12 - Magic Missile

After a night of relentless pursuit, everyone in the room was exhausted. Following Jenny's briefing, they all went their separate ways to rest.

Lynn was no exception. He picked a reasonably decent room, half-closed the broken door, and didn't mind the dust covering the wooden bed. He lay down immediately.

Throughout the past week since his arrival in this world, Lynn had kept his guard up, even when sleeping. He was afraid that guards would burst in at any moment. Now, he could finally relax a bit.

"Greenville..."

Lynn murmured the name of the wizarding city Jenny had mentioned. Unlike Will and the others, who were skeptical, Lynn didn't find it strange at all that a group of magic-using wizards had gathered to study magic intensively. In fact, he thought it was perfectly normal. On the other hand, the Church's theological approach was quite strange to him.

For Lynn, going to the wizarding city was an excellent choice. In a place that valued magic and knowledge, he could better utilize his skills without worrying about being captured one day.

In the Sekas Empire controlled by the Church, he couldn't even find a place to farm and tinker with technology in peace.

If some divine intervention were to target him, there'd be no reasoning with it. Even if he managed to create anti-magic weapons, there was no guarantee he could defend against it.

After weighing the pros and cons, Lynn temporarily abandoned his plan to go alone, but a sense of unease still lingered in his mind. He didn't believe that the sense of danger he had felt in the forest was a mere illusion.

Jenny, Dove, Will, Buck, and Barton... Their images flashed through Lynn's mind. In the six months since he had become an apprentice wizard, his relationships with these people were superficial, with no personal grievances or grudges. This made it unlikely that the attack was due to personal vendettas.

As for who could have done it, Lynn thought for a moment, and he could rule out Jenny. Not because of the small affection he had for her, but because Jenny had the least suspicion. As the apparent leader of the group and the one who had proposed the escape plan, if Jenny had betrayed them, it was better for Lynn to escape as soon as possible.

Next was Dove. Her ability to control animals was crucial, serving as the team's eyes and ears. If someone like her changed sides, it would be a nightmare. The parchment Jenny had sent was also written by Dove, and the message had been delivered by her ravens. If either of them was compromised, Karl might have died before Lynn even arrived.

Lynn was hesitant about the remaining three: Buck and Barton, the twins, who took care of each other and could potentially deceive Jenny and the others. He knew very little about Will, who was a descendant of some count within the Sekas Empire.

Lynn closed his eyes and recollected every detail of his interactions with the other apprentice wizards. Then, he thought about the hidden passage in the Drunken Spirit Tavern, Old Hawk, the Wizarding City, Lame Laut...

A vague guess flashed through his mind. Lynn suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in bed, and a sense of inexplicable coldness gradually overcame him.

Click.

At that exact moment, the door's hinge creaked, and the half-closed door was pushed open.

Already on high alert, Lynn instinctively drew the longsword from his waist and slashed it in the direction of the door. When he saw who it was, his sword froze in mid-air.

"Jenny?" Lynn was somewhat surprised.

The silver-haired witch was holding her right hand in front of the sword's edge. It was then that Lynn noticed that the young woman was wearing a pure black leather glove with many intricate and mysterious inscriptions on its surface.

It seemed to be some kind of alchemical item.

"Did you have a nightmare?" The silver-haired witch furrowed her brows lightly, not quite understanding why Lynn had such a strong reaction all of a sudden. After a brief pause, she explained further, "I knocked on the door a moment ago, but you didn't respond."

Lynn nodded, sheathed his sword, and curiously asked, "It's so late; is there something you need?"

"My teacher mentioned this to me earlier. He said that when you master the first-tier magic spell, Icy Blade,' I should give this to you." Jenny looked melancholic as she took out a thick book about two fingers thick from her pocket and handed it to Lynn. The cover was inscribed with the words [Basic Magic Compendium] in a rough Common tongue.

Lynn curiously took the book and opened it. The entire book was made from coarse parchment paper. On the first page, the first type of magic was recorded - [Magic Missile]

Like [Elementary Material Deconstruction], [Magic Missile] was also a zero-tier magic spell of a special category. Its power was weaker than "Icy Blade" and "Fireball," but it had the advantage of being a pure magical creation, requiring no preparation of casting materials and having no upper limit on control.

In theory, as long as you had enough magic power, creating hundreds of "Magic Missiles" at once was not impossible.

Of course, having a large quantity wasn't enough; any wizard had a limited amount of energy. An apprentice wizard could control two or three missiles at most without becoming distracted in combat.

But there was a solution to this problem.

Lynn flipped through the pages. On the second page of the "Basic Magic Compendium," there were numerous curved diagrams and many complex Helramm formulas below.

After careful study, Lynn roughly understood what Jenny was trying to convey. To surpass the control limit of "Magic Missile," you needed to establish a three-dimensional coordinate system in your mind with yourself at the center and preset the flight path of the "Magic Missiles."

The flight path could not only be straight but also curved. In other words, the caster could create a vast, overwhelming, and difficult-to-block barrage attack from different directions and angles.

This involved linear and curvilinear equations in three-dimensional space.

Lynn stroked his chin, thinking that this task didn't seem too difficult.

Since "Magic Missile" was purely a magical creation and was minimally affected by gravity, one only needed to consider inertia and wind speed.

Seeing Lynn's keen interest in studying the pages, Jenny couldn't help but offer a reminder. "These are magical formulas created by the great wizard Helramm. They can further enhance the power of 'Magic Missile,' but for us at our current level, it's still too difficult. You'd better not waste too much energy on it."

Lynn quickly scanned the pages again, confirming that his thoughts were accurate. He then closed the book and casually replied.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Jenny saw that Lynn was being somewhat dismissive and sighed in resignation. She remembered being just like Lynn, fascinated with these intricate formulas when she first started with magic. It was only after hitting a wall that she gained some self-awareness.

TL/n - 

The author uses different systems; tier-system for a few chapters then shifts to circle-system and then moves to the level system.

I'll be keeping everything based on tier-system as long as possible.