Overlord: Welcoming the Birth of the King
Chapter 82: Preparation! Death Orb + Mana Channeling = Stored Mana?

Flame Moon, the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

This marked the eighth day since arriving in E-Rantel.

Tang Zheng's original plan had been to replenish supplies and equipment before heading to the Bahāruth Empire. However, obtaining the scroll-making technique altered his plans temporarily. Over these past few days, Tang Zheng had devoted nearly all his energy to crafting magic scrolls, even expending a skill point to upgrade Papermaking Technique to the third tier.

...

Skill: Papermaking Technique (Third Tier)

Cost: 15 MP

Effect: Produces 500 sheets of high-quality paper.

...

While the second-tier Papermaking Technique could create 700 sheets of second-tier paper, the third-tier version only produced 500. Similar to second-tier magic scrolls, crafting third-tier magic scrolls required twenty sheets of third-tier paper.

His current mana pool stood at 28 points. Without a true spellcaster class, his mana regenerated at just one point per hour on average. Over a full day, he could utilize a total of 52 mana points.

Creating a second-tier magic scroll required first spending 5 MP to craft the scroll, then activating the Second-Tier: Magic Accumulation enchantment effect before finally injecting the second-tier spell into the scroll - a process consuming 25 MP in total. Third-tier scrolls demanded 30 MP. Thus, it took over a day's effort to produce one third-tier scroll and one second-tier scroll.

After eight days of work, including today's production, Tang Zheng now possessed 10 Third-Tier: Angel Summoning scrolls and 5 Second-Tier: Angel Summoning scrolls.

"Ten Flame Archangels should be enough to suppress the enemy. The five Guardian Angels will serve for misinformation tactics," Tang Zheng murmured, sitting on his inn bed as he examined the fifteen scrolls spread before him. Dark circles shadowed his eyes, yet his gaze remained sharp and focused.

"Still not enough. Need to be more cautious - two more days to produce additional scrolls." With this thought, Tang Zheng waved his hand, storing all the scrolls into his item box.

Through meticulous time management these past days, Tang Zheng had ensured no mana regeneration went to waste. Whether day or night, whenever his magic replenished sufficiently, he immediately crafted scrolls. This relentless schedule left him with noticeable dark circles, strangely reminding him of his past life's grueling work routines.

His current mana limitations left no room for waste. While the Magic Swordsman class could increase his mana pool, until acquiring the Cursed Knight or Valkyrie professions, he had no intention of leveling it further. Naturally, Tang Zheng wouldn't waste experience points on mid or high-tier magic classes before then either.

This precise calculation explained why Tang Zheng had set his sights on Kajit, one of the Twelve Disciples of Zuranon hiding in E-Rantel - or more accurately, the magical artifact in Kajit's possession: the Death Orb.

The Death Orb possessed two remarkable traits. First, it contained independent intelligence - a feature nonexistent in YGGDRASIL. Second, it could autonomously absorb and store negative energy. This secondary ability seemed relatively insignificant in both the anime and light novel adaptations.

Initially, Tang Zheng had paid it little attention. However, after obtaining the Magic Swordsman profession and particularly its passive Mana Channeling ability, an idea struck him. Could this passive ability synergize with the Death Orb's storage function?

What exactly was negative energy? For undead spellcasters, it simply represented an alternative form of mana or specialized energy. If the Death Orb could store energy, might it not also store mana - another energy type? Especially when forcibly infused using Mana Channeling, potentially transforming the Death Orb into a dedicated mana storage device.

Of course, this remained mere speculation. Only by acquiring the artifact could Tang Zheng test his theory. After all, neither YGGDRASIL nor this new world contained mana recovery potions. Boosting mana capacity, regeneration rates, or reducing consumption relied entirely on professions, top-tier magical items, or pay-to-win items - resources Tang Zheng couldn't possibly match against someone like Ainz Ooal Gown.

Otherwise, at his current stage, Tang Zheng would have no reason to provoke an organization like Zuranon.

To ordinary people, the Eight Fingers syndicate - with its kingdom-wide underground network - represented the pinnacle of terrifying organizations. Yet Zuranon stood as a secret cult capable of threatening entire nations! The entire organization comprised just thirteen members: twelve disciples and their enigmatic leader.

From information revealed in the anime and novels, only two disciples were known: Kajit, currently in E-Rantel, and Clementine - nicknamed "the Comedian" - formerly of the Slane Theocracy's Six Great Scriptures and strongest division, the Black Scripture. Despite her hero-tier upper rank strength, three disciples surpassed even Clementine. Kajit couldn't even rank among them.

At this point in time, Tang Zheng remained uncertain whether Clementine had already joined Zuranon.

Two days passed in a flash. Tang Zheng's collection grew by five additional second-tier scrolls. While he'd intended to craft third-tier scrolls, he prepared alternative spells instead to enhance his deception strategy.

During these days, Tang Zheng rarely left the inn openly while secretly processing the beast and magical creature corpses obtained from the Great Tob Forest - particularly the troublesome black-green serpent. His funds swelled to 1,200 gold coins, though half had been spent purchasing a magical item for nocturnal operations, leaving him with 600 gold.

Now deep into the night, the enchanted street lamps' perpetual lights dimmed sequentially, deepening the moonless darkness.

"Awoo." The little Hellhound by the window noticed the darkening streets first, extending its bone chain to nudge Tang Zheng, who sat meditating on the bed.

"Time's up." Tang Zheng opened his eyes, glanced toward the window, and donned the black robe prepared earlier. With a swift motion, a magic potion appeared in his palm, which he downed without hesitation.

"Stay here. No need to accompany me this time," Tang Zheng ordered flatly, his voice transformed into a middle-aged man's raspy tones by the cheap, one-gold coin voice-altering potion.

"Awoo~" The Hellhound's pale green eyes dimmed with disappointment, its bone chains clinking softly.

Thud! Tang Zheng already stood at the window. In one fluid motion, he vaulted through and disappeared into the alley below.