After eating, Jiang Qiao locked the door and closed the curtains to prevent others from being discovered.
He didn't care about other people discovering magic or anything like that, after all, who would believe in this stuff? What he cared about was being arrested and hospitalized as a mental illness, which was really unreasonable.
Jiang Qiao moved all the things depicting the magic circle to the small backyard of his home.
The entire backyard is covered with aluminum steel plates so that outsiders cannot see what’s going on inside.
A bottle of pure water, a writing brush, a bowl, and the bottle of medicinal powder are all Jiang Qiao's tools.
First, pour an appropriate amount of medicinal powder into the bowl, then add water little by little and stir until the medicinal powder becomes a fine, particle-free homogenate. This is the first step.
Although there was no technical content in this, Jiang Qiao was still very cautious and only put in one-tenth of the entire bottle of powder, which was about enough to draw the magic circle twice.
Pick up the brush, dip it in enough homogenate, and follow the drawings given by Sylvie to draw a realistic pattern.
There are about five to six magic circles on that drawing, all of which are basic magic of some main elements.
Such as ignition, fireball, water condensation, arc magic, etc.
The first thing Jiang Qiao wanted to experiment with was the art of igniting fire.
The shape of the magic circle was similar to what he imagined. On the outside were two circles with overlapping centers and different radii, and inside was a six-pointed star inscribed in the circle.
One of the corners of the hexagram is painted with patterns representing the sun and moon.
This pattern is about half the size of Jiang Qiao's body, and the amount of work cannot be underestimated.
Jiang Qiao first drew the basic shape of the magic circle on the ground with a marker and a ruler, and then used a brush dipped in homogeneous paste to carve it over again.
In this way, the error will not be too large.
Finally, decorate three small flames in the center of the circle, and you're done.
Jiang Qiao looked at his work and was quite satisfied. The homogenate made from medicinal powder seemed to have a fluorescent effect, and the overall blue six-pointed star array shone slightly in the night.
Sylvie said that the magic circle is actually like an altar, and the medicinal powder is a sacrifice.
Use sacrifices to exchange with elemental spirits in nature in exchange for the magical effects you want to achieve.
If you want to make an exchange, you must first communicate with the elves...
Jiang Qiao carefully recalled what Sylvie had said. He took out a notebook from his arms and found a series of pinyin notes he had written on it.
That was the spell that Sylvie gave him, and it was also an untranslated ancient Elvish language. The general meaning was: Elves, uncle has delicious food here. After eating, do your uncle a favor.
Seems a bit obscene...
Jiang Qiao put all the tools aside, and after reading it silently in his mind several times, he finally memorized the pronunciation of this sentence.
Then, it was the first try.
The night was as dark as ink, and the world under the street lights was quiet and bright. Except for a few barking dogs, no other sounds could be heard.
However, if someone listens carefully close to Jiang Qiao's backyard, they can still hear a series of strange notes, as if someone is singing an unknown song.
This mantra is not long, and it probably only takes less than five seconds to recite it.
Suddenly, the magic circle lit up with sparkling light.
At the same time, Jiang Qiao felt that the temperature in this small space was slowly rising, as if he had suddenly returned to the 40-degree summer from autumn.
There seemed to be something invisible watching him in the air.
It was coming, Jiang Qiao watched all this with excitement.
"Where do I need to release the fire-kindling technique?" Telepathically, an inexplicable voice sounded in his heart.
He concentrated his attention, looked towards the pile of leaves by the wall, and silently recited "Light the Fire".
"Wow!"
Flames tens of centimeters high suddenly rose from the pile of leaves, burning violently.
At that moment, Jiang Qiao knew that he had succeeded.
…
On the other side, Paristia ushered in another ordinary morning.
"Your Highness Sylvie, it's time to get up and have dinner." Miley, the maid, pushed the dining cart and stopped in front of Sylvie's room.
No one responded, which was strange. Your Highness usually gets up very early... Miley resisted her doubts and knocked on the door gently:
"Your Highness Sylvie, it's time to eat. Today we have your favorite jam and smoked ham."
"I got it, Miley, just leave it at the door. I'll... eat it later."
A weak and hazy voice came from the room, and it seemed that he was still asleep.
Your Highness is really... Miley reluctantly placed the silver plate at the door and pushed the dining cart away.
After an unknown amount of time, Sylvie opened the goose down quilt covering her body, opened the door with dark circles under her eyes, and took breakfast into the room.
Last night, after Jiang Qiao left, the light door showed signs of closing quickly, and she pushed the bottle of powder and drawings out in time.
After the light door disappeared, the chemistry textbook returned to a state that Sylvie could not understand.
But this does not hinder the raging fire in her heart.
Sylvie decided to compile the knowledge points she had memorized in that book into a paper, and then published it in the Magic Annual.
After a night of unremitting efforts, Sylvie finally completed a paper with a word count of... five hundred words. Then she sneaked out of the palace and delivered the paper to the Magic Council's secret residence in Floating Light City.
Even though the kingdom ostensibly bans magic and vigorously promotes this idea among the people, some magical items used in daily life cannot be banned.
Therefore, they turned a blind eye to the establishment of the Magic Council's headquarters.
It was already late at night when I sneaked back to the royal city. That's why Sylvie was so exhausted today.
After all, there are only a few sentences, and it would be too difficult to ask her to write hundreds of words. Fortunately, there is no prescribed word limit for the Magic Annual.
I hope that 500-word essay... oh no essay can pass the review of the Magic Council.
Sylvie bit into half of the smoked ham sandwich, and the rich cheese, sweet and sour tomatoes, and salty ham all exploded in her taste buds.
"That will definitely be news that shocks the entire Paristia." Sylvie chewed the sandwich like a squirrel chewing fruit, "Just like this sandwich."
…
Cecil came to his office early. As the top water element magister in the mainland and one of the reviewers of the Magic Annual, he is always so diligent.
Cecil has stood in this position for too long, and at the same time he has not tasted progress for too long. In the field of water element magic, he feels a terrible sense of stagnation.
Therefore, he served as a reviewer for the Magic Annual, hoping to find something in these papers that would make him feel excited.
But over the years, apart from some small surprises, there has been nothing more.
As usual, he took out the magic crystal ball used to deliver letters from the drawer. He waved his big hand on the crystal ball, and the letters in the sky floated down like snowflakes and landed on the table.
"Space magic is really magical." Cecil said with emotion while waiting for the letter to be delivered completely.
With just a small crystal ball, letters from every corner of the continent can be delivered to this room, and there is no need for a postman to travel across mountains and rivers.
This technology has only been around for less than ten years.
Cecil had witnessed the birth of this technology with his own eyes, and its theory came from a paper in the Magical Annals.
He recalled his experience at that time, and even now clearly remembers how much of a sensation this paper caused.
It is hard to believe that the paper called "On the Cartesian Coordinate System of Space" was actually written by a mage apprentice who was less than twenty years old...
He became famous and was received by almost every king. At the same time, the money he earned in the magic industry because of this paper was comparable to the annual tax collected by a small country.
Then, this young magician was kidnapped and killed by a vicious high-level magician because he was too proud.
And he only left this one paper.
What a pity, I thought I was witnessing the birth of another legend... Cecil's mind returned to reality, and all the letters he wanted to process had been sent.
With a wave of his sleeve, the mountain of letters opened automatically and were arranged neatly.
Then, he picked up a letter and read it slowly.
...
On the first day after the holiday, Jiang Qiao carried a heavy schoolbag, squeezed through one subway after another, and finally arrived at school.
The school is located in another district, about 20 minutes away from his home by subway.
The school entrance is crowded with people, including students, teachers and parents, as well as vendors selling various breakfasts.
While greeting the students, they looked around in case the urban management officials suddenly attacked.
"Boss, let's order some egg-filled pancakes with sausage." Jiang Qiao walked to one of the stalls and said.
"Okay, seven dollars."
Jiang Qiao frowned, it was a dollar more expensive than before, but he still took out seven dollars from his pocket and handed it over.
Just as he was taking the prepared egg-filled pancakes, a pair of fat hands suddenly patted his shoulders.
Jiang Qiao looked back and saw a fat man with round hair and glasses looking at him with a lewd smile:
"I'm super, what a coincidence, big brother...I'm super, big brother, why are the dark circles under your eyes so heavy?"
Jiang Qiao did more than ten magic experiments last night and used up most of the bottle of medicinal powder.
Nearly half of the more than ten experiments failed. Perhaps the elemental conditions were not met, or perhaps the elves simply ignored him.
After finishing the experiment, he didn't go to bed until two o'clock in the middle of the night, so he came to school with a dark circle under his eyes today.
However, thankfully, he already has the ability to perform fire-kindling and moisturizing techniques.
As for the fireball and electric arc techniques, I tried them twice but failed.
…
The two were walking side by side on the road leading to the teaching building. Jiang Qiao was eating egg-filled pancakes while listening to the little fat man next to him talking incessantly.
"Alas! Brother, I'm afraid you don't know, but I have seen through the world, escaped into Buddhism, and never asked about the mortal world again." The sad eyes of the little fat man seemed to have just ended a relationship.
Jiang Qiao asked doubtfully: "It sounds like you've fallen out of love? That's not right. Have you never been in love?"
The little fat man was anxious: "What, doesn't having a secret love count as love?"
Jiang Qiao almost choked.
"Oh! Brother..." The little fat man wanted to speak again.
Jiang Qiao said speechlessly: "How many times have I told you not to call me brother? You are just acting like a gangster."
"Okay, boss..."
"Good guy, is this upgraded to a gangland?"
"Then...leader?"
"Get out... don't splash blood on me."
…
The two of them talked as they walked, and soon they arrived at the teaching building.
Their classroom was on the second floor, and the two of them looked up from the habit. There were a bunch of classmates standing in the corridor, and a woman in her late twenties looked down with a smile:
"Jiang Qiao, Zhou Cheng... you guys are really here early."
The little fat boy Zhou Cheng trembled all over. He looked at his watch and then at the teacher, and forced a smile: "Hey...teacher, don't we have one minute before we start reading early."
Li Wan's face turned from sunny to gloomy in an instant: "You still know! If you don't come up quickly, you will be punished by running around the playground for every second you are late!"
When Zhou Cheng heard this, he was so frightened that he quickly rolled up and crawled up.
Jiang Qiao wanted to say something, but Li Wan stared at him fiercely, so he had no choice but to run all the way to the second floor.
Li Wan was waiting for them at the door of the classroom with her hands on her hips.
Zhou Cheng arrived first, and Li Wan waved his hand to signal him to enter the classroom.
Jiang Qiao wanted to follow him in, but was stopped by Li Wan.
"Jiang Qiao, please wait first."
"Uh, what's the matter, teacher?"
"Classmate Jiang Qiao, have you forgotten something?" Li Wan looked at him again with a smile.
To be honest, Jiang Qiao is most afraid of this kind of woman who looks gentle but hides anger. You never know when you will fall into their trap.
Jiang Qiao thought for a while: "Teacher, I really don't know. If you have any questions, just tell me."
Li Wan rolled his eyes: "Jiang Qiao, Jiang Qiao, what did you ask me to say about you? Why did you just forget what I told you yesterday morning?"
"Oh——" Jiang Qiao suddenly realized, "The teacher asked me to bring textbooks, right?"
He took off his schoolbag and took out a set of chemistry textbooks inside.
"How dare I forget what the teacher told me."
"You're a trustworthy kid." Li Wan took the textbook and said, "Okay, you go back. I'll call you over if something happens."
"Ah? Is there anything else?" Jiang Qiao's face fell instantly.
…
"On the application of water element magic in the future...the angle is good, but a bit unrealistic."
"Discussion on the reaction of water and fire elements... a boring topic."
"On the hobbies of water elemental elves...? What kind of weird paper is this?"
Alas, the Magical Annual is really getting worse every year... Cecil put down the paper in his hand and rubbed his eyes.
Is the road of magic coming to an end? He thought worriedly that the quality of the papers in recent years was not very good.
Young magicians are generally moving closer to power and money... No, it's not the young people, but the entire society.
If this continues, the magic may disappear.
He looked out the window, and the prosperous scene of the City of Progress was in front of him. All the crystallizations of magic and technology were displayed here.
The road was tortuous, but the future was bright. He tried to comfort himself and continued to review the paper.
After reading two or three articles in succession, he was not satisfied. When he was about to take a break, he saw a paper on the table with his peripheral vision:
"On the composition of elementary particles of the water element."
"Author: Little Bear loves to eat gummy candies."
"Last revised time..."
I just wrote a paper yesterday, so I dare to give such a grand title?
It seemed like it was another hydrology. Cecil glanced at the first line feeling a little funny.
But it was this first line that made him mutter to himself for a long time.
"Elements are not the smallest units in nature. There are even smaller particles below them. We might as well call them atoms."