After a night of relentless pursuit, everyone in the room was exhausted. Following Jonny's briefing, they all went their separate ways to rest.
Lynn was no exception. She picked a reasonably decent room, half-closed the broken door, and didn't mind the dust covering the wooden bed. She lay down immediately.
Throughout the past week since her arrival in this world, Lynn had kept her guard up, even when sleeping. She was afraid that guards would burst in at any moment. Now, she could finally relax a bit.
"Greenreel..."
Lynn murmured the name of the wizarding city Jonny 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, she thought it was perfectly normal. On the other hand, the Church's theological approach was quite strange to her.
For Lynn, going to the wizarding city was an excellent choice. In a place that valued magic and knowledge, she could better utilize her skills without worrying about being captured one day.
In the Secastian Empire controlled by the Church, she couldn't even find a place to farm and tinker with technology in peace.
If some divine intervention were to target her, there'd be no reasoning with it. Even if she managed to create anti-matter weapons, there was no guarantee she could defend against it.
After weighing the pros and cons, Lynn temporarily abandoned her plan to go alone, but a sense of unease still lingered in her mind. She didn't believe that the sense of danger she had felt in the forest was a mere illusion.
Jonny, Dove, Will, Buck, and Barton... Their images flashed through Lynn's mind. In the six months since she had become an apprentice wizard, her 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 she could rule out Jonny. Not because of the small affection she had for her, but because Jonny had the least suspicion. As the apparent leader of the group and the one who had proposed the escape plan, if Jonny 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 Jonny had mentioned was also written by Dove, and the message had been delivered by her ravens. If either of them was compromised, Carl 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 Jonny and the others. She knew very little about Will, who was a descendant of some count within the Secastian Empire.
Lynn closed her eyes and recollected every detail of her interactions with the other apprentice wizards. Then, she thought about the hidden passage in the Drunken Ghost Tavern, Old Hawk, the Wizarding City, Lame Loude...
A vague guess flashed through her mind. Lynn suddenly opened her eyes, sat up in bed, and a sense of inexplicable coldness gradually overcame her.
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 her waist and slashed it in the direction of the door. When she saw who it was, her sword froze in mid-air.
"Jonny?" 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, she sheathed her 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, 'Frostblade,' I should give this to you." Jonny 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 "Basic Matter Disruption," "Magic Missile" was also a zero-tier magic spell of a special category. Its power was weaker than "Frostblade" 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 Jonny 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 her 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, Jonny 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."
"I'll keep that in mind." Lynn quickly scanned the pages again, confirming that her thoughts were accurate. She then closed the book and casually replied.
Jonny 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...
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