Chapter 0041: Defensive Sorcery
Seven hours later, when Grimm returned home in high spirits, a wizard apprentice was already waiting for him.
What Grimm hadn’t expected was that after posting his sale notice, the first visitor to arrive was none other than Amm, the overseer of the sorcery practice chambers. Although Grimm tended to keep to himself, he had heard that Amm had not managed to secure a place on the list of ten who would remain at the Marsh Tower.
This meant that Amm, despite being an intermediate apprentice, would soon have to face the risks brought by the compulsory assignment.
“I heard you have live eggs of the Marsh Giant Lizard?” Amm wasted no time in revealing his purpose the moment they met. Time was pressing; every apprentice feeling the impending crisis was racing to strengthen themselves. Items, sorcerous tools, potions, and scrolls that aided in small-scale battles among apprentices had all soared in price, to the point where everyone felt the sting.
Otherwise, Grimm wouldn’t have nearly bankrupt himself after acquiring a handful of disposable spiderweb trinkets.
Yet, it wasn’t all bad. Browsing the items listed at Danny’s marketplace, Grimm noticed many rare materials he’d never even glimpsed before. These must have been treasures hidden away by tower apprentices, many reserved for their own future advancements.
Unfortunately, when faced with the life-or-death reality of a compulsory mission, they could only sacrifice their future, selling these treasures to exchange for items that would immediately boost their combat abilities.
Grimm courteously invited Amm inside.
The moment they entered, Amm was struck by the heavy scent of blood and the sharp tang of preservative solutions. In one corner, glass vessels of various sizes were stacked, each containing different monster organs soaked in pale green liquid. Hearts, stomachs, brains, eyeballs… many still oozed fresh blood, clearly recently harvested.
Croak… croak…
A chorus of excited frog calls issued forth as Amm’s companion creature, a venom dart frog, suddenly appeared on his shoulder, agitatedly shrieking at the materials. After Amm managed to calm it, the little beast whispered quietly into his ear.
“Looks like you’ve gotten your hands on some fresh materials again. How about selling them all to me?” Amm’s request was almost impatient.
“These were harvested from the Marsh Crocodile King. I suspect those desperate to enhance their strength won’t mind transplanting its heart into themselves. If you want to buy them, you’d better estimate their worth carefully!” Grimm reminded him, unruffled.
At this critical moment, any item that could boost one’s combat power would no longer trade at its usual price. How much the price inflated depended on the quality of the item and how urgently the buyer needed it. When faced with something essential, everyone had to be ready to risk bankruptcy.
“The Marsh Crocodile King? Even better!” Amm was practically burning with excitement, though he soon looked at Grimm in puzzlement, “You’re already capable of hunting the Marsh Crocodile King?”
Grimm shook his head lightly and pointed to the next room.
Amm nodded in sudden understanding.
A junior apprentice challenging the Crocodile King was suicide, but if it were a senior apprentice with a vampire’s identity, it became plausible. Though still a bit doubtful, Amm found it not entirely beyond belief.
The two apprentices then settled in for a drawn-out negotiation behind closed doors. Despite Amm’s eagerness to purchase and Grimm’s urgency to sell, neither was willing to easily concede on price. After two hours of arduous bargaining, Grimm sold all the active materials for seventeen knowledge points, three magic crystals, a screaming branch, and a bottle of weak invisibility potion.
As for the Crocodile King’s dorsal scales, fangs, and claws, Amm had no interest in them, but perhaps they could be sold to apprentices pursuing the path of body-refining sorcerers.
Had time not been so tight, Grimm would have extracted the Crocodile King’s spine and tendons, prized materials among melee apprentices. But there simply wasn’t enough time. Even if he rushed back now, the King’s remains would likely have been devoured by its kin.
Once Amm had carried away the materials in several trips, Grimm immediately seized his still-warm knowledge points and hurried to the library.
This time, he was specifically seeking fire-element defensive sorcery.
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High-Temperature Field: A basic fire-element defensive sorcery, forming a high-temperature field around the caster’s body, roasting any enemy entering the area and causing rapid dehydration. Area of effect: ten meters. (Note: This is the prerequisite sorcery for Fire Barrier defense.)
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Flame Impact: A basic fire-element defensive sorcery, creating swiftly moving elemental nodes around the caster. Any enemy touching a node suffers three to five points of fire damage. Area of effect: eight meters. Number of nodes: seventeen.
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Body of Fire: A basic fire-element defensive sorcery, briefly elementalizing parts of the body to evade fatal attacks and greatly enhance the caster’s fire resistance. Area of effect: zero meters. (Note: This is the prerequisite sorcery for future fire-element transformation.)
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Flame Shield: A basic fire-element defensive sorcery, forming a small shield of flame before the caster, able to block most ranged sorcery and melee attacks. Melee attackers striking the shield suffer one to two points of fire damage. Area of effect: three meters. Defense: thirty-five points. (Note: This is the prerequisite sorcery for the future Blazing Shield.)
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Blazing Shield: An intermediate fire-element defensive sorcery, forming three rotating shields of flame beside the caster. Until broken, they can block all ranged and melee attacks. Melee attackers suffer three to five points of fire damage. Area of effect: five meters. Defense: eighty points. (Note: Requires Flame Shield as a prerequisite.)
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Fire Barrier: An intermediate fire-element defensive sorcery, creating a barrier of flame with numerous elemental nodes around the caster. Any enemy entering the barrier suffers three to seven points of fire damage per second. Area of effect: fifteen meters. (Note: Requires High-Temperature Field as a prerequisite.)
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The dazzling array of fire-element defensive sorceries left Grimm facing a difficult choice. Each had its strengths and weaknesses; picking the one most suited to himself required careful discernment.
Moreover, most defensive sorceries formed coherent systems—many intermediate and advanced spells required certain basic ones as prerequisites before they could be learned. If the path was chosen incorrectly at the start, correcting it later would cost much more time and effort.
Grimm analyzed the options simply.
High-Temperature Field and Fire Barrier formed one system—a type of control sorcery. They offered no tangible personal protection and thus were ineffective against enemy ranged attacks. Yet, against massed melee attackers, their area control was remarkably effective.
Especially since the advanced Fire Barrier’s five to seven points of fire damage per second would be intolerable agony for foes relying solely on close combat. Grimm himself, for instance, had only fourteen vitality points. If caught in such a barrier, he’d be reduced to ashes in under three seconds.
And what could he do in those three seconds? Without some sorceries already solidified, Grimm wouldn’t even have time to cast a proper spell before burning to death.
Imagine, then, a quasi-sorcerer with a Fire Barrier suddenly appearing amid a group of junior and intermediate apprentices—the scene would be pure chaos and carnage! He wouldn’t even need to act; the internal fire damage would slaughter scores of novices with inadequate fire resistance.
Just picturing such thrilling scenes sent shivers through Grimm. Yet the fact that Fire Barrier couldn’t block attacks left him frustrated beyond measure.
By comparison, the Flame Shield and Blazing Shield series were much more understated.
Condensing dense, almost tangible fire elements into shield shapes, they hovered around the body, protecting against sorcery and melee attacks. If any enemy dared approach, before the shield broke, it could inflict considerable fire backlash.
Overall, they lacked group damage but excelled at individual protection.
So, unsurprisingly, Grimm chose to borrow the Flame Shield and Blazing Shield sorcery books.
Purchasing a Flame Shield book cost fifteen knowledge points, while borrowing it just cost three. Most apprentices preferred to borrow and transcribe at leisure rather than spend so many points outright.
Here, the chip’s power became evident.
With a single borrowing, Grimm could scan and store every detail of the book’s contents, then study it at length, saving a great deal of knowledge points and allowing him to borrow more books.
Furthermore, defensive sorceries couldn’t be learned directly; one had to borrow a wealth of prerequisite academic texts. Grimm gritted his teeth and borrowed them all in one go.
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“The Influence of Fire Element Density on Sorcery Effect”
“Elementary Flame Manipulation Techniques”
“Analysis of Flame Shield Usage”
“Elemental Characteristics of Distributed Flames”
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Arms full of borrowed tomes, Grimm hurried back to his quarters. But just as he reached the door, the wooden entrance next door creaked open, and Mary’s lovely, cold, and proud face peeked out.
“Where’s my gift?”
“Ah…”
Grimm froze on the spot.
He’d been so busy with his summoning crystal core that he’d completely forgotten!
Watching Mary’s face darken, on the verge of erupting, Grimm hastily shouted,
“One hour… just one more hour. Your gift will be ready soon!”
With that, he rushed inside at once.