Above the mage

Chapter 129: Some Surprising Encounters

The climate in the Principality of Sien is extremely hot.

Even though it's already the Dark Moon, and more than a month has passed since the hottest Sun Moon, the air still exudes a wild and intense atmosphere.

Gao De walked slowly along the road of Seres College, looking at the buildings of different styles on both sides.

Every brick and stone seemed to gleam with the glory of this historic academy, radiating an aura of power.

No one could have imagined, including Gao De himself, that a young apprentice who was worried about his life in Hogan City just six months ago would arrive in Saint-Sien City, the heart of the Principality of Sien, just six months later.

And he joined the most sacred mage academy in the entire duchy to study.

Life is truly amazing.

Gaode followed the main road of the college to the teaching area.

The small building housing the rune system had come into view.

It was a thick, cold, black building with two signs: one that read "Rune System" and the other "Gawain Tower".

Gaode Maps has figured out the naming rules for buildings in the college.

The name "Gavin's Tower" most likely indicates that the building was constructed under the supervision of Gavin Hogg during his tenure as Dean of the House.

From this perspective, it appears to be a relatively new building.

Gao De swiped his identity badge and easily passed through the magic circle set up by Gavin Tower to enter the building.

It was very quiet inside the building.

He could even clearly hear the monotonous sound of his shoes hitting the floor.

This is because the number of people in the Rune Department is the smallest among all the departments in the academy.

This applies to both the number of mentors and the number of students.

The reason is also very simple and straightforward.

Talisman literature is too difficult; too many people can't even get started!

However, the rune faction, which has the fewest members, is the one that gets to be assigned such a brand new and independent building.

It's worth noting that even within the entire college, very few departments have their own independent building.

This also shows that although talisman literature is difficult, it is worthy of its difficulty and is highly valued.

Indeed, rune masters have always been regarded as the foremost of the three great families of magical artisans.

Gaode continued down the corridor and finally encountered a student.

"Hello, I'd like to ask where Professor He Xi's office is?" he asked as he stepped forward.

"Do you need to see Director He west?" The student looked quite old, probably a long-time student. He noticed Gao De's unfamiliar face and asked warily.

Gao De nodded and said truthfully, "I am a freshman, and my assigned mentor is Director He west. I have come to report to him today."

"You've been assigned to Director He west's program? How is that possible? Director He west never accepts students."

The senior student looked surprised, then seemed to realize something, "You're the freshman who got in with Dean Gavin's recommendation letter!"

"It's me." Gao De wasn't embarrassed at all and readily admitted it.

"No wonder. According to the academy's rules, students admitted with the highest level of treatment cannot be refused by any tutor, regardless of which tutor they are assigned to." The senior student showed a knowing expression.

"Director He west's office is on the top floor, but he's usually not there. He spends most of his time in the rune workshop. If you want to find him, go to the rune workshop on the third floor," he said to Gao De after thinking for a moment.

"Thank you," Gao De said, and then he and the old student parted ways.

He didn't notice that after he left, the older student turned around and glanced at his back.

A hint of sympathy flashed in his eyes.

Gao De went up to the third floor and arrived at the rune workshop, which occupied almost half of the third floor.

The doors to the rune workshop were wide open, without any barriers.

Gaode hesitated for a moment, but still stepped into it.

A large workspace, resembling a laboratory from a science fiction movie, appeared before Gaode's eyes.

The lighting in the work area is very bright and soft, clearly designed to facilitate precise operation.

The walls were covered with various rune diagrams and corresponding analytical charts.

In the center of the workshop is a spacious and bright workbench made of a special material and engraved with many intricate magical runes.

Scattered across the workbench were piles of draft paper and various tools, including a carving knife made of adamantite, a wedge-shaped scraper, and pens made of various precious magical materials.

Next to the worktable is an area specifically for inscribing runes, surrounded by a protective barrier to prevent accidents.

In addition, there are three towering bookshelves filled with various books, scrolls, and manuscripts.

This is what you can see on the surface; in reality, there are many designs in this rune workshop that Gaode cannot see.

It includes a powerful energy supply system, advanced elemental control magic arrays, and various invisible warning runes and monitoring arrays, capable of monitoring various abnormal situations in real time and triggering alarms and corresponding defensive measures.

Inside the workshop, there was a small room, but the door was closed at the moment.

Gao De scanned the area but didn't find anyone.

Either Director He west is not in the workshop at the moment, or he is in a small room inside the rune workshop.

Gao De thought for a moment, then knocked on the open door, making a noticeable sound in the quiet rune workshop, before loudly addressing the empty space:

"New student Gao De, reporting for duty with mentor He Xi Olken."

His voice echoed briefly in the workspace.

The next moment, from the small, closed room in the workshop, a voice, old but calm, composed and devoid of any emotion, rang out.

Have you ever been exposed to rune magic before?

"Never," Gao De said truthfully.

"Read the documents on the table first, and you can leave after you're done." The voice gave the instruction directly to Gaode, without any pleasantries or greetings.

It didn't even come out to greet Gaode.

It seemed a bit too cold, but Gaode didn't feel uncomfortable because of it.

In fact, he doesn't like so-called polite small talk either.

Gaode not only doesn't dislike this straightforward approach to assigning tasks, but even somewhat likes it.

Gao De nodded, then realized that with a door in between, how could the other person see his nod?

He chuckled, but didn't add anything more, and silently walked to the central worktable.

Gao De was still taken aback when he saw the messy documents and papers scattered around.

So, what exactly were the materials that Hosie O'Kenley wanted him to see?

Gao De's gaze swept quickly over the papers and documents.

First, eliminate rune diagrams and analyses that appear extremely complex at first glance.

He was someone who had never been exposed to rune literature, so he couldn't understand it at all.

As the head of the Rune Department, He west wouldn't let a complete novice look at this right away.

Then we exclude those profound explanations of principles, for the same reasons as above.

It was something I could understand at a glance; it was simple, so Gaode didn't choose to ask Hosie O'Kenley what exactly the information he wanted to see was.

Because he thought asking that question was incredibly stupid.

He made his selections based on his own experience.

Soon, an open booklet caught Gaode's attention.

This appears to be a handwritten notebook, as all the text is handwritten.

The paper is very old, even yellowed, with wrinkled edges, clearly indicating that it has been around for a considerable period of time.

The reason why Gaode noticed it is simple: he could understand what was written in the notebook.

"Runes may seem complex, but they are actually governed by rules. Once the most fundamental rules are set at the beginning, everything can gradually evolve and calculate on its own."

Hi, this should be the basic theory and concept of talisman literature, right?

Upon seeing this general outline-like sentence, Gaode immediately recognized the identity of this handwritten notebook.

This is absolutely the introductory theory of runic literature!

It's perfect for a complete novice like him.

This must be the document that Hosey O'Kenley wanted him to see.

Gaode continues reading.

"The Six Basic Rules of Runes:"

"Rule 1: Under any circumstances, the actual robustness value generated by all runes in the magic circle must be less than the maximum robustness value that the magic circle can theoretically withstand; otherwise, the magic circle will fail."

"Rule 2: Multiple basic runes are connected to form a composite rune, and multiple composite runes are connected to form a magic circle."

"In a composite rune system, each basic rune must be paired, and the energy ratio of each basic secondary rune to the basic advanced rune is one to four and sixty-four percent."

"However, if two identical secondary basic runes are connected, the energy generated by this combination is equal to that of the higher-level runes, which is four and sixty-four percent, not two."

"The energy of a level zero rune is set at one. The total energy of a magic circle is the sum of the energies of all the complex runes within it."

"Rule 3: Any basic rune may not be connected to more than eight basic runes of the same level, and may not be connected to more than two identical basic runes. Furthermore, the two basic runes must be arranged in opposite directions; otherwise, the composite rune will not be effective."

"Rule 4: Runes must be engraved on magic-conducting materials. Magic-conducting materials have magic resistance, which can measure the quality of a magic-conducting material's magic-conducting performance."

"Magic resistance reflects the ability of a magic-conducting material to impede magic power; it is an inherent property of the material itself."

The lower the magic resistivity, the less the magic-conducting material hinders magic power, and the better its magic-conducting performance; conversely, the higher the magic resistivity, the greater the resistance to magic power, and the worse its magic-conducting performance.

"Magic resistance can be determined through magic power testing."

Rule Five: Within a magic circle, any two adjacent runes constitute a rune pair;

"A single rune can form multiple rune pairs with adjacent runes (as long as one rune in a rune pair is changed, it can be considered a new rune pair);"

"However, if both runes in a rune pair are the same type of rune, then the rune pair is an interference pair."

"Rule Six: The theoretical robustness of a magic circle is equal to the number of runes on the magic-conducting material multiplied by the number of rune pairs multiplied by (1 - magic resistance). The actual robustness is equal to the total energy of the magic circle multiplied by the number of interference pairs."

(End of this chapter)