Chapter 82: Air Pressure Rail Inferno

The pouring rain continued. The two bruised and battered teenagers leaned against the wall of the relief home, licking their wounds like injured beasts.

“Arno, are you okay?” Ollie approached softly and asked timidly.

“I’m fine! I’m strong! Ahh!” Arno accidentally pulled at a wound and cried out in pain. “I’ll be fine tomorrow. I, Arno, promised Old Man Johnson that I would definitely protect Ollie!”

“Mhm!” Ollie’s timid expression disappeared, and she replied with a reassured smile.

Ace watched everything quietly. Though the rain poured down, it didn’t touch him at all. He silently unfurled the Illusion Barrier, hypnotized the orphans, and began examining them one by one.

“It seems only this Ollie has Mental Overdrive. She is the talented one. She is the one!”

The iron mask, framed by the shadows of the pouring rain and the flash of lightning, gleamed with a metallic light.

Ollie felt like she was having a warm dream. Her family, the village, and the brave Arno—everything was wonderful. Suddenly, lightning flashed, and the iron mask materialized. To the sound of a strange cadence, the scale appeared.

Ollie watched helplessly as her blood was taken, her head splitting with pain. Finally, in a daze, she heard a sentence: “Keep Secrets, Stand Guard Together, Equivalent Exchange, Respect Knowledge, Seek True Knowledge.”

“Ollie! Ollie! Wake up! They are going to steal all the breakfast!” Arno shook Ollie hard and shouted loudly.

Sunlight streamed through the crack in the wall, shining on Ollie’s eyes. She opened her eyes, looked at Arno, and smiled.

The next second, the smile froze.

A status panel had appeared before her eyes.

Ace no longer concerned himself with the girl’s fate. If, with the Grimoire, she still couldn’t stand on her own, then no one could help her. As long as she followed the guidance of the Grimoire and passed Ace’s tests in the future, she would have a chance to enter the Wizard Academy.

Meanwhile, the mirror image Ace and Daina began their journey of Monster hunting. They lived and slept rough, harvesting runes, sacrificing materials needed for the Grimoire, and earning points.

When Daina wasn’t paying attention, the mirror image Ace quietly set up magical signal base stations and sought out powerful Monster Hunters to spread the simplified version of the Grimoire.

In contrast to the apprentices Ace meticulously selected, the simplified Grimoire’s main functions were exploration and recording. In return, the Monster Hunters would have the opportunity to access Magic.

They could choose to study diligently, build a foundation, and research Spell Models later. Alternatively, they could focus purely on developing their strength. The Enchanted Martial Arts Daina pioneered required only the mastery of the meditation spell and did not need much logic or mathematical foundation. It was perfectly suited for them.

These people were what Ace considered the external members of the Academy—Enchanted Apprentices. They did not possess many methods, relying purely on raw strength. They fought using Inherent Mana and Enchanted Martial Arts. Their combat wisdom would be crucial in developing more styles of Enchanted Martial Arts.

This was a season of sowing the seeds. In the future, Ace would reap a huge harvest.

Returning to the host body, in the Sub-Level 2 laboratory, Ace was conducting an experiment to refine nitroglycerin-like compounds. Since the encounter with the bizarre Abyssal hairless dog and the strange ritual, Ace had realized that he lacked a decisive physical attack at the Advanced Wizard Apprentice stage.

After careful analysis, he decided to create a nitroglycerin-like compound, crafting a magical version of nitroglycerin using Monster materials!

He would use this compound as an essential Casting Material, supplemented by a modified Spell Model, as his trump card.

The first step was to prepare lye. He used the High-Temperature Calcination Spell on limestone to obtain quicklime, mixed it with a pure alkaline solution, and obtained lye.

The second step was to collect white powder near Monster excrement and refine it to create saltpeter.

The third step was to heat the fat of a fire-attributed Monster, add lye, and the substance floating on top would be glycerin. By removing the fatty acids, he would obtain pure glycerin.

The fourth step was to prepare the simplified magical nitroglycerin according to a fixed ratio.

This magical glycerin was dozens of times more lethal than the nitroglycerin of his past life, containing terrifying Mana reactions. As for the more powerful and stable C4-like explosive, the conditions in Ace’s laboratory were too rudimentary for preparation.

If technology is insufficient, use magic to compensate. Ace stored the magical glycerin in custom rune tubes, ensuring the rune arrays were not accidentally activated, preventing the glycerin from exploding spontaneously.

To prevent the laboratory from collapsing, Ace specifically excavated a massive explosion testing ground below. After wasting over 10 Spell Hands, Ace, covered in ash, rode the mechanical magic lift back to the laboratory.

He had finally successfully crafted the magical tubes for safely storing the magical glycerin. Perhaps he would call them Glycerin Magic Tubes.

Next, he began redesigning the Spell Model. The core of the rune was to safely activate the Magic Tube and form a huge air cannon barrel, directly blasting the power of the Magic Tube outward.

After numerous experiments, Ace utilized Wind Element-related runes to create an Air Pressure Railgun. Combined with Fire Element runes, it could successfully activate the Glycerin Magic Tube.

Ace combined different trajectory guidance runes, finally forming three versions:

Ultra-Short Air Pressure Railgun (less than one meter), combined with a fan-shaped trajectory, creating a short-range, violent Inferno Detonation. Its power was extremely immense! Suitable for suicide deployment by a mirror image.

Standard Air Pressure Railgun (three to five meters), combined with a straight-shot trajectory, creating a potent Inferno Missile. Its maximum damage range reached 300 meters.

Ultra-Long Air Pressure Railgun (over 10 meters), combined with a Marking Guidance Spell Model, creating a powerful Tracking Inferno Missile. It could pursue enemies within a 5,000-meter range, inflicting massive damage. The damage was highest within the first 10 seconds and gradually decreased afterward, automatically dissipating after three minutes.

This was an exceptionally complex Spell Model. Ace recorded it in his Grimoire, adding to his collection of trump cards.

With this ultimate spell, no enemy short of a Great Hero would be a significant obstacle. Even if he encountered the evil, chaotic Monster composed of the hairless dogs again, Ace was confident he could destroy it.

Having prepared his trump card, Ace began performing the Lesser Blessing Ritual on himself. The Higher Blessing Ritual required the materials of powerful Monsters, which Ace had not yet found. He planned to perform the Lesser Blessing Ritual on himself to slightly increase his overall physical and mental attributes.

The effect of the Lesser Ritual was actually quite potent, but for Ace, it was somewhat redundant. If Daina performed the Lesser Blessing Ritual, gaining an increase of over 10 attribute units at once, she would be ecstatic.

But for Ace, it could only increase his attributes by 0.1 Mental Power Units. Performing it five times consecutively, with the effect diminishing by half each time, would only increase his attributes by a little over 0.2 Mental Power Units.

The purpose of performing the Lesser Blessing Ritual now was mainly to accumulate experience for performing the Higher Blessing Ritual in the future. Ace thought this as he rode the mechanical magic lift up to the surface. He was going deep into the Larr Mountains to search for suitable powerful low-level Monsters.

The increasingly weak effect of his meditation method was already a warning. If he didn’t find a solution, his progress would stagnate. A higher-level blessing was important.