Chapter 122: The Monster Compendium (20,000 Words Achieved)

When asked, Zhao Xu turned around in surprise, looking left and right, only to realize that he was the sole first-level mage present.

“I’m talking to you,” Lin Qi, the stout fellow, nudged Zhao Xu with his elbow, silently pleased that the soft seat was finally his.

If this lecture had been hosted by a fifth-ring mage, they would have surely recognized the “Shining Mithril” badge and feigned humility without fail.

But this was Norchi, a ninth-ring mage. Although Norchi was not exactly young in actual years, among ninth-ring mages, he was considered quite youthful.

Lin Qi had often heard his elders at home in Mystra praise Norchi’s mastery of transmutation.

They regarded him merely as a seed in the making of a legendary mage.

Perhaps after a few hundred years, he would become the legendary Norchi.

Such relatively “young” high-level mages were usually born under lucky stars, brimming with pride and arrogance. They wouldn’t bother with petty unspoken rules; even scolding the children of the great houses was no trouble.

Ninth-ring mages wouldn’t dare let loose even a fart, which must be quite a bitter existence.

Lost in such thoughts, Lin Qi noticed that Zhao Xu had already stood up, and began weaving tonight’s gossip topics for after the lecture.

“The Mysterious Holder of the Shining Mithril Badge, Taking on a Ninth-Ring Mage at the Podium” — that sounded like a good headline.

“I—” Zhao Xu hesitated just as he was about to speak.

At that moment, Norchi’s expression changed upon seeing him. After taking several deep breaths, he said slowly, “Very well. Since you have a thirst for learning, sit down and listen carefully.”

“Let’s begin.” Without further ado, Norchi turned his back and walked to the large whiteboard, falling into deep thought.

Many mages in the front row turned to glance at Zhao Xu, but none found anything unusual.

These high-level mages all used the “Magical Stability” technique to maintain a third-level arcane “Arcane Sight.”

Without concealment, their eyes would faintly glow blue, allowing them to detect all magical auras within a forty- to fifty-meter radius.

Any magical item or sustained spell, unless deliberately hidden, would be clearly revealed under this spell’s effect.

It was an upgraded version of the first-level spell “Detect Magic,” faster and requiring no continuous focus from the caster.

If they maintained focus, they could even discern whether the target being had spellcasting ability.

To them, Zhao Xu was nothing more than a Howard’s convenient bag emitting magical light.

Since returning to the Sky City, Zhao Xu, knowing that Antinoa left a mark on the magical items she crafted, had deliberately added a layer of concealment.

Only a few high-level mages close by noticed the silver chip behind Zhao Xu’s mage badge. Their keen eyes immediately knew it was the rare “Shining Mithril” issued by the Mage Association.

This mithril chip bore inscriptions representing three levels of oaths, but the content remained unknown unless the inscription was removed.

Any chip of gold rank or higher would be enchanted to resist spell detection, making the arcane sight unable to perceive its aura. They could only inspect it with the most primitive naked eye methods.

Mages like Norchi, a ninth-ring mage, qualified for such badges. Logically, before clarifying the inscription’s level, there was no need to feign interest in this newcomer.

With that thought, most of the mages who had turned their heads resumed their original positions, awaiting the lecture.

Ninth-ring mages typically received chips inscribed with the lowest-level oath: “May magic be with you; please assist the bearer of this badge.”

Higher ranks were beyond what ordinary ninth-ring mages could obtain.

As for the legendary oath, “May magic be with you; please assist the bearer in all corresponding matters,” even the Association’s president, Os, who had a ninth-ring son, wasn’t entitled to wear it.

Thinking this, the elderly mage closest to Zhao Xu lowered his head to clean his somewhat foggy spectacles and smiled.

At this point, Norchi had begun commanding the invisible servants stationed at the podium to assist, guiding them to start writing simple configurations of the core four transmutations on the whiteboard.

Unable to understand for now, Zhao Xu obediently lowered his head and took out his copy of Basic 100 Questions on Transmutation, preparing to read along.

Lin Qi, catching sight of the book’s title, struggled to suppress his laughter until it nearly caused him pain.

“Can anyone tell me why the four core transmutations are so difficult to learn?”

Suddenly, Norchi’s tone turned solemn.

The mages in the back rows looked confused — wasn’t this the very first question in transmutation?

Those in the front row showed gleaming eyes; they hadn’t expected the lecture to begin with such hard-hitting content.

“What is it?” Zhao Xu asked Lin Qi quietly.

Their seats were spaced widely apart, making whispering inconvenient.

If they wanted to talk privately, these mages would rather use spells, since much of the conversation involved important research secrets.

“Because you don’t truly know them. How can you change into something you don’t understand?” Lin Qi replied harshly.

“But aren’t there pictures and data of these creatures?” Zhao Xu asked in surprise.

Before shape-shifting, he had only glanced at the monster compendium.

Lin Qi looked at him as if he had a screw loose. “You think just looking at a recipe makes you a chef?”

The first- and second-level novice mages, who needed to show off the most, had long been sent away.

The rest were either on research assignments or affiliated mages, with no need to perform.

This basic question of transmutation fell into an awkward silence.

Those unable to answer and stun the crowd were too lazy to speak.

Norchi had expected this. He had purposely driven away novices for this reason, as talking to himself was his usual teaching method.

None present had the qualifications to answer his question.

“The primary principle of transmutation is to deeply understand what it is you want to become.”

“You can’t expect a mage who has never seen an elf to use ‘Polymorph’ to become an elf. Even transforming into another human they’ve never seen is difficult.”

As he spoke, Norchi continued to manipulate the invisible servants to sketch brief formulas on the whiteboard.

“Then comes the second basic problem: even with deep familiarity with the target creature, failure is still possible. Thus, we have been studying what truly constitutes ‘deep understanding’ of the target.”

“A few days ago, our research uncovered a secret that can improve the success rate of the core four transmutations.”

Upon finishing, Norchi’s invisible servants busied themselves writing various spell formulas on the towering whiteboard.

Zhao Xu hurriedly took out an Ayn Stone, letting it float above his head. He had noticed some mages also had Ayn Stones hovering, so he felt no embarrassment.

Lin Qi, initially captivated by the whiteboard’s content, suddenly heard a noise from Zhao Xu.

He turned around and saw Zhao Xu pulling out a transparent, faceted Ayn Stone.

Lin Qi clenched his teeth with envy. When had a first-ring mage’s starting equipment included a 36,000 gold coin Ayn Stone?

Such an item was heavily marked up; in the Sky City’s auction house, some had been bought for seventy or eighty thousand gold coins.

He still couldn’t bear to buy one for fun and could only envy his sister’s.

With “Reading Magic” activated, Zhao Xu finally began to barely grasp some of the formulas’ meanings.

But his limited intelligence meant he often had to calculate several steps on his draft paper to reach conclusions the other mages could solve in their heads.

Still, Zhao Xu was undeterred; when everyone first learned spells, they diligently worked out drafts.

As a mage skilled in wise casting, using a calculator-like approach, it was natural he’d face some initial setbacks.

Beginning his serious journey as a mage, Zhao Xu possessed the patience to retrace the path countless native mages had trodden.

“Ah, so that’s what it means,” Lin Qi exclaimed, despite his mere fifth-ring status, engrossed in the whiteboard. He slapped his thigh and shouted.

This made the elderly mage closest frown.

Nowadays, low-level mages had no finesse in pretending; unlike back in their day when they knew to lay groundwork before delivering a big twist.

Lin Qi usually called himself “Fat Master” to his family and servants but often felt inferior because of his double-sized frame.

Thus, shape-shifting and transmutation to temporarily alter body form were his specialties.

Lin Qi dreamed that at level fifteen, he would master the eighth-ring spell “Transmute All Things,” transforming from Fat Master to Slim Master.

There were lower-level spells that could slim the body, but none as permanent or low-cost as “Transmute All Things.”

“Truly marvelous,” Lin Qi kept whispering excitedly into Zhao Xu’s ear.

But his words were all empty praise — “amazing,” “fantastic,” “incredible” — with no substantive content.

Meanwhile, Norchi was fully absorbed in the whiteboard, ignoring the incessant chatter of the stout fellow.

All the meaning was clearly expressed in the deconstructed spell models.

This was why he had sent away those who hadn’t learned these spells. Listening to arcane scripture had no meaning.

“Don’t you understand?” Lin Qi noticed Zhao Xu’s furrowed brow and saw his draft still stuck at the most rudimentary level.

“Then, Mr. Lin Qi, may I ask you?” Zhao Xu, having never studied these spells, was at a loss and immediately asked humbly.

“Heh, look at the triple decomposition under the soup structure on line seven. That’s the core of transmutation. It proves a long-held suspicion,” Lin Qi said.

“What?” Zhao Xu leaned in, eager to hear more.

“Earlier, we said that without deep understanding, transforming into the target creature is basically impossible.”

“Even if there are precedents of success without understanding, none have been successfully replicated.”

Lin Qi prepared to unleash a major revelation to astonish the naïve youth.

“Now, there may be an additional method for ‘deep understanding,’ one that spares us the long-term coexistence approach.”

“So, the Sky City will likely allocate significant manpower to tackle this problem.”

Hearing this, Zhao Xu was deeply confused.

Why had no one told him that the target of shape-shifting had to be deeply understood beforehand?

Before transforming into a Seraphim Attendant, he had only glanced at the monster compendium.

“Mr. Lin Qi, besides long-term coexistence, what other ways exist to achieve ‘deep understanding’?” Zhao Xu asked.

Lin Qi, immersed in the whiteboard content, replied impatiently, “Question eighty-seven in your 100 Questions book asks what the seventeen exceptions to deep understanding in transmutation are. Those are the exceptions that cannot be replicated.”

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xu quickly flipped through his book to the specified page.

“Exception thirteen on deep understanding: Through reading the monster compendium. The reading process is considered a deep understanding link with the target creature, granting over ninety percent success in transmutation.”

Zhao Xu recalled how Antinoa had deliberately walked to the bookshelf and handed him that monster compendium.

However, this 100 Questions book did not explain what the monster compendium actually was.

Zhao Xu could only continue questioning Lin Qi, “Mr. Lin Qi, do you know what the monster compendium is?”

Lin Qi’s brows twitched before he said, “You still fantasize about that thing?”

“Legend says the monster compendium is a high-grade artifact that automatically records every creature that appears in the world. Its creator was the Archmage King Ernest. But after his mysterious disappearance, the compendium vanished as well. Everyone speculates it’s hidden in Ernest’s secret vault.”

Suddenly, Zhao Xu felt the copy of the monster compendium in his dormitory was a rather hot potato.