Spellcasting Gods

"You know me?" A hint of surprise appeared on Zhang Cheng's ferocious face.

"Of course! Do you think I'd spend all day sitting here motionless, how would I pass the time? Besides, your appearance has forcibly changed the fate of some people, how could I not notice?"

"Prophecy magic? I see..." Zhang Cheng nodded thoughtfully, quickly transforming into human form. He placed one hand on his chest and bowed respectfully. "It is a great pleasure to meet you, esteemed Sage Elainto, the greatest spellcaster in human history—Lord Iolem."

"Heh, you seem to have a lot of respect for me?" The massive brain trembled slightly, asking with a half-smile.

“That’s right! Whether it’s your long list of awe-inspiring experiences and inventions, or your current unique state of successfully integrating arcane and psychic abilities, it’s enough to make me feel humbled. There’s a saying in my hometown: knowledge is power, and you happen to possess countless pieces of knowledge that I long for.” Zhang Cheng didn’t beat around the bush and directly revealed his purpose.

It's worth noting that he went to great lengths to find this abandoned Mind Flayer city, even engaging in some shady dealings with slave-hunting gangs in the underworld.

The goal is simple: to obtain as many lost magical techniques as possible from the Netheril era, as well as to address the issue of fusing arcane and psychic powers.

“I like your directness! But I believe you should know that there is a price to pay for knowledge from me. Are you sure you have enough to pay?” After saying that, Iolum emitted a strange fluctuation.

Upon noticing this, the mind flayers and liches surrounding them immediately turned and vanished without a trace.

Zhang Cheng flicked his barbed tail and replied confidently, "Rest assured, I guarantee that after you see this memory, you will immediately be interested in what I offer."

The words had barely left his mouth!

He raised his front paw and gently touched his head, then threw a ball of white light into the brain pool.

moment!

A tentacle rose into the air and caught the white ball of light.

next second...

Iolum witnessed the terrifying Old Gods, the Titans who spawned on the planet and their transformation of Azeroth, and also saw how Sargeras fell into corruption, creating the Burning Legion that destroyed countless worlds, and the highly advanced arcane civilization of the Eredar.

The Well of Eternity, the War of the Ancients, the split between the Night Elves and the High Elves, the rise of humanity and the establishment of the magical kingdom of Dalaran, all the way to the endless undead army under the Lich King's control.

Without a doubt, this is an illusion created by Zhang Cheng by combining his memories from his previous life with the current state of Azeroth.

Despite the many fictional elements, he was confident he could whet the appetite of the greatest spellcaster in human history before him.

Because he knows what is most attractive to a spellcaster!

Knowledge!

A system of knowledge and magic from another world!

As a traveler who constantly journeys between different worlds, he never hesitates to share knowledge, as long as it ultimately benefits him.

After a full half hour, once Iolum had finally digested the contents of the white light, he exclaimed through the mental connection, "Amazing! Absolutely amazing! Tell me, just how much do you know about that vast and complex system of knowledge?"

"Not much! So far, I've only mastered thirty percent of the Eredar arcane civilization, five percent of the Burning Legion's knowledge of fel energy and shadow, the vast majority of the knowledge of the magical kingdom of Dalaran and the high elves, and finally some experience with life evolution and modification. How about it, are you interested in making some exchanges?" Zhang Cheng licked his lips, probing meaningfully.

“I’d be happy to! But to be fair, you’d better make a list, and I’ll make a list too. Then we can each pick the parts we’re most interested in and negotiate until we’re both satisfied. What do you think?” Éollum suggested enthusiastically.

You must know that he has lived for far too long, and there are no secrets left in this world for him.

But now!

How could he not be tempted by the sudden appearance of a knowledge and magic system from another world?

If Zhang Cheng hadn't been radiating divine light and wearing armor that incorporated countless technologies, Iolum would have tried to directly invade his brain and seize what he wanted.

After all, as the greatest arcanist of the Netheril era, he had virtually no reverence for the gods. He was only afraid that if he failed to subdue the enormous black dragon in front of him, it would escape and he would never be able to obtain the knowledge he wanted again.

Chapter 0499 Exchange

Exchanging unknown knowledge is a complex and massive undertaking, especially when there is little trust between the two parties.

To avoid being deceived, both Zhang Cheng and Iolem were very careful at the beginning, trying not to get involved in the costly core knowledge and technology, but instead choosing to start with the less important but valuable parts of the system.

After a full ten hours, they had exchanged hundreds of spells, as well as many magical item crafting, scroll copying, and alchemy techniques.

Finally, Zhang Chengshi, not wanting to waste any more time on endless probing, pointed directly to the last few pages of the list and said, "I want the Core of Mysera and all the creation technology for the floating city!"

"Oh? You want to build your own floating city?" Iolem's tone revealed a hint of surprise.

“No! I don’t have that plan yet!” Zhang Cheng shook his head slightly. “I’m just a little curious about what kind of magic can make a mountain float in mid-air for a long time, and what kind of technology can ensure a continuous supply of magical energy from the surrounding environment.”

“Hehe, you know what? You’re not the first person to want information about the floating cities, and you won’t be the last. But I have to tell you, the floating cities aren’t nearly as powerful as you imagine, especially the core of Misera. It needs a relatively stable energy input state, which is the magic network. It can’t directly draw power from the raging primordial energy; otherwise, it wouldn’t have fallen directly from the sky when the disaster struck. Of course, most importantly, the price of this knowledge is extremely high,” Iolem explained patiently.

"I've made up my mind! Name your price!" Zhang Cheng was clearly not interested in listening to any of that and directly adopted a transactional stance.

The reason is simple: as the most important cornerstone of the ancient Netheril civilization, the Core of Mysera means that magical effects can be kept constant without expending too much energy, provided that one stays within the radius of influence of the Core of Mysera.

No spellcaster would not desire such a treasure.

Moreover, the powerful spells that create floating cities include one that can instantly flatten a mountain peak, and two others that can reverse gravity, allowing thousands of tons of rocks to float in the sky. Even as large-scale destructive spells, their power is still considerable.

“Alright! If you insist…” Iolum sighed indifferently, quickly glanced at the list in front of him, and then tapped it twice with his tentacles. “I need methods for creating and controlling fel energy, and the demonic rune system.”

Zhang Cheng squinted, hesitated for a moment, then quickly nodded: "No problem! Let's switch!"

The words had barely left his mouth!

Both of them extracted corresponding memory fragments from their own minds and handed them to each other.

moment!

A vast amount of knowledge is transmitted directly to the cerebral cortex through the mind-body connection, and then stored in the hippocampus until it finally enters the long-term memory area.

For a moment, the sheer volume of complex and obscure knowledge made Zhang Cheng feel dizzy and overwhelmed.

Fortunately, he is now a true divine being; otherwise, the act of forcibly implanting memories into his brain would have caused a cerebral hemorrhage or even brain death.

I don't know how much time passed, maybe a few minutes, maybe an hour or two...

In short, once he fully understood this obscure and difficult knowledge, Iolum began to try to distort arcane energy to create large areas of green fel flames.

Although he could not yet fully control it, he had undoubtedly brought this powerful and evil force under his control.

"How are you feeling?" the archmage asked casually as he fiddled with the power he had just gained.

"It's alright, there shouldn't be any major problems. Let's continue." Zhang Cheng shook his slightly dizzy head.

"If I'm not mistaken, what you want next is to create an immortal mastermind and the magic to merge with it, right?" Iolum teased with a half-smile.

“Yes! I’ve discovered that most creatures in this world have an upper limit to their intelligence, and this limit is determined by their brain size. Only the Mind Flayer main brain, which can infinitely increase its size, can break free from this limitation.” Zhang Cheng didn’t intend to hide anything and gave a direct affirmative answer.

In fact, his two main objectives for this trip were to obtain the complete construction technology of the floating city and to obtain the magical ritual to merge with the Mind Flayer's main brain.

"I don't understand! You are already a divine being. In principle, as long as you continue on this path, you will inevitably gain divine authority. At that time, mortal attributes will be nothing. Why bother with all this trouble?"

"I never intended to become one of the gods! My plundering of divinity was merely to understand what gods are all about and how to truly kill them. You might not believe it, but even the dragon body I currently possess is just a temporary shell. I have no problem using it to conduct some crazy and dangerous experiments."

“I see, I understand now. Your physical body didn’t enter this world, right?” Iolem seemed to realize something and probed meaningfully.

Zhang Cheng grinned and nodded: "That's right. So I don't care about death at all, you could even say I'm completely unconcerned."

"Very interesting! May I ask, were you able to come to this world through some kind of magical technology, or some accidental circumstance?"

"It's because of a piece of parchment! In short, I'm more like a manipulated puppet, or a mercenary on a mission. It might be a bit complicated to explain, but you'll understand after reading this..."

After saying that, Zhang Cheng calmly took out the magical parchment scroll.

Perhaps he hoped that this greatest spellcaster in human history could decipher the secrets behind the parchment, or at least provide some guidance, which is why he took such a bold step.

However, the moment the parchment scroll appeared, it inexplicably released a blinding golden light!

next second!

boom!

A terrifying energy descended from the sky!

It slammed right onto Iolem's head!

Despite his foresight of the danger, he erected a massive protective maze.

However, these shields, woven together from dozens of protective spells, shattered on the spot before lasting even ten seconds, and the remaining energy from the attack blasted the left half of his brain into a bloody mess.

Fortunately, the energy came and went quickly, disappearing without a trace after shattering the left cerebral cisternose, as if it had never existed.

"Damn it! Put it away! Now!" Iolem roared like a madman, completely losing his composure.

Chapter 0500 Merging into One

"I'm very sorry! Please believe me, this was not a premeditated attack, and I'm not entirely sure what happened either." Zhang Cheng quickly put away the parchment scroll and explained in a serious tone.

He had no idea why the parchment scroll would suddenly attack the other party, or what the enormous energy contained in that golden light was.

“Fool! That’s a passage! A spatial rift linking you to some terrifying being! Just now, it gave me a stern warning!” Iolum cursed through gritted teeth.

As an old man who had lived for over a thousand years, he had never been so close to death as he was today.

In particular, the half of his brain that was blown off has shown absolutely no signs of recovery.

It's important to understand that he's not just any ordinary Mind Flayer mastermind, but the Elder Mastermind Lich, an undead being whose regenerative abilities far exceed the imagination of mortals. Even a legendary warrior wielding a divine weapon and hacking away for half an hour might not be able to keep up with his regeneration speed.

But right now, he seems completely unable to feel the shattered half of his brain, as if it had never existed.

Clearly, the terrifying energy completely destroyed the left side of the brain, or more precisely, erased all traces of its existence through some mysterious force.

Since it no longer exists, it is naturally impossible to restore it.

"A passage? A crack?" Zhang Cheng frowned subconsciously.

He sensed an unprecedented fear from the other party's aggressive attitude.

Since even the greatest arcanist of the Netheril era was so wary of the owner behind the parchment, how could one possibly break free from that person's control?

"Here, this is what you wanted. Get out of my sight now. Remember, don't take that parchment scroll out again, or something terrible might happen." Iolum seemed to be afraid of something, quickly transmitting the memory to his brain through the mental connection, and then began to shoo him away.

"As you wish!"

Zhang Cheng bowed slightly, then immediately flapped his wings and returned to mid-air, flying along the dark tunnel in the pitch-black region.

He had already gotten what he wanted, and there was no need for him to stay and waste his time, because even if he stayed, the archmage would not tell him what was hidden behind the parchment.

But through that brief attack, he realized that the owner behind the parchment was far superior to the gods currently walking on earth.

……

A few days later, another small Mind Flayer city not far from Luscan's underground had already been captured by the dragon lich Klaus, the half-dead silver dragon Madeis, undead creatures, and an army of constructs.

All the mind flayers, whether prisoners or corpses, had their brains ripped out and thrown into a giant brain pool.

Despite the mainframe's numerous attempts to unleash powerful spells, psychic abilities, or create brain golems in rebellion, all ultimately failed.