Chapter 64: Chapter 64: A Harvest Beyond Imagination
For three days, Lide, utterly engrossed in exploring the Magic Goddess’s skirt hem, had fallen into a feverish state of work.
But the outcomes were far from perfect—failure, failure, and failure again.
Despite having constructed three mathematical models for experimental data support, he still couldn’t achieve a breakthrough.
For the first time, Lide tasted the frustration of making no progress.
According to his initial plan, he aimed to understand the functions of all magic nodes, but soon realized he had underestimated the magic model of the Small Fireball Skill.
As a spell that all certified mages were required to learn, it possessed many advantages unparalleled by any simple spells.
Such advantages, undoubtedly, were the result of its excellent magic model.
Thus, decomposing this magic model turned out to be unimaginably difficult.
The most critical issue was—these magic nodes were not isolated; many were ineffective on their own and only functioned when linked with preceding and following nodes.
This seemingly minor modification drastically increased Lide’s workload, which would have been even more formidable if not for the modern approach—using mathematical models to record and eliminate a vast amount of useless experimental data.
Luckily, although the process was arduous, Lide had basically deciphered the functions of half the magic nodes.
In fact, his in-depth research into the application of many magic nodes had greatly inspired him, leading to numerous fresh ideas for the improved spell Mage’s Hand.
Perhaps in the future, there would be time to further optimize Mage’s Hand.
It could be said that although the improvement was far from complete, Lide had already reaped considerable benefits from dismantling the Small Fireball Skill.
His understanding of the makeup and operational laws of magic models had deepened, a kind of accomplishment that filled him with immense satisfaction.
This was worth it.
Accumulation of knowledge is a slow process, as is with magic.
While Lide had learned much from dissecting the Small Fireball’s magic model, he didn’t consider this his limit.
With a determined heart, he was resolved to see through what he had set out to achieve.
So, even though progress on improving the Small Fireball Skill was slow, a determined Lide threw himself wholeheartedly into the task.
When in the zone, Lide’s efficiency in decomposing the magic model was such that it could astonish any mage.
Conversely, his number of failures could make any mage shudder.
A thousand times, two thousand times, three thousand times—failure, failure, and still failure.
But during this process, one magic node after another was confirmed in their purpose within the magic model through failures and magic rebound; one magic circuit after another was understood by Lide as they collapsed and were rebuilt.
Time slipped by day after day.
Lide remained immersed in the world of refining the Small Fireball, lost in the joy of slowly unraveling this mysterious and complex magic, almost forgetting the passage of time.
By the time Laurent had finished collecting the materials Lide ordered, waiting for his next command;
When the second group of residents of Dawn City had settled in, only awaiting his command to start land allocation;
When the residents surrounding the Crimson Mage Tower were anxiously awaiting the mage lord’s next message about recruiting Mage Apprentices.
This mage lord, who had been absent for a full ten days, stepped out from the seventh-floor room.
Vina, who had been guarding the seventh floor and had not left in these days, was the first to spot Lide, who looked tired yet spirited.
The girl’s joy was almost overflowing from her heart.
She ran up to him like a child rushing to someone they were closest to.
“Lord Lide, was your magic research successful this time?! That’s wonderful~”
Lide, with a face full of a deep smile, neither denied nor confirmed.
“What happened these past few days?”
Vina approached him, her eyes curving into crescent moons, her buoyant mood filling the air with cheeriness.
“`
The voice was like that of a lark, chirping brightly.
“Everything is going well, but the matter of recruiting Mage Apprentices hasn’t been decided yet, we’re still waiting for you to make a decision.
Additionally, President Laurent has already come to look for you several times, according to him, the goods you instructed to procure have all been acquired.”
Lide nodded, hesitating a bit before he spoke.
“What’s the date today?”
Vina’s sapphire eyes sparkled like stars as she covered her mouth and laughed softly.
“Lord Lide, today is November 1st, you have been on the seventh floor for ten days already”
November 1st?
A month had gone by.
Lide was slightly stunned; he had entered Glory in October, and now it was November, a whole month had passed.
He had just finished his study of magic and was still half-immersed in that wonderful sensation.
Gazing at Vina’s absolutely beautiful face, he felt an unreal sensation and instinctively reached out to touch the girl’s long golden curls.
After seeing the girl’s flushed face, he snapped back to reality and, touching his nose, briskly changed the subject.
“Vina, the recruitment of the Mage Apprentices will be assisted by both you and Carlo.
You don’t need me to teach you the method to determine the Apprentices’ Talents, right?”
Vina felt a small sense of loss as Lide withdrew his hand, but immediately adjusted her mood when she heard his words.
“Of course not, the Magic Affinity Crystal is in your study, as long as it can make the Magic Affinity Crystal light up, it means they have Talent, and the brighter the light, the higher the Talent.”
Lide nodded.
“Good, I’ll leave this task to you. I hope to recruit a group of Apprentices with great qualifications, and for now, let’s set the number at 100.”
“100?”
Vina was somewhat shocked by this number, to recruit over a hundred Mage Apprentices at once was extremely rare in Green City.
“Lord Lide, we don’t have enough rooms to accommodate them…”
“Buy the nearby houses over.”
“Yes,”
Vina, seeing Lide’s firm tone, immediately agreed, although surprised, she would do everything in her power to accomplish what Lide wanted to do, whether it seemed reasonable or feasible.
Because, after all, he was Lord Lide.
In the girl’s eyes, clear as sapphires, shone intense admiration and love.
As Vina left, Lide smiled lightly, not denying that having such an outstanding maid around indeed helped him maintain a good mood.
Of course, what made him even happier were the changed data on the attribute panel and the four or five system notifications that he only now had time to study seriously.
“Ding~ Blood Clan Ancestor Talent triggered, each Bloodline member can now provide you with 1 point of Experience per month. Bloodline count completed, there are currently 208 Bloodlines, the Ancestor Talent provides you with 208 points of Experience.”
“Ding~ Due to your prolonged high-intensity use of magical power, your Magic Affinity has slightly increased, Magic Value permanently increased by 5 points.”
“Ding~ Successful refinement of the Small Fireball Skill.
Refinement advantages: Optimized Magic Model structure, Magic Power consumption reduced to 3 points, casting speed increased by 5 times, projectile speed increased by 4 times, gained special effect—Extreme Spellcasting.
Disadvantages: Spell power decreased by 60%.
Evaluation: Outstanding, although Spell power has significantly decreased, the superior casting speed provides a unique advantage that is incomparable.
Award Experience—1500.”
“Ding~ Due to the optimization of the Small Fireball, which is a prerequisite for the Big Fireball Skill, the Fireball Technique structure is automatically optimized by 10%, Magic Power consumption reduced by 5 points, casting speed increased by 10%.”
“Ding~ As the Big Fireball Skill, which is a prerequisite for the Bursting Fireball, has been optimized, the Bursting Fireball Spell structure is automatically optimized by 5%, Magic Power consumption reduced by 3 points, casting speed increased by 5%.”