Chapter 118: Bayen’s Research

“The immersion in this research has also successfully replicated several miraculous Soul Runes! I must degrade them and test the effects.”

The excited Bayen tightly closed the door to his residence. After setting up a few warning rune arrays, he began his research into degrading runes.

The so-called degrading of runes is essentially ignoring the Mana essence structure of the Soul Rune and directly tracing the visible pattern. As long as the resulting Lesser Rune works, the degradation is considered successful.

With patience, one can attempt degradation multiple times to find the optimal degraded version.

Bayen experimented numerous times using Monster fur and his own blood, successfully degrading several runes. Combined with those he had discovered previously, he had enough to perform some interesting experiments.

“Although discovering runes and combining rune structures are just the initial stages, this is genuinely more fascinating than solving math problems. It is truly addictive.”

Bayen stroked his salt-and-pepper beard, which was the transformed state of his Grimoire. The Soul Runes recorded from Anazir’s Dice were already synchronized with his Grimoire and, following the magical signal, recorded in Ace’s underground magic laboratory.

Bayen calmly observed the runes he had degraded. They lay quietly on the Monster fur, seemingly awaiting someone who could truly utilize them.

Following the composition of the first rune on the fur—Lesser Mana #3 plus an unknown rune—he mentally traced a minimalist Spell Model in the air.

As the Spell Model formed, Mana gathered, accompanied by a rhythm. Bayen directed the model toward an inanimate object, observing the effect calmly.

There was no effect. The gathered Mana slowly dissipated, and the Spell Model also gradually dissolved.

Bayen’s brows furrowed. He dragged Yorick the Slacker out of the cellar, cast the spell on him, and then aggressively questioned the slacker about his feelings.

“Don’t kill me! No! I see white light all over your body! You must be the divine messenger sent by God to punish my laziness! I promise I will change! Please, don’t kill me!”

Bayen ignored Yorick the Slacker’s pleas. He knocked him unconscious and shoved him back into the cellar.

“White light. It is still very unclear. I must try it on myself!” Unable to restrain himself, Bayen cast the minimalist Spell Model on himself.

The instant the Mana condensed by the Spell Model entered his body, he felt immensely clear-headed. His senses became acutely sharp.

Mana slowly gathered in his eyes, seemingly forming a special rune structure in a short time.

Bayen looked down at himself. He was radiating a soft white glow.

“What exactly does this white light represent?” Bayen murmured.

The sky finally broke dawn. He walked out of his dilapidated residence, observing his surroundings with his special eyes. Gradually, he discovered a pattern.

“Ordinary people radiate a grey color. Divine Descendant Nobles also radiate white light, but with varying degrees of intensity. The Hero I see far away radiates a faint red light.”

“In general, the stronger the supernatural being, the stronger the light. The color also seems to vary according to the degree of strength.”

“But this is only the surface of the spell. At a deeper level, why do the light’s intensity and color differ? The Torch-Bearer said the research process should be observation and summarization, proposing hypotheses and theories, verifying the hypotheses, and then continuing to observe, summarize, and propose new theories—a continuously ascending spiral process.”

Bayen walked and pondered with his head bowed.

“Can I hypothesize that this light represents the intensity of Mana accumulation? If the Spell Model composed of this rune can observe the strength of Mana accumulation in a creature, then it might be usable to observe Wonders!”

“I must be crazy. Don’t I have a ready-made Wonder myself?”

Bayen touched Anazir’s Dice in his bosom and quickly walked back to his residence. He vigilantly scanned his surroundings, set up a warning rune array, and entered the house.

He gently pulled Anazir’s Dice from his bosom, placed it on the table, and activated the unknown Spell Model.

As Mana flowed into his eyes, tiny rune structures gradually formed in his pupils!

Bayen suddenly closed his eyes, tears flowing.

“Golden light. It is clearly very gentle, yet why does it feel like my eyes cannot look directly at it?”

Bayen spoke in a low voice. He groped for Anazir’s Dice, then slowly opened a crack in his eyes.

“How strange. The golden light is gone. I can only see my own white light.”

“Two hypotheses can be formed here. One is that the light of all Wonders is covered by a creature’s own light. The second is that this is a unique phenomenon of Anazir’s Dice itself. I can only find out which is correct by observing more Wonders.”

“Therefore, the current task is to reinforce and improve the Spell Model of this Lesser Spell.”

Bayen’s eyes shone with a sharp light. He was increasingly fond of this feeling of researching Spell Models. Combining and deducing the optimal Spell Model was more complex and more fascinating than solving mathematical problems!

A few days later, Bayen finally deduced the optimal Rune Formula. He looked at the Proprietary Spell page in his Grimoire and named this spell Lesser Mana Sensitivity. He named the rune Lesser Mana Sensitivity Rune.

“This spell, when cast on oneself or others, forms a minute rune structure in the eyes, granting the ability to observe the intensity of Mana accumulation. Known indicators are: mortals without Mana are grey, ordinary Divine Descendant Nobles are white with varying intensity, Heroes are faint red, and Great Heroes are deep red. More conditions await research and verification.”

Bayen wrote this passage in the spell’s description in his Grimoire, then contentedly closed the Grimoire.

He repeated the process. Over 10 days, he identified several other Lesser Runes: Lesser Super Vision Rune, Lesser Tracking Rune, Lesser Guidance Rune, Lesser Insight Rune, and Lesser Prevision Rune. He then combined them into effective Spell Models.

Lesser Super Vision Guidance Missile does not require pre-marking. As long as an enemy is detected within a certain range (radius of 500 meters), the spell can instantly lock onto and accurately strike the enemy with a Magic Missile.

Bayen thought this spell could also be combined with the Heavy Water Missile from the Water Element series. It could even incorporate Acid Conversion, transforming it into a Heavy Water Acid Missile with tracking capability.

Due to the time constraint and the complexity of the Spell Model, Bayen decided to postpone the development.

Lesser Insight Perception, unlike the widespread coverage of Ultrasound Perception, has a smaller coverage area, but the sensitivity is greatly enhanced. It can instantly scan a radius of 200 meters, revealing every detail.

Lesser Enemy Preemption uses the Lesser Prevision Rune as its core, supplemented by the Lesser Insight Rune and auxiliary runes. This is the formula for the Spell Model.

The spell’s effect is to greatly enhance the target’s insight within a 20-meter radius, allowing them to predict the movements of a single creature one second into the future, achieving the formidable effect of preempting the enemy.