Chapter 147 Trigger Spell

Glancing casually through the materials, he was unexpectedly intrigued to find that the family’s legacy was quite substantial. Some of the books were mere fragments, with a few containing only a few pages.

Borne discovered dwarven runes alongside scripts from other races, all stained with various smudges, watermarks, and dried, darkened bloodstains—each piece of information carrying its own tale.

At that moment, familiar footsteps echoed from the doorway.

“Young master, your juice,” the old butler announced, stepping in with a tray holding the juice alongside Borne’s favorite snacks.

“Thank you, Butler Walker,” Borne replied, taking a sip and nibbling on the treats. The flavors were the same as in his childhood; despite the years, the butler still knew his tastes well.

“It is my honor,” the butler smiled politely before adding, “Young master, your grandfather left something for you in the study.”

“Oh? For me? When was this?” Borne inquired.

“A month ago,” came the reply.

“A month ago?” Borne frowned.

“The master instructed that if you hadn’t discovered it yourself, to inform you only after you entered the basement,” the butler said gracefully.

Borne remained silent for a moment, already understanding his grandfather’s intention. With a wave of his hand, he gathered the wooden crates scattered around the basement into his personal space and then led the way out.

The butler, rarely showing such surprise, looked on astonished as Borne effortlessly stored the crates.

Arriving at his grandfather’s laboratory door, Borne noticed the previous “password” to enter had been altered.

“A test? Grandfather always liked games like this,” Borne muttered with a hint of exasperation, yet his curiosity was piqued, and he found himself looking forward to what had been left behind.

Placing his hand upon the door, he issued a command to the chip in his mind.

“System, initiate scanning and analysis for decryption!”

A faint glow emanated from his palm as his “Qi” permeated the door’s surface. Soon, an ethereal magical pattern appeared on the lock’s interface before his eyes.

Data flickered wildly until a new magical structure materialized, the entire process taking less than five minutes.

Just as Borne was about to unlock the door, the chip suddenly issued a warning.

“Beep! Hidden spell detected. Would you like to initiate shielding?”

“Shield it!” Borne commanded without hesitation.

“Beep! Detected spell is high-level. Would you like to scan and decrypt first?”

Borne’s face darkened instantly.

Damn it!

Was this for real? A simple door lock hiding a high-level spell? His grandfather must have been bored out of his mind. Borne could already guess what kind of spell it was.

A sixth-tier spell: [Trigger Spell].

A groundbreaking magic!

It was this spell that heralded the rise of magical traps.

Thanks to it, high-level spellcasters became extraordinarily difficult to kill, especially within their meticulously crafted lairs.

Even legendary warriors dared not enter the domain of a seasoned spellcaster lightly. With defenses in place, wounds might be avoided, but one would surely be left battered and humiliated. After all, one never knew how many magical traps the caster had laid.

The name [Trigger Spell] might sound unsophisticated, but in Borne’s eyes, its creator was a genius. As a sixth-tier spell, it was far from a mere “on-off” switch.

A trap equipped with [Trigger Spell] was like a remotely controlled magical device. The caster could not only manipulate it personally but also program it in advance, allowing it to distinguish between different beings and specify triggering conditions.

Advanced magical traps always incorporated [Trigger Spell], enabling them to discern human presence. Simply put, traps without [Trigger Spell] would explode upon contact with anything—be it stone or wood.

Many knights often depicted heroes effortlessly bypassing magical traps with simple methods—an insult to the reader’s intelligence.

Traps equipped with [Trigger Spell] were akin to intelligent devices; unless the intruder met the caster’s specified criteria, even destroying the terrain wouldn’t trigger the trap.

Moreover, the caster could remotely control the trap within a certain range—a masterstroke of cunning.

Activation of [Trigger Spell] always alerted the caster within its radius.

Borne suspected his grandfather intended to determine when he would breach the door. Unexpectedly, Borne not only cracked the lock but also uncovered the hidden [Trigger Spell].

He was just lamenting his scarcity of sixth-tier spells and was delighted to stumble upon a ready-made one.

Such a fully developed hidden spell was not only hard to detect but also notoriously difficult to reverse-engineer. Yet Borne was cheating—using his “cheat code.”

As the chip gradually replicated [Trigger Spell], Borne grew even more amazed by the spell’s principles, which bore a striking resemblance to the operating logic of computers he remembered.

It was essentially a mechanically enhanced version of a computer!

He wondered which spellcaster had crafted it. A spell was like a masterpiece, especially high-level ones, whose structures revealed the creator’s specialties.

Unless one was a direct disciple, the complete spell structure was never fully transmitted. Even spells taught in academies were incomplete.

This way, learners had no clue about the creator’s identity and had to conduct their own experiments to grasp the spell’s principles before casting, rather than blindly copying chants.

Borne quickly replicated the [Trigger Spell] formula and began dissecting its mechanisms.

It was like having a television and refrigerator—you could dismantle and reassemble them to cast the spell; but truly understanding their inner workings meant the spell could be cast silently and instantly.

If one could analyze the materials fully and innovate, creating a new version, then the “spell” would transcend into arcane mastery.

Though Borne possessed the formula, he chose not to shield it, instead unlocking the door directly.

Inside, the laboratory was familiar, though many experimental materials had been cleared away.

He approached the alchemy table, where two gems lay. The count had been in a hurry when leaving; used instruments and discarded materials remained uncleaned.

“Ein Stone?” Borne murmured, picking up one of the blue, diamond-shaped gems. He probed its interior with his spirit, but was immediately repelled by a flash of light.

Narrowing his eyes, he pricked his finger on one of the gem’s corners, drawing blood.

Instantly, the gem flared with intense light…

(The weekend is always busy, and this chapter is quite short—I’m a bit embarrassed to post it—but as night falls, I can’t break my promise... I’ll work hard on the next chapter tonight!)