It's been a few days since I set up my tent and started my vacation. Although the sun still does not rise or fall here, the glowing clouds at the boundary of space dim for half the time each day, and this change in light and darkness is enough to keep time. The portal still hasn't opened, and Qian Jing's woven bag still can't be contacted by the White Flag grocery store. He asked a stickman in charge of guarding to observe the soles of his feet to see when the protective ring would appear. As long as the protective ring comes out, it means that you can go home.

"Villain, don't you think about it anymore? The playing field is there, and the ultimate magic treasure is inside. We know that you are very powerful, you can enter places where others can't enter, and the protective barrier of this competition venue will definitely not be difficult for you!"

I can't count the first time Hu Ga has come to persuade Qian Jing, but every time it's the same. Qian Jing was very helpless, since he showed that he could open the door of the cell without a password, and use the "magic array" to pass through any wall, the two-headed ogre regarded him as a master key and a super city breaker, or added titles such as "the best (used) thief in the multiverse". It seems that in his opinion, as long as there is a money mirror, any obstacle is empty. Fortunately, the three people from the relevant departments are now in a coma and amnesia, and I hope they don't remember how they escaped from prison, otherwise Qian Jing will definitely be monitored after returning to Earth.

"First of all, any paint will bounce off that barrier, so I can't create a magic circle on top of the protective barrier - I can't draw it at all, can I? I can't get through it without it, and that's it. ”

The two-headed ogre came prepared this time, and the two heads came up with a good idea: "Let's dig a pit in the ground in advance, and you use your Piercing Magic Array in the pit in the direction of the barrier enchantment." Isn't it possible to draw a magic circle on a flat earth? as long as you determine the direction, go through that barrier, and then you'll be able to do it after entering!"

Qian Jing pondered carefully at first, and then shook his head: "It's too risky to draw a magic array like this. Walk through a wall, no matter how hard it is, as long as you give me enough time to draw, it's safe. And through the magic barrier? Look at those three smaller guys, who were compressed when they passed through the magic barrier, and they were worse than you. The unknowable danger is too great, and I would never do that. ”

"We take the risk, villain, you are responsible for making the magic array, is this okay?"

"Huga, I can understand that you want to go in and participate in the competition, but you are my friend, so I will not help you with this. Qian Jing pointed around: "Tell me, in addition to protecting the enchantment, apart from those of us who escaped from prison, is there anything else?"

"A one-way portal and some statues?"

"yes, exactly! Except for a closed portal, there's nothing of value here. If you think about it, the portal is always closed, and with the space's own protective capabilities, no one can get in. So why do you need to set up a protective barrier? Let me tell you, the main function of this barrier is not to prevent people from entering at all, but to prevent the contents from coming out. The Ultimate Magic Competition, you know it's hard when you hear the name, and a big part of the difficulty is terrifying monsters......"

"What about monsters! We are not afraid of danger!" Hu Ka angrily interrupted Qian Jing's words and said loudly: "If you don't know that the ultimate magic competition is risky, then you are not qualified to participate in it at all! What is a monster, we can kill it! Participating in the competition is our choice!"

Qian Jing sighed and motioned for Hu Ga to calm down first. "As I said, piercing the barrier of magic spells will have an unknown effect. Getting smaller is just a possibility, maybe the next time you encounter it is a direct strangulation of spatial turbulence, just like the void. If nothing else, even if it's just a reduction in size that doesn't endanger life, do you think you still have enough strength and magical ability to survive the ultimate magic competition after you continue to get smaller? It's your business that you want to die, and it's my business that I don't want to lose a friend, do you understand?"

"We're your friends, that's why you won't open the passage for us, what if we're not your friends?"

"I'm not a friend, I'm too lazy to care about you!I'm busy studying!" Qian Jing waved his hand angrily.

Hu Ga fell into deep thought, patting his belly rhythmically with one hand and making a dull thumping sound. After a while, he spoke, and finally stopped mentioning the matter of letting Qian Jing open the passage through the boundary.

"We are two heads, villains, and you should add the word 'we' when you call us. ”

"Well, I'll try to pay attention. "This matter is finally over, and Qian Jing can also concentrate on practicing magic and painting.

For Qian Jing, magic and painting have largely become the same thing, the only difference is whether it is the elements or the shaping ink that is controlled by the mind. Due to the lack of affinity and mages who are skilled in water elemental energy, the development of water elemental magic spells has been completely stagnant for a long time. Aside from a few spells that mimic other elemental systems, such as water mirrors, water arrows, and water walls, there are no truly distinctive spells. And even these spells are less powerful than their counterparts from other elements. As for mutating water into ice like game skills, spells such as ice blades, ice arrows, and ice storms don't exist at all. The scorching desert climate of Stronghold makes it much more difficult to turn water into ice.

"So there's only two ways to go further: either find it yourself, or you'll have to go to other wizarding worlds and see if you can learn from it, which is obviously more efficient. Because of this consideration, Qian Jing didn't spend too much time on the water arrow and water wall spells, it was enough to learn them. The power of these two spells is too weak, and the water archery technique can't even shoot the money mirror, and it is not as good as the stickman's throwing gun, which can only be used for party entertainment. Only the Water Mirror (Water Lock Spell variant) can assist Qian Jing in practicing elemental meditation and control, and he usually practices it more.

Spells aren't very powerful, but there's a lot to learn when it comes to magic circles. Of the few books that Qian Jing got from Teacher Yuna, most of them talked about magic arrays. Since water has the best circulation and plasticity, this is incomparable to the earth element. Moreover, the magic array composed of the water element will not fail due to sparseness like the air element, nor will it fuse and damage as often as the fire element, so it is actually the best medium for the magic array.

The magic array is also a craft, and it is a craft that is widely used and has a bright future. In Fortress Star, magic arrays are used in all aspects of life, and it can be said that there is a magic circle on every brick - in the form of magic reinforcement runes.

There are magic circles in all kinds of magic items, from a magic torch that can emit light, to an entire magic tower and a half-plane castle, from a pair of scissors that can automatically fix your nails, to a powerful golem that can kill in and out of thousands of troops. The magic circle connects magic spells, magic materials, and magic power, and acts as a support like the motherboard and bus of a computer. Moreover, not only on the fortress star, but also on the planets of other magical civilizations, there is a magic array system, and use it as the spine, and various spells as flesh and blood, so as to combine them into a powerful and flexible whole.

The spells are ever-changing, and it is difficult to unify them due to the influence of language and customs, but the magic array is more influenced by basic logic, basic organizational forms, and overall planning, etc., and is constantly updated and iterated, and many aspects tend to be the same. Some commonly used magic arrays have produced standards and become a universal commodity, circulating in the multiverse. Making magic circles is a lucrative business, and selling magic arrays is also a lucrative business. Qian Jing can't build his life's capital on stinky tofu, right? The magic array obviously has a broader market. Even if you can't become the best craftsman, it is a good choice to practice your eyesight and become a qualified businessman.

Yuna-sensei has the technique of three-dimensional painting, and she is also an expert in magic arrays. When teaching Qian Jing, she once said: "I have always felt that the three-dimensional painting technique can be used in the magic array, so as to create a new type of magic array, or even a series of new types, but I have not yet succeeded in experimenting." Yuna left her experience in painting and magic array in a few books and gave it to Qian Jing, hoping that he would experiment together and study the possibility of combining the two together.

Qian Jing has almost practiced three-dimensional painting, and even came up with a three-dimensional painting in a "concave" state, which can be regarded as a success. However, he is still in the initial stage of magic array, and he needs to start with the most basic practice. This time, Qian Jing took the initiative to go to prison, and Qian Jing did not carry the books of Teacher Yuna with him, one was afraid of losing and the other was afraid of damage, even if it was dirty, it was not good. He could only practice from memory, sometimes asking Huga for advice, and the rest was relying on the magical spell measuring board.

This spell testing board was given to him by Teacher Yuna when Qian Jing graduated, a palm-sized metal sheet, smooth on one side and rough on the other, exuding a gold and silver luster. When a magic circle is drawn on it with water elementals, the spell palette glows slightly blue, and the better the magic circle is completed, the brighter the light becomes. Teacher Yuna said that the best magic array should make the spell test board glow golden, which seems to be a bit far away, and Qian Jing still needs a lot of effort.

"What's that?" Hu Ga's dream of competing became more and more boring after being rejected by Qian Jing. He went round and round, rounded the small clearing, and then turned back boredly. "Little man, what are you drawing on it?"

"This is the spell test board of the magic array, which my teacher gave me to tell me about the completion of the magic array. This way, even if the teacher is not around, I can know what is right and wrong and practice on my own. Qian Jing was intently drawing on the spell measuring board, and he didn't raise his head.

"How come we've never heard of this kind of thing? Hmph, is it because the teacher is afraid that this thing will rob him of his job, so he didn't say it? It must be like this!" Since it was a magic thing, Hu Ga became interested, and squatted next to him and looked at it for a while. He frowned from time to time, and the two heads communicated silently, as if he was a little confused by the magic array drawn by Qian Mirror. "Is this a cause and effect circle, and how is it different from what I taught you?"

"Oh, it should be that this spell gauge is a product of the Fortress Star, so it uses the standard of the Fortress Star. The magic array you gave me didn't score much, and I kept modifying it according to the habits of the fortress star, and it became like this. Qian Jing put down his pen, raised his head and said, "It's not that Hu Ga, your magic array is wrong, it's just that the limitations of this board are so big, and I can only practice like this." ”

"What we teach you is a really good magic array, and it can be ranked first in the multiverse. There are some good things on Stronghold, like the Earth Crystal Golem and the Doomsday Lava Spell - but their magic circles are mediocre. Seeing that Qian Jing stopped drawing, Hu Ga picked up the spell measuring board, his eyes full of curiosity: "This thing...... How do we think this thing is kind of like that?"

"What is it? Can you tell me clearly? ”

"Actually, we haven't seen it, but we've heard of it. Forget it, this can't be...... Spell tester, that's good. If we go back to Stronghold, we'll have to ask how this thing is sold. Hu Gga put down the spell measuring board, hummed a song of some nonsense on their planet, and went to check the Guardian Golem with his hands behind his back.

Ever since he completely rejected Hu Ga, Qian Jing had been worried that this two-headed ogre would become impulsive, threatening him with force to draw a magic array through the realm, and even punching himself in anger to open the scoop. But what is very unusual is that in addition to being a little bored, Hu Ga is in a good mood most of the time, and he feels closer to Qian Jing. It turned out that he would only ask Qian Jing to do this and that, or taunt him, or praise him very politely, but now these are gone. Hu Ga began to care about Qian Jing's studies, sometimes taking the initiative to teach him, and other times chatting about family life and interesting things happening around him—the atmosphere became more relaxed and intimate. Maybe this is the impact of Qian Jing's sentence "You are my friend, I can't watch you die".

It's a good thing anyway. Qian Jing rubbed his face and watched the dark blue light on the spell test board gradually dissipate. The dark blue color means that he has thoroughly mastered a magic array configuration and can start learning the next one. This is quite an excellent result, mainly due to Qian Jing's stable basic painting skills, high concentration ability, and strong affinity for the water element. It's just that Qian Jing's memory is average, and there is no book for reference, Hu Ga got into the golem again, and Qian Jing has nothing to practice. He tried to recall the contents of the book, but all that was left was the ultimate difficulty he saw when he turned the last page.

In the flat magic circle, make the three water elemental lines perpendicular to each other through a magic rune called "Liang". If it is in a three-dimensional shape, this is definitely a piece of cake, but it is impossible to put it in a flat magic array. Qian Jing still remembers Yuna's notes next to her: "I guessed that 3D drawing could complete it, but the whole research fell into an endless loop. Why does this type of magic circle need it? I'm curious to see what it's going to be used for. Hopefully one day we will find a way to make it happen. ”

"After all, three-dimensional painting is just a simulation, and only mind-shaping ink can bring simulation to life. Qian Jing's experience from the "Magic Array" of the Boundary Piercing Well and the "Magic Array" of the doorknob made him understand what Yuna-sensei was missing. He was also curious about what effect the three lines perpendicular to each other on this plane could have.

"The magic array does not generate energy out of thin air, no matter what this 'three-way' magic array wants to accomplish, it needs to absorb energy from me or from the surroundings first. Mind-shaping ink creates something that only takes a thought to dissipate, so the danger is manageable. After Qian Jing made some trade-offs, he began to use the three-dimensional drawing method to complete this magic array on the spell measuring board.

With one rune and three lines, the composition is not complicated and is completed in a moment. The "bright" runes flickered, alternating blue, white, and red light, faster and faster. The surrounding elements react very smoothly and do not appear to be in any danger. At the same time, the spell measuring board glowed with a golden light.

"Jin Guang, does this mean that I have graduated?" Qian Jing snapped his fingers and stopped the "Three-Directional" magic array. An earthy yellow Stronghold script slowly appeared on the spell tablet, reading "Guide to the Ultimate Magic Competition".

Qian Jing found that a golden circle of light appeared around him, and the surrounding scenery began to blur. Then, with a flash of earthy yellow light, he found himself on the inside of the Ultimate Arena, the other end of the Guardian Enchantment.

In front of him, there is the entrance to the magic competition, and a humanoid golem with the words "Ticket Inspection" written on its chest is bowing to him.