Chapter 241: Artisans, Water Domain Spellcasting

Returning to the camp, Laidun brought Xia Duo the personnel evaluation report for the day. Xia Duo flipped through it page by page; the front contained the ordinary residents, and the back contained the slaves.

Perhaps because the order had just been announced today, everyone's performance was quite good, and Laidun had given everyone an "Excellent" rating.

Flipping to the end, there was another small booklet, which was the roster of all personnel, including soldiers. Laidun had organized everyone's past experiences and skills; this was something Xia Duo had specifically instructed him to do.

Seeing the finished book now, it was indeed what he had wanted to see. This roster was likely the first household registration record for the Territory.

"Laidun, aren't there craftsmen on here? This slave named 'Sitong', a stonemason? Was that stone bowl at the Altar made by him?"

"My Lord, I chiseled that bowl with my own hands," Laidun immediately explained, "and this slave named Sitong is indeed a stonemason. That bowl was chiseled by me under his guidance."

Although Laidun did not like these slaves, that was purely because they had fled the conscription of their original lord; he would not conceal the abilities the slaves possessed.

The Doctrine did not allow him to lie to his lord, and he himself was unwilling to lie.

"Hmm, and this Carpenter, a carpenter?"

"Yes."

There really were quite a few talents among these slaves! Among these twenty-some people, there were two craftsmen, whereas among the fifty or sixty official residents he had recruited in Savile Territory, there was only one tanner.

This difference was a bit too large!

"Let these two people work with the other slaves for now, but you must keep an eye on them. When the time is ripe, I will remove their slave status."

"Yes!"

"That will be all." Xia Duo handed the personnel roster and evaluation records back. For the time being, these tasks all needed to be handled by Laidun concurrently.

There were still too few people!

He was now hoping that the Silaiwen Chamber of Commerce could get him more slaves from the Inner Land. As for recruiting from Savile Territory, he no longer counted on it much.

Having this batch of fifty or sixty people as a foundation was already not bad; subsequent arrivals might just be one or two at a time, which really couldn't satisfy his appetite.

……

After Laidun left, Xia Duo came to the riverbank and stepped into the river water step by step. Previously, he had recorded a set of elements from the Magic Arrow within the Mythallar, but there was no Spell Laboratory here. He thought of a method that wasn't quite a method—

Spreading his consciousness into the water body and using this stretch of the river to conduct spell experiments; even if it failed, the Wofu Fort River would bear the brunt.

Of course, this was still just a hypothesis. Since he had to conduct experiments anyway, he might as well try it this way.

If it succeeded, it wouldn't just make spell experiments more convenient; more importantly—once the water domain he could control became wider, wouldn't he be able to extend spells to a very far distance!

It would be like him, from his current position, using Water Domain Spellcasting, while the spell appeared in Savile Town. This would mean he could attack enemies while sitting at home, and the enemies wouldn't even know it was him.

And this was only 【Water Control】. In the Bloodline Inheritance information, there were also parts regarding wind, rain, and thunder. Could he also use wind, rain, and thunder to cast spells?

However, all of this was still just Xia Duo's wild imagination. Whether it was feasible or not would depend on this attempt at Water Domain Spellcasting!

At the bottom of the Wofu Fort River, Xia Duo lay quietly on the riverbed, his consciousness slowly spreading out from his body, as if the surrounding river water had become his limbs and blood vessels.

Xia Duo did not spread his consciousness to the limit of what he could control. Once at the limit, although he could still think normally, it was like an instinct; in such a state, it was impossible to cast spells.

He only extended his consciousness to the two banks of the Wofu Fort and spread about 20 meters upstream and downstream. He felt that once he exceeded this range, he would be unable to cast spells.

This feeling was very wonderful and also very simple; it was like a person who could only lift 100 pounds, so he was very sensitive to the concept of 100 pounds.

What could be lifted and what could not be lifted—he had a rough standard in his heart.

The focused state was a state where the mental will was very concentrated, equivalent to a person using all their strength. Whether a person was using all their strength and whether they were in a focused state could both be easily judged.

And a simpler way to judge was through the Magic Net. In a focused state, one could "see" the Magic Net; if one had distracting thoughts or the consciousness was not concentrated enough, then naturally one could not see it.

Similarly, maintaining focus, just like using all one's strength, required consuming physical strength or, in other words, energy. In short, it could not be without consumption, and if the consumption was too high, it would become impossible to maintain.

Spellcasting was a more consuming act than maintaining focus, which was why one needed to rest after spellcasting.

While controlling the water domain and maintaining a focused state, Xia Duo could only influence a river section of about 50 meters at most. For the strategic goal of wanting to strike enemies from home, this was only a starting step.

Whether he could actually use the water domain for spellcasting—the first step of the attempt was to pull the Magic Net. As long as he could interact with the Magic Net, that was a breakthrough from zero.

Everything that followed was just an accumulation of complexity.

For the first step, Xia Duo didn't do anything high-difficulty. It was just like a Mage Apprentice practicing spellcasting, merely pulling a Magic Net String, twisting, winding...

Any element he had mastered could be easily realized, which meant—

He could use the water domain for spellcasting!

Xia Duo's heart was agitated. What this meant, even if he thought about it with his toes, he would know. Setting aside the expansion of the spellcasting range, after all, he didn't need it right now.

Just being able to use the water domain to bear the backlash of spellcasting failure instead of him was enough to make him cheer with joy.

The Magic Net stabilization effect of a Spell Laboratory was related to the intensity of the spell experiment; 1st Circle was 10 Gold Coins per hour, 2nd Circle was 20, and so on.

And as a Mage, he didn't know how much time he would need to spend on spellcasting training and experimenting with spells in the future. The money saved here would not be a small amount.

Of course, some very dangerous spells with huge areas of influence also needed to be experimented with cautiously; after all, the water domain he could control was always limited.

However, this was just a shortcoming that wasn't really a shortcoming. Even in the Spell Laboratory, there were many accidents. Just like the last Arcane Competition, Pa Luo Si was absent because of his mentor's experimental accident.

Caution was needed at all times.

After trying a single-element spell even simpler than 【Prestidigitation】, Xia Duo restrained his wild joy and continued to try 【Light】. This spell had only twelve elements and was a relatively easy introductory spell.

Almost the moment he had the thought, a hazy ball of light appeared on the riverbed 20 meters away.

The flow of the river water itself, plus the ripples stirred up by the breeze—if someone were standing in the distance looking toward this side, they would see flickering, fine sparks on the river surface, like starlight entering the water, or like the eyes of a monster at the bottom of the water.