The Wizard's Secret Journey

Chapter 234 Target (4k)

As dusk settled, Lynn stood alone at the edge of the newly built, rough wooden fence of the camp, his gaze fixed intently over the barren slope below towards the gray forest ruins shrouded in darkness.

A gentle evening breeze blew against his face, causing the hem of his robe to sway continuously.

In a daze, everything that happened in the Crimson World flashed through Lynn's mind again.

That terrifying fortress, that eerie tower spirit, those apprentices dying one after another, and... Elena.

Thinking of this, Lynn's emotions rose and fell like the night wind.

To him, who possessed the Black Moon Spirit Body, the Gray Forest Ruins hidden in the darkness before him were like a beautiful woman lying defenseless before him, exuding an invisible yet deadly allure in the hazy night.

Even ordinary wizards who knew the dangers of the ruins and the terror of the Silver Rings could not resist this temptation, let alone Lynn.

only……

Lynn raised his head again and looked at the low, gray sky.

Thanks to his increasingly powerful physique and improved eyesight, Lynn was able to clearly see several enormous objects silently floating high in the sky, shrouded in clouds.

That was the World Invasion Fortress transferred from the Silver Ring Academy.

When Lynn first arrived here, there were only two fortresses above the Graywood Ruins, but two more were added this evening.

This is the most powerful war beast in the Wizarding World. Although it is mainly used for invasions from other worlds, it is equally capable of guarding the Ashwood Ruins.

'I wonder if the Silver Ring Wizard is in one of the fortresses.'

'Even without the Silver Ring Wizard, with these four fortresses, an ordinary fourth-tier wizard would have to think twice before attempting to invade.'

Lynn withdrew his gaze, took one last look at the Graywood Ruins, and turned back to the Black Falcon.

He didn't know what changes would occur in the Gray Forest Ruins once he activated the active sensing state of the Black Moon Spirit Body.

If there is no disturbance, then everything is fine.

But if there's a big commotion... these fortresses overhead aren't just for show.

The risk of blindly activating the Black Moon Spirit Body's active sensing state is far too high. Lynn dares not gamble that the fortress or the Silver Ring Wizard will be unable to detect him.

'Let's take it slow. Besides the Graywood Ruins, I also have information on Black Moon Factory No. 1679.'

Back on the Black Falcon, Lynn stayed in the living room for a while, intending to rest, but after sitting down, he felt there was nothing to rest on, so he got up and went to the meditation room.

On the silver-white tabletop, the disassembled healing wrist is laid out.

The pale golden Black Moon rune shone brightly under the light of the crystal, while next to it was a Black Moon rune that Lynn had replicated with mithril, its surface shimmering with light, equally eye-catching.

Although no further verification has been conducted, Lynn is 80% confident that his replica of the mithril rune is successful.

By simply installing the necessary power supply modules, the healing effects of the Healing Wrist can be replicated, just like the previous Traceless Rune.

Lynn sat down at the table and took out the Black Moon Enforcement Token that he never parted with. He stared at the token in his hand, knowing that it also contained such a runic area.

But at this moment, a question suddenly arose in his mind.

'I obtained the Traceless Rune from the Black Moon Relics of the Traceless II. After replicating it, I can use it on the Black Falcon to replace the original power module. I can also add power supply modules to create a witchcraft similar to the Traceless II.'

The same applies to healing runes obtained from the Healing Arms.

'Based on this reasoning, the Black Moon Runes I obtained from the Black Moon Enforcement Order can only be used in this way as well.'

Lynn frowned deeply, a question on his mind.

'If the corresponding Black Moon runes are extracted from the enforcement order, but their only use is to make witchcraft, then what difference is there between that and the Black Moon enforcement order I have now?'
'Even if a new Black Moon Enforcement Order is created, it will only be one more order, and it will most likely be an incomplete version. It won't actually improve my combat strength or even my ability to survive.'

Lynn pressed his temples. He had returned with the intention of continuing his research on the other Black Moon relic he had obtained from Daphne, but it seemed he would have to postpone that for now.

Previously, Lynn was so engrossed in deciphering the core rune area of ​​the Black Moon Relic that he overlooked the fact that his original goal was to obtain knowledge that would allow him to fight beyond his level.

Based on the current effects of the Black Moon Rune, it does not meet Lynn's expectations.

External things are always external things. Even a massive world invasion fortress is only stronger than a wizard of the same level in certain aspects, but its overall ability is always stronger than that of a wizard of the same level.

After all, once wizards reach the fourth level, they no longer rely solely on their own meager magical energy to cast spells, but can draw upon free magical energy from the outside world at any time.

At that time, the power of the wizard's spells will increase dramatically, becoming comparable to world fortresses.

Taking a deep breath, Lynn took out the materials again and began to replicate the second-generation rune of the Traceless.

Although he decided to postpone his research on the next Black Moon relic, it did not mean that he had given up on the research on the Black Moon runes; he just needed to adjust his direction.

The research has shifted from simply studying the Black Moon Rune to studying it while simultaneously exploring whether it can be used without relying on external objects, similar to witchcraft.

……

……

"Lia, hurry up, it's our turn to patrol!" Rosia's urging voice rang out from outside the room.

Leah looked up from her book, sighed, and replied while tidying her things, "Okay, I'll be right out."

After tidying up her books, Leah walked quickly towards the door. As she passed the wooden coat rack, she casually took down the gray patrol robe assigned to her by Silver Ring Academy and draped it over her shoulders.

Pushing open the door, Rosia, who was already getting impatient, complained, "Why are you taking so long again, Leah?"

"I'm sorry, I got so engrossed in studying witchcraft that I forgot the time," Leah apologized repeatedly, feeling very embarrassed.

Rosia was straightforward; her anger flared up quickly but subsided just as fast. She laughed and said, "If a genius like you is so diligent, what are we ordinary people supposed to do?"

"No way." Lia was young and easily embarrassed, so she quickly explained, "I'm hardly a genius, and I haven't worked that hard. I just read more books in my spare time."

"If we're really talking about hard work and genius, then we have to look to Senior Lynn."

"Lord Lynn... that's right." Rosia said with a hint of reverence upon hearing the name, and stopped teasing Lia.

These apprentices had never had close contact with Lynn before, so they didn't know much about the wizard. But now, living in the same camp, they finally learned how diligent Lynn was through daily observation and conversations with Samuel.

Such effort is not surprising in itself, but combined with Lynn's genius and his incredibly rapid promotion, it is enough to inspire awe.

To some extent, the Golden Thorn apprentices throughout the camp became even more diligent for this reason.

When Leah and Rosia arrived at the edge of the camp together, another Golden Thorn apprentice from their team was already waiting there. He was a young man with short blond hair named Tommy. Three days passed, and the Golden Thorn apprentices not only had the camp mostly built up, but they also arranged patrols. Simply put, they formed fixed teams of three and took turns patrolling.

After a brief greeting, Leah and her two companions set off immediately.

After flying for a short while, the short-haired young man, Tommy, suddenly whispered:

"Do you know which school of thought's apprentices are stationed at the 16-7 watchtower next door?"

Before the two could answer, Tommy continued in a surprised tone, "It's the McKinley School!"

“The McKinley School?” Rosia frowned immediately. “Where did you get this information?”

"According to Daniels, their squad ran into McKinley School wizarding apprentices when they reached the end of their patrol today."

"Daniels said they seemed to have come to fetch water, and were probably still building their own camp."

"Building a camp so late," Rosia said casually, then asked, "Are you sure Daniels isn't mistaken?"

“Of course I… am not sure!” Tommy chuckled awkwardly. “Anyway, that’s what Daniels told me, so I don’t think he’s mistaken. After all, we spent a week on the airship with those apprentices, and I can’t forget those ugly badges. I’m sure Daniels remembers them too.”

The McKinley School's emblem is a red and green round badge with some curved lines engraved on it, which is indeed not very attractive.

"As for why they're still building so late, what's so strange about that? They don't have any airships to ride in, so they probably just arrived recently, maybe they've only just finished reporting on it."

“That’s true.” Rosia’s furrowed brows relaxed, and a smile appeared on her lips.

The arrogant attitude of that black-robed youth had infuriated her back then, so much so that she still felt a sense of satisfaction whenever she thought about how McKinley's apprentice was humiliated later.

"No matter which school of thought is nearby, it won't affect us. Let's focus on patrolling," Leah said. "According to Lord Lynn, Silver Ring Academy is currently in the early stages of establishing its patrol system. If those wizards still have designs on the Graywood Ruins, they will most likely try to sneak in before the patrol system is fully established."

"So talk less gossip, stay vigilant, and prioritize safety."

"it is good."

"I see."

……

"The essence of a witchcraft array is condensed witchcraft knowledge, which uses external objects to simulate the witchcraft released by a witch using magic and spirit."

"So, what exactly is the Black Moon Rune?"

In the meditation room, Lynn sat cross-legged on a cushion, silently murmuring to himself.

He raised his palm, and a radiant, traceless rune floated above it, mysterious and magnificent.

"Could this also be some kind of special witchcraft model?"

Lynn took a deep breath, and the magic stone in his other hand quickly dimmed, activating the Profound Insight state.

The expression on his face vanished as quickly as raindrops under the scorching sun, leaving him silent and his eyes gradually losing their luster, like a blind man.

Under the influence of his innate ability to perceive reason, Lynn had no spare mental energy to maintain his expression and speech; all his mental energy was focused on the current task.

The brain races like a speeding train, climbing over one mountain after another and crossing one long river after another.

Countless inspirations rushed towards me like a whirlwind.

After an unknown amount of time, Lynn finally glimpsed a flash of inspiration. He took a deep breath and gradually withdrew from the state of seeking the truth.

After a moment, he closed his eyes and began to construct a special model in his mind.

This model is only in its early stages, but it's already easy to see that it differs from ordinary witchcraft models.

Ordinary witchcraft models, no matter how difficult, are always neat and smooth, but this special model is different. It is crooked and twisted, like tangled weeds or wildly dancing snakes.

Moreover, it is very difficult to build.

'How could it have been so difficult to build?' Lynn's brows furrowed involuntarily, and beads of sweat even appeared on his forehead, a rare occurrence for him.

The moment this thought crossed his mind, he immediately sensed something was wrong.

As expected, the model that had just been built up to one-third of the way in his mind suddenly collapsed. The backlash of mental energy made Lynn frown uncomfortably, and he had to exhale softly to recover.

Opening his eyes, Lynn looked once again at the Healing Arm rune in front of him.

That's right, the special model that Lynn just tried to build was the Black Moon Rune "Heal" extracted from the Healing Wrist!
Witchcraft is a special mental energy model combined with magical energy, while a witchcraft array uses external objects to simulate this special mental energy model.

Conversely, if the Black Moon rune is also a special type of sorcery, then perhaps it can be constructed directly using mental power.

Of course, since the magic array uses external objects, the simulated model is somewhat different from the normal magic model.

However, regardless of the method, directly constructing a model of a magic array using mental power will inevitably have some effect, so by the same logic—

Using mental power to construct the Black Moon Rune might produce some special effects!

Lynn calmed his turbulent mental energy, took a deep breath, put the healing rune aside, closed his eyes, and continued to use his mental energy to construct the healing rune in his mind.

This time, Lynn was more careful in her construction than before, and her mind was more focused, without the slightest distraction.

However, after more than ten minutes, in a sudden moment, the mental power model constructed by Lynn's mental sea collapsed without any warning.

This attack was both sudden and rapid, and the scattered spiritual energy churned endlessly in Lynn's mental sea, causing him to let out a muffled groan.

Constructing the Black Moon Rune with mental power is not only difficult, but the negative impact after its collapse is also much greater than that of conventional sorcery models.

If it were an ordinary first-tier wizard, this would probably take at least two days to recover.

However, Lynn possessed the talent of a strong and resilient body brought by the dragon marrow, and he recovered to normal after only half an hour of rest.

This talent is usually unremarkable, but the more Lynn experiences it, the more he can feel its power.

Lynn continued to examine the healing rune for a long time, reviewing the steps he had taken to build it up.

'...There are no problems at all; the structure is flawless.'

Why did it break down?
'Could it be a problem with the build method?'

Lynn silently thought to himself, put the healing rune aside, and prepared to start a new attempt.

(End of this chapter)