The shadow power spreading from the shadow plane permeated the surrounding area, turning this wasteland into a ghost town like a city of the dead.
The day of the second round of preliminaries.
Everyone from the Moonlit Cat Group gathered together.
After a heavy rain, all traces left by the exploration team in the wilderness were washed away.
Louis raised his head and looked forward.
What came into his sight was a vast, deserted swamp.
It's a nasty day.
The thunder illuminated the barren land.
Louis frowned.
This place is really eerie.
Instead, the Sin Dragon Armor in his body cheered instinctively?
Just as the Sin Dragon Armed Forces can absorb the power of Fallen Shadow, the power of the Shadow Plane is also a delicacy for the Sin Dragon Armed Forces.
It's just that perhaps compared to the more evil power of Fallen Shadow, it is more neutral and peaceful overall.
But the shadow plane is one of the largest gathering places of negative energy after all.
Being the source of the curse is troublesome for others, but for him, it is actually a good thing.
Alice frowned and said:
"Do you feel it? The uncomfortable feeling of the blood in your body becoming stagnant?"
Louis replied seriously:
"No, on the contrary, I feel that the blood in my body has become much faster."
The little swan also shook his head:
"No, this thick shadow power has no effect on me. On the contrary, it makes me more energetic."
Olivia said calmly.
She, who carries a special curse and the great sin of laziness, cannot be reduced in any way.
The source of her power is different from others.
The corners of Alice's mouth twitched slightly, and she looked at Grace.
Grace seemed to be startled by her gaze and said in a low voice:
"Sister Alice, those shadow forces seemed to avoid me directly after seeing me."
Alice: ???
She began to feel the urge to hit someone.
Finally, she looked at the three Chris brothers.
The second and third brothers stopped talking and looked at their eldest brother.
Chris coughed and said:
"My blood is indeed stagnant. Non-wanderers are seriously affected by the shadow plane!"
Alice felt comfortable.
She said that it was definitely not her problem, the problem was with Louis and the others.
Several people walked towards the depths of the clouds and mist.
Dark clouds gathered above the distant swamp, carrying the howls of unknown birds and beasts, which turned into rolling thunder and spread out.
Not long after they left the safe area that the Adventurer's Guild had just opened up, they saw a muddy road.
Louis looked at the little swan.
Olivia nodded and raised the staff in her hand.
The next moment, a torrent of magic power shone on the swamp like a rosy glow, and a petrified road appeared in front of everyone.
One of the most classic uses of the Transmutation spell [Transform Rock] is turning mud into stone.
The future direction of the Great River Project in training mages is to focus on the application and upgrade of the rock transformation series of spells.
"You've done a great job transforming the rock!"
Louis looked at the road that stretched hundreds of meters away in surprise. He was really a little surprised.
The range of an ordinary rock transformation spell is usually limited to about one hundred meters.
Judging from the effective distance of the spell alone, Little Swan is not much farther than the effective range of the conventional rock transformation spell.
But the problem is, her spell... doesn't end at once! Louis looked at the magic glow on the little swan's staff that had not yet dissipated. Obviously, as long as the magic power was re-injected, the spell would continue to work.
"And what's the price?"
If spells could be sustained so easily, there would be no one in this world who would be killed directly by the enemy due to insufficient spell slots.
The little swan raised his head: "Praise me first!"
"You're awesome." Louis said perfunctorily.
The little swan chuckled and didn't care whether he was perfunctory or not.
"The biggest cost is the inability to change and the increased mana consumption."
Louis suddenly realized.
This is indeed a serious consequence.
It's okay if the mana consumption increases.
The mages in the Star Continent were somewhat different from the blue-bar mages he understood in his previous life.
When mages use spells, their blue bar (mana) will be consumed. Once the blue bar is exhausted, they will not be able to use magic.
But the mages on the Star Continent have something called spell slots.
The spell slots are directly connected to the magic weave. In most cases, mages' spells are more dependent on the magic weave to activate.
The magic net is the real body of the goddess of magic.
It has an unreasonable affinity for spells, so over the years, mages have relied heavily on the magic network.
"Get rid of the restrictions of the magic network and return to the traditional way of consuming magic power to cast spells?"
Louis muttered.
Wouldn’t the little swan’s blue bar be empty in this way?
You should know that the biggest advantage of spell slots is that they can transfer most or even all of the consumption to the magic web.
In this way, the mage can accomplish the most with the least effort.
The most intuitive manifestation is that the upper limit of the power that an ordinary mage of the same level can exert when casting spells using the blue bar is usually weaker than that of a spell-position mage.
This situation will become more obvious as the mage's professional level increases.
Because of the upper limit of some spells, even if the mage's mana bar is emptied, it is still not enough to meet the standard for casting.
The higher the level, the more disadvantaged the blue-bar mage tends to be. This is the norm in this world.
So except for the earliest period when mages used the traditional mana bar to cast spells, later mages tended to cast spells more and more using spell slots.
Practicality is king!
But the little swan gave him a surprising answer:
"You don't think I'd be stupid enough to give up our greatest advantage as mages, do you?"
Little Swan snorted and said coquettishly, "Do you know why the higher the level of a mage's profession, the greater the destructive power they cause compared to professionals of the same level?"
"We rely on the magic network. Without the magic network as an energy supply, we won't be much better than other professions."
"At most, it means more means."
"As for whether there will be a problem of backlash from the magic network... Do you think we will let this happen?"
"Don't forget what the magic network is!"
Louis didn't quite understand what Little Swan said at first.
But after the last sentence came out, he suddenly realized.
Generally speaking, people believe that the magic network is the true form of the goddess of magic.
The magic network itself is the sum of natural energy and movement.
If we simply compare it with the concept in Louis' previous life, Louis feels that the magic network is more like the sum of the earth veins and spiritual energy in fairy tales.
As for the goddess of magic, perhaps she should be called the goddess of earth veins and spiritual energy.
Although He is indeed powerful, He is more like a consciousness nurtured by the energy system of this world.
Because he was born from the earth veins and spiritual energy, he is born with higher-level management authority over the earth veins and spiritual energy than ordinary people.
It's nothing more than that in the Star Continent, the earth veins and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth are generally referred to as the Demonic Network.
Therefore, worrying about the magic network getting out of control is too far-fetched for the mages.
Could it be that the cultivators in the immortals would give up their practice because the spiritual energy of heaven and earth would be controlled by some powerful innate gods and demons? As for the goddess of magic, everything she had was given by the magic net.
But this does not mean that He is completely equivalent to the Demon Net.
The concept of the magic network is too large and broad.
It's not something that the magic goddess can fully understand.
"It looks like you've figured it out."
The little swan laughed, waved the staff in his hand and said:
"For many professionals, it is normal to incorporate supernatural powers into the body's internal circulation and then use them."
"But for a mage, it's possible to do both."
"As long as we make some adjustments to the spell model and add a dual-threaded mode, we can freely choose between the magic network power supply and personal power supply at the same time."
"If the magic network is fine, then make the spell as efficient as possible."
"If things are really bad enough that we need to rely purely on physical magic, there is another way for us to choose."
"Of course, if the magic network really blows up, many mages will indeed have problems directly."
"But if they were really destroyed directly... then it means that they had the chance to become mages only because of the magic network."
"Since you have benefited from the magic network but have no chance of escaping it, then when something goes wrong with the magic network, it is only natural that you should bear the consequences, right?"
Louis nodded, then suddenly sighed.
The little swan looked at him puzzledly: "Did I say something wrong?"
"No, I just suddenly felt that our little swan has grown up."
The little swan was speechless, then kicked Louis on the knee.
"You're making fun of me again!"
Louis smiled and did not refute.
It's a pity that this continuous spell that allows the magic network to provide the majority of energy has not changed at all.
There is no way to use the effect of turning fossils into mud.
This method can only be used in some special environments, such as swamps, which require large-scale production of footholds.
Outside of this environment, the effectiveness is not that strong.
However, by borrowing the huge source of magic power to continuously supply magic, it can directly exert strong environmental adaptability in specific environments.
That's enough.
The magical light of the transformed rocks illuminated a passage, and Louis and his group quickly moved through the swamp.
As they walked, everyone realized something was wrong.
"Mountains? There weren't any mountains here originally."
Louis looked into the distance. The distance was shrouded in mist and he could vaguely see a bare hill that was spreading into the distance.
Something could be seen moving slowly on that hill.
"have a look?"
Alice said.
Louis shook his head.
"Don't enter the forest. There are many monsters in the forest. It's better not to get close to it."
The stretch of mountains was quite far away from them, and it would probably take Louis twenty to thirty minutes to fly at full speed.
At such a distance, even the trees can only be seen as a vague patch of lush green.
But the unknown creature crawling on the hill could even be seen clearly in its movements.
This speed...is not much slower than Louis' full speed flight.
The Adventurer's Guild asked them to come here to investigate for useful intelligence.
Through the little swan, Louis understood very well that this act of investigation was essentially a means of complying with ritual magic.
Little Swan's original words were "Even the brave ones are not born strong, they also have a past that they have carefully explored."
Therefore, it can be seen that even if the purpose is to replicate the power of the brave man of that year through ritual magic, it does not require Louis and his companions to fight a large number of monsters during the exploration.
On the contrary, cautious development and exploration are the key to being in accordance with the ritual.
As for the key to making it out of the title-blocking qualifiers, the real competition is about the amount of special intelligence each team obtains.
After realizing this, Louis decisively gave up the fight.
He wrote down the relevant information on the document issued by the guild: "From the front of the safe zone, go straight across the swamp. At the end of the swamp, you will see the figure of a large monster crawling in the distant mountains."
"It is certain that the movement speed of these monsters is enough to pose a threat to the titled professionals."
He closed the document and the group turned in another direction.
Soon they followed the edge of the swamp and entered an uncultivated area.
"There are monsters."
Louis said calmly.
He casually picked up a dead branch and thrust the sharp tip into the water like lightning.
With splashing water, Louis kicked a screaming monster onto the shore.
"A monster around LV4, probably a shadow lizard."
Shadow Lizard, an amphibious monster.
Because the skin is extremely susceptible to drying out, it hides itself in water most of the time.
Its usual mode of attack is direct biting.
Since its teeth are highly toxic, it will run away immediately after biting its prey.
It will then stand quietly near its injured prey like a seasoned hunter, waiting for the poison to take effect.
Because its skin has the ability to change color, when it hides in the water, it is difficult for ordinary people or monsters to sense its presence.
Well, except Louis.
Not only does he possess the ability of hunting perception, he also masters the magical power of psychic power.
In Louis' eyes, the fluctuations of consciousness wriggling underwater looked so conspicuous.
It's like a spotlight in the dark night.
The little swan grumbled, "Why go to all that trouble if you can just kill him?"
She meant that Louis could just draw his sword and kill, there was no need to use dead branches.
Louis thought for a moment: "But don't you think it's more handsome this way?"
"I choose to kill him directly."
"No, you don't understand. If I can have both strength and beauty, then I have no reason not to have both."
But Lumi, who was wearing light armor, nodded and said:
"There is nothing wrong with this statement. For professionals, any action that can inspire them to move forward is in line with their needs."
"Even if the purpose of growing stronger is to be able to act better in front of others, it is still the same."
Olivia burst out laughing.
She felt like Rumi had accidentally implied something.
…
Kino, who was far away in Tino City, sneezed.
He felt as if he had been insulted by someone again without realizing it.
…
In the following time, they explored different monsters in various environments.
For example, large numbers of wriggling scarlet maggots were found upstream of the swamp's water source.
It is the larva of a monster called bloodfly lice, which can suck human blood and even live in the human body, damaging other people's organs.
Of course, for some unknown reason, bloodflies are extremely fond of turning humans into orphan warriors. According to the books, it is because they think that thing is delicious.
Adult bloodfly lice, which can fly, prefer to pierce the bodies of humanoid creatures and lay eggs in their bodies.
It can be said that although the challenge level is only LV2-3, many people are afraid of it because of the characteristics of this race.
Louis wasn't much better.
However, before he could make a move, Little Swan performed a "Jade Phoenix Descending" move.
The Jade Phoenix Fire that descended from the sky instantly set the entire river on fire.
The gushing river water did nothing to extinguish the flames.
Yes.
The Jade Phoenix Fire looks like flame, but in essence it is something else.
"Killed them all?"
Louis asked.
"No, but they are gone."
The little swan said with a sad look on his face.
Louis suddenly realized.
I almost forgot that the Jade Phoenix Fire of the Jade Phoenix Mage is comparable to the banishment spell for creatures not from the Star Continent.
As long as they are judged as not being creatures from the Star Continent, they will easily be sent to the star realm by fire.
If you are not careful, you will get lost in the starry sky and never find your way back home.
"They are so disgusting and there are so many of them. It is better to clean them up completely without any dead ends."
The little swan spoke to Louis seriously.
They were then chased and killed by the returning adult blood louse.
"Set another fire." Louis said to the little swan.
"I don't have a single drop left." The little swan, who was carried on Louis' shoulders like a sandbag, wanted to cry but had no tears.
The maggots wriggling in the stream just now made her feel sick, so she attacked with all her might.
"Besides, don't you have the Jade Phoenix Fire yourself?"
Louis, who was running, hesitated for a moment, and said, "I haven't used much Jade Phoenix Fire yet. I'm still a long way from releasing the ultimate martial arts."
Little Swan said:
"No one told you to just use the emerald sacrifice to self-destruct!"
"What I mean is that if we can't use the jade sacrifice, our Jade Phoenix Fire may have more uses, so I choose..."
Louis turned around, grabbed Rimuru from his backpack and threw him into the air.
It seemed that he didn’t expect to be thrown out so quickly, and the dazed Rimuru hadn’t reacted yet.
When it was halfway through the flight, it subconsciously summoned a large amount of wriggling liquid metal.
It was at this time that Louis took action:
"Have you ever felt the power of steel?"
The spell [Mechanical Mind] is activated.
Louis entered high-speed computing mode.
In just a breath, the silver liquid wrapped around Rimuru's body instantly expanded into a sea urchin filled with countless spikes.
Accompanied by an unpleasant metallic friction sound.
Everyone covered their ears subconsciously.
Then I saw that most of the blood fly lice were pierced with holes by the blooming metal sea urchins.
"Done... Uh, Alice, calm down."
Louis looked at the blood and energy that was like a violent storm, with dozens of knife lights bursting out in an instant. He was cut in two by Alice's hideous smile, and he didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Alice, you're taking this a bit too far!"
Louis blinked and said, "Next time I suggest just burning Olivia to ashes."
Alice calmly put away the knife: "Did I ever say I'm afraid of bugs?"
"No."
"Well now you know."
Miserable, terribly, terribly, terribly, help, help, help, help…
What’s going on with this year’s Spring Festival? I can’t have a peaceful time!
(End of this chapter)
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