Chapter 49: Being Watched

Rubbing his lower back, Zheng Yichen looked at the empty bag in his hand. The Contract Scrolls inside were almost all used up. Finding people was easy; he had perfectly disguised his true self using this body. However, his power was also affected. At most, he could only sense a target’s strength.

Over this time, spreading the Magic Weapon Summoning Book had caused quite a stir in Sta City. Even though Zheng Yichen tried his best to avoid it, some books still ended up with people who wanted to study them, not use them.

Of course… apart from their research giving the Magic Weapon Summoning Books extra Mana reserves, the Spiritual Power contained within had increased. Yeah… his Spiritual Power also had a ‘stealing’ trait. And worse, it worked almost like a cruel joke even after leaving his body!

If Loris had the kind of constitution that meant living things touching her died, his own constitution, deep down, sucked special energies upon touch…

Anyway, those researchers losing Mana was a small thing. They could get it back. Directly losing a portion of their Mental Energy? That was a huge loss. Mental injuries weren’t like body wounds that could heal quickly. Looking at how fast the Magic Weapon Summoning Books were filling their reserves, Zheng Yichen actually thought letting those who wanted to dig out its secrets study it seemed like a pretty good choice.

After careful thought, though, he decided against it. This kind of thing would happen only this time. Once those people discovered the frustrating traits that came from researching the origins and deep secrets of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book, they’d basically give up on such suicidal actions.

Right now, because he kept spreading the Magic Weapon Summoning Books, he’d been noticed.

Not long after Zheng Yichen left Sta City, several dark figures began tailing him. He noticed them midway. This discovery made him immediately detour around the path back to the Forest of Illusions. Again, this temporary body limited him. His senses were heavily restricted. If he were in his dragon form, just a few people? He’d have spotted them way earlier.

“He’s making us run around,” the men following Zheng Yichen communicated silently. They were all seasoned experts with sharp eyes. So, when Zheng Yichen slightly changed his walking direction, they picked up on something wrong. After several days of investigation, they had completely determined that this strangely appeared young man was linked to the Magic Weapon Summoning Books. A huge amount of them had been spread by him.

“Then let’s move.” Several figures in black swiftly closed in on Zheng Yichen, decisively choosing to strike. Zheng Yichen had thought they were just small fry. The moment they moved, he sensed something off. These guys were pretty strong!!

Under their coordinated attack, Zheng Yichen only managed to make this body react a little before he was sent flying. Deep cuts appeared on his body, all targeting his joints, and they were poisoned!

Of course, this poison wasn’t lethal; it was meant for controlling people. They clearly didn’t want his life; they wanted to capture him alive. As for Zheng Yichen himself? He had never learned any Martial Arts. His fighting skill was probably about the same as a street thug. The difference was a powerful body… which came from his true form.

Now, using this Human Avatar made his close-combat strength plummet to the absolute minimum… As for Magic, this body was like plate armor, seriously blocking his direct contact with the world’s Mana. Any Magic he cast would be heavily affected, its power reduced by eighty or ninety percent.

Luckily, this body belonged to the undead. Even though its duration was limited, it was still strong. It could ignore factors of injury. As long as it wasn’t completely destroyed, it could maintain fierce combat power. Poison? That stuff was even more useless.

“What do you people want?” Standing up, Zheng Yichen looked at the men in black. The wounds on his body were already healing. The eyes of the black-clad men flickered. This kind of regenerative ability was abnormal; ordinary people definitely didn’t have it. Yet, when they attacked earlier, Zheng Yichen’s defensive posture had been incredibly clumsy, like he had zero training at all.

A very contradictory state.

“What’s your reason for spreading the Magic Weapon Summoning Book?” one of the men in black demanded, staring hard at Zheng Yichen.

“Uh… spreading welfare stuff?” Zheng Yichen scratched his head, thinking of a reason. After all, based on how the Magic Weapon Summoning Book worked, the Magic Weapon Summoners definitely got a unique benefit. Anyone negatively affected was probably those selling real magic weapons.

“Not a reason! Come with us.” The man in black glanced left and right, then coldly addressed Zheng Yichen. Without waiting for Zheng Yichen’s reply, he and his companions attacked instantly. The people watching Zheng Yichen weren’t just this group. Everyone interested in the Magic Weapon Summoning Book wanted to make a move on him.

Their only advantage here was spotting Zheng Yichen first. Currently, all the Magic Weapon Summoning Books out there were only Projections. Very special Projections. As long as no one made a Contract with them, those Projections could last indefinitely. To vanish naturally would take decades at least.

It wasn’t because the Projections contained vast Mana, but because whoever created them possessed masterful skill in the Projection Spell. Using an ordinary amount of mana, they’d created long-lasting projected objects imbued with a one-time-use effect!

The Projections were definitely connected to the original. Their organization had suffered big losses studying the Projections of the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Several Mages had suffered Mana depletion, equivalent to a permanent drop in their MP cap. Worse were the Mages whose Mental Energy was injured. For the former, it was just reduced Mana. Their Mental Energy was fine, so it didn’t impact their strength much. At most, they could cast one or two fewer spells.

For the latter, though, it was like a permanent loss of strength!

That was the consequence of directly researching the Magic Weapon Summoning Book. Or rather, it was triggering the book’s defense mechanism. There were losses, but this also indirectly showed just how powerful the Magic Weapon Summoning Book was.

Their research wasn’t without results, though. They’d confirmed that the Magic Arms summoned by the book were also a kind of Projection. But it wasn’t a normal Projection from the Projection Spell. Instead, it was a Projection summoned like through a Summoner’s Magic, yet it also had differences from summoning Projections. It seemed like merging the strengths of two magic systems into one, forming a unique kind of Summoning Magic.

Just make a Contract with the Magic Weapon Summoning Book and you get a ‘Summoning Mark’. Then you can summon Magic Arms. Each summoned Magic Arm is unique. Even if someone else summons the same one, there would be no interference with each other.