Regarding the incident that occurred the night before last, Eckerz couldn’t contain his rage, and his loud voice spread in all directions, allowing those with ulterior motives outside the castle to hear some commotion.
In the past two days, a woman outside the castle turned the island inside out, seemingly looking for someone.
“Damn that Billerie, who knows where he’s gone off to, he has this miss walking her legs thin.”
The woman was clad in leather armor and a skirt, with a longsword hanging at her waist. Perhaps from lack of care, her blonde hair and visage appeared somewhat disheveled. She found a marker left by a companion and tried to contact the other party through a Secret Method Seal, but there was no response.
Fatigue from searching for days on end made her start cursing under her breath.
After cursing, she had to continue searching.
Moments later, she arrived at another area of the island, not far from a pool by the seaside, where she found another marker, yet still no response came from the Secret Method Seal.
“Damn that Billerie.”
“Damn, damn.”
She didn’t care about propriety and plopped down on a nearby rock, muttering incessantly to vent her frustration.
With a splash, there was a big commotion inside the pool, and water splashed out in all directions.
The sudden movement startled the woman to her feet, as she turned and drew her sword, wary and focusing on the pool, a strange magicalized sea serpent peeked out~of the pool, its body as thick as the woman’s thigh; the woman inwardly cursed her bad luck.
“Hiss,”
The sea serpent’s head began to move, its dense scales receding outward, gradually turning into a human head.
The woman’s eyes went wide, her gaze fixated on the transformation, because she saw a somewhat familiar face, how could this be possible?
“Billerie?” the woman tentatively called out.
“Long time no see, Pearney,” the sea serpent, still half-submerged, responded with a human head.
“You, you—how did you become like this?” In Pearney’s eyes, Billerie was always a favored son of heaven, a dashing young man with a rare talent of a 5th Class Sorcerer, one level above her. And now, he had turned into this grotesque form, no different from a wild beast.
“Hiss—” Billerie’s head still bore many serpent-like features, his tongue had become long and thin, altering the tone of his speech, “I am not like you, you have Earl Hobson’s favor, his treasured possessions for you, and me? How else can I survive.
Pearney, you have no right to say that, to look at me this way. I want to kill Toyennes, to kill him—“
Provoked by Pearney’s stare, Billerie became increasingly agitated as he spoke, his body shaking, causing ripples on the surface of the pool.
Pearney was frightened by his appearance but quickly calmed down, saying hurriedly, “I’ve got good news for you, others have successfully broken into the castle and stole Eckerz’s potions, magic stones, and the like, which made Eckerz fly into a rage. But they didn’t catch anyone, it seems they didn’t even see a shadow.
I think there’s something very strange about this, perhaps an opportunity for us.”
Billerie lunged forward, his snake-like pupils intently fixed on her: “How do you know this?”
Pearney frowned, “I was just lucky to be nearby, I had left a fallback in the castle before.”
Seeing that the information didn’t seem to be false, Billerie fell into thought.
No one knew better than he did how difficult it was to break into the castle without being noticed when Sorcerer Toyennes was in charge, let alone leaving the island.
Eagerly, Pearney proposed, “Billerie, why don’t we try to take a ship?”
Without even thinking, Billerie chose to refuse, “No, the ship has puppets, an Iron Ridge Giant Turtle guarding nearby, and there might be Cloud Fog servants as well. The chances of taking the ship are slim.” His massive body began to sink slowly back into the pool.
“What are you going to do?”
“I thought of something, I need to find that thief you mentioned, join forces with him. Wait for my good news,”
“Wait, wait—damn you Billerie, you broke your word, you promised to escape with me.”
Next to the pool, Pearney paced back and forth by the empty waterside, feeling both lost and irritated.
…
Inside the castle, in a dormitory in the left area, Ivan was already viewing other contents of the book of magic.
Vine Entanglement, casting time 3 seconds, range 7 meters. Consumption: 1 Spirit, 1 Mana; Intensity: 3-4 graduated degrees, can reach up to 5 graduated degrees when using magic-casting materials.
“Is Mana the same as energy particles?”
Your journey continues on M V L
He received part of the information from the Crystal Ball, Basic Magic Model Knowledge, which introduced that Mana is indeed the energy particles within his body, the amount of which basically corresponds to the scale of his Spirit.
When casting, one must use Mana as a primer to fully cast the Spell.
Casting a Spell takes time, fortunately the range of the Spell is not narrow, and once proficient, one can even retreat tactically while casting or combine it with swordsmanship, catching the enemy off guard.
Vine Entanglement is the least consuming Spell, as his current strength is not high, casting two Spells in succession would put him in an embarrassing situation of running out of Mana.
Intensity generally refers to the attack strength of a Spell, for Vine Entanglement, it denotes the toughness of the vine, the specific intensity is not easy to compare at this point.
Casting a Spell also involves another factor—the magic model. The magic model is the cornerstone of casting a Spell, which needs to be outlined in the mind like the meditation runes before one can proceed.
During battle, outline a magic model with spiritual power first, then use Mana as the energy primer. When these two are combined, the Spell begins to materialize. Then, chant a spell to draw the surrounding energy particles, and the combination of the three forms a complete Spell.
After understanding all the factors involved in casting a Spell, Ivan concluded that it would be difficult to master the Spell Vine Entanglement within a month.
“I’ll strive to learn it in a month.”
After struggling internally for a while, he gave up on the idea of using the Light of Wisdom to learn the Spell faster.
It could be said that becoming a 2nd Class apprentice in a month was due to the proper use of potions, comprehension, and luck. Learning another Spell in just a few more days would blatantly suggest there was something peculiar about him, which was not desirable.
Sorcerer Toyennes said there was still time and they probably wouldn’t have to pay the price so soon, so there was still time.
Days went by, one after another.
One month later.
Among the group of youngsters, there still wasn’t a second person who had become a 2nd Class apprentice.
Ivan had learned the Spell Vine Entanglement and made progress in several subjects, with the most significant improvement in Energy Particle Skill; not only had it reached Level 1, but it had also surpassed Meditation Skill.
With the optimization and adjustments from the Small Light of Wisdom, he became increasingly proficient in manipulating energy particles.
Combat Energy and meditation did not conflict, and many would practice the Breathing Method; he was no exception. Practicing Bat’s Eyes had increased his agility by 0.2 graduated degrees, reaching 3.8 graduated degrees.
[Apothecary Skill: lv3(6/300)]
[Knight Breathing Skill: lv3(168/300)]
[Energy Particle Skill: Lv1(35/100)]
[Meditation Skill: Lv1(21/100)]
[Runes Skill: Lv1(3/100)]
[Linguistics Skill: lv1(22/100)]
Ivan put away the membrane of light in front of his eyes, wondering whether he should go and seek a connection with the little green winged snake Lahr, and see if there was a way to get a mental power potion or at least a formula.
One month had passed, and he still hadn’t deciphered the 12th Meditation Runes, which gave him a real taste of what difficulty meant.
Having advanced to Level 1 in Energy Particle Skill, he had earned a Level 1 Light of Wisdom, but he still hadn’t brought himself to use it because it seemed a waste to use it on meditation runes; it was a pity there was no formula for the mental power potion.
“Brother Ivan.”
“Hmm, good morning.”
As he walked out of the dormitory, people frequently took the initiative to greet him on the road.
Among the current group, his status as the Big Brother had become an accepted fact, which could be described as impressive.
Laurie was now avoiding him as much as possible, afraid to even face him.