Chapter 78: The Hunt (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
After the congealed contents of his stomach emerged onto the ground, Angele almost collapsed. He stood up slowly and sat on the chair. The puke on the ground made the whole shop smell bad.
Angele rested for a while, then found the tools to clean up the ground. He dumped all the mess into the garbage bin and mopped the ground several times. He then threw the garbage bin to the waste collection place on the street.
“I’m a rank 3 apprentice now.” Angele sat down again, feeling much better after finishing cleaning the shop.
‘Zero, record the mentality cost of the spells I cast,’ Angele said.
‘Recording…’
Everything turned blue in Angele’s view for a second, then returned to normal right after.
‘Start the regular experimenting mode.’
Regular experimenting mode was a mode designed by Angele. He could monitor all the data related to his experiment under this mode while the blue indicators would stay hidden to avoid blocking his sight.
“First, the Hand of Exhaustion.”
From his pouch, Angele took out a finger-sized bottle which was filled with white powder.
Angele removed the stopper, poured some powder onto his palm, and put the bottle back into his pouch. He clasped his hands together and rubbed them once. It sounded like he was rubbing glass shards between his palms.
Angele stayed calm and started to chant the incantation. It kept on coming out of his mouth in a weird tone. Slowly, his hands’ color started to turn from white to a darker color, and after several seconds, they became red like blood.
Angele stopped casting the spell and started to carefully observe the changes that had happened to his hands. His skin had turned red, and his nails were shining, but he had to look closely to see the red shiny dots on the edges of his nails.
Angele was staring at the data showed in front of his eyes. He was reading the temperature, hardness, radiation, spectrum, duration, and various other properties of the spell. Most of the numbers were stable, but some were changing rapidly.
Angele compared the data to the ones from previous experiments, finding that the power of the spell had generally increased, and he had spent less time channeling the spell.
‘Zero, I have enough mentality to improve level 0 spells, right?’ Angele asked.
‘Requirements are met. Mentality 15.0. One level 0 spell can be improved.’
‘Can you improve the Hand of Exhaustion? It’s better if I can skip the spell powder.’
‘Improvement plan for Hand of Exhaustion created… Expected results after the improvement:
The Hand of Exhaustion (Improved) – Spell level 0
Cost: 1.5 mentality points. 1.5 mana points.
Effect: Strike the enemies with negative energy and exhaust them.
Effective distance: Direct contact.
Casting Time: 3 seconds. Spell fails if interrupted.
Weaknesses: Enemies with high Stamina can resist the exhaustion effect.
Improvements: Spell can be casted without spell powder. Casting time will be reduced by one second.
Information acquired from: Fundamentals of Spells, Fundamentals of Negative Energy, Casting and Channeling, Touch of Solomon - Explanations on all the Level 0 Direct Contacting Spells.
Angele had a satisfied look on his face. ‘How long will it take to improve the spell? Can you improve the spell again after the first improvement is done? Also, can you turn it into a ranged spell?’
‘Based on the current information in the database, it is impossible to improve it again. The improvement will take 152 hours, and it will cost 14.2 mentality points.’
Angele was not disappointed; he was satisfied with the results of the first improvement. He had learnt the Hand of Exhaustion because he wanted to strike before the enemy could react. Though the casting time was long, and he would not be able to use it against a prepared opponent, it was still a good spell in terms of its effect’s duration and power. It would take effect the moment Angele touched an enemy with his hands.
He had tried it on a Single Horn Bull, and the bull lost its ability to fight right after Angele touched its body. The bull’s Stamina was about 3 or 4, but it could not resist the exhaustion. The Hand of Exhaustion was one of the most useful low-level spells he could get.
‘I need to acquire more knowledge before I can ask the chip to improve the spell again. I probably need more books about the fundamentals of the spells,’ Angele thought.
Once the opponent was exhausted by the spell, the exhaustion would last for about an hour, but it was possible for the enemy to remove the negative energy while still being exhausted.
Angele clapped his hands, and some red mist appeared in the air, then disappeared after Angele’s hands turned back to their normal color.
‘Now I can learn as many level 0 spells as I want. However, I need to figure out how I want to use them, otherwise, the spells may even slow down my speed. Wasting mentality points during a fight will never be a good idea.’
Angele knew what he needed to do.
“I need to focus on one specific type of spells!”
Angele made up his mind.
‘The spells I learnt were all from the negative energy category, but the energy particles I can store in my body are Air and Fire. I barely stored any negative energy particles, and that’s the problem. I should’ve bought some Air and Fire spells when I was still in the school. I’m sure I could enhance those spells while casting them,’ he thought.
‘The school is in chaos right now, so it’s impossible for me to buy basic spells there. What should I do?’
Angele scrunched his eyebrows, trying to figure out a way to buy more spells. He finally reached rank 3, but he needed more resources. When he was at the school, he did not have enough magic stones to buy everything he wanted.
‘Master Adolf was an apprentice, and he lived as a professor in the Marua Harbour. It’s totally possible that there are people like him living in the Ramsoda Empire, so I just need to find them and exchange resources with them. That could solve my spell model problem.’ Angele kept thinking. ‘Also, there must be books like the Wizard’s book that I have. I should try and find some. For now, I will make my Mentality more stable, and improve the Hand of Exhaustion.’
The next thing Angele wanted to know was how the increase of Mentality changed him.
In order to calculate the casting time of a spell, Angele needed to create the model and stop right before casting the spell. After he reached rank 3, he could cast spells much faster than before. Previously, he needed three seconds to cast the Stun Spell, but now he only needed two. Angele could store spells on his chip so the improvement on casting speed was not significant.
However, the next point was important.
Angele could cast more spells during fights with higher Mentality, and the spells became more powerful than before. The reason was simple, if one considered Mentality as Strength. A man with higher Strength would be able to strike harder with the same weapon compared to a man with an average Strength, that way, a Wizard with higher Mentality would be able to cast a more powerful spell.
Also, Angele increased his Mentality to 15, and it met the Mentality requirement of becoming a Wizard. It was something Angele hadn’t expected the potion to be able to do.
Being promoted to Wizard was not just about how high the apprentice’s Mentality was, he would also need the help from outside. Angele’s Mentality was 15, and it was probably the limit for human beings. If he wanted to increase it again, he would need to break the limit. Wizards did research and found out that they could combine certain materials to produce a new substance that could help apprentices break the Mentality limit.
The apprentices that successfully broke the limit could become Wizards, and the substance that helped them break through it was named the Water of Asu. The word ‘Asu’ meant breaking the limit.
The Water of Asu was one requirement for an apprentice to become a Wizard, while the other one was to obtain as much knowledge as possible. The apprentice needed to know how to handle the various situations that could happen during the breaking of the limit.
Also, obtaining more knowledge would help Angele to learn to solidify the mentality models.
Angele raised his hands and touched his palms. He felt his whole body was in his control, and he could react to things much quicker.
‘Water of Asu, solid mentality models, those two requirements are a pain… I can buy the Water of Asu from any large Wizard organization, but I need to choose a spell structure and use my mentality to solidify the model. After I acquire the solid mentality model, I will be able to make it my Talent Spell. It’s better if I can make a solid defensive mentality model, otherwise, it won’t be too helpful during fights.’
Angele had a lot of problems to worry about. He needed more basic spells, and he also needed a good defensive spell that suited his fighting style. He would be weaker than other Wizards if he chose the wrong defensive spell.
The reason why Wizards were so strong was the defensive Talent Spell they had. A Wizard always had a force field blocking attacks for him, and since it is a Talent Spell, he did not need to cast it. It was like a passive defensive skill. Some Wizards tried to harden their skin to prevent basic physical attacks, something apprentices could not do. Also, the Talent Spell barely cost a Wizard any mentality, and some Wizards could keep the force field around themselves permanently.
‘I wonder how’s the situation in the school.’ Angele started to miss the life in the school. ‘After the war, the school might call us apprentices back since it’s not the first time that they get invaded by the Northland Wizards. It’s happened several times in the history of the school.’
He took the gray robe out of the wardrobe and turned it over; there was a black cross sign on the back of it. This black cross sign would shine when the school wanted to call all the apprentices back. This was one of the reasons why the school let all the apprentices leave—the president could order them back whenever he wanted to.
‘I hope they can solve the problem quickly.’ Angele knew there was nothing he could do. ‘But I heard it’s very hard to break the limit. I just reached rank 3 and I should take my time to prepare.’