He had basically mastered Dimensional Summoning to perfection, but currently, he could only summon ordinary wild monsters.
For some reason, epic wild monsters always remained unsummonable.
It wasn't because his total magic power was insufficient, but because those epic monsters simply didn't spawn in this canyon!
Not a single elemental dragon had spawned in the dragon pit; there was only empty river water.
The same was true for the dragon pits where the Rift Herald and Baron Nashor resided; there were no traces of any epic wild monsters!
With Ezreal's current total magic power, he could summon all the ordinary wild monsters in the canyon, including the Brambleback and Blue Sentinel as hidden abilities.
These were commonly known as the Red and Blue buffs in the game!
This was also the real reason why he dared to say that his strength was approaching that of an S-Class Mage!
Of course, after witnessing Laxus's strength, he felt he still had a long way to go.
At least before he could summon epic wild monsters, he truly felt he had no chance against Laxus, who could elementalize and stir up natural phenomena with his own magic power and emotions.
Since there were no epic wild monsters like elemental dragons or the Rift Herald, he could only search the entire canyon.
Although he found some creatures that greatly surprised him, the most important discovery was the crystal nexus!
He hadn't initially found any traces of minion units in the canyon and thought they didn't spawn.
But after trying to contract everything in the canyon, including rivers, mountains, and walls, without success, he unexpectedly discovered that the most important crystal nexus for both the red and blue sides could actually be contracted!
Due to his magic power, Ezreal's previous total magic power was only enough to contract and summon the ordinary wild monsters of the canyon.
For such an important canyon core as the crystal nexus, his total magic power was far from enough.
During this time, besides dueling and sparring, he had been focused on increasing his magic power.
This morning, through continuous practice, he finally raised his magic power to a level sufficient to contract the canyon's crystal nexus and successfully completed the contract.
The contracting process was very smooth; the crystal nexus had no consciousness and would not resist the contract; it was simply a large magic crystal.
However, after signing the contract, Ezreal found that he couldn't make the crystal nexus produce canyon soldiers.
Melee minions, ranged minions, cannon minions, super minions—none of them could be produced.
Providing magic power to the crystal nexus also didn't work; the magic power flowed in like a mud ox entering the sea, and the crystal nexus remained undisturbed, showing no change.
He had been supplying magic power to the crystal nexus from morning till night, recovering magic power, supplying magic power, in a continuous cycle, but it simply couldn't produce any soldiers.
It was as if he had spent all his magic power to contract a seemingly useful piece of junk.
Ezreal drew a circle in the air with his left hand, and a white swirling portal slowly rotated into existence before his chest, into which Ezreal projected his consciousness.
Canyon · Blue side spawn point.
Ezreal's conscious spirit body stood on the wide, thick flagstone road, circling a gigantic blue crystal.
This blue crystal was irregularly shaped, with a stone altar encircling it and a bun-shaped, light-blue energy shield.
Its size was roughly three by three meters.
This was the blue side's crystal nexus!
Ezreal's conscious spirit body observed this massive object for several rounds, but even with magic power supplied, there was truly no change at all.
It couldn't even be called inputting magic power; he felt his magic power was simply lost! This damned thing consumed so much magic power, yet it didn't even glow!
Not only the blue side's crystal nexus but also the red side's was the same; these two were basically identical except for their color.
Ezreal meticulously circled the crystal nexus several times, but finding nothing, he could only, with a thoughtful expression, disperse his conscious spirit body and return to his physical body.
"This is truly infuriating!" Ezreal waved his hand, the white vortex dissipated, and he sat up.
He felt so frustrated he was hungry; he had only eaten a few bites of egg fried rice all day, spending the rest of the time supplying magic power to the crystal nexus.
The reason for his persistence was that he actually had a theory.
Since the crystal nexus could be contracted, it must have its intended purpose; the inability to produce minions was likely due to certain conditions.
The first thing he thought of was magic power!
It was very likely that the crystal nexus required immense magic power to produce soldiers.
Because, in the game, the eyes of these minions glowed, with red and blue lights being quite distinct.
When walking, melee and ranged minions also didn't use their feet, floating about ten centimeters off the ground, moving by means of magic power.
It's just that in the game, because the minions are relatively small and not far off the ground, to most people, ranged and melee minions look like they're walking on the ground.
In reality, in the game, only cannon minions and super minions are the two soldier units that move on the ground using wheels or feet.
The appearance of canyon soldiers is also consistent, like products from an assembly line.
And this also meant that the canyon soldiers produced by the crystal nexus should essentially be magical soldiers.
Based on this judgment, he spent an entire day supplying magic power to the crystal nexus.
However, judging by the amount of magic power he supplied today, it was quite possible that his assumption was incorrect.
He was confident that the amount of magic power he supplied in one day would be enough to power the entire guild's magic light bulbs for a month.
Canyon soldiers are not particularly strong combat units, so consuming so much magic power was absolutely abnormal.
Therefore, his line of thinking had a problem.
"This damn thing must be useful; how exactly can I activate it?" Ezreal, with a vacant look, shoveled two mouthfuls of egg fried rice.
Although it was already cold, he couldn't bother with that now; he had important matters to attend to and just needed a quick bite.
As he ate, the coolness of the egg fried rice traveled down his throat to his stomach.
Ezreal casually picked up the half-empty glass of juice next to him and drank it in one gulp, feeling much more comfortable in his stomach.
"Hmm?" Ezreal looked at the water glass in his hand and the chopsticks in his left hand, feeling a sudden flash of inspiration in his mind.
"Perhaps my idea wasn't wrong, it's just that magic power alone isn't enough." A glimmer of light flashed in Ezreal's eyes.
"If I remember correctly, the heroes Thresh and Senna gain souls after killing minions in the game..."
Ezreal used to often go to the bot lane with Thresh and Senna, these two common supports.
Each time they killed a minion, he could see a few souls being absorbed by their special skill mechanisms, used to strengthen themselves.
This proved that although canyon soldiers had rigid movements, uniform models, and were created by magic, in addition to magical shaping, there was soul or soul power within them.
So Ezreal's thinking was correct; to activate the crystal nexus to produce canyon soldiers, he indeed needed to provide magic power, but it couldn't be just magic power; it also required the support of soul power.