Inside a rather rudimentary camp.
At the center of the camp stood a cowhide tent, its seams lashed tight with ox-sinew cord, giving off an air of sturdy security.
Beside the tent, a small fire crackled away, its bright yellow flames licking ceaselessly at a little iron pot suspended above.
Inside the pot, broth bubbled and churned, sending up slices of mushroom and bits of dried meat.
Arranged around the fire on sharpened sticks were several small fish and skewers of roast meat, their golden fat dripping steadily downward. The rich aroma of cooking meat filled the air, and tiny bubbles occasionally burst across the glistening surfaces.
The golden-haired little girl sat to one side, watching the steaming food. She swallowed hard.
But she quickly turned her head away.
On a patch of grass, a white linen cloth had been spread out, and upon it sat a handsome dark-haired man, legs crossed in meditation.
This was none other than Leilin.
After leading
Though his constitution could sustain seven straight days and nights of travel without the slightest fatigue, the little girl beside him certainly could not endure the same.
Moreover, every day he needed to set aside a fixed period to practice his advanced Meditation Method.
The Meditation Method he had obtained — the Eyes of the Comoin — was perfectly attuned to his own bloodline. Combined with the ancient bloodline that the Chip had purified, his progress in meditation could only be described as advancing a thousand miles a day.
"The eyes are the windows of the soul. Gaze into the eyes of the Comoin, and you shall find yourself within — Noco Gulatu Fasel!"
These were the words Leilin had repeatedly seen at the very beginning of the Eyes of the Comoin.
Now, Leilin closed his eyes and felt himself staring directly into a pair of amber vertical pupils.
A sensation of darkness laced with scorching flame surged through his entire body.
Ivy, who had been watching Leilin the whole time, noticed that wisps of blackish-red mist were constantly rising from his body. The mist swirled around him, lingering and refusing to dissipate.
The gossamer threads of vapor converged, coiling together until they took the shape of a small serpent that wound its way around Leilin, flicking out a scarlet forked tongue.
The little serpent slithered across Leilin's body before finally settling over his face, transforming into a bizarre mask. Waves of dark-attribute energy particles were ceaselessly drawn into the mask.
After a dozen or so minutes, the mask collapsed with a muffled crack, dissolving into wisps of black qi that seeped into Leilin through his seven orifices.
"Chip! Scan my current detailed stats!" Leilin opened his eyes and silently commanded within his mind.
*Ding! Leilin Farell. Warlock, First Rank. Bloodline: Comoin Giant Serpent. Strength: 7.1. Agility: 6.7. Physique: 8.5. Spiritual Power: 28.2. Mana: 28 (mana is synchronously determined by Spiritual Power). Status: Healthy.* *Subject has completed one session of advanced Meditation Method. Spiritual Power increased by 0.005. Spiritual Elementalization — chosen attribute: Dark. Progress: 1%.* "After each meditation session, Spiritual Power increases by a certain amount. Not bad at all!"
Leilin nodded with satisfaction.
For a
And resources effective for official Wizards were extraordinarily rare even on the South Coast. As a result, many official Wizards found their strength virtually stagnating after their promotion.
Only those who practiced advanced Meditation Methods could maintain steady growth in power.
However, every tier of an advanced Meditation Method was fiendishly difficult. The first tier was manageable enough, but after each promotion, advancing a single level required decades — even centuries — of effort.
The defining characteristic of advanced Meditation Methods was that they grew harder the deeper one went. According to Leilin's estimate, beyond the third tier, each level-up would require at least a thousand years!
For that reason, many Wizards failed to advance before reaching the end of their lifespan, dying of old age right where they stood.
"Chip, calculate — based on my current progress, how much longer until I meet the requirements for promotion to Second-rank Wizard?"
*Ding! Task established. Collecting subject data... constructing projection model...* *Based on the subject's current data, estimated time to meet Second-rank Wizard promotion requirements: 14 years and 7 months.* The Chip reported back faithfully.
"That's quite a while! But compared to ordinary First-rank Wizards who can't advance for decades or even centuries, this is already excellent!" The slight furrow between Leilin's brows quickly smoothed out.
From the detailed analytical chart the Chip provided, the Spiritual Power boost granted by the advanced Meditation Method would naturally decelerate once a certain threshold was reached. Furthermore, the process of Spiritual Elementalization became progressively harder with each stage — all of which were factors holding Leilin back from rapid advancement.
According to the Chip's calculations and the vague hints contained in the Comoin Serpent Tome, the promotion criteria for Second-rank Wizard were: Spiritual Power exceeding 80, and Spiritual Elementalization reaching above 80%.
These two conditions had stymied countless once-brilliant Wizards.
Spiritual Power was the more manageable of the two. Whether through practicing an advanced Meditation Method or sourcing rare resources that stimulated spiritual growth, time alone could grind it upward.
Spiritual Elementalization was a different beast entirely. First, if a Wizard chose the wrong type of energy particles, their elementalization would struggle to surpass 50%. In concrete terms, one had to select the energy particles to which one possessed the greatest innate affinity — only then could one push Spiritual Elementalization beyond 80%.
Moreover, this was merely the baseline requirement. For heirs of great families and true prodigies, promoting at 80% elementalization would compromise their future potential. Only by pushing elementalization above 90% would one avoid encountering additional bottlenecks after advancing to Second-rank Wizard.
This, too, was mentioned in the Eyes of the Comoin.
Furthermore, for ordinary Wizards, there was also the matter of securing a Second-rank spell template. Without finding a template compatible with one's First-rank innate spell, inscribing the spell model could easily result in catastrophe — one's skull detonating like a bomb!
Thus, for those Wizards who had relied on Green Water and spell templates to advance to official rank, the road ahead would only grow narrower with time.
Though his current pace was already fast, Leilin still felt a tugging sense of urgency deep down.
He had severely offended the Liliter Family — a major Wizard clan whose patriarch was a contender for the position of Headmaster at the Black Bone Forest Academy.
That figure was certainly a Second-rank Wizard, or something perilously close to one!
At present, should Leilin encounter such a person, the outcome would be nothing short of death.
Advancing to First-rank Warlock had merely granted him the most basic ability to protect himself. To live openly in the light of day in the future, he needed to advance to at least Second-rank Warlock — only then would he be truly unafraid of the bounty and pursuit issued by the Black Bone Forest Academy.
After gaining access to the advanced Meditation Method, Leilin had discovered that Wizards who practiced such methods were not entirely without need for resources.
Quite the opposite, in fact — certain rare materials could be used to accelerate the progress of one's Meditation Method.
The Eyes of the Comoin recorded several such materials suited to his current needs.
That was why he was so eager to make for the White Wizard Domain near the Nine-Ring High Tower.
There, one could find the largest free-trade market and distribution hub on the entire South Coast. Leilin could leverage those resources to achieve rapid advancement.
"My... my lord... the meat soup is ready..."
Ivy saw that Leilin had finished today's meditation session and hurriedly scooped a large wooden bowl full of rich, fragrant broth, bringing it over to him.
"Thank you for your trouble!"
Leilin smiled at Ivy and accepted the wooden bowl.
Ivy looked into Leilin's eyes — those eyes harboring unfathomable depths of darkness — and simply froze in place, her gaze going blank.
"What's this..." Leilin was slightly startled, then extended a hand suffused with white light and gently brushed it across the girl's forehead.
"My lord! Just now..." Ivy snapped back to her senses, but she no longer dared look directly into Leilin's eyes.
"That was my doing — I wasn't careful enough to restrain myself just now. Remember not to be so reckless in the future..." Leilin understood perfectly well what had happened.
This was the result of the 1% Spiritual Elementalization progress the Chip had just displayed.
As a Wizard continuously converted one's own Spiritual Power into elemental form, the outwardly radiating Spiritual Power would carry potent attribute effects.
Ivy's brief lapse of consciousness just now was mild.
Once Leilin's Spiritual Elementalization surpassed 50% and he failed to deliberately suppress it, a girl like Ivy standing nearby would likely have her soul corroded by dark-attribute energy particles on the spot, reduced to a desiccated husk!
And the final manifestation of elementalization differed depending on which type of energy particles one had chosen.
For instance, someone who selected ice particles would, in the end, make others feel as though their Spiritual Power had been completely frozen with a single glance.
Those who chose fire particles would cause anyone probing their Spiritual Power to suffer scorching burns — even backlash.
The dark-attribute energy particles Leilin had chosen were more inclined toward affecting the mind and even the soul. At the highest levels, an ordinary person merely grazed by his highly concentrated elemental Spiritual Power would suffer immediate soul annihilation, their physical body corroded into a dry corpse.
"I... I'm sorry!" Ivy curtseyed slightly, lifting the hem of her skirt, and quickly retreated to the side.
Seeing that the girl was unharmed, Leilin nodded and tipped the meat broth into his mouth.
The warm soup, rich with the savory flavor of mushrooms, stimulated his taste buds.
"It's quite good! You haven't eaten yet either, have you?"
Leilin glanced at Ivy. He had now fully retracted the dark gleam from his eyes, so there would be no accidental harm.
"Mm!" Ivy answered softly, producing a portion of dry rations, and began eating and drinking alongside the soup.
Watching the little girl, Leilin sighed inwardly.
In times past, Ivy would have been cherished by her family, showered with everything she asked for — a veritable princess.
But now, the hardships and suffering of life had forced this little girl to mature far beyond her years.
"After you've finished eating, come into my tent. I need to take a sample of your blood."
Leilin quickly finished his own portion of food and spoke to Ivy.
He had not rescued Ivy out of any sense of kindness. His fundamental purpose was to study other Warlock bloodlines.