Chapter 254: Crossing, or Stitching?

"What in the world did you put in that arrow?!"

Elden could no longer be bothered to check on the malformed Ghost Witch. The moment his vision recovered from the blinding white light, the Dwarf charged madly at Ron. He leaped up and grabbed the reckless Mage by the collar, forcing Ron to bend over to prevent the old dean from ripping his robes.

"Using a bow to cast cantrips, that’s fine! It’s a bit unusual, but not without precedent. Lady Jilannis Galanord, the Chief Grand Mage of the Hailan Empire, once wrote a paper on it titled *Caster and Warrior: Feasibility Analysis of the Mage Warrior System Training*. So I wasn’t concerned!"

"But what in the world did you put inside your modified arrows?! Don’t you know that Casting through a weapon already carries a significant risk of failure? You’re playing with fire—and you’ll be the one to get burned!"

"Alright, alright, old man. I’m still alive and well, aren’t I? I’m not some greenhorn who would try out an idea in the field without any preliminary experiments. I was certain there wouldn’t be any problems with this method."

With a wry smile, Ron pried open Elden’s hands, which were clenched so tightly the veins were bulging. It was exhausting being forced to bend over to talk to him like this.

"You weren’t wrong about playing with fire, though. Just look at the bombed-out area before us. Look at the Ghost Witch’s... severed limbs!"

Ron pointed with the hand holding his bow toward the patch of the underground area that had been turned to scorched earth. Some of the surrounding earth and rock had even been seared into a glass-like state. As for the Ghost Witch at the epicenter of the explosion, not a trace of the dark tentacles Elden had summoned remained where she had been standing. The Ghost Witch herself was reduced to nothing but a charred, blackened torso.

Her three arms were gone without a trace, and her four legs had been rendered into an indescribable stain on the scorched ground. After being annihilated by the golden dragon, she had somehow managed to revive, only to ultimately fail to escape a fate of being utterly obliterated.

’Perhaps this was a form of destiny, too.’

"Can this thing still talk?" Delaford asked curiously, reaching out to pry open the charred corpse’s half-open jaw. However, the moment he touched it, a puff of steam shot out from the corpse’s mouth, scalding the goblin so badly that he shrieked and leaped away.

"Ron, she’s not dead! She bit me!"

"I’ve never heard of a Ghost Witch’s bite causing a burn," Victoria said, rolling her eyes. She poked the corpse’s mouth and nose with the head of her Hard Head Hammer. The latter immediately crumbled into a pile of fine debris that trickled to the ground. "Unfortunately, Ron’s Magic was too ’explosive.’ The only reason it’s still holding a recognizable shape is because of the residual Magic Power desperately keeping it together. The moment you touch it with any force, all you’ll get is a pile of fragments."

"Mr. Elden, I’m afraid your research is doomed to fail this time," Silvia said, squatting down and summoning the leader of the Night Howling Hounds from the Ethereal Plane. She stroked its fur, comforting the terrified beast. "But I don’t mind that—Benefactor, could you reveal how you created that explosion?"

"I’ve learned some more advanced Casting techniques now, but I’m certain that even if you used a Ring of Ascension on Fireball Magic, it wouldn’t have this much power. This arrow wasn’t just a simple explosion, was it?"

"Indeed," Ron nodded. Seeing Elden and his two students also staring at him with eager eyes, he couldn’t help but feel a little proud. He took another custom-made arrow from his quiver. "The idea came to me quite easily about half a month ago, while I was practicing how to cast Magic with a bow and arrow."

"I was thinking at the time, ’My current ability is a cross between archery and Magic. It uses a weapon to complete the steps of Casting. When the weapon I use changes, the Magic it can channel, as well as its effects and range, will also change. A better weapon can naturally cast better Magic.’

"’And since I happen to know a little about Enchantment, why not create a weapon for myself that’s easier to use?’

"’Since I can use Enchantment to enhance my power, why limit myself to the bow? Why not just enchant the arrows with some powerful Magic? They’re single-use, but because of that, I don’t have to worry about repeated use.’

"’So, if I’m already enchanting the arrows with Magic, which is bound to change their specifications and structure—why not go a step further and apply all the knowledge I’ve learned to them!’

"’Most arrows can’t be recovered in battle anyway, so what’s there to worry about? As long as I can fire them without hurting myself, it’s fine!’"

"Take a look!"

Ron pried open a groove in the arrow he was holding, revealing an intricate hidden compartment. A tiny, exquisite glass vial and a small slip of paper lay quietly inside.

The small vial looked incredibly fragile, as if it would shatter with the slightest pressure. The golden liquid inside would then spill out, soaking the slip of paper which was covered in minuscule script.

"Every single arrow is the culmination of the sweat and hard work of more than five people: me, Lavinia, Mazarino, Sibach, Jack... If any one of us were missing, these arrows couldn’t be made!" A smile played on Ron’s lips. "When I use it, I can activate the Enchantment runes on it with a Flaming Arrow. This converts the attached Magic into a single Scorching Beam, which ensures the arrow hits its mark, guided by a more powerful Arcane Magic."

"And when the arrowhead strikes the target, the reactive force shatters the Alchemy Potion vial inside. Under the intense heat of the Scorching Beam, this volatile liquid disperses around, or even inside, the target. That same intense heat will trigger a switch I left on this miniature Fireball scroll, activating it to complete the final step—"

"Most Alchemy Potions are flammable, even explosive," Elden said, staring blankly at Ron, "so the Fireball’s explosion would trigger..."

"A violent and precisely targeted secondary explosion..."

...the Dwarf muttered. Even though he had heard and seen everything, his faded heart and mind refused to believe this absurd reality. ’This broke all tradition! No one had ever done something like this before!’

Some people combined Magic and weapons. Others combined weapons and Alchemy... Taken separately, the individual parts of what Ron had done were all unremarkable. But...

’Who would stitch all of them together onto a single arrow?!’