CHAPTER 44: TEMPTATION KNOCKS

"Oh my God! There was actually a monster like that near the capital!"

"Bodies with tons of spirits inside—what kind of cult did this?!"

"Destructive Fist?! I’ve heard your name before—I had no idea you’d gotten this powerful!"

"Holy crap! Magic Conductors have a new product?!"

"Ray guns—magic devices specifically for firing ray-type spells?"

"Hahaha, so awesome! Even a mage apprentice can be crazy strong with enough money—took down a monster and two low-level clerics!"

You had to hand it to Destructive Fist Eddie—he was really something. To get more bounty money and boost his own reputation, right after taking down the monster, he started bragging about it online.

And this guy actually used different titles and writing styles in different forums.

In the ’Magic Bomb Forum,’ he didn’t mention his giant bloodline at all—just said he was a magic apprentice who used ray guns and magic bombs to take down such powerful freaky enemies.

But over in the ’Magic Creature Taste Forum,’ he was discussing with people whether anyone would actually eat this kind of monster stuffed full of human spirits, and how you’d go about cooking it... nearly started a flame war.

Soon enough, every remotely related forum in Magic Space was buzzing with this news.

Magicians from multiple countries—hundreds of thousands of them—all turned their attention to this incident.

Most people were focused on the monster and the ray guns!

Especially the ray guns!

This could affect every single one of them.

Viscount Roster’s territory.

The Wild Mage had just finished another patrol and returned to his personal ’port’ on the self-charging magic array. Feeling the array channel magic power into his body, he took a long breath and pulled out his Magic Net Ring.

This had basically become his daily routine—patrol the self-charging array, expand it, charge himself up, browse forums, study, do research. Other than that, there was pretty much nothing else to do.

But before he could even open Magic Space, just seeing his private messages made him raise an eyebrow: "Huh? Someone from Gray Fort?!"

The person who’d first messaged him privately after he founded the ’Magic Bomb Forum’ was actually a prince from the Gray Fort Empire, and now wanted to invite him to Gray Fort!

Looking at all those promised benefits—deputy head of the Royal Mage Society, chief advisor to the Magician Legions, viscount title, magic resources, areas with magical anomalies... the Wild Mage felt his heart racing.

The conditions were generous enough to tempt even a legendary magician!

The Wild Mage couldn’t help but sigh: "Talk about deep pockets!"

The Wild Mage was only human—faced with so many benefits, how could he not be tempted?

Especially all that promised knowledge...

That was knowledge accumulated by the Gray Fort Empire’s royal family—any little bit of it would be enough to start wars between nobles and supernatural beings!

Now, just by agreeing to move to Gray Fort, it could all be within reach!

Looking at these conditions, the Wild Mage found himself stunned for a moment.

Just then, urgent footsteps came from outside: "Wild Mage sir! Wild Mage sir! Did you see the news on the Magic Net? I got a ray gun! Come take a look!"

Viscount Roster’s sudden voice snapped the Wild Mage out of it. He quickly pulled himself together. "Ray gun? What’s that?"

"Weren’t you checking the Magic Net? It’s a new divine gift our God released! Someone’s already using it to wreck shop—a mage apprentice took down a monster plus two clerics!" Viscount Roster excitedly laid out various devices like he was showing off treasures, explaining the key points.

Magic Conductors could work like this?!

The Wild Mage’s mind had been all over the place, but now he had just one thought.

One Magic Conductor, three modules—main body, magic power storage, spell model.

They could be combined differently for different effects.

"Ingenious, absolutely ingenious!"

The Wild Mage carefully examined these two different ray guns, unable to stop himself from muttering: "Self-charging magic arrays and these Magic Conductors are like twin brothers—even more complementary than magic bombs!"

"Exactly! Self-charging arrays are like the core of Magic Conductors, and Magic Conductors are like extensions of self-charging arrays." Viscount Roster totally agreed with the Wild Mage’s words. "Just think—what if we could build massive self-charging arrays with power ports connected to every mage? What would that look like?"

"Or what if we developed small charging arrays in the future, so every magician could set up a small one in their own home? What would that scene be like?"

"That would be a completely new era—it’d send all those rotten old fogeys straight to their graves!" The Wild Mage couldn’t help but take a deep breath.

Countless images flashed through his mind—both excitement about what Viscount Roster was describing and memories of his own past life.

Back then, he’d just wanted to survive. He’d proposed a ’self-charging magic array’ that actually could work, but got pushed around by countless people. Even after posting his completed results on the Magic Internet, he still got endless mockery. The people who could actually see its value were few and far between...

The Kingdom of Dawn was like that—would the Gray Fort Empire really be different?

Gray Fort had an even more complete magician system than the Kingdom of Dawn, with more established magicians and even armed forces made up of magicians... Magic Conductors appearing would definitely shake their foundations.

Even if he accepted the invitation and went to Gray Fort with immediate high status, even if he really could get that emperor’s support, could he actually spread self-charging arrays? Could he really do what he wanted to do?

The Wild Mage seriously doubted it.

Viscount Roster had no idea that in just that brief moment, the Wild Mage’s mind had wandered through so much.

He was still excited: "Yeah! A completely new era! And we’ll be right at the center of it all! We’re the first to realize the endless potential of Magic Conductors, we’re the first to produce them, and we control self-charging arrays. Sure, that’ll definitely spread eventually, but having the early advantage means we’ll have the initiative!"

"Plus, Wild Mage sir, in such a short time, our God has already given the mortal realm the Magic Internet, magic bombs, and ray guns, and completely perfected your self-charging arrays. What will Magic Conductors develop into next? More powerful weapons? More useful tools? We can’t know for sure, but I know Magic Conductors definitely have way more potential than this!"

Viscount Roster’s endless chatter kept echoing and stirring in the Wild Mage’s mind.

"Yeah! He really is an amazing god." The Wild Mage swallowed hard. "But let’s talk about these ray guns first. If I’m not wrong, you want to set up a ray gun workshop?"