Chapter 143: War (2)
Several months passed in the blink of an eye. Selena's wizard tower was complete. At seventy-seven meters tall, it was rather miniature for a wizard tower.
However, a wizard tower's internal space could never be judged solely by its exterior. Selena had incorporated a massive amount of spatial materials and folding techniques inside.
The tower's first floor alone was the size of a school, and the vast area was packed with Lizardmen. These Lizardmen radiated a heavy, blood-forged aura. They wore standard-issue equipment and bore physical traits vastly different from the rest of their kin—clear signs that they had undergone a class transformation ritual and survived real battlefields.
"Where did you buy their class transformations?" Lynn asked.
He figured that if the price was right, he could buy a transformation ritual for Lauren as well.
"I made them myself," Selena smiled.
"Yourself?" Lynn frowned, then his expression cleared in sudden realization. "Right, these class transformation rituals are connected to the Wizard Network. And the Wizard Network was created by wizards—which is what we are."
"It costs merit points," Selena explained. "It's actually quite simple. Once you reach Rank 2 authority, you can unlock custom templates for your followers. There are countless spell models uploaded by wizards on the Wizard Network, and you just need to spend the required amount."
"Wait—these spell models. If I upload my own, can I earn merit points too?" Lynn homed in on the detail about wizards uploading their own models.
The competition was intense. They were even competing over spell creation.
Even with Lady Maybetessa's experience to draw upon, Lynn still ran into a few minor design issues.
Meanwhile, after helping Selena finish her wizard tower, Lynn had also begun constructing his own.
He decided he would wait until he became an official wizard before considering this path.
One only needed to pick a suitable general enhancement route and select a few spells; the merit points required varied depending on the spells chosen for the template.
"You'll have to work hard at it," Selena warned. "You can't just casually tweak a spell and upload it. The Wizard Network automatically checks for duplicates. But even with that restriction, the number of spells recorded on the network is astronomical."
Lynn could only shake his head.
At the bottom of the blue-gray foundation, layers of cyan runes shimmered with a faint light beneath the blue bricks.
It was a bit like the "grand vow" methods used by those bald monks, taking out a "loan" from the heavens and earth. If the Magic Net encountered a problem, the Goddess of Magic would be severely affected, but conversely, if the Goddess of Magic encountered a problem, the Magic Net would continue on perfectly fine.
The Wizard Network was likely something similar. Lynn was left speechless. This thing absorbed energy from the natural world to sustain itself; relying purely on manpower to maintain such a colossal entity was simply impossible.
"Right, and the rest is all operating costs."
However, through Lynn's diligent efforts, these minor design issues were gradually overcome.
Operating a custom template was very straightforward.
The most common method was adding a class suffix after the race name—such as Goblin Warrior, Elven Mage, or Titan Knight. These were clearly class transformations enhanced through the general routes.
"So what does a custom template look like?" Lynn asked curiously.
Seeing Lynn's expression, Selena found it amusing. "If they say there are operating costs, then there are operating costs. Who can argue when they have a monopoly on it? Besides, even if it's only a ten-percent cut, it's still a massive sum."
In the spacious clearing, a six-sided pyramidal wizard tower stood tall.
With the experience gained from helping Selena, Lynn built his wizard tower much faster. In just a week, he had already finished constructing the levitation foundation at the bottom of the aerial template.
He was only one final advancement Transformation Ritual away from becoming a Tier 1 Wizard.
It seemed that every major wizard faction had a primary research focus.
The Wizard Network provided basic enhancement routes, such as general class transformations for warriors, mages, archers, and the like.
But Selena had not yet broken through. She was waiting for the right opportunity, aiming to break through and become an official wizard within a greater plane.
Selena thought for a moment before explaining it to Lynn.
"The Temple of Spells' Fireball Spell is the easiest to master, and it consumes the least mental energy. The Fireball Spell researched by the Castle of Truth is the most difficult to master, but packs the greatest destructive power. The version researched by the Arcane Council has the fastest casting speed. This is just a comparison between these three houses' Fireball Spells. Compared to other versions, all three offer far superior overall performance."
"Haha, then I'll look forward to the day I can use your spells." Selena covered her mouth with a light chuckle. "Anyway, I'm not good at researching and developing spells. In the wizard world, there are factions entirely dedicated to spell research, like the Temple of Spells, the Castle of Truth, and the Arcane Council. I heard that even for a simple Fireball Spell, those three factions have developed three entirely different versions."
"Of course. The spell's uploader permanently receives a ten-percent cut of the revenue every time their spell is used. Are you thinking of creating spells too?" Selena smiled warmly.
However, according to Selena, the combat power boost from these general templates was only considered average. Truly powerful followers all used custom templates.
Operating costs, my ass. The Wizard Network didn't have any damn operating costs!
It was just like the Magic Net—although it was related to the Goddess of Magic, it was primarily born from Her authority, and once born, it operated automatically. While its connection to the Goddess was incredibly close, it simultaneously transcended Her.
Meanwhile, Lynn stayed behind in Demon City to install his wizard tower. As he funneled in all the materials he had purchased, the tower's first and second floors were rapidly assembled. The wizard tower gradually took shape piece by piece. Lynn installed almost all of the acquired components—except for the Dalifen Fiend Horn, as he had not yet designed a way to install it.
"Alright, I'll think about it later," Lynn said, shaking his head. It didn't sound simple at all.
At this time, the passage to the greater plane finally opened. After discussing it with Lynn, Selena took her followers and entered ahead of him to gather intelligence and find a suitable battlefield to accumulate merit points.
"Out of all those spells, only a fraction are actually in regular use. Most of them have overlapping functions, so wizards decide what to use based on overall cost-effectiveness. If your spell doesn't have unique traits, it won't sell."
"Maybe I have a talent for it," Lynn smiled.
"What's the difference?" Lynn asked with curiosity.
"Only ten percent?"
During his subsequent design work, Lynn had discovered that the pen-holder-like structure of a traditional six-sided tower was somewhat unstable during flight. Through constant adjustments, he ultimately found that a pyramidal wizard tower offered the most stable levitation and made excellent use of external space. Therefore, he abandoned his original idea.
In the central area of one of the wizard tower's six faces was a recessed section. A single horn floated within this depression—this was the tower's Attack Module.
Based on its three adjustable tiers of power, Lynn named them the Dalifen Fiend Punishment, Dalifen Fiend Judgment, and Dalifen Fiend Annihilation.
Although the wizard tower had not yet reached Lynn's expected final form, the portions that were currently completed were already enough for initial combat deployment.