Chapter 46: The Development of Magic Is Never Smooth Sailing

Jiang Cha’s idea for developing new magic didn’t come out of nowhere — it wasn’t even starting from scratch.

Witches inherently have a method for constructing temporary thought circuits.

For example, Jiang Cha’s innate thought circuits currently number thirty-four, which is natural; she has only one postnatally constructed circuit, but those 33 plus 1 circuits are all considered innate circuits.

It’s like thought magic permanently solidified in the brain.

At her current limit, she can maintain ninety-two thought circuits. Excluding the thirty-four innate circuits, the remaining fifty-eight are temporary circuits.

These are temporarily constructed in the brain by consuming mana; once the mana supply is cut off, they dissipate.

This is an inherent talent of the witch race—every little witch and transformed witch naturally knows how to use this.

Just like living beings don’t need to consciously know which muscles to move to breathe—it’s encoded in their DNA.

The girl’s idea for magic development is based on this temporary circuit construction.

If building temporary circuits is an instinct of witches, could she express this operation with a spell model and thereby use more thought circuits in battle?

Going further, could she directly build a mana brain and then construct thought circuits within it, achieving higher spellcasting efficiency?

In theory, Jiang Cha’s idea is feasible.

Previously, she learned the spell “Great Strength,” which adds an invisible, intangible layer of mana muscle on existing muscles to increase strength.

This added strength can be stacked, and under multiple castings, she could unleash the power equivalent to dozens of arms. Moreover, since the mana muscles she constructs surpass physical muscles in every aspect, the burst strength even exceeds theoretical values.

“The idea of stacking temporary circuits on thought circuits might be possible, but that’s only theoretical,”

Mortal said, intrigued by the girl’s question during their video call, helping her refine her ideas.

“Do you know why spell models involving multiple dimensions are always high-level or above?”

“Because of mana interference?”

“Exactly.”

Mana interferes with itself, and this interference essentially comes from the mana information it emits.

Mana, when unaffected by any interference, has no inherent attributes.

But if imbued with the caster’s will, it gains a bias, transforming into fire, water flow, breeze, and other forms of energy.

This so-called mana information is the overflow of the caster’s will.

When Jiang Cha first went to the battle club, the mana inside her was triggered by intense mana information, which in turn affected her emotions—another form of mana interference.

“This essentially idealistic energy is very susceptible to will interference. Many little witches can’t even cast spells on the front lines because the battlefield’s conflicting and intense wills prevent those with weaker willpower from controlling their mana.”

“When two mana circuits are too close, this interference causes deviations in mana transformation effects. When magic reaches a high level, solving this interference becomes the most difficult part of learning and developing magic.”

After explaining mana interference, Mortal returned to the difficulty of Jiang Cha’s idea.

“Your idea is good: constructing another thought circuit on one thought circuit is indeed possible. But the problem is that this virtual circuit isn’t attached to the brain, and the ‘thinking’ inside it is replaced by mana.”

“That makes it very vulnerable to mana information interference, leading to confusion.”

“And the battlefield’s complex mana information makes this interference a completely uncontrollable black box. If your developed magic can’t solve this problem, it will become a computational black hole.”

“So I actually prefer your second idea—constructing a mana brain. If you can achieve that, it’s like giving the thought circuits a foundation, greatly enhancing their resistance to interference.”

This was the first time Mortal truly acted like a master in front of Jiang Cha—reliably intimidating.

The girl now understood why Lina said Mortal was the most suitable master among all great witches, even more suitable than some sages.

Her knowledge was profound, her mastery of all magic schools and professions complete, and a master in magic creation. She could answer any question Jiang Cha had on her growth path and provide immediate, clear guidance for even the strangest ideas Jiang Cha sometimes had.

“But constructing a mana brain directly would be too heavy a burden on the caster, and how do you optimize the spell model…?”

The girl scratched her head in frustration, pouting.

But this time, Mortal didn’t immediately offer advice—he chuckled with a bit of schadenfreude.

“That’s for you to solve. Developing magic is always full of troubles.”

“Or you can pay me, and I’ll help develop it for you. Even masters and disciples need clear accounts~”

“I can’t afford a master like you.”

Mortal, a versatile master, charges more for certain research projects than many sages, far beyond what Jiang Cha could afford.

For a project like constructing a mana brain, even a friendship price would be over fifty million witch gold!

“Here’s a suggestion: there are plenty of research papers on the witch brain. I recommend you read those first, then think about the next steps.”

“Remember, knowledge is the root of magic development.”

“Thank you, Master.”

After ending the call, Jiang Cha frowned again.

This was the first magic she wanted to develop, and it would also be her first wisdom-type magic. She didn’t want to give up so easily.

But the difficulty of developing this magic definitely exceeded her current level.

What else could she do?

Learn!

“I’m heading out. Heqin, do you need me to bring anything?”

“Could you bring an advanced textbook on the theory of shaping elements? I want to study the principles of shaping magic—it should help with the puppetry magic.”

Jiang Cha suddenly said she was going out, and Heqin didn’t even have to think to know she was heading to the Grand Library.

“Okay~”

“Hey! What about me!? Why ask only Qin Bao?”

The blonde loli suddenly caught on, angrily demanding.

Since Jiang Cha was already out the door, she wouldn’t hear that, but it was okay—someone else would deliver the blow.

“Lina, you don’t study, so Jiang Cha has no reason to ask you.”

“Estelle!! I swear I’ll kill you, believe it or not!?”

“Don’t believe it. Heqin will stop you.”

The white-haired loli said coldly, stating a cruel reality.

Hasn’t Lina ever seen what it means when a mom goes berserk at home?

“Alright, alright, don’t be mad, Lina-chan.”

“Uuuh, Qin Bao! You’re the best mom!”

“I told you I’m not your mom!”