Chapter 51: In the Midst of Transcription

Once the Elder Mage had left, Shaoke and the female mage entered the spell storage room. When they pushed the door open, the room inside was pitch black. Shaoke waited in the doorway for a moment, allowing his eyes to adjust to the darkness, before noticing a small iron rack by the entrance with a dozen or so candles hanging on it. They each took one, lit it with a flint, and slowly ventured inside.

"Why isn't there a single window here? Is this really where spell knowledge is kept?" The female mage peered around in the candlelight and asked her companion, puzzled.

Shaoke spotted several sconces on the walls, went and lit them one by one, and then took another look around the room. "Well, no windows isn't a problem. This is definitely where spells are stored. Francis, go over there and light the candles on the wall. I'll light the ones on this side."

With more and more candles lit, the two mages finally lit all the candles in the stone room. The female mage gave a soft sigh of relief, slightly twisting her neck. "There, that's better. It's much brighter now. How long has it been since anyone came here? Look, the tables are covered in dust. Hmm! Why are these boxes for transcription supplies empty?"

Shaoke closed the somewhat worn wooden door and walked over to the writing desk where the female mage was. "Look! This box still has fine sand in it. How could they all be empty?" As he spoke, he couldn't help but chuckle.

The female mage shot Shaoke a glare, carefully pulled open a drawer, took out a dingy piece of cotton cloth, and began wiping down the table meticulously, since they would soon be copying spells on it.

While the female mage cleaned, Shaoke, holding his candlestick aloft, made a circuit of the bookshelves in the room. He discovered that only spells from the Zero Rank to the Third Rank were stored here. There were no higher-level spells, though he couldn't tell if they were kept elsewhere or simply never stored here at all. Fortunately, the cleaning arrays on the bookshelves were still functioning normally, sparing them the trouble of wiping the names off each spell book individually.

After Shaoke finished his inspection, he noticed the female mage feeling around the table. Finally, she found a candlestick on the wall and pulled it outward with force. A sudden creaking sound echoed in the room, and Shaoke felt the previously stifling air begin to flow.

After completing this task, the female mage turned her head and smiled slightly at Shaoke, who was staring at her. "What? Didn't you know that places without windows like this have ventilation channels? Heh! Usually, these channels are closed, and the mechanism to open them is around the writing desk. It's easy to find if you look carefully, but we'll need to close it again when we leave."

Shaoke shook his head. "Alright, Francis, let's hurry and find a spell to copy. It's almost dark now. If the coachman waits for us outside for too long, we'll probably have to pay him another silver coin."

The female mage placed her hand on a nearby bookshelf, letting the cleaning spell remove the dust from it. Satisfied, she said, "Don't worry! When we start feeling cold here, that means it's already dark. Hmm... Mage Xueye, are you copying a Second Rank spell?"

Shaoke searched the bookshelf for the spell he needed while replying, "Yes. Aren't you doing the same?" With that, he moved to another side of the bookshelf, still holding the candlestick.

"No, Mage Xueye. I think you might not be able to copy a Second Rank spell properly in such a short time. I suggest you copy a few First-level Spells instead!" The female mage also held up her candlestick and began searching for the spells she wanted.

"Why? Francis." Shaoke was somewhat puzzled. By now, he had already found the scroll for the spell he needed. He carefully took down the sheepskin scroll wrapped in black silk and brought it to the writing desk to begin copying.

"Second Rank spells aren't as easy to copy as First-level Spells. Interpreting them requires too much of our mental energy and mana. Moreover, copying them later will also consume a significant amount of mental energy!" The female mage also found the spell materials she needed, holding three or four beast-hide scrolls in her arms as she turned back.

"Are you really planning to copy this? Don't you plan to go back tonight? It'll be very cold and gloomy here. The papers won't mind, but your body won't be able to handle it." Seeing Shaoke holding a scroll about twice as thick as hers, the female mage immediately knew it was a Second Rank spell.

Shaoke carefully examined the female mage, who appeared peculiarly beautiful under the candlelight. "I plan to interpret this spell first, write it down in ordinary script, and then slowly complete it using the formal copying method."

The female mage helplessly rolled her eyes and stopped Shaoke from unrolling the scroll. "Mage Xueye, I think you should listen to my explanation before deciding whether to open this scroll." Seeing Shaoke nod in agreement, she continued, "Spells above the Second Rank are quite different from those First-level Spells. When copying the structure of these Second-level Spells, special mana or mental energy fluctuations are added. However, these fluctuations aren't represented by lines like the Spell Structures. They need to be slowly sensed, and these fluctuations only appear briefly during each interpretation, never again afterward. Are you fully prepared now? If you don't remember that special fluctuation during this interpretation, you'll need to interpret the structure again, which will waste a lot of time. Generally, successfully copying a complete Second Rank spell takes over ten days." After finishing, the female mage released Shaoke's hand, not intending to take any further action, and simply watched him to see what choice he would make.

Shaoke frowned. He had never known that copying Second Rank spells would differ from previous copying methods. "Francis, I remember the mentors never mentioned such things, and none of the materials brought it up either. How did you know?"

The female mage opened one of the spell scrolls she had chosen and began taking out the items she needed from the pouch on her person. "A disciple from a noble family who came to the border for training told me. He warned me about this issue. No one tells newly promoted mages about this. If they don't know, they'll waste more money and time copying Second-level Spells. However, over time, every mage will sense these fluctuations. At that point, they'll need to pay some price to ask their seniors how to resolve this situation."

After hearing her explanation, Shaoke smiled helplessly. "So that's how it is. Go ahead with your work. I plan to try sensing this special fluctuation. If it doesn't work, I won't copy it now and will wait until we return to the capital."

The female mage nodded and stopped paying attention to Shaoke, beginning to slowly copy into her spell record.

Shaoke moved a short distance away from the female mage, untied the ribbon on the scroll, and slowly spread it out on the table. The scroll was quite long, about a meter in length, with special crystalline characters and patterns embedded in the blank spaces around the edges, likely auxiliary techniques to preserve the scroll for a long time. From top to bottom, the scroll was inscribed with: the spell's name, its creator, which language yielded the greatest power, the Meditation Method required to cast the spell, the Gesture needed, the complete structure of the spell, and at the very bottom, some commonly known Spellcasting Techniques. However, Shaoke's current spell didn't have any special techniques.

Shaoke applied his spell interpretation skills and began slowly reading the Second-level Spell he had chosen, "Blazing Ray." This spell was an advanced version of the First-level Spell 'Scorching Ray,' one of the few advanced spells. It remained the most penetrating spell attack among Second-level Spells, with a range of over two hundred meters, capable of piercing through a Second-order Warrior who had concentrated their entire Aura for defense. This could be considered one of the most powerful spells for Second Tier Mages against warriors of the same rank. However, this spell also had the most complex structure and the longest Spellcasting time among Second-level Spells, which was why many mages gave up on it. But Shaoke wanted to give it a try. After using 'Scorching Ray' several times, he felt it was very effective when facing enemies alone, so he was quite optimistic about its advanced version.

Shaoke slowly interpreted the spell, pausing after each section to copy it into his spell record. He didn't have the ability to interpret and copy simultaneously like the female mage, because after his initial interpretation of the Second-level Spell, he felt his mental energy and mana dropping significantly. Reading each character consumed three times the mental energy and mana required to interpret a character from a First-level Spell, especially mana. He didn't know which mage had written it, but the mana infused into the characters had reached the limit the paper could bear, and Shaoke's mana was the weakest. To avoid running out of mana for copying after interpretation, he switched to interpreting one section and then copying it. Fortunately, when copying, he infused more mental energy into the characters, which relatively reduced mana consumption.

The rustling sound of writing was particularly clear in the room with only two people. The mages copied carefully, avoiding making any stains on the paper and wasting the entire sheet.

When Shaoke reached the spell's structure, he stopped writing to rest briefly, then focused his mind to begin interpreting the entire spell structure. The complex lines left Shaoke unable to find the starting point. When he felt his mana was almost depleted, he had no choice but to stop and end this copying session.

Seeing this, the female mage smiled. "What's wrong? Did you fail?"

Shaoke glanced at the spell she had copied and nodded. "The structure of the Second Rank spell is too complex. I couldn't find the starting point at all. I'll first sketch it out using ordinary methods and take my time to find it properly later."