I can optimize spell code

Chapter 3 The Damaged Large Magic Array

Before Hamelin could even celebrate for long, the old man suddenly turned pale and felt a sharp pain in his chest.

His hand trembled, and he almost dropped the soup bowl.

Luo Mu swiftly caught him, noticing the blood seeping from the old man's chest, which was gradually turning a deep purple, and couldn't help but feel worried.

"Teacher, your injury is worsening."

Hamelin, panting heavily, shook his head with a wry smile: "The abyssal toxins of magical beasts are troublesome, but don't worry, I'm still quite healthy! I'm fine, just let me rest for a while."

Romulus glanced at the faintly bright sky outside the window, decisively stood up, pulled his cloak tighter around himself, and then put on his grey felt hat:

"It's almost dawn, the snow should be getting lighter. I'll go to town later to get you some medicine. You should rest well, I'll figure something out."

Hamelin was slightly taken aback.

Looking at the apprentice who remained calm in the face of danger, the old master couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

Yesterday, when he encountered the monster, this kid was so scared that his legs were shaking and he almost cried. After last night's life-or-death ordeal, he has become so calm and decisive today.

"Sigh, it's true that I taught him well; this blockhead has finally come to his senses," Hamelin thought to himself, a hint of satisfaction on his lips.

Go ahead, be careful.

However, Romú, with his back to Hamelin, was conducting a completely different and rather rational analysis.

In his memory, the original owner had been scolded by the old man a lot over the past ten years. Although the old man did treat him like a child, his deep disappointment in his lack of magical talent was undeniable.

Now that he has finally unlocked his cheat code, this strange old man is actually smugly taking credit for it.

"What a stubborn old man."

Luo Mu shook his head inwardly, fully aware of his current predicament.

As an apprentice, he had no status and no identification from the Mage Guild, making it difficult to move an inch in this world. If he wanted to learn more about advanced spells and code scrolls, his teacher Hamelin was his only and most reliable "guide".

Moreover, there was still a long-standing teacher-student relationship between them, and they couldn't just stand by and watch him die.

Let's settle the old man down first, and then we can talk about other things.

Luo Mu quickly weighed the pros and cons in his mind and clarified his next move.

……

After daybreak, the blizzard outside finally stopped.

Rom took a wooden cane for self-defense and pushed open the door of the stone house.

Before leaving, Hamelin weakly instructed, "Remember to go find Gil, the tavern owner; he'll help you."

The stone house is located on the edge of the black pine forest on the outskirts of Blackrock Town, where the forest is very quiet even during the day.

The magical beasts of this world are essentially deformed products born from the rampage of ancient elements. The magic power within them is extremely chaotic and frenzied, and they regard any living creature as prey, with an innate craving for flesh and blood.

Therefore, for thousands of years, they have launched attacks on human settlements in countless nights, becoming humanity's greatest problem.

Fortunately, the monsters rarely appear during the day, making it relatively safe.

Luo Mushen trudged through the snow for two hours before finally arriving at Blackstone Town.

However, as soon as Rom entered the town, he sensed that something was wrong.

The atmosphere in the entire town was extremely tense. The residents, who should have been working on weekdays, were now gathered in twos and threes at the street corner, holding spears and logging axes tightly in their hands, discussing in hushed tones, their eyes filled with fear.

The snow at the entrance to the town was covered with huge claw marks of a monster, stretching all the way into the mountains.

When several familiar townspeople saw Luo Mu approaching, their eyes darted away, and some even quietly turned away.

Rom didn't pay any attention and walked straight to the town square.

Although Hamelin was just an old mage who had remained at the beginner level his entire life, he had an excellent reputation in the remote and impoverished town of Blackrock.

On ordinary days, if someone's house collapses or their fire goes out, the old man will draw some basic magic circles to help.

In remote places like Blackrock Town, resources are scarce and life is impoverished; a proper high mage would never bother to travel here.

Hamelin stayed here for ten years, and in a sense, he was the only guardian of this town.

In the center of the square, Rom saw the mayor, a middle-aged man with a full beard.

"Mayor, what happened? Why is everyone carrying weapons?" Rom asked as he stepped forward.

The bearded mayor was somewhat surprised to see Rom.

"Little Rom! You've finally arrived! Where's Master Hamelin? Last night, for some reason, this [Large Fire Gathering Array] in the square flickered a few times, and the fire was reduced by half!"

The mayor pointed to the magic circle in the center of the square, which was at least five meters in diameter, and shouted:

"Once the fire died down, all the monsters outside came close to the edge of the village! Last night, two of our dozens of militiamen died just to barely drive them back."

"This great magic circle is the lifeblood of our Blackrock Town! If it goes out, our entire town will die!"

Luo Mu glanced at the massive array of stone formations, the stones inscribed with complex runes, but the light was extremely dim at the moment.

Luo Mu couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

As far as he knew, this large fire-gathering array had protected Blackrock Town for many years, left behind by a high-level array master many years ago. Hamelin was usually only responsible for its periodic maintenance.

Logically speaking, such a large-scale magic array relies on absorbing weak underground demonic veins to operate, and thus possesses extremely high stability.

Even though Hamelin fainted last night, this great formation shouldn't have suddenly been on the verge of going out in just one night, right?

"Could it be that the extremely abnormal weather last night, coupled with the violent aura emanating from the monster tide, impacted the magic circle?" Rom subconsciously began troubleshooting in his mind.

He walked over and circled the magic circle, carefully reading the long and complex runes on it.

The next second, a string of glaring red warning logs popped up on his system panel:

[Target Scanned: Large Fire Cluster]

[Current Status: Error, serious malfunction, facing crash.]

[Troubleshooting Log]:

An unknown interruption occurred in the core power supply module (node ​​3).

A fatal defect was found in the outer loop statement.

Error source coordinates: -45-.87~102-. bytes.

[WARNING]: The rune code at this location is missing, causing the magic loop to fail and energy to leak rapidly. The array is expected to completely shut down in 12 hours.

...

"The code is missing?" Rom's eyes narrowed slightly.

This isn't some kind of system overload caused by a "monster aura impact." This magic circle has been running for years without any problems, so how could it suddenly report an error and lose code?

Spells are symbolic runes carved into stone. The so-called "lost code" has only one explanation…

Clearly, someone tampered with the system and created a bug.

Luo Mu immediately followed the coordinates given by the system and looked all the way to the east side of the stone formation.

Sure enough, there were several places where the stone skin showed obvious signs of peeling off, as if a piece had been forcibly chiseled off by some sharp instrument.

"That's ruthless..." Luo Mu sneered inwardly.

To achieve a certain goal, they were willing to destroy the fire-gathering formation and use the lives of hundreds of people in the town as a bargaining chip.

Who is this person? What do they want?

Seeing the anxious mayor, Rom decided to wait and see. He calmly said, "Teacher Hamelin was seriously injured by a magical beast while gathering herbs yesterday and is temporarily unable to move. I came to town to ask everyone for some herbs and food."

"Ah...?" Upon hearing that Hamerlin was seriously injured, the mayor's face turned deathly pale.

Just then, a high-pitched voice suddenly came from the other end of the square.

"Don't give him anything. Not even a single herb."

Rom turned to look.

A young man dressed in a magnificent white robe, with a silver star badge pinned to his chest, walked slowly towards them, surrounded by a group of townspeople.

His elegant attire made him stand out starkly in this remote, muddy, and snow-covered village.

Let me introduce myself.

The young man in white robes walked up to Rom and looked him up and down with a condescending gaze. "My name is Jack. I am a certified second-tier registered mage by the Red Dragon City Mage Guild."

Jack glanced at Rom's tattered robes and sneered, "I was passing through and heard that this remote town was besieged by magical beasts last night, and the great formation was on the verge of collapse, so I came to check it out. You must be the apprentice of that country bumpkin mage Hamelin they're talking about…?"

Jack pulled a booklet from his pocket, listing the various mage territories of the empire, flipped through it casually, and sneered:

"That old swindler Hamelin must be too old to even get out of bed, right? He can't even maintain a broken array properly. Go back and tell him that from today onwards, I will take over the offerings and resources of Blackrock Town."

Luo Mu frowned, instantly understanding his meaning.

Unexpectedly, even in a poor, godforsaken place like Blackrock Town, there are mages coming to seize territory.