136: Witch Arrow

Three days later, a near-exhausted Lion brought Tyrantier and the Sha Ruiwen siblings to a private room on the second floor of the mall to rest.

This 'Mage Tower' upgrade required 72 hours for the system to assimilate.

Not only were the interior and exterior of the original Wizard's Cottage and the newly added Wizard Crypt filled with basic runes and large rune arrays, but even the inner wooden walls of the entire New South City were inscribed with powerful large rune arrays.

The runes on the city walls were primarily for defense, while the runes inside the Wizard's Cottage and Wizard Crypt were mainly for absorbing magical energy.

Before confirming the plan, Tyrantier warned that such a large-scale magical energy absorption rune array would require a large elemental pool or magic pool. Lion dismissed this, saying he had specialized magical energy conversion equipment.

As it involved the secrets of the other party's Mage Tower, Tyrantier did not press further.

For this Mage Tower design, Lion did not follow any fixed form from the The Complete Book of Mage Buildings.

Instead, he pieced together multiple simple wizard architectural structures.

It wasn't a sudden whim of Lion's; the last page of the book mentioned that various construction forms and functional structures could be freely combined, and the latter half of the book also contained some illustrated examples of comprehensive grand Mage Towers.

It was just that piecing together these most basic wizard structures was not difficult, so the book did not elaborate.

Old Hather personally arranged for people to clean and furnish the private rooms, ensuring they were naturally comfortable and well-appointed.

The few professionals who had previously resided in the Wizard's Cottage had all moved to another newly constructed barracks.

During the 'Mage Tower' assimilation and upgrade, no one was allowed to stay inside.

Lion hadn't pulled an all-nighter in too long; with two dark circles under his eyes, he fell asleep the moment he touched the bed.

He didn't wake up until the evening of the next day.

At his level, drawing so many magical runes was incredibly strenuous, even for some of the basic runes in the corners.

The Sha Ruiwen siblings were the same; even after a day of cramming, they made many mistakes and had to redraw countless times, wasting a large amount of magical materials.

Considering this, the 500,000 gold coins collected by Master Tyrantier were not excessive.

However, the benefits were also immense; Lion and the two siblings made significant progress in their understanding of spells and runes over these three or four days.

Today, Lion's mind was filled with recent insights into magic and ideas related to 'Witchcraft Arrow,' a 1st-level evocation spell he had been researching.

Several key points he hadn't understood before now seemed clear.

Lion went to the training ground behind the barracks. As the third lightning spear exploded into a blue light rain the moment it left his hand, scorching the ground with black craters.

He shook his numb wrist and bent down to pick up the charred wooden branch that had rolled to the ground—the lightning-struck wood purchased from Tyrantier was covered in a spiderweb of cracks.

At the archery range on the west side of the barracks, he retreated to the thirty-foot mark.

As he concentrated the spell for the fourth time, a sudden gust of wind and sand blinded him.

In the confusion, he recalled Tyrantier's teachings and scoldings from a few days ago.

The electric light flickering between his fingers pulsed with his breathing, and the incantation unconsciously shifted into the onomatopoeia of thunder.

This time, the throw had an uncontrolled arc, but the lightning spear suddenly split in mid-air.

He closed his eyes, recalling the energy path imprinted by lightning within the wood fibers, and the spell's affixes on his tongue spontaneously reassembled into intermittent thunderous onomatopoeia.

His left hand mimicked the branching arc of lightning, while his right wrist slowly rotated as if guiding a stream.

The free-floating charges in the air began to hum; this time, the concentrated spear was no longer a rigid javelin but a flowing electric arc, like liquid mercury.

The moment it pierced the training target, hundreds of tiny electric snakes crawled along the target's surface, weaving a continuously proliferating lightning spiderweb between Lion and the target.

Success!

The system showed that Lion had three 1st-level spell slots, including an additional lightning-type spell slot.

The 1st-level spells he had mastered were: Thunderwave, Witchcraft Arrow.

Both were lightning-type spells he was proficient in.

The system's statistics for Lion's 'Witchcraft Arrow' spell are as follows—

[Witchcraft Arrow]

Spell Level: 1st-level

Spell School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: 30 feet

Components: V, S, M (a twig taken from a tree struck by lightning)

Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

A blue energy spear wrapped in fractured magic shoots toward a creature within casting range, creating a persistent lightning arc between the caster and the target.

Make a ranged spell attack against the target creature.

On a hit, the target takes 1d12 lightning damage.

For the duration of the spell, the caster can use an action on each of their turns to deal 1d12 lightning damage directly to the target.

If you take any other action, the spell immediately ends.

Additionally, if the target moves out of the spell's range or is in full cover relative to the caster, the spell also immediately ends.

At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, the spell's initial damage increases by 1d12 for each spell slot level above 1st.

...

Lord Lion, in high spirits, hosted a dinner to thank Master Tyrantier, with the Sha Ruiwen siblings accompanying them.

During the banquet, Lion invited Master Tyrantier to be his magic mentor.

After some negotiation, Tyrantier agreed to be Lord Lion's short-term temporary teacher for 150 gold coins per day.

The Sha Ruiwen siblings also wanted to audit the lessons, as there were no Archmages above level 10 in all of Candlekeep.

The final result was: a daily teaching fee of 300 gold coins, with Lion paying all the tuition, and the Sha Ruiwen siblings swearing allegiance to Lion.

One year later, Wesley Sharuiven officially joined Lion's territory after graduating from Candlekeep.

And Lucie Sharuiven would officially join two years later after her graduation.

After the two swore allegiance, the system also condensed their attribute panels—

[Name]: Wesley Sharuiven

[Lord of Allegiance]: Lion Black

[Citizen Loyalty]: 85

[Race]: Human

[Gender]: Male

[Alignment]: Neutral Good

[Age]: 22

[Place of Origin]: Gorebest

[Background]: Candlekeep Mage Apprentice

[Class]: Mage (Abjurer)

[Class Level]: 3

[Attributes]: Strength 12, Dexterity 12, Constitution 13, Intelligence 16, Wisdom 12, Charisma 13

[Armor Class]: 11

[Hit Points]: 19 / 19

[Base Attack Bonus]: 14

[Damage]: 1 to 6

[Proficiencies]:

Armor: None

Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaffs, Light Crossbows

Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom

Skills: Arcana, History

[Mage Skills]: Spellcasting, Arcane Recovery, Arcane Ward

[Spell Slots]: Cantrips unlimited, 1st-level spell slots 4 (+1 Abjuration spell slot), 2nd-level spell slots 2 (+1 Abjuration spell slot)

[Known Spells]:

Cantrips: Blade Ward, Mage Hand, Message

1st-level Spells: Mage Armor, Absorb Elements, Alarm, Comprehend Languages

2nd-level Spells: Arcane Lock, Blur

[Equipped Magical Items]:

Staff: Damage 1d6 (bludgeoning)

Traveler's Robe: AC +1 against ranged attacks

Ring of Protection +1: AC +1, Saving Throws +1

...

[Name]: Lucie Sharuiven

[Lord of Allegiance]: Lion Black

[Citizen Loyalty]: 75

[Race]: Human

[Gender]: Female

[Alignment]: Neutral Good

[Age]: 21

[Place of Origin]: Gorebest

[Background]: Candlekeep Mage Apprentice

[Class]: Mage (Evoker)

[Class Level]: 2

[Attributes]: Strength 10, Dexterity 13, Constitution 13, Intelligence 17, Wisdom 14, Charisma 14

[Armor Class]: 11

[Hit Points]: 13 / 13

[Base Attack Bonus]: 14

[Damage]: 1 to 6

[Proficiencies]:

Armor: None

Weapons: Daggers, Darts, Slings, Quarterstaffs, Light Crossbows

Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom

Skills: Arcana, History

[Mage Skills]: Spellcasting, Arcane Recovery, Sculpt Spells

[Spell Slots]: Cantrips unlimited, 1st-level spell slots 3 (+1 Abjuration spell slot)

[Known Spells]:

Cantrips: Shocking Grasp, Mage Hand, Message

1st-level Spells: Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Alarm

[Equipped Magical Items]:

Staff: Damage 1d6 (bludgeoning)

Traveler's Robe: AC +1 against ranged attacks

Ring of Protection +1: AC +1, Saving Throws +1

...