Chapter 65: Counting Air
The first spell Anji encountered near the teapot’s mouth was a simple water element spell. There was nothing fancy about it. The assumed purpose was to conjure water into the teapot after activating it. Without any other gate symbols, that was all there was to it.
The spell at the bottom of the teapot was a different story. There were several gate symbols drawn around the fire spell. Assuming that her teacher used it to boil the tea in the teapot, why would the spell be so complex? She understood the need to contain the fire element. Unlike conjuring water, it would be insane to have flames spewing out from the bottom of the teapot. Instead, Anji confirmed with her book that her teacher included a logic gate to identify certain properties of fire and remove them upon activation. However, there was one other gate that she had never seen before.
Flipping through the book, Anji searched the pages very carefully, glancing over to the teapot that she had flipped upside down. It was now standing on its mouth, so Anji could easily refer to the seal on the bottom.
After what felt like an eternity, she finally managed to match the new symbol to something similar. The process was arduous, but she was determined to unravel the mystery.
"This must be the section," she rejoiced. "What’s a differentiator?"
At first, Anji thought she must be reading the wrong book. After sitting with her sister and mother for so many arithmetic lessons, she knew the characters for numbers. Checking the cover of the book to ensure it was not swapped, Anji was thoroughly bewildered by the Math explanation she was reading. Moreover, there was a new character she had never seen before.
"What’s zero?" Anji frowned. She had never seen this number before and had no idea how much that would be.
Yan Ping silently returned to her student, who hunched over the book with a deep frown on her face as she read the guidebook. The soup was simmering well, and dinner would be ready in another two hours.
"Have you figured out what runes I used in the spells?" she asked, startling Anji from her stool.