Chapter 261 : Chapter 261
Chapter 261. Choosing a Spell
After naming it the Infinite Health Bottle, Fulan kept observing the speed at which the liquid inside the bottle was produced, trying to figure out the principle behind it.
After some time had passed, Fulan arrived at a conclusion regarding the bottle’s rate of production.
“It probably reaches one hundred milliliters a day. This bottle’s capacity is also one hundred milliliters. Once it’s full, will it keep producing more?”
She voiced the question aloud, but she also knew that, most likely, it would stop producing once it was full.
Then she widened her eyes and tried to determine the principle behind the bottle’s infinite production, but no matter how carefully she observed it, she could not detect the slightest sign of the Life-Replenishing Potion being generated.
When the Infinite Health Bottle produced more liquid, she sensed no fluctuation whatsoever from within it, and even the fluctuation belonging to the Curio itself remained completely unchanged.
It was as though the liquid was appearing out of thin air.
Fulan tried observing spirit forms, measuring heat, and using various other detection methods, yet still found nothing.
Just as Fulan was feeling troubled over this, inspiration suddenly struck her. This trait of endlessly producing something seemed oddly familiar.
It was just like the [Aether Manipulation] she had obtained from the Deep-Sea Golden Dragon hatchling. The Aether that existed everywhere in the Material Realm worked in exactly that way.
It could exert effects outward endlessly without any depletion at all, and even its activation itself produced no discernible impact.
The production mechanism of the Infinite Health Bottle seemed to be the same as Aether’s. If that were the case, then it made perfect sense that she could not detect anything.
Only then did Fulan remember that ever since obtaining [Aether Manipulation], she had unconsciously been using Aether in every spell she cast to reduce part of the cost.
Of course, she had not chosen to keep Aether continuously empowering her spells to make them completely cost-free, because the efficiency of guiding spells that way was too low.
Time was precious, and she did not have that much of it to spare just to save a little mental energy.
So whenever she guided a spell, she only offset part of the consumption before releasing it directly.
That had included the Miracle Alchemy she had just performed, during which she had also unconsciously used Aether to reduce part of its cost.
Setting aside the fact that Aether could actually reduce the expenditure of Miracle Alchemy, something countless alchemists could only dream of obtaining—
As she thought back, when she had used Aether to lessen Miracle Alchemy’s consumption, had some of that Aether been wrapped up inside the alchemy itself?
Only then did Fulan realize that when she had carried out the process just now, the materials had not only been the Life-Replenishing Potion and the glass bottle, but also Aether as well.
Perhaps under her control, the Aether had undergone some sort of change, allowing it to be used by Miracle Alchemy.
That would explain why the Infinite Health Bottle she had created possessed such a powerful effect. It was because Aether had also been one of its materials.
As a material that Fulan still had not truly come to understand, Aether absolutely counted as an exceptionally high-level material in this world.
And what the Infinite Health Bottle displayed just so happened to be Aether’s very nature.
“I’ll have to be more careful when using Miracle Alchemy in the future. It would be bad if Aether got mixed into it again.”
Having resolved her doubts, Fulan let out a sigh of relief. She could finally set the alchemy matter aside for the time being.
Originally, this should have ended when she finished brewing the Life-Replenishing Potion, but the series of developments that followed with Miracle Alchemy had locked her attention firmly onto it, leaving her no time to do anything else.
“It’s time to go to the Battle Mage Corps and choose some spells,” Fulan thought.
---
At the Battle Mage Corps’ compound in the Northern Society, Fulan walked into the small building specifically used for redeeming items. To her surprise, the place was packed.
Fulan looked at the queue of mages stretching all the way out the door, with nearly thirty more still waiting beyond the entrance. She could hardly believe her eyes and nearly dropped her jaw in shock.
“What is going on here?”
Before Fulan could even finish wondering, a familiar voice called out from behind her.
“Hey, Fulan, long time no see!”
Fulan turned around and recognized her at once as Nora, the one who had once constantly tried to persuade her to join the Elemental School.
She curled her lips slightly and replied in a friendly manner:
“Hello, Nora. Long time no see!”
After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Fulan asked:
“Do you know what happened? Why are they all crowded over there?”
Nora glanced over, then said with a hint of bitterness, without even turning her head back:
“This was because of something that happened earlier. I hadn’t passed the test yet at the time. The day after I passed, I wanted to go over there and earn some Battle Merits too, but it was already over.”
“It seems the higher-ups in the Modification School commissioned the Battle Mage Corps here to investigate what had happened in Snow Bear Territory, which is some distance away from us.”
“At the time, the information they gathered said that over a thousand mercenaries and people from the Church of the Goddess of the Currents were heading there. Those forces have had some friction with the Modification School at sea.”
“When your opponents suddenly start moving, of course you have to move too.”
“But this place is a bit too far from the Modification School’s compound, and the Modification School was short on manpower, so they directly commissioned the Battle Mage Corps to investigate...”
“You know how it is. Only the Battle Mage Corps here accepts employment from outsiders, so they launched a large-scale recruitment. Anyone who went would receive quite a generous amount of Battle Merits.”
“In any case, it all ended within two days. I completely missed the operation.”
“Today just happens to be the day they’re settling that recruitment, so they all came here specifically to exchange the Battle Merits in their hands for items.”
“I heard the Modification School was extremely generous. It seems we obtained something extraordinary, and they were very satisfied with it.”
“All the rewards from the Modification School were placed in this exchange office, so everyone’s rushing over to redeem them.”
After Nora finished, she let out a sigh. She knew there were a great many excellent things available in this exchange, but at the very moment when she needed Battle Merits most, she did not have even a single one to spend.
Then Nora asked Fulan:
“You came here to exchange things too?”
“Yes. A few days ago, I completed a mission issued by a lord and earned some Battle Merits, so I wanted to exchange them here for...”
When it came to saying what she wanted to exchange them for, Fulan hesitated for a moment, but she still said it aloud in the end.
“I want to exchange them for some spells. Recently, I’ve become interested in the Elemental School’s spells. Could you recommend a few to me?”
Nora’s eyes lit up at once. She had not expected Fulan to actually come to her for help now. It seemed the day Nora had imagined—when Fulan would come begging to join the Elemental School—was not far off.
There were several reasons why Fulan had chosen to tell Nora directly that she wanted spells from the Elemental School.
First, Nora’s pestering had eased somewhat recently. After learning that Fulan had returned from carrying out an outside mission, she had only come to visit her once and had not shown up again since, which greatly improved Fulan’s impression of her.
Second, Fulan was not a true member of the Elemental School. Although the spells she chose herself would not necessarily be bad by her own standards, that did not mean she would be able to pick the best ones.
So she wanted to hear Nora’s opinion and see what different insights this genius from the Joberna Society of the Elemental School might have.
After her initial excitement, Nora placed a hand on her chin and said:
“Let’s queue up first. Once we get there, I’ll explain it to you properly.”
The two of them walked to the back of the line and stood side by side. Then Nora continued:
“I recommend Enhanced Wind Blade. Its power is lower, but you have Wind Elemental Affinity, and it’s also easy to learn...”
Fulan hurriedly cut her off.
“I want a spell that has strong killing power at the first tier. Enhanced Wind Blade is a little too weak, and I’d prefer something with the fire element...”
When Nora made her recommendation, she had been thinking mostly about the fact that Fulan did not “know” elemental spells. She assumed Fulan might just want to try them out, so she recommended Enhanced Wind Blade, a spell that was very easy to pick up.
Strictly speaking, it was an enhanced version of an Apprentice Spell. It had not quite reached the realm of a first-tier spell, only brushed against it, so Nora recommended it in hopes of sparking Fulan’s interest.
She did not know that Fulan had already mastered Wind Blade more thoroughly than Nora herself, so there was no way Fulan would be satisfied with that recommendation.
From a rational standpoint, Nora knew she should be trying to dissuade Fulan right now. A beginner immediately going for a first-tier spell was far too ambitious. Who could handle that?
Even mages here who wanted to learn spells from other schools usually started with Apprentice Spells so they could get used to them more easily.
Moreover, Fulan’s decision was wasting her own Wind Elemental Affinity by turning instead toward the fire element, which was rather unreasonable.
But Nora also knew that this was not the moment to say such things. She merely gave her a reminder, and after receiving a firm answer, she began recommending spells to Fulan in earnest.
“Perhaps you could choose an Enhanced Fireball...”
Before Nora could finish that sentence, she saw Fulan shake her head.
“All right. Then you could choose Great Fireball. The Battle Mages’ version of Great Fireball includes accelerated casting, or you could pick Flame Ray, which doesn’t really require you to worry about speed...”
“If you want something that can increase the power of your spells, you can choose [Elemental Bomb]. After casting it, it creates a strong elemental activation effect that can make your next elemental spell much more powerful...”
Nora explained a great many things about the combat spells used by the Elemental School’s Battle Mages, and Fulan felt that asking her really had not been a mistake. She had gained quite a bit of useful knowledge about spells.
Just then, Fulan happened to step into the little building. She picked up a booklet from a nearby table, one that listed the items available for exchange.
Fulan gave it only a rough glance, yet she still spotted quite a few excellent things. As expected, the Modification School was extravagantly wealthy.
But when her gaze fell upon one particular item, her mouth dropped open. She could not believe such a thing would appear in the exchange catalogue.
[‘Song of the Deep Sea’ Sequence Modification Knowledge — a modification blueprint capable of leading all the way to the third tier.]