Chapter 63: Joint Research with the Elf (3)
The research progressed very smoothly.
Ezeri shared everything she knew about scroll magic, and Kyung-joon combined it with his knowledge of real-world programming, giving birth to a new form of scroll magic.
If the structure of existing scroll magic was just a procedural repetition of simple algorithms,
Kyung-joon’s newly woven scroll magic was several steps ahead.
“We need to bundle all the rune character sentences of the existing scrolls into function units.”
“Functions? Bundle them?”
“Yes. It’s a task to organize them neatly.”
Think of it this way:
It’s like breaking down one big problem into smaller, manageable ones.
Just as you divide writing into an introduction, body, and conclusion, and further into paragraphs by topic.
Simply put, he neatly organized the jumbled magic commands.
But this was just the beginning.
The true value of Kyung-joon’s work came next.
“The key is to apply the object-oriented programming method to create a new rune character grammar system.”
Originally, when computers first came out, most programming was ‘procedure-oriented’ rather than ‘object-oriented.’
However, as computer performance improved and the amount of data to be handled increased exponentially, everything shifted to ‘object-oriented.’
Object-oriented programming is easy to understand if you think of it like ‘StarCraft.’
To achieve ‘one big problem – victory,’ you create ‘multiple objects – Drones, Zerglings, Hydralisks, Spore Colonies (Ronnie), Defilers,’ etc.
And for each object, you define ‘coding – behavior patterns.’
Drones mine minerals.
Zerglings are sent for scouting and harassment in the early game.
Later, you build Spore Colonies to protect your natural expansion.
Defilers add utility to battles.
That’s what it means to do ‘object-oriented programming’ to lead to victory.
“Phew.”
“Wow, finally……”
It had been a week since Kyung-joon arrived at the Fairy-Elven Magic Academy.
Kyung-joon, with Ezeri’s assistance, had been trying to apply ‘object-oriented programming’ to magic scrolls.
And finally, remarkable results were achieved.
[You have created a new unique magic.]
[Intelligence has increased by 50.]
[Mana has increased by 50.]
[Dexterity is an important magic.]
[Dexterity has increased by 30.]
[100 hours have been added to the Dimensional Study Room.]
[Scroll Writing: Kyung-joon style writing method]
▶Magic that inscribes mana onto a scroll to store magic. A new style jointly created by the otherworlder Kyung-joon and the elf Ezeri. While boasting tremendous efficiency and power, the writing difficulty has become extremely high.
▶Scroll efficiency increased by 500%, scroll power increased by 200%.
▶The lower the intelligence, the greater the probability of failure.
▶Skill Level: Lv.1
▶Skill Type: Active
▶Skill Rank: Unique
“I did it, I finally did it! It’s a Unique skill! This is it, Master’s degree done, onto the Doctorate!”
“Haha.”
Ezeri exclaimed in delight, scattering the ink-stained papers upwards with her pen.
She, like Kyung-joon, succeeded in creating her own skills.
After all, they researched and developed it together.
However, there was a significant difference in their proficiency.
[Failed to use skill.]
[Failed to use skill.]
[Failed to use skill.]
“Ugh, isn’t this too difficult?”
Ezeri immediately tried to use the unique magic 『Scroll Writing: Kyung-joon style writing method』, but failed repeatedly.
“Ezeri needs to be more delicate in handling mana.”
“Even like this, I’m pretty delicate compared to other classmates……”
“Still, not more than me, right?”
“You’re strange! A human who handles mana better than an elf…… Was I born as an elf for this……”
Unlike Kyung-joon, Ezeri, who didn’t have 『Fine Mana Manipulation』, couldn’t handle mana as delicately as him.
As an elf, a race of nature, she was accustomed to handling mana smoothly and flexibly, but she was weak in treating it as discrete particles.
However, Kyung-joon’s style of scroll writing was based on the latter, so she had to get used to it.
“Don’t think of mana as a flow, but as discrete particles. Like this.”
Kyung-joon picked up a scroll and decided to show her how to do it.
Wooong.
Very fine mana, seeping from his fingertips, began to be engraved on the scroll.
[Unique skill 『Scroll Writing: Kyung-joon style writing method (Lv.1)』 ]
[Inappropriate scroll.]
[The scroll cannot withstand the fine mana, and the characters become distorted.]
Fsss!
The mana embedded in the scroll failed to be properly engraved and emitted a crackling flame and smoke.
[A dedicated scroll is required to use the skill properly.]
“Um…… you failed?”
“As you can see.”
He immediately realized what the problem was.
He said that the background for the emergence of object-oriented programming was the ‘dramatic development of computer performance.’
Here, the part corresponding to the computer was the ‘scroll.’
However, the scroll couldn’t withstand Kyung-joon’s unique magic and burned to a crisp.
In other words, the scroll’s performance couldn’t handle Kyung-joon’s scroll writing method.
“Simply put, the soul (software) is good, but the body (hardware) is trash?”
“Exactly.”
That was precisely the situation.
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Kyung-joon and Ezeri went to the magic materials store within the academy.
To create a dedicated scroll suitable for Kyung-joon’s scroll magic, they had to procure the materials first.
What they needed was the Tree of Memory, which possessed high-purity mana.
“Unfortunately, we’re all out of Minto Alda with that level of high-purity mana.”
“What?!”
Ezeri was troubled by the shopkeeper’s regretful words.
“Why? That’s almost never happened before!”
“Well…… there’s been talk of a mutant Minto Morco appearing in the Lucuty Forest recently. There’s been a problem with the supply of Minto Alda. So for the next few months, we might have to make do with the stock we have……”
“What? How many months?! What are the beastkin doing here! How long does it take them to get their act together?!”
“I heard it’s a mutant, so it’s not easy to deal with. You know the ability of the Minto Morco, right? If you don’t catch it in one go, it becomes a real headache.”
“Hmm…… I know, but……”
Ezeri bit her thumbnail with a troubled look on her face.
Kyung-joon asked her,
“Minto Morco? Minto Alda? What are those?”
“Ah, right. You’re human. It means ‘Tree of Memory’ in Elven.”
Tree of Memory (Minto Alda).
It was a magical tree used to make beastkin scrolls, essential for scroll magic.
“And the bear that feeds on the fruit that grows there is the Minto Morco. Maybe that’s why it has such a good memory, like its name.”
“Memory?”
“Yes. They say that eating the fruit of the Tree of Memory improves your memory. It’s like its memory got better from eating only that.”
The shopkeeper added to Ezeri’s explanation.
“They say this mutant that appeared recently has an incredible memory, unlike anything we’ve seen before. The beastkin who had the first encounter with it said that it remembers its opponent’s movements and eventually develops it to almost future prediction level.”
“So that’s why you said it becomes more troublesome if you don’t catch it at once?”
The shopkeeper nodded at Kyung-joon’s confirming question.
The owner continued his explanation.
“It’s too much for the beastkin employed by the Magic Academy to handle alone, so we’ve made a request to the Combat Magic Department. But the entire department went to the New Devil border for combat training…”
“Ah, right! Those Combat Magic guys, they usually act all high and mighty but disappear when you actually need them!”
Ezeri vented her frustration by stomping on the floor of the store.
“In the end, it seems that the stock won’t be normalized until they return and take care of the Minto Morco.”
“That means it’ll take months! What do we do? We’re in a hurry……!”
“Even if you tell me that……”
“Argh! Everything was going so well, and then this happens! This is crazy……!”
As Ezeri was jumping up and down in frustration, Kyung-joon asked the shopkeeper,
“That beastkin who had the first encounter, do you happen to know its stats?”
“Stats, you say?”
“Yes. Like, its stat level. I just want to know how strong this mutant is.”
The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
“I don’t know exactly, but I heard he was a seasoned tigerkin, so it must be at least stat level 300-400. I heard he fought almost evenly at first, so I guess the mutant is around that level too.”
“Hmm.”
Currently, Kyung-joon’s five main stats were……
『Strength: 126 Agility: 410 Intelligence: 612 Stamina: 121 Mana: 515』
In terms of stat level, he was about 350 strong.
Of course, besides the five main stats, there were also undistributed stats, and special stats like Dexterity and Elemental Affinity, so considering all of them, it would be well over 100 higher.
In other words, Kyung-joon was on par with or even stronger than the Minto Morco in terms of stat level.
The problem was the mutant’s special ability.
The ability to memorize the opponent’s movements with its excellent memory and eventually counter them with almost future prediction.
If he couldn’t overcome this, he wouldn’t be able to fight properly.
‘But that fruit from the Tree of Memory sounds really tempting. I bet if I made a pie with it, it would give me a huge memory boost.’
Kyung-joon racked his brain, weighing the pros and cons.
“Let’s go.”
“W, What?”
Kyung-joon, having finished his contemplation, grabbed Ezeri’s arm and dragged her outside.
Ezeri was a little flustered by Kyung-joon’s sudden action.
When she asked him where they were going, Kyung-joon replied,
“If they’re out of stock, we’ll just have to go get it ourselves.”
With that, Kyung-joon, guided by Teemo, started walking towards the Lucuty Forest.
Ezeri tried to stop him.
“H, Hold on……! Didn’t you hear the shopkeeper just now? He said even a beastkin with a stat level over 300 couldn’t catch it.”
“Ezeri, if you only consider mana and intelligence, wouldn’t you be at that stat level too? And you’re a wizard.”
Ezeri, as befitting an Elven wizard from the Magic Academy, had very high intelligence and mana.
At least as much as Kyung-joon.
However……
“……I’m not a combat wizard. I mostly leveled up by hunting, but I also bought experience potions with money.”
Generally, there were more R&D wizards like Ezeri in the world, who made magic tools or researched magic, than combat wizards.
This was especially true for the wizards of the Fairy-Elven Alliance.
There were even wizards who had never hunted a monster in their lives.
Because they had experience potions, one of the Fairy-Elven Alliance’s key inventions.
They had a way to level up without risking their lives hunting.
“It’s okay. You have magic to protect yourself or provide light support, right? That’s enough.”
Kyung-joon gestured for Ezeri to follow him and added reassuringly,
“Just guide me and collect the materials. I’ll do the hunting.”
🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷🔷
Kyung-joon on combat, Ezeri on guidance and support.
The two, having divided their roles, headed to the Lucuty Forest north of the Magic Academy.
“To obtain high-purity Tree of Memory, we first need to go to a place with dense mana. Unlike ordinary trees, they feed on mana, not water.”
Ezeri said she had been here a few times to gather materials, accompanied by beastkin.
Perhaps that’s why they didn’t lose their way.
The problem was her worry.
“But are you really sure about this? The monsters that appear in the Lucuty Forest are all level 200 monsters. And they’re all aggressive, and magic is a given……”
It was practically a place where players who weren’t rankers couldn’t even set foot.
Kyung-joon was boldly stepping into such a place.
Ezeri, who was looking at Kyung-joon with anxious eyes, handed him something.
“Here, take this.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s a return scroll I made myself. It’s linked to the academy’s Warp Gate, so use it in case of emergency. I’ll use it to escape if things get dangerous.”
“Oh.”
Kyung-joon was satisfied with Ezeri, who was definitely providing support, and put the return scroll on his belt.
Still, she looked uneasy.
“You have no equipment…… no staff…… are you really okay?”
“I said I’m fine. I’m going to get calluses on my ears.”
“You don’t look fine at all…… It’s not too late, we can still go back and find another way―”
At that moment.
<Unidentified monster approaching 50 meters ahead.>
“Stop.”
“……!”
Kyung-joon stretched out his arm sideways and stopped walking.
Ezeri also stopped without a word and tensed up.
<Approaching at a faster speed. Small monster. Estimated to be about the size of a rabbit.>
“The rabbits here, what are their characteristics?”
“Huh?”
Ezeri looked a little surprised at Kyung-joon’s words.
‘He knew it was a rabbit beforehand? How……?’
“……It must be a Rofo Rabbit. They specialize in stealth magic and are known for approaching instantly and slitting throats with dark attribute close-range magic.”
Ezeri quickly provided information despite Kyung-joon’s sudden question.
Upon hearing that, Kyung-joon made his decision.
[Advanced skill 『Spell Delay (lv.5)』
[Activating delayed magic.]
[General skill 『Energy Bolt (lv.8)』 ]
[Advanced skill 『Spell Modification (lv.6)』 ]
[Rare skill 『Multi-Casting (lv.5)』 ]
[Sharp energy arrows surge forward.]
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