The vengeful spirit, clad in red, attacked ceaselessly, tearing strips of flesh from Leilin's body, each one glistening with fresh blood.
Leilin's expression shifted from fury to cold indifference.
After several minutes, he finally managed to force out the words: "Gilisass... Dorusian!"
A brilliant emerald flame erupted across Leilin's body and immediately set everything in the laboratory ablaze...
"Hoo..."
After the green flames had burned their course, Leilin regained the ability to move.
Only then did he have the strength to raise his head and survey his surroundings.
The laboratory looked the same as before, with all the various instruments sitting neatly in their original positions.
The pentagram formation that had previously bound the vengeful spirit had now lost all its glow, and the spirit itself was nowhere to be found.
As for Leilin himself, there wasn't a single wound on his body — but his expression was far from good.
Because the Chip's notifications were plainly displayed before his eyes:
"Host subjected to unidentified field attack. Database comparison: vengeful spirit! Constitution reduced by 0.1"
"Host subjected to unidentified field attack. Database comparison: vengeful spirit! Constitution reduced by 0.1"
"Host subjected to unidentified field attack. Database comparison: vengeful spirit! Constitution reduced by 0.1"
The notification appeared three times in a row, making Leilin's expression even grimmer. "Chip, display my current status!"
"Ding! Leilin Farell — Third-rank Apprentice, Official Knight. Strength: 3.1. Agility: 3.3. Constitution: 3.4. Spirit: 16.1. Mana: 16 (mana determined by synchronization with Spiritual Power). Condition: Healthy."
Thanks to the boost from Maria's Tears, Leilin's Spiritual Power had reached 16.1. In contrast, his constitution had permanently dropped by 0.3 — clearly the result of the vengeful spirit's final attack.
"An Ancient Potion's formula really shouldn't be altered at random!"
Leilin let out a long breath. He had taken it upon himself to change many of the steps in the formula, and this was the consequence.
"However, compared to the loss in constitution, the rapid increase in Spiritual Power completely justifies the value of this potion!"
Leilin expressed his approval of the modified Ancient Potion formula for Maria's Tears.
"Ancient Potion — Maria's Tears has been successfully improved. Please name it, Host."
The Chip's notification sounded once more.
"Blood Vengeance Potion!" Leilin thought of that final flash of red, and the name slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it.
This potion required vengeful spirits as ingredients, which was somewhat cruel — but for an apprentice, it was an invaluable resource!
A one-time Spiritual Power increase of a full three points! With minimal side effects, it could easily rival the new Azure Potion Leilin had brewed before.
As for whether the brewing process was cruel or not, Leilin didn't give it a second thought.
For Leilin, doing cruel things — even killing — for the sake of profit was something understandable, even acceptable!
Only those who killed for entertainment were truly deranged and anti-human.
In his previous life, the world had been at peace, and naturally he had valued peace as well.
But in the Wizard world, war was everywhere, death occurred daily, and the people at the bottom lived precarious lives, never knowing if they'd survive the next day.
The law of the jungle and survival of the fittest were openly preached by every organization and faction.
After arriving in this world, Leilin had learned to follow local customs and had become a thorough egoist.
As long as a potion was useful and wouldn't bring him too much trouble, he would brew it without hesitation!
"So this is what Spiritual Power at 16 feels like — truly incredible!"
Leilin closed his eyes and savored the difference this upgrade had brought.
Under his command, his Spiritual Power spread out like silver threads, sweeping over every object in the room and relaying their exact shapes and properties back to his mind.
For an ordinary apprentice, this would be a thoroughly novel sensation — but in Leilin's view, a wizard's Spiritual Power, once raised to a sufficient level, finally achieved something like the Chip's scanning ability!
"If I use this well, I can detect most ambushes and never have to fear being snuck up on again!"
Leilin mused over the wonderful applications of his enhanced Spiritual Power.
"Too bad — for me, it's still nowhere near as useful as the Chip!"
Inside his sea of consciousness, waves of silver Spiritual Power crashed against the edges, constantly expanding the sea's boundaries.
"The only problem is that the external manifestation is too obvious!"
Leilin picked up a bronze mirror. In its aged surface, the reflection showed a young man with brown hair — rather ordinary-looking overall, but with a pair of eyes that gleamed with piercing light, dazzling as diamonds in the dark.
The general threshold for advancing to Third-rank Apprentice was a Spiritual Power of 15, and Leilin far exceeded that standard.
Moreover, when a Third-rank Apprentice reached the point of being able to attempt the breakthrough to an Official Wizard, their eyes would often develop striking and noticeable anomalies.