Cairo took some notes first before giving orders to the mage again. "Use another type of magic"
The mage nodded his head and this time, a ball of wind appeared on top of his hand. Cairo watches as the engravings in the Magic Core changed in appearance and the principles behind it also changed
"To become a mage, an acolyte must make engravings that will change depending on what magic they use. If not, their power would be weak compared to the others at their level" Cairo thought in his mind as that is something he learned from the books and his teachers before
As there are countless types of magic, the principles behind them surely differed from each other. However, to make a powerful Magic Core, the mage's core must be flexible on various elements
"It seems like I need to upgrade my understanding of the four elements that I am most adept at. Out of the four, sand and blood magic are the ones I'm most used at. I also have some understanding and skill in using body strengthening magic. The least I am skillful at was shadow magic. However, if I want to make my core as strong as possible just like the one I had in the past life, I need to have a high understanding of these four types of magic "
Cairo paused for a long time after watching the mage but the others didn't think that it was weird. Almost all the mages had times like this wherein they will be lost in their own thoughts because of the complexity of magic
After some time, Cairo asked the mage to use another magic again while continuing in taking down notes. Cairo had the other mages demonstrate their cores too and he gained a lot of data from them that will surely help him
Cairo's teachers are not wrong that he can already become a Mage soon but it seems like they were underestimating him. The teachers assumed that Cairo gained his current power all because of the Queen's help
The best path for 'untalented' Acolytes that gained their power through resources was to become a real Mage as soon as possible. Becoming a mage will result in a stronger soul and it will make the mage's mind clearer than before that can help them in comprehending magic
However, Magic Core is like a building's foundation, how tall the building will be in the future all depends on the foundation. Too weak of a foundation will only result in a short building and a strong foundation will result in a taller building
Cairo of course wants his building to be as tall as possible as that will give him the greatest power
After Cairo dismissed the ten mages, he shook his head bitterly. Seems like he can't fully rely on those teachers, if not for him realizing things after he studied a lot, Cairo might really make the mistake of making a weak foundation
"Del, request an audience with my sister later" Cairo said and Del nodded his head. "Yes, young master"
Cairo just continued reading more books in the fear that he might have missed a lot of things
Cairo's teachers aren't exactly wrong. Cairo's level is still far from the real geniuses in the Kingdom and it would be better for the untalented acolytes to become a mage as soon as possible. If they remained at the acolyte rank, their future in magic will become even bleaker
The kid read and read more books but it was getting harder to retain these much pieces of knowledge while also combining and understanding them
"This won't do ..." Cairo said to himself before closing his eyes
Cairo entered his consciousness realm and he focuses on the diamond in his forehead before sending his thoughts to it. What Cairo needs now is something that will help his mind become stronger so that he'll be able to learn more things in a shorter time
Even in the Larton Kingdom, things related to soul strengthening are limited. Well, not really limited. There are soul strengthening medicines but most of them have side effects and those that don't have side effects are rare
Although Kira pampered Cairo a lot, she is still the Queen and the Kingdom is not in a good condition. To continue protecting Cairo, the Queen needs to make the Kingdom stronger
Cairo gained a lot of resources that even the Princes at his age before didn't have since he is the only Royals apart from the Queen
However, Kira was forced to give the rarest of resourcess to the geniuses of the Kingdom. Kira wants to give those precious resources to Cairo but she is also not that narrow-minded
Kira wants Cairo to have his own power so that the kid will be able to protect himself but ... Cairo is still far from what the Kingdom currently needs. It would be better if Kira manages to foster Kingdom-Level mages, that will ensure Cairo's safety more
Thus, the rare medicines that can strengthen the soul without much side effects were mostly given to the geniuses
Fortunately for Cairo, he doesn't need to rely a hundred percent on Kira as he has the gift from the old man
Soon, Cairo watched another set of memories
----
A Cairo also older than the one now can be seen inside a lab. Cairo recognized more things now in that lab but most of them are still unfamiliar to him
Present Cairo even thinks sometimes that maybe, the world they are born in is different places as there are more advanced things in the past Cairo's world
The past Cairo was standing in front of five people sitting on a chair. The five were looking ay him angrily and they want to curse him but they can't as their mouths were covered by an unknown piece of paper
After confirming that the vital signs of the five are normal, the past Cairo put his hands on one of the man's head that tried resisting but he was completely bound in the chair
The man's eyes immediately widened as a great pain was generated in his head. The man resisted more because of the pain but no matter what he does, he can't break free at all
The present Cairo can't help but have complex emotions. Just like before, the past him was still expressionless even though he inflicted so much pain on someone
Still, Cairo knew that the past him is doing this for strength and he can't blame him much
After some time, a small worm came out from the man's nose before he died and Cairo covered the word with mana
"Test subject number 1,607. The target still died after the parasite was extracted. Further research is required to improve the formula and not let the test subjects die" past Cairo noted that into a voice recording device before injecting some colorful fluids to the worm and its body soon crystallizes
After that, Cairo did the same thing to the four remaining men and they all died without a fail
With the five crystal worm in his hand, Cairo puts them in some sort of analyzing device and when the results are out, there was finally a change in his expression
"Finally, I successfully made an artificial Soul Crystal Shard that is the same as the authentic ones. If only I decided to make this before, I might have already exceeded my current level already"
"Too bad that in my four attributes, shadow magic is the least I put effort. Who would have thought that that magic is the key to this success"
-----
After that, Cairo's mind returned to reality. "Soul Crystal Shard?" Cairo felt that he already heard that word before and he stood up from his seat
Cairo immediately passed several rooms and areas of his lab before he reaches a tall and wide door. This room might be the biggest room in his lab
Cairo put his palms in the door and it scanned his whole body. After that, the door automatically opened and Cairo immediately saw the tall bookshelves inside
The most important thing for a mage is knowledge, with enough knowledge, they can do almost everything in the world. A mage's status and power can sometimes be judge by looking at the books they have
Cairo didn't waste any time and tried finding a particular book. Although Cairo read a lot of books before, it doesn't mean that he would retain everything he had read
Most mages would only remember the most important things and it was common to miss out on minor and seemingly unimportant details
Fortunately, things like this are also common and Del didn't think much although Cairo is acting like this
After some time, Cairo finally found the book that mentioned the Crystal Soul Shard
Crystal Soul Shard just like its name is only a small piece from a bigger piece and it came from Soul Shards
Crystal Souls are expensive and precious resources for all mages. It is exactly what Cairo currently needs, an item that will strengthen his soul making it so that he can study more effectively than before
And since there are big and small Crystal Souls and not everyone can afford them, some people that discovered them will choose to cut them into smaller pieces to sell to different people and that is what we called Crystal Soul Shards!