Chapter 245: Lightspeed Version Update

Chapter 245: Lightspeed Version Update

They had never encountered a method that allowed instant messaging and group communication like this before. The largest group interactions they had experienced were at certain gatherings. For an Otherworld without the internet, what even was an online group chat? Using Magic for such a thing? Wasn’t that too wasteful?

Moreover, without a corresponding ‘platform’ that connected those Mages for discussions, such a situation was even more impossible. Even when they did communicate, it was only among a few people. Exchanging with over ten people was considered a luxurious assembly. After the Magic Weapon Summoning Book enabled the messaging function, it wasn’t just a few people chatting, but tens of thousands or even more engaging in instant communication!

It would be strange if the entire message board didn’t explode!

Shortly after Zheng Yichen posted his first thread, over a thousand replies immediately appeared below… Most of the messages expressed curiosity and amazement about this new function, while some asked about Zheng Yichen’s identity… Zheng Yichen simply ignored those.

No one cursed at him, which Zheng Yichen understood. After all, as the highest authority holder of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, Zheng Yichen thought, who would dare curse at him here? Be careful of getting banned!

Zheng Yichen looked very satisfied at the new messages constantly refreshing on the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. In just less than five minutes, another large amount of Mana flowed in, and the Spiritual Power contained within the Magic Weapon Summoning Book also increased significantly. From any angle, this idea of his was truly a huge profit.

As time passed, the frequency of new messages not only didn’t decrease but kept increasing, making Zheng Yichen grin so wide his mouth almost split.

— Going home to cook, I want to eat something.

While reading those messages, Zheng Yichen suddenly saw a new ‘thread’ appear. When setting it up, each separate thread required ten times the cost of a normal message. However, Zheng Yichen had reserved a blank free-speech thread on every Magic Weapon page where anyone could post freely after entering. Zheng Yichen made an extra announcement about the meaningless filler content in those blank threads: they would be regularly cleared out, with a cycle of once every half month. After all, those words were also maintained by Mana, and clearing them would bring another influx of Mana. As for threads that remained on the board, one needed to pay extra consumption costs.

Hmm… A normal message cost eight times that of the Image Retention Spell, while creating a separate thread cost eighty times. Even though the Image Retention Spell, when only leaving some text, had a very, very low cost, eighty times that consumption was already comparable to some mid-to-close range Communication Magic. However, mid-to-close range Magic wasn’t considered too high-level; normal Spellcasters could afford it.

Zheng Yichen had been reading messages for over half an hour. Not many people had opened new threads on the first page of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book so far; only a mere dozen or so up to now. Compared to the tens of thousands of messages already flooding in, it was far too few. So Zheng Yichen spotted this new message at a glance. Others might not understand, but Zheng Yichen felt he had some idea… This, was it Loris?

Last night, he had been too focused on adding the new function, so by the time he finished, the sky was already bright.

— Uh, right away. (Shining Black Username)

As the authority holder, to differentiate himself from others, Zheng Yichen naturally had to appear unique. As for Loris… Zheng Yichen flipped through and patted the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, directly giving her future messages a light black bordered username. Not satisfied with the color? No problem, it could be modified later.

— Huh? Why do yours look like that? I want a colored frame too!

Quickly sensing the residual Mana Fluctuation from this message after its rapid assimilation, Zheng Yichen’s mouth twitched slightly. This, was it Dan Marina? After some hesitation, he gave her a shining gray username to stop this woman from bothering him further.

After that, no other familiar people asked for such a thing. After all, besides Zheng Yichen and Loris, the only one who knew too much about the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was Dan Marina.

As for those unfamiliar Magic Weapon Summoners who also asked him for a username? Zheng Yichen uniformly chose to ignore them! Who were they to want a username? Fine, pay up… no, contribute Mana first! After that, Zheng Yichen wouldn’t mind designing a few new username styles. After all, so-called usernames were just additions to the Image Retention Spell and wouldn’t consume much extra Mana; it could be deducted directly from the Mana transmitted through those messages.

“Wait! I think I overlooked something…” Zheng Yichen looked at the messages one by one, scratched his head, and soon realized what was missing: no IDs! The lack of IDs wouldn’t cause major problems for now; some people could simply leave their own IDs. However, the nature of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book ensured that everyone’s unique Mana Fluctuation wouldn’t be leaked, meaning no one’s messages could be identified through personal Mana Fluctuation issues.

It was foreseeable that many impersonators would appear in the future. Offend someone? Anyway, their identity wouldn’t be exposed, so what was there to fear!

— Uh, I discovered a small problem that needs fixing, so I might return a bit later. Sorry.

— Understood.

Loris looked at the new message appearing on the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s forum page and nodded slightly. The message had no name, but this Shining Black username was uniquely added by Zheng Yichen for her, making it easy to recognize. As for hers… Loris didn’t care much about the username color; she also had the authority to modify it. But since Zheng Yichen had added this for her, she didn’t plan to change it.

“Ugh— This is really troublesome…” Zheng Yichen scratched his head. Messages could be handled by the Image Retention Spell, but duplicate ID detection was somewhat troublesome. Not that it was difficult to solve, just troublesome, as it relied on the alchemy components. How to handle that aspect? The many seemingly automated functions he’d seen in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book before were all resolved this way. What way?

Put simply, when driving an Alchemical Puppet, besides needing Mana, the most important part was the Alchemy Core. Using a soul as material, a core with intelligence could be slightly modified and simplified for use here. It didn’t need high ‘intelligence’, just some programmed functions.

That’s right, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book contained an Alchemy Intelligence Core. Back when Zheng Yichen hadn’t mastered Alchemy knowledge, Loris created it; he only assisted from the side, providing Mana and Mental Energy. Now his Alchemy skills had reached a high level, and what seemed incredibly impressive back then now looked quite simple.

The Alchemy Intelligence Core that Loris had Zheng Yichen help create back then was of extremely high quality, fully matching the caliber of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Using it seemed even more convenient than a Computer, but that was only in usage. Once modifications were needed, it became troublesome. The preset functions were fixed; if adding something new, if it was just informational knowledge, it was fine, but if it involved functionality, all the previously set aspects had to be scrapped and redone! Equivalent to reinstalling the System.

After all, the Intelligence Core used in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book emphasized functionality over autonomy, so it had no learning capability. Loris specifically designed it that way initially because the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s future development potential was too high. Under the influence of vast Mana, any issues with that Alchemy Intelligence Core were quite possible, so it was better to eliminate potential risks early on. One must know this Alchemy Intelligence Core held partial authority over the Magic Weapon Summoning Book.

Well, although after Zheng Yichen’s subsequent alchemical modifications adding new functions, the chance of this Alchemy Intelligence Core developing problems was nearly zero. Just like with the Magic Arms Apophis, due to an Evil God Ritual performed by some reckless individuals, its nature and power underwent mutation. When Zheng Yichen used it, the power within still felt like his own. Even if it was no longer the original power, he could still easily wield it fully, just like using his own Mana and Mental Energy.

It was this choice of cutting off all backdoors that made adding new functions troublesome. Zheng Yichen didn’t have much to say about that; being safe was better than being reckless, right? Troublesome as it was, after doing it many times, one could get used to it and improve efficiency.

Besides the troublesome ‘System reinstallation’ process when adding new functions, another hassle was having to create a temporary core to replace the original core’s function; otherwise, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book would be completely paralyzed… Last night’s addition took Zheng Yichen the entire night. The second subsequent modification took only two-thirds of last night’s time. After finishing, it was already past noon. Stretching his neck, Zheng Yichen patted the Magic Weapon Summoning Book in his hand and opened it again.

Below the first pinned thread appeared a new thread.

— Administrator: The Message Function Version 1.1 update is as follows: Added personal information function for easy identification and to prevent impersonators — from your Considerate Highest Administrator ~

Attachment: Personal information template. Note: Personal information is for reference only; please do not take it seriously!

Zheng Yichen directly left a filled-out personal information template. Managed by the Intelligence Core, clicking on a personal ID would display it. With this personal information template as an example, presumably no fool would completely fill it out according to their real situation, nor would anyone take it entirely seriously.

And of course, the content of this personal information template was his own. As for the name, it was Highest Administrator… This identity had a unique username.

Gender was also there; no need to keep it secret, simply male. Besides male and female options, a confidential option was also available. Then came hobbies, personal address, and personal bio.

Hobbies were self-explanatory; they could help Magic Weapon Summoners find others with similar topics more easily. As for personal address, this mainly considered the needs of some special individuals. The Magic Weapon Summoning Book wasn’t some contraband; one didn’t have to hide and fear identity exposure while holding it; it was completely unnecessary.

Given that, personal addresses had their necessity. Those without fixed residences didn’t need to fill it in, but some with their own territories could fill it without issue. As for leaking secrets? It didn’t matter. Some people were eager to spread their information, like certain renowned Blacksmiths, alchemy masters, Magic Potion masters, Academy principals, etc. Did these people need to keep their identities secret?

So letting them use the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s personal information records to become better known, Zheng Yichen felt he was being quite generous by not charging extra for it!

After pondering a bit more, Zheng Yichen nodded contentedly. By now, there were basically no other oversights. He let out a long sigh, stood up, and stretched. Finally, it was completely done. Pouring himself a cup of water and placing it beside him, Zheng Yichen leaned back in his chair, continuing to monitor the forum page of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book.

After the new function appeared, a large number of messages quickly flooded in. Thinking about it, it made sense. After all, the speed of this second update was really frustrating. The new function had only been out for a few hours, and here came an update. How careless was the person adding new functions?

Regarding this, Zheng Yichen thought, this lord was only one person; occasional oversights were understandable, right? He quickly supplemented it; no need to nag. Casually browsing through the information, the personal information filling was not met with cold reception; it was very popular. Many people probably read Zheng Yichen’s note below the personal information template: for names and such, one didn’t need to use their real name; alternative titles were fine.

For example, Zhao Ritian, Online Godslayer, Liu Demon-Slayer, Li Demon-Queller, etc. Using real names also had no impact. After all, once a name was set, modifying it required extra Mana consumption… Among these, changing names cost the most. Hobbies were the second most costly, while personal address and personal bio were the least.

After all, the first two needed a certain degree of stability. Changing names was the most troublesome, wasn’t it? As for hobbies, though they could change, it wasn’t something that could happen instantly, so it made sense for it to be the second highest cost. Personal address and bio didn’t matter much.

Some chose to use alternative titles, while many still used their real names. Personal addresses and bios were also clearly filled out. Among these people, many were ‘public figures’. Zheng Yichen saw two Academy principals alone. There were even more Mercenary Corps leaders, and some even noted in their bios: I, XXX Mercenary Corps leader, currently an Advanced Magic Weapon User…

In short, some people wrote lengthy bios, wishing to write even more to attract attention. Zheng Yichen was happy to see this; more words meant more Mana income for the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, and he was the happiest about that!

At the same time, a young girl silently looked at the forum page on her Magic Weapon Summoning Book, feeling that this messaging method seemed somewhat familiar… When had her personally developed unique Magic ever been leaked?

But if it was leaked, who had such great capability to use it? This was a personally refined and improved Magic!