536: ice magic mirror and Analyzing Unknown natural magic structural component
Locke Augustine pressed his right hand against the magic alloy gate of the ice magic mirror room, placing his palm on it and turning it slightly to unlock the magic lock.
Immediately afterward, the alloy gate opened again, and a wave of cold air rushed toward him.
Frost marks even appeared on the floor.
From his astral ring, Locke Augustine took out a bottle of an improved version of the Holy Spring Nectar Potion. The Holy Spring Nectar Potion was refined from the juices of seven improved versions of colored lichen magic plants, allowing a wizard to return to their peak state while also increasing resistance to various environmental changes, such as heat or cold.
After drinking the Holy Spring Nectar Potion, Locke Augustine no longer felt the bone-chilling cold and walked into the ice magic mirror room.
The moment he entered, the magic alloy gate slammed shut.
In the dim room, a beam of magical radiance lit up, illuminating a mirror as large as a three-story house.
What a majestic and magnificent mirror it was.
Standing before it, a human body seemed so small.
The surface of this massive silver mirror constantly emitted electric arcs—azure-blue arcs that revealed the powerful energy contained within its surface.
At the same time, Locke Augustine's reflection appeared in the mirror.
His reflection in the mirror was surrounded by countless currents of electricity, resembling a tree of fire and silver flowers, looking exceptionally beautiful.
Locke Augustine looked at the mirror and whispered, "Is this the ice magic mirror that costs at least thirty million magic stones and has an average price of fifty million?"
A massive magic pressure, like an endless mountain, radiated from the surface of the magic mirror, bearing down on Locke Augustine like a low-hanging dark cloud.
Simultaneously, Locke Augustine's reflection suddenly magnified in the mirror, growing to be three stories high, and the reflection's eyes released an azure-blue magical radiance, transforming into two spell-eyes.
At the same time, his reflection spoke in a cold tone: "I am the mirror spirit of the ice magic mirror. Please place the magic plant components you wish to test into the vessel and add the Developing Potion."
"Then, place it inside the ice magic mirror."
"This is the control console."
A magical light shone, illuminating a device next to the magic mirror that resembled a stone lectern. Magical buttons began to flicker on the lectern's surface.
The mirror spirit explained: "Through the control console, you will adjust parameters and initialize the ice magic mirror. You also need to adjust the observation angle of the items within the mirror at any time, the direction of data collection, and distinguish which are worth your attention and recording and which can be ignored."
"Do you require instruction?"
Locke Augustine calmly said, "I do."
The mirror spirit of the ice magic mirror was a collaborative product of Alchemists and wizards from the Spellcasting School. Alchemists provided the foundation for the external device, while wizards from the Spellcasting School used incantations to create the mirror spirit's consciousness.
Locke Augustine walked to the control console and took a transparent solution in a glass container from his astral ring. Previously, he had used a structure comparison machine and column chromatography elemental separation equipment to isolate the special natural magic structural component from the great yellow duck crown pineapple and placed it into the solution.
This step was also called 'purifying substances.'
In this way, the solution was no longer a mixed juice of the magic plant, but a certain elemental substance.
Locke Augustine had tested it before; giving this elemental substance directly to a Lightning Bee could also cause its bloodline to rapidly transform into a Lightning Bee King. The progress was faster and the effect more pronounced, but many Lightning Bees died after using this elemental solution alone.
The probability was about one-third.
Locke Augustine suspected that taking too much of the special natural magic structural component extracted from the great yellow duck crown pineapple in one dose had caused their deaths.
At this time, Locke Augustine picked up a bottle of Developing Potion from the control console. After a quick glance, he added the black Developing Potion into the glass vessel.
Developing Potion actually allowed the spirituality field of a certain substance to manifest, making it visible to the naked eye.
This way, certain characteristics of the substance could be observed more easily, especially those related to occultism.
Next, under the guidance of the mirror spirit, Locke Augustine held the glass vessel and stood before the magic mirror, then placed the glass vessel in his hand... into the mirror.
The surface of the mirror rippled like water, swallowing the glass vessel.
Then, the glass vessel appeared within the surface of the ice magic mirror, as if it had become a reflection inside the mirror.
An ice spell enveloped it, and in an instant, the object inside the glass vessel was frozen into ice.
The speed was extremely fast.
After the glass vessel was frozen into ice, its reflection inside the magic mirror began to rotate rapidly.
Locke Augustine quickly followed the mirror spirit's instructions. Through the control console, he controlled the microscopic lightning magic inside the magic mirror to fire an electron torrent to observe a specific location of a microscopic part of the item. Simultaneously, the top-left corner of the magic mirror displayed the microscopic structure of the observed natural magic structural component, as well as its spirituality structure and magic structure.
The ice magic mirror was a masterwork created by Alchemists, specifically the work of Alchemists from Dragonfall Land.
The ice magic mirror was filled with high-energy electron streams from a small sub-field of the Shaping School's lightning magic—microscopic lightning magic studies.
In this way, the high-energy electron streams could be used to observe scenes at the single-particle level, deconstructing the three-dimensional structure at the particle level of the elemental natural magic structural component isolated from the magic plant.
However, high-energy electron streams would destroy the natural magic structural component.
Observation and destruction occurred simultaneously.
Therefore, ice magic had to be used in an extremely short time to freeze the natural magic structural component to protect it, ensuring it wouldn't be destroyed the moment it was observed by the microscopic lightning magic.
With the addition of the Developing Potion, the lightning magic mirror could be used not only to observe the three-dimensional structure at the particle level of the natural magic structural component but also to observe its three-dimensional structure at the spirituality and magic levels.
At this time, Locke Augustine used the lightning magic mirror to perform three-dimensional structural mapping on three levels for the natural magic structural component of the pseudo-royal lightning field.
This usually required mapping hundreds of thousands of microscopic two-dimensional photos of this natural magic structural component, which were then synthesized into several three-dimensional structures of the pseudo-royal lightning field across the three levels.
Following the mirror spirit's instructions, Locke Augustine moved the microscopic high-level electron streams within the magic mirror bit by bit through the control console to map the three three-dimensional structures of this new natural magic structural component.
As a Third Ring level Magic item, the ice magic mirror was powerful. Thus, although Locke Augustine was very unskilled, he was still gradually parsing the three-dimensional structure of this new natural magic structural component.
In other words, discovering the existence of this natural magic structural component was the most difficult step.
Parsing this natural magic structural component was merely a matter of time.
No matter how poor Locke Augustine's technique was, after a few more tries, it would eventually be successful.
Ninety percent of the difficulty in using the ice magic mirror was actually handled by the mirror spirit, the automatic operating system of the Third Ring Magic item.
For example, the hardest part was preparing the sample and creating the ice layer, as the quality of the ice layer determined the quality of the observation. However, this step was done automatically by the mirror spirit.
Locke Augustine only needed to put the sample into the magic mirror.
The relatively difficult data collection and processing were also handled by the mirror spirit.
Locke Augustine only had to do the rest: choosing the collection points and selecting the areas for data gathering.
Even if the chosen collection points were poor, he could just try a few more times.
However, precisely because the functions of a Third Ring Magic item were so powerful, many people used them.
Therefore, what truly restricted Locke Augustine was the opportunity to use the ice magic mirror.
After all, he only had priority usage rights once a week.
Even with priority usage rights, he still had to wait in line, and he only got his turn after waiting for half the night.
An entire day passed, and by this time, Locke Augustine had taken tens of thousands of particle-level photos of this natural magic structural component. Then, suddenly, the reflection of the sample inside the ice magic mirror disappeared, replaced by a three-story-high reflection of Locke Augustine.
That was actually the mirror spirit displayed externally by the ice magic mirror.
The mirror spirit said calmly, "You have currently used this magic mirror for 12 hours, reaching the maximum limit for a single use."
"Please come back next time."
"You may choose to leave your sample within this magic mirror, and no wizard other than yourself has the authority to take the sample from the mirror. You can also choose to take the sample away, but please note that a removed sample cannot be used again."
"The sample you leave in this magic mirror can continue to be used next time. Please record the relevant data to ensure that during your next use, you can continue the experiment based on the work already completed."
"Welcome to use this magic mirror again next time."
Locke Augustine was somewhat speechless; he hadn't expected that a wizard could use an ice magic mirror for a maximum of only 12 consecutive hours.
However, this was considered reasonable.
The ice magic mirror was super Breeder equipment and a Third Ring Magic item.
Every day, a large number of wizards queued up to use the ice magic mirror. There were only two ice magic mirrors in the entire True Knowledge Institute, so naturally, many people used them.
If a wizard were allowed to use it indefinitely, there would likely be cases where someone would find a way to bring a large amount of living supplies and forcibly live in the ice magic mirror room for several months.
Locke Augustine thought for a moment. "I've only finished about a quarter of the work, but that's because I'm not proficient. Once I am, I should be able to reduce the time needed."
It was only after using the ice magic mirror that Locke Augustine realized that the level of proficiency in using a Third Ring Magic item like the ice magic mirror could greatly determine the speed and quality of your results.
Although the ice magic mirror was powerful and thus guaranteed a minimum level of utility, the upper limit of its use was still determined by the wizard.
The difference was like the difference between taking photos with a mobile phone and using a DSLR camera.
The more proficient a wizard was with the ice magic mirror, the more clearly and accurately they could parse the three-dimensional structure of the natural magic structural component.
Of course, truly knowing how to use the ice magic mirror involved adjusting the mirror spirit, which probably required a Second Ring Wizard or even a Third Ring Wizard to achieve.
Locke Augustine also understood why researchers from the ordinary True Knowledge Institute would show extreme envy whenever he mentioned having weekly priority usage of the ice magic mirror.
After all, more frequent use of the ice magic mirror meant that proficiency could increase, which meant the opportunity for and quality of results would improve proportionally.
In a sense, researchers at the Hall of Advanced True Knowledge did indeed enjoy immense privilege.
Locke Augustine turned and left the ice magic mirror room. He left the sample in the magic mirror; after all, if he took it out, all the work done previously would have to be redone.
Leaving the sample inside was relatively safe.
The ice magic mirror was powerful, and wizards of Golden Crown Mountain could use it for hundreds of types of experiments; no one would care about what exactly he had brought to work on.
Besides, once the sample was removed from the magic mirror, it would become invalid. Therefore, whether someone had touched it in the interim would be plain to see.
Moreover, with the guarantee of the Third Ring Magic item's mirror spirit, unless it was a Third Ring Throne Wizard like Witch Yekaterina, no wizard should be able to take his sample out of the ice magic mirror.
And there was simply no possibility that a sample prepared by a mere First Ring Crystallized Wizard like himself would be noticed by a Third Ring Wizard...
When Locke Augustine walked out of the ice magic mirror room, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon. The sun was high, and bright sunlight shone on his face.
At this time, the researcher from the ordinary True Knowledge Institute waiting outside looked impatient. He only gave Locke Augustine a slight nod in greeting before quickly walking into the ice magic mirror room, opening the magic alloy gate, and entering.
For a researcher from the ordinary True Knowledge Institute, waiting for an opportunity to use an ice magic mirror could likely take half a month to a month.
They often needed to apply to use the ice magic mirror a month in advance.
Therefore, every opportunity to use the ice magic mirror absolutely could not be wasted.
Locke Augustine went to Team Leader Kelt's office and applied once again for the use of the sunlight magic mirror.
Team Leader Kelt looked at Locke Augustine strangely. "To simply verify the key types of natural magic structural component within a magic plant, you only need to use the structure comparison machine, or for more rigor, the ice magic mirror."
"What do you want to use the sunlight magic mirror for? Wizards in Group Six basically don't use the sunlight magic mirror."
Locke Augustine knew there was a sunlight magic mirror worth sixty million magic stones in the public breeding room, and according to his contract, he also had priority usage rights once a week.
Locke Augustine said, "Teacher Kelt, I have the right to apply, and my current experiment indeed requires its use."
Indeed, if he were only doing the work of Group Six, he basically wouldn't use the sunlight magic mirror except for discovering new natural magic structural component, but he was indeed going to parse a brand-new natural magic structural component.
That required not only using the ice magic mirror to parse its three-dimensional structure but also using the sunlight magic mirror to parse its functional characteristics at the particle, spirituality, and magic levels.
Locke Augustine added, "In addition, I also want to apply to use the Electromagnetic Magic Mirror."
The wizards in Group Six actually used the Electromagnetic Magic Mirror quite frequently.
Among the Three Great Magic Mirrors, the ice magic mirror looked at three-dimensional structures, the sunlight magic mirror looked at functional characteristics, and the Electromagnetic Magic Mirror looked at the entire process of the natural magic structural component's action pathways within a living organism.
Celtic wanted to say something, but just then a researcher from the ordinary True Knowledge Institute in Group Six walked over to report on work. Celtic could only immediately sign his name on the two application forms Locke Augustine provided.
He nodded to Locke Augustine and then looked at the researcher. "Are the results out for the volatile substance in the Great Strength Grass that actively attracts ant-like magical creatures? According to my prediction, it should be the Structure No. 5—a Grease-like spell natural magic component structure. If it's not Structure No. 5, then it's Structure No. 8. Let me see the results."
After Locke Augustine got the application forms, he went directly to the other two magic mirror rooms in the public laboratory.
Locke Augustine waited for a long time and then entered the sunlight magic mirror room.
The sunlight magic mirror room was filled with high temperatures, and the mirror surface was also three stories high. It also contained a mirror spirit to assist in his operations.
Locke Augustine poured the Developing Potion into the glass vessel. Once the sample was prepared, he placed the glass vessel into the sunlight magic mirror and began analyzing the functional characteristics of this natural magic structural component.