The Daily Life Of A Cyberpunk Magician

Chapter 42 - 41 Derivative Entry - Spirit Perception
Chapter 42: Chapter 41 Derivative Entry - Spirit Perception”So that’s how it is,” Su Xiaoou pondered the logic for a while, then nodded, ”Continue.”

”As for flipping pages, did you see which page I actually turned to?” Jiang Shu asked with a smile, then answered his own question, ”No, you wouldn’t have, because it wasn’t actually the page number I mentioned.”

”What?”

Jiang Shu said, ”It’s quite simple, the page number was a trick.”

”When I first entered and took the book, I randomly flipped through a few pages and memorized the first word on page 274. The subsequent choice of book and page number was just dressing up the magic to create an effect similar to mind-reading.”

He concluded, ”Similarly, knowing that word, how you wrap it up and what you turn it into depends entirely on your script and design. This is what I mean when I say the effect of Spirit Magic is greatly related to your script.”

”I see, you already knew the word I saw, so whether it’s Mind Reading Technique, Thought Transmission or any other effect, it was all arranged by you,” Su Xiaoou slapped her hand, taking note of this point.

”Correct. The effect of Spirit Magic is abstract, so the script design is more important,” Jiang Shu said.

”Uh-huh,” Su Xiaoou nodded repeatedly, ”What else? You just mentioned that Strong Selection is only a basic method. So what else is there?”

”Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Let’s stop here for today. Go back and think it over, design a magic with Strong Selection as the central principle. Keep it simple.” Jiang Shu had never been a teacher before, but having been a student for over a decade, he knew the teacher’s routine inside out.

Teach a lesson, leave some homework, consolidate and review, and test monthly.

”Truly worthy of me,” Jiang Shu affirmed silently, then turned to Su Xiaoou, ”Don’t go yet, I’ll teach you a few simple techniques first.”

Next, he focused on teaching the Double Lift, demonstrating the three methods he often used. After the lesson, he supervised Su Xiaoou’s practice until he was sure she had mastered the correct technique and was on her way to mastery before he let her go.

After Su Xiaoou left, Jiang Shu opened his wristwatch, pulled up his Character Card, and checked his entries.

He had just performed a magic trick, and now was the time to verify.

He wanted to know how big the difference was in the Derivative Entries given by the entry ”Deception” when performing in front of one person versus performing in front of thousands in a theater.

- Passive·Insight (White): Insight ability +1.

An unexpected entry caught his eye. Upon checking the source, it was an entry bestowed after completing the Fox Faked Death case, and two more milestones had been added to his Character Card.

Resolved case: Fox Faked Death, acquired entry ”Insight”.

Killed Disciple Leader Giles.

Alright, he hadn’t been paying attention to the changes in his Character Card.

He looked up the Derivative Abilities of Deception.

-- Active·Deception·Spirit Perception: Can feel the emotional colors of the target.

”It’s a bit different from the magic effect,” Jiang Shu stroked his chin. The magic effect was mind-reading, but the granted ability was sensing emotions.

If it’s emotions...

It still counted as mind-reading, albeit a severely neutered version.

If there was no limit to the Derivative Entries, he could indeed find Su Xiaoou and show off his magic to her crazily, shearing wool without end. Acquiring a bunch of neutered abilities wouldn’t be bad. However, there was a cap on the Derivative Entries of Deception.

Therefore, unless necessary, he would try to minimize performing magic in front of a few people in the future. Otherwise, it would be somewhat of a loss to use a Skill Bar slot for a neutered ability.

Moreover, this perception of emotions also required active triggering. Active ability entries needed the consumption of spiritual power. ”Shadow Cutting,” with one or two slashes, carried no burden at all. Logically, this perception of emotions should consume even less.

Suddenly, something came to mind, and Jiang Shu left the Magic House and took a look next door. It was a storeroom, about twenty square meters, but it didn’t contain much clutter, just some statues.

If this storeroom were unused, he could rent it to practice his blade skills. Not necessarily to best Wolf, but at least to swing the knife more sharply. Then he could create his own style of Ground Rolling Blade Skill, combined with Shadow Cutting, to be invincible.

Just like many older teenagers with fantasies of martial arts, Jiang Shu too harbored such dreams in his heart, and besides, improving his strength was a tangible need.

Later, he would go to that Props Master and order a metal knife along with several wooden knives for practice.

He thought to himself delightedly as he strode towards Sister Mei’s office.

Sister Mei’s office was located at the northwest corner of the fourth floor, it wasn’t large, in fact, only half the size of Jiang Shu’s.

”Tap tap tap—” Jiang Shu knocked on the door.

”Come in,” Sister Mei’s voice came from inside.

”Hello, Sister Mei,” he greeted as he pushed open the door.

”Jiang Shu!” Sister Mei looked up, her face brightening into a smile upon seeing him, ”What can I do for you? You are our theater’s cash cow now.”

Jiang Shu was slightly bewildered, ”Ah, is it really that exaggerated?”

”Of course, your videos are super popular online, and tomorrow’s magic show tickets were sold out a long time ago. The scalped tickets online are marked up by more than triple the price,” Sister Mei laughed and said, ”This time, we really have you to thank; our theater’s monthly revenue has increased by twenty percent. Don’t worry, I’ve asked the finance department to calculate your cut, and it will be settled with you at the beginning of next month.”

”How are tomorrow’s performance preparations going?” she continued.

”Not bad, should be no problem,” Jiang Shu nodded in response, still a bit unused to Sister Mei’s enthusiasm.

He looked at Sister Mei, rubbing his hands together eagerly as he asked, ”Sister Mei, about that storeroom next to me...”

”Oh, you need it?” Sister Mei caught his drift and quickly replied, ”Sure, go ahead and use it. Whatever’s inside...”

She paused, seemingly trying to recall what was actually stored there, ”I don’t think there’s anything useful in there, you can deal with it yourself.”

”Okay.” Jiang Shu chuckled and watched as Sister Mei rummaged through a drawer.

”Here, the key to the storeroom,” Sister Mei found it, ”That storeroom is quite old, so it doesn’t have an electronic lock.”

”No problem, a key works,” Jiang Shu took the key and said farewell, ”Well then, goodbye Sister Mei.”

”Wait, take this with you,” Sister Mei stood up and started searching through a side cabinet, eventually holding out several deep orange T-shirts, ”These were our theater’s uniforms before, but they’re outdated now. We’re planning to design new ones, so you can keep these as a souvenir.”

Jiang Shu accepted the T-shirts. He had to admit, the design was really out of fashion, akin to volunteer clothes, and such design existing in a Cyberpunk world was indeed a marvel.

But hey, free stuff is free stuff, so after thanking her, he returned to the Magic House, grabbed a rag, and began cleaning up the storeroom next door.

Although this storeroom had been unused for many years, it was not very dirty apart from the dust, and the life-size statues inside provided Jiang Shu with a pleasant surprise.

Plastic in material, they were a one-to-one replica of the human body. Even though he didn’t know what they had originally been used for, now they could serve as ”sparring partners” for knife practice.

”Shh—” However, he recognized that the life-like primary sexual characteristics on the sculptures were indeed a public decency issue.

Right, hadn’t Sister Mei given him some clothes?

His eyes lit up as he took the T-shirts and dressed them up, which definitely made them look better.

After he had finished cleaning the storeroom and arranging this future Practice Room, Jiang Shu was drenched in sweat and began to worry about where to shower.

There weren’t any bathhouses nearby, and he surely couldn’t resort to sneaking into a bathroom to wash, could he?

After much deliberation, he decided to call Kirie.

”Kirie, do you know how to install a shower? If you do, come immediately, I’ll thank you handsomely afterward!”

Don’t blame him for lacking in modesty, but without money, modesty was not an option—only exploiting freebies was.