Inventing the Bubble Clone Art

On the way to school, Nora and Yu Xian walked side by side. "Here." Without drawing any attention, Nora passed Yu Xian a small black box, then quietly watched his reaction. "What's this?" Yu Xian took the box, looked it over, and turned to Nora with a puzzled expression. In truth, Nora was even more curious about why Yu Xian was in contact with her father. Seeing that he genuinely seemed not to recognize the box, she shook her head. "I don't know. My dad took control of Luo Qi out of nowhere this morning and handed me this box, telling me to give it to you. Do you know my father?" "Sort of," Yu Xian replied. Though he had never met Marcus in person, he had indeed become acquainted with the old geezer last night. He inspected the black box from all angles and discovered that one side could be popped open. Inside, however, were two strange ports. It was clearly some electronic device that required a specific type of cable to operate. *What kind of antique is this?* Yu Xian pulled out his phone, snapped a photo, and quickly figured it out after a brief search. The black box was a solid-state drive that had been phased out hundreds of years ago. It really was an antique. Evidently, the drive contained the five blood spells agreed upon the previous night, but he would have to go buy a data cable compatible with the drive first. "Come on, come with me to buy something." Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Yu Xian took Nora by the hand and headed toward the electronics market. Nora had originally wanted to ask where they were going, but the instant Yu Xian took her hand, her mind went completely blank, filled only with the frantic honking of geese. She could only follow obediently in his footsteps, step for step. *** Nine in the morning. With both hands tucked inside his desk compartment, Yu Xian stared at the files read from the solid-state drive, his expression turning somewhat sour. He had severely underestimated the old geezer Marcus's shamelessness. At the same time, he realized he had been far too green; he should have asked what blood spells were available back then and chosen what he wanted himself. The five blood spells Marcus had sent were: Blood Shield Art, Blood Barrier Art, Blood Regeneration Art, Blood Ward Art, and Blood Healing Art. *Utterly shameless.* Every single one of them was a defensive spell. What did he need Blood Shield Art and Blood Barrier Art for? As a spatial ability user, he could dodge the vast majority of attacks simply by teleporting. The usefulness of these two arts to him was practically nonexistent. And Blood Regeneration Art? Who was the man looking down on? Even if his arm were lopped off, he could grow a new one after sleeping it off. He had zero use for a regeneration spell. Fortunately, Marcus hadn't completely burned his bridges; he had at least included Blood Ward Art and Blood Healing Art, two spells that were somewhat useful. Blood Ward Art was actually designed to fend off mental damage. It could block psychological assaults such as memory extraction, hypnosis, and the like. As for Blood Healing Art, its effect was similar to Zhang Shou's Touch of Healing, both belonging to the category of spells that dispelled negative statuses. With this ability, he wouldn't need to fear the vast majority of toxins. Though... he had never really feared toxins in the first place. In fact, thanks to his Super Stomach, he could absorb even poisons entirely as nourishment. Up on the podium, the balding math teacher was explaining a new question format likely to appear on the Gaokao. The students were listening attentively, looking down from time to time to take notes. Yu Xian listened to the lecture while dividing his attention to practice his magic. With his hands hidden within his spatially expanded desk compartment, he began practicing the simplest technique: the Blood Shield Art. This could be considered an entry-level blood magic spell. Yet for the vast majority of squishy vampires, it was actually one of the most vital arts. Blood Shield Art created floating shields around the body. Depending on the Blood Energy consumed, it could form a minimum of one shield, with no upper limit on the maximum. Protected by blood shields, fragile vampires could dish out damage with peace of mind, free from the worry of being instantly killed by physical strikes. Yu Xian murmured an incantation under his breath, constructing the spell circuit within his mind. Blood magic was a strange hybrid between Eastern arts and Western magic. The moment he finished the final syllable of the incantation, a crimson shield materialized right in front of his fingers. Thankfully, he had expanded the space inside the desk compartment, so the shield—roughly one meter tall and half a meter wide—did not burst through the desk. *Easier than I thought.* Seeing the Blood Shield Art cast successfully, Yu Xian let out a quiet sigh of relief. He had genuinely been traumatized by light-and-shadow magic, worrying that he might be incapable of learning anything outside of spatial arts. Fortunately, blood magic could be learned without issue. The tools at his disposal had just expanded by several more tricks. Next, he began practicing the Blood Barrier Art. If the Blood Shield Art was meant to block physical attacks, then the Blood Barrier Art was designed to withstand energy-based assaults. For instance, if an enemy struck with blades or arrows, a blood mage would have to rely on Blood Shield Art. If an opponent hurled fire, lightning, or frost, they would deploy Blood Barrier Art instead. Naturally, if one possessed sufficient Blood Energy, using both simultaneously provided the greatest protection. Yu Xian quickly realized that his talent for blood magic was just as frighteningly high. In just half an hour, he had fully mastered all five spells. By this point, he finally understood what was going on. He wasn't unbalanced in his talents; he was simply hyper-specialized. Because his Spatial Blood Energy carried only two attributes—'space' and 'Blood Energy'—he could grasp spells belonging to these two affinities with lightning speed. As for other spells, his failure to learn them wasn't due to poor aptitude, but because he didn't possess their attributes at all. It was entirely a case of making bricks without straw. Without energy of the matching attribute, how could he possibly cast the spell? *Still...* *Could I tweak it and convert the Mirage Clone Art from light-and-shadow magic into spatial magic?* The next second, a sudden inspiration struck Yu Xian. While many arts and spells were the products of people consuming Forbidden Fruits, plenty of others had been invented by later generations who built upon those original arts. For example, the Spatial Labyrinth Art was an art developed by later practitioners based on the foundation of the Spatial Folding Art. If others could invent new arts, why couldn't he, Yu Xian, create his own? Having found his goal, Yu Xian began analyzing the magic circuit of the Mirage Clone Art, combining it with his currently limited knowledge of magic to attempt converting light-and-shadow magic into spatial magic. First, the fundamental principle of the spell relied on the refraction of light to project numerous clones around the caster. *The medium for the Mirage Clone Art is actually the water molecules in the air!* *This isn't purely light-and-shadow magic; there's a touch of water magic concealed within it.* *The problem is that I don't possess either attribute. I don't have light magic energy or water elemental magic energy, which means the only medium I can utilize is... space!* Yu Xian soon sorted out his train of thought, only to encounter a major hurdle: space couldn't carry light and shadow. *Wait.* *If pure space won't work, what about spatial bubbles?* An idea instantly flashed through Yu Xian's mind. If he used a spatial bubble as the medium, he might achieve an effect similar to the Mirage Clone Art. He immediately tried channeling the flow according to the magic circuit of the Mirage Clone Art, using a spatial bubble as the vessel for the casting. *Pop!* The first attempt failed. Yu Xian adjusted the circuit next. Since he didn't actually know the precise function of every individual circuit line, he adopted the clumsiest yet most suitable method for his situation: dismantling the lines one by one and casting tests each time. Although dismantling most lines resulted in failed castings, occasionally the spatial bubble would burst under the spell's interference. By three in the afternoon, he managed to create a chubby clone. After he stripped away several lines of the circuit, the spatial bubble was warped by the casting, turning into a humanoid shape resembling a fat man fashioned out of balloons. His facial features even appeared on the bubble's surface, but because the bubble stretched them out, the clone looked nothing like him. Nevertheless, this was clearly a tremendous start. He immediately began making continuous adjustments to the magic circuit, yet he failed to replicate the effect. After exhausting every possibility, he could only revert to the earlier circuit configuration. *Looks like the magic circuit can't be tweaked any further. In that case, can I adjust the spatial bubbles?* Yu Xian looked at the cluster of pudgy duplicates he had produced inside the desk and pondered for a long time. If he couldn't change the circuit, he would change the bubbles. He tried altering the shape of the bubbles. While this did produce a slimmer clone to some extent, the surface remained far too smooth and looked utterly comical—anyone could tell at a glance that it was a 'balloon man.' Next, he simply generated a swarm of ultra-fine bubbles, treating them like individual pixels before casting again. This time, he ended up creating a dotted clone capable of sending anyone with trypophobia straight into a faint. Whenever the pixels shifted, it looked like countless tiny insects writhing around... The sight was so sickening that Yu Xian nearly threw up himself. Even so, he saw the dawn of success. He continued shrinking the bubbles, this time reducing them to a size smaller than the eye of a needle. Guided by the magic circuit, the countless microscopic bubbles formed into a human shape. This time, it finally looked like a person. The only issue was that if Yu Xian reinforced his eyes with Silver Blood, he could still spot the flaws immediately. Yet this time, he had already devised a flawless solution. *Bubble Clone Art.* With a thought, Yu Xian recast the spell, adding an Equinox Flower seed into the casting process. In an instant, an identical clone appeared within the desk compartment. Its aura, demeanor, and presence were completely indistinguishable from his own; even when he empowered his eyes with Silver Blood, he could spot no flaw whatsoever. *Perfection!* Yu Xian looked at his clone, a contented smile spreading across his face. Just then, the balding teacher on the podium looked at Yu Xian and smiled. "Class, it seems Student Yu Xian has already grasped the concept. Yu Xian, come up and solve this problem." *Huh?!* Yu Xian looked up, eyes wide, staring blankly at the complex math problem on the blackboard. This question was absurdly hard—he had no idea how to solve it! At the desk ahead of him, Nora quietly giggled to herself.