Why don’t hydromancers simply extract the water from an enemy’s body to achieve a kill, instead of manipulating several tons of water to smash them?
Answer 1:
After reading many novels, I’ve noticed something: various elements have their own will—they are living beings, not dead molecules. What mages do is essentially continuously increase their charisma? so that they can attract more elements willing to listen to them and cooperate, rather than forcibly commanding elements that don’t want to obey. When they chant spells, it feels somewhat like invoking spirits—probably communicating with the wandering elements in the world: “Come, form a water ball! Thank you, great ones…” The elements hear this and come. The stronger the ability, the more elements one can persuade… and the larger the water ball becomes. In that case, it’s easy to explain: if those water elements have already entered a person’s body, it means these water elements have some level of认可 (recognition) for that person… Under such circumstances, it might not be so easy for an outsider to persuade them to come out. It might require multiple times the effort, so rather than going through all that trouble, it’s more cost-effective to continue summoning idle, unemployed water elements to form a ball and smash the enemy.
Answer 2:
Because hydromancers know that before they can even make a move, a pyromancer would raise their body temperature to six hundred degrees, causing them to die on the spot.
And pyromancers also know that before they can make a move, an aeromancer would suck the air out of their surroundings, causing them to die instantly.
Aeromancers naturally know that before they can make a move, a geomancer would drain the calcium from their bodies, causing them to collapse and die. So, are geomancers the ultimate winners? Not exactly—they must be wary of hydromancers extracting their bodily fluids before they can act. Since everyone lives in web novels, let’s not try to be clever. No one is foolish.
Answer 3:
Error: Cannot access private member of the object.
Answer 4:
This patch is particularly easy to apply.
Because, in most settings, magic is cast by mages using their own mental power/mana to manipulate elements and form spells.
Elements游离 (wandering) outside are ownerless and can be manipulated freely.
However, the water inside another person’s body carries that person’s own mental power/mana—it is owned—and therefore cannot be manipulated.
That’s all.
Answer 5:
Why doesn’t Sun Wukong always shrink to the size of a bacterium and enter the monster’s排泄腔 (excretory cavity) to achieve a kill from inside?
Because it’s too underhanded, disgusting,猥琐 (vulgar), and unsightly.
Answer 6:
In fact, it wouldn’t save energy required to achieve the goal, nor would it guarantee success. Based on my personal experience using hydromancy, when manipulating ownerless water elements, one only needs to apply the “selection咒段 (spell segment)” and “field咒段 (spell segment).” The energy consumption is mainly focused on the kinetic and potential energy required during the “field咒段,” while the field咒段 itself doesn’t consume much energy—though it does cause hair loss. The gradients, divergences, and curls involved in the field咒段 formulas only affect the length of the incantation and have little impact on total energy consumption. When I was studying for my初级水系魔法师 (Junior Hydromancer) degree at贝迪丹特王都第二职业学院 (Beddident Capital Second Vocational College), the title of my graduation thesis was “The Construction and Optimization of Fields in General Spell Compilation.” However, if you’ve taken the三大高挂科率必修课 (three high-fail-rate compulsory courses) in our major, particularly “Soul Field,” you would know there are three laws:
- Soul fields cannot be created out of nothing nor vanish into thin air; they can only gradually expand from a fertilized egg and gradually deconstruct after death.
- The region of a soul field is constrained by the defined quantities in the initial soul matrix; any postnatal supplementation merely approaches this defined quantity.
- All elements within a soul field are locked by that soul matrix and have the highest level of control. So, I suspect the original poster might be trolling—how could such a民科 (pseudoscientific) question be asked? Still, I can provide an answer. When attempting to manipulate the water elements inside another person’s body, we not only need to release the spell segments required for the water elements but also high-level spell segments that can influence the soul field. Assuming we want to manipulate elements (not just water) inside another person’s body—by the way, this violates the Elder Forest Convention, so I’m only making an academic hypothesis and assume no responsibility for instigation or dissemination of any consequences—there are generally three approaches.
The first is to use detection spells to perform a deep scan of the target’s soul, map their “current soul matrix,” and calculate the structural formula to infer future states. This requires an experienced specialist mage to spend considerable time at close range for accurate mapping. Then, use soul projection to project an energy-carried “soul-level” identical copy of oneself in spacetime. Through pain correction,绘制 (draw) the enemy’s “soul matrix” onto one’s own projection based on the previously mapped “soul matrix.” Next, release “bloodlust术” (only a few mages know this) to remove the stability constraints the enemy’s “soul matrix” imposes on the field elements. Only then can you manipulate the enemy. As you can see, every step requires the enemy to be in a state of难以防抗 (difficult to resist). Unless one has some masked wrestler’s fetish for tormenting the elements inside others’ bodies, this approach isn’t practical.
The second method is more brutal: release a wide-area purification创生咒 (creation spell) to erase all soul matrices in the region, then manipulate the elements inside others’ bodies. This was previously used to exterminate vampires, but it was discontinued after the华法林条约 (Warfarin Treaty). Your magic history is lacking—did you directly study as a science student? That’s putting the cart before the horse. Moreover, all materials related to purification创生咒 were destroyed after the Warfarin Treaty, and there are no current academic references for casting it.
The third method is clever and highly feasible—it just requires some time. Through long-term accumulation of drainage processes, you expel the water elements from your own soul field and release a soul wrapping spell to retain the highest control authority over these water elements. Then, you can apply a “ant” mimic soul engraving to these waters. After that, you find a way to make your enemy drink some of these water elements. Although the water elements will be assimilated by the soul field upon entering the enemy’s body, the mimic soul engraving you applied won’t be affected. Under the influence of the “ant” engraving, these water elements will spontaneously gather at “many” points and pull surrounding water elements along. As long as you carry about a bottle’s worth of “ant” water elements near the enemy, the moisture inside the enemy’s body will gather spontaneously without leaving the soul field. Your enemy will then die from hypertension or edema.
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The answerer is about to face trial in维斯特莱克 (Westerlake) court in half an hour for breaching confidentiality agreements and will likely serve three years of labor on囚人岛 (Prisoner Island) in the southern capital. Broadcasting a little before going to court. The answerer is a mudblood; my eyes are a bit blurry from brewing youth potions for my boss yesterday—don’t dwell on why I got the platform wrong. Mudblood brothers who want to enroll can pay attention to daily奇妙现象 (wondrous phenomena); you might meet the spell-casting conditions. Then, a group of legal officers riding brooms and wearing masks will come to审核 (review) you. Just say you naturally awakened to magical cognition, and you can start receiving magical world information. Everyone, stop collecting lizard tails, monkey hands, rabbit teeth, etc., at home—those are too primitive. Nowadays, spell-casting媒介 (mediums) are made by prisoners like me on assembly lines. If you see a wand engraved with “114514,” it’s probably carved by me. Don’t rescue me, brothers—it’s really unnecessary. I’ve long wanted to quit my job under my boss; in three years, I’ll be a good mage again! Finally, I wish everyone a safe life in the magical world.
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The above content is purely fictional, for everyone’s amusement.
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Prisoner Island Diary Day 1 January 14 Weather: Unknown
I have three good news and three bad news迫不及待 (eager) to share with everyone.
Good news one: Prisoner Island actually allows mobile phones! But how did my Zhihu account get logged out?
Bad news one: The court sentenced me to a thousand-day wand punishment. I’m now locked in a pitch-black,五彩斑斓 (colorfully) dim little room, and there are no power outlets invented by Muggles here. My phone might not last long. It’s not like what my senior brothers bragged about—there’s no industrialized assembly line, riverside豪宅 (mansions), or private single rooms. They really led me astray.
Good news two: The thousand-day wand punishment actually means crafting a thousand wands. The standard magic trees and other materials needed for wand-making are piled up in the dim room, so it’s dark but glowing with various eerie lights. I took inventory—there are extra materials, but only barely.
Bad news two: There are only materials, no tools. Oh no—do I have to use my phone to carve or bite them off with my teeth?
Good news three: I saw two holes in the wall of the dim room. The small one has a digital screen above it showing: 1000. It seems I just need to finish a thousand wands to be free! The hole below can only fit a meal tray—at least I won’t have to eat magical materials.
Bad news three: The standard magic tree is actually a whole coconut tree. Let me tell you, even carving a thousand chopsticks would be tough! I do know how to make wands—贝二职 (Beddident Second Vocational College) not only taught me hydromancy but also offered artisan internship courses, specifically wand-making! It’s unexpected that it would come in handy here—life is full of surprises. The materials here can only be used to make specialized wands. The “magic circuit” of these wands doesn’t correspond to one’s own soul matrix, so they are only useful when casting specific spells. There was once a senior brother who carried hundreds of various functional, labeled specialized wands for spellcasting—his teacher affectionately called him “执杖儿” (Wand Wielder). Let me explain the general standard wand-making process at贝二职 to everyone, while also organizing my own thoughts.
Raw materials for wand-making include:
- A standard wood piece of convenient shape
- Commonly used materials for the four major systems (wind, earth, fire, water) and their mixed derivatives
- A protective layer to prevent the wand’s magic from being复合掉 (composited away) in the air, usually alchemical oil
The wand-making process isn’t overly complicated:
First, polish the standard wood to smooth its surface, preventing performance degradation due to the “tip effect” of magic.
Then, engrave the “magic阵地的 (magic array)”—carve various functional magic circuits onto the wand to achieve effects like energy reduction, spell amplification, range expansion, and precision improvement when casting corresponding spells.
Next, embed magical materials into the independent nodes on the magic circuit to serve as energy relay stations during spellcasting.
Finally, evenly apply at least three layers of protective coating to ensure energy dissipation率 (rate) is below 0.5%, preventing the wand from exploding during spellcasting.
But now, I can’t even complete the first step. As the saying goes, “巧妇难为无米之炊” (even the cleverest housewife can’t cook without rice)—I have rice but no pot, which is frustrating. To scrape off enough wand-sized wood from this coconut tree for engraving magic circuits… But I wonder if they’ll provide utensils with lunch later. If they give me even a toothpick, I can use mimic engraving to turn it into a steel needle!
When faced with difficulties,先睡大觉 (sleep first)!
Updated three hours later:
Brothers, I actually fell asleep against the wall just now. If I hadn’t had a nightmare, I might have slept much longer. I dreamed that there was no alchemical maintenance oil among the materials, and all the wands I made were useless. Haha, as if they wouldn’t provide protective oil… Oh no, there really is no protective oil. What should I do? Do I have to prepare the alchemical protective oil myself? But there are neither oil plants that don’t fuse with the wand nor animal fats here. Wait, lunch has arrived—let me get it.
The food is pretty good: stir-fried potato shreds, pan-fried potato slices, braised potato chunks, and a spoonful of mashed potatoes. Are all the potatoes from水龙井农场 (Water Dragon Well Farm) sent here? But at least there’s some meat: the mashed potatoes are topped with a bit of gravy, and there’s a small piece of fatty, delicious braised pork. Under the weak red light of火狐裘 (fire fox fur), the fat glimmers enticingly. Wait—isn’t this animal fat? It seems I might not get to eat meat dishes. Let me grieve for a moment.
As the saying goes, “a good wand is worth a thousand incantations.” The oiling process is very particular. You need to activate the semi-finished wand with the engraved magic circuit to make it run at maximum power. At this time, due to energy loss from idle circulation in the magic circuit, a lot of heat is generated. Then, slowly wipe the wand with animal fat, gently rotating from the top to the bottom until the entire wand is evenly coated. But thinking that this process uses my only meat dish breaks my heart. I wonder if food delivery is available here.
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Updated January 14, 15:00.
Brothers, after digging for half a day with a spoon enhanced by “利器拟造” (sharp tool simulation), I finally managed to cut a triangular prism-shaped wooden stick from this damned coconut tree. This is the first time I’ve learned that coconut trees don’t have growth rings—which is good, as it ensures the cut wood won’t have uneven quality due to age differences.利器拟造 is quite useful—it allows the metal elements of the spoon to remain stationary within the spoon system, preventing deformation. This way, the spoon’s bowl can cut wood, and the handle can engrave magic circuits. Thankfully, I aced magic circuit principles, so my engraving is fast, steady, and precise.
But how do I grind this wooden stick into a wand as handsome as elderberry? The triangular prism shape definitely won’t work—the tip effect on the edges is still too strong, and energy will accumulate heavily there. This wand would probably turn into a fairy wand with a few glowing lines. Maybe it could be used as a cheer stick in the future? I’ll submit it to MFTV’s “致富经” (Wealth Guide) after I get out. But for now, I need to focus on making wands to meet the quota.
The jailer who collected the plates earlier said that from now on, I’ll only get potatoes if I hand in a wand. I don’t have time to worry about efficiency now—I need to make at least one wand every two days. Plus, I’d better get out within three years, or I’ll miss the mage employment period. There are so many hydromancy graduate students—I don’t want to catch that employment wave.
I currently lack the tools to grind the wooden stick into a cylinder. Using a spoon to carve it will inevitably create “angles,” which isn’t practical. My hand speed and wrist strength aren’t enough to “lathe” a cylindrical surface, and my hands aren’t stable enough—it’s easy to create gaps. Wait, aren’t I a mage? How could I forget—I spent two hours scrolling through Douyin earlier and got a bit Muggle-minded. Let me think: I can use the spoon as a lathe tool by sticking it into the hole in the wall and using “凝水如露” (condense water like dew) and “坚冰术” (hard ice spell) to fill the gaps and secure it. I’ve forgotten the incantation for坚冰术—is it “stick ur finger on my♂hole” or “step brother help me”? I hope my ice-magic classmates, remembering our general education courses together, can tell me.
I can use the belt from my pants as a transmission belt to rotate the wooden棱锥 (prism), allowing it to be lathed against the spoon. Then, I can use “瞬光刃” (instant light blade) to cut off the sharp parts, resulting in a shorter cylindrical wooden stick. Why not use “瞬光刃” to cut the wood? My mana reserve isn’t enough to sustain it for long.
Next, I need a stable support frame to ensure the wand doesn’t get over-cut due to shaking during the “lathing” process. The ice from坚冰术 can resist compression but isn’t as “hard” as the name suggests. I shouldn’t have returned the meal tray earlier. Most of the materials on hand are liquids or powders, or things like fish bones that can’t withstand strengthening spells. I still need火狐裘 as a blanket. The only solid material left is this coconut tree. It seems I’ll have to dig more—I just need to dig out two rings with support handles, then use “凝水如露” and “坚冰术” to refine the inner shape. By continuously releasing “凝水如露” at the friction points to act as a medium, I can prevent the ice from deforming due to friction. Enough talk—time to dig. I picked up the spoon and continued working on the coconut tree.
