Chapter 221: Defensive spells

Recently, I had immersed myself completely in researching a magical spell that had been sparking more and more of my interest: the Light Force Field.

After countless hours spent analyzing spell structures and performing calculations with the Chip, I had finally managed to understand all the prerequisites necessary to cast it.

Now, I was capable of conjuring it and keeping it active for approximately ten minutes.

For me, that already represented considerable progress.

However, I was not satisfied.

The true goal of my research was far more ambitious.

I wanted to discover a way to combine the Light Body with the Light Force Field.

My Light Body already possessed an automatic defensive mechanism.

Whenever someone attempted to directly injure me, the light energy stored within my body could react on its own, producing a small explosion of scorching light.

The problem was that this ability remained limited to my own body.

So I began to think.

What if I could transfer this property to the Force Field?

The idea seemed simple.

In practice, it was extremely complicated.

I wanted any damage caused by the self-defense light to be reflected throughout the entire Light Force Field.

In that case, all an enemy would have to do was enter the field, and they would begin suffering continuous attacks.

There would be no need for me to cast spells individually.

It would practically be an incomplete version of a Domain.

I had already calculated this beforehand.

If I wanted to completely master a Domain technique, I would probably have to wait until I became an Official Mage.

But I didn't necessarily have to follow the conventional path.

If I could correctly combine my Light Body, Light Shield, and Light Force Field, perhaps I could produce a similar effect even before reaching that level.

The problem was... I still didn't have enough knowledge. The amount of information required to accomplish such a combination was enormous.

That was why I began dedicating a large portion of my time to the Chip.

I let him handle the heavy calculations while I focused on tasks that still depended directly on me, like meditating, studying, restoring my Golems, and having hardcore sex with Ruby... Yes, I managed to tie her up and ravish her in every way possible, and she had multiple orgasms on my new villain cock.

Besides that, I began to realize something else.

My strength had increased significantly after I replaced a large portion of my equipment, including my outdated explosive fire crystal launcher.

Among the materials I had brought back from the Underground World was a precious stone called Nublehot.

After handing it over to a Jewelry Master to be properly cut, polished, and worked, I managed to turn it into a magical gem capable of increasing my Mana by three points.

My natural Mana was around sixteen points.

Now, considering the effects of my equipment, I could unleash a force equivalent to approximately nineteen points of Mana.

The difference seemed small on paper. However, in practice... It was enormous.

If I pushed my control to its limit, I could command six Black Rock Basilisks simultaneously. Alternatively, I could control two Light Giants and one Black Rock Basilisk at the same time.

This gave me frightening offensive power.

Unfortunately, there was a problem.

The Light Giants depended on a Pseudo-Mage-level core belonging to a true Light Giant.

And that type of core was considered a forbidden material.

I had only managed to obtain one through sheer luck.

Even after Raticati practically visited every merchant in the regions surrounding the Mage Tower, we couldn't find another.

In fact... During that period, Raticati's name began to become quite well known throughout the middle and lower levels of the Mage Tower.

Almost every merchant connected to the Mage families had already heard of him.

And I understood perfectly why. In the Underground Cave region, practically all high-quality materials were controlled by merchants supported by the Mage families.

They purchased large quantities of locally produced resources and then resold them to other regions of the Mage Continent.

The price difference provided them with enormous profits. Ordinary merchants and travelers also tried to do the same, but competing with those families was practically impossible.

They possessed abundant financial resources, contacts spread throughout the continent, and a communication network that independent merchants could never hope to reach.

Raticati, however, found a simple way to attract attention.

He sold an Imperil Heart. Then, a Fire Gem. And that was enough.

Those two items made the small merchants and travelers realize that Raticati had access to extraordinary resources.

The most interesting thing was that no one tried to attack him.

Perhaps the major merchants had received some kind of warning from the families supporting them.

Because of that, Raticati quickly gained a mysterious reputation.

And that ended up being extremely convenient for me.

A large portion of the strange magical equipment I managed to acquire came precisely from these traveling merchants from the lower levels.

I was the person who understood my own strength best.

Currently, a huge portion of my combat power was concentrated in the Golems. At least until I could complete the structure of my Light-element spells, I would need to continue relying on them.

Obviously, as long as I didn't face an Official Mage, I believed it would be extremely difficult for a Pseudo-Mage to break through my defenses while I was surrounded by my Golems.

Even if my opponent possessed greater individual strength, they would have to overcome several layers of protection while simultaneously dealing with my constructs.

But I wasn't arrogant enough to believe that I could predict everything.

There were techniques capable of altering the state of the body, interfering with the mind, reducing one's speed, producing poisons, causing paralysis, or simply attacking in ways I had never seen before.

Because of that, I began purchasing high-level scrolls.

One of the most important was the Dissipation Scroll.

It could remove various abnormal states applied to my body.

I also acquired Prophecy Scrolls.

These were even more interesting. They could provide me with advance information about the direction from which a danger might emerge.

The Kar-Dur region possessed an absurd variety of magical items.

After completing all these preparations, my confidence increased considerably.

I believed that I could face most acolyte-level experts individually. The only one who still didn't give me any confidence was Nople.

That guy was on another level, because even if I brought my Golems onto the battlefield, the constructs created from Level 3 Acolyte cores were still far too fragile against someone like him.

If I really wanted to face Nople head-on, I would probably need to raise all my Golems to the Pseudo-Mage level.

Besides that, I would have to use two Light Giants as my main combat force. Therefore, although my current strength could already pose a threat to Nople...

In the meantime, while Ruby was asleep, something else happened. After the battle in the Dark Forest, a Fallen Pseudo-Mage had been killed, and several others had been seriously injured.

Darkgem City had reacted, and they issued a kill order against me.

If I entered the Underground Cave again, the entire Darkgem City would try to kill me. And that meant I could end up facing an enemy who was completely beyond my calculations.

An Official Mage could simply be waiting for me somewhere.

That was why, when I received the news regarding Mage Pretel, I was completely speechless.

Although the surface Mages held the dominant position in that region, the outlaw Mages still had hundreds, perhaps thousands, of ways to kill a simple Acolyte.

After offering some of my most valuable gemstones to Pretel, I finally managed to have my name removed from the mandatory missions and training camp missions.

So, while Ruby and I enjoyed our relatively peaceful days, the other members of the team were going through a completely different situation.

After two Level 3 Acolytes died and Ruby and I left the team, the six remaining Acolytes tried to recruit temporary companions within the Mage Tower.

They wanted help completing the mission, but no one accepted. In the end, they had to carry out the mission on their own.

By the time they finally returned, they only had two or three days of rest before the next mission.

And the situation had become even worse after the death of that Fallen Pseudo-Mage.

The attacks from Darkgem City against the surface Acolytes became much more frequent.

If it weren't for the combined strength of three Pseudo-Mages, those six probably would have already been killed.

But there was a positive side.

That brutal environment was functioning as war training.

Their strength was growing at an astonishing rate.

Although their levels remained practically the same, their actual combat abilities had increased tremendously.

Compared to when they first arrived in that region, they were practically different people.

And among them, Lyra had changed the most.

I encountered her once when Ruby and I were at the tower's market.

The hostility between us was no longer something anyone tried to hide.

The members of the team stared at me with obvious anger.

But Lyra... She merely smiled.

—Long time no see.

Her voice sounded calm.

She greeted Ruby and me as if nothing had happened.

I replied briefly.

Then Ruby and I continued on our way.

However, as we walked away, I could feel her gaze remaining fixed on us.

Behind her, Monak approached.

—What's wrong, boss?

—Why do you care about those two bastards?

—If they hadn't abandoned our team, our mission wouldn't have become so difficult!

Then I heard Lyra reply.

—Didn't you notice?

There was a pause.

—One of them is a Pseudo-Mage now.

—And the other is a consolidated Level 3 Acolyte.

...

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