When Anji finally finished writing all the talismans she had ever created, there was an odd sense of satisfaction looking back at how far she had come. Although not all of them were fully functional and lacked efficiency the way her shifu liked, it was the product of her sweat and tears for three long years.
"That’s all of it," Anji handed the last set of talismans to Researcher Xi.
After studying Anji for a long time, Researcher Xi finally accepted the last batch of talismans. Unlike earlier, the researcher was calm. Instead of jumping at the first chance to study them, she put them on the desk and turned to Anji again.
"Have you learned how to troubleshoot spells?" the researcher asked.
Anji blinked. Was this a pop quiz session? Although she knew the basics of troubleshooting, such as dissecting elements and recalculating errors, it was not in-depth knowledge.
Shaking her head, Anji explained her usual troubleshooting process. It was pathetically basic, even in Anji’s opinion, as she explained.
Thankfully, Researcher Xi did not mind. If anything, she grinned cheerfully and patted Anji’s head as if to praise her for her honesty.
"These books might help you. I created them. It’s not officially recognised as a textbook of the sect because there are not enough case studies of this being applied. Think of this as a prototype thesis for spell forensics. I heard from Senior Researcher Mo that you’re adept in medicine and even helped perform surgery. You should be able to grasp the concepts more easily than other researchers with your experience."
Although medical forensics was not Anji’s strong skill, she knew enough from Doctor He’s reverse engineering teaching methods. Oftentimes, it was impossible for a medical apprentice to practice on a living subject. The risk was too great. Instead, by studying dead samples of a living organism, medical apprentices learn how to apply their theoretical knowledge safely without risking any lives.
In a way, creating new spells lacked any proper safety features. It was partially why Anji never created dangerous or outrageous new spells without her shifu’s failsafe included. However, the failsafe feature often hindered Anji’s understanding of a failure because the spell simply would not activate. Without the ability to understand what went wrong, Anji could only revisit books to simulate the flow of her logic in her spells without understanding how every piece of her spell interacted with each other.
"Spell forensics should increase your ability to troubleshoot ineffective parts of a spell. Even with only basic knowledge of spell writing, if you understand the ways a spell is crafted, you can easily identify the problems within it when designing its flow." Latest content published on novel⟡fire.net
For demonstration, Researcher Xi picked out several of Anji’s talismans for use in laundry. The talismans were all used to do different things in the complex laundry process.
"What if I told you we could combine all the talismans here into one spell?" she smiled.
Intrigued, Anji quickly bowed and asked for guidance. It was something she had been struggling to do. Her shifu’s advanced spell-weaving technique included complex spells and systems. However, anything more than three tiers of spells confused Anji. They would either fail to activate in the right sequence, become muddled with the activation command or fail to register the correct function.
Observing the lesson with mild interest from a corner, Senior Researcher Mo reported back to the judging panel about Anji’s progress. She had passed the secret test with flying colours. The researchers residing in the Academic Central were regarded as experts in their research fields regardless of their titles. It was difficult to win approval from a researcher living in this lawless zone.
"I’m going to first explain how spell combination is possible. Look closely at how I am going to erect a noise-cancelling barrier with an illusion spell while fusing an authorisation spell. Of course, I could add other types of spells on top of this. However, for the benefit of our lesson and creating a more conducive learning environment, this should do."
Nodding, Anji watched closely and noted the flow of triple spell casting. Dual casting was already hard enough. Ambidextrous casters might have an advantage, but even so, combining them required same-time activation while layering the sequences correctly. Anji did not have the level of finesse or concentration to make it succeed. Triple-casting sounded like something out of a children’s bedtime story.
Half expecting Researcher Xi to grow a third hand, Anji stared hard. However, the triple-casting method only required one hand. Researcher Xi also looked very relaxed while casting the spell, something that puzzled Anji. However, she was saying many things while casting the spell. It took Anji a while to realise what the researcher did. The novel way of multi-casting was so simple, yet it had never occurred to Anji before.
Once the barrier was erected around the apartment lab, Researcher Xi started layering different ’parts’ of the spell from other talismans by controlled part activation. The bridge method Yan Ping taught served more than a theoretical purpose. Anji had no idea they could be used to delay casting sequences while containing excess qi for future activation on command.
Just like that, the barrier was imbued with sound-cancelling functions and an authorisation defence mechanism. Anji gaped and could not help but applaud loudly. Triple casting had never seemed easier. This casting method was probably easier to accomplish than ambidextrous simultaneous casting. The controlled precision and well-paced activation sequence ensured an almost foolproof multi-casting success.
"Anji learned a lot. Thank you, senior!" she bowed, grateful for the demonstration.
Laughing at Anji’s adorable reactions to her little hint, Researcher Xi finally became serious. Although those textbooks were important to her, she felt as if Anji would be able to benefit from them more than anyone else in the sect. Academic Central residents did not have a submission deadline. She could afford to postpone her research progress a little. Besides, she had already benefited a lot from Anji’s visit. The talismans Anji created held a lot of untapped potential. The ideas were unique and practical, even if they were flawed. She would be preoccupied with perfecting them on Anji’s behalf, even without her research.
"We have about another hour together before you leave," she informed Anji. "It’s not enough time to learn everything about forensics. However, I’d like you to try multi-casting, as I demonstrated earlier. Let’s try it on something simpler, like activating a washer machine to clean and dry clothes in one tub."
Determined, Anji agreed. With time ticking away, Researcher Xi and Anji zoned in on the lesson, completely forgetting about Senior Researcher Mo’s quiet presence. Shaking his head, the senior researcher sighed through his nose. He should have known four hours was too long. It appeared that Anji had also caught the Academic Zone Disease without knowing it.