“Bang!”
With a muffled thud, a cloud of white dust billowed inside the small treehouse.
Through the swirling dust, Luo Nan stepped out, expressionlessly patting the stone dust from his robe.
It seemed similar situations had occurred more than once.
“Failed again!”
Luo Nan waited for the dust in the small room to clear, then walked in, looking at the three remaining blank rune stones on the makeshift workbench, his eye twitching slightly.
By this time, almost a month had passed since he began studying Rune Inscription.
Three days ago, he officially began attempting to inscribe the Cleansing Rune on blank rune stones, but he had failed seventeen times in a row, still without success.
“It was so close…”
Luo Nan recalled the recent failed attempt; he had almost completed 97% of the entire Rune Inscription, and the entire Cleansing Rune had already appeared on the stone, but he failed at the last few strokes due to poor control.
The rune stone even exploded because the energy particles lost control and went wild.
“After all, my strength is still a bit lacking. By the end of the inscription, both my Mind Power and physical strength felt like they couldn’t keep up.”
Luo Nan dabbed a wet towel on his face, wiping away the fatigue from his brow, analyzing the reasons for his failure.
Rune Inscription was an extremely draining task, as it required the continuous expenditure of Mind Power to guide the process, demanding complete concentration and a single, uninterrupted flow without any pauses.
Luo Nan, currently a Second-level Apprentice Wizard, found that by the end of inscribing the Cleansing Rune, his Mind Power was almost depleted, his condition declined, and he lacked sustained power.
“Actually, my progress is already quite fast. Most Wizard Apprentices probably haven’t even mastered it by hand yet.”
The panel’s abilities ultimately did not disappoint Luo Nan, and the entire rune research process went very smoothly.
Whether it was tracing practice or carving practice, his progress was incredibly fast, and after getting started with rune stones, each failure also brought him many new insights and experiences.
In his first seventeen attempts, his progress grew at a visible rate.
Each time he failed, his progress would advance significantly the next time.
In his sixteenth attempt, Luo Nan reached 95%, originally thinking he would succeed this time, but he still fell short.
“For me, being close to success or far from success makes no difference, because I only have this much material. If the remaining three blank rune stones are used up and I still don’t succeed, I’ll have to consider taking out a loan or selling my belongings.”
Luo Nan sighed softly and brought up his character panel.
【Name: Ronan Damien】
【Age: 16】
【Talent: No Elemental Affinity】
【Strength: Second-level Apprentice Wizard (13%)】
【Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Proficient 156/200)
Energy Missile (Mastery 334/400)
Charged Weapon (Beginner 68/100)】
Over the past month, all his abilities had grown.
His Mind Power did not increase much; the progress for a Second-level Apprentice Wizard only advanced by ten percent.
At this rate, Ronan could be promoted to a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice in nine months.
Of course, the time might also be shortened, because Luo Nan’s Basic Meditation Technique proficiency had been continuously increasing, and the effect of each meditation session was getting better and better.
Energy Missile had been trained by Luo Nan to the Mastery realm, beyond proficiency, further increasing its casting speed.
Now, Luo Nan only needed to utter a few incantation syllables, combined with simple hand gestures, to successfully cast it. The total casting time was compressed to within three seconds, and the power of Energy Missile also saw a slight increase.
To diversify his offensive methods, Luo Nan also learned Charged Weapon, one of the five zero-order spells.
The purpose of this spell was to add a temporary enchantment effect to a weapon, which was essentially a thin layer of energy particles. Each time a “Charged” weapon collided with an object, the energy particles attached to the weapon would be consumed, causing a destructive effect similar to an explosion.
Luo Nan was not skilled in close combat, and his attention to this skill was mediocre; he practiced it casually, and it was still only at the beginner stage.
“Splat!”
Casually tossing the wet towel into the basin, splashing a cluster of water, Luo Nan stood up, “Let’s go for a walk.”
Staying indoors all the time studying Rune Inscription was quite tiring; mental fatigue was one aspect, and the small treehouse was damp and stuffy, making Luo Nan’s bottom ache, which was also not good for his body.
Sliding down the long vine to the ground, Luo Nan coughed twice, a faint pain in his left chest.
Prolonged, high-frequency meditation activities had led to increasingly severe erosion of his lungs by energy particles, and Luo Nan was already feeling the effects.
“Knight Training Method… Knight Training Method… If it really comes down to it, I’ll write back and ask the people from the Count’s territory to send a few copies over, though that would take a year or two.”
Luo Nan thought, walking into the forest in front of him, dressed in hunting attire.
In the secluded forest, the light was dim, and a faint mist seemed to perpetually linger among the trees.
Strangely shaped trees grew wildly everywhere, and underfoot was a thick layer of decaying leaves and moss.
“Rustle!”
A faint sound reached his ears. Luo Nan’s Mind Power, which had been coiled in his mind, rapidly spread out, locking onto the direction of the sound before he uttered a series of rapid, short syllables.
“Woo! Ru! Ba!”
With a casual flick of his finger, the air before him quickly distorted.
A fist-sized, dark blue ball of light rapidly condensed and then shot out.
“Boom!”
A bush about ten meters in front of Luo Nan exploded in response, dirt and grass flying everywhere, and a thick oak tree slowly toppled.
Luo Nan walked over calmly, finding a bloody, mangled trace in a large mud pit.
From the few remaining hairs on the pit wall, the sound must have come from an unfortunate wild wolf.
“Wizards are indeed extraordinary; the power of spells is too great.”
Luo Nan looked at his “masterpiece” before him, sighing with emotion.
In the secular world, ordinary people would need to cultivate the path of the knight to a very high level to achieve such destructive power, and this was merely the effect of a low-level zero-order spell.
The extraordinary nature of the Wizard community was evident.
Now, Luo Nan felt much more at ease and confident in this forest area than before, especially after his Energy Missile proficiency reached Mastery. He felt he was qualified to contend even with a Level 3 Wizard Apprentice.
His casting speed was much faster than that of ordinary lower-level Apprentice Wizards, and the power of his Mastery-level Energy Missile was estimated to be two or three times greater than when it was at the beginner stage.
Of course, these so-called combat power evaluations were merely Luo Nan’s unilateral conjectures; he had never fought another Wizard and had no idea what combat between Wizards was like.
Coupled with the existence of spell items, there were simply too many unpredictable factors in a battle.
Luo Nan continued along his usual morning jogging route, the fresh air of the forest and the tranquil, beautiful environment gradually soothing his weary mind.
Reaching a tree spring, Luo Nan knelt down to wash his hands and face, feeling much refreshed.
Thanks to my good brother Pudding Wumao for being the Alliance Leader~~