Chapter 83: Kobold Synthesis
Levi still had no idea that the Silverclaw Viscount now hated him to the bone.
But even if he did know, he would not have cared.
Give him a little more time to keep developing, and the strength of Hornreach would surpass that of Silverclaw. Even if he, Rune, and the others never personally took the field, Silverclaw would still be no match for them.
At this moment, Levi sat inside a room within the castle, a glint flashing through his eyes as he raised a hand.
Gathering Technique activated.
"Niter!"
"Charcoal!"
"Sulfur!"
"Lead!"
Those materials were instantly gathered before him.
[Your Gathering Technique has reached the upgrade requirements and can now level up.]
The notification appeared, but Levi ignored it.
He immediately cast Synthesis afterward.
One part niter, two parts charcoal, three parts sulfur!
Without consuming much Magic Power, Levi synthesized a large amount of gunpowder, then packed it into sacks.
Alongside the gunpowder, he also synthesized lead bullets.
At present, Hornreach still lacked the ability to manufacture these things on its own, so Levi could only produce them personally.
Fortunately, with Synthesis, the output rate was extremely high—more than enough to satisfy the current combat demands of Hornreach's gunner corps.
The heads of the Sea Serpent Merchant Guild and the Sword and Flower Caravan both assumed Levi possessed some secret supply channel connected to the south.
Because of that misunderstanding, neither side dared jack up prices when selling goods to him. They were afraid that if Levi got angry and cut off trade with them, the losses they suffered would be enormous.
That was the beauty of competition.
The corner of Levi's mouth twitched slightly. With a wave of his hand, Wizard's Hand activated, sending the gunpowder and bullets flying toward the warehouse. Later, people would transport them to the gunner corps.
Only then did Levi turn his attention toward himself.
[Your Synthesis has reached the upgrade requirements and can now level up.]
Not easy.
After grinding these two spells for so long, both Synthesis and Gathering Technique had finally reached the upgrade threshold at the same time.
Without the slightest hesitation, Levi willed both spells to level up simultaneously.
His Sea of Souls immediately erupted into towering waves and raging storms...
Except that was fake.
In reality, the entire process was smoother than coffee. The Sea of Souls remained perfectly calm throughout.
It did not even take much time.
Both spells advanced into Third-Ring Spells.
His Sea of Souls was strengthened once more, steadily climbing toward the soul intensity of a Fourth-Ring Wizard—far surpassing other wizards of the same level.
After a moment of thought, Levi used Detection on himself.
His attributes immediately appeared before his eyes:
[Name: Levi]
[Identity: Transmigrator, Fugitive, Third-Ring Wizard, Great Knight]
[Strength: 6.99]
[Constitution: 7.01]
[Agility: 6.96]
[Spiritual Power: 63.25]
[Charm: 1.8]
[Magic Power: 20225/20872]
[Abilities: Origin Energy (Cannot Level Up), Detection LV6 (16/3200), Conversion LV3 (100/400), Gathering Technique LV6 (1/3200), Moon Wolf Knight Breathing Technique LV4 (150/800), Wizard's Hand LV6 (20/3200), Polymorph: Human-Faced Demon Owl LV6 (50/800), Polymorph: Tide Arrow Frog LV4 (33/800), Synthesis LV6 (1/3200), Polymorph: Wolf LV1 (1/100)...]
[Remarks: You have become stronger than ever before, but deep within the Mist Swamp, there exists something capable of threatening you.]
...
Levi calmly glanced over his attributes, pausing for several seconds longer at the remarks section before shifting his attention toward the two newly upgraded spells.
First was the Third-Ring version of Gathering Technique.
Not only had the gathering effect improved, it could now gather multiple target objects simultaneously.
But the greatest change was the formation of an aura. Everything within that aura—including living beings—could become Levi's gathering targets.
For example, Levi could now directly and continuously extract bodily fluids from living creatures, such as blood.
"Doesn't this basically mean I've unlocked a vampiric aura?" Levi said with a strange expression.
Still, he felt the spell's potential extended far beyond that. There was likely enormous room left for development, enough to produce even more terrifying effects.
For now, he temporarily set aside the Third-Ring Gathering Technique and focused instead on the other Third-Ring Spell—Synthesis.
Ever since obtaining this spell, Levi had always attached great importance to it, and it had repeatedly played a critical role.
Without it, Hornreach would never have developed into what it was today.
And now that the spell had advanced into the Third Ring, its effects had undergone a complete transformation.
Not only had its synthesis capabilities greatly strengthened, but more importantly—
It could now synthesize living creatures.
That effect immediately stirred Levi's excitement.
He promptly summoned the Sky Knight Rune.
Recently, Rune had been fighting constantly on the front lines. He had become even scruffier than before, his entire body reeking of blood, sweat, and grime as the smell hit Levi head-on.
Levi wrinkled his nose slightly.
With a casual wave of his hand, Gathering Technique enveloped Rune's entire body, instantly extracting a dark red-black clump of filth from him. Even the tangled beard covering his face was gathered away.
In the blink of an eye, Rune transformed from a homeless drifter into Constantine from the movie version of Constantine.
Well, the movie version, anyway—not the TV series one.
'He actually is fairly handsome. No wonder the Raven Queen's female disciple fell for him,' Levi clicked his tongue inwardly in amazement.
Rune suddenly felt incomparably refreshed all over. He reached up to touch his chin, only to discover his beard was gone.
He froze for a moment, his expression turning somewhat strange. He knew this had to be Levi's handiwork.
"Lord Levi..." he said awkwardly.
Levi got straight to the point.
"Rune, I need you to help me capture several kobolds. Alive."
"Kobolds?" Although Rune found the request somewhat odd, once he remembered that Levi was actually a wizard, it suddenly seemed perfectly normal.
After all, some wizards even used things like "Butter Fingers" when brewing potions—or at least that was what Rune's lover had told him.
Wizards doing bizarre things was completely normal.
Even though Levi had behaved perfectly normally this whole time, Rune had always secretly believed that this normality itself was abnormal. Sooner or later, Levi was bound to start acting like a proper wizard.
And now that Levi was finally acting abnormal, Rune instead felt that everything had become normal again.
He gave Levi a slight nod.
"Understood, Lord Levi. Do you have any other requirements regarding these kobolds?"
"No. They just need to be alive and intact," Levi replied.
"You'll see them very soon," Rune assured him.
He left the castle and returned in less than two hours, bringing back sixteen lively, struggling kobolds.
Rune was honestly curious about what Levi intended to do with them, but since Levi did not explain anything, he simply took his leave.
Once the Sky Knight Rune departed, Levi turned his gaze toward the sixteen kobolds baring their teeth at him.
A flicker passed through his eyes as the radiance of Synthesis enveloped them.
Visible streams of Levi's Magic Power rapidly drained away, prying loose mysterious forces from the outside world and producing astonishing changes within the kobolds.
Their hunched bodies slowly straightened.
Their messy fur gradually lost its dull coloration, taking on a rough yet resilient bronze sheen instead.
Pairs of kobolds slowly drew closer together. Their outlines blurred and overlapped.
There were no screams of agony.
Only the humming resonance of magic power in motion, along with the deep sounds of flesh and bone merging together as strength converged.
Each fusion proceeded in an orderly manner.
The kobolds' frail limbs intertwined with one another. Their short claws thickened into powerful weapons. Their bent backs slowly straightened as their frames grew taller. Their once-scrawny torsos became far more muscular, faint lines of solid muscle gradually emerging.
Even the shapes of their canine heads became sharper and more imposing.
Their fangs lengthened into vicious points.
The cowardice faded from their eyes, replaced by ferocity, loyalty, and savage fighting spirit.
Their pointed ears stood upright, alertly sensing everything around them.
After only a short while, the radiance slowly faded away.
The sixteen ordinary kobolds had fully completed their fusion process, leaving behind eight entirely new kobolds standing firmly in place.
Their physiques were now massive and robust, far larger and stronger than before.
Their fur was sleek and tightly packed, gleaming with a healthy bronze luster.
Muscles bulged across both arms, while their claws were as sharp as short blades.
Each naturally exuded a fierce, battle-hardened aura, radiating pressure far beyond that of ordinary kobolds.
They had completely transformed into true Kobold Warriors.
Levi swept them once with Detection.
These synthesized Kobold Warriors were vastly stronger than normal kobolds. A single Kobold Warrior could easily deal with three or four ordinary kobolds.
Still, their strength was only roughly comparable to that of trained soldiers.
Kobolds were not high-tier beings to begin with.
Levi was not surprised.
He looked at the eight freshly created Kobold Warriors.
Gone was the intense hostility these kobolds had previously held toward Levi as a human.
In its place was an almost fanatical obedience.
They seemed to regard Levi as their creator.
And in a certain sense, that was true.
Even if Levi ordered them to die on the spot, they would carry it out without the slightest hesitation.
This kind of obedience born from the depths of the soul was exactly what Levi wanted.
Still, the Kobold Warriors were not strong enough.
Levi was unimpressed.
He intended to continue synthesizing them further.
Unfortunately, his Magic Power had already been completely exhausted, making it impossible for him to continue.
So he ordered the eight Kobold Warriors to stand guard nearby while he closed his eyes and entered meditation.
A little over an hour later, Levi's Magic Power had fully recovered.
That recovery speed was thanks to his increasingly powerful Sea of Souls.
The very first thing he did after restoring his Magic Power was fuse the eight Kobold Warriors together once more.
His Magic Power was drained empty again.
The eight Kobold Warriors became four Kobold Warlords, beings whose strength could rival knights in certain aspects.
But even that still failed to satisfy Levi.
He meditated again to recover his Magic Power, then fused the four Kobold Warlords into two Kobold Chieftains.
Although Kobold Chieftains were still inferior to human Great Knights, they were vastly stronger than ordinary knight-level beings.
Even among kobolds, such creatures were exceedingly rare.
At the very least, among the tens of thousands of kobolds outside the city walls, Levi had seen fewer than a handful of Kobold Chieftains—fewer even than the number of kobold shamans.
And two of those Kobold Chieftains had already died under the gunner corps' concentrated fire.
It was not because they lacked strength.
Their equipment was simply terrible.
If they had been human knights clad in full armor like walking tanks, they would never have died so easily.
In the end, they had simply suffered from bad gear!!!
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