Chapter 33: Multitasking and the Art of Illusion

At the stroke of midnight, the dungeon challenge count refreshed, signaling the start of a new week.

After taking the medicinal broth last night, Lin Bo felt his weary body steadily improving. In the small hours of the morning, he slipped into a state of suspended animation using the Black Snake Meditation technique; two hours later, he felt fully rejuvenated, with his meditative efficiency even higher than before. When he awoke, his health status on the player panel had shifted from the disease-ridden "Poor" to the slightly uncomfortable "Fair." This no longer hindered his daily schedule, allowing him to work and scout as usual, with a full recovery expected within days.

Before dawn broke, Lin Bo spent some time studying his two newly activated professional skills.

First was the "True Word Control - Flame." Aside from the brief instance when he used it to dispel the cold, he dared not practice it on his own body again. After all, a mortal frame is far too fragile; once he began oscillating and heating up with True Word Control - Flame, his internal organs would be roasted within half a minute, and his body would likely ignite within a minute. If he wanted to cosplay Agni from *Fire Punch*, he could already manage it, but the result would undoubtedly be fatal.

Therefore, the mage headed to the coast under the cover of night. Carrying a whale-oil lamp, he practiced by manipulating a patch of waves within his field of vision. As the water oscillated and the temperature rose, even though the surrounding seawater constantly carried away the heat, water vapor began to evaporate in a localized area. Before his mana was exhausted, the evaporating seawater formed a sheer, milky-white mist that was soon torn apart by the night wind. He rated it a highly dangerous control art. The criteria for gaining skill proficiency were the same as for "True Word Control - Flow," requiring a massive expenditure of mana for each practice session.

Initially, Lin Bo worried that balancing the practice of two control arts would slow his progress. However, when he attempted to command the waves by using the Flow and Flame arts simultaneously—a difficult maneuver requiring him to split his focus—he found it entirely feasible. The two arts could run in parallel, allowing him to gain proficiency in both professional skills in a single session. Although using both simultaneously caused a sharp spike in mana consumption, this was actually a good thing. Since each session of mental exhaustion counted as a complete skill execution, the faster his mana drained, the higher his practice efficiency. His total mana at level 4 was more than four times that of level 2, but the time required to deplete it was now roughly the same; running the two arts in tandem smoothed out the relative disadvantage brought by his increased mana pool.

However, there was still a key problem to solve regarding practicing the Flame art. With the two True Names he had mastered—"Sea Wave" and his own "True Name"—neither was well-suited for the Flame art. Things like waves, wind, and mist lacked a stable form; their structure was loose and chaotic when oscillating, making them susceptible to external interference. For instance, the waves would have their heat absorbed by the surrounding water or evaporate into mist, which could easily cause the control art to collapse. Thus, it was better to find a solid True Name as a superior substitute. Metal, in particular, was heat-resistant and structurally robust, making it an ideal object for control. Lin Bo estimated he would need to spend some time and effort to uncover the True Name of steel.

Whenever he needed specialized knowledge like this, Lin Bo envied the mages from the academy. What is the most precious asset of a spellcaster? The answer is simple: books. For a wild mage without a lineage, life is always harder than it is for an orthodox academy mage. Take the study of True Names: Lin Bo had to spend his life deciphering them word by word, whereas a True Name mage with a lineage could receive instruction from masters and read the "Books of True Names" written by predecessors—perhaps even being picky about the knowledge contained within.

Lin Bo possessed a certain "poor but resolute" optimism and did not feel inferior for being a wild mage. Although the wilderness of magic was overgrown with weeds and the path was difficult, the footprints he left with every step would not disappear; he could forge a path all on his own.

To master the latent power of every True Name and every magical word, one must comprehend its true essence and meaning. Failing to understand the semantic intent of a True Name or magical incantation often leads to spell failure or leaves the mage with only a superficial grasp. For academy mages, memorizing the knowledge in books is not difficult, but mastering the true meaning requires exhaustive effort. At the very least, Lin Bo could guarantee that by the time he mastered each word, he had grasped its essence; after all, if he could not understand the semantics, he could neither remember the pronunciation nor glimpse the True Name rune. The arduous path of learning made him incredibly adept with the magic words he did possess, which was, in its own way, a blessing.

Beyond the new True Word Control, there was also "True Word Illusion." This skill puzzled Lin Bo, as he had yet to find a way to increase its proficiency. Unlike the control arts, which could be practiced until exhaustion, the illusion skill only consumed mana upon initial casting; subsequent manipulation of the illusion required only a thought. If Lin Bo ignored the illusion, it would dissipate on its own after an hour or two. However, if he occasionally injected a bit of mana into it, the thing would immediately spring to life, showing a tenacity comparable to a lotus candle on a birthday cake. Breaking the illusion was simple: he just had to imagine the scene as dust and sweep it away with his mind, and it would vanish without a trace.

Lin Bo repeated the casting of the True Word Illusion until his mana was depleted, yet he failed to trigger any proficiency gain. By now, the sky was brightening. The weary night watchman had to spend another two hours meditating after finishing his work. His efforts to explore the skills last night had delayed his schedule for gathering medicinal samples.

Waking from his meditation, Lin Bo still felt dissatisfied. The condition for a successful skill check for True Word Illusion was like a riddle; it kept circling his mind, and if he didn't solve it, he couldn't even enjoy his meal.

While the lighthouse keeper was chewing a sandwich in the kitchen, he suddenly heard a clattering sound upstairs. He didn't need to guess to know it was Iron Guard One. The mechanical workshop on the third floor was piled with miscellaneous scrap. Since his "Surface Touch, Internal Insight" technique reached level 3, Lin Bo had paused his pleasant partnership with "Scavenger," no longer collecting scrap for disassembly and research. To "Scavenger," learning that "Lighthouse Guest" had reached level 3 in just a few days was like the sky falling. Recalling the mountain of test pieces he had gone through to practice, he had grumbled incessantly in a fit of jealousy. Of course, they still kept in touch, and Lin Bo often requested necessary components from "Scavenger," such as the electric heaters for the mushroom greenhouse or appliances needed for the lighthouse renovations.

The night watchman gnawed on his sandwich and headed to the third floor, where he saw Iron Guard One squatting on the floor, pretending to be busy, clutching a hammer and a wrench, tapping and bumping into things. Iron Guard One had recently started imitating Lin Bo’s behavior and was currently tinkering with his inventory. Such imitation is naturally a beneficial phenomenon for a robot's intelligent core. However, making a racket was not ideal; if a townsman passed by while he was out and heard the noise, they might think the lighthouse was being robbed.

Lin Bo walked up to Iron Guard One. The large robot stopped, its two optical lenses focusing, staring intently at the night watchman. Seeing Lin Bo wave his hand to shoo it away, it obediently stood up and retreated to the corner by the wall. The mage stared at this chunk of iron; after all this time, he still hadn't learned more than a few words of its system language. Communication between them relied entirely on intuition and feeling.

Lin Bo fell into deep thought. He wanted to see just how far the robot's intelligence had progressed, so he whispered a True Name:

"(True Word) Sea Wave."

A phantom, azure tide surged from beneath his feet, spreading outward until the third floor looked as if it were flooding.

"Beep-boop—Environmental change detected. Rate of change: extremely fast. Probability of unknown risk: high. Executing evasion protocol."

Iron Guard One, standing by the wall, immediately became alert. Its lenses darted back and forth as its feet moved rapidly, constantly dodging the illusory waves surging toward it. When it finally ran out of room, it leaped onto the generator set. Its movements were agile, and the height of the jump was perfectly calculated, causing no damage to the generator despite the robot's heavy chassis.

"Clever," Lin Bo praised.

*Ding—*

[Skill check successful, [True Word Illusion] basic proficiency +1]
[Complexity coefficient ×1.0 (Neither good nor bad)]
[Health status coefficient ×1.2 (Fair)]
[Inspiration proficiency +0.7 (A sudden spark)]
[Final calculation: [True Word Illusion] proficiency +1.9]

The question that had been bothering Lin Bo now had its answer: the key to a successful skill check for True Word Illusion was a single word—deceive.

Even tricking a robot counted as a successful execution.