Chapter 24: The Mandate of Heaven

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Deer Academy, Wing D (Second Basement Level)
Occult Studies Group, Classroom 08
Introduction to Thaumaturgy.

"You are all familiar with the weaving method for the [Fireball] spell. If you examine it closely, you should have noticed a term in parentheses under the 'timbre' column: Ruby."

On the podium of the lecture hall, an elderly man with a goatee and archaic robes addressed the first-year "fawns" with a kindly smile. This was Professor Byron, the instructor for the Introduction to Thaumaturgy course. Unlike Professor Laungen, who preferred interface projections to lecture, Professor Byron enjoyed using thaumaturgy to manipulate chalk for writing on the blackboard. He also lacked the intimidating presence of Professor Laungen, appearing entirely amiable.

"Timbre determines a spell's attributes; different weaving methods correspond to different timbres. At the same time, timbre determines affinity. Once you understand and master basic thaumaturgy, you will be able to realize which type you have an affinity for."

"However, today we are not discussing personal affinity, but rather Non-Spiritual Casting and Gemology."

[Non-Spiritual Casting: A specific casting method where one does not need to induce EVE particles to alter timbre, and the EVE particles remain unassimilated. The resulting thaumaturgy appears to manifest out of thin air.]

The chalk on the blackboard quickly scribbled the concept. Professor Byron spread his hands and spoke slowly to the students:

"As fledgling thaumaturges, it is difficult for you to control the spectral timbre. It is hard to tune the timbre to your needs—this requires both talent and long-term practice."

"However, there is something that can help you skip the tedious practice and allow for rapid casting. That thing is—gemstones." Byron waved his hand, and rubies appeared out of thin air, flying toward each student.

Xia Xiu, seated in the back, caught a ruby and tossed it in his palm. It had a good weight—enough for ten non-spiritual castings. One for each student; the professor is truly generous, Xia Xiu thought.

"The renowned alchemist Heraclitus mentioned four primary colors in his work, *The Construction of Fields and Instantaneous Timbre Formation via Four-Colored Gemstones*: black, white, yellow, and red."

"Ancient thaumaturges discovered that using gemstones of different colors could release specific spells and instantly tune the timbre. Different colors correspond to different weaving methods. If we use a scale of 1 to 10 to describe the difficulty of casting a spell, a novice who only knows the weaving method faces a difficulty of 10, but a novice holding the corresponding gemstone faces a difficulty of 4. If you hold the most famous non-spiritual casting tool—the Gemstone Sword, Zelretch—the difficulty becomes 1."

"When thaumaturges first construct a spell, they always hold the corresponding gemstone to get a feel for the timbre beforehand."

"Therefore, I have given you each a ruby. Your task now is to carefully sense the structure of the [Fireball] spell."

After explaining the basic weaving methods, Professor Byron dismissed the class. Following the Introduction to Thaumaturgy, Xia Xiu had two and a half hours of Terran Ancient History and Math & Science.

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As for specialized courses, those would have to wait until the fawns mastered the basic weaving methods.

...

18:00

Xia Xiu finished the class assignment given by the Math & Science professor, Dylan, with great interest, then raised his hand to indicate he was done. Professor Dylan looked at Xia Xiu's assignment through his interface template and, after reviewing the concise mathematical formulas and solutions, revealed a satisfied smile.

"You may leave."

Xia Xiu walked out of the classroom leisurely. Passing Ushas and Camille, he offered them an encouraging look before heading straight out. Ushas’s three eyes were spinning like mosquito coils, while Camille was repeatedly adjusting her glasses and muttering numbers to herself, struggling to conquer Professor Dylan's problems.

The other students looked at the departing Xia Xiu with envy.

"What are you looking at? You are the worst batch I have ever taught!"

"With the spectral algorithmic resources turned off, can't you even solve the math problems related to concentric-structure thaumaturgy?!"

"If you remain like this, how will you survive once you leave Deer Academy and enter the man-eating land of Terra? There are plenty of ways for people outside to suppress EVE particle fields and spectral tomes. Not to mention the rare [Untouchables], just consider the Silent Sisters and the Silencers of the Heavenly Spectrum. Once they activate their suppression fields, you won't even be able to summon your spectral tomes. Without your tomes, you won't know how to construct spells, and you'll be the easiest targets to cut down," Dylan said, clearly frustrated.

"Professor, if we encounter the Silent Sisters or the Silencers of the Heavenly Spectrum, we might not even be able to manifest EVE particles, so even if we knew non-spectral tome casting, we'd still be cut down..." a student said weakly.

"Then why don't you run!!!"

"If you don't finish the problems I gave you today, nobody leaves!"

...

Anderson Dormitory, Room 404.

"Achoo—"

Xia Xiu, who was lying on the sofa browsing the forum after dinner, suddenly sneezed. Could someone be bad-mouthing me?

He rubbed his nose. Just as he was about to change positions, the Red Book suddenly popped up and floated in front of him.

[Ding—]
[You have a directive notification from Eden!]

Seeing the message, Xia Xiu sat up straight. A wide-area information notification... it must be regional. Are there cultists near the Fog City?

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Xia Xiu curiously opened the notification.

[Directive: Apprehend followers of the Lord of Flesh?]
==Access requires [Holy Spirit/Angel] level authorization==

[Task Number: 4-331]
[Task Directive: Yellow (Yellow directives indicate a need for more resources for full containment/clearance, or that the anomaly/aberration is unreliable for standard containment/clearance.)]
[Task Type: Containment.]
[Responsible Agency: Burial Agency — [White Glove]]

[Description: On January 7th, a Level 2 Researcher-09 (referred to here as Agent 09) belonging to the Orleans region's [Central Containment Chamber] privately removed Containment Object No. 4-331 from the facility. During the escape, he used 4-331 to kill three Level 1 researchers and destroyed four security-type mechanical golems. According to Eden's calculations, the target has fled to the Fog City area.]

[Eden has now placed the target on the Gray List (Dangerous Personnel: Authorized for termination/capture). The [White Glove] unit has been dispatched to recover 4-331.]

[If possible, capture 09 alive.]

[Reference Material:]
[4-331]
[Environmental Distortion Index: 75~80 (Environmental distortion is inversely proportional to personal distortion; an index below 100 is collectively known as a—Distortion Phenomenon)]

[Description: This is a product of cultists sacrificing themselves to please the Lord of Flesh. 4-331 is a mass of constantly writhing flesh that proliferates in volume. It can only be reduced to a minimum of 12.222 centimeters; beyond this value, conventional means cannot destroy it.]

[Containment Method: Placed in a sealed 5x5x5 cubic high-temperature chamber, subjected to constant incineration.]

[Researcher Experiment Count: 21 times.]
[The final experiment was conducted by 09.]

[Other Heavenly Spectrum kin in the area are requested to assist or independently complete this directive.]

[Task Reward: Equivalent settlement after verification by Eden.]