Lux and Sona, having entered their "second year," finally temporarily bade farewell to rote memorization and embarked on a new path of magic learning.
Although the fact that Petricite is Rune Stones was still very concerning, at least for now, both of them were in good spirits—even academic underachievers are often enthusiastic about studying on the first day of school, let alone these two academic prodigies.
Then, Klein gave them a harsh reality check by presenting facts and reasoning.
"To learn how to harness the power within Petricite, you must first construct a mana circulation circuit," Klein's teaching, as always, began directly. "And there are usually two ways to construct a mana circuit: one is to draw the mana circuit with magical materials, and the other is to control your own mana to simulate a mana circuit."
Hearing Klein say this, Lux and Sona exchanged glances—in their past studies, they already knew what a mana circuit was, understood some models of mana circuits, and even did a lot of "special training" in circuit modeling. So, upon hearing that this could activate the power within Petricite, the two young girls looked eager to try.
Isn't it just constructing a mana circuit?
I can!
"Of course, with my patient guidance, your foundations are, after all, quite solid," Klein first praised himself, then returned to the main topic. "However, you are still too young, and the mana you can mobilize is not sufficient. More importantly, you lack the ability to control mana, so directly simulating mana circuits, a high-level technique, is something you cannot manage for now—therefore, we must start from the most basic direction."
"Isn't the most basic direction drawing mana circuits?" Lux said confidently. "We've practiced this, it's no problem at all!"
"What you practiced was simulation!" Klein snorted. "Don't even talk about real spellcasting; you're still a long way from even Assisted Casting. Do you think drawing a mana circuit is the same as just imagining the circuit in your mind?"
"Isn't it?" Lux asked, a little puzzled. "Just draw whatever circuit you think of, isn't that it?"
"Alright then, now, facing Sona, draw her for me," Klein's tone once again held a hint of playfulness. "Let me see if your hand can do what your mind knows!"
…"
Lux, finally realizing the problem, awkwardly closed her mouth—as Klein said, there is an astonishing difference in difficulty between simulating training at the conscious level and actually drawing everything out. Even though drawing mana circuits isn't as rich in content as painting, in terms of precision, it's even more demanding.
Therefore, what Klein said was completely correct: there is a significant gap between knowing how to draw a mana circuit and being able to draw a correct mana circuit.
"So, are we going to learn to paint?" Sona, noticing her friend's embarrassment, took the initiative to change the subject. "Hmm, an excuse to study painting?"
"That's a good excuse, but the problem is we can't produce anything," Lux also nodded. "We can make excuses for studying etiquette, music, or social interactions, but if we use studying painting as an excuse, even if Mother reluctantly agrees, I won't be able to deliver."
"You don't have to worry about that," Klein's tone showed a hint of pride, trying to maintain composure but utterly failing. "Painting is something I know a little about; with me here, you can always deliver successfully."
"What good is your knowledge?" Lux was very confused. "Painting cannot be skimped on by numbering fingers. Although I don't know much about it, I at least know that colors, composition, and perspective are almost impossible to achieve with simple guidance!"
"That's for others," Klein said confidently. "Trust me, my method of painting is completely different from what you think—now, find a piece of paper and a charcoal pencil, let's try it, and you'll understand."
Lux, half-believing, half-doubting, found a piece of white paper and spread it on the table. Then, as Klein requested, she brought a charcoal pencil, which is commonly used in Demacia for drafting.
"I can paint without composition, drawing the whole directly," Klein once again demonstrated an astonishing skill. "Now, get as close to my thoughts as possible, and following my commands of 'connect' and 'break,' continuously draw parallel, tightly aligned horizontal lines."
"Parallel, tightly aligned?"
Lux blinked strangely. She extended her hand and first drew a straight line on the paper, then drew another one directly below it, tightly against it—the two straight lines adhered closely, forming a thicker straight line.
"Isn't this just one line?" Lux frowned. "Is this what you mean?"
"Exactly," Klein confirmed Lux's statement. "Just draw like that, but remember to lift and press the pencil according to my instructions when drawing—draw the lines slowly, maintain a steady speed, and listen to my commands."
Lux, still half-believing, half-doubting, picked up the charcoal pencil again, and under Klein's guidance, she drew line after line, tightly aligned, sometimes connected, sometimes broken.
Then, to her astonishment, these originally erratic broken lines eventually connected to form a surface, creating a smiling face of Sona!
Although it was only simple black and white, this smiling face was not only realistic but also designed with artistic shadows and light. Anyone who saw this painting, as long as they had eyes, could feel Sona's genuine happiness emanating from it.
And Lux, who watched this painting being drawn by her own hands, was completely stunned.
Lux had seen masterworks before—in the Crownguard family's hall, portraits of past family members were all by master artists, and they were exquisite in terms of color, composition, perspective, and depiction.
But Lux, who had personally seen her father paint, knew very well that every single one of those oil paintings took a considerable amount of effort to create!
Even in the initial stage of sketching with charcoal, one had to first roughly determine the posture, understand the perspective, and then begin drawing, with the vast majority of the work spent on auxiliary lines.
Klein's method of painting, however, could only be described as "cheating." It seemed that from the very beginning, he had completely determined the appearance of the painting, even the state of every single point. The entire painting was anti-logical and unreasonable!
Lux, who had never seen a printer work, could not possibly imagine that paintings could be drawn this way!
"Heh heh, how about it?" Klein was very satisfied with Lux's astonishment. "It's no exaggeration to say that after half a year, presenting such a painting would be perfectly acceptable, wouldn't it?"
"Perfectly acceptable," Lux nodded mechanically. "This is beyond acceptable!"
"But don't be envious," Klein chuckled. "When you reach the second stage, where you can use your own mana to simulate any mana circuit, you will understand—compared to that, this level of control is still simple."
???
Hearing Klein say this, Lux and Sona's bodies simultaneously stiffened.
The second stage of constructing mana circuits… is it that abnormal?
Can anyone really learn this thing?