Burning Claws

"Finally finished!!!"

Matthew breathed a sigh of relief, quickly going over the spell for [Burning Claws] in his mind.

He read through it line by line and found that after the system optimization, the path of magic flow in the [Burning Claw] was shorter and smoother, which meant that less magic was lost during operation.

The compression efficiency of magic output has also been greatly improved, while the structure is simpler and far more perfect than he originally envisioned.

If his original sorcery structure was like pulling an animal body with bare hands, then the optimized sorcery structure is like using an "invisible pulley" made of condensed magic power, using the same amount of energy to leverage a higher level of magic power.

Although the system cannot create new witchcraft, it can optimize existing witchcraft to its fullest potential.

From now on, Matthew will only need to create the prototype of the sorcery, and the rest will be handled by the system optimization, which will greatly shorten the time required to create the sorcery.

He was quite satisfied with the system's optimized features, a look of delight on his face. "I handled the part from 0 to 1, while the part from 1 to 100 was left to the system!"

Matthew snapped out of his thoughts and stretched lazily.

"Let's test the power of [Burning Claws] first!"

Having not cleaned himself for days, he was now disheveled. He quickly tidied himself up and then used a cleaning spell, instantly making him look radiant.

He put on the wizard's robe hanging on the wall and went out.

……

ten minutes later……

Matthew set off from his dormitory, walked along the winding path, and soon arrived at the school's sorcery training grounds.

He looked at the familiar test puppet, took a deep breath, and said, "Let's begin."

Matthew focused his mental energy, and the fire elements floating in the air began to stir, as if drawn by an invisible force.

One by one, scorching runes slowly emerged, converging in mid-air to form a crimson spell model.

Just by standing behind him, he could already feel the terrifying energy contained within.

Without any hesitation, Matthew mobilized all his magic power, channeling it along his arm to his fingertips, and then poured it into the magic circle in front of him.

"Crack—" A small crack appeared in the spell model, which then widened and spread, forming a tortoise-shell pattern.

Suddenly, the crimson spell model trembled violently, and with a crisp sound, a giant hand with blazing flames tore out.

The giant fiery hand's five fingers were bent, and the fingers were no longer as rough and loose as before, but sharp claws condensed at the fingertips.

The next moment, the giant fiery claw suddenly shot out and fiercely grabbed at the puppet in front of it.

"Boom—" The moment the five fingers closed, five streaks of fire flashed, and at the same time, a deafening explosion swept over.

Ripples spread through the air, the violent fluctuations distorting the surrounding space.

A terrifying heatwave swept over them, causing Matthew's robes to flutter loudly.

At that moment, he felt a burning sensation on his skin exposed outside his robes. Sensing the change in temperature around him, he couldn't help but show shock on his face.

"This temperature is at least twice as high as when we tested the [Burning Hand] last time!"

"And the attack range has also increased!"

The 5-meter attack range of [Burning Hand] has always been its weakness, but the attack range of [Burning Claw] has been increased to 8 meters, giving Matthew ample room to react in combat.

As the thick smoke gradually dissipated, the outline of the puppet slowly became clear.

Matthew stared blankly at the numbers on the thermometer, somewhat unable to believe the damage he had caused.

"this……"

"Is... really the kind of damage a novice apprentice could cause?"

"502... The power of [Burning Claws] has reached 502 degrees!!!"

He clearly remembered that the power of [Burning Hand] was about 255 degrees, while the power of [Burning Claw] was almost double!

Matthew's face lit up with surprise. "I never imagined that the [Burning Claws], after being improved by plasticity and optimized by the system, would be far more powerful than I anticipated!"

"If Mold hadn't cast a defensive spell and taken that claw, the terrifying heat alone would have been enough to burn him to ashes."

At this moment, Matthew opened the central crystal of the training ground and added a water element shield to the puppet.

In an instant, a stream of clear water appeared out of thin air, transforming into a circular shield that enveloped the puppet.

After his first spellcasting attempt, Matthew became much more proficient with [Burning Claws].

Soon, he focused his mental energy again, drawing the elements to condense into a crimson spell model.

The instant the spell took shape, his fingertip magic surged into it like a torrent.

"Crack—" A giant crimson claw made of surging flames tore out again, grabbing fiercely at the puppet.

"Bang—", the moment the giant fiery claw clenched its grip, the water elemental shield suddenly exploded, splashing countless streams of water and fire, but they were quickly evaporated by the terrifying heat.

"Sizzle, sizzle!!!" The temperature inside the room rose rapidly, and white smoke from evaporating moisture enveloped the entire witchcraft training room.

Matthew manipulated magic, turning the flowing air into a gust of wind, and with a wave of his hand, he dispersed the white smoke.

He stared intently at the temperature display on the puppet and found that the value was 455 degrees!

"This time, the water elemental shield can only withstand 47 degrees of damage???"

He originally estimated that the water elemental shield could offset about 100 degrees of damage from [Burning Claws].

But he didn't expect that the power of the Burning Claws would give him another big surprise, even reducing the elemental resistance to below 50 degrees.

It's worth noting that the Water Elemental Shield can withstand 150 degrees of damage from the Firebird Scroll, while the Burning Hand can withstand 200 degrees of damage.

This is not only because the improvements in morphology have given [Burning Claws] a penetrating effect, but more importantly, because the system optimization has efficiently reconstructed the spell model.

At that moment, Matthew's lips curled slightly, revealing a genuine smile.

"If we encounter Mold again, with his 28 points in Constitution, even if he casts defensive spells, he won't be able to withstand [Burning Claws]!"

"Finally... we have a way to kill him."

Matthew clenched his fists; at least he no longer had to worry about facing Mold.

However, he did not let his guard down because of this. After all, the other party was only a mid-level apprentice, and he could not be too cautious.

Although Mold had remained silent during this time and it was unclear what he was planning, Matthew knew that they would meet again soon.

"I'm spending less and less time meditating now; I need to find a way to stop this soul-crushing erosion as soon as possible!"

He took a deep breath and strode out of the witchcraft training room.

……

Matthew returned to his dormitory along the winding path he had come from.

However, just as he turned a corner, he encountered the person he least wanted to meet.

A woman dressed in a loose-fitting, short-sleeved wizard's robe, her hands wrapped in bandages, appeared before him.

"Matthew, we meet again."

"Angela..."