Chapter 940 - 433: Rain, Rain, Rain
In the spell-casting system of the Realm of Innocence, whether it is mages controlling elements, shamans communicating with the force of nature, priests borrowing divine power, or magicians wielding dark power and negative energies, they all have the capability to perform combined spells. The forms of these spells can range from sketching a basic spell model and collectively infusing magic power, to more complex and highly divided multi-attribute composite magic.
Thus, we can easily see that regardless of the type of power, possessing ’magic power’ is the fundamental prerequisite for any spellcaster. This concept might seem abstract in the real world, but it is absolute common knowledge on the Innocent Continent. To put it simply, ’magic power’ is quite similar to ’physical strength,’ with the only difference being that it is not essential for survival. Ordinary people can still walk, eat, and work even with scant amounts of magic power.
And the similarities between the two are numerous, such as being used to fight, accumulated through training, and having extremely high limits, amongst other things.
Moreover, neither can be ’used directly.’
For example, you can pick up a ten-pound dumbbell to hit someone, but you can’t use the strength to lift the ten-pound dumbbell as a means to strike, because ’strength’ (in the literal sense) is not an offensive tool.
The same goes for magic power. It can drive elements and such to execute attacks, defense, support, healing, and other operations, but it itself has no lethality.
To irresponsibly make a comparison, a warrior chopping people with a longsword through his strength is not fundamentally different from a mage bombarding people with a fireball using his magic power.
As strength and skills enhance, chopping with a longsword might turn into a blade storm; as magic power and skills enhance, elemental fireballs might turn into fiery meteor showers, but the nature remains unchanged.
At most, it’s just changing smashing someone’s face with a ten-pound dumbbell to doing so with a twenty-pound dumbbell, fifteen or sixteen flying knives, concentrated sulfuric acid, lime powder, lead balls, machetes, washing machines, salted fish, and intercontinental missiles.
Diverse methods, each with its own strengths, but the essence remains the same, all roads leading to the same destination.
And combined spell casting is just one of the ways of utilizing magic power. If performed correctly, its lethality can absolutely match that of a Knight Order making a group charge where 1+1 adds up to more than 2.
But for spellcasters... especially low-level spellcasters, combined spell-casting has a prerequisite: there needs to be a ’core’ for macro regulation. This core is usually assigned to someone who commands dominant strength in magic power, spiritual power, and control power. For example, in combined spell-casting primarily involving low to middle-rank mages, the core’s minimal required strength must be at least high-level; otherwise, they definitely wouldn’t be able to maintain stable spell forms and manage the coordination of magic power.
It is well known that combined spell-casting is worthwhile only when a group of people jointly cast or coordinate to produce a spell, not when a group of people all use the same magic at the same time.
The main role of the core is to coordinate and balance the supply of magic power.
As for combined spell-casting where the main force consists of high-level professionals or above, it is relatively simpler because everyone’s foundation is solid enough that they can quickly find the rhythm even without a core. However, if the spell involves a collective curse that requires magician-level participants, then a Sage-level core is indispensable.
This is similar to why a very amateur orchestra must have a conductor, a quite professional orchestra might sometimes manage without one, and an orchestra that gathers various formidable experts definitely needs a conductor.
Meanwhile, the mages in the combined forces are similar to a particularly amateur orchestra that hasn’t even found a conductor yet.
In the entirety of Misha County, not a single high-level mage can be found!
A few Archbishops of an adequate rank did come from Holy Land, but the problem is that divine arts are too peculiar and entirely different concepts compared to elements, natural forces, and other miscellaneous energies, so they really aren’t of much help.
Thus, Mo Tan, after realizing the situation and sighing in frustration, prepared to give up on the highly cost-effective method of combined spell-casting. However, Luna, who Feather Song had urgently pulled into a meeting, gave everyone a surprise!
She mentioned that if the problem were merely about coordination among spellcasters, she might be able to provide a little help...
And then the next day, she brought along two teams of civilian craftsmen, about twenty magicians specializing in the Earth Element School, and seven or eight shamans who got along well with the spirit of the earth to the Enemy Encounter Area No. 0 to build three towers.
Namely, Resonance Tower number one, number two, and um, number three.
Once the three units named "Magic Energy Regulator" crystal cores were activated, a strange ’field’ emerged among these towers. In a clever manner beyond a specified threshold, they coordinated the magic power gathered in the area. The underlying principle was a bit complex—Mo Tan and the others didn’t fully understand it—the essence was to create an atmosphere akin to high-level spellcasters performing a combined casting, using external forces to help these low and middle-rank mages find their rhythm.
Incidentally, this device was initially created by Luna to help herself regulate the temperature of her crucible, but it turned out to be extremely effective on the battlefield!
The combined spell of the "Torrential Rain Spell" just cast by hundreds of spellcasters with the help of the Resonance Towers had already well demonstrated this point.