Translator: AnubisTL
Boom!
A thick bolt of lightning, reeking of sulfur, struck the ground, blasting a bowl-sized crater into the gray rock beneath Jieming's feet.
Jieming remained unmoved, his earth elemental shield as steady as a mountain, completely absorbing the violent electrical surge.
Before him, a Thunderstorm Beetle Magical Beast stood over five meters tall, its body encased in black carapace, hissing furiously as it charged another blinding arc of electricity in its mandibles.
"Wild beasts rely solely on brute force or simple corrosive attacks and venom. Only creatures capable of directly manipulating elemental power can be called magical beasts," Jieming thought, glancing at the gathering thunderstorm overhead. "Their attack methods are more complex and powerful, their energy manipulation more refined, and their combat prowess far surpasses that of ordinary beasts."
The Thunderstorm Beetle Magical Beast before him was a prime example. Not only could it unleash potent lightning strikes, but its hardened carapace also resisted physical impacts, making it a formidable foe for any wizard apprentice.
Yet for Jieming, this creature was merely the perfect target for testing his rune-imbued magical artifacts.
The Thunderstorm Beetle Magical Beast charged again, its six thick, armored legs carving deep furrows into the ground.
Jieming didn't retreat. With a flick of his wrist, he activated the rune-imbued magical artifact.
Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Three high-explosive fireballs, screaming through the air, struck the magical beast's joints with pinpoint accuracy.
Each explosion sent violent tremors through the beetle's massive body. The creature's charge faltered in agony, and it let out a furious yet pained roar.
Seizing the opportunity, Jieming gently rotated the mobility rune artifact. Like a phantom, he circled around to the beast's flank and unleashed another barrage of fireballs, targeting the relatively soft underbelly beneath its carapace.
The raging fire element instantly blasted several charred holes into the beast's abdomen. The searing flames even penetrated the creature's limbs, severing them.
The Thunderstorm Beetle Magical Beast let out a final, mournful cry before collapsing to the ground with a thunderous crash, its electrical aura extinguished.
The entire battle lasted less than ten seconds. Jieming hadn't even broken a sweat.
He sheathed the rune-imbued magical artifact and approached the fallen beast. Using alchemy and analysis art, he scanned the Thunderstorm Beetle Magical Beast's remains and discovered an organ within its body that contained condensed lightning essence.
With practiced ease, he extracted the organ and stowed it in the large beast-hide backpack slung over his shoulder.
"This bag is almost full. Looks like I'll need to find a way to get some space rings when I get back."
In the Wizard World, spatial knowledge is highly advanced, accessible only to wizards of at least the third tier.
However, given the large number of wizards, spatial equipment and skills are not uncommon.
For instance, the training ground in Jieming's laboratory had its internal space expanded by specialists he hired at great expense.
The academy also possessed countless small spatial devices like space pouches. Though pricey, they were still affordable for Jieming.
The only problem was that spatial constants varied across different planes. These devices could only function in a single plane or a few specific ones.
Bringing them to other planes could, at best, render them unusable. At worst, spatial distortions might occur, instantly consuming the user upon entering the plane.
Normally, even the highest-tier spatial equipment was only reliable in planes already conquered and documented by the wizard civilization. Venturing into unknown planes still carried risks.
Space rings, however, were an exception.
These devices required extremely advanced craftsmanship, requiring at least a sixth-tier wizard to create. But their effects were unparalleled.
The interior of the ring was directly imbued with fixed spatial rules, maintaining the stability of the internal space regardless of location.
Correspondingly, its price was staggeringly high.
The most troublesome aspect was that due to the extreme difficulty of manufacturing and the high failure rate, even those with purchasing authorization rarely found any in stock under normal circumstances.
"Mentor Clark is a sixth-tier wizard, isn't he? I wonder if he has any connections... I'll ask him when I get back. Hopefully, he knows a space wizard."
Lost in thought, Jieming suddenly noticed a merit token glowing with a blue light lying quietly on the ground near the magical beast's corpse.
He bent down to pick it up. "This level of magical beast already has a merit token? It looks like it's worth quite a few points. I'm lucky."
He didn't pay much attention to it, simply tucking it into his pouch.
Merit points were merely a byproduct for him; the core focus remained the combat data from the rune-imbued magical artifact and the rare materials of this plane.
Just then, Jieming abruptly looked up in a certain direction, sensing a violent surge of elemental power emanating from that area.
It wasn't a scattered burst of energy, but rather the chaotic mixture of large-scale spells and magical beast clashes.
Activating the mobility rune artifact, Jieming soared into the air and rapidly flew toward the source of the disturbance.
As he approached, Jieming stopped behind a massive red crystal ore deposit and activated his analysis art from a distance, extending his mental power forward.
Through the undulating rocky hills and dense forests of red crystals, he "saw" the battlefield.
A group of wizard apprentices was locked in a fierce battle with a colossal fire elemental beast, its body composed entirely of pure flames and molten lava.
The beast stood over ten meters tall, each step shaking the ground and every attack unleashing a torrent of fire elemental power.
While the beast's destructive power hadn't yet reached the level of a first-tier wizard, it far surpassed that of a third-tier wizard apprentice, making the apprentices' struggle exceedingly difficult.
Jieming observed the apprentices' combat from afar. There were about twelve or thirteen of them, positioned in a dispersed formation that allowed them to support each other, clearly indicating prior teamwork and basic tactical planning.
Just as Jieming watched, one apprentice unleashed a barrage of ice cones at the beast.
"Ice-type spell suppression... Hmm, this apprentice's Ice Cone Technique has a decent casting speed," Jieming mentally assessed.
"But it lacks sustained output. Their attacks are merely a drop in the bucket against this fire elemental beast."
A tall, slender apprentice leaped forward, wand in hand. With a swift gesture, a high-pressure jet of pure water roared forth, striking the fire elemental beast squarely on the head.
"Not bad," Jieming muttered, shaking his head. "Considering the water element is suppressed in this environment, achieving this effect shows decent mental power control. But the Water Arrow spell's attack power is too weak, and the casting frequency is far too low."
These wizards seemed to be Combat Department specialists—elite artillery, likely using pre-fabricated Witchcraft Models they'd simply purchased.
This approach was considered unorthodox by wizards because such models required significant casting time. Their burst damage and sustained output paled in comparison to Witchcraft Models painstakingly researched and self-constructed. This inherent flaw was the price of using someone else's designs.
In contrast, Jieming's alchemy and analysis art operated entirely on instinct, as natural as breathing. Activating them required no casting time whatsoever.
(End of the Chapter)