Nowadays, there were too many shameless people to count… Wang Ling was already used to it, like that Dean from Shadow Fool Guild who had stolen Father Wang’s song a few days ago. Wang Ling heard that the guy was already halfway to his doom. Rather than directly crush him, Father Wang had chosen to “boil the frog” and thoroughly discredit him.

　　In the magic circle, original spells and derivative spells, as well as plagiarizing and stealing spells, had always been a focus. To take the “cultivation forum” which Grenade-Throwing Senior Immortal ran as an example, there were a lot of posts on the forum every day asking people to check whether certain spells were identical or not.

　　The most difficult part of any new spell was the operational theory. Once you had the theory, you experimented with it step by step to convert it into a working formula. The birth of an original spell could take a cultivator hundreds or even thousands of years. Of course, there were some extraordinarily talented people who could complete their research in decades, but in the end, they were a small minority.

　　After the new technique was complete, you could submit an application for an original spell copyright with the cultivation skills library on the Huaxiu Alliance website to protect your rights and interests.

　　After this step, the creator of the new spell could subsequently make money in the form of authorized dividend sales in online cultivator’s skills stores like the ones Dog Two had visited previously.

　　In the case of a derivative spell, the underlying operational theory of one or more spells were modified. The killing techniques which they had to complete designs for this time were precisely derivative spells.

　　In terms of copyright, as long as you noted what original art or spell it was derived from, how it worked, and who created it, as well as made sure that the derivative spell wasn’t sold commercially, then it wouldn’t be a violation of copyright.

　　Unfortunately, however, there were some people who liked to engage in plagiarism or theft in the current magic circle, flaunting themselves as mages with original spells and showing off and swindling people left and right.

　　Wang Ling believed that there were more and more spell copyright disputes nowadays largely because of the utilitarian hearts of modern cultivators.

　　These days, fewer and fewer cultivators were willing to devote themselves to properly developing spells. A lot of them had started to become fickle and impatient. In today’s relatively peaceful cultivation era, without the uproar and clashes between warring tribes and sects, more and more cultivators were obsessed with making money, even not scrupling to use some dirty tricks.

　　Currently, it was also a big problem trying to determine whether an original spell had been plagiarized or not. This was because there were still too few professional spell infringement experts, and the relevant system had yet to be perfected.

　　Wang Ling had in fact noticed this problem a long time ago, but so far there hadn’t been an effective way to solve it.

　　Nonetheless, the spells anti-plagiarism movement had started to gain momentum among cultivators in recent years.

　　And the truth was that all spells evolved out of the Three Thousand Great Dao.

　　It was possible that some of the most sought-after top-level spells were just a small branch of the Three Thousand Great Dao.

　　But Wang Ling didn’t have the heart to reveal this, because even if he did, there wouldn’t necessarily be anyone who would listen.

　　He could tell them, but there was no point…

　　In the afternoon after school, several boys in the classroom took out their cell phones and set up a discussion group to discuss their plans for their killing techniques.

　　For one thing, they had already studied together for a semester, and knew each other quite well. But in some other sense, if you weren’t an especially talented person and you had to design a spell at senior high level… It was just more logical and efficient to discuss it in a group together.

　　While Dopey Guo, Super Chen and Little Peanut were setting up the group, Dopey Guo turned to look at Wang Ling. “Wang Ling, why are you spacing out? Join the group!”

　　“…”

　　Wang Ling thought for a bit, and in the end still took out his phone.

　　It couldn’t be helped. This was a product of his surrounding environment; if he didn’t join the group and he completed his spell on his own, he would likely become the focus of attention again.

　　But honestly speaking, even though Wang Ling had such a wide range of spells to choose from, he hadn’t really thought about which spell would be right for him… For now, he only had a general direction — the best would be to use the least conspicuous metal spell as the primary base.

　　So Wang Ling joined the group…

　　He was pretty curious to hear the constructive suggestions of this group of people.

　　Dopey Guo’s thinking was very clear-cut as he held his phone and said with a sage expression, “The exact plan is like this: everyone put your spiritual root attribute in front of your username in the group. It’s fine if you don’t know what yours is yet; in any case, the school will test us for them in a few days.”

　　“And then?” asked Little Peanut.

　　Dopey Guo said firmly, “Draw lots!”

　　When he heard this, Wang Ling understood what Dopey Guo meant. They would draw lots to decide the order of spell research. They would pool their knowledge together to help one person complete a general design of their killing technique first before moving on to help the person next in line improve on theirs. This was actually a pretty fair way of doing things!

　　After speaking, Dopey Guo opened a lottery app. Each time you clicked on it, it would give you a random number between 1 and 4.

　　The first one to draw a number was Little Peanut, who got a 4.

　　Dopey Guo was 2.

　　Super Chen was 3…

　　Hm… the person who got 1, was Wang Ling.

　　Wang Ling: “…”

　　“Alright, Wang Ling is number one. Let’s help Wang Ling think of something first,” Dopey Guo said.

　　To be honest, Super Chen was a little surprised. He didn’t expect Wang Ling’s spiritual root to have the relatively conservative metal attribute. Wasn’t there a saying… silence is golden?

　　Little Peanut lowered his head and thought for a moment before he said, “Usually, spells that are a better fit for the metal attribute can use the fire element as a secondary spell. Classmate Wang Ling can choose a metal spell as the primary spell and combine it with a fire spell as a secondary one.”

　　Dopey Guo: “But if we take metal as the primary element, it doesn’t seem like there are a lot of spells to choose from. The main thing is that we currently still don’t know which metal spells Wang Ling has mastered.”

　　“That isn’t a problem.” Super Chen gave a different opinion. “Even if Wang Ling can’t do metal spells, he can start learning now. Right now we are at the design stage, and it’s still way early before the formal evaluation in Grade Two. There’s plenty of time to master it!”

　　“True!” Dopey Guo nodded. “In that case, let’s check. My uncle’s company developed an app that can help you find the spells most compatible for you from the skills library.”

　　Wang Ling listened very seriously to everyone else’s analysis and moved closer when Dopey Guo opened the compatibility app.

　　After Dopey Guo filled in various fields in the questionnaire like height, weight, realm, spiritual root attribute, everyday personality and so on, the software automatically recommended the following skills…

　　Level two spell “Free Golden Monkey”: A metal enhancement spell. A body spell primarily for strengthening the four limbs so that they become the limbs of the golden monkey. When the spell is in use, speed and agility are greatly enhanced, making it easier to escape for your life! — (from “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Magic Scroll ¹ “)

　　Level two spell “Tianpeng’s ² Metal Breaking Roar”: A metal sound wave spell. Bolsters the vocal cords to release a powerful roar that can break metal and split stone. Causes temporary dizziness in the other party, making it easier to escape for your life! — (from “Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons Magic Scroll”)

　　Super Chen shook his head when he looked at this spell. “This one won’t work! Wang Ling hardly talks…”

　　Wang Ling: “…”

　　Dopey Guo: “Don’t worry, keep reading! There’s also a secondary fire spell! If these three spells are combined together, it might not necessarily turn out to be a sound wave spell!”

　　With a “mm,” Wang Ling continued reading…

　　The third recommended spell — Level one spell “Fire Beacon to the Skies”: A fire barrier spell. Uses spirit energy as a medium to set the air aflame. Creates a tremendous amount of smoke, and used when escaping for your life! — (from”Zhurong ³ Spiritual Scroll”)

　　Wang Ling: “…”

　　Little Peanut: “Why are they all for escaping?”

　　“This is the limitation of metal spells; most of them are defensive spells to begin with.” Dopey Guo sighed.

　　“Yeah!” Super Chen nodded and said, “But I think after combining them together, the new name will sound pretty good!”

　　“What will it be called?”

　　“Fire Beacons Trick Pig and Monkey ⁴ !”