Detection Spell and the Magic Swordsman

Detection Spell and the Magic Swordsman

"Good thing I've saved up a batch of magic stones during this time. Even with the town's prices being outrageously high now, they should last me for a while."

Ronan thought to himself, then opened his Character Panel.

Name: Ronan Damien

Age: 16

Talent: Non-attribute Affinity

Strength: Level Five Wizard Apprentice (5%)

Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Expert Level 219/800)

Energy Missile (Expert Level 799/800)

Charged Weapon (Mastery 342/400)

Rune Inscription—[Cleaning] (Proficient 177/200), [Shine] (Proficient 27/200), [Protection] (Beginner 13/100)

Ascetic Body Forging (Mastery 101/400)

Basic Swordsmanship (Mastery 388/400)

Fireball (Beginner 10/100)

Ice Ball (Beginner 20/100)

Detection Spell (Proficient 5/200)

Compared with two months ago, Ronan's panel had undergone several new changes.

He had learned three more low-level zero-tier spells—the remaining three spells in the spellbook.

He had not put much effort into the offensive Fireball and Ice Ball spells, only bringing them to the beginner level.

Detection Spell, the only support spell among the five low-level zero-tier spells, had instead been trained to the proficient level.

"...Eye of Truth-Seeking."

Ronan chanted softly. As Spiritual Power poured forth, a faint white glow appeared in his eyes.

Detection Spell was simple to cast and required almost no accompanying gestures, but its uses were limited.

It could only detect auras invisible to the naked eye, traces left behind by condensed energy particles after spellcasting, and the strength of other wizards—though the last had a certain chance of failure.

Detection Spell made up for part of the gap in his reconnaissance abilities.

Over the past two months, Ronan's Spiritual Power had barely grown, advancing by only another four percent.

"This body's soul aptitude really is terrible."

Not even the Expert Level Basic Meditation Technique could save it.

At this rate, Ronan would need a full four years to advance from a Level Five Apprentice to a Level Six Apprentice.

The further one went down the path of wizardry, the harder advancement became. If he did not resort to potions later on, Ronan estimated that even if he spent his entire life on it, he might not be able to break through into the realm of an official wizard.

Even reaching Level Nine Apprentice would be a major problem.

Since he had devoted most of his energy to grueling cultivation, Ronan's Rune Inscription proficiency had grown at an ordinary pace.

The Cleaning Rune remained at the proficient level, while the Shine Rune had only just barely passed beginner. The mid-level zero-tier Protection Rune, however, had finally been successfully researched by him.

"The price of Protection Runes in the market has already risen to nearly twenty Low-Level Magic Stones each... Even if my success rate in inscribing Protection Runes is a little low, I'll still earn more than before."

Ronan currently had more than a dozen Protection Runes stockpiled. He wanted to wait a little longer, until their price climbed to its peak before selling them.

"The invasion by Black Wizard Land hasn't officially begun yet. Once the fighting truly starts and magical implements are consumed in large quantities, especially defensive ones, that'll be when Protection Runes are in shortest supply and worth the most..."

The major workshops in the market were now buying up all kinds of low- and mid-level runes in bulk. Looking back on it carefully, Ronan guessed that these shops and workshops had received news from the academy long ago that Black Wizard Land was about to invade, and had already begun making arrangements in secret.

That also explained why his first trip to Welling Workshop to sell runes had gone so smoothly.

However, the workshops were not after the Rune Stone business. Most of them had their own smiths and enchanters, and what they wanted to stockpile were finished magical implements.

For the past two months, Ronan had cultivated tirelessly day and night. As a result, Energy Missile had hit a bottleneck, and so had his body forging.

Body-forging cultivation had actually gone quite smoothly at first. With magical beast meat as a supplement, his proficiency had shot up rapidly.

But after breaking through to Mastery and reaching the fifth posture of Ascetic Body Forging, Ronan truly could not keep practicing.

His body could endure it, but his willpower really could not.

The bone-deep pain during practice had nearly hurt Ronan to the point of losing control of his bowels several times.

"Without a breakthrough in Spiritual Power, it'll be hard for Ascetic Body Forging to improve further. Eating magical beast meat every day won't help either."

Ronan could tell that magical beast meat only accelerated the rate of body forging. The key factor determining the upper limit of progress for a body-forging method like Ascetic Body Forging was still willpower.

Although Spiritual Power and willpower were not completely linked, if one's Spiritual Power was strong enough, one would still be more resistant to pain. At the very least, one would not hurt so badly as to faint or lose control of one's body.

"Why am I making things so hard on myself? In my previous life, I was even afraid of getting blood drawn and injections."

"I'll practice again after my Spiritual Power improves, or see if there are any potions that can increase pain tolerance."

Ronan walked into a clearing in the woods carpeted with thick fallen leaves, stopped, and slowly drew the One-Handed Sword at his waist.

Looking back, his greatest gains over the past two months had actually been in Basic Swordsmanship and Charged Weapon, which he habitually cast whenever he practiced swordsmanship.

One had gone from beginner to nearly completing Mastery, while the other was about to advance to Expert Level.

Ronan chanted quietly, brushing two fingers of his left hand lightly over the blade of the One-Handed Sword. A layer of flowing radiance clung to it.

Once the ordinary silver one-handed longsword became brilliantly radiant, Ronan began to move.

Screech!

His opening thrust tore through the air with a ripping sound. The blade swept sideways, stirring up a fierce gale. Fallen leaves were rapidly swept from the ground, then shredded to pieces, fluttering in all directions like a frenzied swarm of dead-leaf butterflies.

The moves Ronan practiced were ordinary, but the transitions between them were incomparably smooth and natural. He was as skilled as veteran adventurers who had immersed themselves in chivalry for years and even slept with their greatswords in their arms.

The swordsmanship Ronan practiced was simple to begin with, and after forming muscle memory, it became even easier to perform.

As his proficiency rose rapidly, his understanding of this swordsmanship also deepened continuously. With each practice session, the sword forms were constantly adjusted and transformed to better suit his own habits. After practicing for a while, Ronan felt somewhat hot and simply took off his wizard robe, revealing a strong and perfect physique.

Every time he swung his sword, the muscles in his arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and thighs moved with it. The muscles beneath his skin rose and fell like rippling water, sweat streaming down him and displaying a rugged, masculine beauty.

Bang!

With a flick of Ronan's wrist, the radiance attached to the one-handed longsword exploded, directly flinging out a visible wave of white air. A large crater blasted open in the grass before him, while two trees unlucky enough to be caught in it creaked as they fell. Fallen leaves scattered through the sky.

"Hah—"

Ronan exhaled a breath of turbid air, sheathed his sword, and swept his gaze across the devastation around him. A sense of accomplishment rose in his heart.

"Even an average mid-level zero-tier defensive magical implement might not be able to withstand this spell sword aura of mine!"

The explosive effect of Charged Weapon's enchanted energy particles, combined with Ronan's terrifying physical strength, produced truly astonishing destructive power. It was already about as powerful as Energy Missile had been when it first entered Expert Level.

More importantly, it required no spellcasting preparation at all. Charged Weapon could be cast in advance, and at Mastery proficiency, its effects could last for nearly five minutes.

"Apprentice wizards who haven't undergone bodily modification are no different from ordinary people. As long as I can close the distance and strike before they complete their spellcasting preparation, even high-level apprentices would probably die beneath my sword.

"Of course, that's assuming they don't have any defensive magical implements activated on them."

"Does this count as a new profession combining wizards and knights—the Magic Swordsman?!"

As Ronan thought this, he lowered his head to inspect the longsword in his hand and reached out to touch the fine cracks along its blade.

"Unfortunately, the sword's material is too poor. It's already worn down like this from practice alone. It would probably be completely ruined after just two real battles."