Shadow Spells, a Treasure Magic Scroll?

On the altar, the Silver Hand Warhammer radiated holy light in Uther's hand. A vast, pure sense of holy power emanated from the hammer.

"By the Holy Light... this feeling... is incredible!" Uther gripped the warhammer tightly, his face filled with shock and devotion.

He could clearly feel that the warhammer contained more than mere power—it carried Tyr's will to protect order and fight evil.

This divine artifact seemed to become an extension of his limbs. The Holy Light flowed through it with incomparable ease, its power multiplied.

"Congratulations, Lord Uther!" The commander of Tyr's Guard excitedly dropped to one knee.

"The Silver Hand has finally returned to its true heir!"

"Congratulations, Lord Uther."

"The true Silver Hand has appeared. He is the great Lightbringer, Uther."

"For Tyr! For order!" The other members of Tyr's Guard also saluted, their morale soaring.

Rod was also all smiles. After the battle had just ended, he received a system notification.

Ding! A glorious victory! You have gained several thousand experience points! Your level has risen to Level 5!

After considering the extra attribute point, Rod decided to put it into Knowledge. At this stage, mana was the most important thing. Sixty mana was barely enough to meet the needs of a single battle.

After leveling up, Rod could choose to upgrade Basic Earth Magic to Intermediate Earth Magic, or learn Basic First Aid.

Without much thought, Rod chose Intermediate Earth Magic. Both Earth Magic and Magic Arrow became more powerful, and a single Magic Arrow now dealt as much as 50 damage.

Unfortunately, this battle did not increase Rod's number of skeleton soldiers. Those Faceless Ones and shadow creatures had no physical bodies in the true sense. They were pure energy beings, similar to elementals, and simply could not be converted into skeleton soldiers.

Besides the skill upgrade, Rod's Eagle Eye also came through, allowing him to learn two shadow spells: Shadow Bolt and Psychic Scream.

Both were considered low-level shadow spells. One consumed 0.1 mana, while the other consumed 0.2 mana. Neither had a particularly high mana cost.

Both spells were quite practical. Shadow Bolt dealt respectable damage and was extremely eerie, while Psychic Scream was a mental attack.

When they had entered this burial chamber, the shadow creatures and Faceless Ones had been continuously using this kind of attack against them.

Unfortunately, these two shadow spells could not be used casually! There were no shadow priests openly acknowledged within the Alliance right now, so it would be difficult to explain if he used them.

In addition, Rod received three extra random wilderness resources as rewards for killing the three Faceless Ones sent by the Old Gods.

For the first reward, Rod received 500 units of gold. This was the least valuable thing, equivalent to picking up some resources in the wilderness—and the most useless kind of resource at that.

For the second reward, Rod received 5 units of wood. The first two rewards left Rod speechless. Damn it, give me something that can increase a hero's attributes!

He wondered whether he might receive a monster reward in the future, one that would make him take out a group of wandering monsters.

For the third reward, Rod obtained a magic scroll. Magic scrolls were special items in the world of Heroes of Might and Magic.

As long as you possessed a magic scroll and kept it among your miscellaneous items, you could learn the spell recorded on it. Even for Level 3, 4, or 5 spells, the magic scroll would allow you to cast them even without the corresponding Wisdom skill.

Furthermore, the spell would benefit from bonuses to the hero's Spell Power, artifacts, or strength.

This magic scroll was extremely valuable. It recorded a Level 5 spell.

The moment Rod saw this Level 5 spell, he would have been lying if he said he was not tempted. Level 5 spells were the strongest spells in Heroes of Might and Magic, and even when a city's Mage Guild was upgraded to its highest level, it could produce only one Level 5 spell.

Thunderbolt, Magic Mirror, Expert Flight, Dimension Door, Space-Time Gate—these practical spells were all Level 5 spells.

The Level 5 spell recorded on this magic scroll left Rod slightly disappointed. It was not one of those overpowered Level 5 spells listed above, but rather Summon Elemental.

There were four schools of magic, capable of summoning four kinds of elementals: air, water, earth, and fire.

What he had obtained was a summoning spell capable of Summon Fire Elemental. It consumed 25 mana and summoned a number of fire elementals equal to Power × 2 to join the battle.

With Basic Fire Magic, the mana cost dropped to 20. With Intermediate Fire Magic, it cost 20 mana and summoned Power × 3 fire elementals to join the battle.

With Advanced Fire Magic, it cost 20 mana and summoned Power × 4 fire elementals to join the battle.

These fire elementals could exist for 24 hours. Once the battle ended, they would dissipate and could not be kept permanently.

How should he put it? This skill was completely useless to Rod right now, the kind of thing that was tasteless to keep but a shame to discard.

His Power was currently 3. Without Fire Magic bonuses, spending 25 mana would summon six fire elementals.

Fire elementals had 35 health, 10 attack, 8 defense, and a pitiful speed of only 6.

Summoning six fire elementals in a battle was not worth it. He would be better off firing six Magic Arrows instead.

"What's wrong? Rod, is something on your mind?" Jaina noticed that Rod's expression was somewhat off and hurriedly asked.

Rod looked at the female mage, and a new idea immediately came to mind.

This spell cost 25 mana. His mana was precious, so he would let the female mage test its effects.

He could also test whether Azeroth's creatures could cast hero magic through magic scrolls, and see how many fire elementals the female mage could summon.

"Jaina, the great Guardian just gave me a miraculous magical item."

"The Guardian contacted you just now! And bestowed a magical item upon you! I didn't sense the Guardian's presence at all!" The female mage's face was filled with shock.

Could it be that the Titan Keepers had been watching them all along?

"Yes! He gave me a magical scroll. As long as you carry this magic scroll on you, you can cast the spell recorded on it without needing to learn it at all." Rod briefly explained the effects of his magic scroll.

"That miraculous?" Jaina looked astonished.

"Yes! But you know my mana is a little low, so I want you to test this spell's effects." Rod said.

"Really? Then thank you, Rod. I'd be delighted." The female mage looked excited.

She had been looking forward to Titan magic more than anything.

Rod nodded and took a broad, earth-yellow magic scroll nearly half a person's height from the system space, then handed it to the female mage.