novelraw Chapter 648: Study
Chapter 648: Study
"Introduction to Basic Mechanical Wizard Theories"
"Fundamental Principles of Magic Metal Characteristics"
"Foundations of the Classical Mechanical Control School"
"Frontier Fundamentals of Modern Rune Construct School"
"Magic Materials Engineering"
...
Duke looked at the long list of recommended materials and decided to buy them all. Only after gaining some understanding could he know which kind of mechanical wizardry would suit him best.
He could directly purchase all these materials, and once ordered, someone would deliver them.
In fact, many books and materials require certain privileges and status to access, and cannot be purchased with magic stones alone.
Due to his identity as a Limit Breaker, Duke was directly able to remove these obstacles and acquire this knowledge.
He smoothly completed the ordering and payment for all the selected materials. Although the amount deducted was not small and cost over two million magic stones, it was entirely within his current wealth’s capacity.
More importantly, this knowledge, which could be exchanged for with magic stones and carried official authorization, was already a precious resource for countless wizards without connections.
In less than two hours, the room’s access control system gave a soft notification.
Outside the door stood a young apprentice dressed in a standard silver-gray uniform, with a competent aura, holding a silver metal sealed box about half his height with shockproof features in both hands.
"Mr. Duke, the knowledge pack you ordered has been delivered, please verify your identity."
Duke presented his Limit Breaker badge, and the rune lock on the box’s surface lit up green, silently sliding open.
Inside were neatly arranged dozens of knowledge crystals of uniform specifications and slightly different colors, along with corresponding physical authorization cards and a thick appendix index manual.
After completing the handover, the young apprentice politely withdrew, making the entire process efficient and quiet.
For the following two months, Duke’s life entered an extremely regular and focused state.
He first immersed himself in "Introduction to Basic Mechanical Wizard Theories." This magnum opus did not directly teach magic; rather, it systematically reshaped his understanding of power application.
It expounded on the core philosophy of mechanical wizards: "Tools are extensions of will, structures are manifestations of thought, and safety boundaries are the unbreachable bottom line."
The book devotes a significant number of pages discussing the advantages and limitations of the non-implant route, listing dozens of historical cases where ignoring security protocols led to tragedies, which were shocking.
Duke deeply understood from this why this school so emphasizes standardization and protocols—not solely for efficiency but also to maintain human integrity and dominance when harnessing powerful external forces.
This is a completely different route than the implant wizardry school; many mechanical wizards even cease to be considered human further down this path.
Of course, Duke would not take this path. He studied these materials mainly to learn, draw lessons, and broaden his own horizon.
Next were "Fundamental Principles of Magic Metal Characteristics" and "Magic Materials Engineering." These two books provided a deeper explanation of magic metals and various magic materials.
More importantly, he began to view his metallic yellow sand with a brand-new perspective; each grain could be considered an excellent magic material.
...
In two months of in-depth study, Duke did not practice any specific mechanical wizardry, but his cognitive infrastructure quietly built a solid, systematic, and clearly defined safety boundary frame.
He now knew where the power came from, where the limits were, and the possible evolutionary directions of his unique metallic yellow sand talent within this system.
With a solid theoretical foundation, practice was now on the agenda.
Typically, mechanical wizard-related magic requires refining some magic metal for personal use, leaving a spiritual power imprint within these magic metals.
This allows better mobilization of these magic metals to release various magic when casting spells.
Mechanical wizards can use these magic metals to do a variety of things, and they can also take them to alchemists to craft them into specific structures and forms.
Duke found he could skip this process entirely; the metallic yellow sand he possessed inherently had this characteristic.
Moreover, due to his innate talent magic, he could control each grain of sand with extremely high precision.
Duke purchased two Level 1 mechanical wizard magic models, the Hive Barrier and the Floating Cannon.
The Hive Barrier can form a metal fortress with extremely strong defensive capabilities, stronger than the fortress previously built by merely piling up metallic yellow sand.
Duke’s heart thought flickered, and a small handful of metallic yellow sand floated up from his fingertip, slowly rotating in front of him.
The grains seemed to be manipulated by an invisible engineer, starting to differentiate and combine.
Some grains melded together to form hexagonal foundational structure units, while others adhered to the edges to form standardized magic interfaces and mechanical clasps.
More grains arranged within the units, constructing a microscopic model of an energy buffer layer and stress conduction network.
These units automatically assembled mid-air, rapidly forming a miniature fortress model the size of a fist, yet remarkably complex and precise in structure.
The fortress surface was not smooth but had optimum angles of inclination and honeycomb-shaped indentations, effectively deflecting and dispersing impacts.
More crucially, Duke could feel that through the fortress’s preset energy network, he could at any moment distribute the impact force evenly throughout the structure, potentially guiding part of the impactful energy to power internal weapon systems.
"It’s not a dead object but a defensive platform capable of bearing more functions," Duke showed a satisfied expression.
The Floating Cannon spell drew inspiration from the principle of miniature magic-guided cannons; traditional magic-guided cannons are bulky and slow to charge, while the Floating Cannon is quick, flexible, and deadly, utilizing swarm-style bombardment.
Magic power and spiritual power are highly compressed to form dozens or even hundreds of miniature cannon seed bases.
These seeds can instantly adhere to metallic yellow sand, quickly forming mini, autonomous floating magic-guided cannons.
They have low energy consumption, fast firing, and can coordinate multi-angle attacks, specifically designed to break dense shields, disrupt spellcasting, and pinpoint-kill weak spots precisely.
With a thought, Duke could form a miniature floating cannon model within seconds.
"Single-shot power may be limited, but if a thousand, or ten thousand such floating cannons fired simultaneously, weaving a net of unavoidable destruction..." Duke pondered.
More importantly, these floating cannons could easily attach to the inner and outer walls of the Hive Barrier, achieving perfect integration of offense and defense deployment.
With a wave of his hand, the floating cannon before him turned back into a pile of yellow sand, hovering around him, ready to be re-formed into a floating cannon at any time.