"By all that is divine, you dare say you're not a demigod," Lucretia said with gritted teeth. A good way to test an [Enchanter]'s ability is whether they can bewitch ordinary items or conjure items. The resistance they face when enchanting these things is the most challenging, hence why it's used to test their ability.
However, Christian casually enchanted the metal that Lucretia summoned/conjured/ created. Such skill alone is scary for a twelve-year-old, but the following act was even more shocking. He first tried another challenging skill of enchanters called [Stacking]. Although he failed, he proceeded to master another high-level skill, [Multiple Active Enchantment].
Any enchanter that can add more than one enchantment to an item can graduate from an apprentice to a [Low Enchanter]. However, only [Middle Enchanters] can allow an item to activate more than one enchantment at once. In the Ptolemaic Empire, even low enchanters are sought after, let alone middle or high enchanters.
Sadly, this profession requires years of intense study and mental training, making it rare for people to hold such a title. It also doesn't help that the three Grand Enchanters of the empire are all bloodless wizards. They have made it clear that they will not teach anyone with a bloodline, resulting in a confrontation between the nobles and them.
While Grand Enchanters are respected and possess great power, their political influence pales in comparison to that of the blood crests and blood families that rule over this empire.
"Still not a demigod," Christian responded, quite speechless.
"I'm starting to agree with Lucretia," Xin'er added. "Such talent can only be seen in people born of divine heritage or blessed by the gods." Although Menes was quiet, his eyes made similar assumptions.
'Is it?' Christian thought he felt what he did was not so extraordinary; the crux of the issue is to focus and find the right solution to the problem. He knew of his talent, but he never perceived it to be so exaggerated. 'Maybe it's one of those problems I'm too close to see.'
"Never mind all that," Christian said. "Enter the bag so we can pass this area." The team sighed before following his words. He shrunk them so they could enter, and Christian did the same to himself. The statue picked up the bag and closed its hands to ensure it protected it at all costs before walking through this danger zone.
Christian and everyone else waited inside the bag above the hole until the pebble dropped. Everything was calm until Christian's face suddenly turned ugly before quickly returning to normal, but Lucretia, who was secretly peeking at him, noticed this change.
"Is something wrong?" she asked.
"No."
"Then, why did you make that expression?"
"I just thought of something unpleasant," Christian replied calmly.
"I'm curious what made you react so severely," she continued.
"What's with all the questions?" Christian snapped.
"Since when did you inherit Zeus' volatile mood? I was merely curious," Lucretia countered, but she no longer asked any questions. Meanwhile, Christian was left to himself. 'I hope nothing goes wrong,' he thought. He suddenly had an idea: what would have happened if the statue failed to protect the bag and the wind blades destroyed it?
The best-case scenario is that all the bag's contents are released outside. Still, there is also the possibility that the bag's internal space collapses with the annihilation of its external space. Or, the internal space is preserved but no longer accessible; however, that would also mean the team would be stuck in this place, with nowhere to escape. All these thoughts flashed in Christian's mind, which is why he had that expression.
'All this worry is stressing me out,' Christian thought, deciding to distract himself. So, he conjured a pen and paper to write Entry 36: Extension Charm Experiment: What will happen to the Internal Space of an Extension Charm Object if the External Space is Destroyed? (Danger Level: Extreme High)
Christianwrote down all his thoughts, including numerous outrageous possibilities for this experiment, such as creating a magical singularity similar to a black hole. That's one of the main reasons he gave this experiment such a high level of danger.
"Are you done?" Lucretia asked.
"The pebble is already dropped?"
"More than 10 minutes ago."
"She's exaggerating; it's only been less than 2 minutes," Xin'er said.
"Don't suck up to him," Lucretia sneered.
"Alright, let's leave." Christian looked at the statue, and as expected, it was intact. One of the shields was still barely usable. "Worthy of one of my first great works. Lucretia, how long can this statue last?"
"It should be a little over 2 hours, but after your enchantment, it will probably disappear soon."
"Only 2 hours?" Christian said, not hiding his disappointment. His conjured items can last a minimum of three days, and even after enchanting them, he calculated they could last at least 12 hours.
"Not everyone is lucky enough like you to receive Hecate's embrace," Lucretia sneered. His words seemed to have hit a sore spot. Christian looked at her, and the tension immediately increased. Poor Xin'er wanted to say something, but Menes held her back.
"Do you think I got this powerful merely because of talent?"
"Isn't it?"
"I started studying magic when I was 10, but before that, I had learned 10 languages without any potion and meditated for 2 years. I spent a year learning swordsmanship to train my hand-eye coordination for wand movement, learned archery to train my spell accuracy, and finally, I trained in evasive combat for survival.
"Then, when it was finally time to learn magic, I spent at least 6 hours daily reading or training. I have stacks of magic notes decomposing every spell I know or read about, from the wand movement to the different effects of pronunciations to real-life applications in combat or non-combat."
Christian looked her in the eyes. "I don't know what the situation in your family is like, but that makes you believe that talent is all it takes to succeed in life, but that could not be further from the truth.
"I'll tell you an inspiring quote that I've always lived by: Success is 99% effort and 1% talent."
Lucretia opened her mouth to rebut, but she could not think of a response, so she could only lower her head. Xin'er muttered the phrase "success is 99% effort and 1% talent" with shining eyes. Meanwhile, Menes was a little gloomy as he muttered "talent" to himself repeatedly. However, he soon started to sweat and had to wipe his forehead.
"Alright, let's see what the rest of this maze has in store for us," Christian said, and the team continued their journey. They didn't take long to reach their next obstacle: a sea of lightning.
"First was that strange root, followed by wind blades, and now lightning — are those next test elemental bases?" Christian observed.
"You may have a point," Xin'er nodded, but she was occupied with keeping an eye on Lucretia to ensure she was alright. Christian was not paying close attention as he was already in action. He removed the copper bracelet on his right hand before turning it into a lightning rod, and with a second tap of his wand, the rod turned humongous.
Christian controlled the rod with a Levitation Charm to fly over the area of lightning.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Bolts after bolts of lightning rushed toward the rod, but it remained intact. "Perfect," Christian uttered as he controlled the rod to return. According to one of his experiments, magic can follow scientific rules or magical rules. A perfect example of this concept was Christian's tactic of boosting his flame spell by conjuring more oxygen in the environment.
When he uses the Incendio Charm, this tactic works. However, if he were to conjure any other magical flames, such as the Bluebell Flames, this method would not work. So, after seeing this lightning field, he decided to test what kind of rules the lightning was operating by.
"Come on, gather together."
The team huddled under the giant lightning rod before slowly navigating through this land of death and danger.