Chapter 20: The Not-So-Practical Transformation Ability

In the spacious study, the bright candlelight flickered, casting long shadows on the walls.

Sunan sat at the desk, engrossed in Extraction and Modification of the Green Chameleon's Abilities.

The chameleon was so named for its ability to change its skin color to match its surroundings.

This physiological change was mainly achieved through the regulation of the autonomic nervous system, which expanded or contracted pigment cells in the skin.

The Green Chameleon's camouflage ability was several levels higher than that of ordinary chameleons, almost reaching invisibility.

Even standing in front of an ordinary person, it would be difficult to spot with the naked eye.

The author of this book had extracted the Green Chameleon's camouflage ability, modified and enhanced it, and then transplanted it into a human body, allowing humans to acquire a similar ability.

It was certainly an ingenious idea.

However, in Sunan's view, the resulting transformation ability wasn't very practical.

Firstly, the essence of this ability was to change one's external appearance based on the environment. No matter how fast the transformation process was, it still required time, inevitably resulting in a slight lag.

Those with less keen senses might not notice, but a wizard apprentice would definitely spot the discrepancy.

Ultimately, this ability was only useful against ordinary people or knights and had no effect on wizard apprentices. It was still quite different from true invisibility.

True invisibility was a second-ring spell, learnable by level 3 wizard apprentices.

Therefore, only those who had no hope of reaching level 3 would consider this transformation.

Secondly, physical modification wasn't something to be undertaken lightly.

The human body was highly adaptable – many wizard physical modification experiments used human subjects – but once a modification was performed, further modifications or bloodline fusions became exponentially more difficult.

Therefore, although many wizards (and apprentices) didn't mind modifying themselves, they would do so with great caution.

If it were up to Sunan, he wouldn't bother with this camouflage ability.

However, the book still had some reference value and could be useful for similar experiments in the future.

Putting the book aside, Sunan took out the parchment scroll on Energy Runes and spread it out on the table.

He then opened the drawer and retrieved a few gemstones, placing them on the table.

The reason Energy Runes required a level 3 wizard apprentice to cast was that they were entirely composed of energy particles, demanding precise control over those particles.

Level 1 apprentices, who could only sense energy particles, and level 2 apprentices, who only had rudimentary control, naturally couldn't use them.

However, if a medium was provided for the Energy Runes to increase their stability, even a level 2 apprentice with less refined control could use them.

Many players in his previous life had used this method to utilize Energy Runes before reaching the required level.

Gems were one of the few suitable mediums for Energy Runes.

"But this way, Energy Runes become single-use consumables, requiring a gem each time. That's quite a cost."

Sunan picked up a gem, examining it under the candlelight.

Even so, mastering a powerful combat technique was worth the cost of a few gems.

Even someone as strong as Earl Storm had been critically injured by assassins. This world was far more dangerous than he had anticipated.

To ensure his safety, the more combat techniques he mastered, the better.

"First, I'll learn this technique, and once I reach level 2, I'll immediately create Energy Rune gems!"

Having made his decision, Sunan focused on the contents of the scroll.

Time flew by.

Five days later.

His puppet creation skill finally reached 100%.

A new skill appeared on his panel: [Puppet Creation].

Standing at the entrance of the laboratory, Sunan nodded in satisfaction as he looked at the brand-new puppet creation equipment inside.

After returning from the Blackrock Mine, he had copied the equipment blueprints and asked the blacksmiths in the city to create the equipment.

It had been completed and delivered to the laboratory a few days ago.

Now that he had mastered the puppet creation skill, he could finally try creating Blackrock Panthers.

More than 90% of a Blackrock Panther's body was composed of Blackrock Iron, which was also one of the main materials.

The other key material was the energy core.

For this, Sunan chose to use gemstones.

After all, he didn't have any soul crystals and didn't know how to create them.

Even if he did, he couldn't create them now.

Soul crystals, as the name suggested, were crystals formed from souls.

Their raw material was purified souls.

To create the lowest-grade soul crystal, at least a thousand ordinary human souls were required.

Or dozens of knight souls.

Sunan currently had no way of obtaining either.

He could only settle for using gems to create the energy core.

With the complete experimental records and his newly acquired puppet creation skill, Sunan successfully created a Blackrock Panther on his first attempt.

To his surprise, he could place the Blackrock Panther into the Synthesis Cube.

[Blackrock Panther (Puppet/Primary Knight-level): A puppet creature made of Blackrock Iron, possessing the ability to move through Blackrock Iron veins. Can replenish energy and recover from injuries by consuming Blackrock Iron.]

"It seems that non-living objects can also be synthesized and upgraded."

Sunan nodded to himself.

This meant he could use Blackrock Panthers to synthesize even stronger puppets.

As for the 'ability to move through Blackrock Iron veins' mentioned in the description, Sunan had already read about it in Anger McLean's experimental diary.

He had been somewhat disappointed at the time, as he had initially thought the Blackrock Panthers possessed a more general earth-tunneling ability.

"Well, if it really had that ability, it wouldn't be just a low-level puppet."

Shaking his head, Sunan looked at the leftover Blackrock Iron in the corner.

"Creating a Blackrock Panther requires about five tons of Blackrock Iron. For the gems, I can use cheaper ones. The total cost is about thirty-eight gold coins."

This was enough to buy two or three good warhorses.

However, considering their combat strength, the Blackrock Panthers were clearly more cost-effective.

"Forget it, I'll let my brother worry about the money. I'll just focus on creating puppets."

High-level puppets could automatically absorb ambient energy particles to replenish their energy and recover from injuries, but the Blackrock Panthers clearly didn't have this ability. Therefore, they could only achieve the same effect by consuming Blackrock Iron.

However, with the current energy particle concentration in the Starlight Continent, Sunan estimated that even if he created high-level puppets, they proba

bly wouldn't be able to absorb enough energy particles from the air.