Don't disturb the sorcerer's scientific research

Chapter 1 Jia Xiu
Year 1321 of the Second Era.

Iris Kingdom, Foren Territory, Creekwood Town.

A pure black cat walked with graceful steps on the crimson clay tiles on the roof of the Spellcaster Association branch.

He deftly walked around two chimneys and came to a skylight. Through the glass, his amber eyes stared at several sleeping apprentices in the room.

She stretched out her claws, skillfully opened the window, and jumped down, landing precisely on the chest of an apprentice.

"Uh-"

The apprentice groaned in pain, "Where did this wild...Mage Margaret come from?"

The black cat jumped to the ground and instantly transformed into a tall young woman, "Sleeping during work hours."

"I……"

Margaret didn't give the apprentice a chance to explain. "Have you finished shortlisting the candidates for the Outstanding Young Spellcaster Award?"

The apprentice immediately picked up three files from the table and handed them to his mentor. "These results are pretty good, but... it's hard to say."

"Oh? What's wrong with that?"

Margaret looked through the files.

"Jack, we've optimized the casting range of the Junior Mage's Hand. What's wrong with this?"

"He... a classmate reported him using his magician's hand to steal socks worn by a female apprentice."

The apprentice said with difficulty.

"I also steal from male apprentices occasionally."

Margaret was stunned at first, then threw the file aside as if it were dirt, with an undisguised look of disgust on her face.

"Remember, personal character is also a very important factor in the selection of outstanding young spellcasters. What about this Hans? A spell that amplifies the effects of the elementary purification potion."

"He's the youngest son of the lord here. Rumor has it that he bought his achievements from the mages employed by the lord's mansion."

Hearing this, Margaret frowned again.

As a lecturer at the Saint-Dero School of Magic, she hates academic fraud the most, especially the possession of other people's achievements.

"Where's the other one?"

She no longer wanted to look at the files. What kind of place was this Ximu Town? Several apprentices spent a whole night selecting but couldn't pick out a reliable person.

"The last one is Jia Xiu, who has applied for 30 spell patents in the association..."

"How many?"

Margaret started to get angry. Even if she was buying someone else's achievements, she couldn't do it so blatantly.

"30 items, all related to elementary healing techniques, but he probably did them all himself, since this Jia Xiu is quite poor."

The apprentice answered truthfully.

"absurd!"

Margaret laughed indignantly.

The prerequisite for this selection is that you must be under 18 years old.

She didn't believe that someone at this age could create so many spell patents on his own.

Even she herself, who came from a noble family and was extremely talented, became the youngest lecturer in Saint-Dero at the age of twenty-one, and only had five patents at the age of eighteen.

"I want to see all the spells he submitted."

She was determined to expose this big liar who was so outrageous in his fabrications.

……

A few minutes later, all 30 documents were brought to Margaret.

She began to check them one by one.

However, after she spent a full six hours reading all the materials, she came to a conclusion that she couldn't believe.

This guy named Jia Xiu might be really amazing.

The ideas and research methods of all patents are very consistent, and they should be the work of one person.

Either Jia Xiu caught someone and took away 30 of his studies, or he did it himself.

Margaret leaned towards the latter.

Because Jia Xiu's background is very clean, he is an orphan, has no power, is very poor, and relies on odd jobs to support his research.

It looks incredibly inspiring.

The only flaw that can be found is that the results seem a bit "watered down".

All 30 items are actually basic healing techniques, but they have been exaggeratedly subdivided.

For abrasions, contusions, puncture wounds, bruises, burns, and also for different parts of the body, hands, forearms, upper arms, chest...

It is forcibly divided into so many projects.

If this trend continues, Margaret estimates that he can produce at least 30 more.

But no matter what, water is a real achievement.

"I think this Jia Xiu is very suitable to be the winner of the Outstanding Young Mage Award in Ximu Town. He won't steal..."

Margaret inquired.

"No," the apprentice immediately denied, "Jia Xiu has a very good reputation in the local area."

"Then what's inappropriate?"

Margaret couldn't understand why the apprentice hesitated.

"This Jia Xiu's registered profession in the association is actually a sorcerer."

"Warlock?"

Margaret was also a little surprised.

Although warlocks belong to the spellcasting profession, the principles of their spellcasting are completely different from those of mages.

Mages rely on wisdom to solve problems and use magic by learning and mastering knowledge.

The sorcerer signs a contract with some powerful creatures and borrows the power of the master.

What’s more crucial is that the leaders of sorcerers are mostly evil spirits, demons, devils and the like.

Now the frictions between various countries and the demons are becoming more and more frequent, and there is a tendency for the war to be reignited. At this time, choosing a sorcerer as the winner, even if it is a village-level award, will probably cause considerable controversy.

But really giving the award to a noble boy who bought the results...

Margaret said after thinking for a moment.

"I have to go meet this Jia Xiu."

……

At this time, in the east of Ximu Town.

Susan's Tailor Shop, 4 Quarry Street.

In the small room behind the store used as a residence.

Jia Xiu focused his hands on his toes and concentrated completely.

"The brilliance is woven, and the more it is, the better it is."

As the spell was recited, a crystal-clear, warm green light appeared on his hands.

Under the light, the nail of the big toe began to grow at a speed visible to the naked eye, and in just over ten seconds, the nail grew to nearly five centimeters.

Jia Xiu stopped casting the spell, cut off the overly long toenails, measured them, and then opened a booklet.

The title is written on the first page of the booklet.

Experimental Report: Study on the Effect of Primary Healing Technique on Promoting Growth Rate of Human Toenails

A long and difficult sentence full of "academic flavor".

Dip the feather pen into ink and skillfully record the data, analyze and summarize.

Twenty minutes later, Jia Xiu put down his pen, checked it again, and nodded with satisfaction.

【Complete a study on the 0-ring trick】

【选题1分/创新性0分/工作量1分/研究水平1分/影响力0分】

[Evaluation: A pile of fresh academic garbage]

[Reward: 30 Experience Points]

Jia Xiu was not surprised by such an evaluation.

He has a very clear understanding of the research he is conducting.

As a level 2 warlock, I have done my best to do this.

It's garbage, just give it experience.

"Taking into account these experiences..."

Jia Xiu said as he opened another panel.

[Name: Jia Xiu]

[Occupation: Warlock]

【Level: 2】

[Current Experience: 890/900]

【属性：力量4/敏捷3/体质4/智力8/感知7/魅力4】

[Sovereign: 口? 口口%#锟@jin 口口? 拷]

[Contract: The Path of Truth; the exploration of the truth of magic is the source of power]

[Ability: Rune Eye]

"Almost."

Jia Xiu sighed. Although he had seen this panel many times, he still felt it was outrageous every time he opened it.

There must be a bug in this time travel process.

Before traveling through time, he was a doctoral student in computer graphics. He was full of yearning for the academic world before starting his doctorate. However, after studying, he found that the life of a hard-working scientific researcher was worse than that of a hard-working worker. The days in the laboratory were really all year round.

In addition, the tutor made big promises while dragging his feet and refusing to let him graduate, and even forcibly put his own child's name on his thesis.

In anger, he stopped reading.

It just so happened that his childhood friend started a game studio, so he dropped out of his PhD program and joined his childhood friend to become the main game programmer, which was a good match for his major.

Just when the game was about to be launched and years of hard work were about to bear fruit, I suddenly traveled through time.

Become a less-than-standard warlock.

The clan leader's name is a string of garbled characters that I have never seen before, and the contract does not sound like "magic".

There is no need to complete any dangerous tasks, nor is there any need to sell one's soul.

Just...doing research.

Then gain experience based on the level of research.

It's like I'm studying for my PhD, which I didn't finish that year, in a different place.

The good news is that this new "doctoral supervisor" does not steal results, does not use mental control, does not withhold experience, and does not even show up.

Naturally, there is no need for high charm to negotiate terms.

Because of this, his attributes are more like a wizard than a sorcerer.

Aside from intelligence and perception, his other attributes were within the range of ordinary people. Most of the people he had met in the town had values ​​between 3 and 5.

If the leader has any shortcomings.

That should be free-range management.

Apart from the Rune Eye and experience, Jia Xiu did not receive any other benefits from the sect leader, and he was not even taught a spell.

This is also the biggest problem he is facing now. He only knows a basic healing technique that is very common, and his research scope is extremely narrow.

Want to learn new spells?
He couldn't afford any of the formal ways to obtain spell books.

Borrowing spellbooks from the Spellcasters Guild Library is charged per second.

If you buy it directly, the price will be astronomical.

As for becoming an apprentice, the only mage in the entire Ximu Town who is qualified to accept disciples is the mage in the lord's family, who is famous for accepting disciples based on money.

The knowledge monopoly is tight.

Therefore, he was eager to be promoted to level three.

Not only can a Level 3 Warlock gain new abilities from the Sect Master, but more importantly, a Level 3 Warlock can register as a formal member of the Spellcaster Association and receive a free monthly borrowing quota.

"What other questions can we ask?"

Jia Xiu scratched his head, released the Rune Eye, and once again examined the structure of the healing rune that he had already looked at countless times, trying to find innovative points for improvement.

Speaking of the Rune Eye, it is the ability that Jia Xiu relies on most now, and most of the research is conducted based on this ability.

According to the introduction in the system, the function of the Rune Eye is actually very simple.

Convert unreadable text into a form that users can understand

However, what's strange is that the runes that constitute spells also seem to be considered a kind of "writing." As for the form they take...

Jia Xiu concentrated his attention on the runes. Under the influence of the Rune Eye, these dense, complex, twisted and weird runes changed little by little.

class PrimaryHeal: public MagicSpell, public HealingSkill {
……

Although it may seem strange, for the main programmer of the game, what form can be more familiar and understandable than code?

When he successfully used the Rune Eye for the first time, Jia Xiu once suspected that his master's true identity was a game engine.

From this perspective, the originally strange and obscure spells suddenly became clear.

For example, the first line of runes in the elementary healing spell represents that this type of spell inherits the characteristics of spell magic and healing skills.

However, the Rune Eye is not perfect.

During long-term use, many problems were also found.

First of all, as a code, it is not very standardized. There are no comments, and there is no pattern in the variable names. It is difficult to read and very complicated. This most basic spell has thousands of lines of code.

Secondly, the code is not complete. It only contains the code for the basic healing technique itself. As for the characteristics of the spell magic and healing skills it inherits, it is not entirely clear and can only be inferred.

And most importantly, these codes cannot be changed at will.

Jia Xiu guessed that the runes must follow certain rules, but he didn't understand them yet.

Based on his own experience, he found that what can be changed depends on the perception attributes.

The degree of modification depends on intelligence.

Jia Xiu read the familiar code over and over again and confirmed some not-so-good news.

He could find no new content to edit.

I looked at the code and couldn't find anything new to work with, then I looked at the experience points which were only ten points away from an upgrade.

Jia Xiu clenched his fists, as if he had made up his mind.

He stood up and walked to the corner of the room and opened a small locked box.

There were two exquisite glass bottles inside, shining brightly. The carvings on the bottles and the liquid inside the bottles exuding a magical scent all showed that they were of extraordinary value.

A bottle of intelligence potion and a bottle of perception potion.

Jia Xiu bought it with all his savings of the past two years.

More than two years ago, he traveled here and luckily did not cause any plague or disaster. He was still many years young. It should be a magical correction of the world's rules.

At that time, he was unfamiliar with the place and couldn't even speak the language. Fortunately, his black hair, black eyes, delicate skin and no calluses gave him a very "aristocratic temperament", so he was not expelled as a refugee.

The kind-hearted Aunt Susan from the tailor shop took him in and let him work as a handyman in the shop. She even cleaned up the store's utility room and gave it to him to stay temporarily.

It turns out that the environment is the best language classroom.

It only took Jia Xiu a few months to learn the language here, without even trying to memorize it.

He can't read, but he has the Rune Eye.

After learning the language, he showed a little skill that made Aunt Susan call him a "genius".

count.

Aunt Susan was shocked by the multiplication tables, and she found it unbelievable that she could do two-digit multiplication in her head.

So Jia Xiu immediately changed his job from a handyman to an accountant and cashier.

He had never studied accounting, but a tailor shop didn't need much professional accounting knowledge.

The salary for the new job was 80 herzel per month, and 100 herzel was 1 kronor. I ate employee meals and slept in the utility room for two years. Apart from occasionally buying some spell materials, I had no expenses and saved up 16 kronor.

Those two bottles of potion cost 8 kronor each.

Jia Xiu stared at the perception potion for a few seconds, then suddenly pulled out the cork and drank it in one gulp.

I found that there were still a few drops hanging on the wall of the bottle and I couldn't pour them out. If I didn't know whether adding water to this medicine would have any effect, I would definitely pour some water to rinse out those drops.

After drinking it, he waited for a few minutes, opened the panel to confirm that the perception was +1, and immediately activated the Rune Eye to observe the changes in the primary healing rune.

Soon, several lines of code were found flashing.

That represents a newly discovered editable location.

Jia Xiu hurriedly checked the codes.

"Hmm... we can expand the types of healing locations and add new target points..."

Thinking of the newly developed toenail growth cure, he tried to modify it.

"Since it can increase length, then can it also increase horizontally... Eh? It really can!"

Ten minutes later, a new method of healing the toenails that makes them grow sideways was developed.

Looking at his new work, Jia Xiu was very satisfied. He tried to cast it and it was successful.

It's that healing green light, which seems to have a sinister feeling.

Now we are only one step away from completing the research, so let’s find a goal to put it into practice.

Jia Xiu looked at his toes.

Forget it.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, he was not very willing to sacrifice himself for the truth.

Where to find a suitable target?
At this moment, Aunt Susan's voice came from outside the door.

"Xiao Jiaxiu, someone is looking for you."

"Looking for me?" Jia Xiu opened the door. "Who's looking for me?"

Apart from Aunt Susan, he had no acquaintances here. Every day, apart from going to work, he would stay in the utility room doing experiments. At most, he would go to the Spellcaster Association to submit a patent, but he just did his work and never chatted.

Aunt Susan, however, smiled as if to say, "Auntie knows everything," and replied, "What a beautiful girl! I didn't realize you had this talent..."

Jia Xiu ignored his aunt's raging gossip and went straight to the front store.

She was indeed a "very beautiful girl" with red hair, pretty face, slender figure and upright posture.

She was wearing a simple black dress. Based on Jia Xiu's experience working in a tailor shop, the fabric meant that her family was extremely wealthy.

When such a person comes to see me, I can't help but feel confused.

"you are?"

"Margaret, from the Saint-Delo Spellcaster Academy, has come to Riverwood Town to be in charge of selecting the Outstanding Young Spellcaster Award."

Jia Xiu understood that he would most likely become a candidate for this award.

He had heard of the award and had considered signing up for it, but when he heard that the lord's son also wanted the award, he gave up the idea.

When he was in school, there were many tricks to win various awards.

In today's feudal world, how can awards be fair?

If you don't hope to win, there's no need to register.

He just didn't expect that the organizer would come to him even though he hadn't signed up. After all, he had registered so many patents in the association that it was hard not to be noticed.

In fact, he registered to earn some subsidies from the association. If the patent was learned by other spellcasters, he would get money.

Unfortunately, these strange and bizarre modified healing techniques did not attract the interest of other spellcasters.

Margaret continued, "I've read all the materials you submitted to the association and I think you have a good chance of becoming the winner."

"Thank you."

Jia Xiu expressed his gratitude politely.

"But I have a few questions I'd like to confirm. First, your professional certification is a warlock, right?"

"Yes."

Jia Xiu also knew that the profession of sorcerer had a bad reputation, but there was no need to hide it.

"Then I'd like to ask, if you don't want to answer, who is your sect leader?"

"Forehead……"

Jia Xiu was a little embarrassed. It was a good question. He also wanted to know who his sect leader was.

"Anrio," he said, speaking nonsense. "The title is illusory."

Anyway, I have long felt that the abilities given by the Sect Leader are like game engines.

"Anrio?"

Margaret thought about it and had no impression of any powerful demon with that name.

Moreover, Anrio sounds very much like the name of a fairy, and the honorific title of "Illusion" is also in line with the name of a fairy.

The demons would not have such names. They usually have titles that sound scary, such as "King of Demon Horns", "Bloody Lord", and "Undead Lord".

It’s good that he is a fairy. Although the fairy leader’s behavior is difficult to understand, he is basically not evil.

Margaret didn't intend to ask Jia Xiu about the fulfillment of the contract, as that would be too offensive.

"Can I take a look at your lab? Your perspective on improving spells is quite unique."

She also wanted to confirm whether Jia Xiu's research was completed by herself.

No need to ask, just take a look at the operations in the laboratory and you can confirm it immediately.

"Of course, but my place is hardly a laboratory."

Then he led Margaret to his utility room.

Aunt Susan, who had been secretly reading the gossip, was shocked. She couldn't hear what the two of them were saying because their voices were too low. She watched them whispering for a long time and then they were about to take the girl to her room.

This...should she avoid it?
Here, the two came to the utility room.

"Your lab, is this it?"

Margaret asked in disbelief.

The small room was only about seven or eight square meters, with a bed and a table. On the table were many manuscripts and some very low-quality spell materials.

“The conditions are indeed a bit poor, but it’s enough for now.”

"Is this the material you use for your experiments?"

Margaret had never used such poor material.

“Most of the time, we don’t use it. It’s too expensive.”

"too……"

After hearing Jia Xiu's answer, she suddenly realized that she had no idea that she needed to consider the price of spell materials.

Margaret asked again, "So, all that research was basically done on drafts?"

"About the same." Jia Xiu replied.

She looked at the draft on the table and could tell at a glance that it contained runes for elementary healing. It had been slightly modified, but she couldn't yet see the effect of the modification. The ink was not dry yet, as it had just been written.

It is now completely certain that those studies were done by Jia Xiu, and he even completed them based on rough calculations in the absence of any materials.

Margaret suddenly looked at Jia Xiu, and the look in her eyes made Jia Xiu a little nervous.

"you?"

“You have to be the winner this year.”

Margaret was now overwhelmed with a sense of justice. She had imagined a story about a poor sorcerer who, despite living in poverty, was still bravely moving forward in the pursuit of the truth of magic. She was moved by this story.

Such talents should not be buried.

Although the association and the local lord each have half of the voting rights in the selection of awards, she is confident that she can win these from the association for Jia Xiu.

However, according to the rules, if the votes of two candidates are tied, a spell duel can be held to determine the final winner.

And she was confident that she could help Jia Xiu win the duel.

"You're joking. I don't really deserve this award."

Jia Xiu politely declined.

How can he survive in the local area if he steals the award from the lord's son? This wizard from Saint-Delo College has not been here all the time.

The risks and benefits are not equal.

Seeing that he refused, Margaret wanted to persuade him a little more, saying something general like that spellcasters should dare to fight for their own rights.

But when he saw the simple conditions in the utility room, an idea came to him.

"What a shame! I was planning to write a letter of recommendation for the Riverwood winner to help him apply to St. Delo College."

Jia Xiu's ears twitched.

"I also want to provide him with a laboratory in the association so that he can use materials at will."

Jia Xiu's heart beat faster.

"I was planning to personally sponsor him a thousand crowns. It's a pity that all this will have to go to someone else."

Saying this, he turned around and left.

"Wait!" Jia Xiu shouted hurriedly.

The benefits now outweigh the risks.

"Why, didn't you say you didn't deserve the award?" Margaret asked with a smile.

"But then again..."

(End of this chapter)