Chapter 152: Lizardman Knowledge: Magic Ascension, a Special Enhancement Magic

In the deepest part of the Small Tooth tribe, in front of an old wooden hut.

Several large ceramic vats were placed at the entrance; some contained live, plump, fresh fish, others were piled with herbs emitting strange odors, and one vat was filled with peculiar stones of various colors.

Tang Zheng swept his gaze over the surroundings of the hut and then landed on the vat filled with colorful stones: "What are these?"

"Color ore."

The old Lizardman priest spoke with a dull gaze, introducing them without reservation: "After crushing this kind of stone, it can be used as paint to draw totems and patterns on the tribesmen's bodies."

"Does it have any special effects?" Tang Zheng took another look at these colorful stones.

"No." The old Lizardman priest shook his head.

Tang Zheng immediately lost interest. He briefly observed the wooden hut and let the old Lizardman priest lead the way as he walked inside.

This wooden hut was clearly quite old; the wooden pillars connecting to the ground were covered in moss and tiny wooden vines.

Lizardmen belong to the amphibious demi-human race and like to live in humid places, but their houses are all built as two-story stilt structures.

The lower level is a foundation made of thick wooden piles, and only the upper level is used for living.

Just as he stepped into the wooden hut.

A stale, foul, and rotten smell rushed toward his face.

"Odor Removal."

Tang Zheng wrinkled his nose.

The light of magic surged, and after casting "Odor Removal" twice in succession, the thick smell in the room finally dissipated for the most part.

He scanned the room.

It could hardly be called decorated; it was very crude. On the walls hung many necklaces and pendants made of unknown bones, as well as shields made of seashells that were both ugly and completely impractical.

Tang Zheng's gaze was immediately drawn to the numerous scrolls made of some kind of animal hide, resting on a structure resembling a bookshelf inside the room.

The quantity was not large, but there were several dozen.

"Is this where all the knowledge of your tribe is stored?" Tang Zheng's eyes brightened slightly.

The old Lizardman priest nodded dully.

The various knowledge within the tribe is guarded and protected by the Council of Elders, but since he is the only priest in the entire tribe, it naturally falls to him to guard it.

Tang Zheng walked up and casually picked one up; it was covered in dense Lizardman script that looked like ghost talismans.

"Take out all the scrolls related to magic and introduce them to me one by one."

Tang Zheng flipped through it and lost the desire to use "Read Magic" to decipher the text; too lazy to waste words, he spoke directly.

Since the old Lizardman priest was there, there was no need to decipher it himself, not to mention that "Read Magic" was not omnipotent.

Back in E-Rantel, Master Belorue had specifically told him the drawbacks of this magic; "Read Magic" could indeed allow the user to understand the meaning expressed by unknown text.

But that was only "understanding."

It could not provide accurate descriptions of some details, so using this magic for scholarly research was not feasible.

Soon.

The old Lizardman priest selected six scrolls from the dozens of animal hide scrolls and placed them in front of Tang Zheng, introducing them as he did so.

There were those on how to prepare herbs.

There were those on learning to use faith-based magic.

There were methods for predicting future weather.

There were methods for feeding the fish in the lake, and so on.

Many things that Tang Zheng did not consider magic at all were treated as magic by the old Lizardman priest, such as the empirical methods for observing future weather and techniques for fish farming.

Tang Zheng ignored these messy contents and first asked about the faith-based magic; as expected, they were all first-tier and second-tier faith-based magic.

Most were still primarily auxiliary magic.

There was absolutely no third-tier magic, which was the only thing that interested Tang Zheng.

As for the herbal recipes and such?

There was nothing worth mentioning; in Tang Zheng's view, the herbal preparation craft mastered by this Lizardman was entirely at the level of a human herbal apprentice.

"No wonder the tribe is so weak."

Tang Zheng shook his head, deeply disappointed. Seeing the old Lizardman priest pick up the last animal hide scroll to introduce it, he listened with forced patience.

He was already considering the next Lizardman tribe.

"This is knowledge of Magic Enhancement; it requires consuming more mana and can forcibly activate high-tier magic that could not otherwise be used."

"To exert the maximum effect of this Magic Enhancement, it needs to be coordinated with a magic ritual. The mana consumed is extremely vast, and it is not a practical magical means." The old Lizardman priest spoke slowly and dully, his tone faintly revealing his lack of regard for this magic, and continued:

"And there are also some limiting conditions."

Charm magic only changes the controller's perception of the caster, but it does not change the original perception.

This kind of Magic Enhancement was clearly not valued by the old Lizardman priest.

However!

Tang Zheng, who had been uninterested, suddenly widened his eyes a bit.

Magic Enhancement?

Tang Zheng looked at the old Lizardman priest with some surprise and astonishment.

This was the type of magic he had always wanted to master!

Although "Magic Enhancement" and "Enhanced Magic" only changed the order, there was an essential difference.

"Enhanced Magic" refers to enhancement-type magic, such as magic that increases agility, strength, or resistance.

While "Magic Enhancement" is a means of enhancing the magic itself.

For example, Magic Double-Maximize, Magic Triple-Maximize, Magic Maximize, Magic Wide-Area, etc.

=9+Shu_ba

Among the characters Tang Zheng knew, few could use these types of "Magic Enhancement."

In order to master this type of magical means, the Slane Theocracy created professions like "Arcane Believer" and "Apostle of Surshana," named after the god of death, Surshana, one of the Six Great Gods.

"Tell me about this Magic Enhancement in detail."

A serious expression appeared on Tang Zheng's face as he spoke.

Listening to the old Lizardman priest's somewhat confused language, Tang Zheng frowned.

Even if he could understand the other party's words, there were still differences in the language systems of different races. After listening carefully for a while, Tang Zheng finally figured out what the other party meant.

"Magic Ascension?"

Tang Zheng was slightly surprised; in the "Yggdrasil" game in his memory, there should not have been this Magic Enhancement.

"Could it be 'Magic Tier Ascension'?"

Tang Zheng knew a little about this Magic Enhancement; in the entire light novel, Ainz had used it twice in total.

Once against Shalltear, using "Triple Magic: Tier Ascension: Magic Arrow."

Once against the Elf King's Primal Earth Elemental, using "Triple Magic: Maximize: Tier Ascension: Silent: Magic Arrow."

Because both battles involved Ainz fighting seriously, combined with a series of Magic Enhancement combinations, and still using the lowest-tier "Magic Arrow," it left a deep impression on Tang Zheng.

However!

The ability of "Magic Tier Ascension" is to increase the tier of magic, for example, raising a first-tier "Magic Arrow" to the tenth tier.

There are no magic rituals or restrictions in this process.

But according to the old Lizardman priest, "Magic Ascension" allows the use of high-tier magic that could not originally be used.

Of course.

The "high-tier" in the other party's mouth refers to raising it by one tier; if a magic ritual is held, it can raise it by two magic tiers.

It seems to be a degraded version of "Magic Tier Ascension."

If it were only that.

Tang Zheng would naturally be uninterested; raising one or two magic tiers was of little significance to him, and he wouldn't use it at all in the later stages.

Because there are ten tiers of magic in total, no matter how much it is raised, the tenth tier is the peak; it is impossible to break through.

But the old Lizardman priest described it as "using magic that has not been mastered," which is clearly different from "Magic Tier Ascension."

According to the other party's description, this "not mastered" means it can bypass the caster's level; for example, a caster who uses second-tier magic can forcibly use third-tier magic, only the mana consumed is greater.

"Magic Ascension, Magic Ascension..."

Tang Zheng muttered to himself softly, a thoughtful look on his face.

Wait!

Could it be that magic?

Tang Zheng was startled; he suddenly remembered that when the Undead Army attacked the Lizardman tribe, someone among the Lizardmen had used this magic.

It seemed to be the older brother of the wielder of "Frozen Fang."

Besides.

The priests of the five Lizardman tribes also seemed to use this ritual to activate "Elemental Summoning," and what they summoned was a Mixed Elemental: Wetland Elemental.

"Can you use this Magic Enhancement?"

Tang Zheng narrowed his eyes and looked at the old Lizardman priest opposite him; the five tribe priests of the future should include this old guy.

(End of chapter)