As the sword and stone clashed, brilliant sparks scattered in all directions like a spider's web.
A sudden and inexplicable palpitation filled Blaine's mind. Before he could react, everything in front of him was engulfed by the leaping flames.
Boom!
A violent explosion resounded in the quiet lower district. Nearby, Lynn was thrown to the ground by the shockwave of the explosion. At the same time, the sound of the AI interface chimed in.
"(Energy depleted, overload mode terminated...)"
Coughing, Lynn scrambled to his feet from the ground. He felt a profound emptiness; consecutive spellcasting had drained his magical energy.
Compared to Lynn, who had been affected by the blast, Blaine, at the center of the explosion, looked much worse.
When the dust settled, Lynn couldn't help but gasp. Blaine, at the epicenter of the explosion, no longer resembled a human. His right arm, holding the sword, had been blown off halfway. The exposed skin was black and red, and his chestplate was shattered, revealing the mangled flesh and pale bones underneath.
What was even more horrifying was that the intense explosion had instantly depleted the surrounding oxygen. Blaine's piercing screams lasted for a dozen seconds before abruptly ceasing.
Lynn felt a chill. He had heard of the power of methane gas explosions in news reports, but seeing it firsthand was an entirely different experience, especially since he had caused it himself.
If Blaine hadn't been so far away and if the trajectory of his "Fireball Spell" hadn't been easy to predict, he wouldn't have risked using the methane gas explosion to lure and kill him. It was also thanks to the magical ability to manipulate the flow of air to some extent, coupled with the abundance of "materials" in the lower district, that he managed to achieve the required concentration for the explosion.
Lynn picked up the fallen sword from the ground and cautiously checked Blaine's condition.
Despite the severity of his injuries, Blaine had somehow not died immediately. Both of his eyes, stripped of their skin, stared intensely at Lynn, and he made a gurgling sound from his damaged vocal cords.
"Let me send you on your way. No need to thank me," Lynn said coldly. He couldn't help but harbor a deep resentment for Blaine, who had intruded into his home and forced him into a corner, but he had no intention of torturing him. In this state, Blaine was unlikely to reveal any useful information.
In this way, death would be the best outcome for him.
Lynn raised his sword and accurately pierced Blaine's heart. He watched as Blaine's body trembled violently and then fell silent.
Perhaps it was the influence of his hatred, or maybe it was the remnants of his original self, but Lynn felt surprisingly little discomfort about ending a life. Instead, it was the aftereffects of his previous spellcasting that occasionally caused his brain to throb.
Confirming that Blaine was truly dead, Lynn's tense expression finally relaxed. He staggered and leaned on his sword to avoid falling to the ground.
"071..." Lynn called out in his mind, but received no response. Recalling the earlier notification sound, he understood that the AI interface had likely shut down temporarily due to energy depletion.
With no clear solution to this, Lynn could only wait for 071 to replenish its energy. At this moment, he was filled with confusion.
What exactly was the magic used by wizards, and how could it manipulate chemical elements? And those strange runes that had inexplicably appeared in his mind just now...
What left Lynn in deep contemplation was the fact that in the AI interface's overload mode, he could directly convert magic into hydrogen and oxygen.
Did that mean magic could be converted into any other element?
If that were the case, the mystical nature of this phenomenon would likely surpass his expectations.
"Come with me! I shall reveal the truth of this world to you!"
Recalling the words his mentor, Coru, had spoken six months ago, Lynn couldn't help but shudder. Perhaps that old wizard had not been deceiving him back then.
It's no wonder that the original person, Karl, would abandon a stable life with food and clothing to become a wizard's apprentice.
The only regret was that Karl's time learning magic had been too short, and with Coru having more than one apprentice, the teaching time was limited, and Lynn couldn't delve into more secrets.
The aftereffects of excessive magic consumption had left Lynn quite apprehensive. When he cast his last spell, he had thought his brain was about to explode, and his body felt as weak as if he had been seriously ill, longing for a good rest.
However, Lynn knew that now was not the time to rest. Although he had dealt with two enemies, the commotion caused by the battle in the slums was considerable. It wouldn't be long before it reached the local Inquisition, and they would likely dispatch more people to capture him.
The top priority was to find a place to hide and figure out a way to contact another wizard.
Lynn looked down at Blaine's corpse and poked it with his sword. He then cut open the damaged pouch at his waist, and a small pile of coins spilled out.
One Secas gold coin, seven silver coins, and over ten copper coins.
Seeing these well-made coins that hadn't been destroyed by the explosion, Lynn's mood improved slightly.
As a noble's illegitimate child, Karl hadn't been particularly wealthy, and with half a year of running away from home, occasionally supporting his mentor's research, he could barely afford to eat...
With this windfall, he wouldn't have to risk returning to that dilapidated house. Going back now would likely be a death trap.
"Hmm." Lynn bent down to gather the coins when he unexpectedly found a rolled parchment of parchment among the coins.
Under the scorching heat, most of the writing had become illegible. Lynn could barely make out characters like "Ur Town," "Moonshine Day," "Jonny," and "Seventeen Copper Coins."
"Ur Town?" Lynn murmured to himself. Out of caution, he didn't destroy the parchment on the spot. Instead, he decided to keep the burnt parchment.
He needed someone who could answer his questions, and going to Ur Town to find other apprentices seemed like a good choice.
At least it would be much more reliable than searching for the hidden wizards on his own.
As Lynn contemplated his next steps, he reached down and grabbed Blaine's ankle, dragging the body toward the nearby foul-smelling Inlet River.
In a world where magic and sorcery existed, even the dead could not be trusted. In case the Inquisition of this world possessed resurrection magic, there was a risk of his information being revealed.
The safest method was to dispose of the body along with it!
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