Magic Crystal Rune

After taking a hot bath in his room and wrapping up the Lar Bat's corpse, Ace undressed. After the fierce battle, he felt utterly exhausted. Not daring to sleep too deeply, he fell asleep with the Spellbook clutched in his hand.

Early the next morning, Ace went to the Guild Hall to hire a driver and carriage, then headed to the manor. The moment he arrived, Ace summoned Kelson and ordered him to immediately organize people to rush the wheat harvest. The stalks with abundant ears and plump grains were to be stored separately as seeds for the following year.

Ace, meanwhile, took the newly charmed Lar Bat and patrolled the manor's perimeter every day. Using the bat's long-range ultrasound, he detected migrating bat swarms in advance. If their numbers were small, Ace directly stunned and killed them. If there were too many, he hurriedly led everyone into the manor to take shelter.

After ten consecutive days, the rushed autumn harvest was finally complete. Afterward, Ace built a new brewery and wheat-processing workshop in the manor. He fermented part of the wheat and brewed a wheat wine similar to rice wine, which Ace called fermented wine. He then used distillation to make a clearer, more fragrant colorless wheat liquor, which he called baijiu.

Old drinkers like Maren begged for a few cups when they caught its scent, and they could not put down the fiery colorless wheat liquor.

"Most of us old soldiers have old injuries. Whenever the sky turns overcast or it rains, they ache. Boss, this baijiu of yours is truly good. After drinking it, my whole body feels smooth and easy, and I can't even feel the pain on rainy days." Maren hugged the bottle and spoke to Ace with feeling.

"If you like it, then as long as you work in the Manor Guard, you can receive two clay bottles for free every month. If you want more, you'll only pay cost price." Ace smiled faintly and answered generously.

"We've been waiting for you to say that. It's a deal." Maren and the other old soldiers replied happily.

It seemed the charm of baijiu was the same even in another world, though Ace himself preferred the lower-proof fermented wine.

With Lar Bats running rampant, it was unsuitable to travel. Ace sealed the brewed liquor in clay jars and stored them in the newly dug underground wine cellar. Over the past few days, most of the manor's residents had been building granaries, storing the bountiful wheat harvest inside.

"Master, our manor has had a super bumper harvest! According to the Administration Hall's figures, we cultivated a total of 1,000 mu of farmland for wheat. This time, the yield reached 300 jin per mu, nearly three times the usual yield!" Kelson said excitedly to Ace, his spittle nearly spraying onto Ace's face.

"Not bad. You've worked hard during this time as well. Store this grain properly for now. When early spring comes next year, grain prices will rise. We'll haul the liquor and flour to the city-state to sell. You'll be responsible for contacting people and assisting my father. As long as you do a fine job, I'll reward you with a villa in the manor and arrange several slaves to serve you."

"Thank you, generous Master."

Where there was comparison, there was a difference in happiness, and where there was a difference, ambition would arise. Ace only needed to make good use of Kelson's ambition to make him work with all his might. Over the next few days, Ace had Kelson direct the slaves in building many public latrines, and designated five people to dig pits every day to compost everyone's waste and kitchen scraps.

Ace believed that after several years of continuously selecting superior seeds and composting fertilizer, combined with growing proficiency in intensive cultivation techniques, yields would certainly rise further.

The vineyards, olive trees, and the like outside the city were gradually taking shape, while the ranch's herds of cattle, horses, and sheep were also expanding. When the manor sold liquor and flour next spring, it would have the money to purchase slaves and supplies, forming a virtuous cycle and laying a material foundation for Ace to establish a private laboratory and academic organization in the future.

A month later, early winter was approaching, and the weather was growing ever colder. Ace successfully deciphered the minor runes on the Lar Bat's vocal cords and degraded the Soul Rune on the bracelet, obtaining five new runes in total.

The Fan Strike Rune and Sound Rune came from the bat. The bat itself possessed ultrasound, and the Sound Rune could not only strengthen that ultrasound, but also release ordinary sound and infrasonic waves.

Through experimentation, Ace found that the Sound Rune was variable. As long as he slightly altered its rune-guiding structure, it could produce different sounds. The range of spell models that could be developed from it was extensive, though it was also rather difficult to operate.

Combining it with his own spiritual perception, Ace first developed the minor spell Ultrasonic Perception. In truth, it turned his entire body into an ultrasonic radar. Its sensing radius exceeded 500 meters, and a single casting could maintain perception for nearly five minutes.

Fan strike was a new type of rune for guiding attacks. It belonged to the same category as projection, except its attack was a sustained strike across a fan-shaped area.

Ace combined it with the Acid Conversion Rune, then distilled and purified sulfur to create a highly corrosive spell: Torrent of Acid. Its attack range was three to five meters, its duration was three seconds, and both its coverage and corrosiveness were vastly increased. It could serve as Ace's only ultimate move for now.

By degrading the Soul Rune on the bracelet, he obtained three runes: the Guardian Rune, Damage Reduction Rune, and Magic Crystal Rune. If a spell model used only a protective rune as its core, it had to have casting materials. This spell could turn any malleable object into a curved shield.

The Damage Reduction Rune could slightly reduce received damage, while the Magic Crystal Rune was the most significant discovery. Its function was to solidify drawn magic power into extremely tiny crystals invisible to the naked eye. Ace called them Magic Particles.

Magic Protective Membrane = Magic Crystal Rune + Damage Reduction Rune + Guardian Rune + Magic #2 Rune + a series of Auxiliary Runes. It could unfold a transparent curved protective membrane composed of magic crystals. Tests showed that it could withstand Ace's Acid Splash three times, but could only resist Torrent of Acid for two seconds. It was a decent defensive spell.

Basic Auxiliary Runes were effective on the Magic Crystal Rune, while tool Auxiliary Runes were ineffective on it, so it was also a basic rune.

With the Magic Crystal Rune and Magic #2 Rune as its core, and Ordered Magic as its guiding Auxiliary Rune, Ace created the minor spell Hand of Magic.

Casting Hand of Magic required spiritual power as its casting material. Additional spiritual power had to be invested to form a Hand of Magic that could be commanded as easily as one's own arm.

The hand was composed of magic power. Its size depended on the amount of magic power and spiritual power invested. It could operate within ten meters of the caster and lasted ten minutes.

It could fly, though its duration would be halved. As a hand, it was extremely flexible, but it did not possess much destructive power.

The Magic Crystal Rune had universal applicability and could combine with many runes. Ace combined it with projection and developed Minor Magic Missile, firing rapidly moving magic crystals. Ace improved them into bullet-shaped forms, with a maximum attack range of 400 meters and far greater damage.

Adding the Magic Crystal Rune and Sound Rune to Illusion Gaze could create tangible illusions. They could move, make sounds, and be touched, though they possessed no attack power. Whether or not the opponent looked directly into the caster's eyes, the tangible illusion would remain. Tangible illusions possessed the ability to induce hallucinations; looking at one also subjected the viewer to a test of spiritual strength, and failure would cause them to fall into an illusion.

As for the meditation method that served as his foundation, after many experiments, Ace found a suitable Rune Formula and incorporated the Magic Crystal Rune and Auto-Absorption Rune into its rune structure. The natural magic power drawn in through meditation was transformed into Magic Particles, which nourished and transformed his spiritual power and body. The effects of meditation were greatly enhanced.

A small amount of Magic Particles also clung to his spiritual power. Ace felt that this would accelerate the "contamination" of his body and mind by magic power. Perhaps after some more time, he would undergo an unknowable mutation.

He tested his own blood and discovered that it could already serve as an effective material for writing runes. To a certain extent, he was already similar to a Low-level Demonic Beast, and far more powerful than an ordinary Low-level Demonic Beast.

Ace was not afraid. He felt a measure of anticipation. Whatever the mutation might be, this was the extraordinary path he had chosen, and it would eventually bear its first fruit.

Ace summarized in his magic diary:

As a wizard apprentice, I have discovered twenty-four minor runes in total: three basic runes, six Auxiliary Runes, and fifteen tool runes. This will be the starting point of my path of magic. I will discover more runes and combine them into more powerful spells.

My Rune Tome records twenty-four minor runes, every one of them extremely useful. It could be said that without runes, I would have nothing. It is because of runes that I can meditate more efficiently, absorb magic power through my body and spirit to grow, and create the powerful spell cards in the Spellbook.

However, I still have several questions to ask.

What is the essence of magic? What is the essence of magic power? Why do runes exist? What is the essence of runes?

I believe that one day in the future, I will ultimately uncover their truth and understand the mysteries of this world.

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