Chapter 389: A Summoning Spell That Cannot Summon Anything?
I stared blankly at the Academy Head and then at Teacher Ji, somewhat unable to believe what the Academy Head had just said.
What she said earlier about needing to complete a full spellbook was my initial plan, so that didn’t surprise me.
But what shocked me was her next statement: she chose to temporarily join Teacher Ji’s laboratory to become a member specifically researching the runes and their derived spells!
After the initial shock, I quickly realized that the Academy Head before me was a physical clone. If Teacher Ji hadn’t mentioned it, I truly wouldn’t have been able to discern that.
To be honest, I didn’t know the Academy Head well, and it wouldn’t be appropriate to use Spirit Vision for a detailed examination, would it?
Once I understood this, I accepted the fact.
With the Academy Head’s presence, the progress accelerated rapidly at that moment.
Originally, I thought I could learn a lot of extraordinary knowledge by following the Academy Head, but I quickly realized my thinking was shallow: I was learning something even more important than that knowledge!
It was the “thought process” for extraordinary research.
For witches, the knowledge exists; the key is how to use it.
After all, even just the library of a Witch Academy might take me until graduation to finish, but the thought processes and methods for exploring the extraordinary… those are even more precious than knowledge.
Because these thought processes are the best solutions summarized through constant trial and error.
From this, one can see that the Academy Head is far superior to Teacher Ji in teaching this aspect.
But this isn’t blame on Teacher Ji; after all, I heard she was becoming a class head for the first time.
As time passed, the next half day went by like this. With the Academy Head’s addition, her knowledge delivered a dimensional blow to the research here. What I thought would require several days of hard work was completed in just half a day.
The downside was that I felt my involvement was low, while Teacher Ji simply didn’t participate in this mid-way spell derivation experiment and continued to focus stubbornly on “Extraordinary Knowledge.”
“Pay attention; although you can’t grasp Real Editing yet, I think you, with Spirit Vision, should be able to understand its operation.”
At this moment, the Academy Head held the spell prototype temporarily named “Summoning Spell” and spoke to me.
I prepared myself, knowing the Academy Head wanted to demonstrate the process of Real Editing for me. Even though I wasn’t qualified to study such skills at the moment, this was still a tremendous opportunity to broaden my knowledge.
Seeing that I didn’t speak but responded with action, the Academy Head stopped wasting words.
As she extended her hand and tapped in front of her, a composite rune emerged at her fingertips, and then countless runes rapidly shot out, using this as a medium.
“Real Editing is a technique based on Real Time; it’s actually also a method of utilizing rune ceremonies. What you see now is the operation method of Real Editing. You should understand its threshold now, right?”
“…Hmm, extraordinary.” I thought for a moment and nodded, giving an answer that felt somewhat trivial.
However, I clearly saw that those runes didn’t appear in False Time, the reality where ordinary people exist; those runes completely severed their ties with False Time and presented themselves entirely in Real Time!
So even though the Academy Head was creating a spellbook in front of the students, as long as they hadn’t completely mastered foresight-level Spirit Vision, they might not understand what the Academy Head was doing at all.
But I had Floating World-level Spirit Vision, naturally seeing many unusual aspects.
Just that initial “gesture” she made with her finger seemed to involve the real sense of touch from the Real Five Senses, which I hadn’t quite grasped until now. The upcoming Real Editing to create the spellbook might require even more abilities; thus, saying the threshold was “extraordinary” wasn’t incorrect.
As the Academy Head operated while explaining to me, I felt as if I were reading an ancient text, completely powerless. The content she spoke was indeed somewhat difficult to comprehend.
“If you don’t understand, don’t force yourself. I’ll give you a brief introduction next, trying to build a concept and framework that you can understand.” Seeing my furrowed brows, the Academy Head had no choice but to speak.
But she didn’t blame me for anything, as there are thresholds in learning—it’s not just about IQ; there are requirements for understanding capability, comprehension ability, and knowledge reserves.
The learning threshold for Real Editing being “extraordinary” not only requires the practice of Real Five Senses but also the elevation to an extraordinary level of life, which encompasses all aspects such as memory, learning capability, comprehension capability, logical ability, cognition, etc. The level of life is also a threshold for learning some special knowledge.
After all, “knowledge” has many classifications; some can be transmitted, such as the general knowledge taught by professors in the academy; some knowledge cannot be shared, and knowledge itself is power, such as “Extraordinary Knowledge”; while others, even observation, understanding, or hearing about them, can bring unpredictable dangers or benefits to life, like “Forbidden Knowledge,” etc.
The more you know, the more you understand that many things cannot be forced, which is something Mei Linde is very clear about.
The concept of learning ability has already become a personal attribute directly linked to strength in the extraordinary world; some grasp it tightly, while others let it waste away.
Especially for many naturally extraordinary beings or those who gain power too easily, they will not cherish what is easily obtainable, including cognition. After all, power expands a person’s desires and turns them arrogant.
At this moment, the Academy Head had also entered a tedious phase; creating something is much more difficulty than destroying something. When I dismantled the spellbook before, it was simple, but I knew the internal situation of the spellbook, and all those structures and runes had to be hand-crafted!
Just thinking about it made my scalp tingle.
Taking this opportunity, I started to test the spell. I had been watching the derivation and completion of this spell the entire time, so after the spell was announced as finished, I also learned this spell in sync.
In fact, I could even manually craft this spell and rune ceremony right now.
This is not a joke; the reason this place is a very confidential laboratory of the Witch Academy is not just because there’s no signal for phones here; the main reason is that this independent space completely ignores the effects of that massive weakening spell!
It’s called ignoring, but in essence, it’s taking advantage of a loophole. After all, the only means that can counter the effects of the Great Spellbook’s spell are those from the Great Spellbook itself; ordinary means or spells can only wear it down continuously.
Moreover, the effect of this spell in the Main World has persisted until now. Although the major extraordinary academies initially agreed not to destroy this spell’s effect, who knows what happens behind the scenes?
This massive spell effect enduring until now sufficiently proves the absolute suppression of spells by the Great Spell.
At this moment, I am constructing the spell ceremony bit by bit. Although the Academy Head has confirmed that this spell is more of a summoning type, until actual tests are conducted, no one knows what the specific effect will be.
As for why we’re so eager to build a spellbook for an untested spell, according to the Academy Head, it’s because the spellbook form provides a platform for free derivation.
This answer strikes at the core of my expertise; among my peers, no one knows better than me how convenient it is to modify spells with a spellbook platform!
I almost forgot about this.
At this moment, the spell I was crafting by hand felt a bit… sluggish when used.
But soon, I succeeded in casting the spell; it operated smoothly, runes flowed, and the ceremony shimmered.
In the testing area of the laboratory, the shimmering ceremony runes radiated outward from me.
Clearly, the spell had completed its casting; according to the usage process of the summoning spell, something should have been summoned here. I instinctively stepped out of the center of the spell and waited for a while, but found no movement.
“Strange… no action? Is this really a summoning spell?” I curiously looked at the spell ceremony, completely puzzled.
According to Teacher Ji, this summoning spell has spatial characteristics, meaning it doesn’t directly create summoned objects but works similarly to teleporting real existing items or entities, etc.
Could it be a contract summoning?
Because this spell has no contract target, it cannot summon anything?
I contemplated while utilizing the permission given to me by Teacher Ji to seek the problem in the Earth Vein System, primarily cross-referencing to see which category this summoning spell belongs to, hoping it isn’t true as I guessed earlier.
Moreover, based on the runes from earlier, the spell system constructed from them allowed me to see that beautiful young girl; theoretically, a completed spell shouldn’t have no effect.
The effect caused by that earlier rune was humorously dubbed the “Beautiful Girl Summoning Spell” by me, so how could it not be doing anything now?
Or is it because there’s no guidance?
The reason I could see that girl earlier was due to that thread of fortune acting as a guide, or perhaps as an “anchor”?
In summary, I suspected that this spell was unable to summon an existence out of thin air, akin to my teleport spell, which requires prior marking.
At this moment, I unconsciously glanced at the thread of fortune in my hand, but it showed no signs of movement in the face of this spell.
I was contemplating whether to directly use this thread of fortune as the anchor.
After some thought, I decided to temporarily abandon it; after all, the cost of failure might be beyond my bearing. It’s better to wait until the Academy Head completes the spellbook and conducts tests before considering using this thread of fortune.
Otherwise, if this thread of fortune accidentally dissipates, then it would truly be lost.
I stood by the spell ceremony for a long time, waiting until the effect of the spell dissipated, yet I didn’t summon anything, which truly made me feel embarrassed.
Even Teacher Ji, who had been busy, took the time to glance at my situation.
In the end, she just shook her head.
I didn’t feel discouraged; after all, testing is just that— even if I succeeded the first time, multiple tests are needed to gather more experimental data.
The laboratory isn’t a battlefield; here, failure is not feared; it’s about attempting repeatedly and using different methods to continue trying. There’s only success or failure, but fundamentally, they are not much different.
Time passed into the deep night. Since even the Academy Head hadn’t rested, I naturally stayed, right? Just one night without sleep?
I managed to stay awake through the night.
Moreover, I wanted to witness the Academy Head completing the spellbook, not to mention… not long ago, the Academy Head mentioned it would be fast.
So I set aside what I was doing and moved to the Academy Head’s side.
From that first attempt at casting a spell until now, I hadn’t been idle; I directly borrowed Teacher Ji’s data retrieval permissions to begin organizing and analyzing this spell.
Of course, I also had the drafts and notes from the Academy Head during her completion of this spell and my own notes recorded in the Memory Shelf, yet I still found no significant discoveries.
With the Academy Head’s final action, the structure of that spellbook prototype was fully completed at this moment, and once an additional layer of the spellbook’s unique protective layer was applied, the spellbook was completely finished.
“Done! Give it a try.”
At this moment, the Academy Head instinctively squinted and tossed the spellbook into my hand. It was obvious she had expended a lot of energy creating this spellbook; after everything was completely finished, she slightly closed her eyes to rest.
“Uh… should I try it right away?” I asked, puzzled.
“Hmm, you can start trying right away; we are your greatest insurance. What? Are you not confident?” The Academy Head opened her eyes and smiled, asking.
“No, no, it’s just that it feels a bit fast…”
“Fast is natural; after all, efficiency is key in research. More theoretical analysis is not as good as practical attempts. Witches aren’t afraid of trying, waste, or risks.”
“Well… yes.” I hesitantly nodded. After all, when attempting a spell, witches with Magic Sources can make as many mistakes as they like; how much does the spellbook cost? As for experimental risks… a witch’s strength is the best insurance against risks.
Just as I was about to attempt to release the spell using the spellbook, I was suddenly interrupted by the Academy Head.
“Wait a moment.”
“What’s wrong?” I looked at the Academy Head in confusion, not knowing what the issue was.
“I almost forgot; this is another spellbook sponsored in my personal capacity. Consider it a welcome gift for my sudden addition to your laboratory.”
“Uh? A welcome gift?” I stared blankly at the Academy Head, puzzled by her words.
Is there any essential difference between this action and paying to work?
But looking at the new spellbook already handed to me, I couldn’t help but be curious; what spell has the Academy Head given me now?
Last time it was Resurrection and Teleportation.
“Yes, take it.” The Academy Head smiled as she said, “Earlier you mentioned having trouble communicating with that girl you met? This spell can skip the language barrier and directly communicate consciousness between you and the other person, but the downside is… only the caster and the connected individual can communicate.”
“Thank you, Academy Head.” I was slightly surprised, my eyes widening; I hadn’t expected the Academy Head to be so thoughtful, even providing this spellbook and giving it to me directly. It seemed her pool of spells was quite deep…
I truly envied her, but I felt that given time, I should be able to reach this level too.
“It’s nothing; start trying to use it.” The Academy Head urged.
“Okay.” I didn’t refuse; I directly placed the spellbook into the Spellbook Rack and began my first attempt to cast the spell.
As a spell ceremony arose, this time, the release of this spell was very smooth. I must say, compared to the feeling of manually casting a spell, this was comfortable!
However, to my dismay, even so, there was still no trace of anything summoned by the summoning ceremony. I observed carefully with Spirit Vision, and even abnormal information was absent.
“Still like this? Nothing gets summoned… is there something wrong with this summoning spell?”
“Perhaps we can try a different approach to cast this spell. After all, this spell operates successfully and runs stably, there must be some spell effect that we have not discovered yet.”
“A different approach? How do we do that?” I thought it wouldn’t be suitable to try standing on my head, as that would touch on my knowledge blind spots.
“Perhaps… you could try standing in the center of this spell ceremony?” the Academy Head suggested.
