Chereads / The Synthesis Wizard / Chapter 188 - Chapter 188: Skip the Charging Phase Altogether

Chapter 188 - Chapter 188: Skip the Charging Phase Altogether

Starlight Calendar, Year 1270, Early Spring Moon (March).

The Starlight Continent's first wizard academy was officially established and named Starlight Academy.

Over 500 apprentices from Dragonwood Forest became its inaugural students, marking the beginning of their academic journeys.

After an initial period of adjustment, Starlight Academy quickly settled into stable operations.

Thanks to its comprehensive rules and regulations, Su Nan rarely needed to invest much effort into managing the academy, freeing him to focus on other pursuits.

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Dragon Bone Tower, Fifth Floor, Workshop No. 12.

The roar of the arcane crystal forge reverberated through the spacious workshop.

Standing at the workbench, Su Nan stared intently at the puppet automaton before him.

With the academy running smoothly, he immediately shifted his attention to completing a fully upgraded Arcane Puppet.

To conserve mithril, instead of crafting a new one from scratch, he decided to upgrade the original.

This "fully upgraded" version excluded advanced rune gemstones and diamonds. Instead, Su Nan enhanced the original design blueprint to improve the puppet's combat capabilities.

Refining the blueprint alone took him more than four months.

Compared to the painstakingly long process of revising the design, upgrading the puppet was relatively straightforward.

After spending over half a month in the workshop, the task was completed.

The newly enhanced puppet retained mithril and diamond as its primary materials, but their quantities more than doubled.

As a result, its durability, elemental affinity, and energy capacity improved drastically.

These upgrades significantly enhanced the puppet's control over energy particles, bringing it on par with a formal wizard in this regard.

In addition to retaining the original zero-ring, first-ring, and second-ring spells, Su Nan integrated newly acquired third-ring spells into the puppet.

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Third-Ring Spells: A New Era of Power

Approximately 10% of the tomes recovered from the Star Tower were spellbooks, ranging from zero-ring to fifth-ring spells.

After advancing to a full-fledged wizard, Su Nan could now learn third-ring spells.

The difference between a third-ring spell and a second-ring spell was as vast as the gulf between a wizard apprentice and a full wizard. Third-ring spells boasted far greater power and versatility.

Examples of these spells included:

[Blizzard Storm]: A spell capable of drastically altering the environment.

[Hold Person]: Immobilizes human or humanoid targets.

[Invisibility Sphere]: Conceals multiple targets within a large area.

[Greater Illusion]: A more potent version of Silent Image.

[Ray of Enervation]: An advanced version of Ray of Weakness.

[Gaseous Form]: Turns the target intangible, allowing slow flight.

These spells were superior to second-ring spells in terms of both offensive power and utility. From the third ring onward, spells ascended to an entirely different level, becoming crucial combat tools for wizards until they reached the rank of True Spirit Wizard.

Su Nan estimated he could master one third-ring spell per month. So far, he had learned eleven third-ring spells, all of which were inscribed into the puppet.

This was just the beginning. As Su Nan mastered more spells, he would continue to engrave them into the puppet.

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Battle-Ready Arcane Puppet

The upgraded arcane puppet, while lacking a Talent Core, was comparable to a formal wizard in combat.

In fact, given the unique environment of the Starlight Continent, its combat effectiveness could rival or even surpass that of a wizard, who often faced numerous restrictions.

The puppet's low reliance on external energy sources meant it could sustain combat entirely through the mana stones embedded within its frame. This granted it superior endurance compared to wizards.

While Su Nan's Talent Core, the exceptionally powerful Liquid Metal, gave him a decisive edge, he admitted he might struggle to defeat a puppet equipped with sufficient mana stones.

"Once I inscribe more third-ring spells, its combat power will increase further," Su Nan mused with a satisfied smile.

The only downside was the puppet's exorbitant cost.

Mithril and gemstones alone exceeded 200,000 gold coins.

Other miscellaneous materials added nearly 50,000 more.

Inscribing spells, especially third-ring spells, further raised the total cost to 330,000 gold coins.

Each battle consumed vast amounts of mana stones. Lower-grade stones were insufficient; at minimum, mid-grade mana stones were required.

In essence, every fight was a financial drain—a veritable money pit.

Yet the puppet's immense combat power justified the expense.

Thanks to his Synthesis Cube, Su Nan could manage these costs. For other wizards, crafting a puppet of this caliber would cost twice as much—700,000 to 800,000 gold coins—and might still fall short of matching a formal wizard in strength.

Su Nan planned to craft two arcane puppets for deployment in the Star Alliance's expansion efforts, freeing him from direct involvement.

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The Rune Inscription Project

With the puppet upgrades completed, Su Nan turned his attention to rune inscriptions.

This knowledge, also sourced from the Star Tower, proved to be a treasure trove for Su Nan, who frequently found surprises within its volumes.

Rune inscriptions, like magical tattoos, belonged to the realm of enchanting arts. However, rune inscriptions were far more advanced—a refined evolution of magical tattooing developed by wizards.

While magical tattoos stored spells for instant activation during combat, rune inscriptions embedded specific enchantment effects into the skin. These effects were far more diverse and potent than spells.

Rune inscriptions offered additional advantages:

Invisibility: They did not appear on the skin's surface, preventing enemies from identifying them.

Efficiency: They required less skin area, allowing for ten or more inscriptions, compared to six or seven tattoos.

Despite their benefits, rune inscriptions demanded higher physical and mental resilience, restricting their use to full-fledged wizards capable of withstanding the energy surges during activation.

"Rune inscriptions…" Su Nan contemplated.

Although his abilities had dramatically advanced after becoming a wizard, many of his combat methods remained constrained by environmental factors. For instance:

Spell power diminished outside elemental pools.

Mental energy recovery slowed in low-element areas.

Magical items required excessive recharging time.

To overcome these limitations, Su Nan began exploring new combat methods, with rune inscriptions as a potential solution.

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The Charging Conundrum

The challenge lay in rune inscriptions' reliance on energy charging, which made them vulnerable to the continent's sparse energy particle environment.

After careful deliberation, Su Nan devised a bold solution:

Why not eliminate the charging phase entirely?

By transforming rune inscriptions into single-use consumables, much like high-level rune gemstones, he could bypass the charging issue altogether.

This required changing the inscription's medium from skin to gemstones.

However, gemstones lacked the durability to withstand the energy surges of activation, even high-grade ones.

To address this, Su Nan focused on two improvements:

1. Enhancing gemstone quality through enchantments to increase energy compatibility and capacity.

2. Reducing inscription power, lowering the strain on the medium.

After two months of effort, Su Nan successfully created his first inscribed gemstone.

Following the manufacturing principles of rune gemstones, Su Nan selected high-grade gemstones and processed them with enchantments to enhance their adaptability and capacity for energy particles.

He also deliberately reduced the power of the rune inscription, as a less powerful inscription would lower the burden on its medium.

After over two months of effort, Su Nan finally succeeded in crafting his first inscribed gemstone.

The gemstone contained a rune inscription called [Frostburst], which, when activated, unleashed a sudden surge of icy energy. This energy inflicted severe frost damage on all creatures within its range, accompanied by freezing and slowing effects.

Since the rune inscription was a weakened version, its power was less than one-tenth of a fully powered rune inscription.

However, that wasn't an issue—the Synthesis Cube could resolve the problem.

By synthesizing multiple inscribed gemstones, he could exponentially enhance their power. After combining eighteen gemstones, Su Nan created a single advanced inscribed gemstone.

He refrained from further synthesis as the resulting energy intensity would surpass his current capacity to wield safely.

Even so, the advanced gemstone's power was over three times stronger than the original rune inscription. With his continued refinement of spiritual energy, he could eventually increase the synthesis count, granting even greater power. The potential for growth was immense.

"Not bad!"

In the spell testing area, Su Nan observed the frost-covered ground with a satisfied smile.

Finally, besides his innate talent, he had another unrestricted combat method at his disposal.

Although the gemstones were expensive—each costing roughly 4,700 gold coins—their overwhelming power made them well worth the price.

"It's a pity that the books from the Star Tower don't include knowledge about alchemical markings," Su Nan mused.

Alchemical markings were an advanced craft that surpassed rune inscriptions in power. However, engraving alchemical markings required the user to transform their body into an Alchemical Form, a process demanding rare materials and extraordinary strength.

Even if Su Nan acquired the knowledge, his current level of power and resources would render the markings unattainable.

Still, researching alchemical markings might inspire improvements to his inscribed gemstones.

Shaking his head to dismiss such lofty ambitions, Su Nan left the spell testing area and teleported back to the top-level control center.

With the materials from the Star Tower fully reclaimed and his research on arcane puppets and inscribed gemstones complete, Su Nan's immediate to-do list was narrowing.

1. Collecting Thunderstones from the Plane of Lightning:

These were crucial for crafting more Black Thunder Magic Tools. However, this task wasn't urgent and could wait until his strength improved.

2. Synthesizing and crafting legendary golems:

Expanding his golem army was essential for securing the vast underground regions.

While native armies could address part of the manpower shortage, golem armies remained indispensable. Su Nan estimated that unifying the underground world would require at least two to three large-scale golem armies.

Fortunately, low-level golems could be crafted by apprentices. With the establishment of Starlight Academy and the arrival of a new cohort of students, the available workforce for crafting golems would steadily grow. Without their help, assembling such a massive force would be an impossible task for Su Nan alone.

"By now, the latest round of aptitude tests should be nearly finished," Su Nan thought, gazing in the direction of the academy with a deep and contemplative look.

Starlight Academy was the first step in building his wizarding empire and, in the near future, would serve as his key leverage in controlling the entire Starlight Continent.

After a long pause, Su Nan withdrew his gaze and focused his thoughts inward.

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A Singular Priority

The growth and refinement of spiritual energy remained Su Nan's highest priority.

Unless a task directly contributed to this goal, he was determined not to waste his energy on other distractions.

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