Chapter 233: The Azkara Formula
"I just don't quite understand..." Nearly a minute passed before Sylas's voice came through.
"Heh..." Caron chuckled, sitting up from the darkness and casually casting a Light spell. "Take out the Lightless Domain scroll and have a look. Maybe then you'll understand..."
"Lightless Domain?" Sylas looked puzzled as he turned over, pulling the parchment scroll from his pocket and spreading it out under the glow of the Light spell, examining it closely.
Sylas scrutinized it thoroughly, practically deconstructing the entire Lightless Domain—pondering each circuit, deducing every node. But after a full half hour, Sylas still couldn't pinpoint where the problem in the Lightless Domain was.
"Caron, there's nothing wrong with the Lightless Domain..." Sylas said, still confused. "Besides, the last part of the Lightless Domain was completed by you and the professor personally. How could there possibly be any flaw...?"
"I'm not talking about the Lightless Domain itself..." Caron shook his head helplessly, stood up and walked over to Sylas, pointing at a formula written in melt-snow ink on the parchment scroll. "See this formula?"
"You mean the Azkara Formula? Heh, that Matthew Merlin is quite something—trying to brute-force his way through the Lightless Domain with this method..." As a top master craftsman, Sylas certainly knew the significance of the formula.
The Azkara Formula—the best brute-force approach. In theory, given enough time, it could crack any alchemical array.
The problem is, time is never enough.
Sylas prided himself on his calculation skills, but to use the Azkara Formula to crack an alchemical array—even the simplest, spirit-level array—would probably take over a month. There's no way around it: brute-forcing with the Azkara Formula is one of the most basic and brainless methods.
Generally speaking, only those with overwhelming mastery in alchemy would use the Azkara Formula just to save effort.
For someone of Matthew Merlin's master-level skill to try cracking a near-true spirit tier array—and using the simple, brainless Tom & Jerry Formula, no less—it’s almost laughable. Does he really think he’ll live long enough to see the results...?
"Seems pretty simple and brainless, doesn't it?"
"Heh, I just think Matthew Merlin's idea is a bit naïve..."
"That's where you're wrong, Sylas. The one who's truly naïve is you..."
"Huh?" Sylas had been smiling, half amused and half annoyed, but Caron's words wiped the expression right off his face. "Me?"
"Yes..." Caron sighed, then pointed again at the parchment scroll, at the tiny Nether script—the results calculated by the Azkara Formula. "Take a look at this..."
"Alright." Caron's insistence left Sylas no choice but to start over from the beginning.
But after staring at it for ages, he still didn't really get it...
To be honest, Matthew Merlin's alchemy skills are impressive. Even when using the Azkara Formula to crack a near-true spirit tier array—a task that should be virtually impossible—he somehow managed to keep things methodical. This discovery made Sylas think a little better of Matthew Merlin.
But only a little...
Because from Sylas's perspective, it was just too simple and brainless.
Just look at these results—the calculations have nothing to do with the Lightless Domain. In other words, for the past hour, Matthew Merlin had been doing pointless math, wasting an entire hour for nothing...
You could imagine, if Caron hadn't shown up, Matthew Merlin would have kept wasting time like this until he'd burned through a whole day—and in the end, he'd have to pay for his boasts with both arms.
"Looks like you still don't get it..." Seeing Sylas silent for so long, Caron knew he hadn't figured it out. After a moment's thought, he added, "Take a good look at these results—see how wide the range is...?"
"Hm?" With Caron's reminder, Sylas finally noticed something.
That's right—the range of these results was enormous...
It felt completely random, jumping from east to west with no pattern at all.
But what does a wide range even matter?
Caron wouldn't tell him to take a closer look if it were really that simple. With that thought, Sylas forced himself to be patient and observed even more carefully...
Wait a minute—there actually seems to be a pattern to these jumps...
At last, Sylas realized these results weren't random at all; they perfectly followed the operational trajectory of the Lightless Domain, making systematic leaps.
Suddenly, Sylas felt a chill run down his back...
Rationally, Sylas kept telling himself it was impossible—absolutely impossible—but the shocking truth still made him lose composure. The newly minted Title Archmage suddenly grabbed the parchment scroll, his bloodshot eyes locked on the results.
As he stared, Sylas's face grew paler and paler...
Sweat began to drip from his forehead, and his hands clutching the scroll started to tremble.
Because Sylas discovered that the range of these results was shrinking...
The answer hadn't truly appeared yet, but those brute-forced results were getting closer and closer to the real solution.
If it were any other method, Sylas might still hope that the opponent would slip up and miss the real answer.
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But with brute-forcing via the Azkara Formula, Sylas knew there was no way to miss the real answer. Every wrong answer had already been eliminated—what remained could only be correct.
"Now do you understand?"
"Y-yeah, I get it now." As Sylas said this, he could clearly feel his back soaked in sweat. His voice was dry, tinged with relief—the relief of surviving a close call.
Only now did Sylas truly understand why Caron had spent so long negotiating with the other side—why he'd even slapped him...
"That Matthew Merlin... he really might be able to crack the Lightless Domain..."
"Might?" Caron shook his head, his voice full of feeling. "You were stuck in the Senjin Plane for so long, there’s a lot you don’t know. Do you remember, a few years back, I was helping Star Sage Joey crack Vanrison's Formulas?"
"Yes, I remember. Joey even came to Mercury Tower to thank the professor for it, said your work on the alchemy modules was brilliant."
"Heh, brilliant... I thought so too at the time. But recently I’ve realized—brilliant depends on who you’re comparing yourself to..."
"Huh?"
"If you're comparing me to Matthew Merlin, then my work is basically nothing..."
"That's impossible!" Sylas was practically in disbelief.
Caron now had one foot in the realm of master craftsmen; in all of Auckland, there were few alchemists stronger than him. His expertise in magical application of alchemy modules was unrivaled—even Professor Nolan had praised him personally. Otherwise, Joey wouldn't have gone to such lengths to recruit him back then.
Sylas could believe that Matthew Merlin might crack the Lightless Domain, but Caron's claim was just too much—what did he mean by 'my work is basically nothing'?
Did that mean Matthew Merlin had contributed more to cracking Vanrison's Formulas than Caron himself?
"What exactly did Matthew Merlin do to earn such admiration from you?"
"Heh, Matthew Merlin only did one thing—he cracked the spell models."
"That's it?" Sylas was stunned. "Wasn't that Hogarth's job?"
"That's it? Heh, if Hogarth heard you say that, he'd probably cry. Let me tell you—on his very first day with the research team, Matthew Merlin finished three years of Hogarth's work. And it gets crazier: one night, after who knows what got into him, Matthew Merlin started cracking spell models like a madman—right in front of the whole research team, in front of all Cloudspire Tower—he solved over a dozen core spell models in a single night..."
"Over a dozen!" Sylas nearly jumped out of his seat. "Th-th-then... doesn't that mean Matthew Merlin cracked all of Vanrison's Formulas by himself?"
"What do you think?"
"That's impossible..." Sylas was completely stunned. He might not know exactly what a dozen core spell models meant, but he did know that Joey had spent over twenty years and only cracked a handful himself...
"That one night's miracle is still talked about at Cloudspire Tower. Just wait—right now, not many people in Auckland know about Matthew Merlin, but sooner or later, he'll make his mark and shock everyone. That's the real reason I rushed back from the Senjin Plane and slapped you."
"Is this... is this what the professor wants?"
"Exactly." Caron nodded. "The professor has been watching Matthew Merlin for a long time. Originally, I was supposed to make contact, see if I could bring him into Mercury Tower. But after the Magehand Gathering, the professor changed his mind—told me not to rush, just to do him a few favors when the time was right, and try to build a good relationship."
*****
Messed up the chapter title again. To avoid being forced to cough up the missing hundred chapters, switching it back to two hundred...