The Month of Books (August), in the legends of the Starry Continent, is the month of knowledge and wisdom.
As the Month of Books begins, Su Nan also becomes busy, enriching himself.
First, he learns new spells.
He currently only has two first-level spells: [Charm of Humans] and [Shield Spell].
The former's effect is self-evident from its name.
The latter can create an invisible, transparent, tower-sized shield that floats and hovers 360 degrees, automatically blocking attacks from all directions.
Since Shield Spell is actually a force field effect, it can even withstand attacks from intangible objects (mental shocks, soul damage).
Considering his own safety, Su Nan naturally chooses to learn [Shield Spell] first.
[Reading "Shield Spell Model", 'Shield Spell' learning progress +0.02%]
First-level spells are much more difficult than zero-level spells.
Su Nan estimated that with the aid of activating potions, it would take about forty days to master the Shield Spell.
Mastering the Charm Spell wouldn't take much less.
The second task was to create the rune gem.
Considering it was his first attempt, Su Nan chose relatively stable earth energy particles.
The gem he selected was also black opal, compatible with the force field protection attribute.
"It's a pity that star-colored sapphires are too expensive, costing thousands of gold coins each; otherwise, the effect would be much better,"
Su Nan thought regretfully.
Using star-colored sapphires as a carrier would at least double the final product's power.
However, that would be throwing money away, and he didn't have that kind of financial resources yet, so he had to settle for black opal.
Black opal is a green opal with black spots and golden particles, possessing a strange beauty.
As Su Nan injected the condensed earth-yellow energy runes into the gem, it instantly emitted a hazy light.
The light only lasted for four or five seconds before quickly dissipating.
The black opal appeared unchanged, but upon closer inspection, a layer of mysterious and strange patterns could be seen on its surface.
[Successfully created a rune gem; 'Magic Item Creation' learning progress +0.5%]
"Huh?"
Su Nan was slightly taken aback, somewhat surprised.
How did he trigger the [Magic Item Creation] skill?
But after a moment's thought, he quickly understood.
Energy runes were one of the branches of enchanting; items created using energy runes combined with gems could be considered magic items, so triggering the [Magic Item Creation] skill wasn't surprising.
"I originally thought I needed to find relevant books to trigger this skill, but I accidentally triggered it ahead of time."
Su Nan looked at the rune gem in his hand.
This gem, the size of a soybean, contained a large amount of concentrated earth energy particles.
Activating the energy within instantly created a layer of earth elemental protection for himself.
Compared to spells that required preparation time, rune gems, which could be activated instantly, were undoubtedly more practical in combat.
The only drawback was that they were expensive.
Considering the existence of defensive spells like Shield, Su Nan only crafted two Earth Rune Gems before stopping and starting to create offensive Rune Gems.
After all, his offensive spells were all level 0, which were already lagging behind his current level; Rune Gems could compensate for this lack of offensive capabilities.
Lightning, Fire, Frost, and Shadow.
Except for the Fire Rune, which used red zircon, the element with the highest affinity to fire, the other three offensive energy runes used rubies suitable for Evocation spells.
Su Nan crafted three of each type of Rune Gem as spares.
In addition, he crafted two Plant Rune Gems for healing when injured.
Including those destroyed due to errors, Su Nan ultimately consumed a total of eighteen gems, worth over three hundred gold coins.
"Rune Gems are a money pit,"
Su Nan thought to himself.
It was fortunate that he had the support of the entire Blackrock City; otherwise, on his own, let alone rune gems, even collecting wizarding tomes would have been a struggle.
Creating the rune gems took a considerable amount of time, and when Su Nan came to his senses, he realized it was already late at night.
Seeing this, he manipulated energy particles to cleanse his body, then returned to his meditation room, intending to replace sleep with meditation and recover the mental energy consumed in creating the rune gems.
After advancing, Su Nan maintained his maximum meditation time of four hours daily.
However, as his mental energy increased, its growth slowed down.
Currently, meditation only increased his mental energy by an average of 0.01 to 0.02 points per day.
This was even with the aid of activating potions.
"Advancing to a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice requires successfully constructing nine star rings and having a mental energy level of 30 or higher."
"At this rate, it would take at least ten years, or even longer, to advance."
Advancing from a Level 2 Wizard Apprentice to a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice in over ten years would be considered dazzling on the current Starry Continent.
But Su Nan wasn't satisfied.
He was already considering whether to synthesize higher-level potions to assist his meditation.
However, that would require spending even more gold coins each month.
Even if someone were rich, they couldn't afford his money-devouring expenses.
"Unless I reclaim the Radiant Territory and increase its income,"
Su Nan thought, narrowing his eyes.
A moment later, he shook his head, focusing his thoughts on meditation.
The next day,
Su Nan arrived at the room where the giant lizard was imprisoned.
Confined to a cramped cage, and subjected to daily blood and energy draining, the giant lizard had suffered terribly for over a month.
Upon seeing Su Nan enter, it merely raised its eyelids before collapsing to the ground, motionless, seemingly utterly despondent.
Su Nan opened the metal cage, used his Mage's Hand to lift the giant lizard, and then went to the spacious laboratory, placing it on the lab table.
The lab table, over ten meters long, was specially made to match the lizard's enormous size.
Although he had decided to transform the giant lizard into a magical pet, Su Nan didn't immediately put it into action.
Any creature transformed into a magical pet would awaken at least one spell-like ability.
As for what type of spell-like ability can be awakened, it mainly depends on the creature's own abilities.
For example, feline creatures, after being transformed into magical pets, generally awaken spell-like abilities related to illusion or shadow stealth.
Snake creatures, after being transformed into magical pets, generally awaken spell-like abilities related to poison.
As for the strange creature with dragon lizard blood in front of him, Su Nan guessed that the awakened spell-like ability was most likely related to physical enhancement.
For wizard apprentices, this kind of spell-like ability is undoubtedly among the least desirable.
If wizard apprentices want to enhance their bodies, they have many other methods, and there is no need to waste precious awakening opportunities.
Therefore, Su Nan plans to perform physical modifications on the giant lizard before formally contracting and transforming it into a magical pet, so that it can acquire an additional ability, which may awaken an ability other than physical enhancement during the transformation process.
As for the direction of physical modification, the book "Extraction and Modification of the Abilities of the Grimm Chameleon" that he obtained earlier can come in handy.
"Although you're not a chameleon, you belong to the order Squamata, just like chameleons, so your affinity for color-changing abilities should be quite high."
Su Nan waved his hand, and a cage floated out of thin air from the table behind him, landing in his palm.
Inside the cage was a Grimm chameleon.
While this creature wasn't quite at the level of a magical creature, it was still relatively rare.
He had to ask Mu Zhuo of the Fire Fox Merchant Guild to find enough for his experiments.
Swish!
Su Nan waved his hand again, and a sharp scalpel appeared in his hand.
At this moment, the giant lizard finally sensed something was wrong and struggled frantically, but its weak body was no match for the suppression of the mage's hand.
Seeing this, it whimpered and pleaded in a human-like way in its vertical pupils.
"Don't worry, everything will be alright. You'll become even stronger after the experiment."
Su Nan cast a sleeping spell, and the giant lizard's eyelids opened and closed a few times before it quickly fell asleep and stopped struggling.
The sound of a sharp blade cutting through flesh then echoed in the laboratory.
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