It’s an extremely simple locator charm.
A simple rune, plus a low-quality talisman paper — whether it’s torn or wrinkled, it doesn’t matter — there’s no need for complex structures such as symbol feet or symbol gall, all it takes is injecting a tiny bit of magic power, and that’s enough.
"What an awful joke." The young scholarship student murmured, forcefully crumpling the locator charm in his hand into a ball.
A few sparks appeared in Zheng Qing’s palm with a leaking sound.
A whiff of white smoke that barely started rising was whisked away by the surrounding heavy snowstorm, dispersing into nothingness.
"A very common prank." Nicholas laughed, trying to comfort him: "You’re lucky. They only left a locator charm for you, letting two very normal snowmen chase you around... During the snowfall two years ago, some jerk transformed a ’smelly snowman’ whose snowballs reeked... Geez, it was a horrifying sight."
Zheng Qing grimaced, making a great effort to avoid picturing that dreadful scene.
"Do these snowmen have rune arrays on their noses?" He lowered his head and kicked aside a carrot at his feet — that was the nose which just fell from a snowman — asking curiously: "How do they find me via the locator charm?"
"Of course, through another talisman." Nicolas took a few quick steps and bent down, digging in the snow pile left by the recently ’dead’ snowman, quickly pulled out a stiff talisman board resembling a piece of wood, casually wiped away the remaining snow and handed it to the young scholarship student.
As a wizard with a solid foundation in Talisman Studies, Zheng Qing quickly recognized the ’ingredients’ of the talisman paper in his hand.
The scorched yellow color and the hard texture of the talisman paper told him it was made from papyrus.
This carrier from Egypt is not a very suitable rune medium — in certain ways, they are only applicable to a set of ancient Egyptian magic — but economically, papyrus is much cheaper than the yellow paper or mulberry paper often used when wizards draw talisman. At Green’s grocery store, a single bronze coin can buy a large stack of blank papyrus.
If a wizard doesn’t have high requirements for the grade and efficacy of the talisman paper, then this type of paper is a suitable choice.
Lifting that piece of paper, and took a sniff at it, a spicy stimulating smell hit him directly. The young scholarship student couldn’t help but sneeze several times — it was the smell of ginger juice. Wizards often use it as a catalyst, interacting with the cinnabar on the talisman paper, promoting the circulation speed of magic between the runes.
"There is too much ginger juice smeared on the talisman paper. While it can stimulate the capacity of cinnabar in a short time, it can easily cause magic power to become chaotic." Zheng Qing wiped his nose, grumbling: "A product of poor quality among poor quality, no-one would even pick it up if it’s thrown on the ground... Are they not afraid of blowing themselves up with this kind of talisman paper?"
As he spoke, a red light flashed across the talisman paper in the scholarship student’s hand.
The young wizard screamed, sharply flicking his wrist the paper talisman instantly darted back into a snow pile in front of him. Within the blink of an eye, a muffled thump was heard, the snow popped explosively in front of the wizard. Fluffy snowballs rained down on the two wizards, covering them from head to toe.
"Spit, spit... Just like that." Nicholas spat out the snowflakes that exploded into his mouth, shaking off the remnants over him all while explaining in a muffled voice: "What’s the big deal if it explodes? It adds a lot of fun for everyone."
"Anyway, everyone is just playing in the snow."
"Moreover, apart from Alfa Academy’s tycoons, no one would waste above inferior-quality talisman paper when playing games here...uh, except for you."
"I heard you started using Charm Guns? That’s truly a gold-burning gadget."
Hearing Nicholas’s somewhat envious tone, the young scholarship student felt flattered. But he reflexively waved his hand and modestly said, "I draw the charms myself, and wrap the talisman bullets myself, it doesn’t cost much."
"That’s even more impressive!" Nicholas gave a thumbs up, admiring: "Not everyone in the school has the ability to casually draw so many above standard-quality talismans."
Zheng Qing continued to gesture modestly, but he couldn’t suppress the smile on his face anyway.
Just at this moment, a large chubby snowman leisurely walked past between two large trees, passing by the young scholarship student unhurriedly. It was clear that its maker put a lot of effort into it; the bright red carrot nose had two carefully dug-out nostrils, and it had a bright red woolen scarf around its neck. Its two arms were not broom handles ’borrowed’ by students from behind classroom doors, but rather arms constructed out of snow.
Compared to ’broom arms’, constructing arms out of snow obviously consumes much more magic power.
This means that the talisman paper stuffed in this snowman’s belly is probably not an inferior product, but a standard- or even above-standard-grade talisman paper.
Watching the snowman wander off, a question suddenly popped into the young scholarship student’s mind. He turned to the repeating elderly student who was still standing by his side:
"These snowmen are running around the academy, doesn’t the school care? I remember a few days ago, because of a group of Sand Hour bugs, the whole school was in chaos, it almost came to the point of hiring professional exterminators."
Nicholas was staring at the sky, squinting as if savoring the feeling of the falling snowflakes.
At those words, he paused and replied after a long while: "It’s not the same, not the same at all...Sand Hour bugs are naturally occurring magical creatures, whereas these snowmen are just the students messing around. Whether from an economical perspective or from the aspect of danger, Sand Hour bugs are much worse than snowmen."
"Take the talisman we just saw, for example, that’s the true core sustaining the snowman’s activity, a beginner... no, an elementary-level Snowman Talisman."
"Very inferior, its sustaining time is less than two hours."
"Which means, if they weren’t destroyed in the big snowball fight, you wouldn’t need to do anything, after another two hours, this snowman would still turn back into a quiet pile of snow."
"Besides, these snowmen won’t always stay inside the school."
"Most snowmen have a very short lifespan, they’ll melt when the sun comes out, why waste manpower to specially clean them up in this snowy weather?"
"Most?" Zheng Qing couldn’t help raising an eyebrow.
"Yes, most." Nicholas nodded, a trace of seriousness appearing in his eyes: "Magic is a very miraculous power, always adept at creating miracles."
"Even though we all know that what’s sustaining these snowmen are just inferior talismans, but sometimes, with these inferior talismans and their loosely built bodies, under certain harsh conditions, can give rise to real miracles... transforming from ordinary snowmen to real snowmen."