*Boom!*
A half-completed magic scroll on the bedside table exploded and the smoke from the explosion blackened Ye Chui’s face. He tried to dodge reactively, but he fell on his hind pathetically. As he recovered from the fall, he scratched his head doubtfully.
[Why didn’t it work? By doubling the element absorption array of the flame scroll, the charm should have worked, but why did both magic scrolls explode halfway through carving? Even the part of the magic scroll that exploded was symmetrical… what exactly went wrong?]
Ye Chui was still carving magic scrolls.
Instead of carving the array characters that were on a magic scroll template, he carved the magic matrix of the scroll, which he edited. This was the magic matrix used to create flame magic scrolls that had double the might – in other words, Ye Chui was creating his very own spell.
A spell that’s self-created by a mere level two Magician?
If others were to learn about this, they would treat it as a joke – because it was impossible. Self-created magic spells could only be made by advanced level magicians. Elementary and intermediate level Magicians dared not even dream of creating a magic spell of their own.
However, Ye Chui wouldn’t think that way. Soon after learning a programming language, he tried cracking a bank’s security system. To him, nothing was impossible in this world, as long as he was willing to try. Although most of his attempts would fail, he would slowly and patiently learn from it.
(Silavin: Skoll, you got to back me up and warn people not to try this.)
(Icicle: I disagree…the world is your oyster…you can be whatever you want, (as long as you are willing to face the consequences))
(Skoll: Actually, if someone were to completely manage to learn a programming language, and attempt to use it to hack into a bank, I’d be rather impressed, as a bank’s security system wouldn’t be entirely in one coding language, and would rather be a compilation of multiple. Much like a cake, the security would have multiple layers imo. The author has severely dumbed down the process that would be required to hack into a bank.)
(Silavin: Dang Icicle D: why are you encouraging us to lose 1 reader!!)
*Dum, Dum!*
Heavy, deep thuds knocked on the door. Quinn’s loud and angry voice vibrated through, “You better watch out! You have already wasted more than 10 pieces of parchment. Do you think that parchments are cheap? I’ll come in and punch you if waste another piece!”
“Do you think that carving 30 magic scrolls in a day is child’s play? There will always be waste parchment if I have to carve fast. If you are unhappy about it, you can go and complain to Busca!” Ye Chui was not intimidated by Quinn in the least and shouted back at him.
For Ye Chui, carving magic scrolls was indeed a simple feat, just like programming. With his expertise, he could achieve a 100% success rate. However, he was trying to research a new flame magic scroll, a stronger form. Wastage of the parchments was inevitable for such activity.
Quinn was disgruntled at Ye Chui’s insubordination, but he shut up after hearing the frustration in his voice.
Ye Chui shook his head and smiled. He leafed for a new parchment to continue carving the charm he was looking for. Expectedly, another loud ‘boom’ soon came.
Ye Chui has been confined in the small, black room for three days now. He carved 30 magic scrolls daily accordingly to Busca’s demands.
Initially, the time he used to carve one magic scroll was 20 minutes, so it would be 10 hours for 30 scrolls a day, but due to the pressure laid on him in the past two days, his speed increased – he could carve one magic scroll in just 15 minutes. The extra time he had, he used for researching other stronger scrolls.
Even then, the effect was only minimal.
Although he firmly believed that the magic matrix that he researched had no flaw, accidents would always occur during the carving process. [What in the world is wrong?]
Another failed attempt left his face in another layer of black ash. Ye Chui sighed as he walked over to the basin and used a wet towel to clean his powdered face.
Ye Chui had to cherish every drop of water as Quinn would only deliver a full pail once every three days. The heat and dampness of his little prison made him feel painfully uncomfortable, but he had to endure it. He never took a bath, only wiping his body with the wet towel before returning it to the basin.
Just then, he glanced at his reflection in the water. The droplets that fell from the wet towel created ripples on his reflection in the basin.
Soon after, a ray of inspiration suddenly flashed in his mind.
[I have doubled the element absorption array in the magic scrolls, yet the magic matrix still isn’t able to deliver the result that I want. The fault seems to stem from the imperfect integration of the elements from the two element arrays. The absence of a catalyst to make both elements integrate was the reason for the explosions. Just like me and my reflection in the basin, two ent.i.ties cannot integrate to form one unified subject!]
That being said, the magic matrix which he researched from the start had no hope of success?
[No!] Ye Chui’s eyes lit up suddenly. [In theory, my magic matrix had no mistake. The absence of a catalyst to integrate the two different elements was the reason for the failures. If I remember correctly, there is a magic symbol in Intermediate Magic Language that is able to act as a catalyst…]
Having read through the teaching materials for Intermediate Magic Language and Advanced Magic Language many times, Ye Chui was already familiar with all the magic symbols. However, he was familiar with only their forms, not their meanings. Although a long introductory write-up was given for each magic symbol, they were too complicated and disorganised for anyone to be able to understand.
The form and meaning of each symbol are two different ent.i.ties, thus it’s impossible to grasp the use of the magic symbols – when carving the magic scrolls, it is possible to carve the form of the magic symbol, but the magic scroll will be totally useless if one doesn’t fully comprehend the accurate meaning of each symbol.
However, Ye Chui suddenly mastered the technique of comprehending magic symbols.
As he pondered momentarily, he took a parchment and continued carving the flame magic scroll.
Ye Chui added a magic symbol which would act as a catalyst in between the two element absorption arrays. If his understanding of the magic symbol matched the true meaning of it, the magic array in the scroll will not fail.
The number of magic symbols on the parchment gradually increased.
Soon, Ye Chui was able to pa.s.s the point where his scrolls would explode.
The magic symbol he added was effective!
In other words, Ye Chui has fully grasped the meaning of this magic symbol!
However, his excitement didn’t last long. Suddenly, a loud ‘boom’ could be heard as the parchment once again exploded in his hands. The fire that erupted from the explosion seemed to be mightier than before. Although Ye Chui managed to dodge the explosion out of caution, he was still seriously burned. Waves of painful burning sensations could be felt on his face, but he was not discouraged. Instead, his face broke into a wide grin. His once again blackened face coupled with his sparkling white teeth made him look somewhat comical.
The failure this time proved that his array still had room for improvement.
Adopting his former thought process, he knew that some other magic symbols needed to be added to the magic scroll to coordinate it.
“I shall learn magic symbols through practising. Sooner or later, I’ll understand every single symbol.”
Ye Chui found a shortcut that allowed him to study all the magic symbols in a short time frame, and the best thing is that he didn’t need to worry about the amount of parchment and magic ink that will go to waste in the process.
As Ye Chui casually wiped his blackened face, he saw that the stack of parchment had dwindled in numbers. Feeling excited, he yelled in the direction of the door, “Oi, tell Busca that there isn’t much parchment left. Get him to bring more of it over. Also, get me two more bottles of magic ink.”
Quinn was left speechless, “…”