A fortnight later, within the inner city of Kalya.
Done lifted his head from a large stack of books. Looking past the grand doors of the Magic Tower, he could observe the scene outside.
The fog of the day had cleared a bit. The grass and the light blue flowers swayed gently in the breeze. Some buildings, resembling flower houses, were dilapidated, as if they had been neglected for a long time and might collapse before long.
Giant crystal clusters of shining stones were scattered about, and a shining stone dragon could barely be seen, lying on the ground and snoring, and another tall tower stood behind it.
"Indeed, every pet mirrors its owner," Done yawned, closing the book "Theory of Shining Stones Application," and propped his legs on the table, leaning back in his chair for a nap.
This area was the core region of Kalya strongholds—Triple-Sister Towers. Done had been transferred to the Royal Guard a few days ago, but he hadn't seen Lani once.
The puppet girl had sealed off the Magic Tower, and it was unclear what she was up to inside. Remembering the scene at the Moon Watching Pond, an image surfaced in his mind.
Lani sat on a high chair, her head buried down, snoring lightly.
The Golden Tree was still splendid, and the full moon regularly rose. Apart from occasional encounters with rushing half-wolves, Done had little interaction with people. However, he spent these days productively.
In the mornings, he practiced swordsmanship, integrating skills from different schools into his own style; in the afternoons, he read books and learned magic through a theoretical system. After dinner, he would stroll around the city, always ensuring to sleep before nine o'clock.
"Without Dujun, even I've turned into a good student," Done held a pencil in his mouth, staring at the ceiling. Temporarily withdrawn from the battlefield, he had ample time to think.
Firstly, the Golden Runes were useful.
He pulled out a golden light cluster from his pocket, which was not scavenged from a corpse but rather officially his salary.
As the remnants of the blessings left on the inhabitants of the Borderlands, coupled with the fact that ordinary people couldn't directly use runes, these items were commonly used as currency. The value was determined by the brightness of the light, making it impossible to counterfeit.
Done applied a little force, and with a snapping sound, the entire cluster shattered, turning into a faint golden glow that merged into his body.
They were useful but negligible.
He sighed, thinking to himself that another shortcut had been cut off. The royal family of Kalya was rich enough that if the Golden Runes had a significant effect, he could probably have leveled the Magic Academy by tomorrow.
But the effect was too negligible to warrant further investment of time and effort.
'Hmm, maybe the runes have little effect because they're not integrated with life force. Can we then assume that it's the soul itself, and not the blessing, that's useful?'
Lacking clues, Done didn't ponder too deeply. He reached over to the side table for a magic wand, waved it a couple of times above his head, and after a complicated inscription, he cast a semi-meter long arc that flew out of the door slot, sliced through some weeds, and then vanished.
Academy Magic - Shining Stone Arc.
This was a spell Done had recently learned that transformed a point of damage into an area of damage. Yet there wasn't any sense of joy as he casually tossed the wand aside.
Secondly, after killing that Academy lecturer, his magic qualifications had indeed improved.
"But the leadup is too long and the power isn't sufficient. According to the books, the same spell will have a drastically different outcome depending on who casts it."
Learning and applying are two different phases. Even with the lives of two knights in his hands, Done felt no satisfaction. To put it bluntly, his recent victories were mostly due to underhanded sneak attacks.
You think I am a knight? In reality, I am a wizard. You think I am a wizard? Actually, I prefer killing with a sword.
Unbalanced information and inherent impressions meant the Dujun knights weren't prepared for him to pull so many tricks. As for devious moves like stabbing knees and stepping on toes, those were as simple as eating and drinking.
"According to the Applied Theory, the power of a spell relates to the caster's qualifications and diminishes with distance, which is why I have to get in close for the hit."
Done suddenly stood up, pacing back and forth within the Magic Tower, arriving at one conclusion.
He had to kill!
Meditation and research could boost his intelligence, but that was too slow. Nothing could beat killing and 'soul-snatching'. Thinking this, his grip tightened and loosened, clearly impatient.
"Done! You're causing trouble again!"
At this moment, an irate voice echoed from outside. A large number of blue particles drifted in from the door, quickly forming a silhouette.
Clad in a brown robe, donning a wide-brimmed wizard's hat and holding a finely-crafted wand, it was Mirian, the magic professor who has served the Kalya royal family for generations. She was here to instruct Done on Lani's orders.
Done watched the 'particleisation' movement with envy, several variations of killing moves surfacing in his mind. Unfortunately, he lacked the intelligence to learn, even having understood the principle.
"Mr. Mirian, you're back."
"Hmm, I did a round at the crystal mine." Mirian took off her mask, revealing the face of a middle-aged woman who still had an air of grace about her. She took a cup, gulped down a drink, and glanced at the books on the table.
"'Shining Stone Application Theory'? 'Selected Classroom Magic from Caleros'? 'Haimo's Classroom Speculation on Battlefield Magic'?"
"I've said many times, the path of magic can't be rushed. Time has no meaning to us; you should start with the most basic theories, such as the origin of the shining stone, the use of energy... back when I was in school..."
Done rolled his eyes. The magic professor was back to lecturing. He'd seen her power before. When he first met her, he'd listened attentively from morning to evening.
She was a nice person, just too talkative. She often disappeared and was poor at teaching students.
But Done, being respectful of teachers, didn't interrupt her, and so he listened from afternoon until nightfall.
Mirian finally closed her mouth and emptied her water glass: "Now you understand, right?"
"I understood but I have another request," Done, holding his curved sword behind his back, seriously said, "Please, have another real fight with me."
The professor suddenly turned her eyes sideways. She remembered the last time she act as his sparring partner. She was just positioning herself and raising her magic wand when this guy charged at her like a mad dog, dodging her urgently summoned giant sword array, and landed a punch on her face.
Although she was sure she wouldn't be fooled a second time, her cheeks still hurt. She wasn't going through that again.
"No, no, no. I know you have some under... I mean, unique ideas about applying magic, but we're primarily scholars. Even the deadliest magic is only an offshoot of scholarly discourse. All the killing and fighting is just so tasteless."
Seeing her refusal, Done didn't insist, letting go of his sword: "But I want to walk a different path."
"What path?"
"To integrate magic, martial techniques, and prayers in a unique lethal art, to create a new school of Reed."
Lethal art...
Mirian opened her mouth wide, thinking that this man hadn't listened to a word she'd said. But she wasn't angry.
In her heart, any knowledge is worthy of respect. Whether it's theory, experiment, or this 'Reed' school, they don't have any hierarchical division.
"Fine then, even though I don't quite agree with your 'lethal art', I did promise Princess Lani to illuminate the way for you." Mirian put on her mask, walked elegantly out of the Magic Tower, and suddenly turned around at the open ground in front of the door.
The wind blew up her brown robe. She beckoned to Done who was still standing at the door.
"Come, let me see what new tricks you've come up with!"
Done was genuinely taken aback that Mirian had changed her mind. He didn't go for his magic wand, instead, he grabbed a longish box from behind the high-backed chair.
Mirian, who was posing outside, saw this and asked: "Did that old man Igi make you something?"
"Yes, it was delivered this afternoon, I didn't expect Master Igi's craftsmanship to be so superb." Done opened the box and revealed the long blade inside.
The sword was three feet and two inches long, slightly curved, all in silver-white. The golden cross hilt broke the monotonous color, while a delicate beast claw held a shining stone the size of a table tennis ball at the end of the handle.
"Good blade, no wonder it took him a whole half month to finish." Mirian also admired, then touched her chin, "I remember this kind of blade comes from the border region. Usually, they would name it."
Done didn't speak, he unsheathed the blade with his thumb and swung it horizontally and vertically.
Clang - Whoosh -
In the night, a cross-shaped blade light lingered. He closed his eyes to experience that familiar feeling.
All has returned, only like this can the tempered sword technique be fully utilized. The night wind blew through his black hair, his eyes suddenly sprung open.
"The name of the sword --"
"Xingshuang!"