Chess Mage of Faerûn

Chapter 152 Herbart's Box
After flipping through these notebooks during his journey, Zhang Yuan roughly understood the gist of what happened back then.

I had thought that the box, which looked like a case of buying the box and returning the pearl, was actually a treasure.

This object, known as the Herbart Box, was the result of the mage's research, or rather, the final product of his research.

Zhang Yuan took out the square box and examined the object in his hand again. The various patterns and inscribed runes on it were indeed very mysterious; in other words, he still couldn't understand them.

Fortunately, this item is a very complete finished product, with all functions encapsulated and integrated into the box itself. Anyone with a certain level of alchemy knowledge and spellcasting ability can use it without any problems.

It's like a computer. No matter how complex the internal structure is or how high the requirements for chip manufacturing processes are, it has little to do with the user. As long as you have a certain level of knowledge and skills, you can use it with ease.

Of course, this seemingly foolproof operation only applies to the spellcaster; it's not exactly difficult, but it's not necessarily easy either.

Even with his appraisal skills, Zhang Yuan couldn't get any useful information from the box. He had to study his notes and figure out how to use it by guessing and deciphering.

As for ordinary people?
"This thing isn't for fools like you." These were Herbart's words to the curious Bodean.

This box is the integrated manifestation of the duplex charging matrix. It looks like a box half a meter square, but it integrates all the spell circuits and nodes into one, which can be described as the chip technology of the arcane field.

And this thing does exactly what its name suggests—charge—but it can be used on a wider range of objects.

According to Herbart's notes, even one-time spell scrolls could be reused several times with the help of this tool, rather than being consumable items.

However, if this thing were so powerful, it wouldn't have ended up as a burial item in the tomb; instead, it would have been passed down through the ages as a divine artifact.

First of all, there's the cost. Normal charging is fine, but if you're charging a disposable item like a scroll, not only do you need to place it on an open box device during use to avoid damaging the scroll itself, but the cost of charging it afterwards is just as high as the cost of charging the scroll itself.

That's ridiculous! In most cases, scrolls are for emergency use, so where do you find the time to prepare all this nonsense? And the cost issue also makes this approach quite unnecessary.

This is the fundamental reason why the Herbart box was not mass-produced: firstly, the cost was too high, and secondly, its practicality was simply questionable.

However, it's not entirely fair to call it a useless item. At least for some rare and valuable items that are priceless, it has extraordinary significance, especially something like a health manual, which is something that becomes rare with each copy.

only--

The charging time is eight years.

"It's still a waste of time," Zhang Yuan sighed inwardly. But he could understand it. Otherwise, what would happen if he just kept consuming one Body Tempering Book a day? Did he want to transform into the Terasque behemoth?

In the end, Zhang Yuan did not use the manual. Although it was very tempting, he was not in a hurry. He planned to first thoroughly understand how to use the box and conduct several experiments with other items before using the manual, so as to preserve the box itself and recharge it.

Although eight years is too long, at least there is something to look forward to, right?

Back in Belgostre, they entered the Joyful Street Performers' Rest area.

With four days remaining until the expected completion date of the Burrower Armor, the captain left Debard and Münster to go off and have some fun, while he stayed at the inn to continue studying the pile of notes and materials at hand.

If it weren't for the limited time this time hadn't been spent here, Zhang Yuan would have simply handed the box to his mentor, a Grand Mage of Tyranitar, who might not have been stumped by it. Now, he could only rely on his own efforts to study it on his own, trying to understand as much of the relatively basic knowledge in these notes and related texts as possible. He didn't need to understand the principles, but at least he needed to know how to use it.

The two musketeers had a great time these past few days. Having just made a windfall, and with nothing else on their minds, they went arm in arm to several inns in town to drink, brag, and chat about everything under the sun.

By the third day, Zhang Yuan finally had a clear understanding of how to use the Herbart box.

To charge a level 1 spell scroll, the only cost is the mental energy required for another level 1 spell, which is a spell slot.

It saves the trouble of making a new scroll by using a piece of parchment and drawing a pattern.

However, this was only the lowest grade of scroll; the high-grade ones were not so easily dealt with.

According to Herbart's records, just to preserve the carrier of the health manual, one would need a precious magic gem or crystal core, strong enough to hold nine-ring arcane magic. When using it, the power of the magic gem would be channeled into the gem to prevent damage to the manual.

The ritual required to power it is no less expensive than that of a wish spell. The advantage is that the caster does not need to know how to make a wish, nor does he need to come into contact with the magic network of the ninth layer.

All the spell models are still preserved in the manual itself. All the caster has to do is consume a lot of precious materials and their own spiritual and even soul power to charge them.

Does that mean I'm giving you a manual to charge your character, but it also makes you lose a level?
The key point is that, based on Herbart's personal experience, this expenditure of soul power was not insignificant, equivalent to one-fifth of his own spellcasting level.

Incidentally, Herbart was a high-level spellcaster with 16 spellcasting levels at the time, just a few steps away from becoming an archmage.

One-fifth of his spellcasting level experience?
Just thinking about how much soul power he would have to lose and how much of his spellcaster's level he would have to sacrifice to charge a level nine arcane spell sent chills down Zhang Yuan's spine.

It's a complete waste of time and energy. Unless I reach the legendary level one day and have nothing better to do, I won't do something so fundamentally stupid.

However, it's perfectly fine to make a small attempt right now.

The Herbart Box opens from the waistline and, when laid flat, looks like two miniature ritual altars of the same size pieced together.

One is a charging magic circle, and the other is a discharging magic circle used when using magical items.

A mage took out a magic scroll for a shield spell from his storage bag and placed it into the altar. After processing it according to the procedure, he began to cast the spell recorded on it.

A pale blue light flashed, and the shield spell was successfully applied to Zhang Yuan. Looking down, the scroll itself was also successfully preserved.

However, the magical aura contained in the scroll has completely dissipated. To recharge it, one must infuse the memorized spell models into it through the box. The magic circle engraved inside the box will then restore it to pure spiritual energy.

Zhang Yuan placed the scroll on the charging altar on the other side, took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the gem at the input end, trying to input another spell from today's memories: Magic Missile.

Suddenly, a long-awaited system notification rang in his mind!

(End of this chapter)