23: Chapter 23 "I am a Mage."

"Congratulations, but the road ahead is still long; you must persevere."

Mo Bai smiled slightly, looking at Yang Hao with an expression full of kindness, as if he were looking at a fine ox... cough cough, a fine genius.

"Yes, yes, I know."

Yang Hao's face turned slightly red with bashfulness as he nodded repeatedly.

The sense of participation throughout the research process and the sense of accomplishment from finally successfully channeling Elemental Power—all of this felt more comfortable and natural than simply undergoing a direct class change.

The harder one worked, the freer and more grounded one felt.

Seeing Yang Hao's excitement, Mo Bai couldn't help but recall his own feelings from back then, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

He walked over to Zhou Rin's side and patted him.

"Zhou Rin, Zhou Rin."

Zhou Rin remained motionless, his snoring continuing as before.

"Zhou Rin?"

Mo Bai gave him a forceful shove, but there was no response; Zhou Rin even rolled over.

"?"

Yang Hao felt a bit embarrassed seeing this.

"Uh, his sleep quality is really good."

Mo Bai didn't know what to say for a moment, then he saw Yang Hao go up and shake him vigorously a few times. Only then did Zhou Rin rub his eyes and yawn.

"Haa~"

"What's wrong? Is it time for an 8 AM class? Hmm, where am I... oh, still in the game."

At this moment, Mo Bai began to doubt if his previous idea was a bit too unreliable.

"Other than when he's being unreliable, he's actually quite reliable."

Yang Hao said somewhat sheepishly, as if he could tell what Mo Bai was thinking.

"Uh..."

Looking at Yang Hao, Mo Bai still didn't change his mind at the last minute.

A moment later, Zhou Rin was walking in front holding a torch, occasionally tripping over tree roots and vines that he couldn't see clearly.

Beside him, Mo Bai and Yang Hao moved through the complex forest environment as if it were nothing, which immediately made Zhou Rin feel indignant.

"How can you guys see? Did you secretly turn on some night vision goggles hack?

Why didn't you turn one on for me too?"

"Wait, Yang Hao, how do you know where the fruit is? It's pitch black, yet you're actually picking fruit; you're not even trying to hide it anymore."

"By the way, Mo Bai, you said a team would be delivering a batch of rare medicinal herbs to that Great Axe Gang outpost. Do you know exactly which path they're taking?

What kind of medicinal herbs are there?"

Zhou Rin was like a chatterbox, his mouth flapping non-stop.

Yang Hao was eating sour wild fruits on the side with great relish, as if he were tasting some delicacy.

This appearance tricked Mo Bai into trying one too, and it almost made his teeth fall out from the sourness.

The three of them walked through the forest, with Mo Bai answering occasionally.

When the sky was just beginning to brighten, the three had already bypassed the village and arrived behind it.

"Yang Hao, in the forest, roughly how far away can you capture and distinguish sounds?"

"About fifty meters."

"Zhou Rin, what about you?"

"Aba aba aba."

Mo Bai frowned upon hearing this.

"How much?"

"Three meters?"

Zhou Rin said somewhat awkwardly.

"Uh..."

Mo Bai remained silent, exchanging a look with Yang Hao.

A crude Barbarian.

The two reached a consensus, but Zhou Rin got anxious.

"What do you two mean? Also, how did you guys suddenly become so close, like you've known each other for a long time? Did I sleep for that long?

Yang Hao, clearly we met first.

By the way, Mo Bai, what's your range?"

"Over a hundred, I guess."

"Uh..."

Zhou Rin paused immediately, then said:

"The only benefit of putting all your points into spirit is this.

When we find someone later, remember to call me immediately. I'll show you how powerful I am then, let you see my skills."

"You're going in alone? I'm a mage, you know."

"Exactly, it's because you're a mage that I'm going in alone.

Don't worry, Yang Hao has always been like this; I won't look down on you."

"Uh, alright then. Let's split up, using Zhou Rin as the center with a hundred-meter gap in a parallel formation. If you spot someone, call out before taking action."

"Okay."

Yang Hao nodded and turned to walk toward the left, eating a sour wild fruit as he went.

Now that he had Spiritual Power, it was even easier for him to find fruit.

"What the heck?"

Zhou Rin was slightly stunned.

"You stay where you are."

Mo Bai said without looking back, walking directly over two hundred meters away.

The three of them formed a five-hundred-meter-long dashed line, with only a hundred-meter unguarded gap in the middle.

After determining the positions based on coordinates, Mo Bai found a place to sit down and pulled up the records from his forum drafts.

The records of the elemental structure inside the experimental subject's body and the trajectory of elemental movement after drinking the potion.

"There are three Magic Spell Models hidden inside. I wonder what kind of spells they are."

Mo Bai looked at the Magic Spell Model consisting of fifty-five Spell Nodes and pondered slightly.

"I need to sort out the earth element model first, but the margin of error is too large, and the earth element in the body tends to run wild when it encounters mana pathways opened by other elements.

Tricky, tricky."

He took a deep breath and immediately got to work.

"It's nothing more than trial and error. As long as I test them one by one within the framework until I've tried them all, I'll find the correct answer.

I forgot to teach Yang Hao. Once he learns, I can completely hand over these kinds of brute-force enumeration tasks to him in the future."

Mo Bai muttered to himself. With a thought, his Spiritual Power condensed onto the earth element, sorting it out bit by bit and gathering it together.

A single Spell Node on its own is meaningless, even with a mana pathway.

However, once Spell Nodes form a Spell Structure, it's different.

At that stage, the Spell Structure becomes the smallest building block of a Magic Spell Model and already possesses a special effect. Mo Bai could naturally distinguish whether it was usable.

And as long as he sorted out all the Spell Structures, he could naturally deduce the entire Magic Spell Model.

This wasn't difficult for Mo Bai.

After all, all the information for the Magic Spell Models was right here in its entirety; nothing was missing, at most there were just some errors and interference.

Time passed second by second as Mo Bai quickly enumerated, eliminating one possibility after another.

There were many permutations and combinations for fifty-five Spell Nodes, but after Mo Bai gained a certain understanding of spell module structures, he had actually already eliminated many absurd options.

Before long, an "energy" Spell Structure used to guide the entry of Elemental Power was completed by Mo Bai.

This was like a good start, immediately followed by a second Spell Structure with an unclear effect.

Looking at these two Spell Structures, Mo Bai pondered slightly.

"This Magic Spell Model should be composed of four Spell Structures.

Almost there."

During a break in the experiment, Mo Bai took a moment to check the forum and found that the Green Leaf Guild, leading the casual players, had already begun their attack.

But the Great Axe Gang had changed their usual behavior, staying behind closed doors and using the mountain terrain and walls to give the players the cold shoulder.

In just that short time, Mo Bai suddenly noticed a reply to the blank post he had just published.

Yang Hao: "1."

The moment Mo Bai saw the reply, his spirits lifted.

"They're here!"