Chapter 490

Chapter 490

Each of these books was placed by Lorant, who watched the floating octopuses do it, so he knew exactly where each book ended up.

When he saw the monster egg, after much deliberation, finally chose a thick "Advanced Magic Compendium" that was even difficult to lay flat and landed on it, Lorant raised an eyebrow.

This book was specially compiled for Lorant from the Magic Council some time ago.

The "Magic Compendium" is actually a series of books, including beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Lorant even considered creating a "Forbidden Spell Compendium" for legendary levels, but ultimately failed to achieve it due to various reasons.

However, the current three magic compendiums are truly comprehensive and worthy of their names, and their graduation projects.

They not only include the magic models that the Magic Council teaches for free but also almost all the copyrighted magic that needs to be purchased separately.

These magics were bought and compiled one by one by Lorant's people in the Magic Council, with hundreds of graduates from Brusda collaborating for several months to complete this astonishing feat.

These scattered spells had never been systematically organized before, as each Mage Tower typically published its own spell collections for its apprentices.

Although not as secretive as some sect's confidential manuals, they never actively promoted them to the public.

Therefore, if someone wanted to determine how many spells a novice mage could learn for free and how many could be learned through payment, they would have to buy all the spell books published or ever published by each Mage Tower and then cross-check them one by one.

For anyone with their own serious business to attend to, such a massive and seemingly pointless workload was almost impossible and unnecessary to complete.

Most mages simply learned a few convenient spells within their comfort zone, sufficient for their needs.

This situation exemplifies information asymmetry. When Lorant sent people to compile these spells, he was somewhat surprised to discover that some lesser-known free spells could nearly perfectly substitute for those still under patent, and some even performed better in use.

However, because the Mage Towers were either very insular or in decline, barely surviving, and a few had even vanished into history, leaving no heirs, with only a few basic texts to mark their existence.

Consequently, few were aware of them, squandering the generosity of those masters who were willing to share their spell models.

The extensive effort yielded satisfying results.

Spells of the same level were classified based on their effects, allowing users to easily discern the subtle differences between similar spells, much like consulting a dictionary.

Which casting materials were more advantageous, which effects were more pronounced, etc., were all accurately noted by Blue Star following experiments.

Once all the spells available on the market were included, these magic compendiums instantly became indispensable for all mages upon publication.

They also emerged as another significant revenue stream for the Beast Tower, alongside the monster ability chart.

As the publisher of these magic books, the Beast Tower indeed profited substantially from them.

More importantly, during their prolonged decline, they finally regained some initiative in the realm of pure magic.

This "Advanced Magic Compendium" documents the most comprehensive array of advanced spells that high-level mages can master today, with an astonishingly wide coverage.

So hefty that a single person can scarcely lift it.

This is already a notable achievement given the limited number of advanced spells.

The intermediate and beginner magic compendiums could not be fully included in one book; the intermediate one is divided into three volumes, and the beginner one is labeled with numbers one, two, three, four, five...

Lorant raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the selection of this Bigmouth Book.

The monster eggs landed on the "Advanced Magic Encyclopedia" and clumsily rolled around to inspect it, then settled contentedly between the pages, motionless.

Once they stopped moving, the small eggshells seemed to be scorched by high heat, and the entire eggshell melted like a candle into a pool of bright red liquid.

As the liquid filled the entire opened book crevice, the pages suddenly slammed shut with a loud bang.

Immediately, the amount of bright red liquid surged, flowing outward from the middle of the pages, enveloping the entire book like the egg liquid from a broken monster egg.

Within the bright red liquid that blurred his vision, the "Advanced Magic Encyclopedia," made from the paper of low-level monster-produced materials, began to undergo noticeable changes.

First, the originally astonishing thickness that made it difficult to open gradually thinned out under the influence of the monster eggs' liquid, eventually settling at a thickness of about ten centimeters.

Other books chosen by the monster eggs underwent the same transformation.

Thick books thinned out, and thin books thickened, ultimately unifying a large number of completely different books into the same thickness under the influence of the Bigmouth Book monster eggs.

Simultaneously, the size of the books expanded. Originally about the size of an A3 sheet, the books became significantly larger after the transformation.

In length, they were nearly half a person's height, somewhat resembling the massive scriptures placed in the churches of the Goddess of Light, which required both arms to hold—the largest books Lorant had ever seen in this world, initially mistaken for decorative sculptures.

In short, all the selected books underwent a dramatic change in size.

Even more striking than the size change was the appearance of a large mouth, three-quarters the length of the book's spine, on the spine. After a brief wriggle, it slowly opened.

Due to its immense size, even from a distance, Lorant could clearly see the cold, gleaming teeth inside the large mouth.

And a long, crimson tongue.

It was at this moment that Lorant finally understood why this monster was named 'Bigmouth Book' in the ability chart.

How to describe it? That mouth—if it belonged to someone's child, even the child's grandmother wouldn't call it 'small'...

After splitting open that large mouth, a long, bright red tongue extended, licking the front, back, top, and bottom of the book cover, much like how one might lick thick yogurt stuck around their lips.

However, this action was clearly not meant for cleaning, as the seemingly clean tongue was coated with a highly corrosive mucus, which rapidly corroded the outer layer upon contact with the book cover, emitting a faint smoke, much like diluted sulfuric acid.

After meticulously licking the surface of the book, leaving it pockmarked, the monster egg's transformation of the book was preliminarily complete, leaving the surface pockmarked.

The newly born Bigmouth Book looked strikingly different from ordinary monsters.

This monster was perhaps the least animal-like creature Lorant had ever bred since he began breeding monsters, without exception.

They didn't even resemble living beings.

The book-like bodies made these monsters seem more like lifeless organic matter compared to animals, with only the constantly opening and closing mouth, occasionally revealing a bright red tongue, showing any signs of life.

After their final emergence, these little creatures, whether due to their nature or the energy-consuming transformation of their birth, lay exhausted and motionless on the ground.

If it weren't for the large mouth on the spine still breathing open and closed, Lorant might have wondered if they had failed to merge properly.

Lorant stepped into the breeding room, carefully making his way through the countless books, and picked up the Bigmouth Book he had been watching.

The pockmarked book cover felt surprisingly pleasant to the touch.

It was like a piece of roughly treated animal hide, retaining some of the rough texture characteristic of animal skin.

While not prickly, all the indentations were smooth, making it comfortable to touch.

The large Bigmouth Book was quite heavy. When Lorant tentatively lifted it and held it in his arms, it felt substantial, and combined with the tactile sensation, it gave a very solid impression.

With the help of the baby, Lorant turned the side of the Bigmouth Book with its mouth open towards himself and then took a few steps back.

Only in this way could he easily take in the full view of the Bigmouth Book. He determined that the few Bigmouth Books in front of him were not suffering from any serious problems he absolutely did not want to see; they were simply exhausted and had fallen to the ground.

Because that big mouth was weakly sticking out its tongue, like some kind of dog, panting heavily.

That pitiful tongue seemed to be completely worn out, hanging limply outside the mouth, making Lorant want to give it a gentle tug.

"Ruff! Ruff!"

The Bigmouth Book immediately retracted its tongue and dodged backward, making some incomprehensible noises from its mouth.

Although its appearance was absolutely not related to 'cuteness,' it somehow managed to seem a bit adorable.