Returning to his humble single room, he sat down at his desk. He pulled up the three sets of notes, feeding them into DSeek as he reviewed them.
"DSeek, load the purchased notes. Cross-reference them with the official textbook and my own structural analysis of Rune 02. Analyze their accuracy, efficiency, and instructional value."
[Analyzing...]
The three sets of notes, representing the top tier available on the market, were compared and contrasted in his mind.
The notes that cost one Magic Stone were a mess. The handwriting was sloppy, the organization was chaotic, and it was full of abbreviations only the author could understand, making it of limited help to others.
The two-Magic Stone notes were better, neatly organized by topic with key points highlighted.
It was a decent summary of the course material—something a diligent student could do themselves, but buying it certainly saved time.
The 2.5-Magic Stone notes from the top-scoring senior were the best. They didn't just summarize the material but also included personal insights that connected concepts from different courses.
Regarding the "Release" Rune, the notes correctly identified the final closing of the loop as a common point of failure.
The suggested solution was "to increase Spiritual Power output by ten percent during the final closure to overcome the instability."
"DSeek, evaluate."
[Evaluation complete. The content of the 2.5-Magic Stone notes is accurate, but the solution is suboptimal. The suggestion to 'increase Spiritual Power output' is a brute-force method. It is effective for apprentices with high aptitude for Spiritual Power, but for average apprentices, it increases the probability of explosive failure and leads to more severe backlash. This solution treats the symptom, not the cause.]
"What's the root cause?"
[Based on the inscription principles of anchor runes, the root of the instability is an imbalance in the fluctuations generated when the Rune's Energy Circuits close. The optimal solution is not to suppress it with force. Instead, in the penultimate step, the input strength of the Spiritual Power stream should be adjusted to 0.8 times its original level, allowing for a smooth closure. This method requires less energy, and the risk of backlash is nearly zero.]
'This is the difference.'
'The difference between a genius apprentice and a supercomputer.'
The apprentice found a method that worked for him, while DSeek found a universally applicable and correct method. It was the difference between a folk remedy and a pharmaceutical formula.
Allen's plan became perfectly clear.
He wouldn't just be selling answers. He would be selling understanding, efficiency, a better path.
His "knowledge-for-a-fee service" was no longer just a concept.
It now had a product, a target market, a pricing strategy, and a clear competitive advantage.
He would start with the forums, start small. He would find posts from people struggling with Wizard's Hand, and instead of selling anything, he would first offer a piece of advice for free.
He would build his reputation with a simple, effective tip.
A successful case study would be the "free sample" to attract his first customers.
Then, when they returned for more help, he would launch his "sparring partner" service.
It would offer comprehensive assistance by using DSeek to analyze the data from the client's Spiritual Power construction process.
The price? Perhaps five Magic Stones per session.
Equivalent to a recovery potion, the value proposition was crystal clear: "If you're going to spend five Magic Stones anyway, do you want to use them to recover from your next failure, or spend them with me to make sure you never fail this step again?"
'This was a perfect, self-sustaining loop.'
Use his advantage to earn Magic Stones, use the Magic Stones to buy potions, and use the potions to support both DSeek and his own practice, further expanding his advantage.
'Don't touch the upper-year apprentices' business.'
'Start from the very bottom, quietly accumulating resources and power.'
By now, the sky was growing dark. He could feel the drain on his Spiritual Power from his earlier practice—a tangible, dull ache.
He stood up from his chair and stretched.
But instead of heading to bed, he focused his mind once more.
A sense of urgency was a whip at his back, compelling him to polish his first product to perfection before its launch.
The complete magic model for Wizard's Hand, left by his mentor, appeared in his mind.
DSeek immediately overlaid it with a dense layer of information. Lines of different colors represented the intensity of Spiritual Power, efficiency ratings were marked in percentages at each Rune's connection point, and the most common failure points, summarized from forum data, were flagged with conspicuous red warning symbols.
What he had to do was deconstruct it completely, master every detail, and prepare a simple and effective "lesson plan" for every "difficult case" he might encounter.
'The first Magic Stone is the hardest to earn.'
He had to ensure that when he reached out his hand, that Magic Stone would land securely in his palm.
His gaze finally settled on the complex energy node of the "Pointing" Rune. Threads of Spiritual Power began to probe it, analyzing every part of its structure.
To most apprentices, the most basic cantrip, Wizard's Hand, was a hazy whole—a single motion to be mastered through endless practice and muscle memory.
But in Allen's mind, its five Runes were broken down into thirty-seven connection nodes.
The "Pointing" Rune was just one of the easiest parts to get wrong. DSeek's analysis further pointed out that the subsequent "Field Shaping" and "Stable Grip" Runes were also major hurdles for novices.
The former required the Caster to shape formless Magic Power into an invisible hand, demanding extremely high precision in Spiritual Power control. The latter required real-time adjustment of the field's strength based on the object's weight and material when gripping it; too much power could crush the target, while too little would cause it to slip.
Allen prepared concise and effective "lesson plans" for these two difficulties as well.
For "Field Shaping," his advice was: "Don't try to construct the entire hand at once. First, build a stable 'wrist' Energy Ring as a base. Then, extend five independent energy 'fingertips' from that base. Finally, fill in the field between the fingertips. Building it in stages is far more stable than forming it all at once."
For "Stable Grip," his technique was even more counterintuitive: "Give up on trying to 'perceive' the object's weight with your Spiritual Power—that just divides your attention. Instead, imagine the field as an automatically tightening fluid bladder. You only need to define the bladder's minimum contraction limit and let the Magic Power itself adapt to the object's shape and weight. The learner's job is to set the rules, not to do the heavy lifting personally."
Every tip was derived from a thorough dissection of the magic's underlying logic.
He wasn't preparing fish; he was preparing the simplest, most understandable blueprints for making a fishing rod.
Although his Magic Power was too low to actually perform the magic, he was confident he wouldn't make a mistake, as nonchalant as a top student turning in a math test without double-checking the answers.
With his preparations complete, he stood up again, left his room, and walked over to the stone panel embedded in the wall.
He inserted his card into the slot and opened the [Public Forum]. He didn't reply to that one thread; the senior from the previous year had probably been eliminated long ago.
He chose to create a new post.
Title: "A Thought on the 'Pointing' Component of Wizard's Hand"
A lot of people get stuck on "Pointing." For constructing this Rune, my advice is... I hope this helps you all.
He didn't mention a word about the subsequent "Shaping" and "Grip," as that was the bait for paying customers. After posting, he didn't linger for a second, immediately logging out of the system and retrieving his card.
The message was out. All that was left was to wait. He believed that after the next "Logic and Magic Models" class, the bewildered apprentices would come seeking him out.
The depletion of his Spiritual Power would take time to recover, and he currently had no potions to speed up the process.
He lay down on his bed, closed his eyes, and began the most basic breathing exercises, feeling his spirit grow a little stronger as it slowly recovered.
Time ticked by, second by second.
The footsteps of late-returning apprentices occasionally echoed from the hallway, and the dormitory area gradually sank into a deep, dead silence.
Allen could hear his own steady heartbeat and feel the sharp, needle-like pain deep in his Sea of Consciousness, a result of overexertion.
It was an effective reminder that he had to put his plan into action as soon as possible.
He wasn't anxious. He had a clear prediction of the ripples that the stone he'd just cast would create.
In a forum filled with frustration and despair, any piece of technical guidance that seemed viable would stand out like a torch in the dark. All it needed was time to ferment.