In the spacious study,
The bright candlelight flickered, casting long shadows on the walls.
Su Nan sat behind his desk, intently reading "The Extraction and Modification of the Grimm Chameleon's Abilities."
Chameleons are named for their ability to change their body color in response to their environment.
This physiological change is primarily achieved through the regulation of the autonomic nervous system, expanding or contracting pigment cells in the skin.
The Grimm chameleon's color-changing ability is several levels stronger than that of ordinary chameleons, almost making it invisible.
Even standing right in front of an ordinary person, it is difficult to observe with the naked eye.
The author of this book extracted the chameleon's color-changing ability, modified and enhanced it, and then transplanted it into humans, thus granting humans similar abilities.
It must be said, this idea is quite ingenious.
However, in Su Nan's view, the ultimately obtained modified ability is not very practical.
Firstly, this ability, in essence, is simply changing one's outward appearance according to the environment. No matter how rapid the change, it still takes time, inevitably resulting in a slight lag.
Those with less acute senses might not notice, but a wizard apprentice would definitely detect the anomaly.
Ultimately, this ability is only useful against ordinary people or knights; it's utterly useless against wizard apprentices and is significantly different from true invisibility.
True invisibility is a second-circle spell, which a third-level wizard apprentice can learn and master.
Therefore, only those with no hope of advancing to third-level wizard apprentice would attempt this kind of modification.
Furthermore, physical modification is not something that can be done casually.
The human body is arguably one of the most malleable bodies—after all, many wizarding experiments on physical modification use human bodies as samples—once physical modification has been performed, the difficulty of attempting it again when encountering better physical modifications or bloodline fusions increases dramatically.
Therefore, while many wizards (apprentices) don't mind modifying themselves, they proceed with extreme caution.
If Su Nan had a choice, he certainly wouldn't modify this color-changing ability for himself.
However, this book still had considerable reference value and could be used as a reference when conducting similar experiments in the future.
Putting away the book, Su Nan took out the parchment scroll containing the energy rune, unfolded it, and placed it flat on the table.
After a pause, he opened a drawer and took out several gems, placing them on the table.
The reason why energy runes require a third-level wizard apprentice to cast is because they are entirely composed of energy particles, demanding extremely high levels of ability from the caster to manipulate these particles.
First-level wizard apprentices, who can only sense energy particles, and second-level wizard apprentices, who only have a rudimentary ability to manipulate energy particles, naturally cannot use them.
However, if the energy rune is given a carrier to increase its stability, then even second-level wizard apprentices with poor energy particle manipulation abilities can use it.
Many players in his previous life used this method to use energy runes beyond their level.
And there aren't many suitable carriers for energy runes; gems are one of them.
"However, this turns the energy runes into one-time consumables, costing a gem each time, which is quite painful."
Su Nan picked up a gem and examined it by the candlelight.
Even so, mastering another powerful combat technique makes consuming gems worthwhile.
Even someone as powerful as Earl Storm was severely wounded and near death by an assassin; this world is far more dangerous than he anticipated.
To ensure his safety, the more combat techniques he has, the better.
"I'll first read and master this skill, and once I advance to a second-level wizard apprentice, I'll immediately create energy rune gems!"
Having made his decision, Su Nan immediately cleared his mind and focused on reading the scroll's contents.
Time flew by.
Five days later.
The learning progress of puppet crafting has finally reached 100%.
At the same time, a new puppet crafting skill has appeared on Su Nan's interface.
Standing at the laboratory entrance, Su Nan looked at the brand-new puppet crafting equipment inside and nodded secretly.
After returning from the Blackstone Mine, he copied the equipment design drawings and had the blacksmith in the city help build the equipment.
The equipment had been completed and delivered to the laboratory several days ago.
Having successfully mastered the puppet crafting skill today, he could now begin attempting to craft the Black Rock Leopard.
The Black Rock Leopard's main body is over 90% Blackstone Iron, which is one of the most important materials.
Another crucial material is the energy core.
For this, Su Nan chose a gemstone as the energy core.
After all, he didn't have a soul crystal, nor did he know the technique to create one.
However, even if he did, he couldn't create one at the moment.
A soul crystal, as the name suggests, is a crystal formed from the condensation of a soul.
Its raw material is a purified soul.
To create even the lowest-grade Soul Crystal, one would need at least a thousand ordinary human souls.
or dozens of knight souls.
Neither of these is something Su Nan currently possesses.
He had no choice but to settle for using gemstones to create an energy core.
With complete experimental records and his already mastered puppet-making skills, Su Nan successfully crafted a Black Rock Leopard on his first attempt.
To his surprise, the Black Rock Leopard could actually be placed into a synthesis cube.
[Black Rock Leopard (Puppet/Beginner Knight Level), a puppet creation made of black iron, possessing the ability to stealthily move through black iron ore veins. It can replenish its energy and recover from injuries by consuming black iron.
"It seems that non-living objects can be synthesized and upgraded using cubes,"
Su Nan nodded to himself.
This way, he could use the Black Rock Leopard to synthesize even more powerful puppets.
As for the 'ability to stealthily move through black iron ore veins' mentioned in the description, Su Nan had already seen it in Angle McKlain's experimental diary.
He had been somewhat disappointed at the time, as he had always thought the Black Rock Leopard possessed a rock-like stealth ability.
"That's right; if it really had rock-like stealth ability, it wouldn't just be a low-level puppet."
Shaking his head, Su Nan looked at the remaining black iron in the corner.
"Refining a Black Rock Leopard requires about five tons of black iron. For gems, you can choose cheaper types. The total cost will be around thirty-eight gold coins."
That many gold coins are enough to buy two or three excellent warhorses.
However, considering combat power, the Black Rock Leopard is clearly more cost-effective.
"Forget it, let my brother worry about the money. I'll only be responsible for refining the puppet."
High-level puppets can automatically absorb free energy particles in the air to replenish energy and heal injuries, but the Black Rock Leopard obviously doesn't have this ability. Therefore, it can only achieve the same effect by consuming black iron.
However, given the current energy particle concentration on the Starry Continent, Su Nan estimates that even if a high-level puppet is refined, it probably won't be able to absorb enough energy particles from the air.