Chapter 527: Space Pocket, Magic Scroll, and Rune Armor

“You succeeded?”

Leech was holding a snakeskin bag.

Most of the snakeskin had been given to Toma Scholar to research Magical Alchemy Creations, as they had discovered that the hides of Extraordinary creatures possessed certain special properties.

The rarer and more powerful the species, the more unique and useful the properties.

The snakeskin bag, large enough to hold a twenty-pound watermelon, was crudely made, with just a drawstring at the opening. Given Toma Scholar’s previous abilities in spatial research, this bag could at most hold something the size of a fist.

When it came to using Magic Research to make things more useless, Toma Scholar was a professional.

“Yes, My Lord!” Toma Scholar was practically buzzing with excitement. “After constructing the initial Magic model, I couldn’t figure out why it failed—why expanding space turned into shrinking it. So I kept researching, until… I studied the knowledge in those books you gave me.”

“Mathematics?”

“Yes, mathematics!” He nodded vigorously, his eyes filled with admiration and reverence. “They are incredible calculation techniques that allow me to see so much more, to solve the countless puzzles in my mind. Although, the puzzles are also multiplying. It turns out, I was calculating everything wrong from the very beginning.”

He turned, picked up a stack of paper half as tall as a man from a table, and, hunched over, struggled over to Leech. He then gently placed the stack on the desk with a THUD. The small wooden desk’s legs trembled and let out a miserable creak.

“These are my preliminary calculations,” Toma Scholar said, full of vigor. “From these, you can understand my thought process and some of the theories. Unfortunately, I haven’t organized some of the drafts yet; they’re too messy.”

Leech glanced at one of the pages. It was densely packed with text.

They were all neatly organized formulas and calculation steps. In other words, this manuscript, which weighed dozens of pounds, was the *tidied-up* version.

‘Suddenly, I feel a bit sleepy. Very sleepy, in fact.’

“I’ll read it. I’ll definitely read it next time.”

Leech opened the snakeskin bag. A lot of things were already inside: a table, a few pumpkins, and a mountain-high pile of draft papers.

Looking down into the bag was like peering down a well; everything in his vision became smaller. When he reached in to try and grab something, he couldn’t reach it at all.

It was as if the bag contained a house, and Leech’s hand was merely reaching through a hole in the ceiling, flailing uselessly in the air, with no chance of touching the table on the floor.

Mage’s Hand.

With a small trick of Magic, a teacup from the table inside flew out and landed in Leech’s hand.

He pulled the teacup out of the bag. Unfortunately, there was no tea in it—the cup was dry. But Leech was in an excellent mood. He looked at Toma Scholar. “You did it!”

Leech then spent a great deal of time discussing the use of this Space Magic with Toma Scholar.

Like mathematics, the entire research process was incredibly tedious, requiring countless people to toil away, building upon accumulated wisdom step by step. Leech, however, only needed to learn the simple formula; he didn’t have to retrace the path from scratch.

“For this part, I’ve integrated some modified Runes and applied Magic. What’s the next step?”

Toma Scholar looked at Leech, his face full of expectation.

Leech: “…”

‘Are you trying to give me a math lesson?’

Well, it really was a math lesson. The arcane principles of Space Magic expansion were extremely complicated. This was already the simplest method, since there was a formula he could just plug things into.

Normally, successfully combining Space Magic with alchemy, Runes, and the like to create a stable space would require supreme intellect, a vast reserve of knowledge, and a great deal of time for exploration. But right now, all Leech needed to do was prepare the rare materials and use the formula.

According to the theoretical research of a scientific world, it might take humanity hundreds or even thousands of years to master spatial technology. But in this Magic World, even before meeting Leech, Toma Scholar had managed to teach himself.

The Necromancer Ah Yamei could even learn a damaged and incomplete Teleportation Skill on her own and then freely adapt it.

And as for Giant Dragons, they were another story entirely. After reaching a certain age, they would naturally learn the Teleportation Skill, and various kinds of Space Magic would come to them with ease.

“Use a short incantation to map the base space,” he answered wearily.

“Correct!” Toma Scholar nodded in satisfaction, turned to tap on a blackboard, and quickly scribbled a string of formulas while chattering nonstop. “We can use a short incantation to map the base space, then use Runes to stabilize it. This part is key, otherwise the space will be compressed. Within a certain range, we can expand the size of the space from zero to infinity. However, according to the formulas my research has produced so far, the maximum expansion is 120 times… Come, let’s work through an example problem using this formula. We’ll skip the space and Rune parts for now and just use the formula to calculate the final expanded size. Let’s assume the size of the bag in your hand is…”

…

…

After Leech got a general understanding of how to create an expanded space, he just needed to practice constantly.

Magic was, after all, a more idealistic discipline, so “feel” was sometimes very important.

Feel!

And as it happened, Leech had a pretty good feel for space, which was likely related to his ability to perceive the crypts. After all, according to Tangkx Scholar, those crypts were planar projections or fragments. Yet Leech could easily drag them over and stitch them onto the world of the Lu Leiyi Continent. One wouldn’t call this ability heaven-defying, but it was at least on par with a legendary creature.

Speaking of which, the red dot in his vision had not yet disappeared. Since the Black Dragon Du Ao would soon master the Teleportation Skill, Leech could afford to wait a little longer.

Beyond that was the matter of crafting materials. Unfortunately, the snakeskin was almost gone, and it was needed for all sorts of things—not just Space Pockets, but also Runes, and even Magic Scrolls.

‘Scorpion-tailed Lions and ogres count as Magical Creatures. Should I raise them in large numbers and slaughter them periodically?’

‘Especially Scorpion-tailed Lions. Those things eat a lot, their combat strength isn’t that great, and they have vicious personalities…’

An assembly line for Scorpion-tailed Lions, from rearing to slaughtering and skinning, had already formed in Leech’s mind. He would try killing one and skinning it later.

“This is your finished product?” Leech asked, holding a Snake Skin Scroll.

He tried to open the Scroll. With just a thought, the Snake Skin Scroll was instantly incinerated, and without costing Leech a single shred of Spiritual Power, a Fireball appeared.

It then flew toward a designated target, following Leech’s will.

The Fireball shot out first. Only after it had traveled some distance did he remember the target and picture it, causing the Fireball to abruptly change course and strike it.

BOOM!

The effect was astonishing. Although it couldn’t compare to the Fireball the four-headed serpent had once unleashed, it was on par with some small-caliber cannons.

Easy to carry, easy to use, and shockingly powerful. Aside from the exorbitant cost, it was an essential treasure for murder, robbery, and long journeys.

He finally understood why Toma Scholar didn’t have enough snakeskin, even with such a massive hide to work with.

‘That’s a Palace Level hide! And he used it to make Fireball Scrolls?!’

“Not bad at all,” Leech sighed in admiration.

A one-man army was no longer just a dream.

But if it required a Palace Level hide, then cannons were much more accessible to the common person.

They were also heavy, cumbersome, and expensive, but at least they were affordable.

“Yes, My Lord. I perfected the Magic Array using mathematics and successfully inscribed it on paper. However, Magic Scrolls still require the hide of a creature with a Magic Attribute.”

Leech thought to himself, ‘Maybe I should kill a couple of Scorpion-tailed Lions and send them over.’

‘The hide of one Scorpion-tailed Lion could be used to practice making Space Pockets.’

‘The other’s hide could be used to make Magic Scrolls.’

“You have Runes to show me as well?” Leech looked at Toma Scholar in amazement. He had produced so many research results in such a short time.

‘What a model talent!’

‘And what have I provided him? Nothing but an unlimited budget!’

‘I’m really not a qualified lord. I have to increase his benefits, pile them on, to prevent him from leaving.’

‘More than just money, I need to make Toma Scholar feel the warmth of home. Should I introduce him to a wife?’

‘And a sense of accomplishment, a sense of honor… Should I award him a medal?’

He thought his ideas were pretty good. A medal ceremony, an award for outstanding contributions, things like that.

The Divine Calendar’s New Year would be a good time.

Toma Scholar began to introduce the Runes.

The production of Runes was a bit better; it didn’t necessarily require the hide of Magical Creatures, but it did have a high requirement for Life Force. For example, you could use a strong Porcupine.

“Based on your suit of Flying Dragon Bone armor, I’ve created something new.”

That half-set of Flying Dragon Bones had given Leech’s plate armor extremely strong defense. Although it was repaired, Leech didn’t really want to wear it anymore. If it could be shattered once, it could be shattered a second time.

He had given all the remaining pieces to Toma Scholar and Betty. The two of them had fumbled with it for so long, but neither had produced any results, and Leech hadn’t seen the dragon bones since.

Leech guessed that, in all likelihood, all those Flying Dragon Bones had gone down the drain!

Well, not entirely down the drain. At least Toma Scholar had brought some good news; he’d made a little progress in his Rune research.

“To be precise, I’m thinking about the connectivity of Runes.”

It was clear Toma Scholar hadn’t conducted in-depth research on this aspect yet. He only produced a plate armor gauntlet, which was extremely heavy, weighing about 30 pounds.

The table once again let out a miserable creak, wobbling precariously.

Runes were engraved on it. They were very deep, one might even say pitted.

“I call it a ‘circuit.’ If we can solve the problem of the energy source and construct a Rune circuit, then in theory, an ordinary person could freely borrow the power of Runes, as if they were wearing the skin of a Magical Creature.”

‘Magical Creatures’ skin again.’

Leech suppressed the urge to kill another Scorpion-tailed Lion. In the underground world, there were only 12 Scorpion-tailed Lions in total. Even with the Grass of Life to help them reproduce, they were an endangered species in the short term. He couldn’t kill any more, or they’d be gone.

“Is there no way to reduce the weight?” Leech asked.

At this weight, Lacy Sith would be the only person in the entire Porcupine Territory who could wear a full suit of Rune Armor.

“My Lord, I must ensure the circuit channel is wide enough. Even with some rare metals, I can’t guarantee there won’t be energy loss during transmission,” Toma Scholar said, shaking his head. “If you could forge a suit of armor from Mithril, perhaps the weight could be reduced somewhat.”

‘Mithril? You must be joking.’

Let alone mass-producing it for the army’s Soldiers.

Leech put on the plate gauntlet and channeled his power into it. Faint glimmers of light flickered along the recessed Rune markings on the armor.

“An Agility Rune and a Power Rune,” Leech said in surprise. Under the enhancement of the two Runes, the armor’s weight became negligible.

But in contrast, the defense provided by the palm-thick plate gauntlet was even more exaggerated than a tank’s. The only worry was the “canned meat” problem—whether the person inside could withstand the impact.

But that wasn’t a huge problem. He could just stack more Runes for protection.

Channeling his own energy wouldn’t last long. The effect was there, but the energy consumption was severe. Compared to a single Rune, stacking two Runes increased the energy drain by three to four times.

“Energy?”

He recalled the ore Tangkx Scholar had mentioned, as well as the crystals extracted from Spiritual Power. ‘Would that stuff count as energy?’

‘I remember Tyler Rose of Steel Territory has his ‘invincible armor.’ Is that also related to Runes?’

‘One can’t underestimate any of the old noble families.’

‘Who knows what treasures they have hidden in their vaults.’

“If I get the chance, perhaps I’ll get to see it for myself.”