Order Is Protection, but Also Shackles

[Fireball (0.3 Ring) → Fireball (0.6 Ring)]

[Rock Wall (0.4 Ring) → Rock Wall (0.6 Ring)]

[Charge Points: 5521, 13.94% → 5455, 21.37%]

"That's enough added to Fireball and Rock Wall for now," Lohr thought. "I'll release one every half month, then add more points after they're released."

Closing the panel, Lohr walked to the small spell testing ground in the laboratory. He raised his right hand and activated the Fireball model within his sea of consciousness.

"Whoosh~"

A red fireball half a meter in diameter appeared before him, radiating scorching heat.

Lohr pushed his palm forward.

"Pfft~"

The fireball slammed into the sandy ground, scorching a patch of it black.

"If that had hit Barber, it would probably have burned him so completely that not even ashes would remain." Lohr smiled in satisfaction and glanced into his sea of consciousness.

At this moment, one-tenth of the elements in his elemental domain had been depleted.

"Not bad. I can cast it ten times in a row. Now let's try Rock Wall."

Lohr raised his palm.

"Crack, crack, crack—"

A black rock wall, three meters tall, five meters wide, and roughly twenty centimeters thick, rose from the ground eight meters in front of him.

"Hmm, this used one-seventh of my elements. As expected, defensive spells consume more."

He looked at the elemental depletion in his sea of consciousness and shook his head slightly.

He then turned around, picked up an earth elemental orb from a pile of tools at the edge of the testing ground, adjusted its elemental impact setting to 0.7, and fired it at the Rock Wall.

"Boom, crack—"

A stream of earthy yellow light struck the center of the Rock Wall in an instant. After holding out for only two seconds, the wall was completely pierced through, and the attack then struck the laboratory wall and vanished.

"It can block a 0.7 Ring attack for a while, though not for long. Still, it'll do. After all, it's only a 0.6 Ring spell."

After testing the Rock Wall's strength, Lohr waved his hand. The wall turned back into grains of sand and fell into the sandy ground.

He then walked toward the magic array at the very back of the laboratory and pointed a finger at its center.

A faint earth element struck the core of the magic array, causing it to slowly light up. A light screen with six options gradually emerged.

Once the light screen stabilized, Lohr did not hesitate to tap the fifth option, Announcements.

The light screen reorganized.

A line of enlarged, bold text appeared at the top of the light screen.

<Announcement of the Wizard Alliance Supreme Council's Abyss Expedition Plan>

"Was the Supreme Wizard Council already planning to deal with the Abyss at this point?"

Curious, Lohr tapped into it.

The extinction of the gods was not the end, but a new beginning.

By a vote of the Wizard Alliance Supreme Council members, the operation to conquer the Abyss has been set for one hundred years from now.

The Bottomless Abyss, unconquered even by the gods, will ultimately submit beneath our feet.

(Announcement, Wizard Calendar Year 1)

"Having a plan is a good thing. Too bad plans can't keep up with change." Lohr sighed.

Wizard Calendar Year 1 meant this year.

Ten years from now, internal turmoil within the Wizard Alliance would ravage the Murphy Continent, and the Abyss would descend.

When that time came, the wizarding world would enter a prolonged period of chaos. Peacefully developing as they did now would become utterly impossible.

"It seemed the closed beta players descended around then in my previous life too?" Lohr stroked his chin. "Too bad I don't know whether they'll still descend in this life."

He was rather looking forward to the players' arrival. That meant countless lab rats and countless spell slots.

He only knew the rough outline of how spatial spells developed in their later stages, and he desperately needed those lab rats to devote themselves to spell research.

"Forget it. No point thinking about so much. What comes will come."

Lohr shook his head, swiped right across the light screen, returned to the main Announcements page, and carefully searched for news about the Divine Kingdom Exploration Tournament.

Unfortunately, even after flipping through the announcements more than ten times, he failed to find a single related word.

"Don't rush, don't rush. The Divine Kingdom Exploration Tournament will definitely open several times over the next few years."

Lohr took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the anxiety in his heart.

For him now, order was protection, but also shackles.

Time flew by in the blink of an eye.

Before he knew it, Lohr had spent six months in the Wizard Tower.

"Kateya, tomorrow, find another Second-Level Apprentice with around 11 points of mental power and two remaining spell slots. Charge it to the laboratory account."

Lohr sat beneath the bookshelf on the right side of the laboratory, rubbing his brow wearily.

"Lord Lohr, why don't you rest for a couple of days?"

Seeing the bloodshot veins in Lohr's eyes, Kateya could not help but advise him.

Ever since Lohr had advanced to Second-Level Apprentice ten days ago and learned two spells, he had begun researching Spell Fusion day and night.

Two days ago, he had already used the laboratory's allowance to bring in an apprentice with two spell slots to try improving the fusion.

After learning the spells Lohr had provided and fusing them, that apprentice had unleashed power terrifying even to her.

Conservatively speaking, it would not have been an exaggeration to say that spell had reached the limit of a 0.9 Ring spell.

Yet even at that level, Lohr still seemed dissatisfied and wanted to continue improving the spell model.

"No need. I'll definitely finish the improvements tonight." Lohr shook his head. "Go get some rest first."

"Yes, Lord Lohr." Kateya pressed her lips together. In the end, she did not dare offer further advice and turned to leave the laboratory.

Over the past six months, Lohr had established immense authority in her heart through repeated spell improvements.

"Exactly which step hasn't been adjusted properly?" Lohr sent his mental power into his sea of consciousness. Using the Microscope Spell to observe the Earthfire Attraction model and Fireball Spell model in his elemental domain, he fell into deep thought.

The two new spell rune models he had created were Earthfire Attraction (0.7 Ring) and High-Temperature Amplitude (0.7 Ring).

In his estimation, fusing Earthfire Attraction with Fireball Spell could create the Small Magma Eruption spell.

With the essence of a 0.7 Ring spell, it could achieve the power of a 1 Ring spell. If High-Temperature Amplitude were added on top of that, it might even reach 1.1 Ring strength.

Yet the fire and earth elements it consumed would amount to only one-fifth of the elements in his current elemental domain.

Unfortunately, after experimenting, Lohr discovered that the apprentice could at most trigger an earthfire eruption. The Fireball Spell fusion only slightly increased the earthfire's temperature.

Reaching the limit of 0.9 Ring power was no problem, but there was not even a trace of hope for the qualitative leap to 1 Ring.

Normally, Lohr would not have been so anxious that he could not even spare time to rest.

The main reason was that half a month ago, the Announcements section had been updated. The first Wizard Apprentice Divine Kingdom Exploration Tournament would begin in Wizard Calendar Year 2, Month 1—half a month from now.

Before then, he had to develop the Small Magma Eruption spell, this classic apprentice-level spatial spell, for self-protection.

The Divine Kingdom Exploration Tournament had no supervision. Only at the entrance would they inspect the apprentices to ensure they carried no spell scrolls, potions, or magic items of 1 Ring or above.

That also meant there was no order there. Without the power to protect oneself, entering meant certain death.

Unfortunately, Lohr could still draw on some experience from his previous life when it came to the Microscope Spell.

But he had absolutely no experience with Small Magma Eruption and could only rely on hearsay and his own research.

Compared to the former, it was more than a little harder.