Chapter 107: Exhaustion and Change

Luge felt he had gained two useful pieces of information from the old drunkard's words.

First, to become an Official Wizard, after meeting certain conditions, one also needed to prepare an Ascension Ritual, also known as a Sublimation Ritual.

Second, a Wizard Apprentice must be ruthless with themselves. From the old Wizard Apprentice's words, Luge heard the vigor of his youth, and also heard the confusion after his several failures. Perhaps when he first tried to take that step, it was precisely because of the missing ten years that he hesitated and wavered, failing to decisively choose that kind of Sublimation Ritual which consumed life force on the first attempt. In the end, one step wrong led to every step wrong, and he thoroughly lost hope, returning alone to a hometown without relatives or friends to await death.

Perhaps the inheritance of the Stingy Technique still counted as a lingering attachment for the old drunkard.

Moreover, this alcoholic old Wizard Apprentice always called himself a Wild Wizard; perhaps his days over there were not all pleasant and smooth either.

The alcoholic elder tilted his head and looked at Luge across from him.

"Now you know why the old fellow of the Fendis family respects me? They are respecting a tragedy, a joke that will be passed down forever. They are insignificant when facing a true Wu Xue Da Ren, but when they see my failure, their own inconspicuous Noble identity shines like the starry sky."

The old drunkard drank another cup, then took out a different cup and sniffed it lightly under his nose.

"In their eyes, if I were one of them, my fate would be different. Even if I fell ill, I would be cured quickly. Even if I missed the Talent Test, there would be other ways to test privately. Even with good talent, they could make an exception to get a Passage Ticket to the Wizard Domain. The stupid waste of ten years would never happen. These fellows feel that their noble Noble identity influenced the birth of a Wizard in Fanxing City. This makes the insignificant them feel comfortable every time they recall it," the old drunkard said.

Luge looked at the old drunkard and felt that when this old Wizard Apprentice spoke of these things, his heart already held no ripples.

He naturally had no experience of quietly waiting for his life to end, unable to accurately imagine that feeling, nor did he know if it was because his life was about to reach its End that he could be so calm. As a senior Fifth-Rank Wizard Apprentice, perhaps at this stage he could already clearly perceive the loss, or rather the exhaustion, of his Life Origin. Barring accidents, he could only silently, bit by bit, watch himself die.

"Is there no way?" Luge said.

He wasn't just doing this to broaden his horizons; he was indeed filled with curiosity in his heart.

A strange, viscous wine was making gurgling sounds in the old Wizard Apprentice's mouth.

"What way? Like you, undergoing Bloodline Transformation? Common methods I've naturally all thought of," the old man said. "Perhaps there are still some methods that could save me, but those are not things a Wizard Apprentice can accomplish. For instance, your kind of near-perfect Bloodline Transformation is not something an Apprentice can do; even a general Official Wizard cannot do it. And my path is not suited for Bloodline Transformation; that would increase the Difficulty of my Ascension, so I never did it. By the time I wanted to prolong my miserable existence, it was already too late. My Life Origin had already undergone irreversible dissipation, and with my ability, I could no longer do anything."

The Beast Cart's wheels squeaked.

Luge felt that every Fifth-Rank Wizard Apprentice he encountered seemed to be a genius, but among geniuses there were also a large number of Failures.

He stared at this alcoholic old fellow the whole way, involuntarily sighing at the other party's astonishing alcohol tolerance.

Simply the type who could drink water until bloated.

"Do not fear death; learn to enjoy the final quiet times," the old Wizard Apprentice said with a laugh. "After all, there is still fine wine for company."

Luge looked at him, momentarily not knowing what to say.

"Hmm, that tavern up ahead is not bad."

The alcoholic old fellow raised his hand and knocked on the carriage wall; the servant driving the Beast Cart immediately understood and stopped at the roadside.

The old drunkard waved at Luge and got off the cart impatiently, as if afraid the tavern would run away.

The Beast Cart set off again.

The Underground City at night, especially the Noble District of the Inner City, possessed liveliness no weaker than daytime. Only the road they walked was relatively quiet; this was all Daisy's credit. When she arranged the Beast Cart, she had agreed on the route with the other party. She already largely understood Luge's preferences.

They returned to the Manor smoothly all the way.

Luge immediately soaked himself in a pool full of hot water, enjoying washing away the blood and filth covering his body while eating the fruit Daisy had meticulously prepared.

At this moment, he finally had time to calmly sense the changes brought by the Magic Marks absorbing those two monsters.

He entered a Meditation state.

As he expected, his Spiritual Power had gained a quite decent increase, but the bad side was the same as last time. After a round of attempts, during Limit Meditation he could perceive that his Spiritual Power was no longer as obedient and responsive as before.

He took out that Stone Strip for testing Spiritual Power again and discovered that, even before completing Rune mastery, his Spiritual Power had actually already reached the Fourth-Rank Wizard Apprentice standard.

It was just a pity that with the Fourth Magic Mark unformed, he could not count as a true Fourth-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

And distinguishing Wizard Apprentices solely by Spiritual Power level is one-sided. The several Diaries he had read all wrote this. Some Wizard Academies or Wizard factions that cultivate Apprentices would assess Apprentices through examinations. For example, in many Academies, even if Spiritual Power meets the standard and Zero-Ring Spell Slots are solidified, one still cannot count as a qualified First-Rank Wizard Apprentice. One must also master three or more Zero-Circle Spells to pass the assessment and successfully wear that Emblem belonging to a Wizard Apprentice.

Luge's internal provisional investigation was complete; he then began applying Spells to sense external changes.

This Rage brought him quite a few changes. First, under the Demon Body state, he was actually taller. The pair of sharp horns on his head had grown a bit, and the spiral ring patterns on his body had become darker in color, though he completely didn't know what use they had.

And the connection to all of this was the Demon Body Spell.

Luge carefully observed its Spell Model. It seemed this Spell, evaluated by everyone as not mature enough due to its demonic flesh transformation origin, was continuously adjusting its less-stable-than-other-Spells Spell Model during his use. To put it nicely, it was constantly perfecting itself, constantly adapting to him, its user.

Overall, this should be a good thing. This kind of Spell Model, less stable than classic Spells, might actually make it easier to give birth to the Composite Spell he had long anticipated when fusing the five Magic Marks.

He walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed, just in time to hear a Knocking Sound.

"Lord Luge, Young Master Lorigo has returned to the Manor."

This was his instruction to Daisy: notify him the First Time Lorigo returned. But now he suddenly no longer had the interest in rushing to see this Second Young Master of the Fanxing Family.

(Chapter End)