Chapter 11: Learning is endless
Ethan and Esmeralda came to Akara's tent together. As previously agreed, Ethan helped Akara make potions.
The work he was responsible for was not difficult, but it was tedious, requiring sufficient patience and considerable time to process the herbs.
Only after he had processed these herbs properly could Akara use these semi-finished products to create finished potions.
During this process, Ethan was able to combine the knowledge he had seen last night with practical operation, further understanding and absorbing it. Then, he would continue to observe Akara's entire potion-making process, gaining a complete understanding of the methods and procedures for making magical potions.
"Broadly speaking, making magic potions is like this."
Akara pointed to the raw materials in front of her, then pointed to the finished potion—the red liquid contained in a transparent small bottle.
"Choose the appropriate raw materials, perform simple processing first, such as washing, removing useless parts, or using spells to remove unsuitable energy properties; then dry them in the sun or use direct spells to dry them. During this process, corresponding spells must be used to ensure that the required properties in the raw materials are not destroyed. Of course, some herbs can omit this step, such as the healing grass you collected this time."
"Then comes extraction and refinement. Extract the essence from the herbs and mix some auxiliary materials to create the desired potion." For example, the auxiliary material in the potion Akara is making is clean water, which serves the purpose of convenience... Yes, the reason it's made into a liquid potion is for ease of use.
In reality, the initial steps don't seem particularly special. The most crucial part of making magic potions is the final stage: how to extract the desired 'effect' and turn it into a liquid potion?
Akara's teaching on this aspect was not very detailed, and what she said was even a bit mystical. After listening for a long time, Ethan could only understand it as: this stuff purely depends on personal comprehension. If you can figure it out, you've truly understood it. If you can't, you won't be able to learn it no matter how hard you try.
"This is too..."
After thinking for a long time, he couldn't find a suitable word to describe it. There was no other way; many knowledge systems in the mystical realm were this vague and elusive. This was also why the barrier to entry for this profession was particularly high; if your intelligence wasn't sufficient, you really couldn't achieve much.
"First, you need excellent physical fitness, and now you also need high intelligence and comprehension. No wonder mages are like cheat codes in some works. With these innate requirements, if the person trained turns out to be useless, who would still be a mage?"
No choice, just practice!
Fortunately, making magic potions requires almost no mana. Although some spells need to be used, they can be completed using magic arrays that utilize external forces.
The working principle of this magic array also became one of Ethan's learning goals. After all, in the absence of sufficient spiritual power, the inability to generate mana on his own, or to draw mana from other sources for his own use, this ability to extract from the current environment or items containing mana and cast effects could solve many of Ethan's problems.
He had also considered modifying this magic array so that he could cast a few small spells on his own. The power supply issue for the magic array was also easy to solve—he thought of the low-quality magic stones from the Sea of Tranquility. The energy contained in those magic stones was enough to cast some small spells.
Thinking of this, Ethan's enthusiasm increased by a few points, and he was even more motivated to learn. Not only did he listen carefully, but he also kept asking all sorts of strange questions, many of which left Akara unsure how to answer—having lived in a world of information explosion in his previous life, Ethan was never short on creative ideas.
Fortunately, Akara still had many other types of herbs. She gave all these herbs to Ethan to practice making potions and using magic arrays.
Over the next few days, Ethan helped Akara process herbs in the morning. Then, in the afternoon, while Akara was making the red potion, he would practice using some lower-quality herbs beside her.
Akara would also take time to give him pointers, telling him where he was doing something wrong and where he was doing well. At the same time, she would answer some of Ethan's creative ideas about using magic arrays.
Compared to just having wild ideas before, after using magic arrays for a few days and gaining a clearer understanding of their working principles, some of the ideas he proposed again received Akara's approval and praise.
"If you can find a stable source of mana, then the few magic arrays you just mentioned are feasible. However, the construction of the magic array needs to be redesigned, and this requires you to clearly understand what kind of spell you want to use."
How would Ethan know about these things? According to his previous idea, he wanted to design a magic array that could cast a Fireball spell. The power didn't even need to be too great; being able to cast a fist-sized fireball would suffice.
As for the temperature of the flame, the degree of concentration, and the contained explosive power, he didn't have high requirements. Even a simple ball of fire would be enough for him at the moment.
But even such a simple requirement wasn't something that could be achieved casually. This required you to have a very clear understanding of the Fireball spell, at least you must understand its principle, otherwise how could you construct the magic array?
The current situation was that Ethan understood the principle of energy supply and had solved the source of energy, but he knew nothing about the construction and final casting stages.
Akara is a priest, not a mage. She is proficient in healing divine spells, not elemental attack magic. Therefore, if Ethan wanted to complete his envisioned magic array, he needed to formally and systematically learn relevant magic knowledge.
Before, even if he wanted to learn, he wouldn't know who to ask. However, there was currently a suitable candidate: Esmeralda, an excellent sorceress from a mage organization, a powerful mage skilled in the application of fire, ice, and lightning elemental energies.
"You want to learn magic from me?"
Esmeralda had been staying in the camp during this time, circling the area around the camp every day. While investigating the dark forces, she also helped the camp clear out some of the dark creatures in the vicinity.
With the help of such a powerful mage as Esmeralda, the Rogues in the camp felt much less pressure, so Esmeralda's prestige in the camp was rising daily.
The benefit was that finding Esmeralda became very simple for Ethan. Almost any inquiry would reveal where 'the powerful Mage Esmeralda' was and what she was doing.
"Simply put, I want to learn the various principles of some spells."
Ethan explained his idea and his plan to create several pieces of equipment inscribed with specific magic arrays.
After listening to the detailed explanation, Esmeralda only frowned slightly: "Making such magic equipment is indeed not difficult, but the value is not great."
The items Ethan wanted to make were the simplest tools, without even material requirements. It was just inscribing a magic array on ordinary equipment and then using spiritual power to trigger the spell preset in the magic array. Similar equipment was not uncommon in this world, but no one would use such inferior materials while inscribing such basic magic.
Such things could even be called 'crude and simple!' It was clear that Madam Esmeralda, a mage of orthodox lineage, looked down on this kind of thing.
"Pondering these things isn't beneficial to your path as a mage. You should still focus on practicing and improving your spiritual power—in fact, as long as your spiritual power increases a bit more, you can formally start learning spells. At that time, you can cast these simple spells with your bare hands."
Ethan shook his head helplessly: "But I have no ability to protect myself at all right now, and I could die at the hands of dark creatures at any time. If I die, how can I cultivate spiritual power or even learn magic?"
"Uh..." Esmeralda couldn't refute; this was indeed a very realistic problem: "Alright, I can tell you the principles of some basic magic."
These basic spells were not secrets that couldn't be taught. Once one began to formally learn magic, any mage would know these things.
Esmeralda originally intended to teach a few simple introductory attack and defense spells, but she quickly changed her mind and took out a book from her luggage.
"This is a book on basic magic principles. It's for you. The spells you need are all recorded inside." Esmeralda looked at Ethan, whose face was full of anticipation, and finally added: "But I still have to remind you, simple basic spells are fine, but if you want to construct more advanced magic on items, it will not be possible with ordinary materials."
Ethan nodded; he knew this. Akara had mentioned it to him before: "Actually, even for the magic arrays of a few introductory spells, I plan to make weakened versions."
Even introductory-level magic, if constructed at maximum power, cannot be simply inscribed on any random object. The conductivity of mana and the ability to withstand the impact of greater energy will directly affect whether the magic array can be successfully deployed.
And materials that possess excellent conductivity and can withstand a large amount of energy impact are particularly rare magical materials, which Ethan, in his current state, cannot obtain at all.
Therefore, even though he had received a whole book of introductory spell principles from Esmeralda, his plan had not changed; he would still focus on weakened versions of small spells.
Just as he was about to go back and read the book on basic spell principles carefully, selecting suitable small spells to make a few pieces of equipment, Esmeralda suddenly called out to Ethan, who was about to leave.
"I've been investigating outside recently, and I've finally discovered the place in this area with the densest dark energy. It's an underground cave called the Evil Cave. After discussing it with Akara, we believe that might be the gathering point for all the dark creatures nearby."
"So?" Ethan didn't think Esmeralda was looking for him to team up to fight the Evil Cave; he didn't have that kind of combat power.
"I need you to do me a favor." Esmeralda handed him a letter: "Before I came here, I met a priest of the Rathma faith who was also investigating the reason for the surge in dark power. So I hope you can help me deliver a letter to him, asking him to come here and eliminate those dark creatures with me."