Finding Someone

"Normally summoned magic weapons have only 1% to 69% of the original weapon's power. That's a standard summon, and anyone who signs a contract with the Magic Weapon Summoning Book qualifies for it. At 70% to 89%, it's an advanced summon; at 90% to 99%, it's an ultimate summon. The closer a summoned weapon comes to the original, the more sharply its power rises."

"I won't explain 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 summoning book.

As long as a summoner used the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, Zheng Yichen could "interview" them at any time.

Ultimate summons, on the other hand, demanded much stricter screening. "You already qualify for advanced summons. Other people, even after signing a contract with the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, only qualify for standard summons."

There was another point. If more people began using Magic Weapons in the future, even if they fought one another, Zheng Yichen would not worry. The mana in Magic Weapons all came from the same source. If a stronger Magic Weapon shattered one in battle, the mana scattered from its projection would be absorbed by the other weapon's Mana Gathering effect...

The mana sustaining a projection came from its summoner, not the Magic Weapon itself. So Zheng Yichen had no reason to worry about battles between Magic Weapon Contract holders.

"Strange... Where have those people hidden?" Zheng Yichen wandered through the Illusion Demon Forest, trying to find traces of the black-and-red-clad figures. Unfortunately, ever since the accidents he encountered while making Magic Weapons had dropped sharply, those people had vanished for no apparent reason.

Unable to find them, Zheng Yichen leafed 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... And he had already laid out a long-term plan for them.

He did not intend to change the basic Magic Weapons. The existing ones were enough to let users get accustomed to their power, or give them extra choices when training with weapons. Low-level Magic Weapons would not have any particularly unusual properties.

They would have only the simplest elemental attributes: fire, earth, wind, and the like. With that arrangement, one type of weapon would not need to take up several pages of the summoning book. One page would do, and summoners could call forth the attribute they needed.

After that came Intermediate Magic Weapons and everything above them. Those weapons would each have unique properties. Some future high-level Magic Weapons might even seem similar to Intermediate ones in their attributes, but their quality and growth rate would be higher.

The strong would grow stronger. If the Magic Weapon Summoning Book endured and continued to develop, the gap in power between each tier of magic weapons would only widen.

Zheng Yichen yawned and leaned against a tree, reading the spellbook in his hands. He was already growing stronger quickly, but leaps in combat power of three levels at a time belonged to fantasy. No matter how good his talent was, strength still took time to build—even if a few months of his growth equaled several years for someone else.

This world had no formal level system, and even the notion of entering a rank was vague. It was less a professional grade than a state of attainment. The hard requirements for casting magic were talent, mana, and mental strength. Once all three met the threshold, a person could cast higher-tier spells!

But accumulating mana was like training the body. Getting there in one leap? Not a chance. Even Lolise had built up her present power over a long time. Zheng Yichen had ideas for plenty of high-level Magic Weapons, but he lacked the strength to make them. It would be a long wait before he could start.

The Pangu Axe and Xuanyuan Sword, for instance. Based on what he knew of their properties, Zheng Yichen could make drastically weakened imitations right now. But his attachment to them made him unwilling to do that.

Making them as mere intermediate magic weapons... That would be a disgrace! If he was going to make them, they had to be top-tier!

Carrying his newly finished magic weapon, Zheng Yichen returned to the castle. He imprinted its information into the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, then set it aside.

As long as it was not destroyed, it did not matter where he left it. He could use the summoning book himself. As the one with the highest authority over it, Zheng Yichen would be able to draw on the vast mana it gradually accumulated and summon Magic Weapons in physical form without meeting any conditions. The Magic Weapon Summoning Tome was no exception.

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

Another Ghost Maid, one with wind powers, collected every fine shaving that came off his claws.

"If you're doing it for that girl's safety, you could," Lolise said. Zheng Yichen had not noticed her walk up behind him. "Even the protagonist of an era needs a certain degree of protection while growing in the early stages."

"Uh... All right, then." Zheng Yichen paused, suppressing the question he wanted to ask. A few days earlier, he had happened upon the entrance to the castle's underground library. According to the accompanying Ghost Maid, most of the books there had been collected by Lolise, including many precious volumes no longer available anywhere else.

If word of the library got out, mages would come racing to "explore" it. Besides those precious books, Zheng Yichen had found some volumes that seemed oddly out of place: novels from this world...

More curiously, someone appeared to have handled them recently!

"Hey, Loli... Have you ever written a novel?"

"I wrote them when I was bored." Lolise glanced at Zheng Yichen, paying little mind to what he called her. To her, names were much the same as codenames.

"I understand." Worried she might read something in his expression, Zheng Yichen released a projection. Given how convenient the Projection Spell was, he had already inscribed it into his Sea of Consciousness. When it came to accumulating mana, it made no difference which Magic Array Pattern he practiced.

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

A small dragon-shaped projection flew out of the castle under cover of night. Its strength had shrunk drastically within the limits of projection, but that also weakened the magical fluctuations it emitted, making it extremely hard to detect. Zheng Yichen slipped into Star City unnoticed and began looking for suitable people.

Hidden in a patch of shadow, Zheng Yichen scratched his head. Come to think of it, this was his first time acting alone outside the castle. He leafed through his spellbook and chose an illusion spell that would disguise his appearance.

The disguise affected only his appearance. The moment someone touched him, the trick would be exposed. Illusion magic that could produce something tangible was high-end magic, far beyond what Zheng Yichen could cast. This one would have to do. He only needed to find someone, not make physical contact with anyone.

The spell also offered some resistance to detection. Even if someone stronger than him saw through it, the illusion would blur before vanishing unless they used a particularly forceful dispelling method, making it harder to see what lay beneath.

"Too bad it's not a real body." Zheng Yichen looked down at the body he had created with the illusion. It looked like he had before crossing into this world, but a fake was a fake. One odd movement would give him away. If he pressed lightly on his chest, for example, the illusion could adjust on its own to create the effect of being pressed.

But if he kept pushing past what the spell could disguise, his illusory hand would pass straight through his illusory body... It would be good for scaring people, at least.