Chapter 231 – Human Body Alchemy Magic

Chapter 231 – Human Body Alchemy Magic

With hands-on alchemy practice approaching, Mo Lan mulled it over—wouldn’t it be convenient to learn a particular alchemy spell ahead of time?

She had a fairly solid understanding of alchemy magic by now.

Beyond alchemy magic itself, there were many spells derived from runes.

These spells had another name: human body alchemy magic.

This was because these spells involved inscribing alchemical runes on specific parts of the human body to achieve temporary magical augmentation effects.

However, only a small number of individual runes and rune combinations could be inscribed on the human body, and the effects weren’t permanent, which was why they were classified under alchemy magic.

Rune Eye was one such spell, built around the “Reveal” rune as its core.

By inscribing the “Reveal” rune on one’s eyelid, one could see runes that had been concealed from view.

There were several methods for inscribing alchemical runes. The most basic was knife carving, a step above that was drawing with brush and ink, and only the highest level involved tracing directly with mana.

Knife-carved and brush-drawn runes could be seen with the naked eye, while mana-traced runes could be observed through Witch Sight.

But magical items whose runes or runic energy traces could be detected carried an inherent additional risk of being destroyed.

Follow the runes, and every strike would land true.

Even with protective measures, they couldn’t withstand precision attacks.

That was why most magical items incorporated concealment runes as an added layer of protection.

And Rune Eye was the spell that could see through that layer of protection, making hidden runes, rune combinations, magic circles, and energy circuits visible to the caster.

It could help with both destroying alchemical runes and repairing or inscribing them.

If she could learn it, crafting magical items would definitely go twice as smoothly.

However, human body alchemy magic like Rune Eye couldn’t use carving knives or brush and ink to draw alchemical runes—it required direct inscription with mana.

Mana inscription was the most difficult of all methods, requiring thorough understanding of both the rune’s meaning and its form, with zero margin for error.

Generally speaking, human body alchemy magic was only attempted after reaching a certain level of proficiency in alchemy magic and becoming skilled at inscribing runes with mana.

At Mo Lan’s current level, where she hadn’t even fully grasped runes yet, it wasn’t really appropriate for her to learn.

But fortunately, failing to inscribe the “Reveal” rune wouldn’t produce any serious side effects like other individual runes might.

At worst, too many failed attempts might cause mild swelling of the eyelid, which could be relieved with a cold compress.

Rune Eye was already the easiest human body alchemy spell to learn, and it was the most recommended first attempt for witches new to human body alchemy magic.

It was precisely because the side effects were minor and manageable that Mo Lan had the courage to try it ahead of schedule.

Of course, she did have a degree of confidence.

Mana inscription had only two requirements: understanding the rune’s appearance and understanding the rune’s meaning.

She absolutely knew what the Reveal rune looked like—that went without saying.

As for the rune’s meaning, that wasn’t a problem either.

Though she hadn’t finished reading all the alchemy books, she’d read quite a few.

And it wasn’t as if you needed to completely understand every nuance of a rune’s meaning before you could inscribe it with mana—fifty percent comprehension was roughly sufficient.

Mo Lan had read so many books that she had accumulated a massive collection of alchemy formulas in her head. With a bit of organizing, understanding just the single “Reveal” rune to a degree sufficient for mana inscription wouldn’t be much of a problem.

After all, the reason learning individual runes was such a heavy workload for her was the need to accumulate enough reference material. But once she’d learned them, her depth of understanding was naturally superior to the vague, fuzzy impressions most witches had after completing their study of individual runes.

She closed her eyes and sorted through every alchemical blueprint in her mind that featured the Reveal rune, analyzing the role this rune played in each one.

Her mind worked far faster than her eyes could read.

Even with so much material to sort through and analyze, her initial organization took only a few hours. Still worried it wouldn’t be enough, she brainstormed a while longer.

Finally, she drew several “Reveal” runes on paper and found that they came out as if copy-pasted from memory—each one completed in a single stroke without any issues. Satisfied, Mo Lan faced a water mirror, opened one eye and closed the other, channeled her mana, and converted it into a branch of gold elemental force—runic force.

Then she let the runic force flow steadily and slowly across her eyelid, forming a “Reveal” rune.

Channeling mana wasn’t hard, and inscribing a “Reveal” rune wasn’t hard either, but controlling mana to flow steadily along a fixed path across the eyelid was far from easy.

Her mana flow was either too thick or too thin, and sometimes it wasn’t stable enough.

The slightest deviation rendered it unusable, and she could only guide the gold elemental force to dissipate, which helped reduce the discomfort on her eyelid.

When one eye failed, she switched to the other.

She alternated between both eyes.

But unlike what the books described, she didn’t experience any eyelid discomfort requiring cold compresses.

Even after numerous failed attempts, Mo Lan’s eyes showed no problems whatsoever.

This gave her even more opportunities for trial and error.

Individual runes weren’t inherently complex—each could be completed in a single stroke.

And Mo Lan was exceptionally good at learning from her mistakes, improving with each attempt.

Through sheer persistence, she managed to inscribe a stable “Reveal” rune.

But she wasn’t done yet. After checking the rune’s integrity, Mo Lan steadied her breathing slightly, then layered mana over it and gave a gentle push.

She pushed the entire Reveal rune beneath her eyelid, affixing it to her eyeball.

Only then was Rune Eye truly complete.

Opening her left eye—the one enhanced with Rune Eye—the previously unremarkable earthen walls of the dormitory took on an entirely different appearance.

“Good heavens, what kind of magic circle is this? The range of runic force is enormous! I’ve never seen rune combinations like these either—they look incredibly complex!”

Mo Lan hurriedly called out to the Headmistress.

“That’s a ‘One-Click Restoration Magic Circle.’ The previous Headmistress developed it during her tenure. She’s still in the prime of her life and making money off that very thing…”

The rest went unsaid, but Mo Lan understood.

Witches were generous with their legacies—they’d donate without hesitation. But if a witch was still young? Sorry, those were private assets. Making them public? Out of the question.

It was perfectly normal that Mo Lan had never encountered someone’s signature technique.

Just because she could see runes now didn’t mean she could see everything—the observational power of Apprentice-level Rune Eye had its limits.

She could roughly make out about eighty to ninety percent of the runes on Beginner-level alchemical items.

Judging by the range of runic force and the number of runes she could detect, this magic circle was at least Peak level.

The runes beyond her detection would only be more numerous—she didn’t dare imagine how high this magic circle’s actual level might be.

However, no matter what level of mastery one achieved with Rune Eye, it was impossible to discern an alchemical rune combination’s inscription path, combination method, or underlying principles.

If one had sufficient understanding of individual runes, one could use them to guess at a magic circle’s function.

But without the alchemical blueprint, recreating it on one’s own would be impossible.

To independently develop a magic circle this complex—how much effort and energy must that have taken!

The previous Headmistress, it seemed, was quite a remarkable witch indeed.