Imperial Crown.

Chapter 66: Making Contributions
"Fire gathers and burns the enemy!"

Raven uttered a series of meaningless syllables and pushed his hands upwards. The magic power in his body moved along a specific route and gathered in his palms. His mental power worked at full speed, causing his eyes to turn silver.

A burst of heat quickly gathered in his palms, and the air was distorted by the burning sensation.

But the next moment, the distorted air dissipated, and the magic power in Raven's body became chaotic, turning into a burst of blazing white flames that burst out from his palm.

His face turned pale instantly, and he exerted all his mental strength. He finally managed to slowly control the runaway magic power, and the flames gradually weakened.

The magic power was smoothed out and the flames dissipated, but a layer of yellow-brown scorch marks had been left on Raven's palms.

"Oh my god... I'm bringing disaster upon myself." Raven's hands were shaking, and he uttered a few syllables. A stream of cool water flowed into his palms, relieving the burning feeling a lot.

"Fortunately, only the skin was burned." With a sigh, Raven wiped his hands and unfolded the parchment scroll that recorded the Burning Embers Technique.

To cast a magic spell, one needs to coordinate gestures, spells, magic power, and mental strength.

Among them, hand gestures play an auxiliary role, used to help magicians adjust the flow of magic power to reduce the pressure on mental power, but they are not a necessary element.

The function of magic power is to resonate with the magical elements, so that the elements can condense according to the caster's intention and achieve the magical effect.

The uses of mental power are wider and more detailed. On the one hand, it is used to lock the target of magic, and on the other hand, it can also help regulate the operation of magic power.

As for the spell, it is to gather magical elements around the caster to reach the concentration necessary for casting the spell.

The hand gestures of Burning Embers were not that difficult, but the complexity of the spell and the detailed requirements for magic power and mental strength far exceeded those of first-level magic. There were many variations, and its difficulty was increased by more than ten times.

There is no shortcut to increase mental strength, it can only be increased little by little through meditation.

Although magic cores can strengthen the upper limit of magic power, they cannot increase mental power. Too much magic power that exceeds the upper limit of mental power control is not a good thing for a magician.

That's why Raven didn't frantically use magic cores to fill his magic limit, but only used it as a means of supplementation.

On this basis, the only thing that can help Raven improve his spellcasting efficiency and success rate is the Elvish language taught by Lux.

Although it is not yet proficient enough, applying it to the use of magic can produce very obvious results.

The spell of Burning Embers, if expressed in the common language of the Empire, is:
"Flame spirits, obey my call, gather where my spirit is focused, show your fiery side, and burn my enemies!"

But in Elvish, it becomes: "Fire gathers and burns the enemy!"

Normal people can't understand this sentence, and it's hard for Raven to understand it himself.

But he is a magician, not a bard, and his goal is not to make his spells reach people's hearts, so it doesn't matter if people don't understand.

The spells recited in Elvish are shorter, the elements are mobilized faster, and the difficulty of casting the spell is greatly reduced.

Having said that, this second-order fire magic, which is the most destructive and lethal among all factions, is still not that easy to practice.

For five consecutive days, Raven meditated and then cast spells, cast spells and then meditated. He practiced for more than a hundred times, but not once was he successful. Every time ended with his magic running wild.

Raven opened the bottle of permanent healing potion and took a sip. The pain in his palm gradually disappeared and the color of his skin returned to normal.

He took a deep breath and locked onto the wooden dummy with his mental strength again.

Mobilizing his magic power and using his mental strength to assist, Raven gestured and chanted: "Fire gathers and burns the enemy!"

After practicing hundreds of times, Raven no longer had any illusions about successfully casting spells at this stage. He only hoped to improve his proficiency and increase his success rate a little bit.

But the next moment, his magic power, which had already been consumed, suddenly dropped drastically until it dried up!
At the same time, with a bang, the dummy that was locked by his mental power suddenly exploded with blazing white flames from the inside out, and wood chips wrapped in flames flew everywhere like meteors.

Raven felt a black screen before his eyes, and the depletion of his magic power brought him an intense feeling of hunger and weakness, as if he had not eaten a grain of rice for three days and three nights!
A violent desire rose from the bottom of my heart.

At this moment, Raven finally understood what the so-called "magic addiction" felt like!
He reached into the wooden box next to him, grabbed a magic core and crushed it. The surging energy turned into magic power and flowed into his body, making Raven breathe a sigh of relief: "Finally alive!"

When he opened his eyes, Raven froze in place.

The dummy had completely lost its shape and was wrapped in white flames, burning like a piece of dry straw. The flame fragments splattered all around were still burning fiercely, whether on the ground or on the wall. Even the two wooden dummies next to it were affected and turned into two torches!
It was not until six or seven minutes later that the flames on the stone floor and walls were finally extinguished.

This is the power of second-level magic, and unskilled second-level magic at that.

In comparison, a first-level fireball can only destroy a wooden man, and the flames are not that long-lasting.

"Hey!"

Raven slapped his thigh fiercely. "What a sin! How could I have forgotten this!"

As he spoke, he already held the staff in his hand.

This can store a second-level magic!
This sentence actually contains the element of exoneration for himself. After all, he never thought that he could succeed at this time.

"Tsk..." Looking at the staff in his hand, Raven was a little scared for a moment.

He had just cast a second-level magic, but for some reason he was able to cast it, and it was impossible for him to replicate it.

More importantly, although the staff can increase the power of magic, it will also increase magic consumption. The feeling of being drained is too uncomfortable.

Just as I was thinking about how to cheer myself up, there was a knock on the door, and Volaf's voice came from outside the door: "Baron, Master Weisdong is here."

"Oh, good!" Raven responded, putting away his staff and scroll: "Let him in."

With a creak, the door opened. Visdon quickly jumped over the stairs and rushed down, swinging the enchanted sword at his waist. He stood in front of Raven and bowed with a smile: "Brother!"

He had reaped plenty of benefits during his previous two visits to the dungeon, so this time he was of course even more excited and had already begun to guess what the "prize" would be.

"Well, get up." Raven had a "kind" smile on his face: "I see you are in good spirits recently." "Thanks to my brother for taking care of me!" Weisdong straightened up and pounded his chest: "Ever since you gave me this enchanted half-sword, I have been practicing with others."

"Volaf and his men can't beat me at all."

"Even Eric was too scared to fight me!"

Hearing this, Raven suppressed the corners of his mouth that were about to curl up, but his eyebrows couldn't help but rise: "Okay, very good! But..."

Weisdong was stunned: "But what?"

"Nothing, nothing." Raven smiled, turned around and patted the enchanted chainmail on the table: "Try it?"

"This... isn't this your armor? It won't fit me in it..." Having said that, Visdon's eyes narrowed to the point where he could barely see.

My brother is so nice to me. He just gave me weapons and now he wants to give me armor!
That's enchanted chain mail, a set of which costs hundreds or even thousands of gold coins.

"That's right. If you don't want to wear it, forget it." Raven sighed deliberately: "I can understand that you value your life!"

Seeing that the benefits he had obtained were about to be lost, Weisdong suddenly became anxious: "Cherish...life? Brother, what are you talking about? I am a natural warrior, how can I be afraid of death!"

"Really?" Raven looked at him hesitantly. After a while, he shook his head and said, "No, I can't tell Denise if anything happens to you."

This sentence immediately aroused Weisdong's rebellious psychology. He puffed out his chest and said loudly: "Brother, I am already a man. Whatever I do has nothing to do with my mother!"

"Just like you said, people can only grow up after experiencing things. I will never be able to truly mature if I always stay under my mother's wings!"

Raven raised his eyebrows slightly, thinking to himself, Visdon is really cooperative. Before I even opened my mouth, he already started to encourage himself!
Just adding fuel to the fire.

"You have really grown up." Raven sighed with a gratified tone: "In fact, I treated you so strictly before, not because I looked down on you, but because I felt sorry for you and was disappointed with you."

"What a great physique!" He patted Weisdong's arm. "Look, how strong it is!"

"...Brother, that's a fake hand." Weisdong reminded in a low voice.

"I know!" Raven coughed to cover up his embarrassment and continued, "The prosthetic hand is strong and can be mistaken for the real thing. This is your advantage on the battlefield!"

"You were able to come back from Mon'en City and escape the Slater family's attack, which is enough to prove your wisdom!"

"You have a strong body, outstanding height, a sturdy physique, and the courage to move forward and even dare to challenge me openly. It is even more rare!"

Weisdong showed an awkward smile on his face: "I was too ignorant at the time..."

"No, that's not being ignorant, that's being brave enough to stand up to the powerful!" Raven raised his voice, "Not even I have this kind of innate courage!"

"You are both wise and brave, a natural born general!"

"Brother, what you said is true?" Vesdon swallowed, the corners of his eyes and mouth trembling.

This was the first time in all these years that he discovered that he had so many advantages!
"Yes!" Raven nodded heavily. "That's why I asked you to come here today. I want you to wear this armor. I hope you can give full play to your advantages and help me command the army and boost morale. The two of us brothers can fight together on the bloody heights and create a good story in the mouths of bards!"

The protagonists of the stories told by the bards are all heroes.

Weisdong almost imagined the scene at that time. Thinking of himself becoming a hero and being praised by others, he felt a sense of pride and ambition: "Brother, I am willing to put on this armor and fight with you on the battlefield!"

"Are you really ready?" Raven said solemnly, "Once you put on this armor, you will truly become a soldier under me. There is no turning back!"

Weisdong said loudly: "A real man never looks back!"

"Okay!" Raven pointed at the table, "Put on armor!"

With great ambition and ambition, Vesdon began to wear chain mail.

But his lofty ambitions were obviously not enough to help him complete the delicate task. Halfway through putting on the clothes, he got stuck inside and was still whimpering for help.

Raven could only help him.

"Brother, how do I look?" Wrapped in the enchanted chain mail, Visdon's face flushed with excitement: "Isn't it majestic and cool!"

"Uh..." Raven was speechless for a moment.

The mail itself is big enough, but on Vesdon it looks a bit...

Not wide enough.

Especially that big face. Since the last strengthening, everything has become thinner except the face. Now it looks like a goose egg squeezed in an eggshell. How miserable.

Just as he was thinking about how to find the right words to deal with it, the door suddenly opened, and Volaf rushed to Raven with small steps and a serious face, saying something in a low voice.

Visdon tried hard to hear clearly, but his ears were pressed tightly by the chain mail, and Volaf's voice was too soft for him to hear at all.

Raven's eyes flashed with surprise, and then he said, "Visdon, you should go back first. Then practice putting on and taking off the chain mail more and be ready to go at any time."

Weisdon didn't understand, but he understood one thing - this armor belonged to him from now on!
"Thank you, brother!" Fearing that Raven would go back on his word, Visdon turned around and ran out of the dungeon.

Seeing him leave, Raven whispered a few words into Volaf's ear, and the latter took his orders and left.

Soon, Volaf returned to the dungeon carrying an exquisitely decorated rosewood box.

……

(End of this chapter)