Chapter 546 - 545: Empowered Metamagic

"We've long been prepared for this." Donkexes and Langgrin exchanged a smile, speaking one after the other. "We're ready to see the gates of Hell!"

"Alright, let's talk about something more cheerful." Langgrin looked at Ale sitting beside him. "Hey, 'Can't Shoot Straight,' how much can you drink?"

The Half-Elf's pointed ears twitched slightly. She seemed confused as to why the topic had suddenly shifted to her.

She tilted her head and said, "I don't know."

"Hmph, that's a very arrogant thing to say." Langgrin picked up his mug, then pulled a bottle of distilled liquor from who-knows-where. "This is some distilled liquor. Shall we have a competition?"

"There's no need to drink like that," Colin advised.

"Is this some kind of game?" Ale seemed to recall her disastrous defeat at Silver Star Court and immediately spoke up, "Then I want to play."

"Then let's begin." Langgrin started pouring the clear liquid from the glass bottle into their cups. The two of them began drinking, matching each other cup for cup, washing it down with side dishes.

Seeing that he couldn't talk them out of it, Colin didn't bother anymore.

Besides, he was there. He wasn't worried about anything happening to Ale.

"But speaking of which, Dorn's talent is truly remarkable—perhaps only a little less than yours. That's also why he managed to survive in the city of the Gray Dwarves." Donkexes looked at Colin and asked, "Have you read about the vile habits of those gray-skinned rats in any books?"

"The Gray Dwarves... I remember reading in a book that they have a kind of paranoid pragmatism. Even a Gray Dwarf prince must throw himself onto the front lines of the clan's work and battles. Only the best performer is qualified to inherit the throne," Colin said.

"That's right," Donkexes said. "When we found him, he had already become the captain of a Gray Dwarf Soul Blade Master squad. And that was with the other Gray Dwarves deliberately suppressing him."

"But why were you so willing to let him join us? Wouldn't it have been disastrous if we were bad people?" Colin took a bite of bottom-dweller salted fish.

Donkexes chuckled softly, then said, "You can tell just by looking at the atmosphere among you all. Your team must be very harmonious internally, not like other Adventurer parties with a ton of drama. I remember seeing a few Adventurers who would trick others into joining their party, only to engage in dirty deeds like murder and robbery."

"We actually haven't run into much of that," Colin thought for a moment. "It might also be that other parties aren't too keen on dealing with us."

Donkexes asked, "Oh, right. Ale told us you're studying Magic at the Black Tower now?" 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"That's right, why?"

"I wanted to say that was the right decision," Donkexes said. "After all, you're about to learn Tier Five Magic. At my level, I can't teach you anymore."

Colin was taken aback. "Is that so?"

"Congratulations, you're not a rookie anymore." Donkexes clapped him on the shoulder. "Of course, you probably stopped being a rookie a long time ago."

Colin nodded silently.

The two of them watched the other two as they drank.

After cup after cup of liquor went down, Ale still had the same expressionless face, while Langgrin's was gradually turning red.

The Dwarf propped himself up on the table with both hands, his whole body starting to sway.

Despite this, he still didn't fall, as if he had some reason he absolutely could not lose.

"I... *hic*... will not... *hic*... lose a drinking contest... to an... E-Elf..."

Langgrin mumbled word by word. Colin felt that if he so much as shifted his weight, the clatter of his Armor would have drowned out the Dwarf's voice.

Just as the last syllable fell from his lips, Langgrin's head hit the table with a THUD.

Immediately followed by a clap of thunderous snores.

A faint blush appeared on the cheeks of Ale, who sat across from Langgrin, but she still wore the same deadpan expression. It looked like she wasn't too drunk either.

Donkexes said, "Hmph. Langgrin is still too young, too naive."

"Indeed." Colin nodded. "I wouldn't drink like that, anyway."

"Me neither," Donkexes said quietly. "If it were me, I'd add some ice to the drink. That way, as the ice melts, it slightly lowers the alcohol concentration. Remember that; consider it a little secret I'm teaching you."

"Hm? Ah." Colin nodded silently.

'He had wanted to say that drinking too much was bad for one's health, but seeing this, he realized telling a Dwarf something like that was completely pointless.'

Now that Langgrin was down, the small drinking party soon came to an end. Feeling a little tipsy, Colin, still in his Armor, headed back with Ale.

His previous set of Armor was left with Donkexes as they had agreed, serving as partial payment for the labor fee.

Early the next morning, Colin put on his new Armor and walked toward the Black Tower.

He would need to wear the new Armor for a while to get used to it before he could enchant it with Magic. It would be much more convenient then.

At first, as he walked down the street, he was a little worried that someone would recognize it as dragon-bone armor, which could lead to trouble.

But after walking a few streets without anyone noticing, Colin started to hope someone would recognize it. 'I spent so much money; I should at least get a few turned heads on the street, right?'

However, in Thousand Masts City, everyone had their own business to attend to. Nobody paid any mind to a guy strolling down the street in Half-plate Armor.

Colin arrived at the Black Tower with practiced ease and entered Morel's laboratory.

At this time, several Mage Apprentices were sitting in the laboratory, completely focused on their various experiments.

'These Mage Apprentices are exceptionally hardworking. I see people studying here almost every time I come.'

After pushing open the stone door, Colin came to the inner hall.

Morel hadn't arrived yet, so Colin simply went to the experiment table himself and began practicing Metamagic Techniques.

After conducting several experiments in a row, Colin sat on the Meditation Platform to rest for a moment, then opened his Spellbook and began modifying the Magic Models recorded on its pages.

'After these past few days of practice, I've started to figure out the patterns.'

'So-called Metamagic Casting is actually very similar to Magic.'

'The two are basically independent things.'

'To make an analogy, it's like a horse and a carriage. An Ordinary spell is the horse; it can be cast normally even without Metamagic Techniques. The carriage is like a Metamagic Technique; it can change the horse's various characteristics, but it can't move forward without the horse.'

'Of course, right now I only have a slight understanding of my own Metamagic Techniques. I have no idea what kind of Specialty I'll end up with.'

After roughly finishing his modifications to the Magic Model, he stood on the stone platform again.

Colin began Casting using the improved Magic Model.