Chapter 371: Star Array
After leaving the library, the cool night breeze brought a moment of clarity to Jia Na's overloaded brain. "Before consulting, I should first use the Dragon Language Dictionary to clarify some difficult terms."
Generally speaking, a Formal Wizard's time is very precious. A Wizard Apprentice who wants to privately consult a Formal Wizard needs to pay academic credits or jin sule.
Therefore, whether to save money or out of respect for Professor Uta herself, Jia Na did not want to bother Professor Uta with simple questions that could clearly be answered by looking them up in a dictionary.
"It's time to go back and meditate."
The moon was bright and the cool breeze was refreshing. Looking at the quiet academy with no one around, Jia Na, wearing her wizard robe, no longer delayed and walked quickly towards the dormitory. Autumn turned to winter, and withered leaves fell. On a night in mid-November, Turin finally welcomed its first belated heavy snowfall of the year.
"It's snowing."
It was just dawning. The first thing Jia Na did after waking up from deep meditation was to cast Wizard's Hand to open the window and bring the crystal ball placed on the windowsill into the room.
"Not bad, the energy storage effect is better than I imagined."
As Jia Na received the crystal ball from Wizard's Hand, a silver-white light emanated from the crystal ball the moment her hands touched its surface, causing Jia Na to slightly narrow her eyes.
"It's a pity that although the method of charging with starlight can maximize the protective effect of the Star Array, the charging efficiency is simply too low."
After several months of unremitting effort, Jia Na finally successfully cast the advanced Ritual Wizardry, Starry Sky Guardian, gifted by Professor Uta.
In fact, even earlier, Jia Na had already mastered all the principles of this Ritual Wizardry, Starry Sky Guardian, with her Comprehension. The reason she spent several months to truly cast it was because the preliminary process of this Ritual Wizardry was simply too long.
Besides spending nearly half a month engraving nearly a hundred Star Arrays within the crystal ball, which is the key medium for the ritual, she also had to spend even more time charging the crystal ball and the Star Arrays within it before she could truly activate the Starry Sky Guardian spell.
"Fortunately, although the preparation period for this Ritual Wizardry is long, it can instantly generate a barrier when cast."
Unlike normal Ritual Wizardry, Starry Sky Guardian does not have a complex casting process when activated. It only requires chanting a spell and making the corresponding wizardry gestures to be cast instantly.
And this was also a point Jia Na was quite satisfied with regarding this wizardry.
"By my will, I command you, summon—Celestial Sparrow."
Buzz—accompanied by a flash of milky white light, a Celestial Sparrow with a cloth bag hanging around its neck appeared within the summoning array. "Afu, how did you do with the task I gave you?"
"Master, I have completed it."
Saying this, the parrot-shaped Celestial Sparrow placed the cloth bag hanging around its neck on the bed, then burrowed into the bag and rolled out a crystal ball emitting a milky white light.
"Well done, Afu."
Jia Na, still sitting on the bed in her pajamas, couldn't help but smile as she felt the Purification power continuously surging from the crystal ball. Immediately, Jia Na picked up the second crystal ball as well.
"Compared to charging with starlight, using Purification Light as the energy source, although not entirely compatible with the Star Array within the crystal ball, is very suitable for me currently."
The core principle of Starry Sky Guardian is to use light energy to construct a barrier space filled with active energy, thereby achieving the effect of isolating external energy.
At the same time, because the ritual inspiration for Starry Sky Guardian comes from various constellations in the night sky, using starlight for charging is the method that can maximize the effectiveness of this wizardry, Starry Sky Guardian.
Of course, if a different light source is used for charging, it will not affect the activation of the Starry Sky Guardian's barrier. However, it will affect the casting attributes and activation effect of the wizardry.
For example, when charging with candlelight, because the charging environment created by the light source from candlelight is "fire-attributed," only Fire Array can be charged, while other Star Arrays cannot.
It is precisely for this reason that the Starry Sky Guardian spell cast by a crystal ball charged with candlelight will be more inclined towards a "fire element" barrier. While it might have surprisingly effective resistance against specific energies, its resistance against elemental attacks that counter it will be relatively weaker.
The task Jia Na entrusted to the Celestial Sparrow this time was to have the Celestial Sparrow use its ability to release Purification Light to charge the second crystal ball Jia Na had prepared.
Jia Na's purpose in doing this was to prepare a Starry Sky Guardian casting medium with "sacred light" attributes for herself in advance.
After all, after the last major crisis that erupted in Turin, Jia Na also realized more deeply the important strategic significance represented by Purification ability.
Especially in Turin, a Wizard Gathering Place where Shadow Creature invasions and plagues frequently erupt, a barrier that can both resist danger and perform large-scale Purification might be much more effective than a pure Starry Sky Guardian barrier...
"Knock knock knock—"
Just as Jia Na was quietly contemplating, holding two crystal balls, a sudden urgent knocking sound directly interrupted her thoughts.
"Jia Na, are you awake?"
After the knocking, Jia Na heard a familiar voice from outside the door, so she put away the two crystal balls in her hands and quickly dispelled the contract power, sending the Celestial Sparrow back into the Spirit World.
"Vivian, why are you here so early today?"
Opening the door, she saw Vivian, dressed in an ice-blue wizard robe with her silver hair tied in a high ponytail, holding a packed bag and standing at the entrance of Jia Na's dormitory.
"Of course, to go with you to the assessment point for the preliminary evaluation, and I also brought you breakfast."
Upon hearing this, Jia Na turned her head and looked at the mechanical clock on the wall, which showed it was not yet 6:30, then sighed with a hint of helplessness.
"Vivian, I remember today's preliminary evaluation time is 8 o'clock, and the assessment point is even set in our academy. You really didn't need to come so early."
"I can't help it. Who made it snow last night? Whenever it snows, I get so excited I can't sleep—"
