1030 Alchemical Genius Part 2 (1/2)

The more Saleen was into his research, the more he came to value Hogina. Hogina's schematics showed her formidable understanding of elemental conversion. Saleen probably did not even have such a strong foundation when he was at level six.

The equipment looked like an improved version of magic stone cannons, but the cannons were projectile-based equipment, with their damage potential entirely reliant on the power of the physical shots, and the force behind the shots being fired was far from being qualified as attacks.

Hogina's equipment, however, fired icicles with huge impact and came with targeting abilities. Furthermore, its targeting abilities resembled those used in divine spells. While it was easy for targets to escape, its level requirements had been made far looser.

For instance, Saleen now had a strong soul, which enabled him to target level nine beings, but his ability to target level ten ones was far inferior to Nailisi's Grey Memory. Nailisi's Grey Memory could easily lock onto level ten professionals, even the level 13 Divine Baby, when all six of the weapon's eyes were opened.

The equipment also had glaring weaknesses. First of all, it was expensive to craft. While Saleen was able to provide better materials, he would not be able to arm his armies with it, unless some far cheaper substitute materials were found.

Next, the weapon needed a half an hour to cool down after being used once. Even when done, the magic arrays within the six miniaturized barrels required frequent maintenance and redrawing. The drawing of magic arrays within such tiny barrels required mages of at least level six grand mage.

Finally, the targeting method. A crystal was embedded between the six miniaturized barrels, which was used for targeting by being linked to another crystal glass film. The glass film indicated if the target was locked onto. A mage would be able to save a lot of mental power using such equipment, but common folk would almost never be able to lock onto the intended target.

If the level of the target was too high, the targeting system would look faulty. At the very least, Saleen had many ways to undo such magic targeting methods.

The strength of the equipment lay within its incredible damage potential. It might have been only a level six piece of magic equipment, but its attacks easily packed damage potential of level eight magic. When Saleen was at level six, the highest damage he was able to do was level seven, yet Hogina's equipment allowed her attacks to be two levels higher than she was. It could be said that Hogina was one of the geniuses in the history of alchemy for being able to design such a piece of equipment.

The cost for firing the icicles were small, and most of it lay with having to continuously repair the equipment and redraw the magic arrays used. It also required the user to be at least a grand mage. Furthermore, a level six one.

Saleen had ways to make the equipment usable by common folk, but its cost of manufacture would skyrocket. Saleen's stock of materials would enable him to only manufacture them in a limited production manner.

But they were still quite a distance away from Golden Plains, so Saleen took multiple materials out of his Devil Ring and began crafting a new piece of equipment.

Hogina put the schematics away and watched seriously from the sides. While there was no way she could use Water Flame like Saleen did, she would still be able to learn some tricks and techniques of sorcerers, which would come in handy in the future.

Saleen took out seven horns of a single-horned white whale and threw them into the Water Flame. The Water Flame controlled the materials, tempering and compressing them. Six were turned into thin barrels with elvish magic patterns carved within. Floating magic arrays could be drawn on those magic patterns, which would facilitate easy repair while making them more resistant to wear and tear. The horn in the middle turned into the hundreds of complex components drawn on the schematics, linking the six miniaturized barrels together.

Hogina had used too many types of materials, and Saleen used only one. It was not to say that he was better at material use; it was just that he was too rich at the moment not to. The single-horned white whales were something that not even Alchemy City mages would be able to hunt. Saleen, on the other hand, went straight to the Imperial City of the Abyss, where such horns were found everywhere in the city.

The barrels created from the six whale horns made it a breeze for firing level six magic, as they were able to withstand even the strain of level ten spells. The essence of said whales lay not within their magic nuclei, but in their horns.

Hogina was unable to understand without an Elemental Eye. It was incredibly difficult for Saleen to compress such huge horns into essentially a tube over a meter long.

She grew more impressed seeing Saleen skillfully crafting elvish magic patterns. There were few elvish magic spells left behind in all of Myers Mainland, and there was not a single mage other than Saleen capable of crafting such magic patterns.

She then saw something that surprised her even more. Saleen took out a piece of chlorite and ice island rock and attached them to the seventh horn. The rocks served as targeting devices. Hogina was only using amethyst, but Saleen used gems that were considered rather precious even during ancient times instead.

It would be more than just a waste if the piece of equipment ended up only being capable of casting level six spells; it would be a glaring example of profligacy.

The tiny components that held the six barrels together were split apart within the Water Flame and recombined, melding the chained magic patterns that Hogina designed together. This process itself would cost more time than all the alchemical steps before combined.

Saleen finally began to add his own design into it. Hogina's design was the limit of that comprehensible by a grand mage. While the equipment was capable of attacks comparable to level eight magic, it was still too complex in terms of use of elemental powers. Crafting magic patterns within the insides of alchemical materials was something that sorcerers would do instead.

The Water Flame used super low temperatures to alter the structure of the materials, resulting in stability over a hundred times than what was crafted using high temperatures. It was due to such reasons that Water Flame Alchemy earned Hogina's envy. If she was able to learn the technique, her crafted products would last tens of times longer than they would otherwise.