Chapter Seventy: Spell Memory
Inside White Horse City, there was a hint of panic in the air. The news of the destruction of Amber City had come back, and another piece of gossip was circulating.
That was, the elite investigation team sent out by White Horse City was brutally slaughtered by a two-headed ogre, and it was a merciless slaughter; only a handful managed to escape alive. Reports claimed that the two-headed ogre was a high-level wizard, powerful enough to threaten the safety of White Horse City. The strength of a professionist is not written on their face; if the opponent does not unleash their true capabilities, one must test their eyesight to judge.
The two-headed ogre possessed a specialty.
This was the most powerful innate casting specialty, not easily acquired even by the gods. As the name implies, its function is to cast spells multiple times; the two-headed ogre’s heads can use two different spells simultaneously. Even if the number of spells mastered is not as many as a human wizard, the destructive power released is several times that of a human wizard. If it truly is a high-level wizard, then combined with its biological level, the two-headed ogre’s challenge level is legendary.
It possesses an innate strength above 18 points, far exceeding that of ordinary people, plus the casting capabilities of a high-level wizard.
It can engage in melee combat, cast spells, and withstand damage. Dealing with such an entity would require at least half of a legendary domain team to ensure that major casualties do not occur; its challenge difficulty would not differ much from that of an adult dragon.
Soren cautiously entered the Arcane shop, as the guards in White Horse City had become much stricter.
At this point, it was already evening. Having wasted some time avoiding guard patrols, he did not go to the merchant caravan’s base to see Vivian but instead copied a 0-level spell scroll before finding a place to stay for the night. White Horse City had completely implemented a curfew; no one was allowed to roam after dark, and anyone found doing so would be questioned or even arrested. Although he was not strictly investigated, Soren had no desire to deal with those security teams.
He was a wanderer.
These guys inherently dislike wanderers and might create trouble for you by locking you up.
……
The Arcane shop sells most spell scrolls.
However, the highest level limit is 5th ring spells; scrolls exceeding the 5th ring are difficult to acquire through conventional means and must be obtained from special organizations. Wizards still maintain an ancient monopoly on knowledge; many wizard organizations require membership for one to learn higher-level spells. As for top-level spells of 8th ring and above, certain specific conditions must be met to learn them, as these spells possess incredible destructive power. 0-level spells are very cheap, costing only a few Gind, but 1st level spells are several times more expensive, requiring dozens of Gind. Some may exceed 100 Gind. 2nd level spells mostly start at 150 Gind, with many approaching 300 Gind. 3rd level spells are mostly around 500 Gind, with a few reaching values of 800 Gind. Spells above 4th level generally exceed 1000 Gind, with a few spell scrolls valued as high as 3000 to 5000 Gind.
So when Soren looked at the prices, he immediately felt the hardship that wizards often experience.
As a spellcaster, you are always short on money, even if you are actually quite wealthy!
Soren only purchased the lowest-level 0-level spells; he couldn’t afford anything more expensive, and besides, he had no immediate use for them.
While spell scrolls are very powerful, their prices are extremely high, and crafting them is quite difficult. If they are not copied into a spellbook and are used as consumables, even a slightly intense battle can bankrupt you. Sometimes, the gold earned from a battle does not even cover the cost of crafting spell scrolls.
Night fell.
Soren found an inn to rest and began to browse through his spellbook.
During the time before the appearance of the Ancient Red Dragon, things had been relatively peaceful; not many earth-shattering events had occurred.
The only relatively serious incident was a large explosion; aside from that, various places were quite peaceful. The gods had also fallen silent, starting to resist a terrifying energy storm until they lost their divine power and fell to the mortal realm. Soren did not remember much about that explosion, only vaguely recalling some information.
It was shortly after that, a place called ‘Stonarde’ in the polar region experienced a large explosion.
The power of the explosion was equivalent to the tonnage of 100 atomic bombs, engulfing an area of nearly 1000 kilometers, forcing many populations near the polar region to migrate en masse, further exacerbating the turmoil and slaughter in the Southern Region a year later. This explosive magnitude was estimated by some researchers at the time, as they had a significant advantage in the profession of wizardry. No clues remained about this explosion; an existence of legendary domain sought answers from the gods, but the gods remained silent.
They found no signs of human involvement or obvious traces of spells, making it highly likely to be a naturally occurring explosion.
In the end.
This event was categorized as ‘the mystery of nature,’ listed among the three major explosive events that occurred on Earth.
Many people abandoned the pursuit of possible legendary-level event quests that might exist behind it.
Three bizarre explosions have occurred on Earth: China’s ‘Apocalypse Explosion,’ India’s ‘Dead Hill Incident,’ and Russia’s ‘Tunguska Explosion.’
The Tunguska Explosion happened around 7 AM on June 30, 1908, with an explosive force equivalent to 500 atomic bombs or dozens of explosives detonating simultaneously, resulting in the incineration of 60 million trees over an area of more than 2150 square kilometers. This incident has never received a definitive explanation and was ultimately hypothesized to be a ‘matter-antimatter annihilation’ explosion.
In this world.
The impending explosion at ‘Stonarde’ in the polar region is similar; although it was only one-fifth the power of the Tunguska explosion, many spellcasters had successively entered for investigation, and even someone had used ‘Legendary Divination,’ yet no clues were found. The gods happened to lose their perception of the mortal realm during this time, so they were also unaware of the reason for the explosion, only confirming that it caused mutations in that area, leading to the emergence of certain special creatures that even demons found dangerous.
Those creatures do not leave the explosion’s vicinity, so the threat is not particularly high.
Soren had also gone there, but as he was not a spellcaster, he could hardly find any clues and quickly left.
Until the gods returned to the celestial realm, it remained an unknown territory.
The explosion has never revealed any clues, but its consequences affected the entire world; many creatures near the polar region witnessed the terrifying mushroom cloud rising, and shamans prophesied that a terrible disaster would come. This forced biological populations near the polar region to migrate en masse, with many extinct races reappearing before the world. However, it should still be early, as it would take them around a year to migrate over.
Regarding this explosion, the most credible inference is that it is related to the antimatter annihilation spells from the Arcane Empire era.
Most wizards believe that only items from that era could produce such a terrifying explosion, yet no one has been able to find the real answer.
……
In the inn.
Soren temporarily set aside his studies on Arcane Missile and started memorizing the most basic 0-level spell model.
Perhaps because he studied 1st-level spells first, he found constructing the 0-level spell model much easier. Especially the simplest Light Spell, which had fewer than 30 spell nodes and a low-difficulty spell circuit. Soren actually completed the model construction of the ‘Light Spell’ in less than two hours.
However.
At that moment, a line of data appeared:
“Learning Successful!”
“You have successfully constructed the spell model for the 0-level spell!… Would you like to spend 30 points of Killing Experience to permanently store it in the data template?”
“Once permanently stored, you will not need a spellbook to memorize it again.”
It can be stored like this?
A hint of surprise appeared on Soren’s face as he chose to confirm; then a stream of data flowed forth, and the data in his brain automatically formed the spell model for the Light Spell.
“orz…”
Soren attempted to cast the spell, and a glimmer appeared at his fingertips; as the spell slot was consumed, the originally constructed spell model also disappeared.
He slowly closed his eyes, and indeed found that he had genuinely memorized the original spell model in his mind without needing to reference the spellbook; he could reconstruct the spell model just by recalling it.
“What if I could store them all?” Soren marveled as he looked at his fingertips and muttered, “Then wouldn’t I be able to memorize spells without a spellbook in the future?”
The wizard’s spellbook is very important.
Because some higher-level spells are too complex to memorize without a spellbook, and one could potentially lose their casting ability.
It’s like you could never memorize a lengthy and complex academic paper, and while recalling it, you cannot make mistakes; one mistake could cause your head to explode. So if it can be stored, in the future, removing the spellbook would allow Soren to still memorize spells, effectively forming an invisible spellbook inside his brain; however, this kind of memory requires spending additional Killing Experience.
……
