Reincarnated As A Plant Life
chapter-78

He could only hold the pulse still for a fraction of a second so he had to retry it multiple times. All the while Pagan watched in awe, as a series of static pulses began forming and unforming in front of him.

[Processing...]

[New spell acquired... 『Solar Field』.]

[Adding 『Solar Field』 to 『Solar Sorcery Index』...]

[Complete. 『Solar field』 has been added.]

~Perfect!~ Lucius thought to himself in excitement. The feeling of bringing his spell to life was satisfying, like coming back to HQ after successfully completing a mission.

Lucius used silent chanting to call on the spell a few times and found that it worked perfectly. Afterward, he tried moving whilst the force field was up but found that it stayed stationary and disappeared once he was out of its confines.

~Makes sense, after all, it's based on stationary pulses,~ he reasoned as he tried estimating the radius that the force field covered. It was just a little smaller than the radius with which his crux could interact, coming in at about 1.9m.

Now all that was left was the strength test. He wasn't sure whether the spell could block any physical attacks, as he could walk into and out of it even while it was up, or whether it was just because he came from inside of it.

"Pagan, trying kicking the force field," he ordered. Pagan kicked it, and his leg went right through, proving that the spell indeed could not block any physical attacks.

~So only magical attacks then?~ he wondered, looking up at Pagan.

"I want you to cast solar burst, but this time I'll stand right beside you," he said.

"No," Pagan replied briefly. It was the first time he had ever been rejected in this world, it felt odd, and for a moment he could hardly comprehend what he had just heard.

"Why not?"

"To put the Lighted One in danger -Of course, I do not mean to insult you by thinking that I could- but I cannot willingly try to endanger the one who has granted me this power," Pagan continued.

~What is he on about?~ "I'm testing something. Just do as ordered," Lucius replied.

"And what if something goes wrong? Alpha will have my head. And you saw Ghost's pod, who knows what she'll turn into, and what she'll do if this goes wrong," Pagan mumbled, but Lucius was already standing in position.

After mumbling on for a few more moments, Pagan realized that Lucius wasn't going to back down, and got into position as well.

"Tell me when to go," Pagan said reluctantly.

~Solar Field,~ Lucius chanted, before giving Pagan the green light.

And just like he had anticipated, the forcefield protected him from the explosion. However, the way it did it was beyond his expectations.

He had expected the initial blast to be blocked, but its physical manifestations; such as its shockwave was supposed to be able to pass through. However, it was as if the solar field had completely nullified its effects, including even its physical attributes.

~So its working is a little more complex than it seems?~ he thought to himself.

"Lighted One, how did you do it? How did you create a new spell?" Pagan asked excitedly, eyes of expectation starting at Lucius.

"I didn't create it, I merely read it out of a list in my mind," Lucius replied, lying through his teeth.

If he had learned anything about Pagan, it was that he could not be trusted with sensitive information. Perhaps he would tell him how to create spells at a later time, but for now, telling him would risk having it just blurted out.

"Oh, so it's impossible for me then?" Pagan asked in a defeated tone.

"Not necessarily. There might be a way for you to do it, keep trying," Lucius replied. There was usually more than one way to do things, and he wasn't very well going to dash Pagan's reason for experimenting with magic just like that.

"I'll try my best to approach your heights, Lighted One," Pagan replied, his tone filled with reverence.

"And Pagan, drop the cultish act. It's kind of disturbing," Lucius said, feeling uncomfortable with the gaze Pagan sometimes peered at him with.

"Cultish? What do you mean?"

"Sigh."

"The last thing I want to test out is the range of our shared photosynthesis," Lucius said.

He wanted to know if there was a way for Pagan to continue the photosynthesis session even while he was out in the dark forest. The two of them started at a distance of 1 meter, before trying the linked photosynthesis.

[Pagan requests to use you as a relay for photosynthesis.]

[Accept.] [Decline.]

~Accept.~

Photosynthesis seemed to work just well from that distance, so they moved on to a distance of 2 meters. The result was the same, photosynthesis happened just fine.

However, at 3 meters, an extra message appeared along with the usual request.

[Pagan requests to use you as a relay for photosynthesis.]

[Note. Target is not within effective range, as such photosynthesis will only be 75% efficient.]

[Accept.] [Decline.]

~I see,~ Lucius thought to himself, before moving even further. Every extra meter he moved away, photosynthesis's efficiency would drop by another 25%. Until eventually, at 6 meters, the system would not allow photosynthesis to even take place.

~I see, so it won't be possible,~ he realized after noting down the results of his experimentation.

They had worn themselves out a bit due to repeated use of their crux. And though it wasn't a mental or physical sort of exhaustion, Lucius felt empty somehow, like some unknown resource of his had been drained.

~Probably the equivalent of mana,~ he thought to himself as he and Pagan walked back to the camp.

As a child he had never really been into all the fantasy shmuck that kid's his age seemed so crazed over. But he knew at least the basics. Mana, mana cores, and magic spells. However, everything else was beyond him.

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