Longzang

Chapter 464 Worth it
Among the evaluation criteria, Zhang Sheng had never even heard of ease of use and versatility, let alone understood them. He could understand the literal meanings of array stability and array consumption, but he had never paid attention to these two aspects either.

Her magic array design was inherently stable, and only arrays like the Spirit Gathering Array and the Elixir Fire Array, which are primarily for aiding cultivation, would consider energy consumption. Zhang Sheng excels at killing and Qi-gathering arrays; what need do these two types of arrays have for stability and energy consumption?
However, it is clear that stability and consumption are given considerable weight within the system of this research institute.

Zhang Sheng was still most indignant about the function of the magic array. If the strength of the magic array she designed was only qualified, then who dared to say that they could be above qualified?

The angrier Zhang Sheng became, the calmer she remained. Those three words, "unqualified," were the greatest humiliation she had ever experienced in her life.

Zhang Sheng quickly found the explanatory document the girl had mentioned, and used his divine sense to search for detailed explanations of each evaluation criterion.

The document was designed to be quite concise and efficient, even better than the search systems in the Taichu Palace's Mission Hall and Merit Hall. Zhang Sheng quickly found the explanations for each indicator.

The first thing she looked at was the instructions on ease of use and versatility. Ease of use mainly refers to the control of the magic circle; generally speaking, the simpler and more direct it is, the faster the reaction speed, and the more accurate the reaction, the better.

The standard was easy to understand, but Zhang Sheng stared at it for a long time before suppressing his anger.

According to tradition, a magic array is not just a formation, but also a gateway that allows one to glimpse the mind of its designer.

Therefore, a truly good magic array should not only be subtle and understated, but also possess an ancient feel, a profound sense of the Dao, and a feeling of vicissitudes. It is better to be clumsy than skillful. Some masters even deliberately add a slight pause when designing arrays to align with the Daoist concept of "oneness with nature."

However, judging by ease of use, this place would probably be unsuitable for 99% of array masters!

Zhang Sheng instinctively disliked this standard. Even courtesans had their pride. What kind of woman would fall over at the slightest push?
If ease of use is merely annoying, then Zhang Sheng really doesn't understand versatility.

The term "versatility" refers to the ease with which a magic array can interface with other magic arrays, be combined with them, or be maintained and modified by other cultivators. From the explanation of versatility, Zhang Sheng also learned the concept of an interface. The tasks here generally require magic arrays to use universal interfaces as much as possible, and even if they are not needed temporarily, it is best to reserve a space for an interface.

Zhang Sheng never intended to let anyone else use the magic array she designed. Not to mention that she didn't know about interfaces at the time, even if she had, she would never have left a place for it!
The second requirement for universality is to use as many standard functional modules as possible, and to use this as an important criterion for evaluating the level of universality.

The functional module is something that Zhang Sheng recognizes every single character in, but doesn't understand the meaning of.

She continued searching for the documentation and quickly found the relevant instructions. The so-called functional module is a separate miniature magic array that takes some common functions of the magic array, such as the part that generates wood from water and converts water-based magic power into wood-based magic power. It is then connected to other magic array functional modules through a common interface, becoming part of a larger and more complex magic array.

Within the research institute, the vast majority of functional modules are publicly available and freely usable by array designers. Only a few modules are classified and require specific access levels to learn and use.

After reviewing these two criteria, Zhang Sheng's anger subsided considerably. This research institute was indeed quite capable. The magic array designed according to these two standards could likely be easily used by even mediocre cultivators. Its effectiveness in war would be immeasurable.

However, Zhang Sheng was still bothered by the fact that the overall functional strength of the magic array was only "acceptable." So he continued reading and, sure enough, made another new discovery.

The stability of a magic array refers not only to its stable operation, but also to its ability to cope with harsh environments, such as fire and lightning strikes.

The energy consumption of the magic array is also more detailed than Zhang Sheng had anticipated. Simply having a low overall consumption of spiritual energy isn't enough; a further requirement is the availability of abundant spiritual energy in the environment. For example, in the Witch Domain, a magic array based on water and wood must be designed, while in the Liao Domain, it's based on metal and earth. If spiritual objects are used for power, then the most abundant and cheapest ones should be used.

Seeing this, Zhang Sheng felt like his head was about to explode with heat again. Were these trivial details really that important?

Finally, they reached the section on the strength of the magic array's function, which was evaluated using a standard score and included a ranking list. Zhang Sheng's magic array scored seventy points. She casually clicked on the ranking list, and everything went black!
There are a total of 92 people on this list, and Zhang Sheng's score of 70 ranks him ninety-first!
Zhang Sheng slowly flipped through the pages, trying to memorize all the names. From childhood to adulthood, she had never come in second!

As Zhang Sheng was looking around, his gaze suddenly sharpened as he saw Cui Yu's name.

Cui Yu scored 83 points, ranking fourteenth.

Zhang Sheng closed her eyes, calming the surging murderous intent within her. Then, her heart became as still as water, undisturbed, and she began to carefully read all the information she could find.

She quickly found numerous books on formations in the documentation, including titles such as "General Interface Principles of Formations," "Methods for Superimposing High-Order Formations," and "Advanced Formation Design." Zhang Sheng glanced at these strange titles and then selected an article titled "A Preliminary Exploration of Enhancing the Power of Super-Order Formations," thinking it might offer some inspiration.

Zhang Sheng opened the article and skimmed through it, but then he read slower and slower until he finally stopped.

This article seems to make some sense... Zhang Sheng silently closed the document, picked up another book, "Advanced Methods for Optimizing Magic Arrays," and after a moment closed it and put it aside.

After trying seven or eight different books, Zhang Sheng finally found a copy of "The Basic Mathematical Principles of Magic Array Design." He treasured it and studied it carefully, losing track of time.

At this moment, the sky was bright in the clear blue sky. Wei Yuan had already met with several city lords and more than ten military generals, and had also taken a stroll around the herb garden.

The immortal soil won in the chess game had been given to Daoist Chuhe, who used it to cultivate the Ice Mulberry, greatly increasing its efficiency. In less than a month since Wei Yuan left, the Ice Mulberry had evolved and mutated twice, now reaching adulthood and ready for large-scale seedling cultivation. By late summer and early autumn, there would be plenty of seedlings available for transplanting and grafting. He returned to Zhang Sheng's courtyard and saw Zhang Sheng still asleep, his brows raised, his face calm, yet a fierce killing intent lurked between his brows, lost in thought.

Wei Yuan tucked her in, then gently kissed her lips before drawing the curtains to block out the sunlight. After leaving the room, Wei Yuan closed the door, but still feeling uneasy, he placed an additional Dharma Aspect warrior in the courtyard to guard the area, in addition to the original four Dao Foundation warriors.

Wei Yuan checked the time; he was about to meet with another group of chamber of commerce leaders, so he took off and flew eastward in an instant.

Amidst the everyday hustle and bustle of life, Zhang Sheng was completely absorbed in her book when a gentle chime sounded in her ear, pulling her back from her mathematical world.

Zhang Sheng looked up and saw the girl holding a delicate bronze chime, which she had just tapped near his ear. The sound of the chime had a calming effect on the mind and was very soothing to hear.

"It's time. You should go back now," the girl said.

Zhang Sheng got up as instructed and left his seat. He then saw someone rushing over and heading straight for his seat, clearly intending to take it.

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly. She never liked sharing things with others, except for Wei Yuan and Ji Liuli.

The girl seemed to know her intentions, and pointed to Zhang Sheng's seat, which was immediately sealed off and could no longer be used by anyone else. The man was taken aback, but said nothing. He looked around, and with the guidance of a girl in blue next to him, he found a new seat, pulled over the ball of light, and began to bury himself in his work.

Zhang Sheng was very satisfied, but also felt a little guilty, and said, "Isn't this inappropriate? I'm new here, don't let me break the rules."

The girl simply said, "You deserve it."

With just that one sentence, Zhang Sheng felt an instant connection with the girl. But she was never good at expressing herself, so she silently followed the girl away from the research institute.

As soon as he stepped out of the gate, Zhang Sheng suddenly saw a statue standing not far away. The statue was very simple and the carving was rough, but he could still tell that it was a familiar face, and a long tail was very eye-catching.

Zhang Sheng was immediately taken aback. Was this divine language?

Hundreds of people lined up, standing around the statue under the direction of several cultivators. They then knelt down and began to kowtow, chanting: "Nine Desolate Power - Lord Tianyu, we sincerely thank you for your great kindness and virtue! This kindness and virtue can never be repaid, we can only express our gratitude at all times, and thank you to your entire family..."

Zhang Sheng didn't understand what these people were doing, but judging from their solemn and organized manner, they seemed to be doing something very important.

The young woman led the way, her movements seemingly slow but actually swift, and in the blink of an eye they returned to the small courtyard where Zhang Sheng lived. The young woman said, "Rest quietly and fall asleep, then you can leave. The same applies when you wish to return."

Zhang Sheng nodded, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep in the blink of an eye.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw that the room was pitch black and warm, and knew that Wei Yuan had come. She got up to change her clothes, drew back the curtains, and removed the light-blocking array. She saw that the sun was shining brightly outside the window, and the weather was exceptionally nice today.

Zhang Sheng sat at the table, picked up a piece of jade paper, and wrote down the words "Basic Mathematical Principles of Magic Array Design." But looking at the title, a strange sense of incongruity lingered. The name was particularly simple and easy to understand; most literate people could understand it. But precisely because it was so simple and straightforward, it lacked any aesthetic appeal whatsoever.

Just like the Taiyin Moon Essence Myriad Phenomena Chapter that Wei Yuan cultivated, if it were placed in that research institute, the name would most likely be changed to 'The Cultivation System of Yin Moon Phase Magic Power and Ten Thousand Basic Variations'.

Zhang Sheng put aside his inexplicable thoughts, wrote down the book he had read from memory, studied it twice, then closed his eyes and meditated for a full hour before opening them again. He had already grasped the contents of the entire book.

After learning the contents of the book, Zhang Sheng discovered that much of the content about modules and interfaces was based on this book, and now she understands the principles behind it to some extent.

The content of this book looks very similar to the extraterrestrial world described by Xu Wenwu. However, Xu Wenwu had long forgotten everything he learned, only remembering some descriptions and terms, and had completely forgotten even basic trigonometric functions. This book, on the other hand, contains substantial content that has revived what Xu Wenwu had forgotten.

Zhang Sheng got up and swallowed a fasting pill, then took out a Taoist book, intending to study it. But after flipping through a few pages, she couldn't continue reading; the three large characters "unqualified" kept floating in her mind, refusing to leave.

Zhang Sheng made a quick decision, returned to bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.

When Zhang Sheng opened his eyes again, the room was still furnished the same, except that there were Qing Ming's current documents on the desk. Zhang Sheng got up, and the girl reappeared. She seemed not at all surprised by Zhang Sheng's arrival and led him to the Creation of Heaven and Earth Research Institute.

The seat was the same, but Cui Yu wasn't there anymore; a young woman was now working in his old spot. Zhang Sheng wasn't in a hurry to finish his design task; instead, he chose another book and began to study it carefully.

(End of this chapter)