Chapter 279: Salon
Witte thought for a long time, and finally, just before six o’clock, he pretended to casually knock on the statue three times.
Nothing strange happened. Time passed little by little, and six o’clock slipped by quietly.
‘Did I act too late? Has the guide already left?’
He thought with some disappointment.
Just then, he felt a wave of heat in his palm. Weak Mana burned on his skin, and a string of letters emerged from the redness of his palm.
“Walk two alleys to the east. There is a door with a six-pointed star pattern. Please draw the Lesser Runes of the six basic elements—Life, Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, and Death—on it in the correct order, and then infuse Mana.”
The burning sensation on his skin gradually faded, and the letters disappeared along with it.
Witte had long since memorized all three thousand-plus Lesser Runes in the Shared Lesser Rune Library. He had never exchanged for Spell Models or Rune Arrays, but instead, based on descriptions and his own mathematical knowledge, he combined Spell Models from the Rune library himself.
As for the six basic elements, this was a concept that had only recently appeared. Lord Ace discovered Negative Energy and simultaneously confirmed that life energy was Positive Energy. Although Ace didn’t explicitly state it, the Elemental School believed that Life and Death were also elements, and basic ones at that.
The six-pointed star pattern drawn with the Lesser Runes of the six basic elements was the representative symbol of the Elemental School.
‘It seems Mr. Red Hemp is likely a Wizard Apprentice of the Elemental School. I might as well listen to their views.’
Having made up his mind, Witte walked slowly two alleys to the east but didn’t find the door with the six-pointed star pattern. After circling repeatedly, he activated Lesser Insight Perception, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
“It turns out magical concealment was used. No wonder I couldn’t find it.”
The early autumn night was cool. Witte tapped his finger lightly, murmuring.
“Life, Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Death…”
Crystal-clear Lesser Runes appeared one by one, floating in front of him. With a wave of his arm, the six Lesser Runes adhered to the door. In his perception field, the six-pointed star pattern shone brightly and then rotated continuously.
Accompanying the rotation of the six-pointed star, various magic ciphers emerged from the pattern. The entire door creaked open. Witte looked around and then walked through the door.
As soon as he stepped in, the door behind him closed silently.
“Young man, would you like to try the recently popular astrological divination magic?”
An old woman, about fifty or sixty years old, suddenly appeared in front of Witte, holding a cheap glass ball and speaking in a hoarse voice.
Witte asked vigilantly, “How do you divine? Is there a fee? I don’t have any magic stone to give you.”
He had long heard from his senior, Mr. Turtledove, that magic salons were a mixed bag, with many hoping to fleece newcomers of a sum of magic stone.
The old woman laughed hoarsely, coughed dryly for a while, and then said, “Free divination. No fee required.”
Just as Witte intended to give it a try, a hearty and magnetic male voice rang out.
“Mrs. Furness, are you letting newcomers experience free divination again? There’s no time. Astrological divination has only just emerged in recent years, but the vast majority of it isn’t very accurate.
“Furness only learned it last week. She gives free divinations every day, but most of them aren’t accurate. Our salon is about to start. You’re the last one, hurry up, hurry up!”
Witte watched the newcomer approach gradually: a yellow local dog mask, a black top hat, and a well-fitting magic robe. He extended his right hand to shake Witte’s hand, which felt somewhat damp and greasy.
“My code name is Watchdog. And you?”
Witte shook his hand mechanically and said, “I am Thaler.”
“The almighty money? Good code name! We have to hurry; they might have already started.”
Witte and Furness were pulled along by Watchdog. They quickly walked through a dim corridor and arrived at a brightly lit academic hall.
“This is an extended space created by Mr. Red Hemp from the High Tower. I heard it utilizes seal encryption magic and spatial expansion magic. From the outside, this is just a narrow corridor. No one would have thought there’s a hall inside!”
Watchdog seemed very proud, talking incessantly.
They found seats and sat down. This hall was about sixty square meters, with more than twenty Wizard Apprentices seated within, most wearing masks.
The seats were arranged in a ring, with a high platform in the center.
A Wizard Apprentice wearing a crying face mask stood in the middle, holding the latest issue of Magic and speaking passionately.
“Our theme today is the elementalization and lesser application of the ‘Beneficial State Astral Projection Hypothesis.’ The Beneficial State Astral Projection Hypothesis is a great hypothesis proposed by the pioneer of the magic path, the current only Formal Wizard, Lord Torch-Bearer Ace!
“Although it is a hypothesis, no case of its failure has been encountered so far. As Intermediate and Lesser Apprentices, you can treat it directly as a theorem.
“The elemental application of this hypothesis was initiated by Ms. Ollie, an Advanced Wizard Apprentice known as the Spirit of the Wind. Based on the Beneficial State Astral Projection Hypothesis, Ms. Ollie first invented the 0-Ring Spell Model Wind Element Meditation Method…
“Based on the current few mainstream 0-Ring elemental meditation methods, we will explore specific degradation applications and seek Lesser Elemental Meditation Methods suitable for our Intermediate and Lesser Apprentices.”
At the same time, two Wizard Apprentices wearing magic robes distributed handwritten copies of the journal Magic to everyone present.
Witte read hungrily. He wasn’t very interested in today’s theme. He had excellent magic talent, and his Mental Power had already reached 81 units. The Advanced Wizard Apprentice stage was not an insurmountable mountain for him.
As long as he advanced to Advanced Apprentice, he could directly learn or research 0-Ring Meditation Methods, with no need to study their degradation applications.
He was more concerned about various arguments regarding offensive magic. A paper title caught his attention: “Exploration of Negative Energy Series Rune Applications—Three Practical Curses.”
Regarding whether Positive Energy and Negative Energy belonged to elements or an independent system, there was no final conclusion in the current magic world. Lord Torch-Bearer Ace, who discovered Negative Energy, called for everyone to discuss it but did not give a specific conclusion.
Witte had no feeling yet about whether this belonged to elements. He had never been to the High Tower and didn’t know the magnificent dominance of the Elemental School that had risen in recent years to almost unify the landscape.
The Elemental School gradually fermented and rose after Ace published the Element Derivation Table. Betty, Ollie, Logan, and Bayen were outstanding representatives of this school, and related papers emerged one after another.
This paper was written by an Advanced Wizard Apprentice named Caruso. Witte had heard of him—the inventor of the famous Supernatural Transformation Spell and the Invisible Curse.
This paper did not delve into whether Negative Energy belonged to elements or was independent, but instead proposed three practical curse directions for Negative Energy from an application perspective.
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