Today is July 8th, and the Piltover University schedule shows no classes today.
In Durin's room at 45 Vocal Avenue, the wardrobe had been repurposed by Durin into a combined clothes, book, and sundries cabinet.
Sitting on a chair, Durin flipped through the book "Introduction to Rune Construction" in his hand. Casually turning to the last few pages, he couldn't help but fall into thought: could he first learn and master elemental composite runes?
Although Instructor Ashley had warned them in the first class not to fantasize about learning their first spell so quickly, what Durin lacked most now was time and money.
He didn't have that much time and money to waste; he had to master three spells with the least amount of money in the shortest possible time, and then advance to become a qualified Mage.
However, composite runes are not a simple overlap of basic runes; they also involve many changes in magic power conduction and connection. Even the most ordinary and entry-level spell is constructed from a standard elemental composite rune to form a complete magic circuit.
Some powerful spells are built from multiple isotopic elemental composite runes and a large number of basic runes to assist in constructing the magic circuit.
Some high-level spells also require the incorporation of specific incantations and gestures to cooperate, and some ancient spells even require a casting medium as a bridge for communication.
Durin had already decided on the first spell he needed to master—Mage Armor.
Mage Armor, the composite rune for this spell is one of the simplest types.
Without further ado, Durin picked up a steel pen, drew in a tube of black ink, and carefully sketched the basic shape of the composite rune onto a blank page in his notebook.
"Based on the coordinate axes, I can essentially confirm that the shape I drew matches the original rune. But why, when I try to draw it with mental power, can I still not activate this rune?"
Durin tore off the page, held it up to his eyes, and muttered, "According to the books, a composite rune isn't just an overlap of two basic runes; their proportional relationship also needs to be considered. But I've distributed the magic according to the proportions, and something still feels off?"
Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind: could the error be due to the angle?
So, Durin immediately put down the paper, took a ruler, found the center point, and drew a perspective view, attempting to explore the distance between the two figures by calculating their proportional relationship.
"Wrong!"
After much effort, calculating over a dozen times, Durin still couldn't activate the rune and abandoned his guess about the angle.
He angrily crumpled the composite rune, which he had drawn beyond recognition, into a ball and threw it into the trash can.
Durin had realized… mastering a standard elemental composite rune was truly difficult!
Although the red-haired instructor in his dream had previously mentioned some knowledge about basic runes, cantrips, and spells when teaching a young Styraatu, it had given Durin some ideas for solving the problem, but he still hadn't found the correct answer.
This was also why he had been studying day and night during this period.
However, the difficulty of this composite rune far exceeded Durin's imagination. Even though his mental power was high, requiring only 5 hours of sleep, he still couldn't quickly grasp its principles.
Durin stared blankly at the waste paper in the trash can, falling into deep thought. Was his understanding flawed?
Looking at the crumpled, uneven paper ball in the trash can, it seemed as if countless small runes were jumping before Durin's eyes.
After thinking for a long time, Durin still felt frustrated, his thoughts unable to connect, like being stuck on a critical point in a math problem.
No!
How does that saying go? If you have a problem, find a teacher!
But Durin knew that if he were to seek out Instructor Ashley, he would have to pay to acquire knowledge about composite runes from her.
To be precise, this was a characteristic of Piltover University; the same applied to any instructor or professor.
So, he packed his things and hurried to Piltover University without even stopping to eat.
But not on campus, rather in a residential area nearby – the element where instructors and professors resided.
As for why he didn't go to the library, it was because it only contained common knowledge; truly helpful knowledge had to be purchased from instructors or professors.
Durin had learned this from the older Mage Apprentices.
Riding the tram, Durin arrived at the Jindai Luo Sphere plaza, then sprinted all the way towards the instructor residential area.
The environment here was much better than where he lived; three-story white-walled civilian buildings were scattered picturesquely on the hillsides overlooking the sea. Durin climbed the mountain path, constantly passing other Mage Apprentices with the same goal.
Instructor Ashley's residence was halfway up the mountain; she was leaning against the third-floor railing of the civilian building, her left hand raised, seemingly holding a lady's cigarette.
She was wearing high heels.
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