Chapter 366 - 355: Sorry, My New Witchcraft Can Bankrupt You on the Spot
Chapter 366: Chapter 355: Sorry, My New Witchcraft Can Bankrupt You on the Spot
It had been fifteen days since Allen returned to Deep Blue Residence from Hub City, and his study was utterly transformed.
There was no longer any trace of a homely feel; it looked more like a precision laboratory that had been forcibly crammed into a residential apartment.
Multipurpose workstations, brought over from the Cybertron Half-Plane by his workshop drones, took up most of the space. Along the walls were piles of various texts purchased from the Association’s knowledge base—
An Introduction to Basic Rune Structures (Fourth Revised Edition), A Primer on Magic Power Spectrum Analysis, Battlefield Residue Disposal Protocols, A Guide to High-Tier Alchemy Production Line Design...
In the very center of his desk, several date-pit-sized, self-regulating metal cores were suspended in an energy field next to a large pile of design drafts.
"Commander, we’ve had a milestone breakthrough on the two highest-priority projects in the R&D queue," Jarvis’s electronic voice chimed in his mind.
"The engineering application of matter decomposition technology and the modeling for the Disintegration Witchcraft have both completed their preliminary simulations."
Allen rubbed the bridge of his nose, glancing around the cramped study.
Deep Blue Residence was too small to set up a proper workshop area, which prevented him from entering the Cybertron Half-Plane. For the past two weeks, he had to make do by having his workshop drones dismantle a few precision analyzers and move them into his study.
"Pull up the design for the material recycling furnace."
A screen of light unfolded, displaying the rotating, mid-air model of a massive metal furnace shaped like an inverted funnel.
This was the core piece of equipment for the first-generation automated material recycling production line, developed based on the "Magical Bond Resonance Equation."
On the Wailing Icefield, his simple pulse generator could only reduce the Black Patterned Magic Steel alloy to powder. Now, he wanted something more: the capability for industrialized mass production.
’Thirty-six resonance modules line the furnace’s inner wall.’
Allen’s fingertip slid across the model. "The manufacturing process for each module was reverse-engineered from the natural radiation waveform of the self-regulating metal cores."
He had used manual Rune-etching to replicate the core’s low-frequency Magic Power. The thirty-six modules, arranged in a specific array, would form an enveloping resonance field.
The most ingenious part of the design was its "scanning" function.
He had integrated the "spectrum scanning" technology he previously analyzed from the Abyssal Rays.
When scrap is fed into the furnace, no manual sorting is required. The resonance field cycles through the resonance frequencies of common Magic Metals at an extremely high rate.
A match triggers decomposition.
"And the cost analysis?" Allen asked.
[Cost: 15,000 Low-Level Magic Stones.]
[Resonance Wafer Set: 8,000. Furnace Body and Output System: 4,000. Control Rune Array: 3,000.]
[Daily Processing Capacity (per furnace): Approx. 1,000 tons of low-level Magic Metal wreckage.]
[Power Consumption: Approx. 0.03 standard Magic Power units per ton processed.]
Allen nodded in satisfaction. The furnace’s power consumption was extremely low because the essence of resonant decomposition was "catalysis," not the "application" of force.
It required very little Magic Power to maintain the field’s stability—a world away from high-energy, high-temperature smelting methods.
"Is everything ready on Cybertron’s end?"
[The test prototype has been assembled.]
"Run it."
A six-meter-tall experimental recycling furnace stood in a clearing. A few workshop drones dragged the wrecked torso of a decommissioned Spider Slayer and tossed it into the intake chute.
Jarvis assumed control. The thirty-six resonance modules began to glow faintly in sequence. The furnace chamber remained silent, without a single flash of light or a rumbling sound.
Twelve seconds later.
Three output valves at the base of the furnace opened.
Three streams of different-colored molten metal flowed out like miniature waterfalls, each into a separate collection trough below, where they solidified.
[First test complete. Recovery Rate: 68.4%.]
Allen’s brow furrowed. ’Less than seventy percent. That’s too low.’
"Adjust the Rune arrangement sequence and fine-tune the resonance frequency’s decay curve."
[Command confirmed. Commencing second test.]
Twelve seconds later.
[Recovery Rate: 71.2%.]
"Continue."
[Third test: 69.8%.]
[Seventh test: 70.3%.]
After ten consecutive tests, the data hovered around 70%, refusing to budge any higher.
Allen stared at the data stream, his mind racing through calculations. A moment later, he found the root of the problem.
’It’s the unbound Magic Power.’
Allen pointed to the energy dissipation curve on the analytical chart. "The moment the magical bonds break, the unbound Magic Power contained within the metal dissipates along with it. A portion of the energy simply vanishes. This is a fundamental physical limitation. We could overcome it by adding a High-tier energy-gathering Array, but that would increase the cost tenfold."
He decisively abandoned the pursuit of perfection.
"Seventy percent is good enough," Allen decided.
He was only concerned with commercial viability. Based on the current market price of Black Patterned Magic Steel, even with a 70% recovery rate, the profit from recycling each ton of wreckage—after subtracting the negligible energy cost—was still more than four times that of traditional smelting methods.
It was a license to print money that, for now, had gone unnoticed.
If matter decomposition was a tool for making money, then Disintegration was the perfect Witchcraft for sabotage.
This was the first time Allen had designed a complete Witchcraft model from scratch.
His greatest assets were his flawless mastery of Rune theory from his apprentice days and the combined processing power of DSeek and Jarvis, which rivaled a supercomputer.
The difficulty lay in the fact that the Rune System he had studied contained no such thing as a "Resonance" Rune.
He would have to brute-force a resonance Magic model into existence using only basic Runes.
"Pull up the basic Rune library."
Allen’s hands moved quickly, dragging elements through the empty air.
"Release"—the first Rune he ever learned, meaning "propulsion."
"Repeat"—commonly used in sonic Witchcraft.
"Penetrate"—to enhance directionality.
"Decay"—to control output intensity and prevent a fatal energy backlash.
"Lock"—to fix the frequency.
"Sense"—to detect a target’s material composition.
"Convert"—to reshape Magic Power into a specific waveform.
These seven basic Runes formed the backbone, which he combined with thirty-four advanced supplementary Runes to form a complex, three-dimensional geometric model in mid-air.
"Jarvis, begin brute-force simulations."
[Simulations initiated.]
Data cascaded down the light screen like a waterfall as tens of thousands of permutations collided, collapsed, and reassembled in the virtual environment.
DSeek ruthlessly eliminated 97% of the proposed solutions.
Three hours later, the simulation ceased.
A viable Witchcraft model hovered before Allen’s eyes.
[Disintegration · Initial Version]
[Casting Time: 1.7 seconds.]
[Effective Range: 100 meters.]
[Power Level Classification: Intermediate Witchcraft.]
[Effect: Fires a high-frequency resonance beam at the target, causing the magical bonds within high-grade metals or complex alloys to collapse. This triggers microscopic Magic Power explosions, completely destroying the target’s physical and Runic structure.]
Allen looked at the model, a keen light flashing in his eyes. This was far more versatile than the [Directional Magic Pulse] Witchcraft he had previously learned.
A purely anti-materiel Witchcraft.
A casting time of 1.7 seconds was a little long, but in a real battle, with covering fire from a Golem, it was enough time to catch an enemy by surprise and disable their High-tier Mechanical Body or equipment. It wouldn’t do much damage to a person, but the damage to their wallet would be catastrophic.
’There’s still room for improvement,’ Allen analyzed calmly.
’Next iteration: expand the "Sense" Rune cluster.’
He jotted down the plan in his notes. ’Upon casting, it will automatically detect the target’s material composition and feed that data to the "Lock" Rune, achieving real-time, adaptive frequency tuning. That way, it won’t just "destroy" a target; it can be used for targeted material decomposition, turning Disintegration into a portable recycling furnace.’
But he quickly shook his head.
To achieve that, he would need to push the "Sense" Rune’s functional weight to its absolute limit, allowing it to automatically detect the target’s material composition upon casting and provide real-time feedback to the "Lock" Rune for adaptive frequency tuning.
However, that would require a complex, second-order nesting of at least eleven Runes. With his current Spiritual Power capacity and proficiency in Rune manipulation, he couldn’t yet achieve that reliably.
’Still, this is good enough for now.’
Allen dismissed the light screen.
He didn’t conduct a physical test of the Disintegration spell.
High-grade Magic Metals were too expensive. It had pained him to destroy that small piece of adamantite back on the Wailing Icefield; he certainly wasn’t about to waste a fortune just for test data.
The material recycling furnace was complete, and the initial version of Disintegration was viable.
Both lines of research were now viable. All he needed was a suitable place to validate them.
Allen sat back in his chair and opened the Association’s mission board, preparing to accept a mission he had been eyeing for some time.