NOVEL WEB Ch. 5
Chapter 5: Rune Analysis
“These things don’t need to be specially bought, I have them right now!”
Xing Yong said.
He immediately rummaged through his storage pouch and took out over a dozen stacks of blank talisman paper and a jade gourd filled with cinnabar.
Then.
Xing Yong finally pulled out a quaint-looking brush from the storage pouch and, as if relieved of a heavy burden, stuffed it along with the talisman paper and cinnabar into Xu Zhengyang’s arms.
With great generosity, he said, “You use these things first!”
Once he finished speaking.
Xing Yong stood on his flying boat and waved to Xu Zhengyang, saying, “Those talisman papers and cinnabar should last you a while. If you run out later, just tell your senior brother, and I’ll buy more for you!”
Xu Zhengyang happened to need these materials at the moment, so he accepted them without hesitation and thanked Xing Yong while holding the pile of spiritual materials, “Thank you, Senior Brother!”
“No need for that between us brothers!”
Xing Yong replied with a smile, then piloted his flying boat to hover in mid-air and finally bid farewell to Xu Zhengyang, “Little junior brother, I’ll go take care of some business! Once I’m done, I should make it back in time to attend your apprenticeship ceremony!”
“Safe travels, Senior Brother.”
Xu Zhengyang watched Xing Yong fly off on his flying boat with envy, saying, “I wonder when I’ll be able to fly a boat like that…”
As he spoke.
Xu Zhengyang carried the pile of spiritual materials back to the meditation room.
…
*
While organizing and reviewing the Divine Mechanism Talisman Guide earlier, Xu Zhengyang had already noticed some patterns.
A talisman was composed of three parts: the talisman head, the talisman core, and the talisman foot.
According to the annotations in the Divine Mechanism Talisman Guide.
The talisman head was where spiritual energy was stored.
The talisman core transformed that energy into mana of a specific attribute.
And the talisman foot released the transformed mana in a specific form to produce a spell.
After understanding the principle behind talismans, Xu Zhengyang nodded thoughtfully and used a familiar analogy:
“If a talisman is like an electronic device from my previous life, then the talisman head is the battery that provides energy; The talisman core is the circuit board that converts the battery’s electricity into kinetic energy; And the talisman foot is the functional component, like the vibrator of an electric toothbrush or the bulb of a flashlight, producing different effects.”
At this point.
Xu Zhengyang’s thoughts became clear, and he exclaimed with joy, “With this line of thinking, it’s easier to understand the runes used to draw talismans! For example, in the Divine Mechanism Talisman Guide, all talisman heads are made up of the same rune, let’s call it 【Spirit】;
In the guide.
The simplest Fireball Talisman, besides having the head 【Spirit】, its core should be 【Fire】, which converts spiritual energy into fire-type mana;
And the foot would be 【Launch】, which sends the 【Fire】 out!”
He continued, “In that case, If I manipulate my refined spiritual energy to form the two runes 【Fire】 and 【Launch】 in my palm, Would that mean I’ve mastered the Fireball Spell?”
Bold conjecture, careful verification!
So Xu Zhengyang didn’t waste any time and immediately manipulated a stream of spiritual energy to gather in his palm.
Then, following the runes in the Divine Mechanism Talisman Guide, he guided the energy along the designated path to form the runes in his palm.
A moment later.
As the first 【Fire】 rune took shape.
“Boom—”
A loud explosive sound followed, and an orange-red fireball the size of a watermelon appeared above Xu Zhengyang’s palm!
The fireball was extremely hot!
Even at such close range, a wave of heat rushed toward Xu Zhengyang’s face, curling his hair and eyebrows slightly!
Excited, Xu Zhengyang quickly began drawing the second rune!
Moments later.
As 【Launch】 was completed.
The watermelon-sized fireball in Xu Zhengyang’s hand shot out instantly, blasting a spiderweb-shaped pit of the same size in the bluestone floor outside the meditation room!
“So powerful!”
Xu Zhengyang was thrilled to see the fireball spell’s power!
But right after that.
His now-empty dantian instantly drained his physical strength, making him feel faint, as if suffering from low blood sugar, nearly collapsing in the meditation room.
“Crap!”
Xu Zhengyang muttered, then pushed through the discomfort and crawled to the shelf at the edge of the meditation room, taking out and swallowing a Yellow Dragon Pill.
After a short while.
As the pill’s medicinal effects spread, the spiritual energy in Xu Zhengyang’s dantian began to refill, and he finally returned to normal, sighing in relief, “Just a low-tier Fireball Spell drained all the spiritual energy I had gathered over an entire day and night!”
As he spoke.
Xu Zhengyang recalled his physical state when his spiritual energy was exhausted and said with lingering fear, “No wonder cultivators in the Qi Refining stage rely on talismans during battle… If you run out of spiritual energy during a fight, wouldn’t you be at the mercy of your opponent?”
After that.
Xu Zhengyang said thoughtfully, “So it’s very necessary for me to verify how much spiritual energy different spells consume. Then, I’ll add a 【Spiritual Energy Bar】 and a 【Spell Consumption List】 to the Health Manager interface. That way. I’ll be able to see my current condition more clearly and choose the most suitable combat plan.”
At this point.
A sudden flash of inspiration hit Xu Zhengyang, and he exclaimed excitedly, “To cast a spell, a cultivator needs to manipulate spiritual energy inside the body to form runes along specific paths. This process. Even if I focus all my attention on it, it still takes time and might fail due to various factors. Given that… Why don’t I develop a Spell Manager to help me manipulate spiritual energy into runes, allowing me to cast spells faster?”
Completely feasible!
With that thought, Xu Zhengyang didn’t hesitate in the slightest and immediately closed his eyes to begin developing the 【Spell Manager】!
…
*
The Spell Manager’s functionality was even simpler than the Cultivation Technique Manager.
It only needed to help Xu Zhengyang convert the spiritual energy inside his body into runes in the shortest amount of time — it didn’t even need infinite looping.
Because of that.
In just the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Xu Zhengyang successfully created a brand-new Spell Manager app!
Looking at the freshly developed Spell Manager, which currently contained only the runes 【Spirit】, 【Fire】, and 【Launch】.
Xu Zhengyang said with great determination, “Next.
My main task is to systematically and thoroughly analyze the various runes recorded in the Divine Mechanism Talisman Guide using the logic I’ve now grasped.
Once analyzed and their effects verified.
I’ll annotate them in detail and include them in the Spell Manager!”
Though analyzing runes was a dull and tedious task, to Xu Zhengyang — who suffered from digital hoarding syndrome —
Every time he added a newly verified rune to the Spell Manager’s database.
It brought him a deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment!