Chapter 99: Preparation

Ace looked at the diary, feeling melancholy and remaining silent for a long time.

He gently wrapped the book and stored it inside the Monster stomach pouch. Some people and some deeds will not be forever submerged in the dust of history. Someone will remember them.

“I need to be wary of this ‘Punisher’ organization. Perhaps I can use the mixed quality of the Enchanted Wizard Apprentices to conduct a probe.” Ace’s eyes flickered, his expression shifting between determination and caution.

Ace and the mirror image walked slowly through the already barren settlement. Looking at the struggling skeletons and the tightly gripped sharp stone, the light in their eyes became more resolute and cold.

“The contradiction between the naturally born supernatural and the supernatural born among mortals is irreconcilable!” the mirror image said with a somewhat somber voice.

“This is an enemy-versus-us contradiction, an irreconcilable conflict that can only end with the complete annihilation of one side. They called themselves the Torch-Stealers, and I call myself the Torch-Bearer. Perhaps this is truly a coincidence of fate: the fire has never been extinguished.” Ace said firmly.

“Let us go and inspect the underpass!”

The left side of the canyon was spotty with moss.

Ace cast the Soul Spell Perception Retrieval. In his black-and-white field of vision, he detected no anomaly. He sensed carefully, gradually discovering star-like lights flickering rhythmically within the rock wall.

Ace condensed his mental power into a feeler and gently touched the starlight. The rock wall recessed, and a bottomless underpass emerged.

Ace tried to use Perception Retrieval to specifically perceive the interior of the underpass. He found his mental power sinking into a quagmire, making progress extremely difficult.

The entire underpass and the ruins were permeated with an unknown power that inerted mental perception. Ace rubbed his chin, pondering.

“Exploring a ruin without preparation like this is tantamount to courting death. I need to prepare more!”

Subsequently, Ace and the mirror image spent their days preparing large amounts of magical glycerin and filling Glycerin Magic Tubes.

Because the Imperfect Transformation Spell combined with the Glycerin Magic Tube and a magical imprint worked exceptionally well, catching enemies completely by surprise the first time, Ace planned to prepare nearly a thousand Glycerin Magic Tubes, while improving the crafting process.

“The first problem is manufacturing Mana storage medium. Since I dissolved the Soul Rune, I can no longer prepare Mana storage medium using the Soul Spell.”

“In fact, preparing a Mana storage medium shouldn’t require occupying a dedicated Soul Spell slot; that is too wasteful of Soul Rune slots. I should create a Magic Array that directly transforms Monster materials into a Mana storage medium!”

“Then, the research objective is set! Create a Mana storage medium conversion Magic Array. That name is too cumbersome. Let’s call it the Mana Stone Creation Magic Array.”

“For this Magic Array to effectively convert materials, adding the Equivalent Exchange Rune would be more reliable. I will simply design a Mana Stone Creation Ritual. The foundational Magic Array will be the Mana Stone Creation Magic Array!”

Ace modified the Magic Array repeatedly. Since he already had a foundation in the spells, the Magic Array was quickly tested and succeeded.

Ace established a long-term Mana Stone Creation Ritual. Through this ritual, large amounts of magical materials (Monster organs) could be converted into Mana storage medium, or Mana Stones.

After adding Mana Stones to the Glycerin Magic Tubes, Ace had the Spirit of the Book produce a large amount of magical paper, designed a program, equipped it with information reception capabilities, and linked it to Ace’s Grimoire.

Ace decided to affix three Rune Arrays to the Glycerin Magic Tubes, providing the three different effects: Ejection, Marking, and Tracking.

Rune Arrays are different from Magic Arrays. Rune Arrays are mostly inscribed onto a certain object, producing a quasi-spell effect.

Magic Arrays are primarily part of a ritual, though some can exist independently.

These three Rune Arrays were modified from the corresponding Spell Models, inscribed onto the magical paper. The magical paper can record and activate Soul Runes.

After these modifications, the thousands of Glycerin Magic Tubes gained strong flexible combat capabilities. They could be concealed, tracked, disguised, and deployed to unleash the classic art of explosion.

This was Ace’s newest trump card. It was not merely a spell but an effective combination of spellcraft, alchemy, rune arrays, and programming. The thousands of Glycerin Magic Tubes, disguised as threads, insects, or hairs, clung to the mirror image Ace. When needed, they would unleash a terrifying blow.

Ace firmly believed that a Wizard was stronger than a Hero, a Monster, a Demon, or a Devil!

Because in an equal situation, no one else had as many methods as a prepared Wizard. Everything that naturally born supernatural beings excel at can be imitated, researched, and analyzed by Wizards, given enough time, and turned into their own power.

After preparing his new trump card, Ace used the Comprehend Unknown and Deduction abilities of the Spirit of the Book to continue reverse-engineering the Soul Rune version of the simulation rune array.

The unfinished Soul Spell Advanced Magical Trickery was the other spell Ace urgently needed. It would greatly enhance Ace’s overall versatility and increase his ability to seize opportunities and resist risks while exploring the ruins.

The difficulty in reverse-engineering the simulation rune array lay in the composition of the Mana essence within the Soul Rune level simulation rune array. This was an extremely complicated process with no shortcuts. It required painstaking trial and error.

Ace utilized the rules-based deduction ability of the Spirit of the Book, supplemented by the computational power of the mental imprints on the many Grimoires (second page), linked via the high tower. Within two months, he successfully exhausted all possibilities and deduced the Mana essence composition of the Soul Rune level simulation rune array.

Every contractor, without realizing it, was dedicating more time and energy to nurturing their Grimoire, which fostered the growth of the mental imprint on its second page.

Activities like meditation and sacrifice resulted in the Grimoire intercepting a portion of the resources. The resulting, mature Grimoires could not only benefit the contractors but also provide computational power to their creator, Ace.

The Grimoires not only recorded the contractors’ progress and creations in real-time but also, as a collective, provided a massive amount of mental network computational power to Ace.

Ace traced the Soul Rune of the simulation rune array in the air. From Mana to Mana essence structure, from Mana essence structure to rune, and from rune to rune array structure, the entire Spell Model was slowly taking shape.

Bang!

Ace’s head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy blow. He spat out blood.

The architecture of the simulation rune array still had flaws and could not be replicated into the Soul Sanctuary.

Ace used the Spirit of the Book’s deduction ability to try modifications little by little. After a few more days, he finally succeeded in replicating the simulation rune array into the Soul Sanctuary space.

At this moment, Ace finally felt a surge of confidence.

Specialization implies a weakness, and often, that weakness determines success or failure!

Versatility does not mean mediocrity. It means having no weakness. An Advanced Wizard Apprentice with no weaknesses possesses power far superior to a Pseudo-Hero.

“Let us go. Let us capture a batch of powerful low-level Monsters to explore the ruins.” The host body Ace said to the mirror image Ace.

A few days later, in the canyon. The host body Ace condensed his mental power into a feeler and gently touched the starlight. The rock wall recessed, and a bottomless underpass emerged.

He directed the charmed powerful low-level Monsters and common Monsters to charge into the underpass. The underpass was dark and deep. The mirror image Ace sensed the Monsters’ condition, slowly following them deeper underground.