Second World

When Jack came out of the Order of Magi, it was midnight already. It was a bit late to go to Amy's bakery, he didn't want to disturb their sleep. So, he teleported back to Heavenly Citadel. He installed the Mana Gathering Stone in the Time Chamber before calling it a day and rest.

In the morning, everyone was gearing up to join the army outside the capital. John and Jeanny had left early, they were joining the army right from the start. John had planned for another march full of formation training. Since the number of outworlder army was much more than during the civil war, it would take much more effort in organizing. Luckily, most of the top guilds who were with them during the civil war already knew the drills. So, John spread them out among the outworlder army to help oversee the drills.

Some guilds that were on the opposite side during the civil war, like Corporate United, Jackal Crews, Warriors of Solidarity, and Death Associates, were joining their side this time. After all, there was only one side to join. They either joined or stayed out of the war, but staying out meant letting go of the glory and possible rewards.

Since Jack gave John the freedom to organize the turtle army as he saw fit, he arranged so that these four were positioned within the army as far away from each other as possible. Giving them less chance to group up and hence, less chance for them to get any idea and defy his orders.

It would take the three armies almost two weeks to arrive in the areas where the orc armies would be waiting. During that time, Jack planned to prepare as best as he could to improve himself.

Jack had given the Offensive Formula rune diagram to Tip and informed him of its function. Once this rune diagram was registered in the guild, the scrollmakers in the guild could apply it to their Ice Battle Tanks or the Ice and lightning towers defending the headquarters. Jack advised him to prioritize using it on the tanks first. Or better, the Brave Golems if they managed to produce any before the war engagement. The defensive towers were not usable in the war, so it's better to prioritize combat units first.

Afterward, Jack teleported back to Thereath. He first went to his bakery and restaurant to pick up the one-month revenue. He collected 270 gold coins. Amy expressed her concern when she saw Jack. If the orcs won, the orc army would invade the cities, the capital wouldn't be spared. Their civilian lives here would be affected.

Jack told her that he would do all he could to make sure that that didn't happen.

Amy stared at Jack as if she had just seen him the first time. The fact that Jack was appointed the leader of the third army was no secret. She expressed her amazement that she had never expected the outworlder she befriended a long time ago would one day be the big shot in the army.

Jack laughed and told her the feeling was mutual.

After leaving the bakery, Jack walked around the capital to scrounge up any ores and common equipment he could buy. He spent even more coins this time, totaling almost 200 gold coins just to fill up his stock.

Done with the shopping spree, he went to the mage academy. The old Janus was as usual sitting alone and reading a tome in the empty hall. The old mage put down his tome and looked at Jack but otherwise said nothing.

"I want to use the magic furnace facility," Jack said.

Old Janus nodded and said, "You know the way." He then resumed reading his book.

After getting permission, Jack went to the hallway that took him to the basement where the room with the magic furnace was located. Inside the room, he used a magic stone to activate the furnace. Then, he uttered, "Fuse function."

A different interface appeared before the furnace, showing a list of spells.

Peniel had mentioned that while two magic users could cast their different spells and combine them into an enhanced version, one magic user also had the option to fuse their library of spells using this magic furnace facility.

On the list in front of him were four spells. Float, Glide, Dispel, and Lightning Strike. Peniel had mentioned that the furnace would show only the spells that could be fused.

"Only four?" Jack asked. He was rather disappointed. He thought that he already had an extensive collection of spells.

"You might have a large number of spells, but many are standard spells. Only non-standard spells can be fused," Peniel explained. "Oh, and spells that have already been improved using seeds can no longer be fused. If your Mana Detonation has not been transformed into Ice Ring, it should come up on this list as well."

"So, this feature is only meant for people who had collected a large library of non-standard spells," Jack commented.

"Yes, now go and fuse that Float and Glide spell already," Peniel urged.

Jack picked the spells. While doing so, he asked, "What spells do I need to fuse for this Dispel and Lightning Strike?"

"Interrupt for the Dispel, Lightning Mine for Lightning Strike," Peniel answered.

"What do they do?" Jack asked out of curiosity. Peniel had informed him beforehand that once he fused the spells, the old spells were gone. So, after he fused the Float and Glide spells, those two spells would be lost, being replaced by one new spell.

When Jack first heard it, he was concerned because he had spent 19 skill points and max-level the Float spell to 20. If the new spell restarted from level 1, wouldn't the 19 skill points be wasted?

Peniel told him not to worry. The level and star upgrade would carry over.

Jack asked then what happened if he max-leveled both spells to 20? Would the fused spell become level 39?

Peniel said no, a spell's max level was level 20. A spell could only pass level 20 if it was a buff granted by equipment or other temporary means. For the fused spell, if the total level passes level 20, the excess level would have the skill points refunded. However, the star upgrade won't have any refund. If the fused spells both had ten stars, the fused spell would be the same at ten stars without any refund. In this case, the excess stars were wasted.

"Interrupt is a spell that can interrupt the enemy while the enemy was casting a spell," Peniel said, answering Jack's question. "As opposed to Dispel which dispel a buff from a spell that is already cast. After the two spells are fused, they will become a new spell called Cancel Magic. They can be used the same as Dispel and Interrupt, but at the same time, they can also nullify magic cast by the enemy, not just buff. I think the effect will be similar to when Mihos was canceling Selena's Flame Turbulence when you people were fighting him."

"As for Lightning Mine, after being cast, it will mark a very large area. If an enemy came into this area, the lightning orb at the center of the area will keep on assaulting that enemy with continuous electrical discharges."

Jack remembered the lightning orbs that Garland tossed around during his fight with Duke Alfredo, were those Lightning mines?

"If this Lightning Mine is fused with Lightning Strike, it will become Lightning Pursuit. The weakness of Lightning Strike is that it takes almost a second between when the ground is marked and the lightning striking the marked area. The marked area is not large, opponents with good awareness can easily leave this area even if they are not speedy type. Lightning Pursuit erased this weakness. The area the fused spell marked will be very large. The lightning strikes released will automatically chase after the opponents inside this area. Unless the opponents have a speed faster than the speed of lightning, no one will be able to dodge the lightning as long as they are within the area. Additionally, you have the enhanced projectile speed from Time Sage, so the speed of your lightning is three times that of normal. I can't imagine anyone fast enough to dodge that."

"Wow, both fused spells are good. I will have to look for those Interrupt and Lightning Mine spells," Jack remarked. "Do you think the Order of Magi's exchange list of the higher rank has those spells?"

"Can't tell for sure. I think they should," Peniel answered.

Jack was motivated to improve his rank further. But for that, he needed to become stronger.

After inputting the Float and Glide spell, the interface asked if he confirmed the fusing. The process couldn't be reversed afterward. He also couldn't relearn the Float and Glide spell even if he received another technique book of those spells.

Jack clicked confirm.

He saw some visual displays from the magic furnace. The display soon died down and a notification told him that his two spells had been successfully fused. Jack opened his spell list and looked at the new spell.

*

Soar (Active spell, requires a magic weapon)

Fly at a maximum speed of 2 meters/second + dexterity modifier.

Maximum height: 1,000 meters.

Duration: 5 minutes

Cooldown: 20 minutes

Mana: 100

*

"Soar? Not Fly?" Jack asked.

"Fly is another spell. It is only learnable when you are at least level 65," Peniel said. "You can see this as the weak version of the fly spell."

"Two meters per second was indeed weak. Heck! I can run much faster than that," Jack mocked.

"The speed will increase based on your dexterity stat and also when you level it up," Peniel said. "You didn't see Master fly at high speed when you fought him, did you?"

"You are saying Master was using this Soar spell as well?"

"Most likely. He is not yet level 65 to learn the Fly spell. Considering his knowledge, he should know about this fusing method as well."