Chapter 263: Manipulation?

Chapter 263: Manipulation?

“The emoji pack feature has to be in!” Zheng Yichen pinched his chin and frowned in thought. Simply adding an emoji pack feature, while somewhat troublesome, could bypass the step of reconstructing the core of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book through some methods. After all, reconstructing it once was quite a hassle, and that core also had some ‘intelligence’. As for the emoji pack, he could fully try to record it via an additional loading method.

After all, that was also a product of Image Retention Spell, and the Magic Weapon Summoning Book already had Image Retention Spell. Unlike information like IDs, which needed to be linked to the Magic Weapon Contract and thus required reconstruction to complete modifications, emoji packs were, when you got down to it, a kind of ‘text’. Even so, it still took Zheng Yichen over an hour to finish adding it. Then he directly made a new comment on a post from not long ago.

—As compensation, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book has newly opened a bubble emoji pack feature. Everyone is welcome to use it~ hehe hehe…

“You’ll really stop at nothing to harvest Mana,” Dan Marina said to Zheng Yichen, looking at the newly appeared feature. A single emoji consumed more Mana than twenty characters!

Moreover, each of those emojis was quite demonically vivid. Not to mention ‘hehe’, there were sly, angry, annoyed expressions and the like. Dan Marina had already predicted that many young Magic Weapon Summoners would come to love this sort of thing in the future.

“What do you mean harvest? It’s clearly a voluntary transaction between both parties!” Zheng Yichen slightly pursed his lips. He understood the demonic power of emoji packs all too well. Once a certain habit was formed, when leaving comments, one couldn’t help but add an emoji prefix or suffix!

And an emoji costing more Mana than twenty characters, from any perspective, was a huge profit. So calling it a harvest wasn’t entirely wrong, but how could something mutually consensual be called harvesting? Was adding an emoji to a comment a big deal? This was the best medium to vividly express one’s tone and thoughts!

“So, what do you plan to do with all that Mana you’re collecting?” Dan Marina asked, resting her chin on her hand, seemingly casual.

“You guess.” Zheng Yichen shot her a glance. Collect Mana? If he had no ambitions, he wouldn’t be working so hard to stir things up. Self-preservation? That had indeed been his thought before, but now his horizons were higher, Zheng Yichen’s thinking was different.

“I’ll wait for your future surprise.” Dan Marina gave Zheng Yichen a meaningful look. There were too many things one could do after collecting Mana, so without enough information or clues, she couldn’t entirely determine what Zheng Yichen intended to do with this. As for self-preservation, he didn’t need to consider that issue now. Having good relationships with four Witches, especially a deep bond with two of them, what was self-preservation?

Was it needed?

If he didn’t court death, then there was no need.

“Actually, I also have an idea. In the future, when I’m rich, could I start a business of shared Alchemical Avatars? By the way, how many Witches are there exactly?”

“Well, that’s not clear.” Dan Marina shrugged. “There are quite a few Witches on this Continent, and there are Witches in areas beyond the Continent as well. And even though Witch Awakenings are rare now, they’re not completely nonexistent. It’s entirely possible a new Witch is awakening even as we speak.”

“And here I thought you were a prophet.”

“Tsk~ My power isn’t infallible. Over long distances, there are too many ways to interfere with my abilities.” Dan Marina pursed her lips. “Speaking of which, can’t you try searching for Witches through the Magic Weapon Contract? I know many Witches are quite curious.”

“You think that’s easy to find?” Zheng Yichen shook his head. With a Witch’s methods, obtaining a Magic Weapon Contract would indeed be quite easy. But Witches were all old monsters. The daily one percent Mana supply cost seemed very insignificant. Those with good recovery could regain that Mana consumption in less than a minute. However, for Witches, one percent of their Mana Capacity was huge. Although for them, this amount of Mana actually wasn’t much either.

“Hmm~ Then you could modify the Mana cost.” A one percent Mana cost could indeed deter some Witches who preferred to observe from the shadows from signing the Magic Weapon Contract. After all, one percent of their Mana might equal the total Mana Capacity of dozens or more ordinary Spellcasters. This description was no exaggeration!

The most obvious example was Irene’s hair…

“Then let’s modify it.” Zheng Yichen thought about it. A Witch’s Mana… even reducing it to one-thousandth wouldn’t be a loss, and he’d still earn more than from other Magic Weapon Summoners.

“…Then why the hell did I work so hard adding the emoji feature before!” After freezing for a moment, Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but spit out in annoyance, then began pulling out materials.

“Don’t need my opinion?”

“I already have a concept. Listen to it.” Zheng Yichen said with a conflicted expression. Dan Marina was a know-it-all; he had his own idea, but listening to her opinion wasn’t bad either: “The daily Mana supply for High-tier Professionals remains unchanged. I’ll set a baseline value for this. You can reference it in a bit to see what level surpasses High-tier. Then we’ll start layering, with each layer reducing the cost by one-thousandth. For now, tentatively set the maximum at one hundred layers. Anyway, surely no one could reach that; around twenty layers is fine for now. Oh right, what’s the difference in Mana quantity between you and Irene?”

“Hmm~ Conservatively speaking, more than twenty times.”

“Ahem! You’re that lacking?” Zheng Yichen’s casual expression instantly turned to shock. Conservatively speaking? More than twenty times? That meant possibly thirty times, or even a greater gap? Damn, that exaggerated?

“Isn’t the quality fine?” Dan Marina shot Zheng Yichen a glance, grabbed the baseline comparison chart he designed, looked it over, and made some quick modifications with a pen: “Here, this will do. Not the most suitable, but relatively sufficient.”

Zheng Yichen took the baseline chart Dan Marina had modified. All the baseline values he had written were crossed out. Some standards were lowered a bit by Dan Marina, while others were raised. She even added additional comparative examples. This incremental scale made Zheng Yichen calculate; this woman was good at math, increasing so systematically.

Then just follow this formula for the increments.

“According to your notes, most Witches’ supply cost would hover between nine ten-thousandths and five ten-thousandths, right?” Zheng Yichen asked. Because it was incremental, the gap between each layer became larger. Of course, this increase was also based on careful calculation, ensuring the proportion of supply decreased, but the absolute amount of Mana supplied would be significantly more than the previous layer. Naturally, upon reaching this level, for those at this tier, this extra bit of Mana would have much less impact on themselves compared to the lower layer. However, breaking the one-thousandth mark was an additional threshold.

Dan Marina had cleverly grasped this degree!

“Anyway, aside from that exception Irene, we’re all about the same. Even some of the ‘older’ ones won’t exceed these layers… by too much.” Dan Marina made this calculation based on her own situation and some Witches she knew. Witches were rare but not too few; she hadn’t met them all, so this statement was relative, not absolute.

“This is still great, thanks.” Zheng Yichen nodded. Without Dan Marina’s assistance, he certainly couldn’t have come up with such ‘accurate’ baseline values. Perfecting the design himself would have taken who knows how long.

After memorizing those baseline values, Zheng Yichen nodded, then removed the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s protection, preparing to reconstruct and adjust its core. Dan Marina, resting her chin on her hand with good interest, watched the focused Zheng Yichen at work. Without his dragon appearance, using his Human Form Avatar, Zheng Yichen was quite pleasant to look at when serious. Oh right, this appearance seemed to be his ‘true face’, a young fellow.

What am I thinking! Dan Marina tapped her own head, slightly pursing her lips. She was indeed still affected by the Contract’s punitive power. Since it was a punitive consequence, it naturally wouldn’t be very gentle.

Outside, the sky gradually darkened. Zheng Yichen’s modification and reconstruction of the core slowly neared its end. “Ugh~ What a fake body. Can’t even experience the feeling of an aching back and waist.”

After completing the final step, Zheng Yichen wanted to stretch his body, but after stretching, there was no relief from fatigue, no pleasant feeling. He uncomfortably pursed his lips. The frequency of reconstructing the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s core had been a bit high recently… Ah well, since he had such a need, frequent is frequent. Each reconstruction was progress, wasn’t it?

—I’m back! Good news everyone, the Magic Weapon Summoning Book’s daily Mana supply amount will now be reduced based on the user’s special power quantity and intensity, up to one hundred layers of reduction. Go check it out—Your beloved Creator~ smile

As for the baseline numbers, Zheng Yichen definitely wouldn’t leak them. That would have too big an impact. After all, the purpose of this modification was to make those with powerful strength give up observing and choose to sign the Magic Weapon Contract. However, with Dan Marina’s adjustments, some Professionals capable of casting High-tier Magic could also enjoy reduced Mana supply.

She understood clearly that for some things, you couldn’t set the initial target too high for people. Too high could easily backfire. Starting with a lower threshold and gradually increasing it had a better effect, like boiling a frog slowly.

As for how to determine each Magic Weapon Summoner’s Mana base? That was easy. It could be known upon signing the Contract. This wasn’t the core’s power but the Contract’s inherent rule power, which even Zheng Yichen couldn’t interfere with.

Compared to the commotion caused by adding the emoji pack, this update truly shocked many Magic Weapon Summoners. Fortunately, with the emoji pack update, they accepted the new information a tiny bit faster after seeing it. Besides surprise, more was joy!

Ordinary Magic Weapon Summoners aside, those within the lowest baseline values saw no change in their supply consumption. For those exceeding this baseline, they were quite happy. One percent of their Mana was neither too much nor too little for them. After all, with a larger Mana quantity, recovery would be relatively ‘slower’.

Now with reductions, it was definitely a good thing. Moreover, people had a competitive spirit. Some, after checking their daily Mana supply consumption, couldn’t help but show it off. It was proof of strength!

Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but look at some of those who couldn’t resist posting screenshots. The one-percenters weren’t mentioned; those guys probably couldn’t bring themselves to show off. The lowest starting standard was nine-thousandths. This number was not small. There were also some at eight-thousandths, though few. Zheng Yichen even saw one at six-thousandths, which was some Academy’s vice-principal.

“Tsk tsk, Little Dragon, don’t you have a certain feeling now?” Watching the Forum heat up again, Dan Marina couldn’t help but smile. Comparing against the baseline, her consumption was now eight ten-thousandths, as she wasn’t primarily a Mana-wealthy existence. Her forte was her ability. Even so, her strength was beyond question. Keep in mind, breaking the one-thousandth mark required crossing a large baseline span.

“What feeling?”

Zheng Yichen rubbed the tip of his nose and asked.

“Manipulating people’s hearts.”

“No feeling.” Zheng Yichen waved his hand. Manipulating people’s hearts? He didn’t even know what that feeling was like, nor did he like doing it. As for the changes in the Magic Weapon Forum, that was purely him continuously improving it based on knowledge and experience from Earth. Watching the posts in the Magic Weapon Forum constantly showing off screenshots, he couldn’t help but scratch his head. “So this counts as manipulating hearts?”

“To some extent.” Dan Marina shrugged. “You see it too. One of your seemingly casual, sudden ideas here, implemented, can easily influence thousands, even tens of thousands of people. What is that if not a kind of manipulation?”

“Then I’m really amazing.” Hearing this, Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but grin, feeling a bit inflated inside. Unconsciously, he had also become such an influential existence, huh?

“Behind-the-scenes value is sufficient, pity it’s not used on the right points.”

“I wouldn’t be like you, idly tricking people, casually deciding others’… uh, let’s not talk about this.” Zheng Yichen shook his head. Casually deciding others’ fates—even without Dan Marina’s abilities, as strength continually increased, even a slight action could bring about such situations. Realizing this, Zheng Yichen didn’t know how to continue. Dan Marina did this; she probably did it better than others, given her abilities in this area.

She could see traces others couldn’t and wouldn’t create excessive unintended influences. When she didn’t want to interfere with someone’s fate, even with strong power, she wouldn’t cause unintentional interference due to a small, inadvertent action. Those who know the law better understand how to break it, but also clearer on how to avoid breaking it…

“Whether it’s the right point or not is hard to judge. I think this is fine. I’m quite happy watching it too.”

“Well~ You’re right. Being happy yourself is good enough.” Dan Marina smiled lightly, stood up, and walked to Zheng Yichen’s side. “Since you’ve temporarily finished your work, how about taking a walk outside with me?”

Zheng Yichen hesitated for a moment, looked at Dan Marina’s bright eyes, and nodded slightly.