Chapter 23

A spacious bedroom open on three sides.

Luge ate worm-juice shaved ice while flipping through the final part of the Magic Skin Technique; the empty potion bottle was just right for holding the shaved ice, though its mouth wasn't wide enough.

As he crunched the ice in his mouth, he once again marveled that the Magic Skin Technique was far easier to learn than the Freezing Ray. From this he realized that spell compatibility wasn't only evaluated when positive—it should apply in negative cases too, meaning among incompatible spells there were states of not quite compatible, very incompatible, and super incompatible. He should have thought of this sooner; these were all inevitable situations.

"Maybe I should find some sour fruit..."

He glanced up at the crystal lamp right in the instant it switched between its upper and lower ends.

"One more day and it should be about done."

He thought the last bottle of Spirit Heart Potion could be saved for some tough bone he might encounter later, and felt using it to practice the Meditation Method wasn't bad either, though using a Spirit Heart Potion for such slow, gradual work was a bit luxurious.

No matter what potion, drinking too much isn't good, even if no obvious side effects are listed.

Eating shaved ice, he thought of the hot springs.

The hot spring vents there were too hot; if he could find a place with a suitable temperature, soaking in it while eating shaved ice would be quite an enjoyment, he thought.

That female elf's skin was really thick; maybe after learning the Magic Skin Technique he could try it too—Magic Skin Technique plus Freezing Ray equaled bathing and shaved ice. These days, even a kobold wanting a bath needed deep strength, and those with weaker wrists easily lost their lives.

He wasn't indulging in pleasure.

This was spell practice, an essential cultivation on the path to pursuing the mysteries of spells.

After mastering the Freezing Ray, the first thing he did upon recovering was test how many times he could cast it.

In a fully recovered meditative state, casting back-to-back without rest, he could fire seven Freezing Rays before becoming unable to continue.

To increase casting count and speed, frequent use was a good choice; another excellent choice was naturally to raise his own Spiritual Power and become a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

Currently, besides his solidified spells, the zero-circle spell he could use most times in a short span was Depilation; with his current Spiritual Power he could support fifteen uses, the spell itself had slightly low consumption, and on top of that he had high compatibility—and this was without having practiced it normally.

Depilation was simply too costly to practice on tribesmen; after all, they were just a pitiful little tribe, and even before their food supply was insufficient, so there wasn't much hair left on their bodies anyway.

He couldn't bring himself to do it.

Occasionally he'd run into an unpleasant fellow on the road, practice on them a couple times, and harvest two short, unpleasant shrieks.

He rose unsteadily.

Balancing work and rest was the way of learning.

As he walked, he recalled the details of the Magic Skin Technique he had just organized.

Seven turns, eight turns.

The purpose of this trip was to treat Aijin to shaved ice! The kobold maiden must never have eaten any! And by the way ask Old Gold Tooth some things.

Boom—boom—boom!

A huge sound came from the direction of Big Cave of Hui Chang Jing Sheng Zhu, as if the earth beneath their feet was trembling.

Luge paused in his step; his current position happened to be quite close.

Boom—boom—boom!

He plucked up his courage and edged forward, hesitated a moment, turned a corner, and decided to go see what was happening.

In this place, he believed he had the qualification to watch the excitement.

Ever since he learned that the dark-skinned female elf and her companions were Wizard Apprentice level, his little kobold spine suddenly straightened.

It wasn't that he had confidence to defeat any of them, but in an instant he broke through that most terrifying layer of the unknown—that imagined fear of scaring himself, like Dasha's fear of him, that unbreakable deep-rootedness, which stemmed from the unknown. And because he had a little understanding of spells and Wizard Apprentices, even though he was afraid, it wasn't the previous kind of clueless fear, but a rational awe born of the power of spells and knowledge.

Sometimes, even facing death, at least you knew how you died; on the level of fear, that was far better than the unknown.

He pressed close to the cave wall, exposing half a dog head.

An exaggeratedly huge gray-white giant snake came into view.

Was this Hui Chang Jing Sheng Zhu? If so, its neck was indeed very long, he thought.

Opposite the giant snake stood a small, delicate human-shaped figure.

Too far away to tell whether it was human or some kind of humanoid creature.

The giant snake slowly raised its proud head, reaching all the way to the ceiling of the kobold holy ground; its bearing and aura inexplicably made people feel it possessed no small amount of intelligence.

Luge even looked forward to it speaking, just to see what kind of tone it would take.

Just as he was thinking, a mental fluctuation appeared, echoing throughout the entire Big Cave.

The affected area naturally included this little kobold poking his head out from the corner.

"Strange kobold, get out of my territory! The price of angering me is something you cannot bear."

The giant snake's words made the little kobold watching the excitement jump in fright.

But upon careful thought it seemed wrong; he narrowed his eyes and poked out a bit more, looking over there—what faced off against the giant snake was actually a tall kobold.

"The Red Horn Tribe wants to subjugate all kobolds. Kobold King. Kobolds already have their own king. The king says he will break the wizards' curse. Kobolds will no longer need masters. Kobold Kingdom. All kobolds have no masters, only one king! Kobold King! King!"

The tall but not bulky kobold spoke somewhat haltingly, a bit jumbled, but his ability to speak long sentences and the content of his words were already enough to make Luge's heart race.

Before Luge could recover from his shock.

The giant snake actually began to laugh, waves of Spiritual Power surging out like a tide, each ripple interpreting the giant snake's unrestrained mockery.

"Wizards? Ignorant kobold, actually dreaming of opposing wizards!" The giant snake's raised head, shaking back and forth from laughter, touched the cave ceiling, causing dust and stones of all sizes to fall.

This giant snake possessed the skill of using Spiritual Power, and seemed to have some understanding of wizards as well.

And there was a kobold with grand ambitions.

Luge became thoroughly interested.

Boom—boom—boom!

The tall kobold and the giant snake fought together.

For a time, the giant snake was actually at a disadvantage.

As the giant snake thrashed, Luge noticed it had quite a few wounds; the missing segment on its tail was an obvious old injury. It was precisely these wounds that allowed the strange kobold to suppress the giant snake.

That kobold's arm muscles bulged and jumped as he swung down the metal broadsword in his hand with all his might.

Crack! A slightly dull sound!

The crudely made broadsword, as wide and thick as a hammer, shattered upon striking the snake's head.

The Giant Snake lunged violently, like an Arrow skimming the ground in Rapid Movement, clamping its jaws onto the retreating Kobold; in a panic, the Kobold braced its Two Hands against the horizontally biting snake mouth, gripping both fangs and actually deadlocking there for One Time.

Dust and smoke billowed, rumbling loudly.

The Giant Snake began to Roll and crash wildly inside the Big Cave.

"Kobold, no master needed!"

That Kobold shouted loudly, and violently snapped off one fang.

The Giant Snake's moment of pain let the Kobold successfully break free.

"Don't run toward my Side!"

Luge saw the situation was wrong and turned to leave, but the footsteps behind him told of the Possibility of what would follow.

A thought turned in his heart, Bull Strength empowering him, he turned and Rushed back.

The gray-white snake body flushed blood-red, and the Giant Snake's two sides actually Stretched out several short limbs, Rushing at the Tall Kobold with violent force.

Luge was closer and more decisive; the two met rapidly, he could see that Kobold's shocked wide eyes, then its eyes rolling back, its body continuing to slide forward after falling, and Luge, empowered by Bull Strength, Directly Stretched Hand to clamp him up and ran.

The Giant Snake Witnessed this scene, and actually hesitated Somewhat, not pursuing.

(Chapter End)