Chapter 9: Flower Bud and the Bull

Although he didn't know what kind of flower bud this was, it was still better than a dog face, he thought.

He picked up the small storage bag, connected it with his spiritual power, and pressed the back of his hand against it, making it easier to inscribe the secret technique mark.

The small bag, constructed in some unknown way, instantly established a connection with him, and from then on was completely under his control.

Probing inward with his spiritual power, inside the small bag there was actually space almost the size of two small lockers; the interior space was irregular and constantly changing shape, so only a rough estimate could be made, but there was no need to worry about items being crushed or damaged, as the interior space would push aside anything inside when it changed shape.

After inscribing the storage bag, storing things was very convenient—just approach the bag's mouth and think, and items would be sucked in with a whoosh; when retrieving items, probing the bag with spiritual power would make them appear directly in his hand.

After finishing packing everything, he finally played with a Bull Strength inheritance scroll for a long time before putting it away and not taking it out again.

He stood at his usual seat, looking at the shorts materials carefully placed on the cave wall, and in the end did not put them into the storage bag.

The time spent organizing items let him calm down and understand some things, his thoughts becoming clearer.

He pushed aside the sparse hair on his arm; the Stinking Skin Spell remained active, his skin presenting a strange black-purple color, but he felt no discomfort at all.

When he tried to stop the spell, this black-purple color would fade away in the blink of an eye.

He thought for a moment, then took out the stone strip used by wizard apprentices to test spiritual power.

Gripping it tightly and focusing his spirit, a single dot lit up on it as before, but it seemed a bit brighter than before.

There were ten dots on the stone strip, each dot representing one standard unit of spiritual power; the first five dots corresponded to the five levels of a wizard apprentice, and if five dots lit up, it meant his spiritual power strength had reached the standard qualification line of a fifth-rank wizard apprentice.

But the path of a wizard apprentice did not end there; the upper limit of a fifth-level apprentice was ten standard units of spiritual power, and only by reaching that height could one prepare to advance to official wizard.

Thus, among fifth-rank wizard apprentices, there were differences in spiritual power strength, and combined with many old wizard apprentices having hesitated at this stage for years, their accumulation of spell knowledge naturally differed. Therefore, the strength among fifth-rank wizard apprentices could be worlds apart.

He began maintaining the Stinking Skin Spell again, intending to keep it going; the less he felt the drain, the more he wanted to see his limit.

As long as he didn't stop the spell, he could at least sleep soundly.

He suddenly realized that being able to maintain this spell made him now the safest kobold in the tribe, and possibly the only kobold who could go alone to the hunting grounds to look around.

Unknowingly, a sense of security arose in his heart.

Perhaps he wouldn't have insomnia anymore.

Thinking of this, he took out his super treasure, the Black Book.

Now that he had become a wizard apprentice, it was time to try turning to the next page; the meditation method also needed further study to prepare for constructing the next Magic Mark.

Rubbing the pages with his fingers, he suddenly wondered whether the Half-Man also practiced this Magic Mark Meditation Method.

Although the book was given by him, perhaps the Black Book came from the owner of that diary, namely the Apprentice Wizard Kalu whom only his words were seen but not his person.

The Half-Man's appearance, whether dead or alive, was weird and frightening; if not necessary, he really didn't want to see the Half-Man's crooked head again, but there was no free lunch in the world; now it was probably because he was too weak, and the great Kobold Meat Worm Master was disliked.

He raised his eyebrows slightly and flipped through the unread part of the Black Book, and flipped many pages at once.

In one breath he saw six new, more complex runes; the second Magic Mark required the six runes he had already mastered, plus these six not yet mastered, totaling twelve runes to form the second Magic Mark, to advance to second-rank wizard apprentice.

The Black Book's unprecedented generosity made him somewhat unaccustomed, but this also showed his spiritual power had grown to a certain stage; after becoming a wizard apprentice, his spiritual power was more solid, and his ability to withstand impact was stronger.

"Short-Lived Species? Short-lived? That means my current age is already not small."

The first thing he thought of was that his plan to grow taller and stronger would probably be declared a failure.

"I don't know if there's enough time for me to successfully advance to wizard."

He looked at the new content on the Black Book with thoughts in his heart.

Turning to a new page, the first paragraph described a method to accelerate spiritual power recovery, exactly what he needed right now; he had originally planned to use the Zero-Circle Spell Bull Strength inheritance scroll tomorrow.

He followed what was written above, meditating to sketch the six runes composing the Magic Mark directly above the first Magic Mark in his Spiritual Power Space; runes sketched in this state would not be consumed, but instead would absorb something through the Magic Mark, promoting spiritual power recovery.

Mental fatigue quickly dissipated, and the consumption from continuously building spell models and building Magic Marks was also replenished.

His whole person became spirited.

It seemed his own recovery speed was much higher than what was described on the Black Book.

After a brief rest, he without hesitation tore open the Bull Strength inheritance scroll and began building the spell model.

The Bull Strength spell model had a total of twenty-one nodes; after successfully building it, he immediately began empowering and filling it; the Bull Strength and Secret Technique Mark spell models rotated and floated around the Magic Mark in the Void; when empowerment was complete, under his guidance, a phantom with the same twenty-one nodes in the spell model was drawn out and projected, diving into the Magic Mark.

The Magic Mark's temporary spell slot finally welcomed its first tenant.

But this guest of twenty-one nodes was destined not to stay for long.

He began meditating to recover spiritual power.

Since he couldn't grow taller and stronger anymore, he would make up for it with the power of spells, arming himself with the power of spells.

As for the remaining Depilation and Spiritual Boiling, there was no rush; his Spiritual Space had experienced enough vibrations in one day, and he still had something to do.

According to his estimate, with his spiritual power fully recovered, empowering and filling the Secret Technique Mark spell model could be done about twelve times, meaning the Zero-Circle Spell Secret Technique Mark could be cast twelve times in a short time, while Bull Strength could probably be cast eight times.

The ability of a first-rank wizard apprentice was probably about this.

These were all his estimates, should be roughly the same.

He ended meditation and picked up the long stick; the Black Book had already been put into the storage bag and no longer needed to be carried on his back; now only the last step remained—to verify and be at ease, to experiment whether this should-stink-not-stink spell had any deviation.

After the spell solidified, he increasingly felt that choosing the Stinking Skin Spell was better than Fireball Technique and the like.

As long as there was no deviation, he would be very glad he made that decision at the time.

(Chapter End)