Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 177 Kuku's Chain of Fire

"Has the snake disappeared again?"

This summoned a spirit, but it was like a free-roaming cat, rarely seen, which made Rean quite uncomfortable.

But from another perspective, it may not be without its advantages.

Without the influence of a spirit possessing him, the resulting changes in his state and personality, and without any new power systems or knowledge to learn, Rean could finally have some peace and quiet.

He now has time to further digest the "treasure" of Sur and Kuku.

After Kuku arrived right after Sul, Rean immediately turned his attention to the spellcaster, having no time to process Sul's "legacy".

If it weren't for the snake's reminder, he wouldn't have even realized that he was actually not far from the practical application of "Wallbreaker (Sul's Soul)".

Dimon's progress also reminded him that, despite also wielding the legacy of Sull, he was actually progressing slowly on the path of a paladin.

With the final gift from Suer, he should have had no trouble with the first three stages.

The newly acquired "legacy" of Kuku contains so much magical knowledge that it will require much more time and effort to digest.
"I see. Your understanding of the humanoid creature immobilization spell is already quite advanced; you should be able to master it soon."

At lunchtime, Rean did not say goodbye but directly invited Royce to lunch as a way of "thanking his teacher".

Royce, who already intended to befriend Rean, naturally wouldn't refuse. As they talked, Royce was actually continuing to "test" Rean.

In this world, there are many secret techniques, special items, and even magic potions that allow people to forcibly master magic. Such "borrowed" magic is completely different from magic acquired through learning.

As a teacher of short-term courses, he had no reason or motivation to offend Carrian (his salary was not enough to justify the offense).

Even if Rean has a second-circle spell brought by a magical item, as long as he can successfully cast the spell in front of him, he will let him pass.

In fact, many aristocratic children obtained their "certificates" in this way. However, "apprenticeship recommendations" that involve one's reputation are a different matter entirely.

Some things become clear if you ask or talk about them, but the more Reus talked, the more alarmed he became.

He had initially thought that Rean was accelerating his learning in some way, but his accumulation of magical knowledge was surprisingly solid.

It was clear from their casual conversation that they had accumulated enough knowledge to complete several second-ring spells, and were just one step away from mastering them.

Especially when it comes to knowledge of plasticity and change systems, his insights are profound and distinct from contemporary mainstream views, clearly the result of instruction from a master.

"Uh, why don't you just become an apprentice to the master who taught you magic?" Royce finally asked.

“He left, went to a very far place,” Rean replied with a smile.

"Oh, this must be a very powerful archmage," Royce asked casually, also curious about what level of archmage he was.

"Yes, he is the most outstanding mage I know."

Royce nodded, not taking it seriously. For an apprentice, their mentor is like a god.

The mage community is relatively slow to respond to outside information; the anecdote about "lifting the knight high" from the noble circles hasn't yet reached Royce's circle.

After some time, when the news of "Rean's encounter with the ninth-ringed lich" spread, Royce would realize the true value of Rean's claim of being "the most remarkable mage".

In fact, there was another reason why Rean chose the Evocation tree without hesitation: there was actually an Easter egg in Kuku's magical knowledge base.

"Kuku's series of firestorms is really a difficult task to handle."

This is a magic spell created by Kuku himself, and it is one of the few spells in the history of magic that he personally inscribed.

Because it was an early stage of the creation, Kuku's original name was still used.

The spells in Rean's knowledge base are not the original "Kuku Fire Rain Series," but rather improved versions he has created himself in recent days, incorporating the latest magical knowledge.

Its original version has been superseded by later versions, which is why mages are unaware of Kuku when they mention him.

Because Kuku lacked practical spellcasting skills at a high level in the past few days, these spells were "conceptual ideas" rather than finished products, and Rean needed to learn and improve them on his own.

This is also a challenge he is willing to undertake, a test that transcends time and history.

To be honest, from the perspective of a science and engineering guy, it's quite romantic, but it seems ridiculously difficult to accomplish.

"One is a three-ring, one is a five-ring, and one is a nine-ring." The nine-ring is the most outrageous. The original version was actually a seven-ring, but after Kuku added too many new theories and ideas, the difficulty increased dramatically, and the theoretical casting difficulty reached the nine-ring.

But from another perspective, with the knowledge of a ninth-ring magic already in one's mind, how many spellcasters could refuse?

"I'm afraid I'll also need to study the Transformation system, but that's not urgent."

Fire Rain magic is clearly a type of Evocation magic, but most magic is inherently "impure".

The classification of magical schools only roughly divides the basic attributes of magic, such as its characteristics, casting techniques, and methods of activation. The higher the level of magic, the more complex it is, and it naturally uses magical knowledge and casting techniques from other schools, just to varying degrees.

The most obvious example is the entanglement between Evocation and Conjuration. Evocation is the art of controlling elements, but many of the elements controlled in magic are actually summoned from another world by paying with magic power through elemental plane coordinates, which naturally involves knowledge of Conjuration (space).

Sometimes, even misunderstandings and prejudices become common sense.

The most classic example is probably the "Colorful Sphere," which summons an elemental sphere from another world and throws it at the opponent. This thing should be a spellcasting type, but it turns out to be an evocation type.

The faction to which a spell belongs isn't necessarily fixed. It's normal for an improved version to incorporate a lot of knowledge from other factions, changing the system altogether; there's no need to overthink it. As a master alchemist, Kuku's Evocation spells also contain a lot of Transmutation knowledge. Based on Rean's own assessment, Kuku's Fire Rain magic is quite suitable for him.

Just like Kuku himself, it deals multi-stage area-of-effect fire elemental damage (like a multi-headed dragon), which is perfect for triggering Rean's own "Wallbreaker Soul Ability".

The preset combat effect is somewhat similar to a combination of the classic scorching ray and fireball spells. Rean himself is quite optimistic about it. The only drawback is that the standard mana cost is probably twice that of a normal spell of the same rank.

But it wasn't a big problem for Rean, as he was of the red dragon race, and his fire spells consumed almost half the energy.

After finishing his meal, Rean said goodbye, as he had a full work schedule in the Glorious District today.

Some things and some problems are surfacing more and more. Even if they can't be solved, we need to start trying to find ways to overcome the difficulties.

The top priority is the armor issue! Rean is becoming increasingly unable to tolerate the predicament of casting spells while wearing armor.

"Eleven gold coins for just maintenance? You might as well rob someone! I've only had it for less than half a month!"

Rean returned the armor to the dwarf shop, only to receive an astonishing repair cost and quote.

The dwarf craftsman tapped the armor, examined the impact deformation and the marks left by the dragon claws, and his expression was very serious.

"You know it's only been half a month. I suspect you slew a dragon and wrestled with a giant in the last half month, and you're still alive. Doesn't that prove the quality of my armor? The steel frame is deformed, and the places hit by the dragon need to be recoated. This price is already a loss."

Rean sighed. What else could he say but pay up?

The dwarf was right; the armor had proven its quality, and it was the outer shell that deformed, not the bones themselves.

Unfortunately, mere hardness was no longer enough to meet Rean's growing needs.

"Is there really no way to solve the problem of casting spells while wearing armor? I'm already a second-ring mage?"

The dwarf glanced at him sideways? Second Ring Road? Even the Ninth Ring Road wouldn't work.

"Dreams are just dreams (a literary translation of the dwarf's profanity)!" The grumpy dwarf shoved Rean aside and began repairs.

As he said, the armor was damaged so badly in such a short time that the basic frame had to be rebuilt, and repairs would be a losing proposition.

We're only charging this price because we see Rean as a formidable warrior who dares to fight dragons to the death!
High-ranking magicians? What's so respectable about those magic tricksters?

Watching the dwarven craftsman hammer away, Rean shrugged and left the blacksmith shop. It seemed that there was no way to solve the problem of armor-wearing spellcasting with the dwarves.

The reason Rean was able to tolerate it before was because the effects of zero-ring tricks and one-ring tricks in actual combat were subtle, and it was really not as good as him making one more cut.

Second-circle spells are quite useful in actual combat now, and there are even more overpowered and useful spells in the third circle. Rean is finding this constraint increasingly unbearable.

"Even though I can't afford speed boots, I can just cast a speed spell on myself when I reach the third ring and then go back to fight." Rean couldn't imagine that he would finally find a moment on the battlefield to cast the speed spell, only to have it fail right in front of his opponent who was right in front of him.

The scene was too beautiful for him to bear.

"I refuse to believe there's no solution" is a classic dilemma. There are many people seeking a solution, so there must be a solution or at least a way to alleviate the problem.

However, Rean's level on the surface is too low, and he seems unable to find a solution.

Rean has determined that solving this problem is his top priority, and it is the key to integrating his mage and paladin powers into a comprehensive combat force; otherwise, they will always be operating independently.

Whether a qualitative leap in combat capability can be achieved in the short term depends on when this problem is solved.

"Where's the snake? It disappeared when we needed it?"

"You were looking for me?" A familiar voice suddenly came from my shoulder.

Rean turned his head and saw the lazy little black snake, who reeked of alcohol and had just come back from outings.

"Ugh!" The snake suddenly burped, the overpowering smell of alcohol forcing Rean to back away.

"You drunkard, get away from me!" Rean even felt dizzy. Was this a magical attack? Had he not sobered up from yesterday's drinking?

"Ha, you clueless brat, one drop of wine is enough to get you drunk. What do you need? I'm busy, busy going to sleep."

Rean sighed and voiced his question.

For a problem that requires "discovery" rather than "invention," a knowledgeable snake should have a reliable answer, right?

"This is quite simple. There are at least thirty classic solutions, but..." The snake's eyes were full of amusement; he had a new idea.

I'm not afraid of your demands being too difficult; I'm afraid of you not having any demands at all. Demand is the foundation of cause and effect.

Only with cause and effect can new stories unfold.

"There are only four or five that are suitable for you right now, but..."

"The price? It can't be all of it, can it?"

"What do I need that for? Fun, new fun!"

(End of this chapter)