After successfully casting Detection Art for the first time, the system panel's notification appeared as expected.
Choosing to inscribe "Detection Art," the Soul of the Liver Emperor slowly awakened, entering a mode of arduous cultivation.
Five days passed peacefully, and it was now the morning of the sixth day.
The air carried the coolness of last night's rain, mixed with the sweet, earthy smell of overturned soil.
It was as if the earth had just bathed, carrying the damp scent of grass and trees.
In the open space outside the Shelter, Dago stood, dressed in a brand-new, thickened hunting suit.
He had bought it yesterday in Town; besides a dagger, a meter-long machete hung at his waist.
An unknowing person would never recognize him as an Apprentice Wizard; he looked more like an experienced hunter.
Dago brought up his system panel; this was the fruit of his five days of arduous cultivation.
【"Wizard Universal Meditation Method" (Beginner 611/1000); "Ice Crystal Cannon" (Beginner 832/1000); "Resonance Art" (Beginner 187/1000); "Detection Art" (Beginner 135/1000)】
All his skills had progressed to Beginner level. With the advancement of his skills, Resonance Art could now form two white gloves from dormant ice elements.
The range of Detection Art's energy particle fluctuation detection had also expanded by ten meters.
The most significant progress was in Air Bullet and Ice Crystal Technique; he had even merged these two skills into his brand-new, exclusive skill, Ice Crystal Cannon.
Now, with the increasing difficulty of compressing air for Air Bullet, he could control the direction of the compressed air's jet with his mental power...
But the explosive power was also limited.
Although there was a progress bonus from the system panel, it mainly manifested in the compression speed of Air Bullet.
For this, he found another use for Air Bullet: to serve as an auxiliary method for casting Ice Crystal Technique.
When he first learned Air Bullet, it was used as an auxiliary cultivation method for Meditation Technique and was not included in the scope of spellcraft.
This meant that Air Bullet could be cast simultaneously with Ice Crystal Technique.
Thus, a new skill was born out of his sudden inspiration...
Using Air Bullet as gunpowder and the ice pillar formed by Ice Crystal Technique as the warhead and barrel...
He combined these two skills to form the composite skill, Ice Crystal Cannon.
The power of Ice Crystal Cannon had directly pierced two large trees, and it was unlikely any carbon-based creature would want to take a hit from it.
This was his most destructive evocation spell at the moment, and after casting it for the first time, it even received the system's official recognition, merging Ice Crystal Technique and Air Bullet into one skill.
He was scared, thinking that Air Bullet and Ice Crystal Technique could no longer progress, but after his confirmation, it was purely a false alarm.
Both skills could still progress, and casting "Ice Crystal Cannon" would simultaneously lead to the joint progress of both sub-skills.
However, he now needed to consciously click on "Ice Crystal Cannon" to view the progress of the two sub-skills.
Do you know how he spent these five days? He practiced as soon as he woke up, and slept when he was too exhausted to think straight.
As for meals, it was always steamed buns with roasted monster meat. He even practiced while eating, just thinking about it brought tears to his eyes.
"Today, I am determined to conquer the lake on the southwest side of the forest. Not even the Shadow Leopard can stop me, I'm telling you."
Dago wiped away an imaginary tear, his eyes firm as he spoke.
Dago shouldered his pack and strode towards the dense forest, following his markers. A cool breeze brushed against his sharply defined face.
The leaves of the trees swayed in the wind.
Yellowed leaves drifted down before Dago's eyes.
He watched the leaves slowly fall to the ground and suddenly realized that autumn had arrived without him noticing.
A deepening blue halo swirled in his light blue eyes as he stepped into the dense forest where he had encountered the Shadow Leopard last time...
Dago kept Detection Art active, detecting the flow of energy particles ahead.
The dense forest was still a chaotic tangle of oddly shaped and impenetrable trees, blocking out the sunlight and dimming the environment.
Dago held his machete, maintaining vigilance, and advanced slowly.
Although the machete in his hand was not a supernatural artifact, its gleaming blade still gave him a significant sense of security.
Flashes of cold light passed as he hacked away at the vines blocking his path.
Based on his observations and analysis of the outer fringes of the dense forest over the past few days, this dense forest was very long.
It was basically unavoidable, and the lake described by that Level 2 Apprentice Wizard was probably surrounded by the dense forest.
He needed to be constantly wary of Shadow Leopards or other fierce beasts inhabiting this dense forest.
By now, an hour and a half had passed since he set off.
Following the route where he had slain the Shadow Leopard last time, he estimated it would take another half an hour to pass through this part of the dense forest and reach the lake.
He carefully cleared his way, advancing slowly and cautiously.
As sparse sunlight began to filter through the leaves, Dago knew he was close to passing through this dangerous dense forest.
This was precisely when he could least afford to relax his guard; a ship's most dangerous moment is when it approaches the shore.
Just as his machete cut through a man-high bush, his vision opened up...
He saw the most beautiful lake he had ever seen in two lifetimes.
The lake surface was like a silk ribbon made of crushed moonlight, lying quietly on the ground. The morning mist had not completely dispersed, wrapping it in a faint white veil, which even the wind was reluctant to disturb.
Dago walked towards the lake, scanning along the shore, and saw the purpose of his trip.
A large patch of silvery-white moonlight flowers swayed gently by the lake. His eyes lit up, and he ran over.
He took off his pack, knelt on the ground, and examined them. They were exactly as described in Mentor Rosalind's manuscript; there was no doubt they were moonlight flowers.
Recalling the details about moonlight flowers in Mentor Rosalind's manuscript...
He took out the tools he had prepared in his pack and carefully dug up entire plants, roots and all.
Before long, he had dug a whole pack full.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Dago did not forget to be wary of dangers around him while digging.
Especially the calm lake surface; he always felt a vague gaze watching him from there.
With his pack full, he finally had the leisure to look at the nearby lake, but he didn't approach the water's edge.
Sunlight slanted into the water, which was a very pale blue, tinged with emerald green.
Old tree branches on the bank drooped into the water, their shadows elongated, and several pieces of deadwood floated on the water near the shore, creating faint ripples.
This beautiful scene made Dago momentarily dazed. As a piece of deadwood gradually moved towards the shore,
Dago's mental vision caught the trajectory of some energy particles.
He instantly became alert, a blue halo swirling in his eyes, his lips subtly murmuring, cold air rising, and the wind beginning to roar.
A monstrous crocodile, nearly five meters long, erupted from the water about ten meters away, its back a bronze-like green...
A hissing sound from deep within its throat rapidly approached Dago.
Using all four limbs, it quickly crawled to within ten meters. Its flat, axe-blade-like snout slightly opened...
Two rows of fangs curved upwards, glinting coldly in the sunlight.
Dago's gaze was fixed, blue light blazing in his eyes. His white-gloved hands rubbed together to create a leg-thick Ice Crystal Cannonball, with an equally sized compressed Air Bullet embedded in its tail.
His trembling pupils watched the massive Bronze Crocodile, which was about to charge within five meters, staring at its slowly opening mouth full of fangs, its face twisted in a sneer.
Then, he activated the Ice Crystal Cannonball.
A powerful gust of air pushed Dago. The spinning Ice Crystal Cannonball, trailing a beautiful "white mist," shot straight towards the Bronze Crocodile.
"Boom—!!!!"
Amidst the deafening roar of crumbling earth and rock, countless snowflakes exploded and fell.
The nearly five-meter-long Bronze Crocodile now had half its head missing, its brain exposed.
The powerful impact caused it to roll backward twice, kicking up dirt, and it lay motionless on the ground.
The Ice Crystal Cannonball, trailing a powerful airflow, plunged into the distant lake, creating a splash before disappearing without a trace.
This startled the other several "floating logs," which sank down, then resurfaced when they realized they were unharmed.
Dago, seeing this, turned and ran, not even touching the monster's corpse.
This was a pack of monster crocodiles; ten of him wouldn't be enough for them to share and eat.
Escaping one danger only to fall into another, no wonder these moonlight flowers grew so luxuriantly; it turned out they were under the protection of two major monster species.
Gasping for breath, Dago stopped at the junction of the dense forest and the lake.
Dago leaned on his machete to support himself; he had run too fast just now and hadn't caught his breath.
While a single, fully charged Ice Crystal Cannon could take down one Bronze Crocodile, it was far from enough to survive an attack from a group of them.
Although he could still cast a few more Ice Crystal Cannons, the casting wind-up and cooldown times were too long, making him very vulnerable if surrounded.
After a while, his breathing normalized, and Dago began to retrace his steps.
"I hope I don't encounter any more clueless little darlings on the way back," Dago wished in his heart.
As he wished, the return journey was uneventful; he did not encounter any Shadow Leopard attacks while passing through the dense forest.
Seeing the small hill where the Shelter was located, Dago's heart finally settled down.
The outside world was truly dangerous; his own little nest was much more comfortable.
With a creak, Dago pushed open the wooden door of the Shelter, placed the pack from his back onto the wooden table, and took off his equipment.
Dago went to wash his face and saw that it was already one in the afternoon.
He took a piece of frozen Shadow Leopard meat from his homemade "refrigerator" to thaw, then cast Ice Crystal Technique on the refrigerator to replenish the ice.
These past few days, Dago had been living well, eating monster meat every day, and his body had grown much stronger.
His old hunting clothes no longer fit, though his Apprentice robe was still fine.
Sitting on the wooden stool, Dago closed his eyes as if meditating and performed a Meditation Technique...
The light sphere in his mental space had grown considerably, and the range of refining mental mist had also expanded.
He took out the Level 2 Apprentice Wizard badge, which he hadn't used in a long time, and infused it with mental power. The crystal lit up...
The color was getting closer and closer to deep blue, indicating that he was not far from becoming a Level 3 Apprentice Wizard.
Seeing that the Shadow Leopard meat had thawed sufficiently, Dago picked up the meat and went to the open space outside the Shelter to start a fire and roast it.
Truly good ingredients only require the simplest cooking methods.