New Knowledge: Integrated Ritual Studies of Construct Summoning and Activation

Pale green metallic smoke rose in the passage, completely enveloping the four black panthers.

Almost instantly, the four lifelike stone-carved beasts, like the strongest magnets, were drawn to the nearly half-metallic smoke, and then their forms froze in place.

Smack!

The black panther closest to the archway, due to its largest movement and loss of balance, crashed to the ground and was smashed to pieces.

Upon seeing this, Ailin was stunned for a moment, then quickly opened the Witcher's Handbook.

[Slay the Lv75 monster "Construct Golem"!]

[Reward Settlement: Victory over the enemy, base rating D, winning with fewer troops +3 - C]

Final rating: C

[Loot obtained: 4 Construct Golem's Magic Core, 6 Experience Orbs, 3 Construct Golem's Treasure Chest]

The four Panther Ritual Guardian Statue were actually destroyed just like that.

He originally only intended to test the effects of the Dimeritium Bomb and then take advantage of the weakened state of the guardian statues to eliminate them.

Unexpectedly, a single Dimeritium Bomb solved the problem.

Level 75, that's not a low level, how come it's so fragile?

"Whoosh~"

A strange noise came from beside him, interrupting Ailin's thoughts.

A sharp Ice Spike shot out from another archway. As soon as it entered the range of the pale green smoke from the Dimeritium Bomb, the remaining smoke and dust from the Dimeritium Bomb immediately adhered to it.

The speed of the Ice Spike slowed down rapidly.

It then visibly shrank, being offset by smoke and dust.

Before it could even leave the area covered by the Dimeritium Bomb, it completely disappeared into mid-air.

However, by this time, the smoke and dust from the Dimeritium Bomb had also been completely consumed.

The entire passageway was now empty.

"Da da da~"

Ada Emin stepped into the passage with a grim expression. "Is this the Dimeritium Bomb you were talking about?"

"That's right." Ailin nodded and said truthfully, "I didn't expect it to be so effective when I used it in actual combat for the first time."

Ada Emin nodded, crouched down near the four black panther sculptures, and began to examine them.

Ailin was also very curious about this, so she squatted down and watched her turn the black panther's limbs.

However, while constructs do have some overlap with alchemy in a broader sense.

However, it is actually a rather high-level discipline called the Construct's Summoning, Activation and Integration Ritual Studies, or Constructology for short.

Yes, judging from the name, it is a discipline closely related to many other subjects such as alchemy, ritual studies, summoning, and elemental activation.

Ailin didn't know much about it.

When Ianna of the Temple of Melitele was teaching him rituals, she did mention a master-level ritual— the Create Golem.

However, she didn't teach him, because Ianna herself didn't know the ritual.

It is a trade secret of the Rissberg Civil Conglomerate.

certainly.

The black panther statue in front of them was not capable of summoning golems; it was probably one of the simpler types in Constructology, most likely created by Thomas Morlu himself.

Ailin lacked knowledge in this area and couldn't discern anything useful from the seamless design of the black panther statue.

Look here.

Ada Emin seemed to notice his embarrassment and pointed to the area under the black panther's neck.

Ailin stared intently at it. It was a small magic circle composed of a series of charred runes the size of an index finger. It was very inconspicuous, and he didn't recognize any of the symbols.

"These are Activation Rune, Spirit Binding Rune, and Ritual Connection Rune..."

Ada Emin didn't keep them in suspense and explained, "The guardian statues that Thomas Morlu placed here are very crude. They rely on the ritual array hidden on the ground to sense the activities of humans within the array, but they don't use any means to isolate the influence of magic."

"Your Dimeritium Bomb enhanced the Aetherium, suppressing the power of magical energy and directly destroying these exposed runes, which is why they are so effective."

"This is not the kind of caution one should show when dealing with sorcerers. Thomas Morlu probably just wants to deal with some tomb raiders who accidentally wandered in."

"Otherwise, he would have hidden these runes inside the black panther at some cost..."

In other words, it wasn't that the Dimeritium Bomb was too powerful, but rather that Thomas Morlu exposed the construct's weakness to its surface, like a monster's heart growing unsuspectingly outside its body...

Even the slightest disturbance could result in serious injury, let alone a highly targeted tactic like the Dimeritium Bomb.

Ailin asked thoughtfully, "What if Thomas Maul did that?"

Ada Emin thought for a moment, "If Thomas Morlu hides the runes in his body, the Dimeritium Bomb probably won't be able to destroy the construct directly, but because the perception ritual array is outside, the construct will definitely be paralyzed for a period of time."

"After the bomb's effects wear off, there will likely be some residual negative effects."

"These constructs are essentially driven and sensed by ritual arrays. With the runes concealed, their movements certainly won't be as sharp as before..."

"Ding, a clue has been found for the skill: [Constructology]."

"Should I spend 300 Experience Orbs to unlock the skill?"

300 Experience Orbs?!

Ailin raised an eyebrow. Alchemy only had 100, and this was three times that.

Even if we follow the maximum 50% progress rate after learning alchemy and ritual studies, it would still require 150 Experience Orbs.

Unable to unlock, unable to unlock...

"Ailin?"

"I'm sorry," Ailin apologized, "Please continue..."

Ada Emin paused, hesitated for a few seconds, and tentatively asked, "Are you interested in Constructology?"

"Theoretically, although you are a Witcher, since you have such talent and achievements in alchemy, you should also be able to learn Constructology."

Upon hearing this, Ailin turned his gaze away from the black panther sculpture and met Ada Emin's eyes:

"You know Constructology?"

"All of humanity's achievements in Constructology come from the Mountain Folk, and I am an expert among Mountain Folk." The female elf spoke calmly, yet her words carried an absolute confidence.

Ailin was indeed somewhat tempted.

The School of the Wolf is actually quite similar to the Free Elves; their biggest weakness is not their fighting ability, but their population.

No matter how much your organization of less than a hundred people improves, it will be difficult to compete with countries with populations of hundreds of thousands or millions, or with a force like the Rissberg Civil Conglomerate, which has extraordinary combat power of nearly a thousand people.

Even the current Ban Ad.

Despite his apparent dejection after a series of heavy blows, Ban Ad's apprentices are actually capable of contributing to the fight once war breaks out.

Even so, simple Ice Spike and wind blade spells can kill.

They can still muster a few hundred extraordinary combatants.

But the School of the Wolf is different. Even if the death rate of apprentices in the Trial of Grasses is reduced to zero, they can easily pass the Trial of the Mountains, so it is still difficult to increase the number of Witchers quickly.

The Trials of Choice often last five or ten years, and it might take two or three years for Kaer Morhen to surpass two hundred Witchers.

Moreover, newly appointed apprentices of the Witcher class are certainly less effective on the battlefield than ranged apprentices of the Warlock class.

Therefore, increasing the extraordinary combat power of the School of the Wolf is very important.

Forming alliances and integrating with other Witcher schools is one direction, subduing Greater Griffin and Rock Troll is another, and now Construct Creature seem to be a pretty good addition, even more useful than the former two.

Because Ailin is not short of money, he has a steady supply of funds from Sword Oil, and he is not short of materials either, as Vesemir, the renowned Alchemy Master from the Northern Continent, has a wide range of Magic Material sources.

So, once you learn the Constructology, it seems that you can gain a lot of extraordinary combat power in no time.

The only problems are Experience Orbs and time.

Before rescuing Hen Gedimidis, he lacked both the Experience Orbs to unlock "Beast Roar: No-Fly" and the time to train and hunt monsters.

However, he certainly couldn't afford 150 Experience Orbs right now, but that didn't stop him from learning 150 of the 300 Experience Orbs ahead of time.

Constructology is the domain of male wizards, or more precisely, the traditional domain of the Rissberg Civil Conglomerate.

Once you miss Ida Emin, it's hard to find other ways to learn from her, so it's definitely not to be missed.

As for time, you can always find some if you squeeze it in; at worst, you can study all night.

Therefore, only one question remains.

"What price do I need to pay?" Ailin stared blankly at the female elf.

"The formula for the Dimeritium Bomb," Ada Emin answered crisply.

Sure enough... Ailin glanced at the remains of the construct on the ground and thought to herself.

Free Elves don't need to worry about constructs; such bulky things are rarely seen on the battlefield.

But the Free Elves are located next to Ben Ade, Francesca's previous recall was most likely due to some commotion at Ben Ade Academy.

Perhaps it was to establish the authority of the Sorcerer Kingdom, or perhaps it was simply a requirement of the Rissberg Civil Conglomerate Otolan and Risberg...

The Dimeritium Bomb is also very effective against warlocks.

However, Ada Emin had intentionally or unintentionally overlooked this point after testing the waters with her Ice Spike spell.

"Not enough," Ailin shook his head, lying through his teeth, "Knowledge of Constructology is valuable, but it's dispensable to me and the School of the Wolf."

"Moreover, I am a witcher. I can learn alchemy, but I would have a hard time learning Constructology."

Ada Emin fell silent upon hearing this.

She felt that Ailin's words made sense; a high intrinsic value does not necessarily guarantee a high price.

Constructology is indeed dispensable to him.

Furthermore, although Ailin was the Child of Miracle, Ada Emin didn't think he could really learn Constructology, at least not the spells of the living elements.

Seeing this, Ailin breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that although Ida Emin knew the big secret about Soyer's physical condition, Vesemir still held back some things from her.

At least, the secret of Ailin's awakened magical talent was not told to her.

Then we can talk.

"What do you want?" Ada Emin paused for a moment before speaking, "Knowledge? Money? Wealth? Or magical items?"

"Although the Free Elves has fallen on hard times, he still has some savings."

Ada Emin's easygoing attitude tempted Ailin.

He wanted to ask about the fragments of the Adagath's Gate and the Guiding Stone, but after thinking it over, he didn't ask.

Ada Emin is a true ancient witch; you can always guess what she's saying as soon as she opens her mouth.

"I don't seem to need anything in particular." Ailin pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "However..."

Ada Emin, whose face had just darkened, quickly asked, "But what?"

"What the Free Elves actually need isn't the recipe, but the actual Dimeritium Bomb, isn't it?"

"On the contrary, if we really gave you the formula, you would still need to learn it, freeing up precious manpower for production."

"The Free Elves can buy the Dimeritium Bomb from us at cost price, as allies of the School of the Wolf."

Ailin looked sincerely at the female elf of Blue Mountain.

Ida Emin was taken aback by these words, then remained silent for a few seconds, her eyes filled with complex emotions:

"What kind of monster did Vesemir and Soyer give birth to?"

"Are you really only fourteen years old?!"

Ailin just smiled and didn't say anything.

"Okay," Ada Emin nodded, "But we don't need to pay cost price. The Free Elves are not short of money. We can pay double the price, but we need to be quick. I need all the production capacity of Vesemir's Alchemy Workshop."

"I'll talk to Vesemir when I get back," Ailin replied with a smirk after making another big deal.

"Still calling her Vesemir?" Ida Emin squinted and teased.

Ailin maintained her smile and remained silent.

"Alright," Ada Emin shrugged when Ailin didn't respond, changing the subject, "Now that we have a physical example, let's get started on Constructology."

She pointed to the black panther on the ground. "Classificationally speaking, this is a ritual construct..."

[Should I spend 293 Experience Orbs to unlock the skill?]

"The flaws in the other type of construct are not so obvious..."

[Should I spend 286 Experience Orbs to unlock the skill?]

"... Gods are the most unique constructs..."

[Should I spend 279 Experience Orbs to unlock the skill?]

Because of time constraints, Ada Emin didn't talk much, only briefly explaining the classification of constructs and combining it with materials on the ground.

Even so, after the short course ended, the demand for Experience Orbs Experience Orbs dropped from 300 to 251.

The results were remarkable.

Ailin estimated that it would only take half a day after returning to reach the maximum requirement of 150 Experience Orbs to unlock the skill, which was a good sign.

After the lecture, Ailin and Ida Emin continued their journey.

After encountering several Grave Hag appeared out of nowhere, the two of them easily dealt with them together, only to encounter the guardian statue of the Black Panther ritual again.

This time, Ailin didn't use the Dimeritium Bomb, nor did he directly strike the black panther's neck to destroy the runes. Instead, he tried to deal with it using conventional methods of signs and swordsmanship, only to find it more difficult than he had imagined.

Balmor's blade was neither chipped nor activated, failing to unleash the devastating force it had displayed when piercing the archway barrier; it was as if it were merely a very sturdy, ordinary steel sword.

The reaction force of the hard rock made Ailin's hands go numb.

Moreover, perhaps because it was a man-made object and lacked elemental favor, the progress bar barely moved after activating [Demon Hunter]. In the end, Balmor was used as a blunt weapon, and the black panther's limbs were broken with extraordinary strength to disable its mobility.

This made Ailin's heart skip a beat, and he made up his mind that he must obtain the Construct Oil before rescuing Henry Gedimidis.