Chapter 700: Chapter 433 Divine Blood
Fiddling with the crystal that recorded the Robert Explosion Skill in his hands, Colin sorted through his train of thought.
First and foremost, what could be confirmed was that the Robert Explosion Skill indeed involved nuclear explosions, just as he had thought.
As everyone knows, there are two types of nuclear explosions: nuclear fission and nuclear fusion; the latter is often much more complex and powerful than the former.
The Robert Explosion Skill belonged to the former, nuclear fission.
However, the specifics of this witchcraft, when compared with nuclear fission from his previous life, had some differences.
Specifically, the introduction of Magic Power had caused some unique changes to occur in the nuclear fission reaction within the Robert Explosion Skill.
To put it simply, the underlying principle of nuclear fission involves heavier atomic nuclei splitting into lighter atoms under the bombardment of artificially created neutron streams, acquiring a neutron in the process and releasing a tremendous amount of energy; it also emits new neutrons.
These new neutrons would then hurtle in all directions, potentially striking new heavier atomic nuclei and repeating the process, causing more atomic nuclei to split, thus continuously proceeding until the material was exhausted, culminating in a complete nuclear fission explosion.
The process may seem tedious, but in actuality, it takes place at the speed of light and can be completed in the blink of an eye.
This cascading process is also known as a chain reaction.
Since the energy produced by the splitting of a single atomic nucleus isn’t very significant, a nuclear explosion requires a chain reaction.
Achieving a chain reaction, however, is no easy feat.
After all, oftentimes, those new neutrons generated by the split atomic nuclei don’t cause the remaining atomic nuclei to undergo fission reactions, thereby failing to form a massive nuclear explosion.
In his previous life, the simplest way to ensure the occurrence of a chain reaction was to increase the quantity of material such as uranium or plutonium.
Yet in this world, Magic Power made the difficult-to-occur chain reaction easy.
The exact reason for this was unclear to Colin at present.
However, he speculated that perhaps the Magic Power acted as a neutron reflector, confining the fission reaction and increasing the probability that the initial fission neutrons would strike the remaining atomic nuclei?
Regardless of the details, it seemed achieving the nuclear explosion’s might that he imagined from his previous life might be easier than he thought?
Maybe not... Colin reined in his inner excitement and shook his head again.
At any rate, even if Magic Power reduced the minimal critical mass needed for a nuclear explosion to trigger a chain reaction, the power of the Robert Explosion Skill still seemed abnormally weak. He feared he would only know the specific reasons after further study and mastery.
Having sorted through his conjectures, he checked the Robert Explosion Skill once more as the dawn began to light the sky, signaling that sunrise was not far off.
Colin thought for a moment, then took out another Knowledge Crystal — the Monroe Force Field Family.
This series of witchcraft, though not as pricey as the first-tier spells, was in no way inferior to those first-tier witchcraft series in terms of defense and other aspects, despite being slightly less potent in attack.
The reason for its relative inferiority in attack lay in the nature of Force Field witchcraft, which was always more geared toward defense than offense.
All in all, he was quite satisfied with this Force Field series of witchcraft.
"Monroe Invisible Hand... Monroe Force Field Shield..."
In terms of content, this series of witchcraft was much more extensive than the Robert Explosion Skill.
With spells for attack, defense, flight, and support, Colin roughly estimated that there had to be at least a dozen spells if taken independently!
Unable to continue reading for too long, Colin stopped around eight in the morning, having read just less than half.
After packing up, he went out to say goodbye to his mentor and others, and without further delay, set off for Cloud Hall.
Although Cloud Hall was located above the sky, most councilors still needed to use a specialized Transmission Array to get there.
...
"Good morning, Councilman."
The duty wizard at the entrance of Neustadt Hall greeted him respectfully.
Colin nodded slightly and stepped inside.
This central hall of Neustadt was as quiet as ever, except for the patrolling wizards, scarcely a soul was in sight.
Councilors that did appear were always in a hurry, vanishing as quickly as they arrived.
"The war period... most of the councilors are on the front lines," Colin mused, then looked up to see a familiar figure.
It was a curly-haired, middle-aged man with a scholarly appearance, now regarding him with a smile.
"Councilman Nois," Colin exclaimed with surprise.
"Good morning, Colin," Nois approached leisurely, patting him on the shoulder and complimenting him, "You’ve given me another pleasant surprise."
"Thanks to good luck."
"That’s not just about luck," Nois said.
Colin just smiled and did not continue the conversation.
Nois didn’t probe further and asked, "Have you finished dealing with the autumn planting? How do you have time to come to Neustadt?"
"Most of it is handled," Colin replied, "I came over this time because I was summoned by a Supreme Councilman."
"Summoned by a Supreme Councilman?"
"Yes," Colin paused and said, "I’m not clear about the exact reason for the summons, but I guess it might be to give me the Divine Blood we talked about before."
"Divine Blood?" Nois raised an eyebrow and smiled, "No wonder there’s been much less Divine Blood allocated this time; it turns out it has been shared with you."
He looked around, then cautioned, "Divine Blood is even more precious than you imagine, it’s best not to let others know of this matter."
"Understood." Colin nodded seriously and asked, "Lord Nois, may I daringly inquire... what exactly is Divine Blood?"
"Let’s walk and talk." Nois led the way toward the Transmission Array that led to deeper parts of the Council Hall, en route to Cloud Hall,
"As the name implies, Divine Blood refers to the blood of deities. Of course, ’blood’ is figurative; more accurately, it should be called the essence."
"I don’t know if you’ve seen the announcements from the Supreme Council before, but a true incarnation of the Lord of Flesh and Thorns was hunted down by us a short while ago."
"I have heard of this matter." Colin nodded.
"The Divine Blood we got this time came from that true incarnation of the Lord of Flesh and Thorns," Nois added, "Because divine true forms cannot descend into the Yanan World, the deities we usually encounter are mostly projection avatars, whose strengths can vary enormously.
A true incarnation is among the strongest, and only from a true incarnation can Divine Blood be extracted."
Colin nodded lightly, knowing the power of Divine Projection avatars varied immensely indeed.
The worst could perhaps just be a projection.
The projection of the Lord of Flesh and Thorns he had seen on Blackstone Island would now be considered of First Rank Intermediate ability level.
However, compared to ordinary Wizards of the same rank, Divine Projections possess many strange abilities—Wizards of the same rank generally cannot match them. Back then, Wizard Lap, being a Wizard at the peak of the First Rank, also had to rely on the power of a Witch Array to resist a First Rank Intermediate Lord of Flesh and Thorns.
Naturally, the upper limit of a Divine Projection should be more than just First Rank Intermediate.
Above the projection, there should be a divine incarnation; the golden figure he last saw at the McIntosh Wizard Tower when he escaped Blackstone Island was probably such an incarnation.
Judging from the ability level, even a newborn incarnation was at least Second Rank, and the commotion it caused was something not even an ordinary Third Rank Wizard could match.
As for true incarnations, Colin had not seen one, but from Nois’s description, it was evidently not an easy adversary to face.
With many thoughts in his mind, but only a moment passing in reality, Nois continued,
"As for the effect of Divine Blood, there is only one—" he paused, "and that is to increase soul strength."
"The Divine Blood, once processed by the Supreme Councilman, no longer possesses the characteristics of a deity. It’s more like a unique form of advanced energy that can directly increase the strength of the soul. And as long as the amount is controlled and used strictly according to the instructions, there are basically no side effects."
Colin’s step faltered, and his face showed surprise, "No side effects, directly increasing soul strength?"
A Wizard’s core power comes from the soul; directly increasing soul strength means directly enhancing one’s power!
"Yes, usually, a Wizard who has just advanced to the Third Rank, after intermittently using Divine Blood for three months, can progress from Basic Level Third Rank to Intermediate Third Rank—and after using it for a year, reaching Advanced Level Third Rank or even Peak is highly probable," Nois nodded.
Surprise was evident on Colin’s face.
One should realize that for a Third Rank Wizard, even with the aid of Golden Paper, such a rapid advancement might not be possible.
It took him over two years to rise from Basic Level Second Rank to the Peak of Second Rank.
Now, after advancing to the Third Rank, even though his Superbrain Talent had been upgraded, reaching the Peak of Third Rank would likely take no less than two and a half years.
"Don’t think too much of it; Divine Blood isn’t that easy to obtain, and its effects on Fourth Rank Wizards are far less than on Third Rank Wizards," Nois, seeing his astonished expression, smiled and added,
"The Divine Blood obtained from the Lord of Flesh and Thorns this time is probably enough for a Third Rank Wizard’s two-year usage, but for a Fourth Rank Wizard, at most it can last half a year."
Colin nodded slightly; the difficulty in obtaining Divine Blood was indeed justified by its powerful and arguably outrageous effects.
However... Due regard must be given to something extracted from a deity, and he still harbored doubts about its safety.
"We’re here, go meet the Supreme Councilman."
They arrived at the chamber outside the Transmission Array that held Cloud Hall; Nois stopped at the entrance, giving a final piece of advice,
"The specific usage instructions for Divine Blood will naturally be told to you by the Supreme Councilman after you receive it; but remember one thing—Divine Blood must be used in a state of soul, and must not come into contact with the physical body."
The soul must not touch the physical body... Colin nodded, etching it firmly in his memory, and stepped onto the Transmission Array.