I Am Not A Goblin Slayer

Each of these three main effects was terrifyingly strong.

The first allowed his body to undergo Elementalization. Although his physical fitness was outstanding, he was, strictly speaking, still made of mortal flesh and blood. It was just that the vast majority of enemies he had faced so far had been unable to harm him. However, if he were to face much stronger foes, there was a risk that his defensive power could be pierced, resulting in lost limbs or severe injuries. Now that he possessed the Racial Talent [Supreme Magic Body], he could flexibly initiate physical Elementalization before or during a battle, converting his solid physical form into an energy state. By doing so, he mitigated the vulnerabilities of a flesh-and-blood body. Even if an arm was severed, it wouldn’t have much of a negative impact—at worst, he would just consume extra Magic Power to reconstruct his body.

And for someone with such an exceptional total amount of Magic Power like him, Magic Power was the last thing he lacked. Even though he had only just acquired this Talent, the moment he read its description, a multitude of application scenarios for this foundational ability flashed through Gauss’s mind.

The second effect was far from simple either; it could be seen as the reverse engineering of the first. It could achieve the Solidification of Magic Power. In fact, he had displayed somewhat similar methods in previous battles—such as sprouting energy wings from his back using his Dragon Vein Talent, or coating his arms in a layer of energy dragon scales and Energy Dragon Claws. However, those were merely similar in appearance; in reality, they were vastly different. They were fundamentally not solid entities, so their defensive power and offensive capabilities were not quite as outstanding.

But now, [Supreme Magic Body] allowed him to temporarily transform into a dragon, creating a solidified draconic form, or at least transforming parts of his body into dragon parts. The might of dragons wasn’t just reflected in their ability for Casting or their massive reserves of Magic Power; their physical bodies were a tremendous advantage in and of themselves. More often than not, they could crush the vast majority of enemies relying solely on their flesh. With his ability to assume a draconic form, combined with the [Dragon King Descendant] Racial Talent, his future close-quarters combat capabilities would become incredibly formidable.

Not to mention, this second effect wasn’t limited to exclusively synergizing with the [Dragon King Descendant] Talent. If combined with other Racial Talents, it could yield completely different variations. It was like an all-purpose tool, its effectiveness relying purely on how he chose to utilize it. For an ordinary person, this effect might not be all that potent, but for Gauss—who possessed numerous Racial Talents and could acquire even more in the future—the potential and utility of this ability would only grow boundlessly.

As for the third effect, it was practically game-breaking. Unlike the first two, it was a passive effect that remained active at all times. He could endlessly absorb the Natural Magic present in the environment. Although the rate was relatively small, it could still serve as a constant, normalized means of recovery.

To the vast majority of Casters, this was inconceivable. Natural Magic and the internal Magic Power inherent to the body were, in truth, two entirely distinct types of energy. The Magic Power possessed by a Caster was an intrinsic force born from within, inextricably tied to the body itself. Yet, even so, this internal Magic Power could still potentially damage the flesh.

The best proof of this was the children afflicted by ”Genius Disease.” This was especially common in ignorant, isolated villages. The villagers couldn’t comprehend why some children, upon reaching a certain age, would begin to develop physical deformities, hunched backs, massive tumors growing on random body parts, and other abnormal mutations. They would view them as cursed, label them as children of the Devil, or believe they had contracted some malignant disease. Fortunately, after many years of public education by the Adventurer’s Guild, many now understood that these ”curses” were actually related to innate Talent. They would send those possessing the ”curse” to specific churches, or simply seek help from the Guild.

These physical mutations were, in fact, the result of internal Magic Power oppressing physical development, forcing the natural human body to undergo aberrant changes alongside it. As long as it was properly guided and channeled in the early stages, these terrifying outward deformities could be eliminated. If even the internal Magic Power born from one’s own body could act this way, Natural Magic was significantly worse.

Compared to internal Magic Power, Natural Magic was much more impure and contained a multitude of other energies. To use an imperfect analogy, the difference between them was like the difference between purified water and seawater. As everyone knew, humanity couldn’t survive without water, and the vast majority of the human body was composed of it, but ingesting seawater was no different from committing suicide. Thus, Natural Magic was inherently harmful to the human body.

Fortunately, the vast majority of Casters could not interact too deeply with Natural Magic themselves. Strictly speaking, they did not even possess the Perception of Natural Magic’s existence. Only when Casting certain Spells, when Magic Power left the body to create a Magic Effect, would it draw upon some Natural Magic to produce a stronger result. But this process wasn’t actually controlled by the Caster. All the ”programming” had already been pre-written into the Spell model.

A Spell model was like a highly functional, mysterious black box. Casters knew that if they inputted Magic Power and circulated it in a specific manner, it would create a specific Magic Effect. However, they hadn’t extensively researched what occurred inside the box or the subsequent series of reactions. Human energy and capabilities were finite, after all. Moreover, whether one possessed the Perception of Natural Magic’s existence was a unique Talent of its own; it wasn’t something that could be accomplished through personal willpower alone. Now, [Supreme Magic Body] had bestowed this rare Talent upon Gauss.