Chapter 40: Wait a Second
"Light Burst" was a 2nd-tier light-based magic and one of the basic magic spells that a formal mage had to master.
It wasn't advanced, but it was extremely practical.
Setting one off in the pitch dark night could light up half a small town.
Casting one suddenly during battle could result in a temporary blinding effect that was comparable to the 3rd-tier dark-based magic "Vision Blockage."
Hence, "Light Burst '' was considered as one of the most common beginners' magic; it wasn't necessary to incorporate it into the thunder-based magic.
Especially for a mage instructor like Stanford.
After all, that was just a 2nd-tier magic that he could release at any time. Why increase the difficulty to cast it by incorporating into another magic system?
In fact, every form of magic and magical engravings were tested and refined countless times. Adding extra stuff into them, especially other magic systems, could trigger all sorts of unexpected accidents.
Stanford was surely aware of this.
As expected, Stanford explained after asking the question, "I'll be sent to guard the town of Tweet and supervise the building of their Magic Tower very soon. The environment over there is very hostile and I need a form of magic that could provide lighting for a long period of time. But my main cultivation is thunder-based magic, and the Magic Tower has to be focused on thunder-based magic. Adding light-based magic would not only affect the operation of the thunder-based magical engravings, it would also cause a big waste in magical power."
Stanford's explanation had enlightened all of them.
Everyone was very familiar with Tweet Town. 4% of the Empire's magical materials came from that place, but the Empire's control over it had always been feeble.
There were two reasons for it:
Firstly, its geographical position was too far from the capital and had a quite hostile environment that was teeming with wild beasts. These factors made it very difficult to govern.
Secondly, the town was located next to Tweet Forest, and there were no other neighboring communities. The Empire naturally didn't want to invest too many resources into it, as most of the people who went to seek a livelihood there were outlaws and adventurers. The Empire wouldn't fret over their loss.
Recently, the Empire suddenly decided to send a mage instructor over and even build a Magic Tower. This action surely had a greater underlying meaning.
The smart ones began to look at Dandell instinctively, as they sensed something was going on.
Enormous changes had happened in the Empire, ever since the Empire's Four Main Pillars began to collaborate with the mysterious Internet Deity.
The most obvious change was that the magical deities' control on the regions had gradually increased.
In the recent two weeks, many scandals about the aristocrats happened within the Empire. They included tax evasion, conducting evil magical experiments, contacting evil gods, treason… etc.
Behind the scenes where hundreds of heads had rolled, there was a rise of many mages and the reassignment of resources.
Then the Empire had decided to invest in Tweet and build a Magic Tower. That was an attempt of expansion by converting a town into a city after settling their domestic issues!
It was no wonder that they were sending the powerful thunder-based mage instructor, Stanford!
The thunder-based and the fire-based magic were the natural nemeses of the forest's wild beasts. A simple roar of thunder could scare away the wild beasts that even 5th and 6th-tier magic couldn't.
"Have you tried the Alcott's Method of Combination?"
"Yes, I did. This would affect the construction of the 'Thunderstorm Field'. If I use the three-dimensional method to construct it, the range of the 'Thunderstorm Field' would be reduced by more than 30 meters!"
"How about fixing a Light Burst Magic on its own at the tip of the tower?"
"It's not ideal. This would require a separate magic supply; it would interfere with the operation of the magic pool."
"Any magic combination of two and more systems would definitely affect each another. Tweet isn't like any other town. The more the Magic Tower covers, the more influence we could exert. Sacrificing the influence of the tower for illumination is, without a doubt, the worst solution."
"Yes. If you really feel that illumination is very important, I suggest building a twin tower or a satellite tower!"
"The cost of building a twin tower and a satellite tower is too high!"
The results weren't quite optimal after a round of discussion and the mood in the conference hall became a little depressing.
"Has the research on Saint Elmo's Fire made any breakthroughs? Could we use Saint Elmo's Fire to achieve the objective of illumination?" someone brought up a mysterious discovery of the thunder-based magic.
The few thunder-based mages present looked at one another and shook their heads.
Saint Elmo's Fire was actually a kind of luminescence rather than fire.
The thunder-based mages discovered that sharp objects like masts, antlers and dragon horns would emit a blueish-white light in a thunderstorm environment.
It looked like a flame at first; hence the name, Saint Elmo's Fire.
That discovery led many mages to believe that the thunder-based magic could have certain attributes of the light-based magic and could even transform into light energy.
Maybe it could develop another branch of magic, just like water-based magic had a separate ice-based branch.
Unfortunately, until then, nobody had made a breakthrough on the Saint Elmo's Fire spell yet. Naturally, it seemed impossible for thunder and lightning to transform into light energy any time soon.
"Let's move onto the next proposal!"
Dandell knocked on the table after a brief moment of silence as he prepared to close this discussion.
Disappointment flashed across Stanford's face when he heard that.
He already had quite a clear understanding about Tweet from the Internet.
It was a paradise for the adventure-seekers and outlaws; it was also a place that the Deity of Death favored.
Wild beasts dashing into town and grabbing residents in the middle of the night was a common occurrence.
That was the reason that he wanted to add on a long-term illumination magic on the Magic Tower.
As long as there was illumination, the human's defense ability against wild beasts would be greatly increased. However, because long-term illumination was required, it was quite difficult to be replaced by a magical tool.
Of course, he could have added the Light Burst magical engravings forcefully, but that would in turn affect the Magic Tower's coverage and power. That wasn't what he wished to see.
After all, he simply couldn't have the best of both worlds!
Right at that time, a shout attracted everyone's attention in the conference.
"Wait a second!"
All of them looked toward the source of the voice and realized that it was the usually quiet Ajaf who had spoken up!
Yu Sheng'an said to Stanford, "If it's just to resolve the problem of long-term illumination, I have a solution that can solve your problem."
"Mmm?"
All of them were instantly bewildered and doubtful.
After their earlier discussion, they didn't believe that Ajaf would know the difficulty of this issue.
That matter was not difficult to resolve, but it was hard to have both objectives met at the same time. And what Stanford wanted was to have both objectives met simultaneously.
Since that was the case and Ajaf still dared to say that he had a solution, maybe he indeed had an ingenious idea?
Everyone's interest was piqued.
Dandell was also looking at Yu Sheng'an with amazement.
Dandell, who had a title made up with the word "deity," could only be considered as a semi-deity.
Even so, he was also one of the people that knew the deities quite well.
A deity, from a certain perspective, was an existence that had stolen one or more powers of the domains in the world.
Nobody was able to stand against them while in their domains.
However, in other domains, deities might not even fare as well as ordinary people.
For example, the magical domain!
That was one of the reasons why the Queville Empire had been able to remain independent while being surrounded by the Five Main Righteous Deities.
The Internet Deity had already made Dandell awfully wary after he displayed an impressive power in the wood-spirit and summoning magic. And then, he even declared that he could solve the difficult problem of the thunder-based and light-based magic?
Maybe he's also extremely knowledgeable in the thunder-based and light-based magic?
Dandell started to panic as he thought of that. He even wondered… Maybe that's the reason why the Internet Deity chose to spread his divine skills in Queville?
After all, he could only quit being worried after he found out why!
Stanford had no idea what Dandell was thinking. He asked with a surprised expression, "What solution is that?"
Yu Sheng'an smiled, "Convert the thunder and lightning into light energy and this problem would be solved, right?"
The joint research conference descended into a complete silence after he finished speaking!