A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 285 A New Invitation

At first, Liken was very happy, but soon his happiness faded.

Because the monster next door also escaped by banging on the cell door.

"Don't come any closer!"

Liken said as he ran, running very fast, but the monster behind him was even faster, and it looked like he was about to be caught.

With a determined heart, Liken immediately engaged in close combat with the monster behind him.

"Commendable courage, but unfortunately, it was used in the wrong place."

Jiang Shuzhou watched indifferently as the pen wrote and drew on the notebook on its own, because Jiang Shuzhou was controlling it with his mental power.

Soon, Liken managed to kill the monster, albeit at the cost of an injured left arm.

"I...I survived!"

Liken cheered loudly, but then he felt dizzy and collapsed.

Soon, Liken stood up, but in a completely new way.

His body was covered in a layer of flesh that had grown out of his own body.

The flesh and blood formed a natural armor, and he even held a bone knife made of flesh and bones.

"Very good physique."

Jiang Shuzhou nodded, agreeing that the form Liken had taken could be used as a standard.

The scarlet infection developed by Jiang Shuzhou can now maintain a general template of five mutations; any more than that would easily cause problems.

According to Jiang Shuzhou's idea, the infection is divided into several stages, the first of which is the incubation period.

During this period, scarlet infection shows no outward signs, and infected individuals may even become healthier than before, as scarlet infection subtly alters the infected person.

At the same time, during this stage, infected individuals will overeat in order to store enough energy so that they can better complete the mutation.

Then comes the mutation phase, in which the Scarlet Infection modifies the infected as much as possible according to the mutation template, turning them into suitable cannon fodder.

Finally, there is the mature stage. In this stage, the infected will transform into two forms: one is a flesh-and-blood monster whose primary ability is personal combat, and the other is a creature that enhances its combat power.

Another option is to become a nest builder that infects and produces low-level flesh and blood creatures.

Nest builders require a lot of energy, which they either obtain by hunting other creatures or by creating flesh and blood moss to slowly regenerate their energy.

Despite the difficulties, Jiang Shuzhou, through experimentation and research, managed to incorporate the moss moss into the nest builder's creative process.

This is also the only template that Jiang Shuzhou implanted in the Scarlet Infection he created.

The others were all intended to mutate naturally, and then be fixed by Jiang Shuzhou.

Undoubtedly, this requires a large number of experimental subjects, but that's not a big problem. Jiang Shuzhou has no shortage of such experimental subjects.

Soon, one group after another joined and died as test subjects began to join.

The mutation templates for scarlet infection are gradually becoming more abundant.

Soon, all five mutation templates were complete.

First, there are melee swordsmen, whose muscles become armor and bones become blades, possessing excellent offensive capabilities but only average defense.

Next are the crossbowmen, whose entire bodies are covered in flesh and blood, and who hold an exquisite crossbow made of flesh and blood, with tendons as the string and flesh and bone as the crossbow body.

It also has a hole in its hand, which is where crossbow bolts are produced and ejected. There is no need to reach behind to retrieve them; whenever needed, ammunition is readily available in its hand, and it can be loaded directly.

The last one is the shield bearer, whose entire body is covered by an exoskeleton that protects it. In addition, it holds a bone shield in its hand, with bone on the outside and flesh and blood on the inside.

These flesh-and-blood weapons, through a series of complex operations, can be completely transformed into something else entirely.

Just as a sword can be transformed into a whip or a spear, it is not surprising that a weapon can be transformed into a whip, as long as its flesh and blood can stretch and its bones can rotate.

"It's a truly perfect work."

Jiang Shuzhou nodded, quite satisfied.

Then, looking at the countless roaring monsters in the experimental field, Jiang Shuzhou casually cast a flame spell, and the entire field burst into flames.

The flames annihilated everything, and soon everything was as good as new, as if nothing had ever happened.

Jiang Shuzhou now held three blood-red test tubes in his hand.

This is a sample of scarlet infection.

Jiang Shuzhou wouldn't just leave this thing lying around on his own territory; it's meant for other worlds.

Speaking of this, Jiang Shuzhou prepared to go and see how his mage tower was doing.

The construction site is bustling with activity.

"Move the materials there by ten centimeters."

"Be careful, this is a good thing, quite expensive. If you break it, my brother will punish you."

Murphy kept a close eye on the construction team below, and even the slightest difference would draw his displeasure and reprimand.

"How is the situation?"

Jiang Shuzhou appeared and disappeared unexpectedly, startling Murphy.

"Brother, you scared me to death!"

Murphy patted his chest, trying to calm his fragile, stony heart.

"The main construction of the mage tower is now about one-third complete, but there is still a lot of work to be done."

"The Astral Gate is about 70% complete, and it should be finished in a month at most. However, the engraving of the runes and spatial focusing will still require your attention, brother."

Murphy reported.

"Not bad, the efficiency is good."

Jiang Shuzhou was very satisfied.

"By the way, brother, a single Astral Gate without the Mage Tower function will consume a lot of resources, so I'm afraid you won't be able to use the Astral Gate for a while."

Murphy poured cold water on Jiang Shuzhou.

"It doesn't matter. I can choose not to use it, but I can't be without it. Sometimes, having something and not using it is one thing, and not having it when you need it is another."

In case of special circumstances, Jiang Shuzhou can use the Star Gate to escape directly, and it will be worth it no matter how many magic stones he spends.

As for exploring other dimensions?

We'll talk about it after the Mage Tower is completed.

After all, all sorts of strange things can appear in the Astral Gate, and if not handled properly, it could easily cause a leak.

Only mages with mage towers can handle these incidents.

A mage with a mage tower and a mage without a mage tower are completely different concepts.

With the Mage Tower, not to mention the various auxiliary functions, the sheer increase in strength alone will allow mages to reach a new level.

A mage in the mage tower can handle at least a dozen superhumans of the same rank.

"How long do you expect it to take to complete?"

"About three or four months."

Murphy did the calculations and reported back to Jiang Shuzhou.

"Good job, keep it up."

After offering a word of encouragement, Jiang Shuzhou slipped away.

Murphy scratched his head, then continued to supervise the work, occasionally stepping in to speed things up.

On a new day, an old friend sent Jiang Shuzhou an invitation.

"High Alchemist Navis Lebo, I cordially invite you to the Storm Sea to join us in slaying the Goddess of the Magic Web—Alger."

President Alger, whom Jiang Shuzhou hadn't seen in a long time, sent him an invitation.