Using magical power as energy and mental strength for control, this is the essence of a magician.
However, if the research on magical power in the Euro Continent is considered peak, then the study of mental strength is still in its infancy. This is because magical power can be cultivated and enhanced, while mental strength largely depends on one's innate capacity.
Chongyang, despite his efforts in cultivating magical power, found himself unable to advance beyond level three, having been diagnosed with an insurmountable magical defect—one that was deemed incurable.
Yet, in terms of mental strength, he surpassed the general understanding on the continent by far. Thus, achieving a hundred percent success rate in crafting magical scrolls—something that seemed like a dream to other magicians—was merely his basic requirement.
Since he had settled on being a level-three magician, he aimed to be the best level-three magician!
This belief was reestablished after Chongyang experienced profound despair. It sustained him through the ridicule and insults he endured while remaining in the academy, allowing him to study and practice quietly and diligently.
Scroll crafting, potion-making, herbal studies, magical beasts, magical devices, magical arrays… As the empire's premier comprehensive magic academy, Prislane housed an immense and rich wealth of knowledge. Over the past six years, Chongyang dedicated his time to researching every branch of magical knowledge applicable to a level-three magician, never wasting a moment.
…
The quill paused, the pattern formed, and the scroll emitted a familiar flash, with the flame emblem flickering and disappearing. After completing his twelfth Fire Refining Technique scroll and placing it in the drawer, Chongyang sighed in relief and rubbed his temples.
He slumped back in his chair for a moment, then suddenly opened his eyes and turned to look out the window behind him!
There, outside the window, the evening sky was ablaze with brilliant red hues.
"Just an illusion…" Chongyang furrowed his brow. During scroll crafting, he often felt an odd sensation behind him, as if someone were watching him, making him slightly uncomfortable.
Perhaps he was just too tired?
After resting for a while, Chongyang stood up, donned his robe, and left the room.
Inside the grand hall, long tables stretching over a hundred meters were set up, adorned with a dazzling array of dishes and self-service utensils. This was the main dining hall of Prislane Academy.
At this time, dinner was just beginning, and not many students had arrived yet. Chongyang took a set of utensils and served himself some steak and jam, then quietly ate in his usual secluded corner.
Whether arriving early or late, it had become his long-standing habit to avoid peak hours. As the only repeat student in the academy, he was quite the figure, and whenever a crowd gathered, he inevitably attracted some unfriendly glances, so he preferred to steer clear.
He had eaten breakfast and lunch in his dim room, only coming to the cafeteria for dinner to occupy an unnoticed corner… This lonely routine had been his life for many years.
He bore humiliation and sought to learn as much as he could, wishing to avoid trouble, but… trouble always seemed to find him.
Tim Schonn entered the dining hall, chatting and laughing with a few classmates. Casually glancing over to the shadowy corner, he paused for a moment, a malicious grin slowly appearing on his lips.
"Hey, look over there." He patted his friend's shoulder, gesturing for them to look in that direction. "That guy… seems to be making quite a scene today. How about we go 'consult' him?"
A group of boys laughed heartily, pointing at Chongyang.
Chongyang pretended not to notice and continued his meal as usual.
"Hey, repeat student!"
Led by Tim, four or five boys walked over to where Chongyang sat, each wearing a disdainful smile.
Chongyang slowly looked up, wearing an utterly naive grin.
"Were you calling me?"
"Who else could be the repeat student here?" Tim approached Chongyang, patted him on the shoulder, and said mockingly, "Oh… I meant to call you by name, but I forgot your illustrious name for a moment. My bad, don't take it personally, haha—"
Laughter erupted once more.
"Don't take it personally… don't…" Chongyang replied with an unchanged expression, still smiling foolishly. "I don't remember your name either, classmate… what do you need from me?"
"It's nothing much, really. Just saw the repeat student sitting here all alone, looking kind of pitiful, so we thought we'd come over and chat. By the way, I wanted to ask, what tricks did the repeat student use to cheat during that test this morning?" Tim sat down next to Chongyang, casually sipping on a cup of juice while looking at him with a challenging gaze.
Cheating on exams was considered a grave offense at the academy and would be met with severe punishment. Tim's words were a blatant smear.
"I didn't cheat," Chongyang said, his pupils slightly constricting.
"Bullshit, everyone knows you'll never be able to reach level four in your life because of your incurable magical defect! If you didn't cheat, how could you possibly have scored nine points with Instructor Shalena?" a boy beside Tim sneered.
"Exactly… you must have hidden a magical scroll up your sleeve."
"No, it must be some potion that evaporated as soon as you used it, leaving no trace for the instructors to find."
"Repeat student, nice tricks! Care to teach us how it's done?"
A group of fourteen- and fifteen-year-old boys surrounded a twenty-year-old Chongyang, mocking him without restraint. Other students in the cafeteria merely watched with cold indifference or ignored the scene entirely.
As Chongyang faced their taunts with nothing but a silly smile, Tim felt a sense of conquest in his heart, but the thrill gradually faded.
Before long, he and his companions left, strutting away.
Chongyang quietly finished his last bite of steak, stood up, and walked toward the exit of the dining hall. As he brushed past a few young female students who were level-two magicians, he clearly heard the word "fool," accompanied by disdain and pity, but he kept his steady pace without a moment's hesitation.
The library.
Chongyang walked deeper into the rows of bookshelves until he reached the area dedicated to level-five potion studies. He pulled out five or six thick tomes from familiar spots: On the Healing Effects of Level-Five Potions, The Heart of a Mage, Several Wonderful Uses of Mugwort, The Causality of Vortex Reactions…
Chongyang settled down at a desk in the far corner, took out paper and pen from his sleeve, and began to read each book one by one. As he read, he pondered and took notes, immersing himself in the world of potion research.
Magical potions, like magical scrolls, are crucial branches of the magical realm. Whether for assisting in battle or healing injuries and ailments, one cannot do without magical potions.
Chongyang carefully perused the contents that interested him, his right hand moving without looking as he expertly transcribed the difficult and obscure texts, jotting down his understandings, including research directions, experimental formulas, and reaction equations.
He was utterly focused, his face still as his eyes darted back and forth. Whenever he spotted key points or reached a critical thought, his eyes would shine brightly, and his right hand would dance across the page, scribbling down a jumble of symbols only he could decipher.
Magical potions are categorized by level: a level-one potion can be made by a first-level magician, a level-two potion by a second-level magician, and so forth. Thus, a level-five potion is made by a fifth-level magician.
In theory, that is how it works. In reality, however, fifth-level magicians capable of crafting level-five potions are extremely rare! This is because the difficulty of crafting potions increases dramatically with each level.
For first and second-level potions, the reactions of the ingredients are usually quite evident, manifesting as noticeable changes such as evaporation, condensation, solidification, discoloration, or boiling. But for third-level potions and above, the reactions become more subtle.
For instance, the level-four acceleration potion requires adding a dozen types of ingredients, resulting in a pitch-black liquid until the very end when it finally transforms into a clear color. Determining when to add each ingredient and ensuring the earlier ones have reacted completely presents a significant challenge for magicians.
Invisible, odorless, inaudible… how can one make judgments? It all comes down to intuition. This intuition is referred to as "Potion Sense." Only magicians with "Potion Sense" can hope to craft advanced potions!
"Ha ha ha—" A flickering shadow of flames appeared once more from the upper back of Chongyang, who was focused on reading, a hoarse whisper echoing, "Potion studies have such depth… Not bad, your foundation is very solid."
Chongyang was deeply engrossed in the world of knowledge and seemed oblivious. Level-five potions were an area he needed to study diligently.
He was a level-three magician. Theoretically, he could only create up to level-three potions. However, four years ago, shortly after repeating a year, he received a message from home that prompted him to take an extraordinary action he had never considered—crafting a level-five potion!
The message was this: his mother had developed heart disease and would rely on a level-five heart-nourishing potion to survive.
In his previous life, where he lost his parents early on and hadn't felt familial warmth, Chongyang cherished the warmth of his family in this life. Thus, upon learning that his mother needed a level-five potion, he disregarded his limits and immediately began to delve into research, seeking formulas and analyzing reactions… He painstakingly worked out a level-three version of the heart-nourishing potion!
After conducting over a thousand experiments on animals and even himself, he finally sent the finished product back home. His mother took the potion without any doubt, and the results… were remarkably effective.
His father took a sample of the potion to the Potion Masters Association for authoritative certification, and six months later, an Archmage potion master visited their home, declaring that this new level-three heart-nourishing potion had made waves throughout the empire's alchemical community!
Perhaps this potion master was exaggerating, but the fact that Chongyang, as a level-three magician, managed to create a potion that reached the standard of a level-five potion, displaying even greater effectiveness, was nothing short of a miracle.
The tricky reactions of potion ingredients that gave other magicians headaches posed no problem for Chongyang. This was because he possessed an exceptionally strong Potion Sense! What appeared to be an unnoticeable reaction to others was something he could grasp down to the second, as if he had a magical eye that allowed him to see inside the vessel.
Such an extraordinary Potion Sense could only be attributed to his powerful mental strength.
Chongyang could have gained fame with his potion-making abilities, but after careful consideration and communication with his father, he decided to remain low-key and cautiously negotiate with the Potion Masters Association.
This was because a level-five potion being reduced to a level-three potion meant that something originally only a few advanced potion makers could produce would become mass-producible, leading to immense profit.
If others learned that the inventor of this new potion was merely a level-three magician… it would undoubtedly cause trouble. Therefore, keeping a low profile and allowing his father to act as the public representative while handling negotiations with the Potion Masters Association was the best course of action.
Now, Chongyang continued to work on improving the heart-nourishing potion, striving to lessen the painful side effects of the medication on his mother.
Potions require substantial resources and support. The materials needed to create the heart-nourishing potion were beyond what his family could easily gather.
Only the Empire's premier Magic Academy, Prislane, could provide Chongyang with the environmental conditions necessary for researching and producing potions. Therefore, regardless of other factors, the need to further study the new heart-nourishing potion gave him all the reason he needed to remain here.
…
Night fell.
On the table where Chongyang sat alone, seven or eight towers of stacked books had already formed. His intensely focused face was obscured among the towers of dozens of potion studies, his complexion slightly pale, with only his eyes shining with fervor.
With a pen in his right hand, he stared at a piece of paper filled with formulas and reactions that no one else could possibly understand, lost in deep thought.
The current bottleneck of the heart-nourishing potion could be summarized in the interactions of seven core ingredients.
These seven ingredients could have over four thousand possible sequences of reactions! The problem for Chongyang was which sequence to choose to minimize the potency of the final product?
This bottleneck had troubled him for a long time. After hundreds of large and small experiments, he felt as though he had grasped something, but he was missing that final illuminating insight. It was akin to a student facing a geometry problem—just one more spark of inspiration was needed to achieve clarity, yet that inspiration remained elusive, like a shy maiden hidden behind a translucent veil.
Tonight, after consulting various materials and performing no less than a hundred calculations, he still had no conclusion.
Just then, the library's bell tolled, its deep, resonant chimes echoing in the ears of the remaining students, reminding everyone that it was time to leave.
"Ugh… I guess that's enough for today…" Chongyang sighed, stood up, but accidentally bumped the table, causing the towers of stacked books to collapse in a sudden crash.
Shaking his head in frustration, Chongyang bent down to tidy up, only to catch sight of the open pages of the books lying on the ground.
The neutralizing effects of mugwort…
The Nabirus reaction…
The inverse effects of the vortex…
In that moment, Chongyang's mind sparked, linking together the contents of the pages in a marvelous way, as if the clouds had parted, revealing a clear sky!
"So that's it! I can't reduce the types of ingredients for fear of increasing the potency! With this formula, if I add a dose of Frost Mugwort, according to the Nabirus formula, I can utilize the inverse effect of the vortex to reduce the potency!"
Chongyang's mind buzzed with excitement, his expression stunned for a moment, then erupted into joy as he hurriedly swept aside all the books on the table! Grabbing his pen, he frantically began to write down his thoughts on paper!
Words, formulas, and magical patterns poured out from the tip of his pen like a flood, quickly occupying a large portion of the page.
This is it, this is it! Chongyang was overwhelmed with excitement, his eyes gleaming with intensity, and as his inspiration flowed, his hands trembled slightly.
"Ha ha—who would have thought you could figure this out on your own? Quite unexpected," a whisper echoed behind him.
"Who?" Chongyang jumped, quickly turning around to see the library attendant—a fifth-level female magician, with her chin raised and her eyebrows furrowed, hands on her hips, glaring at him with irritation.
"Hey, you! The library is about to close, and you've made such a mess here!" the girl scolded sternly.
"Ah… I'm sorry, I'll clean up right away…" Chongyang was taken aback for a moment, hurriedly finishing the last character of his inspired reaction formula. He forced a silly smile on his face, putting away his paper and pen, and began picking up the scattered books from the floor.
In his heart, a vague mystery began to form.
Who is watching me?