Chapter 158: The Old Wizard and the Seeker

The Old Wizard suddenly raised his head, meeting their gazes; his tightly knit brows seemed somewhat annoyed, and his eyes were also off, like a kind of vacant, unfocused state.

"What do you want to ask?" The old man glared for a good while, as if only then remembering the two of them.

Luge shifted to one side, looking at his new roommate.

"Adult, you... before you were able to shatter those stone walls," Green stood up and walked out from the cover, speaking after consideration, "does that mean you can break open this place?"

The old man held the book and let out a cold laugh, saying: "You mean you want me to dig a hole and escape?"

Green nodded straightforwardly.

"What do you think this place is, and why would I be here? I'll tell you two little guys frankly," the Old Wizard said, "this Blood Race Ancestor's power is not something you can imagine, and I let those fools catch me on purpose, entered here on purpose, and only here can I achieve my wish, only here can I make those guys' faces turn incomparably ugly, make them welcome despair..."

"As for that rubble," the old man pointed casually at the cave wall, "the cracks there will spawn new stone material on their own; in this Black Prison this stuff is called Stone Eater, and there are three places that can produce this breakable stone. Of course, this kind isn't something you can break either, and if you leave a section alone for a period of time without breaking it, even I would find it very hard to break the first section that grew."

Green listened quietly; learning they couldn't dig their way out, he seemed somewhat disappointed, though his expression didn't change, the Old Wizard was exceedingly sharp.

"Little guy, no need for despair," the old man said, "if you truly can help me achieve my wish, I may not lack a method to send you out. Anything else, ask quickly; casually disturbing me while I'm focused is very dangerous."

"Adult, to what extent must spiritual power reach before we can go learn the spell you gave us?" Luge spoke up.

The old man touched his bald head and said: "You should be able to soon, at least you must be able to persist in finishing reading this book..."

Luge chuckled upon hearing this.

"Probably after Fifth-Rank Wizard Apprentice... more or less it should be fine, shouldn't need to wait until the Apprentice Spiritual Power Limit," the tall, thin bald old man continued, "little guy I'm very optimistic about you; I've been here over a hundred years already, a few more years don't matter."

Luge controlled his dog face to keep it from falling.

"People of the Knowledge Sanctuary generally each have a Secret Storage Space of their own; you shouldn't lack food for a short time," the old man said, "if it's not enough, these blood-red little Stone Eaters on the ground, you can eat them freely."

The Old Wizard patted his own bald head, then lowered it again to look at the book in his hand; from the moment they met it had been that same book, as if it were his everything.

The two people shrank back behind the protrusion that could conceal their figures.

Luge looked at Green.

Green smiled: "Master Luge, perhaps our hope of getting out rests on you."

"This isn't a successful joke." Luge said.

According to that universal Spiritual Power Testing Device in his hand, if ten light points could light up five it counted as a Fifth-Rank Wizard Apprentice; the rest was grinding work — light up ten points to reach the Apprentice Spiritual Power Limit. And that bald Old Wizard's meaning just now, he feared his spiritual power would need to reach six or seven before he could go learn that spell.

Luge could already imagine how long that would take; even though he would be faster than the Old Wizard predicted, he still felt that wasn't a short stretch of time.

But things have come to this.

He shifted away another distance, preparing to start meditation.

He looked back, only to discover Green staring at the spellbook the Old Wizard had tossed over with eyes practically glowing, one hand still lightly stroking it.

Luge also took out his own.

Divine Object Technique, Unranked Spell.

Never thought I would actively spread this spell; if after my death you're lucky enough to pick up this spell, that's your luck. Of course you might be trapped in this Black Prison for a lifetime. If you obtained this spellbook while I'm still alive, then please study it earnestly; as long as you help me achieve my wish, I'll think of a way to send you out. This spell had a Knowledge Sanctuary Seeker pestering me for thirty years, and I still didn't let them record it.

An unscrupulous Seeker wanted to coerce me, while an upright Seeker even came to blows over it, but I knew they were acting out that hackneyed storybook drama; to get it, two noble Seekers schemed to gain my trust — from this you can see how precious this spell is.

The so-called Divine Object Technique is actually very simple, its effect also very limited; it merely lets a person better sense this world, sense the object in hand.

Enter the object with spiritual power, turn it into an anchor; for example, look at the book in hand — once the Divine Object Technique is successfully cast, the Spiritual Anchor sets, once established, you can truly read it, not simply look at it, not merely use spiritual power to sense the surface, but as if walking into the book. I originally named this spell Enter Spirit Technique; from this you can know its intent.

If it's a book explaining spells, you can reach another level of reading, a deeper level, even read the Spiritual Power Traces left by the writer, comprehend spells and knowledge more deeply and easily. The so-called Unranked Spell: the Divine Object Technique will grow more powerful with your use and your Spiritual Power Growth, able to read out more things, reading with more layers to read. In conception, this spell can go even further, can continue growing.

Luge suddenly came to his senses and closed the book in his hand.

He had only read two pages, while Green beside him was already immersed in it. This book was designed extremely cleverly; the Old Wizard used a special technique to write it with spiritual power — from reading the first character, it was equivalent to experiencing learning a not-yet-mature Divine Object Technique.

Luge felt that just fixing his gaze for a look, his spiritual power seemed to be tugging his whole person, drawn into the book; he also understood why the bald Old Wizard valued his spiritual power's solidity — weaker spiritual power quality would probably leak away very fast, especially in this environment, fundamentally unable to learn.

He first put away the spellbook, and began practicing the Meditation Method.

Right now he craved learning the Divine Object Technique more than anyone; if he mastered this spell, presumably his speed learning the subsequent Meditation Method Runes would absolutely become faster.

So he decided not to follow the bald Old Wizard's judgment; he would try at every stage — once the Fourth Magic Mark was constructed he would try; if it didn't work, continue meditating; with some progress he would try again. Theoretically speaking, as long as he could finish reading this book, he should possess the conditions to learn it.

Luge found a comfortable spot and lay down, beginning to immerse himself in meditation, naturally and effortlessly forgetting everything around him, forgetting he was in this strange cage, as if he had returned to the cramped room where he had holed up for days — natural, relaxed, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curling up slightly.

One rune after another was born and annihilated in the dazzling Spiritual Power Space, cycling endlessly, arising and ceasing; each cycle gained a trivial bit of progress; the progress was small, but never stopped.

(Chapter End)