89: Chapter 0089 The Enigmatic Butterfly

"Sharpness Spell" is a Zero-Ring Sorcery rarer than "Resistance Enhancement," belonging to the Metal School.

It can attach an invisible Demonic Energy field, condensed from metal runes, to the edge of a weapon.

This allows ordinary iron to briefly possess the trait of cutting through rune armor, making it the preferred auxiliary sorcery for melee wizards.

Runes of the Metal School are known for being hard and wear-resistant, and the force field of this sorcery can even penetrate the gaps in ordinary armor.

Although Gelia had mastered this sorcery, she had signed a rune contract when she obtained it, forbidding her from teaching it to others.

The Soul-binding runes formed by such contracts are bound deep within every wizard's Sea of Consciousness; any violation triggers a Soul backlash.

If apprentices taught each other sorcery, the entire sorcery trading System would collapse; after all, rare sorceries can only be purchased with magic stones.

Li Size took a deep breath, suppressing the throbbing in his heart that felt like it was being scorched by Demonic Energy flames. His palm rubbed the anti-slip runes on the gun's grip as he gestured toward the book with the muzzle.

"Put it down and step back."

His voice was as cold as ice, but only Felina and Gelia understood the burning heat in his eyes.

It was the desire felt upon seeing a rare sorcery model.

From the tattooed man's trembling narrative, Li Size learned the origin of this sorcery model.

Half a month ago, this group had encountered a heavily injured Wizard Apprentice at the edge of the wilderness, which was permeated with pale purple Demonic Energy mist.

The defensive runes on the other party's wizard robes had shattered into dust, their Demonic Energy was exhausted, and they were covered in blood—clearly having just survived a fierce battle.

They took the opportunity to kill the apprentice and found this sorcery model book wrapped in black velvet in their personal satchel.

The emblem runes of the Metal School were embroidered on the black velvet, and the pages were outlined with sorcery runes in silver thread.

They knew the book was valuable but didn't dare to sell it.

First, they hadn't found a flying message channel for the sorcery black market, and second, they feared being tracked down by the apprentice's fellow disciples using tracking runes.

In this highway robbery, they thought it was just an ordinary traveler, never expecting to run into a hard target.

At the brink of life and death, the tattooed man brought out his most precious treasure to trade for his life.

In addition to the book emanating obscure Demonic Energy fluctuations, Li Size also counted six gold coins engraved with the Duchy's emblem from their Rune Leather Bag, which felt heavy in his palm.

The anti-theft runes on the leather bag had long been destroyed by them.

Afterward, Li Size did not release them immediately but further questioned them about the nearby terrain and Magic Monster intelligence.

To his surprise:

The tattooed man actually revealed that they had seen those eerie and rare "Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterflies" in a remote swamp area over a hundred kilometers outside Zero Degree City, veering off the main road.

According to his description, that wetland was shrouded in Demonic Energy miasma year-round, and the scale powder on the Bewitching Butterflies' wings carried a pale blue illusionary aura; just getting slightly close would cause dizziness and a surge of hallucinations.

The Wizard Apprentice from before had been besieged by Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterflies there; though he escaped with great effort, he was already severely wounded, ultimately falling into the hands of these thugs.

As for that apprentice's final fate...

It naturally went without saying.

The Identity Rune Plate on his person had shattered into pieces, and he couldn't even send out a flying message; no one would ever know which corner he finally disappeared in.

Facing this group of ruthless bandits who had lives on their hands, killing intent surged within Li Size several times, wishing to eradicate the evil completely.

However, since he had previously agreed to exchange their lives for the item, he was unwilling to break the promise he had made.

So he took out ropes and tied the ten or so people firmly into two strings, hanging them behind the motorcycle.

The motorcycle tires had anti-slip runes, and he "towed" them at low speed all the way to the nearest small town, handing them over to the local police station.

The police chief, nearly fifty with a slightly protruding belly, beamed with joy upon seeing these tightly bound wanted criminals, personally pouring tea and offering cigarettes to Li Size while repeatedly expressing his thanks.

This group of bandits being caught in his jurisdiction was undoubtedly a heavy political achievement, enough for him to exchange for a large number of merit points within the police System.

merit points could be exchanged for sorcery protection items or even bring an opportunity for promotion.

The powder gland of the Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly is one of the two core Materials for the Zero Ring permanent attribute potion "brain in a vat."

This unexpectedly obtained information forced Li Size, Gelia, and Felina to change their itinerary once again.

The powder gland contained rich illusionary Demonic Energy and was a key raw material for refining the potion.

They originally had other plans, but the emergence of this news made them decide to stop.

Li Size prepared to stay and hunt this extremely rare and hard-to-find Demonic Energy mutated creature to obtain its powder gland.

In his mind, he calculated that if he could find the other main material for "brain in a vat," the melancholy fruit—which only grows in dark valleys with extremely high Demonic Energy concentrations—before returning to the academy.

He could then begin refining this potion, which was considered the most precious among Zero Ring potions.

It was also quite peculiar that Li Size hadn't learned many ordinary Zero Ring potions.

Yet he had been the first to learn "swift spirit" and "brain in a vat," the two most precious Zero Ring potions capable of increasing the consumer's permanent attribute points.

One must know that these two potions are not so easy to master—refining them requires precise control of Demonic Energy input; the slightest error would trigger a rune furnace explosion.

However, the Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly is, after all, a high-level Zero Ring Magic Monster, and the poisonous powder it sprays possesses great power.

It can create illusions, causing Wizard Apprentices to lose themselves and subsequently lose their ability to resist.

When its wings flap, it can gather wind element Demonic Energy particles to form powerful invisible Wind Element Rune blades; these blades can easily slice through black demonic iron engraved with defensive runes.

Even without relying on these two innate abilities, its claws, imbued with wind and poison Demonic Energy particles, also possess immense destructive power, capable of easily inflicting damage.

This is an exceptionally powerful Demonic Energy creature; its two innate abilities are practically complementary.

They allow the enemy to lose their life unknowingly within an illusion, as if it were specially favored by the world's will.

The natural illusion runes on its body are the best proof; they are a miracle of Demonic Energy creature evolution.

After an evaluation, the three of them—Li Size and the others—believed that rashly going to hunt the Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly would still be very dangerous.

So they prepared to make thorough preparations in Zero Degree City.

There are two main difficulties in successfully hunting the Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly:

The first is how to resist its illusion attacks.

The second is how to protect against its incredibly sharp wind blade attacks.

The sorcery shops in Zero Degree City have various items for wilderness adventure; they intended to go purchase some emergency items first.

Regarding the second problem, Li Size already had a countermeasure.

The protective power of the black magic iron armor he newly forged was close to 11 energy levels, which was already approaching the 12 energy level threshold of First Ring sorcery.

Li Size thought to himself that no matter how strong the Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly's innate ability was, it couldn't possibly reach the First Ring level.

Otherwise, it should have been classified as a First Ring Magic Monster rather than being listed as a high-level Zero Ring one.

The classification of Magic Monsters is determined by measuring the intensity of Demonic Energy fluctuations with a Rune Detector; the boundary between high-level Zero Ring and First Ring is very clear.

It's just that previously only Li Size himself wore this set of armor; now he had to forge a set of such armor for both Gelia and Felina.

That way, he would no longer have to worry about the two women's safety in battle.

The dimensions of the armor needed to be adjusted using sorcery measurement runes, and a High-Temperature Rune Furnace had to be used to melt and cast the black demonic iron during forging.

The first problem was relatively more complex.

It involved attacks on the Soul level; ordinary physical protection items were completely useless, and they had to find specialized anti-illusion sorcery or items.

Illusion attacks belong to the type of attack that acts on the brain or, rather, the Soul.

Aside from the Zero-Ring Sorcery Resistance Enhancement, which can slightly increase Soul rune resistance to a certain extent, Li Size had no other better methods.

The rune array for Resistance Enhancement can be temporarily engraved on the skin, briefly strengthening resistance to mental attacks.

The only thing he knew was that increasing Physique and spirit attributes could improve the body's Soul rune resistance, thereby increasing resistance to abnormal mental states.

If Physique is strong, the Demonic Energy cycle will be more stable; if spirit is high, the Soul will be more resilient—this was a knowledge point repeatedly emphasized in basic wizard classes.

Thus, Li Size and Felina launched an in-depth discussion on how to protect against illusions.

During this process, Felina mentioned a type of Zero Ring Sobriety Potion she knew of.

It was said that this potion could dispel most minor abnormal mental states, which might become an effective countermeasure for them when facing the Hallucinogenic Bewitching Butterfly's illusion attacks.

The recipe for this potion included anti-illusion herbs and sorcery crystal powder; refining it wasn't too difficult.