"Ancient Potion:
Leilin had two ancient potion formulas obtained from his mentor Guofate. One was the
The other, Maria's Tears, seemed to involve matters related to spirits, leaving the earlier Leilin completely stumped.
Later, through extensive experiments and observations in Polar Night City, Leilin had amassed a wealth of data regarding spirits, which drove the analysis of this ancient formula steadily forward.
Finally, after obtaining Grelin Water, the Chip reverse-engineered the refinement process of Grelin Water and overcame the last remaining hurdle in Maria's Tears.
But Leilin discovered with frustration that the orthodox refinement of Maria's Tears required several steps that could only be performed by a full
Moreover, many stages demanded the immense spiritual power of at least a full Wizard to cooperate.
This confirmed Leilin's earlier suspicion — Maria's Tears was indeed a spiritual power secret formula created by ancient full Wizards for their own use!
And Leilin's desire to successfully concoct Maria's Tears grew even stronger.
His spiritual power hadn't increased for quite some time.
His body had developed a severe tolerance to the new Azure Potion — no matter how much he drank, his spiritual power wouldn't climb even slightly.
After trying to boost his spiritual power through potions, stimulating it through the proper Meditation Method felt painfully slow — Leilin could no longer tolerate such glacial progress.
His current spiritual power was still just a hair short of the threshold needed to attempt breaking through to full Wizard.
According to the Chip's estimates and Leilin's own calculations, if he relied on meditation alone to reach that level, it would take at least several more years!
Leilin couldn't possibly wait that long, so concocting new potions and collecting other ancient formulas had become his primary occupation.
Most of the other ancient formulas were in the hands of full Wizards. Leilin didn't have enough precious materials to trade for them, nor did he want to draw too much attention.
Besides, compared to reverse-engineering an entirely unfamiliar formula, Maria's Tears — already mostly deciphered — was the better choice.
Building on the original formula, Leilin boldly modified the parts that required a full Wizard's involvement, replacing them with procedures that only a Third-rank Apprentice needed to carry out.
After tens of thousands of revisions and millions of simulated experiments by the Chip itself, Leilin's current experiment was very close to success.
"First, the base material for the formula: a female wraith!"
Leilin picked up a brand-new Soul-binding Orb from the side of the workbench. Inside the orb, a semi-transparent woman in a red dress stared at Leilin with terrified eyes.
The energy fluctuations emanating from her were far weaker than those of the evil spirit Roman had been — at most First-rank Apprentice level.
After the vast majority of the Academy's apprentices had died, the survivors found themselves entering a golden age of personal development.
Resources that the Academy had previously distributed among over a thousand apprentices were now open to fewer than fifty.
The prices of all materials and Spell Models had plummeted even further below pre-blood-duel levels, practically being given away.
A wraith like this had been a rare commodity on the market before — whenever one appeared, apprentices would snap it up, with prices of at least five hundred Magic Stones.
Now, Leilin had casually browsed the Academy's counters and bought this wraith for less than a hundred Magic Stones!
Of course, this was also a backhanded reward the Academy offered its survivors!
This situation would continue until the next batch of apprentices enrolled.
However, the idea of buying cheap here and selling at a premium outside had barely crossed Leilin's mind before he dismissed it — the Academy had strictly prohibited such dealings, and the consequences of being caught were severe.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Leilin spent most of his accumulated Magic Stones, purchasing a large quantity of precious resources and all manner of peculiar Zero-level Spell Models.
The female wraith bound within the crystal ball had long silver hair, azure eyes, soft red lips, a slender waist, and long legs — every detail suggesting that this woman had been an absolute bombshell who drove men wild before her death!
"What a shame!"
Leilin sighed softly, but his hands didn't stop as he dripped drops of silvery liquid onto the crystal ball's surface.
This was the "Soul-merging Reagent" — something Leilin had originally prepared specifically for tormenting Roman. Just a few drops would make an evil spirit wail for hours on end, inflicting severe damage to the very essence of its soul.
Now, the remainder was being put to use here.
"Ah... it hurts so much!!! Please... please!!! Don't..."
The wraith's broken pleas echoed ceaselessly from within the crystal ball. Any man, facing such a beauty's begging, would at least hesitate inwardly.
But Leilin didn't so much as furrow his brow, continuing with his work.
As more and more of the Soul-merging Reagent dripped down, the wraith's pleas grew ever fainter. Even the red dress on her body began to gradually dissolve, revealing ethereal yet strangely alluring smooth skin.
"Still trying to seduce me?" Watching this scene, Leilin's lips curled into a sardonic smile.
"Wraith! Reveal your ugly true form!" Leilin extended a finger, and a long black needle materialized at its tip.
Tchhhk!!!
The black needle pierced through the crystal ball and plunged straight into the wraith's chest.
"Ah!!!" The wraith let out a bone-chilling scream, her form blurring. Once it came back into focus, the wraith before Leilin had completely transformed.
Her face was covered in wrinkles and scales, her features looking as though they had been arbitrarily kneaded together. The top of her head was bald, with a few strands of green hair hanging to one side.
Her mouth hung open, sharp teeth clicking together. Disgusting pus dripped intermittently from her scarlet tongue.
"Roar!!!"
The female spirit's bloodshot eyes, brimming with a desire to tear and devour, stared fixedly at Leilin as though she wanted to rip him apart and swallow him whole.
"Your appearance is as ugly as your heart!"
Leilin scoffed, then drew another strange magical symbol...
The experiment continued for over ten hours, only nearing its end the following day.
Inside the laboratory.
At the center of a pentagram array radiating scarlet light, a female spirit — naked, with a voluptuous figure and a beautiful face — was bound by iron chains within the formation.
Although the female wraith appeared extremely ethereal, as though she might vanish at any moment, the look of resentful madness was gone from her face, replaced by an expression of faint shyness.
Combined with the iron chain bindings, it evoked a perverse desire to torment!
Leilin studied the naked woman before him, a satisfied expression on his face. "I've spent all night and finally purged all the resentment!"
"Thank you, young man! But could you please release me and find me something to wear?"
The woman in the array spoke, her voice as sweet as an oriole's.
"Are you joking? I went through all this trouble to free you from your resentment — not to earn your gratitude!"
Hearing Leilin's words, the female wraith suddenly felt a sense of impending doom.
Expressions of reluctance, fanaticism, and contemplation flashed across Leilin's face in quick succession before coalescing into a single uniform expression — indifference! Indifference toward everything!
...
Several more hours passed.
The laboratory was now filled with a pervasive chill.
From the surrounding walls, one could seem to hear the wailing of wronged spirits.
And the female spirit before Leilin no longer bore any resemblance to a human.
"The final step!" Leilin picked up a small silver fork and drove it directly into the eye socket of the female spirit's skull.
"Pfft!!!"
The silver fork seemed to be made of some special material — it punctured the spirit's eyeball outright.
"Hehh!!!" The female spirit writhed and struggled. Without a tongue, she could only emit beast-like sounds.
After the fork pierced the eyeball, two lines of bloody tears slowly streamed down from the wraith's barely recognizable face.
"So this is the ancient potion — Maria's Tears?"
Leilin reached out his hand and caught a few drops of red liquid in his palm.
A cold, slightly viscous sensation reached him.
"Spirits are ethereal beings, yet now I can physically touch a spirit's tears... how extraordinary..."
Leilin murmured, then smeared the red potion directly into his eyes.
Boom!!!
An intensely searing sensation hit him, and Leilin's eyes burned with agony.
Red!!! All he could see was red!!!
A woman's voice seemed to ring inside Leilin's head, speaking ceaselessly, growing louder and louder.
In the end, Leilin could only clutch his head and slam it repeatedly against the nearby wall to alleviate the symptoms.
And the Chip's notifications continued to flash before Leilin's eyes: "Host experiencing unknown influence. Spiritual power increasing. Current value: 14.3..."
The number representing his spiritual power in Leilin's status panel continued to climb: The spiritual power reading rose steadily before finally stopping at 16.1.
"Phew... it's finally over!"
Leilin rubbed his temples hard, hissing through his teeth.
"It hurt like hell, but the side effects aren't too severe..."
Before he could finish speaking, Leilin suddenly noticed that everything around him was covered in a thin haze.
A flash of red fabric flitted past in the corner of the laboratory.
Leilin tried to move, but the surrounding air felt thick as paste — any movement was agonizingly difficult!
At last, the owner of the red fabric appeared before Leilin — it was the wraith!
The wraith's head had been melted away to almost nothing. She had regrown her hands — white palms with green, hook-shaped nails reaching toward Leilin!
"If this were any other time! An attack like this—"
Leilin's face was twisted with unwillingness, but the sharp claws still raked across his chest.
A cold sensation continued to spread outward from his chest.