"Whew... I didn't expect such a miraculous magic. The second stage of the Body Tempering Art feels very similar to the lightning tempering I've experienced before, except that the Body Tempering Art makes this process controllable and active."
Alan gazed intently at the content in the essentials. He could feel that mastering this arcane art would be of extremely important significance, both for improving his strength and for perfecting his training method.
"Compared to other high-difficulty magic, I feel that the Body Tempering Art might be epoch-making for the wizarding world," Alan thought, smiling and nodding, then shaking his head helplessly. "However, this isn't necessarily true. Whether it's the Body Tempering Art or my training method, both require strict and arduous training. Given the current atmosphere in the wizarding world, those wizards probably can't endure such hardship. Ultimately, only disciplined individuals can benefit."
Alan believed that the real-world situation would likely be more complex than imagined, but he wasn't bothered by others' affairs; he only needed to manage himself. Thinking of this, Alan once again flipped through the other arcane arts recorded in the essentials, as the Body Tempering Art, Earth Travel Art, and Water Travel Art were all very practical.
Following those, Alan saw two arcane arts he had previously seen used by the Rune Serpent: the Arcane Serpent and the Spirit Shield!
The introduction to the Arcane Serpent was quite simple. It was a type of offensive spell, but the magical snake that materialized after casting could carry a portion of the caster's consciousness and characteristics, and it was also easier to control. Therefore, compared to other spells, when applying casting techniques like a Tracking Spell to it, it often achieved twice the result with half the effort, and the magic conversion rate was also very high.
The magic conversion rate mentioned here was a professional term developed by Alan himself, representing how much magic could be converted into actual spell effects for every bit of magic used to cast. Many factors influenced the magic conversion rate, including magic sensitivity and the proficiency of the corresponding spell. In other words, the stronger the magic sensitivity and the more proficient the spell mastered, the higher the efficiency of converting magic into a spell.
Under normal circumstances, the conversion rate for ordinary wizards was usually below 1.0. Generally, reaching 0.6 was considered acceptable, a conversion rate of 0.7 represented excellence, and a spell reaching 0.8 meant very high proficiency. It was almost impossible to reach above 0.9 because there was inherent loss during the casting process.
Even for Alan himself, he could only achieve a magic conversion rate of around 0.95 when using Wild Lightning. This was because his body had been tempered by lightning, allowing him to control it as if it were his own arm. For other spells, even those he had mastered profoundly like the Levitation Charm, the conversion rate was only close to 0.9. Of course, a high magic conversion rate only indicated a higher completeness when casting the corresponding spell; it did not directly represent high power. After all, the main factor affecting power was actually the type of incantation. A Lumos spell with a 0.9 conversion rate was definitely not as powerful as a Killing Curse with a 0.5 conversion rate.
But a higher magic conversion rate meant more energy efficiency and easier control. To achieve the same effect with the same spell, a higher magic conversion rate definitely had an advantage.
Although the learning threshold for the Arcane Serpent was relatively high, if one could learn it, the initial conversion rate could reach around 0.7. This was a spell with a clearly high lower limit and a high upper limit.
After studying it for a moment, Alan raised his hand and summoned a light silver Arcane Serpent with a blue glow. Its intertwined and coiling body then floated nimbly around Alan, as if it had a life of its own.
"It's a pity that Wild Lightning has a higher compatibility with me. This spell will probably just gather dust for me, but it still has research value. Maybe I can even develop an Arcane Lightning Serpent based on it."
After playing with it for a while, Alan dispersed the Arcane Serpent circling beside him and focused his attention on another arcane art, the Spirit Shield.
The Spirit Shield was the magical shield that the Rune Serpent had used before, which Alan couldn't break no matter what. Its operating principle was also very simple, just as Alan had previously guessed: as long as the magic reserve was not exhausted, the Spirit Shield would continue to exist and block all incoming magical attacks. At the same time, the spirit runes attached to its surface also possessed resistance to shock, extreme temperatures, piercing, sound wave impacts, and other damage types. It could be said that as long as there was enough magic, this was the most perfect protective magic.
Of course, the magic consumed by the Spirit Shield would also increase with the increase in attack types. For example, an attack that would normally consume only one hundred points of magic might consume more than one hundred and fifty points if it simultaneously carried fire and vibration damage. Furthermore, the stronger the vibration and the greater the temperature difference, the more energy was consumed. The spirit runes attached to the surface of the Spirit Shield also consumed energy when absorbing vibrations, extreme temperatures, and sound waves, so it did indeed have an upper limit on its defense.
The factors affecting the defense threshold, like those affecting the strength of other spells, were the caster's willpower, emotions, and casting proficiency. In other words, if the Rune Serpent's will had been firmer and her emotions more agitated at that time, Alan might not have been able to break through that magical shield.
However, seeing this, Alan became increasingly curious about the Rune Serpent's magic reserves, because after actual testing, he found that the Spirit Shield consumed even more magic than he had imagined. If Alan were to use the Spirit Shield in combat, he would probably break through the shield within three minutes due to magic exhaustion, but the Rune Serpent was able to withstand it for so long without any problems, which was simply incredible.
"Another incredibly strong magic that's also very unsuitable for me. With my current magic reserves, fighting with the Spirit Shield active is practically suicide. Perhaps only an old monster like the Rune Serpent can use it as standard magic," Alan shook his head helplessly. To utilize this arcane art, he would probably have to find another way.
After testing these two arcane arts, Alan continued to flip through the essentials, and then saw the two types of magic that interested him the most, which allowed the Rune Serpent to create clones. These were the Clone Spell and the Three Pure Ones Spell.
Among them, the Clone Spell was actually a summoning spell similar to Alan's Thunder Raven Art, but compared to magic like Avis, the Clone Spell's strength was much higher. Like other arcane arts, this was also an arcane art with very strict learning conditions. Alan found that all these arcane arts shared this characteristic: they were difficult to learn and master. From this, one could imagine that the number of wizards proficient in arcane arts in the East was probably not very large.
First, cultivating the Clone Spell required extremely high magic sensitivity; otherwise, the created clone would likely be defective. Secondly, one must possess the ability to multitask, as the clone inherited the main body's senses. If one's skill in this area was a bit lacking, it might even lead to mental derangement.
At the same time, even if the first two conditions were met, one must be quite proficient in this arcane art and have the magic conversion rate reach a certain level before it could be used in actual combat; otherwise, the energy consumption would be extremely exaggerated. For example, if Alan's Clone Spell's conversion rate was only 0.5, a clone created with one hundred points of magic would only have fifty points of magic within its body. Or, if he wanted to create ten clones each with one hundred points of magic, he might only be able to produce five in the end.
Fortunately, Alan met all the conditions for cultivating the Clone Spell, so he mobilized nearly one hundred points of magic and created a clone.
As soon as the clone appeared, Alan immediately felt the perception of another version of himself. This feeling was very magical, like playing two first-person perspective games simultaneously. However, this created clone only had a mere forty points of magic within its body, which meant that Alan's proficiency with the Clone Spell was quite worrying. Such a clone, let alone facing Shalltear, Thor, and Irene in the room, even Hog's dog could probably bite it to death with its physical strength.
"Hmm... this magic gives me a feeling of being very strong, but also somewhat useless," Alan shook his head, a bit speechless.
Skipping the Clone Spell, Alan shifted his attention to the last arcane art in the essentials, which was the Three Pure Ones Spell, capable of allowing the Rune Serpent to create three physical clones.
The name of the Three Pure Ones Spell was derived from the Eastern concept of a single entity transforming into three distinct forms, because this magic could create two permanent physical clones, and these two clones were just like real people, also having physiological needs such as eating, drinking, and excretion, and also possessing autonomous action capabilities. However, although the Three Pure Ones Spell had the word spell in its name, it was not actually a simple spell, but a very complex magical ritual.
Similarly, cultivating the Three Pure Ones Spell also had corresponding prerequisites. First, one must first learn and master the Clone Spell, which meant that the prerequisites for the Clone Spell were also the prerequisites for the Three Pure Ones Spell. Secondly, one must take a potion called the Spirit Separation Potion. This potion could enhance the user's brain reaction ability and allow the wizard to maintain multitasking for a long time.
The main ingredient for making this potion was the egg of a Runespoor. Perhaps this was why the Rune Serpent chose such a code name for herself. Of course, it could also be because a Runespoor has three heads, which just corresponded to her and her two other clones.
At the same time, it was strictly recorded in the essentials that one must take the Spirit Separation Potion to learn the Three Pure Ones Spell, because if one attempted to create physical clones without taking the potion, it would lead to a series of unknown serious consequences, such as developing severe split personalities, new independent consciousness appearing on the clones, and the clones gradually defying the main body's will.