This past month had been the most peaceful period for Bell Lucas since arriving in this world.
Cecilia had taken a long leave of absence.
Under the guise of "gaining experience," she left the Royal Magic Academy.
Without that shadow-like gaze following him and those cold, slimy touches, Bell felt his nerves, which had been stretched to the breaking point, finally get a moment to breathe.
He poured all of his time into Leovet's training and that book, 《Soul Construction》.
The world seemed to vanish.
All that remained was the sweat on the training ground and those obscure, twisted runes in the ancient text.
He didn't even feel pain anymore.
Lilian came every night to drink his blood as a way to replenish the energy needed to sustain her movements.
Bell would just numbly extend his arm, his eyes glued to the pages. He almost ignored the sensation of the girl's cold fangs piercing his skin.
He was too focused.
He was so focused that he even carried the heavy ancient book in his hands while walking.
Until this morning.
Bell was walking briskly along the academy's stone path, a piece of dry, hard bread hanging from his mouth as he chewed.
His gaze was completely fixed on the pages; a complex array regarding "soul imprints" had captured his entire attention.
Everything around him became a blurred background.
He didn't notice that he had long since drifted off the path to the Terra Branch and walked into an entirely unfamiliar area.
The architectural style here was lighter, and the air carried a moist vapor.
The Aqua Branch.
“Oof!”
Bell felt himself crash headlong into something soft yet elastic.
A massive counterforce struck him.
He tumbled backward, losing control.
His backside made intimate contact with the hard stone path, sending a sharp jolt of pain through him.
The book and his half-eaten bread both went flying.
“Are you all right?”
A pair of slender hands reached out toward him.
“I'm fine.”
Bell instinctively grabbed the hands and pulled himself up.
Only then did he see the person he had bumped into.
It was a girl wearing glasses who looked to be a head taller than him.
“Looking at your uniform, you're a student from the Terra Branch, right? Why did you wander over here?”
The girl let go and naturally leaned over to help him brush the dust off his uniform.
“Eh?”
Bell looked around and finally noticed the unfamiliar surroundings.
He scratched his head awkwardly, his face flushing slightly.
“I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was so engrossed in my book that I wasn't looking where I was going.”
“Hmm?”
The girl's gaze fell on the book Bell had just picked up.
“《Soul Construction》? Interesting. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone reading something so obscure.”
Bell blinked, surprised.
“Why is that?”
“Because it's incredibly impractical.”
The girl pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and explained matter-of-factly.
“Constructing even the simplest soul model requires a massive amount of mental energy and dozens of outrageously complex spell formulations.”
“Moreover, even if you succeed, the constructed soul usually dissipates within a few minutes because there's no suitable 'vessel' to contain it.”
Bell was about to argue.
He wanted to say that he had a "vessel."
The dirt puppets he fashioned with his own hands were the perfect vessels.
“Antinoia! Wait for me!”
A voice so familiar it made his scalp tingle came from not far away.
Tia Astane was running toward them, panting for breath.
She was running in a hurry, and her impressive chest—which didn't match her petite frame—heaved with her breaths, making one dizzy just looking at it.
In contrast, the Antinoia beside her was reassuringly flat.
“Eh? B... Junior Bell?!”
The moment Tia saw Bell, her face turned bright red instantly.
“Are... are you here to see me?”
She stopped in her tracks, her toes fidgeting against the ground. Her eyes darted around, not daring to look directly at Bell.
“Uh... something like that.”
Bell scratched his head.
He couldn't exactly say he had gotten lost and bumped into her friend.
This answer seemed like the best option for now.
Bell then asked, “And this senior is...?”
“Oh, she... her name is Antinoia Milia,” Tia introduced hurriedly, as if she had only just remembered her friend.
“Hello, Senior Milia.”
Bell politely extended his hand.
Antinoia shook it; her touch was slightly cool.
“Just call me Antinoia.”
No sooner had she spoken than...
Ding-ling-ling—
The piercing school bell rang throughout the academy.
“Oh no, class is starting!” Antinoia's expression changed. She immediately grabbed Tia's hand and began sprinting toward the teaching building nearby.
“Junior Bell, if you want to study, you can come find me!”
After running a few paces, Antinoia looked back and shouted to Bell.
Her usually expressionless face seemed to carry a faint, almost imperceptible smile.
Bell stood where he was, watching the two figures disappear at the end of the corridor.
Antinoia Milia.
The name echoed in his mind.
The words she had just spoken were like a needle, precisely pricking the issue he cared about most.
The problem of a "vessel" for soul construction.
Bell looked down at the copy of 《Soul Construction》 in his hand. The complex runes and spell formulations on the pages seemed to come alive at that moment.
He had vessels.
The dirt puppets he made with his own hands were the perfect vessels.
The problem was, how could he stably embed a constructed soul into a dirt puppet?
Bell grit his teeth and turned to walk briskly back toward the Black Stone Tower.
He needed to talk to Leovet.
...
On the training ground of the Black Stone Tower, Leovet was sitting on a simple wooden chair, holding a yellowed ancient book.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up.
“You're back?”
Bell nodded and walked over to him.
“Instructor, I have a question.”
Leovet closed his book and signaled for him to continue.
“If I successfully construct a soul, how do I embed it into a dirt puppet?”
Leovet arched an eyebrow.
“You think a soul is a lump of mud that you can just stuff inside?”
Bell was stunned.
“Then... how do I do it?”
Leovet stood up and walked to the center of the training ground.
“The essence of a soul is a collection of consciousness and memories.”
“It is not a solid, nor a liquid; it is a form of pure energy.”
He extended his hand, and a green wisp of wind element condensed in his palm.
“If you want to embed a soul into a dirt puppet, you must first construct a 'soul circuit' inside the puppet.”
“This circuit acts like the inner wall of a vessel, capable of carrying and stabilizing the energy fluctuations of the soul.”
Bell's eyes lit up.
“A soul circuit... how do I construct that?”
Leovet didn't answer directly, but instead asked a question of his own.
“Do you know how a mana circuit is constructed?”
Bell nodded.
“During the shaping process, mana is embedded inside the dirt puppet according to a specific path, forming a closed loop.”
“Very good.”
Leovet nodded with satisfaction.
“The construction of a soul circuit is similar to that of a mana circuit.”
“But the difference is that while a mana circuit is used to conduct mana, a soul circuit is used to carry consciousness.”
“Therefore, the construction of a soul circuit needs to be even more precise and complex.”
He paused, his gaze landing on Bell's face.
“Furthermore, constructing a soul circuit requires you to have an extremely high level of control over your mana.”
“A deviation at any single node will cause the entire circuit to collapse.”
Bell grit his teeth.
“I understand.”
Leovet turned and sat back down on the wooden chair.
“Go and try.”
“Remember, failure is the norm.”
“Only if you fail a hundred times in a row without giving up will you prove you are qualified to continue down this path.”
Bell took a deep breath and walked to a corner of the training ground.
He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
Earth-elemental mana surged from within him, condensing into a crude humanoid shape on the ground.
He didn't rush to finish the shaping. Instead, he concentrated all of his mental energy into the interior of the dirt puppet.
A thin mana line extended from his fingertip and drilled into the chest of the dirt puppet.
This was the starting point of the mana circuit.
Bell carefully controlled the mana line, extending it inch by inch along the path he had envisioned in his mind.
The chest, the abdomen, the limbs, the head.
Every node required precise control.
Sweat dripped from his forehead.
Finally, the mana line returned to the starting point, forming a closed loop.
Bell opened his eyes and looked at the dirt puppet in front of him.
It was still crude and stiff.
But now, its interior contained a complete mana circuit.
“The first step is complete.”
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