Since Rezen, a civilian is helping the military exterminate a possible cause of human casualties, this is the least that Claude can do to help him
"Thank you!" Rezen said sincerely as he received the books
Without wasting any more time, Rezen flipped the books as he searched for a magic spell that he wanted to learn. He directly skips the ungraded and 1st fusion grade to learn magic at the 2nd fusion grade
The spells in the books are not necessarily weak even if they are common nor do a personally made spell would always be stronger than the ones on the market
Think of the magic spells in the market and personally made ones as the difference between a commercialized and mass-produced fried chicken in fast food restaurants and the homemade fried chickens
Many fast food fried chickens like in McDonald's or Jollibee although mass-produced are still delicious
On the other hand, homemade fried chickens might not necessarily be as tasty as the commercial ones though some people with skills or great recipes can create fried chickens tastier than fast food chickens
Magic spells are like that. Just because a spell is accessible to many people doesn't mean that a personalized one is always better
At the end of the day, magic spells were still the practical application of magic theories and there were many ways to do that
Rezen searched for a while before his gaze landed on a certain magic spell at the 2nd fusion grade
Thanks to his comprehension of magical knowledge which is 1 rank higher than his cultivation rank, he easily understood this spell
It was as if he was just learning how to add 1 + 1
But since only by trying would Rezen know if he actually learned the spell, he has to try it first
Rezen called out his water-type mystic gem as it resonates with the natural laws
"Hmm? 1st fusion rank water-type mystic gem?"
Claude turned his head to Rezen after sensing the man's mystic gem. Clearly, he thought that since the water-type mystic gem is Rezen's third type of gem, it wouldn't be at the 1st fusion grade yet but he was clearly mistaken
Rezen formed the magic circle in front of him and from it, a serpent created from condensed water flew out
The serpent collided with a tree, easily knocking it before continuing to advance and knocking even more trees
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One tree after another was knocked down and Rezen was satisfied with this level of firepower as he recalled the water serpent
Unlike most magic spells that after being released could only attack a single time, the water serpent is different
Rezen can continue to control it however he wanted for as long as he wanted as long as he has enough mana
He can even control the serpent to block his body from any incoming attacks!
"Hm? My mana is depleting faster than normal and I can also feel a pressure on my soul"
Rezen frowned at this development. The pressure wasn't that strong but he certainly cannot last as long as when he was only using 1st fusion grade spells
He never had this problem before and Rezen can only contribute it to the fact that he was using a spell in the 2nd fusion grade
The higher the grade of the spell, the stronger it was but also the stronger the foundation it requires
When Rezen is still ungraded rank and using 1st fusion spells, he doesn't have this problem. But clearly, the distance from 1st fusion to 2nd fusion is higher compared to ungraded and 1st fusion
This would normally be a problem for Rezen but he tried popping one recovery pill first and indeed, it also resets the pressure
With the help of the pills, Rezen can just take one if ever he thinks that the pressure on his soul was reaching a dangerous level
Rezen clicked his fingers and the serpentine water turned into a formless puddle of water that drenched the ground
One spell is not enough and Rezen flipped the book again to find more magic spells to his liking
"R-Rezen... is this your first time learning a water-type spell?" Claude asks in doubt
Claude himself is considered a monstrous talent but he still spent a few minutes learning a 2nd fusion spell and a bit more time to control it to a great extent
As for normal people, not to mention minutes, they would definitely require days to weeks to learn. The world of monstrous geniuses is just different
"Yes, why?" Rezen answered absentmindedly as he was busy browsing the book
It even contains the 2nd fusion [Water Stream] spell and Rezen also learned it!
He stretched out his palm and another ocean blue water circle appeared that released a stream of water
The stream spell although the basic of basic still wouldn't leave a mage's arsenal
Most of the time, when a mage advances a rank, they would first modify, upgrade, o learn the stream magic to match their rank
The stream spell is the easiest and is also used as a foundation to learn other spells
Not to mention that the stream spell although easy to learn is also special
There are many times when mages that are in a stalemate would use the stream spell to determine who is the winner
Whoever won at the duel of stream spells would mean that that mage has a higher level of comprehension!
The way that Rezen easily learned magic spells and used them skillfully while his eyes were still on the book caused the side of Claude's face to twitch
"N-nothing" Claude replied but he raised his evaluation of Rezen
With Rezen showing this much talent, he would definitely be one of the experts of humanity in the future!
——-
After an hour or so, Rezen already learned many 2nd fusion spells of the water category
He once again praised the long and delicious mysterious banana. Its effects were way better than the mysterious peach!
Just like what General Leon promised, he did send reinforcements to the Ratois Mountain and there were 300 of them albeit they are just low-level mages
240 of the reinforcements were ungraded and the remaining 60 were 1st fusion rank
They don't have high levels but so are the magic beasts!
In any case, what Claude needed was quantity to fight the quantity of the magic beasts
He was pleasantly surprised that the General would actually send this many soldiers!
This time, Claude grouped the soldiers into ten members each with two 1st fusion mages in every group
As for the remaining members of the 1st group of reinforcements, some of them were divided into other groups while the others formed a team with Rezen as the center
"Boss, we are in your care!" Pierre said with the intention to bootlick a 'boss' such as Rezen
Rezen's massacre yesterday already left a deep impression on Pierre and even more so today!
He had seen Rezen merely glancing at the magic spell book for a moment before automatically learning the spell!
Pierre definitely wouldn't lose out if he follow such a genius!
"Alright, alright, just help me prevent the magic beasts from escaping, alright?"
Rezen didn't plan on leading a group as he only wanted the magic beast corpses but if he is the leader, the progress would be faster and he can only 'reluctantly' agree
"Yes, boss!" Pierre replied while hitting his chest with his fist
With that, the group of soldiers was sent off as they climbed the mountains to exterminate magic beasts
Thanks to their numbers, the Ratois Mountain forgot what peace is today as spells were activated one after another
——-
Ratois Mountain
Inside the cave where the old mage is located, groups and groups of crazed grey wolves were sent out
The old mage can be seen sitting on the 6th fusion rank wolf with his eyes strangely looking like the eyes of the wolves
In front of him was a brownish red mystic gem and inside it, an image of the wolf can be seen
In this world, the most common type of mystic gems are elemental types but there are also gems outside the elements
There is the summoning gem, sword gem, saber gem, and it also includes wolf-type gems
The wolf-type gem gives the mage access to spells related to the wolves. They can use magic that would temporarily give them wolf-like features but would boost their power in return. It can also be a spell that would help them easily control wolf-type monsters
The old mage's soul-type mystic gem and spells can help him enslave magic beasts or even humans
However, the closer a magic beast's rank to his, the harder it would be
As such, beast tamers would often time specialized in a single type of magic beast. This old man specifically tamed wolves
If he were to use his soul-type and wolf-type gem at the same time, the chances of him successfully controlling high-level wolves would increase while the difficulty in doing so would decrease
Currently, this old mage is using a magic spell that would share the wolves' vision under his control with him
With the help of this spell, even if he doesn't personally come out of his cave, he can still learn what is happening in the Ratois Mountain
"Heh... that guy did not disappoint me..." the old mage said with a smirk after seeing that there were hundreds of low-level mages sent in this mountain
He discovered the location of some groups of those mages and he send his crazed wolves to kill and take the thing that he wanted from those mages
"I wanted to kill all of you but if I do that, the military would dispatch high-level mages. Be thankful that I have to turn the casualty lower than I wanted"
——-
"[Water Stream!]"
With a heavy stream of water, three grey wolves were killed and their corpses landed on the ground
"Boss, you're really great!" Pierre complimented
Normally, Rezen's nose would already reach the skies but right now, he was just frowning
"Boss, is there a problem?" Pierre asks after seeing Rezen's reaction and the latter turned to him
"Don't you think that there was something weird?"
"Weird?"
"Yes, yesterday we frequently encounter groups of grey wolves with five or ten members. But now... encountering three of them at the same time is already good. Don't you think that was weird?"
Of course, Rezen doesn't really care whether this is weird or not. His only concern is the speed at which he obtains magic beasts' corpses
If this goes on, he would gather fewer corpses than yesterday
If that's the case then why did he spend a long time (less than an hour) learning stronger magic spells when he intended to use them for this hunt?
"Isn't this good? It would be dangerous if we were to encounter a group of tens of wolves"
Compared to Rezen, Pierre was more on the conservative side. He knows that every day, members of the military die, and he would rather have them encounter a few magic beasts at a time despite it slowing down their rate of extermination
This wasn't just because Pierre wanted to continue living but also his concern for his fellow soldiers
After a few years or decades, how many of the soldiers that he know and befriended would remain?
As such, despite this case slowing down the progress, he would rather embrace it than have the team encounter many magic beasts at once that would endanger their lives
"Well, you are right but..."
Rezen knew that is right but he is also an impatient person. If it is up to him, he would control a group of at least 15 wolves to attack him and after he killed them, he would call for more wolves
He doesn't like that even encountering a group of three wolves is already considered a 'good harvest!'