Acid Splash

Chapter 23: Acid Splash+

Drip—

Drip—

Gao De carried an oil lamp as he walked through the sewer pipes. Unidentified liquid constantly seeped from the pipe walls, then dripped into the murky current of wastewater below.

Light shone from ahead.

Gao De knew he was nearing the exit.

He quickened his pace. The slick, filthy surroundings left him constantly uncomfortable.

After reaching the exit, Gao De climbed carefully, doing his best not to let his clothes touch the unidentified liquid clinging to the sewer walls.

Just as he was about to leave the sewers, he seemed to faintly hear an unusual sound coming from behind him—like the cry of some animal.

Gao De instinctively turned to look.

In the boundless darkness of the sewer, two eerie red points had appeared at some unknown time.

Deep crimson.

Like a pair of eyes staring right at him.

In an instant, a chill ran through Gao De's entire body. He did not dare look back again and hurried out through the opening.

Gao De returned to the general store and informed Pierre that he had finished clearing out the worms.

At the same time, he returned the unused insecticide and collected his meager reward—two Shamrock Silver Coins.

"I'll bring you the ring tomorrow. I'm heading back first—I reek." After receiving his payment, Gao De took his leave without fuss.

Even though he had been extremely careful in the sewers, even using Mage Hand to carry out the cleaning, he had still inevitably gotten some filth on himself. He was in a hurry to return and wash up.

After rushing back to the herb garden, Gao De first took a shower to scrub away the stench, then headed to the dining hall for dinner.

With Ilan's "glorious" record of being stabbed in the night as precedent, the other apprentices in the herb garden had kept their distance from him lately, aside from his roommate Emil.

Just like now, as soon as Gao De sat down at a table with his food, the other apprentices still eating unconsciously sped up, eager to leave the dining hall as quickly as possible and avoid being in the same room as him.

Gao De did not care about any of that. He finished dinner at an unhurried pace, cleaned up his dishes, and headed for his workroom.

Two major tasks awaited him tonight.

Inside the workroom.

Gao De sat cross-legged in meditation, concentrating his mind.

"Wind Spirit Moon Shadow!"

At his silent invocation, that crude yet familiar interface appeared once more.

In the spell list, apart from Repair+, the other four spells all had tiny yellow plus signs flashing after them.

Gao De pondered for a moment before finally setting his gaze on Acid Splash.

"In terms of destructive power, Acid Splash surpasses Ray of Frost."

This time, he would choose only one between the two damaging spells: Acid Splash and Ray of Frost.

In "professional" terms, when the wind was against you, the little gold you had left had to be spent on damage equipment. Only then was there a sliver of hope to turn the tables.

"Add point!"

No longer hesitating, Gao De fixed his eyes on the plus sign after Acid Splash.

The next instant, the "Big Dipper" representing the essence of the Dark Mire Lurker swam out from within Wind Spirit Moon Shadow and fused into Acid Splash's Spell Model like lightning.

The two blended as seamlessly as water and milk. New branches sprouted from the original Spell Model of Acid Splash and extended outward.

Moments later, Acid Splash's Spell Model, originally made of nine Starseeds, expanded into a new model containing a full eighteen Starseeds.

The plus sign after Acid Splash vanished from the spell list, and its name became Acid Splash+.

Acid Splash+ (Conjuration, Zero Circle):

Fire a small ball of acid at a target. Initial maximum range: 25 feet (approximately 8.5 meters).

You must make a successful ranged touch attack to hit the target. The acid ball deals strong acid damage.

The acid in the ball disappears after several seconds.

Additional: The acid may be preserved for up to one day as needed.

"It worked." Gao De felt a surge of joy.

The changes to Acid Splash+ did not disappoint him either.

The acid from the acid ball was itself continuous damage. As long as the acid remained, it could continue dealing damage until it was used up.

It was just that, most of the time, the acid released by Acid Splash had not yet been fully used up before its duration had already expired.

Thus, extending the acid's preservation time was, in other words, equivalent to increasing its destructive power.

Moreover, the ability to preserve the acid for up to a day did not merely enhance its destructive power—it even held strategic value, expanding the spell's possible applications.

For instance, Gao De had already thought of one use: since the acid could be preserved for up to a day, he could store the acid from Acid Splash+ a day in advance.

When needed, he could then use physical throwing to indirectly "cast" Acid Splash, thereby breaking through the limits of his own mana.

The "point allocation" was over.

Gao De took a deep breath and steadied his turbulent emotions before beginning tonight's second major task.

He searched inside his robe and pulled out a ring.

The damaged Guidance Ring.

"Let's give it a try."

Gao De focused his mind, drew upon the mana within him, and guided it through the Spell Model of Repair+ in a flash.

His mana transformed into faint, nearly invisible streams of energy that gathered in his fingers, converging into a gentle glow that gradually enveloped the damaged Guidance Ring.

The faint light precisely sank into the ring's cracks. The light flowed along them like molten metal pouring into a mold, swiftly filling and healing every bit of damage.

Normally, that would have been the end.

That was all Repair could do: mend an object's physical damage.

But what Gao De now possessed was not Repair, but Repair+.

So the restoration continued.

The runes on the ring's surface, which represented the source of the ring's magical power, were now also enveloped in Repair's gentle radiance.

A golden line began to extend from the broken edge of a rune, reaching toward its endpoint—its original point of connection.

It was as though an invisible quill, dipped in golden ink, was tracing over the broken rune.

As the final wisp of radiance merged into the ring, the Guidance Ring's surface once again shone with its former luster.

Its lost magical power revived with it.

Gao De let out a soft breath.

Casting Repair+ had consumed an amount of mana equivalent to normally casting three Zero Circle Spells.

But the ring's successful restoration ultimately proved that every effort bore its reward.

He put the fully restored Guidance Ring back on his finger and focused his Mental Strength on it. Relevant information immediately flowed back to him:

With the Guidance Ring, you may cast the cantrip Divine Guidance once per day without cost.

Divine Guidance (Divination, Zero Circle):

Choose a target and cast this spell upon it, temporarily and slightly improving its performance in one upcoming skill.

Including but not limited to: lockpicking success rate, archery accuracy, item crafting success rate.