Chapter 184: Deduction

Achieving these effects was not particularly difficult. If the corresponding rune existed in the Lesser Rune library, it was used directly. If the rune was absent, the mirror image would use Advanced Magical Trickery to simulate it, and the host body would use Insight Perception to observe the Mana rhythm and simulated rune changes during the simulation, effectively degrading the corresponding Lesser Rune.

Although the effect of this degraded rune was subpar, after several simulations, a degraded rune with average effectiveness could usually be selected.

The difficulty lay in reasonably constructing the magical patterns without the aid of the Spirit of the Book, adjusting the individual rune arrays accordingly, and combining the four rune arrays into a composite rune array.

“The so-called construction is essentially trial and error!”

After multiple failures, Ace said to the mirror image:

“Rather than relying on ourselves for trial and error and wasting a huge amount of unnecessary time, it is better to organize the apprentices and use the wisdom deduction capability of the Mental Link Network.

Without the blessing of the Spirit of the Book, the Mental Link Network is certainly incapable of deducing Soul Runes. However, deducing a composite rune array at the Lesser Rune level should pose no problem.”

The next day, Ace organized the apprentices to form the Mental Link Network again. In a lucid dream state, the apprentices entered the optimal mental link state.

A virtual dream fragment space formed, attached to the apprentices’ Mental Link Network. Information streams began to interact, intentionally or unintentionally.

Ace adjusted the soul resonance frequency of the entire network. After multiple tests, he found that with the current number of people, a resonance threshold between [5, 8] yielded the best results.

Under the coordination of the Root Consciousness, the entire network formed sub-networks with Mid-level Wizard Apprentices as secondary cores and began multi-core deduction under the coordination of the Root Consciousness.

“Instantaneous information flow speed reached 200+, instantaneous soul resonance value reached 13. The network is a bit ‘overheated’ overall!” An hour later, the Mirror Root Consciousness transmitted information to the host body.

Upon receiving the information, Ace immediately began to consciously isolate partial information transmission and lower the resonance frequency. As information exchange within the network continued, Ace gained more and more information.

As nodes of the network, each apprentice’s knowledge was very fragmented and broken. They didn’t even know exactly what they were calculating. But as the Root Consciousness, Ace saw everything clearly.

“Excluded 327 incorrect combinations, 567 normal combinations, and 21 optimized combinations. Each Lesser Rune produced at least 3 optimization effects. The resulting composite rune array is extremely effective.”

As the Root Consciousness, Ace evaluated the effectiveness of this wisdom deduction and recorded the corresponding results in his Grimoire.

Ace recorded his thoughts in the Magic Diary on the fifth page of the Grimoire:

“The greatest gain from this attempt was not the successful rapid deduction of two Lesser Composite Rune Arrays.

It was the confirmation that runes themselves can be simplified, optimized, and even mutated (changing the rune’s expression). However, this requires immense computational power and sparks of wisdom. This was originally a very difficult problem to solve, but the Mental Link Network solves it perfectly.

This will be the primary application direction of the Mental Link Network for a considerable time in the future!”

After dismissing the apprentices, Ace and the mirror image began mass-producing Magic Robes and Magic Badges. Through the quasi-spell effect of Advanced Magical Trickery, they quickly crafted Monster hides into robes and enchanted iron blocks into badges.

Since the iron blocks for the badges had already undergone magification, Ace could directly enchant them by inscribing the composite rune array, creating a quasi-Magic Item.

The biggest difference between a quasi-Magic Item and a Magic Item is that a quasi-Magic Item cannot achieve Mana self-sufficiency. From this perspective, the Grimoire is also a quasi-Magic Item.

However, this does not mean quasi-Magic Items are weak. At lower levels, a powerful quasi-Magic Item that can be recharged might be far superior to a Magic Item that is Mana self-sufficient but becomes useless for months after a single use.

The mirror image’s progress was slower. The robes made from Monster hides needed to undergo magification processing before the rune array could be inscribed.

A week later, in the large clearing on the west side of the settlement, the apprentices gathered. The sky was clear for thousands of miles, and the sun was shining brightly—perfect weather.

They had received notification from Bayen that Lord Torch-Bearer Ace would inspect their training results here. The confident apprentices were eager, the less proficient ones looked troubled, and the completely unqualified apprentices, like Ancestar and Arno, had given up on themselves.

“Melancholy Uncle, forget about entering a meditation state in three seconds. I haven’t successfully meditated at all recently, except for those few collective meditations. I can’t use Magic Missiles or Mana Crystal Shields either. Why is this?”

Arno said despairingly to Ancestar in a corner of the crowd.

Ancestar ignored Arno. He was also in despair. He couldn’t meditate at all, nor could he cast spells. If not for the continued presence of his Knightly Heart Force, he might have thought he had become a mortal again.

I must find an opportunity to consult Lord Torch-Bearer!

Also, as a Knight, I should pledge allegiance to Lord Torch-Bearer. According to the principle of Equivalent Exchange, using my loyalty and service in exchange for guidance on my future path should be acceptable.

Ancestar thought about his concerns while looking at Arno with somewhat melancholic eyes.

Betty was also heavy-hearted. Her golden twin tails hung limply. Iron ore was only available in the northern part of the territory, but she couldn’t run off to mine alone. Rebuilding Apprentice Model 1 seemed a distant dream, making her very melancholy.

As for the assessment, she wasn’t worried at all. Genius girl Betty, born Overdriven and possessing superior intelligence, would find a mere assessment a piece of cake.

While everyone was talking, Ace flew from the sky riding a “Celestial Horse.” He held the short, thin old man Logan, wearing the oversized hat, in one hand and jumped from the air.

As he approached the ground, he pointed his free hand forward. The Spell Model of the Wind Element Lesser Spell Air Cushion appeared in his hand. An invisible high-density air cushion appeared. Bang!

With a somewhat dull thud, the air cushion slowly dissipated. He landed slowly, carrying the old man.

The “Celestial Horse” in the sky circled a few times, flew to the edge of the settlement, transformed back into the mirror image clone, then touched Emberlight, transformed into Sharp’s appearance, and ran quickly toward the large clearing on the west side.

Ace always felt that the Medea family’s Celestial Horse had great style. To display his style fully in front of the apprentices, the mirror image had to transform into a shape resembling a Celestial Horse from a distance. He was truly a model of hard work without complaint.

“Apprentices, before assessing your training results, please allow me to announce something. Today, our High Tower Elementary Magic School is officially established, and today is your enrollment day.

From today on, you are all first-year students of the High Tower Elementary Magic School. You will spend five years here. I hope that after these five years, every one of us present can graduate successfully and earn the qualification to join the High Tower.

In the first year of Magic School, you will systematically study five courses: The Art of Common Language, Logical Thinking, Elementary Mathematics Application, Lesser Meditation, and Lesser Runology. The first three courses are studied only in the first year, while the latter two courses will span your five-year study career.”

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