher Ji for a portable Earth Vein Operating System? It’s very convenient.”
“Okay, thank you, I will. By the way, Xiao Han, is your offer to try the Dream World battle tomorrow still valid?”
“Uh-huh.”
I nodded. I really should give it a try, as the exchange competition is nothing like the new student contest; I have ample reason to go and adapt to it, especially since I want to confront those guys.
“Is that so? Then would you like to come with me?” Tan Han invited, “I have some insights from battling in the dream device. I can teach you how to use it.”
“Thanks, I’ll take you up on that.”
I nodded, as my understanding of the dream device has only existed since that time when I learned about Spirit Vision cognition, but it’s clear that the dream exchange competition isn’t based on that model.
“Then let’s set a time, where the location is as indicated by the school announcement.”
“Um… how about half-past eight?” I recalled that the dream device opens at nine, so let’s go a bit earlier and wait; perhaps we can enter early since we are students of the Witch Academy.
“All right, half-past eight it is.” Tan Han nodded, agreeing on that time, “I also want to thank you for your guidance today; I benefited greatly. So, I’ll say goodbye for now.”
“Uh-huh… goodbye.”
