The Wizard Has A Biochip

— What happened to Master Salin?

—I think this is the first time we’ve seen him behave so abnormally...

The low voice reached my ears amid the noise of the tavern.

I was still standing with my back to those two creatures.

Another voice replied, almost in a whisper.

—What? You don’t know?

—I heard that his partner is dead.

My heart seemed to stop for an instant.

My hand slowly clenched.

That voice continued:

—That woman who mastered bone magic and summoning?

The first individual looked around, apparently concerned that someone might be listening.

—You just returned to the city, so you don’t know.

—The eastern region has been quite busy these past few days.

—I heard that some Pseudo-Mages were involved in a fierce battle.

—They even caused several levels of tunnels to collapse.

Then the other shadow asked:

—Did you just say that the Lady of Aquatic Creatures’ Bones died? Who killed her?

—Who else could it have been? Those bastards from the surface.

—I heard that the Mages from the surface had nothing better to do and sent a group of acolytes into our world in search of resources. And, because of that, that acolyte who mastered aquatic bone magic ended up being killed by this group.

—According to the rumors...

—They say she was killed by a Level 2 acolyte.

—His name was George.

The world seemed to fall silent.

My blood boiled.

BOOOOM!

The tavern floor trembled.

The tables shook.

In an instant, I crossed the tavern.

The next moment, I was standing before the two creatures.

I extended my hands.

I grabbed both shadows by their bodies and lifted them off the ground.

A red light reflected by the tavern’s lighting revealed their true forms.

Two damned green-skinned Goblins.

They began to struggle.

—Master Salin...

—W-We didn’t...

I looked at the two of them.

My face must have been completely consumed by fury.

—You inferior creatures...

—Who gave you the audacity to talk about my affairs?

—And, above all...

—Who gave you permission to mention George’s name?

—I hate hearing that name.

Energy began to gather in my hands.

The shadows around the Goblins twisted.

Black chains appeared out of nowhere.

Clang!

They wrapped around the two bodies.

The Goblins were left suspended in the air.

I turned my head.

Then I clenched my fist.

BOOOOM!

My punch struck the irritating creatures.

The wall behind the creatures exploded together with their bodies into a mass of blood and viscera.

Silence took over the tavern.

I slowly looked at everyone present.

—Listen carefully, all of you.

—No one is allowed to say George’s name.

—Anyone who dares mention it again...

—I, Salin, will make sure to remind them of this rule through death itself.

.

.

.

.

.

Pov George Gill - MC

After discovering that food infused with magical energy could bring extraordinary benefits to an acolyte’s body, that special meal I had only once a day quickly became an essential part of my routine.

After being inspired and guided by me, it didn’t take long for Ruby to also become a slave to that true "delicacy". She began accompanying me every day during our meals.

If it weren’t for the need to perform the appropriate exercises after eating, to aid in the digestion and absorption of elemental energy particles, I probably would have replaced all my normal meals with that magical food.

But my body needed time to process such a huge amount of energy.

Over the following days, every morning was dedicated to studying magical knowledge.

With the help of the biochip, I was able to absorb and organize an absurd amount of information.

And now that I had reached ten points of mana, my situation was even better.

I could finally improve my spells and take them to a completely different level.

Unfortunately, the amount of resources I spent daily had become simply absurd.

Besides the magical food and spells provided by the Tower, I had also begun purchasing breathing techniques and acolyte techniques belonging to the Path of Enhancement.

All of that consumed a frightening amount of magical crystals.

But the results made it worthwhile.

My vigor was skyrocketing.

Currently, I could increase my vigor by approximately 0.3 points per day.

For me, that was impressive growth, and to test my progress, I began dueling with Ruby.

Fortunately, the Tower had suitable places for training.

But as soon as we entered the training area, unfortunately I practically transformed into a high-quality human punching bag.

From the very first moment, she used all her speed.

Whenever my light blades moved even slightly slower than they should, I was immediately rewarded.

Five superficial scratches, Precise Bloody.

For the first three days, my body finished every training session covered in wounds.

My body, which was finally beginning to gain a little more robustness thanks to my diet and training, looked as though it had been used as a scratching post by more than a hundred angry women.

And just as I had expected.

Without the help of my Golems, fighting Ruby alone was practically the same as inviting someone to torture me.

She could even use the gentlest of her attacks to hit me.

Meanwhile, my spells couldn’t even touch the tip of her dress.

For a while, I thought I could always surprise her by suddenly changing the direction of my attacks.

And it worked once.

I managed to change the trajectory of one of my attacks at the last instant and hit Ruby with a blazing light arrow.

She was completely surprised.

I almost celebrated.

Almost.

Because the second time I tried to use the same strategy, Ruby simply didn’t fall for the trick.

She was an Assassin Acolyte specialized in agility.

Her speed and reaction ability were simply absurd.

The same technique that had worked once became completely useless after she noticed the pattern.

To save a little of my dignity, I was finally forced to resort to my greatest trump card.

The biochip.

While fighting, I secretly ordered it to perform a complete scan of Ruby.

I wanted to record her movements.

Her habits, attack patterns, changes in direction, the frequency with which she altered her speed.

And, most importantly, the moments when her body displayed small changes before initiating an attack.

After that, I gave the biochip another order.

Create a small assistance system for spellcasting during combat.

Thanks to its incredible calculation ability, the biochip began estimating possible positions where she would appear and, more importantly, possible points that she might attack.

My next move was a sequence of synchronized spells.

The combo struck Ruby with such precision that she almost lost consciousness.

For a moment, I thought I had finally succeeded.

Then I saw her eyes.

They were completely bloodshot.

She was furious.

Very furious.

Ruby charged at me even while my Light Shield spell remained active.

Three rotating shields of blazing light hovered around me, forming a protective barrier.

I stared into Ruby’s savage eyes through the layers of light.

And I couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

Ruby simply refused to be surpassed by someone else.

Judging by the current strength of her attacks, there was no possibility that she could break through my Light Shield.

At least...

That was the conclusion according to theory.

And, theoretically, my calculations were correct.

The problem was that reality wasn’t as precise as mathematics.

Driven by fury, Ruby actually endured the light-element damage from my shield.

She didn’t retreat.

Not even a single step.

Then she crossed through the rain of attacks from my light blades.

And did something I would never have imagined.

She struck exactly the same point of my shield three times.

The damage accumulated.

A small crack appeared.

My heart sank.

On the third impact, the shield finally failed to withstand it.

It shattered in an explosion of blazing light.

Ruby’s flesh was burned by the light of the shield.

Even though she possessed an impressive regenerative ability and could recover her health points through blood absorption, that didn’t mean the wounds were painless.

Quite the opposite.

She still had to endure the pain.

And she did.

All because of her stubbornness.

She simply refused to be suppressed by me during our daily training.

Even if it was only once.

She refused to lose.

I looked at her in silence.

If I were in her place...

Honestly?

I don’t know if I would have been able to do the same.

But at the same time, I was proud of her.

Still, as I watched Ruby slowly recover her strength, a new idea emerged in my mind.

I secretly assigned another research topic to the biochip.

If the problem was the accumulation of damage when the enemy repeatedly attacked the same point, perhaps I could control the shield’s structure in real time.

Maybe I could shift the point of impact, or simply alter the position of the defensive core before the enemy managed to concentrate consecutive attacks on the same area.

It was a possibility worth investigating.

Unfortunately, starting on the fifth day of training, Ruby completely stopped dueling with me.

Ruby immersed herself in the Tower’s public library.

She spent her days reading.

She was searching for any information that could help her find a way to break through elemental magic shields.

....

1557 Words