Chapter 108 - 85: Good Things Fall from the Sky
The light converged, forming the face of the Second Level Wizard, Yi Lin. The blue light in her mechanical eyes slowly swirled.
The Female Wizard glanced at the Female Apprentice and said concisely, "The information about the author of the Highway Bridge Technique paper must be kept strictly confidential!"
Nasha was not surprised by this at all and responded crisply, "Understood!"
She was certain her mentor had hidden the author’s information for the research paper Mo Ning submitted on improving the [Gale Needle].
With her mentor’s authority, it would be easy to do.
The Female Wizard’s voice was still calm, but her tone sounded a little off. "Qingquan Laboratory is sponsoring Mo Ning with high-quality Magic Potions. You need to keep a close eye on them."
Nasha froze for a moment, then instantly understood: Qingquan Laboratory wasn’t sponsoring him; they were clearly trying to recruit him.
You didn’t need to be a genius to figure out that recruiting the Apprentice who created the "Highway Bridge Technique" was obviously much more convenient than studying the "Highway Bridge Technique" itself.
’No wonder my mentor seems a little tense.’
The Female Apprentice cursed out loud, her voice filled with righteous indignation, "Those bastards!"
She wasn’t really cursing Qingquan Laboratory, but rather expressing her solidarity with her mentor.
She then replied solemnly, "I will keep a very close watch on the people from Qingquan Laboratory. I’ll find out exactly what their apprentices do and say every day."
The Female Wizard nodded slightly, and a faint trace of satisfaction seemed to flash across her stern face.
Then, the face dissipated.
The rose quickly retracted into the mirror’s surface, leaving only the quiet, embossed rose on the Silver Mirror’s face.
Nasha glanced up at the figure still hunched over his desk, writing furiously within the ball of light, and muttered enviously, "That kid’s probably getting more goodies."
’Knowing my mentor, if a competitor is sponsoring him with good things, how could she let herself be outdone?’
’And the result of this competition? That kid just has to sit in his apartment, do nothing, and have good things fall right into his lap.’
Nasha put away the Silver Mirror and murmured, "Why don’t I ever get this lucky?"
Sure enough, just a dozen seconds later, the Female Apprentice clearly saw it happen. Inside the ball of light, Mo Ning’s hand, holding an Ink Tube Pen, froze. A look of surprise appeared on his face.
The kid’s lips parted slightly, his eyes widened a little, and then the corners of his mouth curved into a smile.
As Nasha watched that smile, she suddenly felt that life was so utterly dull.
She went limp in the animal-hide chair, her slender body slowly sliding down as if it had no bones.
A net called "depression" had tightly entangled her soul.
*****
「7:58 AM.」
Mo Ning put down his pen and stretched. A series of soft "CRICK-CRACK" sounds came from his spine.
The results of an hour and a half of work were satisfying.
First—the deep optimization of the [Wind Chasing Needle] was finally complete.
The analysis results given by the plug-in made Mo Ning smile.
[According to the analysis, after deep optimization, the new model’s Spiritual Strength requirement is 0.65 points.]
[After establishing the Witchcraft Model for this Witchcraft in the Spiritual World, the Spiritual Strength required to sustain it is 0.035 points.]
The original model’s Spiritual Strength requirement was 0.72 points. Now, it fell squarely within his current power range.
The 0.06-point reduction seemed minuscule, but it was the crucial leap from "impossible to cast" to "just right."
Second—the final touches on the second version of the theoretical framework were complete.
The stack of scale pattern paper spread across the desk was densely covered from the first page to the last with Divination symbols, derivation steps, and variable relationship diagrams.
The framework’s logic was a cut above the first version.
Mo Ning had a faint feeling. After completing the [Wind Chasing Needle] project and finishing this version of the theoretical framework, his skill in designing Divination architectures for Witchcraft research projects had undergone a qualitative improvement.
It might sound like nonsense, but he was certain of it.
For a Wizard, the design of a Divination architecture was the most direct indicator of their skill level.
Mo Ning had once read a discussion about architectural design in a notebook written by a First Level Wizard:
"You can never imagine how important an excellent Divination architecture is for Witchcraft research.
"Not only can it save an enormous amount of research time, but the final results will often exceed expectations.
"Conversely, a poor Divination architecture will only lead to an unbearable disaster.
"I had the most profound experience with this during a project to improve the First Level Witchcraft, [Extreme Cold Beam].
"I was like a helpless, isolated plumber facing a pipe that was bursting with leaks everywhere.
"As soon as I plugged one leak, two new ones would spring up.
"After this terrible disaster continued for half a year, I had no choice but to give up on the research project that had been tormenting me to the point of agony.
"I rested for a few days, and when I went back to review my work, I finally realized the fundamental problem lay with the Divination architecture.
"Later, I participated in many Witchcraft research projects, and I came to realize more and more profoundly that as the complexity of Witchcraft increases, the importance of Divination architecture will only grow."
After resting for a while, Mo Ning stood up, walked over to the secure storage cabinet, and opened the door.
His gaze swept slowly over the rows of bottles and jars, finally landing on the two high-quality Magic Potions that had been most recently "logged."
One had a sky-blue bottle, the liquid slowly swirling within—this was the [Celestial Wave Streaming Light Potion].
The other had a deep red bottle, the liquid inside emitting a faint red glow, like a flame sealed in glass—this was the [Deep Red Heart Potion].