Chapter 69: An Epoch-Making Work!

"What is this thing?" Wang Yu pointed in surprise at the book Avia had produced. Although he understood what it corresponded to, he could not help but ask.

"Mm, it's the spellbook from Wizard of Legend that you told me about, Wang Yu. I designed this book with the purpose of giving you the ability to cast spells flexibly."

"I had this concept before, but it was only after having access to Teacher's laboratory that I was able to create this prototype."

As the girl spoke, she opened the heavy, book-like magic tool. It appeared to be a tome-shaped artifact, but once opened, it resembled a small chest more than anything else.

The interior was a space forged of metal, still appearing quite crude; the metal joints bore distinct patches and welding marks, with various grooves distributed inside, most of which were empty, save for two that held card-like objects.

"The chip concept you told me about gave me a lot of inspiration, Wang Yu. Most modern magic tools are single-use, chargeable products that require a long period of stagnation after use—like the fireball ring I designed before, which needs to be recharged after every single use."

"True, that's a common flaw among many magic tools nowadays. I suppose only things with a core power supply, like magic circles, can maintain long-term operation."

"But, Wang Yu, think about it: if a tiny ring can have magic circuits embedded inside to cast spells, why can't we integrate the content onto a single page, just like the chips you mentioned? As long as mana is channeled into it, it should trigger magic just like the circuit inside a ring."

Avia closed the book and placed it before Wang Yu.

"Indeed, but the design of a ring itself includes special materials and structures within it. Compared to a page, which is a medium that can hardly form a three-dimensional runic circuit structure, a ring may be small in volume, but it can form a three-dimensional magical structure."

"This three-dimensional structure can bear the load of the mana flow well, preventing the circuit from collapsing due to the spell's activation. If a magic tool had to be discarded after a single use, it seems too extravagant... Wait, isn't that just a magic scroll?"

Though Wang Yu's own alchemy skills were lacking, his theoretical knowledge was by no means weak; he could comprehend the girl's vision, but upon closer thought, wasn't this just a magic scroll? Single activation, single use—highly practical, and highly... money-burning.

Could the purpose of this book be that each page serves as a magic scroll? Was Wang Yu supposed to just tear a page out at will during battle to cast a spell? Although imagining the scene indeed promised a massive boost to his combat power, the practicality was too poor; he truly could not afford such an expense.

"No, Wang Yu, we need to alter our thinking. If a circuit collapses after one use, we can simply ignore the broken circuit and create a new one instead. We don't need to fixate on the circuit that disintegrates upon triggering the magic!"

"Huh?" Wang Yu found himself somewhat dizzy from the convoluted logic.

"We can use a magic circuit to project another magic circuit. Each collapse will only destroy the projected circuit, while the original projecting circuit remains completely intact. By simply repeating this process, we can achieve the effect of continuously using a spell."

"Huh... that actually makes sense!" Wang Yu slapped his thigh; sometimes his own thinking was truly too confined, and Avia's pointer had just opened the doors to a whole new world.

Since a magic circle collapses after a single use, why not use an indestructible magic circle to project other circles? When the projected circle collapses, he could just project it again, and that would be that!

"A genius!" Wang Yu slapped his forehead. The girl's idea could be said to have pioneered a brand new direction for magic tools! Wang Yu could not help but grow excited along with her!

Wang Yu suddenly scooped up the girl, whose frame was far more petite than his own, off the bed and spun her around in the air several times, eliciting successive shrieks from her.

"As expected of you, you're amazing!" Wang Yu placed the thoroughly flushed Avia back onto the bed, staring excitedly at the book that currently still appeared quite crude.

Perhaps someone else before the girl had thought of this method of spellcasting, but she was the one who had truly brought the prototype of this object into reality. Such talent, after using her teacher's laboratory for a mere single day, was simply... astonishing.

Remembering something, Wang Yu turned to ask Avia, who still had not quite recovered from his sudden spinning session. "What about your teacher? Didn't he have anything to say about this? Your teacher shouldn't fail to see how advanced this thing is."

Recovering from the recent shock, the girl gave it some thought before answering Wang Yu's question.

"Actually, Teacher's research direction is quite different from mine. He focuses more on the biological aspect; to use the phrasing of your hometown, Wang Yu, my direction leans more toward physics, while Teacher leans more toward chemistry and biology. Our fields of study are quite distinct."

"Is that so?" Wang Yu scratched his chin; he truly hadn't considered that. He never expected Avia's teacher to have a different research focus from her. Did this mean Avia's path to gaining recognition relied solely on her talent, and moreover, was entirely self-taught? Hiss...

"Mm, Teacher has been staying in the laboratory lately. He only came out that day to give me a test using knowledge points, practical operation, and creativity assessment, and then gave me a grade. Afterward, he was satisfied enough to open up his library and spare laboratory to me."

"Let me guess, a perfect score?"

"Mm!" The girl nodded with a touch of pride mingled with bashfulness.

"Brilliant!" Wang Yu gave a thumbs-up, by no means sparing in his praise.

"Alright, alright, you're making me embarrassed. Let's try out this prototype; I haven't officially used it yet!" Avia stood up and nudged Wang Yu, signaling for him to head out to the courtyard.

Wang Yu nodded; though his injuries this time were not light, they were truly nothing compared to his past ones. Coupled with the array of potent medicines applied, he would be fine after a bit of rest, so heading out for a test was certainly no problem.

Taking up the magic grimoire, Wang Yu stepped into the courtyard. Avia had entered a step ahead of him; she took the magic grimoire from Wang Yu's hands and opened the still somewhat crude flip-cover at the back, revealing its internal structure.

"Mm, this is the power core, and this is the magic array used for projection. Its effect is to link with your mental energy; as long as you touch this array with your mind, it will utilize the high-purity magic crystals from the core to supply power, using a blended spell of earth and fire elements to construct a temporary magic circuit."

"Because it's a single-use array where quality isn't pursued, it can be completed using a structure that isn't too complex! After that comes the secondary power structure, transferring the second layer of energy from the magic crystal to the constructed array to trigger the spell!"

Avia gave Wang Yu a brief explanation of the internal mechanics. Though Wang Yu was not the developer of this magic tool, he would likely be its user for a long time to come; having an understanding of the equipment he was to use was absolutely essential.

The overall theory was not complicated, but to realize this seemingly simple theory, a massive volume of calculation and exquisite craftsmanship were both difficult problems that had to be resolved.

"And then there's this, a special 'page' used to carry the projected array. I drew inspiration from the card slot design you mentioned, Wang Yu; these card-like pages actually have the corresponding semi-finished magic arrays embedded in their internal magical structures."

"Therefore, the core magic circle does not need to construct a complete magical structure, but only needs to complete the remaining parts, which greatly reduces both the energy and time consumed. Furthermore, the 'pages' can be inserted into the corresponding slots to release spells based on your needs!"

Avia pulled out the objects from the two slots that had contents inserted; just as she said, they were metal card-like objects roughly the size of a smartphone.

The "pages" were covered in dense, exposed magic arrays that made Wang Yu's scalp tingle just looking at them. They appeared exceedingly complex, and indeed seemed to be early experimental models that had not been optimized; such an exposed structure could easily damage the internal mechanics.

"Currently, I've only completed two relatively simple, basic first-tier spells: Fireball and Wind Blade. Fireball is just a standard spell, but for Wind Blade, I've optimized the array—you should like it, Wang Yu!" Avia inserted the two "pages" into their respective slots.

"Give it a try!" Having finished adjusting the magic tool she had created, Avia handed it over to Wang Yu.

"Alright!" Wang Yu accepted the book, noticing that she had thoughtfully installed a clip on the back, making it very convenient to fasten to his waist.

Fastening the book to his waist, he extended his mental energy and sensed the core array of the book. As Wang Yu's mind triggered it, the slightly crude yet precisely structured components within the magic tool began to operate, locking together gear by gear.

The core array drew upon the mana provided by the high-purity magic crystals, combining the earth and fire elements to cast. Like a photolithography machine, it instantaneously completed the semi-finished magic circuits on the "page," finalizing the magical pathways.

A complete, castable magic circle was constructed after a delay of roughly 0.5 seconds. Following that, the magical circuit of the other interface was likewise powered by the magic crystal, channeling mana into the newly completed "page."

At about 0.75 seconds, the elements converged, and a scorching heat gradually surged within Wang Yu's palm; a fireball that was not particularly large, even smaller than that of an average mage, floated above his hand.

Looking at this fireball, what Wang Yu felt was sheer awe. In truth, he was capable of using spells by utilizing witchcraft to distort reality, creating virtual mana, and then using mental energy to guide it into a forced cast.

But with his reserves of void energy, he could only manage a single first-tier fireball with a mere half of its usual power, making it utterly pointless.

Yet at this moment, he himself had not expended a single drop of mana or void energy, merely utilizing a minuscule amount of mental energy to stir the core of the magic circle, and after a delay of just 0.75 seconds, he had unleashed a fireball whose power was only slightly diminished.

One had to realize that this method of casting required no incantation and consumed no mana; a 0.75-second delay was practically instantaneous for someone at the level of a mage apprentice. It was too powerful—this was an invention that transcended eras, and Wang Yu did not doubt it for a moment.

What was even more terrifying was that this thing could cast continuously...

"Swish, bang!" The fireball was hurled by Wang Yu, smashing against a stone in the courtyard. A first-tier fireball carried little power; after bursting into a large sheet of flame, it merely nudged the stone slightly and blew off a small fragment from its edge.

But immediately afterward, "Swish, swish, swish...!" Without any pause, Wang Yu began alternating his left and right hands to hurl fireballs at intervals of roughly one second. With continuous explosions, the stone was obliterated bit by bit, worn down until it finally turned into a pile of debris under the impact of a final fireball.

"Holy crap..." Wang Yu was somewhat stunned himself. To think it reached this extent; though its power could not be called immense, it had already reached a level useful for actual combat. If anyone tried to kite him in the future, he would let them witness the terror of continuous fireball bombardment.

"Quick, try the Wind Blade!" Seeing Wang Yu's awestruck expression, Avia urged him to quickly test the Wind Blade, which she believed he would definitely be satisfied with.

"Alright!" Wang Yu nodded, his mental command to the book shifting from triggering the Fireball "page" to the Wind Blade.

Currents surged as the surrounding air was compressed by mana, gathering in front of Wang Yu's palm. The differing densities of the air caused light to refract, and a distinct, crescent-shaped blade of air appeared beside Wang Yu's hand.

Wang Yu aimed at a branch of the tree near his bedroom window. Wind Blade, fire!

"Huh?!" Yet, the expected scene of the wind blade flying out did not occur; following a sharp, piercing sound of tearing air, the condensed blade of air was not launched forward, but instead spun violently in front of Wang Yu's hand before dissipating away.

Wang Yu froze for a moment, then looked at his hands, then at the smiling girl beside him. A wave of pleasant surprise surged into his heart; this was a specialized spell, just like the girl's explosive fireball—this was a melee-specialized Wind Blade.

Wang Yu steadied his mind, his mental energy engaging the main array, and forming his fingers into a blade, he began to activate the book while swinging his arm. A wind blade that did not need to be launched instead simplified the array, allowing the activation of the Wind Blade to be even faster.

With almost zero delay, every time Wang Yu's palm slashed out, a wind blade would appear in front to tear through the air, bringing with it a whistle that caused goosebumps to rise.

Swinging continuously, the wind blades interwove into a mesh before Wang Yu's palm; every rapid strike of his hand was a lethal, cutting blow. The more continuously he used it, the more proficient Wang Yu felt, and a phrase surfaced in his mind: "The unseen blade is the deadliest."

"Clack, clack, clack, clack!" Wang Yu stepped to the courtyard wall and swung his palm in rapid succession, the wind blades closely following; one overlapping invisible blade after another was constructed. The wind blades collided with the reasonably sturdy brick wall, carving gash after gash, as stone dust fell and was swept away by the gusts.

"Clack, clack, clack, clack! Bang!" Just as Wang Yu was excitedly continuing his experimentation with the melee Wind Blade, he suddenly felt a bizarre fluctuation in the mana. His expression shifted rapidly as ripples carrying void energy surged to his flank at top speed. Witchcraft: Barrier!

Immediately following was a flash of blinding fire and a simultaneous explosion. The book had exploded. Covered in soot and grime, Wang Yu stepped out from the smoke and dust; he was largely unharmed, except the barrier had failed to block the entirety of the force, blowing away a large patch of clothing at his waist and leaving a few stray sparks.

"Wang Yu!" The girl ran over in a frantic rush, only letting out a sigh of relief when she saw that Wang Yu was safe and sound.

"I'm sorry..." The girl lowered her head in dejection, never expecting that the creation she was quite satisfied with would almost end up injuring Wang Yu.

"Fantastic!" Instead of a rebuke, she was met with Wang Yu’s sweeping embrace, as he lifted Elvia off her feet once more.

"This magical device is extraordinary; it is a work that transcends the ages. Do you remember that Edison I told you about? You call this a failure? He burned down his entire laboratory and still succeeded in the end—you will surely succeed as well!"

Elvia gazed blankly into Wang Yu’s smiling eyes, then narrowed her own, mirroring his expression with a radiant grin.

"Yes!"