Chapter 38: Projection Spell

Being the Academy Library Administrator was considered a rather laid-back part-time job, much better than her other part-time job copying books, so there were quite a lot of competitors for it.

She had no background, no power, and no ability to give gifts. Even though her ability was sufficient, she was quickly eliminated in the competition. Of course, it wasn’t that there was no chance to maneuver… unless she offered herself up… and she was unwilling to do that!

Seeing Petty looking like she had something difficult to say, Zheng Yichen nodded and didn’t ask further. It seemed that matters of making deals were everywhere, without regard for national borders.

After setting up a few triggered warning Magic spells around, Zheng Yichen shifted his attention back to his main body.

In the middle of the night, as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw several faint white shadows wandering in the lightless Castle. This wasn’t some illusion; it was a real ghost sighting!

Seeing Zheng Yichen ‘wake up’, a Ghost Maid floated over, gesturing with her hands to ask Zheng Yichen if he wanted something to eat.

Declining the Ghost Maid’s kindness, Zheng Yichen asked her softly, “Has Loris not come out of her room yet?”

The Ghost Maid nodded gently.

“She didn’t leave, did she?”

The Ghost Maid immediately shook her head.

“Never mind. I’ll make another Magic Arms in a while.” Zheng Yichen muttered softly. Without moving, he got up again and chose to go back to sleep.

Seeing he was already asleep, the Ghost Maid who had communicated with him smiled faintly. Two other Ghost Maids drifted down from the second floor, one of whom was holding the wooden pieces… the playing cards Zheng Yichen had made not long ago.

The rules of this game were quite simple. Once Zheng Yichen made them, he explained several ways to play to that Ghost Maid. He originally thought it would take a while to become popular among the Ghost Maids.

Without him noticing, the number of Ghost Maids in the Castle gradually increased. A few of the Ghost Maids who looked younger didn’t have the patience to wait quietly for their turn. They ran around the Castle on their tiny feet, playing silently.

Even Zheng Yichen’s back became their ‘battlefield’.

Having been here for several nights now, Zheng Yichen never once discovered that the Castle at night was so lively. He remained unaware, sleeping soundly. Until the next morning, relying on his precise biological clock, he opened his eyes as soon as the first rays of light shone into the Castle. The Castle was as usual… clean and tidy!

Nothing unexpected happened. He tapped the rings on his wrists and ankles, adjusting the Gravity Enhancement on himself a bit higher. Loris had already taught him how to use this thing; he could remove or cancel the Gravity Enhancement anytime he wanted.

“Huh? Didn’t sleep well?” When Zheng Yichen left the Castle for his morning exercise, he noticed that one of the Ghost Maids following him seemed a bit low in spirits.

“……” This Ghost Maid shook her head and gestured with both hands, leaving him bewildered.

“Lost too much… uh, lost too much of what?”

The Ghost Maid raised her small hand, and a playing card Phantom appeared. Seeing this, Zheng Yichen took out Bona Kaine’s Magic Book that was hanging behind him and quickly found a similar Magic. It was a basic Magic from the illusion school, creating Phantom images.

As for the clarity of the image, it depended on the user’s ability. Generally speaking, the smaller the object, the higher the clarity.

But what did losing too much at cards mean?

Zheng Yichen opened his mouth slightly, unable to speak. After all, in a way, he was also the culprit who caused her to lose too much. “Next time you play, call me.”

Finally, he said somewhat awkwardly. Joke’s on him! He was the one who made the thing, yet up to now, he hadn’t even held a single card. If he got bored in the future, he might as well make Mahjong. He had quite a few things in his mind to pass the time.

Anyway, when using the Dream Magic, that Computer in the bedroom inside the Dream was still usable. Although many of the Computer’s real functions couldn’t be used, the conventional ones, which he was very familiar with, still worked. Using it as a notepad was fine.

The knowledge recorded inside was like the Common Tongue he learned in there; it was hard to forget. Of course, this method also had certain taboos; it was very taxing on the mind. Frequent use could even permanently damage one’s mental essence.

This was also the main reason why Zheng Yichen felt mentally exhausted after learning the Common Tongue in that nearly cheating way. An ordinary person probably would have lost their mind…

However, the things he remembered inside were things he already knew, not newly learned. He recorded them there just in case he forgot later. Under this premise, the impact on his mind wasn’t very high.

This Ghost Maid nodded. After completing his daily exercise with his main body, Zheng Yichen went back to check on the Castle. Seeing that Loris still hadn’t ‘emerged from seclusion,’ he shifted his attention back to Petty.

She had returned to the Academy in the morning and was now attending class. However, she wasn’t in good shape, occasionally rubbing her shoulder lightly, as if she had slept in an awkward position.

“Good morning, Connor.” Feeling slight movement in her large pocket, Petty whispered softly. Last night, Zheng Yichen had only shifted his attention back to his main body; this Projection had not disappeared. When she woke up this morning, she saw that Zheng Yichen hadn’t ‘woken up’ yet and didn’t want to disturb him.

She hurried back to the dormitory to change clothes. As for Zheng Yichen, she wasn’t comfortable leaving him in the dormitory. If someone discovered him, it wasn’t just a possibility—he would definitely be taken away. So, she simply carried Zheng Yichen with her and rushed to class…

Attending class with a dragon made her feel uneasy, but at the same time, her heart was filled with an indescribable excitement.

“Mmm, good morning.” Being in her pocket, Zheng Yichen could feel the slight trembling from her body. He wanted to poke his head out to see the situation but was detected by Petty in advance. She immediately clutched her pocket tightly.

“Please don’t do that, Connor. You’ll be discovered.” She urged in an almost inaudible whisper.

Zheng Yichen shook his head speechlessly. If he wanted to, he could easily poke two holes in Petty’s pocket. “Fine, call me after class then.”

Petty sighed with relief. Zheng Yichen gave her the impression of being very good-tempered, but that didn’t mean he had no temper. After all, he was a dragon. She immediately regretted her urgency after speaking, but fortunately, he wasn’t angry…

Shifting his attention back to his main body, Zheng Yichen changed his posture and continued flipping through the Magic book in his hands. Who knows how many things were recorded in this entire book? He could easily finish a novel of over a million words in a day or two, but he had already been reading this book for several days.

“Mmm, Projection Spell, Projection Spell…” Looking at the content on the page, Zheng Yichen compared. There were quite a few types of Projection-related Magic, some of which were racial Talents. These couldn’t be replicated. Their appearance in the book was only for recording purposes, to let people know about them and not be completely ignorant.

Besides these, there were several Projection Spells of different ranks. The Magic Rune Array recorded for the High-Rank Projection Spell was the most complex, and of course, the effect was the best. The next rank down was much simpler, but many similarities to the High-Rank one could still be seen.

Only with sufficient comparison could there be sufficient new discoveries. Aside from special types of Magic, in common Magic, low-level and even basic Magic seemed to be simplified versions of higher-level Magic Rune Arrays.

Of course, this didn’t mean that High-Rank Magic was the original Magic… It was like writing characters; couldn’t the strokes taken apart from them also form new characters? So, which came first didn’t need excessive deep thought. Getting the basics right was never wrong!

The basic Projection Spell and the nature of the summoning Projection weren’t very different, but there was a limit. At most, the Projection brought by the basic Projection Spell had only one-twentieth to one-tenth of the user’s power. It could only Project the user themselves and ordinary carried items; other specially carried items couldn’t be Projected.

Also, the number of Projections was limited. Without the ability to multitask, one was the limit. Projections also needed to be controlled by the user. Therefore, using them in battle, if one’s ability was insufficient, wouldn’t bring benefits but instead distract one’s attention. The notes in the Magical Grimoire also explained that Projection Spells were generally used for scouting dangers or conducting certain dangerous experiments…