Looking for Someone

"A normally summoned Magic Weapon has between 1% and 69% of the original's power. That's a standard summon, and anyone who signs a contract with the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome can perform one. From 70% to 89% is an advanced summon, while 90% to 99% is an ultimate summon. The closer the summoned Magic Weapon is to the original, the greater the increase in power."

"I won't go into the requirements for advanced and ultimate summons." Zheng Yichen waved a hand. The requirements for an advanced summon? Approval from him or Lolise, of course. Someone who had supplied the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome with a great deal of mana, for example, or someone they had met and deemed suitable. The Permanent Projection Spell was inscribed in the tome.

As long as someone used the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome, he could "interview" them at any time.

Ultimate summons, on the other hand, would require much stricter screening. "You already qualify for advanced summons. Everyone else, even after signing a contract with the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome, will only qualify for standard summons."

There was another point. If many people began using Magic Weapons in the future, Zheng Yichen wouldn't worry even if they fought each other. The mana in the weapons came from the same source. If a stronger Magic Weapon shattered a weaker one in battle, the mana released by its dissipating projection would be absorbed by the other weapon's Mana Gathering effect...

The mana sustaining a projection came from the summoner, not the Magic Weapon itself. Zheng Yichen had no reason to worry about fights between Magic Weapon contractors.

"Strange... Where did those people hide?" Zheng Yichen wandered through the Illusion Demon Forest, trying to find traces of the people in black and red. Unfortunately, ever since the accidents during his Magic Weapon Creation had dropped sharply, they had inexplicably vanished.

Unable to find any trace of them, Zheng Yichen flipped through his spellbook and set up a soundproof barrier nearby. At his current pace, he could make a new Magic Weapon roughly every two days. He had already drawn up a long-term plan for them.

He didn't intend to change the basic Magic Weapons. The ones he had were enough for users to get accustomed to their power or to give them more choices while training with weapons. Low-level Magic Weapons wouldn't have any particularly unusual properties.

They would have only simple elemental attributes, such as fire, earth, or wind. With that arrangement, one type of weapon wouldn't need several pages in the tome. One page would suffice, and summoners could call forth a Magic Weapon with the attribute they needed.

Beyond those came Intermediate Magic Weapons and higher. Each would have a unique attribute. Some high-level Magic Weapons might even have attributes much like those of Intermediate ones, but their quality and rate of growth would be greater.

The strong would only grow stronger. If the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome endured and continued to develop, the gap in strength between each tier of Magic Weapons would keep widening.

Zheng Yichen yawned and leaned against a tree, reading the spellbook in his hands. He was already growing stronger quickly, but making three leaps in combat power at once was still a fantasy. Even with excellent talent, becoming strong took time. His growth over a few months might equal several years of someone else's, but it was still a matter of accumulation.

This world had no formal levels, and even the notion of entering a rank was vague. Rather than a professional level, it was more like a realm of attainment. The hard requirements for using magic were talent, mana, and mental strength. Once all three met the standard, a person could cast higher-tier spells!

Accumulating mana was like training the body. Getting there in one leap? Not a chance. Even Lolise had built her current power over a long time. Zheng Yichen simply wasn't capable of making high-level Magic Weapons yet. It would be ages before he could start, despite having so many ideas.

The Pangu Axe and Xuanyuan Sword, for instance. Zheng Yichen could make drastically weakened imitations based on what he knew of their attributes, but his attachment to them made him unwilling to do it now.

Making them as mere Intermediate Magic Weapons... That would never do! If he made them, they had to be top-tier!

Carrying the newly completed Magic Weapon, Zheng Yichen returned to the castle. After imprinting its information into the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome, he set it aside.

As long as it wasn't destroyed, it didn't matter where he left it. He could use the summoning tome too. As the one with absolute authority over it, Zheng Yichen could not only draw on the vast mana it would gradually accumulate, but also summon physical Magic Weapons without meeting any conditions. The same went for the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome itself.

"Should I find a way to spread word of the Magic Weapon Summoning Tome?" Zheng Yichen muttered. He lay on the floor, filing his claws with an oversized rasp one of the Ghost Maids had kindly provided. He had no idea where she had found it.

A Ghost Maid with wind powers collected every tiny shaving from his claws as he worked.

"If you're doing it for that girl's safety, you could," Lolise said. Zheng Yichen hadn't noticed her come up behind him. "Even the protagonist of an era needs some protection while growing stronger in the early days."

"Uh... All right, then." Zheng Yichen paused and swallowed the question he wanted to ask. A few days ago, he had happened upon the entrance to the castle's underground library. According to the Ghost Maid accompanying him, Lolise had collected nearly all its books. Many were precious works no longer available anywhere else.

If word of the library got out, hordes of Mages would rush over to "explore" it. Besides those precious books, Zheng Yichen had also found some oddly out-of-place volumes: novels from this world...

More curiously, someone seemed to have handled those books recently!

"Hey, Lolise, have you ever written a novel?"

"When I was bored." Lolise glanced at Zheng Yichen, unbothered by the way he addressed her. To her, names were little different from labels.

"Got it." Worried that she might see through him, Zheng Yichen released a projection. Given how useful the Projection Spell was, he had already inscribed it in his Sea of Consciousness. When it came to accumulating mana, it made no difference which Magic Array Pattern he practiced.

The difference was that a spell he used often would become familiar, making it easier to fine-tune and improve once he entered a rank.

A small dragon-shaped shadow flew out of the castle under cover of night. The projection's strength was severely reduced, but that came with a benefit: its magical aura weakened as well, making it extremely hard to detect. Zheng Yichen slipped into Star City without anyone noticing and began looking for someone suitable.

Hidden in the shadows, Zheng Yichen scratched his head. Come to think of it, this was his first time out on his own. He flipped through his spellbook and chose an illusion spell that could disguise his appearance.

The disguise changed only how he looked. The moment someone touched him, they would see through it. Illusion spells that produced something tangible were advanced magic, far beyond his ability. This one would do for now. He was only looking for someone, not planning to make physical contact.

The spell also offered some protection against detection. Even if someone stronger saw through it, the illusion would blur before vanishing unless they used an especially powerful dispelling method, giving it a chance to interfere with their sight.

"Too bad it isn't a real body." Zheng Yichen looked down at the form he had created with the illusion. It looked like he had before crossing into this world, but a fake was still a fake. Anything too out of the ordinary would give him away. If he pressed a hand lightly against his chest, the illusion adjusted to make it look as though his hand met resistance.

But if he pressed harder, he would exceed the spell's ability to maintain the disguise. His illusory hand would pass straight through his illusory body... It would be good for frightening people, at least.