Since evening until night, Baiyi had been giving lessons to Tisdale and Mia in his very own Magus Lab.
The subject was Elementary Magic Formation, a subject Mia had dabbled in before. It was also the basic prerequisite for any Rohserlian sorcerer.
It didn't go too well for the two girls. They were as confused as a deer caught in headlights. They did try hard to learn despite their confusion, and it was clear that while both were slow, Tisdale made more progress purely because of her natural aptitude.
"Alright, that's all for today." Seeing their lackluster progress, Baiyi could only stop his class. He gave the girls the reading materials he had prepared beforehand. "Study this."
He had already expected the progress to be below average. The primary reason why formations had been taken out of the curriculum was because they were too difficult to understand and apply. Even Elementary Magic Formation would take a standard Rohserlian sorcerer three years to master. It just can't be helped.
What he didn't expect, however, was that the Scholar wasn't working quick enough on deciphering the runes he had previously copied.
He had already gathered all of the materials for his experimentation, and the only thing he needed was her progress in reverse-engineering the runes.
"Decoding is no easy task, Sir Hope, so you need to exercise patience," She called out from the Void as if she heard Baiyi's complaint. "I would like to remind you again that these runes were structured in a very heterodox manner…"
Right, right. Heterodoxy. Runes were only simple if they were constructed normally. Without following the standards, runes were equally as confusing as formations.
It seemed like he would have to delay his Home Upgrade Project: Absolute Territory. Literally, 'Absolute' and 'Territory', with intense fortification and so forth—not the slang term, Absolute Territory 1 , which meant the amount of bare thigh skin between the skirt and the stocking.
Left with not much to do, Baiyi could only start working on Tisdale's staff. He already had the materials and preceding works readied. He encased a long rod made of hardwood with manconducting mithril, while its head was embedded with the firegem stone that Undine had gifted him. Then, for the final touch, Baiyi planned to add two special assists by enchanting two spells onto it.
He wasn't sure what to enchant that moment, though. And when in doubt, Baiyi turned to the Voidwalkers.
"You know the one! L a Grondement Du Haine, eh? Eh?" The Archmage poked Baiyi on his elbow, presumably also raising his eyebrow. The Rohserlian magi had been bored out of his retired mind, as he was not recruited into the Scholar's team to decode the runes.
Baiyi stared at his teacher hard. A.k.a the upgraded version of a plain old Flamethrower? Question, what would Tisdale even need that for?
His teacher was very old-school when it came to enchanting magic. It was always the classic to him: attack weapon went with offensive magic, protective shields paired with defensive magic.
Baiyi had new realizations, however. After taking the girls out for some adventures, as well as his last Fun Fight with Fiends, he started thinking that for a student like Tisdale, her top most priority would have to be her own safety. So ideally, the spells would have to maximize that security.
To be specific, Baiyi was thinking if he should enchant the staff with a Location Marker Spell.
It wasn't exactly a special spell of any kind, it was just a magical marker on an area, which Baiyi could use for other spells like teleportation. A bit of alteration is required, though. Baiyi would have to tweak the spell so that the location of the spell's caster would always be automatically trasmitted to him.
So if Tisdale was ever in danger, all she had to do was activate the spell like a distress signal, and Baiyi would be summoned.
Now that, is the ultimate defense, calling your Papa Wolf— I mean, Teacher. Calling your teacher. No matter how strong a defensive spell was, nothing would be more perfect than Baiyi himself.
Mia already had her hammerhead shark plushie fulfilling that role. Tisdale would need one, too.
He could easily enchant something that Tisdale loved bringing around, a doll or even an armor, but she didn't seem to have anything that she always had on her.
Just as Baiyi and his teacher was discussing it, he heard a few knocks on the lab door.
Turning around, the Soul Armature caught, just in time, Attie wearing cat ears clips watching him with half of her face hidden behind the wall.
"Come in." She's not coming in naked, is she?
She was dressed modestly as she skipped to his side.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?" Baiyi eyed his servant suspiciously.
Attie did not answer. Instead, she mimicked Mia's habit of shaking Baiyi's elbows like a child, then answered, "I've finished the book you lent me, Master? Can I learn something new?"
"Finished? Does that mean you have cultivated it?"
The book he had given her was an elementary introduction to combat chi— a thin book, so of course she could finished it so fast. But it didn't mean that the reader automatically cultivated their chi just by thumbing through the pages of the book. Could she really have developed it so soon?
"I did, Master, I did!" She nodded eagerly, then in an act to prove herself, she grabbed the Soul Armature's hand and placed it on her chest. "You can feel it, can't you?"
"What are you even trying to do?" Baiyi retracted his hand and rapped lightly on her head.
The girl hugged it and whimpered, squatting down with a low cry of "Oww…"
Sigh. Her combat chi is unimpressive, but gosh, how much she'd improved in the art of being cute . Baiyi watched her antics and thought flatly. What did you have that made Lord War God gave his sword to you?
It was true that Attie had successfully cultivated her own combat chi within a short amount of time. That would be impressive if it was a common person, but she was the previous owner of the famed War God Sword! As a warrior, she had wielded powers even stronger than what most beginners could ever comprehend. With that, she should have been more attuned to how combat chi worked.
Plus, despite being a lot less effective, the Steppe barbarians had their own methods of cultivating combat chi. Attie should already be better than the elementary power she had just displayed.
To be frank, her progress was totally unimpressive given her identity and experience. In fact, Baiyi thought that she was quite a slow-learner, showing the least aptitude among his girls. He couldn't just say that out though, Attie was also the most sensitive of all three…
Not that Baiyi cared about her progress. She wasn't instrumental to anything, so she could take her time.
"Continue your efforts. Once you finally reach the level a Northern beginner have, then I'll teach you more."
"Aww…" Attie let out a dejected whimper as she nodded slowly. Her dream of vengeance would have to wait…
After telling the servant to get back to sleep, Baiyi retired to his own room as well, his mind occupied with Tisdale's staff.
He was surprised to find Tisdale's room to still be lit. Quietly creeping in, he found the girl reading the given materials, she was so engrossed that she didn't even hear him entering.
"Why… aren't you sleeping?" He whispered.
"Gah!!!" The girl jumped so quickly that half of her nightgown slid down on one side, barring her fair skin and assets.
Baiyi turned away quickly. "It's late. You really should be sleeping."
Tisdale blushed as she tidied her gown. "But, sir, I didn't understand a lot of things you'd taught me today. I think it's because I'm too dumb to understand it, so I must read up a bit more…"
"Rohserlian formations are not an easy subject to learn, Tisdale. You shouldn't be too impatient."
The Soul Armature started lifting her up with his mana. The girl seemed to be caught off guard, as her long fair legs kept struggling as she hovered in midair. It didn't take long for her to realize his intention, however, so she stopped panicking and allowed Baiyi to lower her onto her bed.
She threw him a wistful glance.
He used his mana to lift the cover over her body and switched off the lights.
To Tisdale's dismay, he left her again without caressing her head or kissing her goodnight on her forehead like a father. Looks like it's another night of disappointment…
Meanwhile, the girl that Baiyi cared about the most in terms of improving themselves, Mia, was sleeping more soundly than anyone else.
The rest of the week went on without much drama. Mia and Tisdale went to their classes for only half a day, then it would be Baiyi's class on formations from evening to night. When they went to bed, the Soul Armature would turn to his research on the runes, mainly.
The Scholar had managed to determine the new scheme the runes were constructed with, but she wasn't too sure of her findings. "A lack of comparative samples", she'd warned.
Baiyi agreed with her cautious assessment, as she had only seven samples to work with. Her academic meticulousness would no doubt forbade her from establishing unfounded certainty.
It wasn't pure bad news, either way. With the basic scheme at hand, Baiyi could start replicating the runes and their arrangement as per the complex. He first tried using pure mana to construct one of the atomic runes, but it had failed.
Perhaps Baiyi needed to combine mana with actual materials to successfully recreate them…
It had worked, this time. Those seven runes had started manifesting on the parchment, giving out the same magical vibration as before.
That was one small step well done.
Or for the weeboos, Zettai Ryouki