Figaro Formula (Part 2)

Saleen simply pulled over a chair and sat down. He began observing closely, memorizing it bit by bit. Every single one of the three thousand odd gold pieces had a different magic pattern on them. Saleen would have to remember the positions of the gold pieces and their magic patterns, as well as the combinations between the patterns.

It was the perfect ending for the formula. As long as the arrangement could be reversed, the original arrangement would be formed. Even though Saleen would not understand the meaning of the original arrangement, he would be able to learn a lot about the Figaro formula while attempting to reverse it.

Without the help of recollection magic, it would be an arduous task trying to remember all the magic patterns of the gold pieces. Time flew by quickly. Before Saleen had realized it, it was already nighttime. He felt that his concentration was sapped and began to give up. Saleen grit his teeth and pressed on. Faerun was still not back. He must have been sleeping already since he had not stepped into the laboratory after such a long time.

Saleen withdrew his family badge from the Ring of Gifts. With the badge in his hand, Saleen released detection magic.

The badge exhausted his energy as usual, as well as the magic chords that had been upgraded. Saleen slumped into the chair and continued to stare at the gold pieces on the table.

It was the first time that Saleen had used the badge since being promoted to a Grade 2 mage. From Phoenix to the Bitter Water Prefecture, Saleen had always been careful not to use the badge to train his concentration.

Even though the badge would only cause Saleen to lose control for less than an hour, it was still too dangerous to him. Saleen was completely vulnerable during the period after the badge had been used.

Saleen suffered aches, burns, tingling sensations, dizziness, and all sorts of negative symptoms. He was not even able to blink. He then slowed the speed of his memorization, and waited for his mental strength to recover back to normal.

Saleen only took half an hour to regain his mental strength. Maybe his body had grown accustomed to this kind of torture. Furthermore, his mental strength had increased even more than before. He straightened his posture and continued memorizing diligently.

As Saleen’s memories increased, a lengthy magic formula gradually formed. Even though the formula was very messy, the intrinsically regulated arrangement was still present. Saleen was overjoyed. All the magic patterns on the gold pieces transformed into magic symbols and became etched in his mind.

The messy formula was not able to provide any information. However, Saleen only needed to continue his deductions in order to familiarize himself with the calculations needed to balance various elements. Practicing magic was a never ending process of familiarization. As long as Saleen persevered, his speed of calculation would become increasingly fast, and eventually he would reach the same level as the sorcerer who had cast the ice blade.

What Saleen really needed to do was continuously improve his capabilities and not just daydream about becoming a sorcerer instantaneously. Even if he did not manage to deduce anything, he would still have his ability to calculate.

Eventually, Saleen managed to form a complete memory of the Figaro formula. Only then did he quietly leave Faerun’s room. By then, it was late into the night and the moon was shining marvelously in the night sky. The light from the moon shone onto the courtyard, making it seem as if the ground was filled with a layer of frost.

The next afternoon when Saleen arrived at Faerun’s laboratory, all the gold pieces that had originally been on the table were missing. Faerun did not seem to know what had happened, and he asked Saleen to manage a single gold piece. This particular gold piece was only as big as fingernail, and Saleen’s task was to continuously use Frost Array upon it to lower its temperature.

"Sir, what kind of gold is this? I have never seen it before," Saleen asked Faerun, continuously casting Frost Array without putting much concentration into it.

"This is natural alloy. We have to dig deep into the earth to extract it. As for its attributes… you need to have extensive knowledge of alchemy in order to fully comprehend them," Faerun said, as he held a carving knife and carved patterns onto that gold piece.

"Why do I have the feeling that this gold piece will disrupt the stability of magic?" Even though Saleen had just started his self learning of the Figaro formula, he had already roughly grasped the arrangement of the elements.

"It will not disrupt the stability of magic, but rather, offset the elements."

Faerun did not continue explaining, but Saleen had already understood what Faerun was trying to say. Offsetting elements was a skillful way of casting magic, but that method was reserved for mage masters. If a mere Grade 2 mage like him wanted to learn it, it was possible that the magic would cause backlash and kill him instead.

Offsetting the elements would not ruin the various stages of magic, but would affect the magic that would eventually be released. By using the offsetting method, it was more difficult for enemies to figure out one’s weakness.

If special natural alloy was used to create a magic prop, it would be much safer for a mage to use the offsetting method, and there might even have been no need to control it at all. As long as they had constant practice, a mage would grow accustomed to using the method of offsetting elements.

The magic prop created by the gold piece would have had an extremely high value, because the method of offsetting elements exhausted a great amount of mental strength. But with the help of some props, the mage would be able to control their magic more precisely, and less mental strength would be used.

Saleen watched patiently as Faerun carved out the magic patterns one stroke at a time. The cooled gold piece was slightly crisp, and its toughness had been reduced by the coldness. That way, the magic patterns would not be distorted. If pure gold had been used, its internal structure would have been spoiled and its attributes would have changed.

This type of cold refining method required a great deal of perception from the mage themselves. The edge of the rhenium gold knife used was razor sharp. During the carving process, the mage would need to slow down the rate of their blood circulation so that their hands would be able to keep still. There was no room for even the slightest of quivers.

Saleen knew all of this knowledge from the books he read. However, no knowledge could come close to a Grade 6 mage personally doing it in front of his eyes.

From that day on, Faerun no longer assigned tasks to Saleen with the sole purpose of having him learn. He only had Saleen assist him. Saleen was already satisfied with this chance he was getting. Since his foundation in magic was solid, Saleen was able to learn new things even if Faerun did not explicitly say them aloud. Furthermore, when Saleen helped Faerun, Faerun would give Saleen a Grade 3 magic nucleus to recharge his magic chords.

That was equivalent to letting Saleen pick up various types of low-level magic. Saleen actually did not mind spending money to purchase magic nuclei, but he could save over a hundred gold coins each day when he received them for free, so he felt that helping Faerun was well worth it.

As the days went by, Faerun gradually realized that Saleen only used Water Magic, but he never asked the reason why and continued giving him mundane tasks to complete. Whenever Saleen had fully mastered a certain low-level magic, his tasks were changed to enable Saleen to start familiarizing himself with another type of magic.

As for practice, Saleen had only one request for Faerun. Saleen asked Faerun whether he could purchase a live high-level magic beast.

Faerun thought about it and said, "You’re getting it for the Caucasus female warrior, right?"

"Yes." Saleen did not bother to hide anything. A magic beast soul was considered to be an extraordinary skill by swordsmen, but was not perceived to be mysterious by mages. Although, this skill was related to death magic.

"Wait for a little while. There will be winter hunting at the end of the year. You will be able to encounter some great magic beasts, and if you go and purchase one now, it will be difficult to find a suitable one. A high-level magic beast is very hard to rear, so most people will just kill it to extract its magic nucleus," Faerun patiently explained to Saleen.

Saleen felt helpless, but what Faerun had said was true too. He then went to convey this message to Sika. "Actually, there is no rush. I was planning to spend more time reading anyway," Sika consoled Saleen.

"You actually read books?" Saleen’s expression made Sika dejected. But it was not surprising, as Saleen had never heard of a Caucasus person who loved reading. Fighting was in their blood. Even a female from Caucasus would not have had the patience to read.

Seeing that Sika had grown depressed, Saleen quickly reassured her, "Just go ahead and read then. All the books in the viscountess’ residence are free anyway. You will be able to learn some new words as well."

"Learn, learn to recognize words?" Nailisi stuttered in Qin language. Nailisi had been in the room all this while, but no one knew just when she had entered.

Nailisi and Sika were exact opposites. Sika had eloquence, but could not really write. On the other hand, Nailisi could write very well, but always stuttered.

"Learn, learn, learn…" Sika grew frustrated and starting imitating the way Nailisi spoke.

Nailisi bared her teeth and made a face at Sika. As Nailisi showed her fangs, Sika could not help but clutch her boomerang. Saleen sighed. Even when they couldn’t communicate with each another, they got along just fine. Now that they shared a common language, fights were more common. Had Saleen known that beforehand, he would have continued to let Sika be illiterate and let Nailisi remain indigenous. Then life would have been easier.

Life was dull. Saleen would attend class every Monday and then spend the rest of his time in the courtyard. Viscountess Lex sometimes skipped class. After the first time the sorcerer personally taught Saleen the Ice Blade spell, it had never happened again.

Saleen used the badge every night and underwent training. Hence, his mental strength grew at an incredible speed.

Advancing the magic chords was a tough process, as this process required the accumulation of time. Saleen was focused on growing his mental strength, because in order to familiarize himself with the entirety of the Figaro formula, he needed to keep making deductions. This was tougher than just practicing magic, which used less mental strength. For Saleen, the way he learned magic was by mastering all magic, which caused a great exhaustion of his mental strength.

Without the help of the mysterious badge, Saleen would have do it in an orderly manner like any other low-grade mage. But with the badge, he could regain his mental strength to its peak state within half an hour. Saleen had begun to try controlling Grade 3 magic.

Saleen’s fluctuating magic chords caused him to be both depressed and upbeat. Saleen was sad that he was not able to learn the other five branches of magic. But Saleen was also happy because he possessed twice the quantity of magic chords compared to other mages of his grade. This meant that Saleen could cast one more Grade 3 spell over other mages of his grade.

Saleen could now consecutively cast two Grade 3 spells, twenty-four Grade 2 spells, or forty-eight Grade 1 spells. However, he never tried casting Grade 0 spells as he did not know many Grade 0 spells. Aside from the Acid Sputtering spell, the rest of the Grade 0 spells were supportive spells.

One afternoon, it suddenly began to snow. Saleen came to Faerun’s laboratory wearing an unlined piece of clothing. Faerun did not assign any tasks to Saleen as he usually did and also did not look too good. Faerun told Saleen, "The viscountess wants to see you. Kasiya will bring you there."

Kasiya was a lifestyle mage working under Faerun, and she also lived in the courtyard. She was a beautiful young lady who was also a Grade 2 mage, and her talent in magic was comparable to Saleen’s.

Saleen noticed that Faerun’s expression was odd and grew perturbed. But still, he left with Kasiya, wondering why the viscountess was looking for him.

Saleen returned to the room where he had first seen Viscountess Lex. Viscountess Lex had fur wrapped around her neck. She wore a white shirt lined with fur which made her face appear rosy and delicate. When Saleen entered the room, she was gazing at the snow by the window.

"Viscountess, I understand that you were looking for me?"