Sky Mastery

"To learn of the immortals, ride cranes to the sky~

Turn stone into gold, a wonder so high~

Must head to the mountains, to Lao Mountain and try~"

On a country path winding through the fields, a tall, sturdy youth dressed in a grey cloth scholar's robe carried a book box on his back, leaning on a wooden staff as tall as himself as he pressed forward.

He hummed a strange little tune under his breath.

This person was none other than Ling Qing, who had left the small town and was now traveling toward Lao Mountain.

After bidding farewell to the old man, he had first sought out an apothecary to purchase some medicinal herbs.

He paid a fee for the service, using the apothecary's tools to prepare several types of pills and powders for self-defense: some for healing, some for illness, some to repel snakes and insects, and others to act as antidotes.

He had prepared an extra supply of the Ghost-Repelling Pill in particular.

Afterward, he bought some dry rations at the market and headed straight out of town.

Reaching a secluded spot, he took out a map and marked two simple routes upon it.

After weighing his options, he decided to play it safe and go through Jinshui Town, even if it meant taking a longer detour.

The main reason was that heading straight for Miao Mountain, while faster, risked getting entangled in the tiger-eating-people incident, which could delay him even longer.

Entering this dungeon was different; last time, there had been a countdown displayed after the dungeon's name.

This time, there was nothing—no time limit, no specified duration for his stay, and no option to leave.

A Time Fragment was not a complete world; it was impossible for one to remain here forever.

Just like a movie, there was always an end to the performance.

Since he could not leave now, there must be a reason for it.

Perhaps it required triggering some hidden condition, or perhaps he had to wait for the Lao Mountain Daoist plot to conclude.

But for now, he had no leads, so he prepared to reach Lao Mountain safely before deciding on his next move.

In ancient times, the government would conscript labor to build roads between cities, known as imperial highways.

These highways were made of rammed earth and stone, wide and level, but they had two drawbacks: travelers had to constantly avoid government officials while walking on them.

Moreover, they were usually built to provide the shortest, fastest route between two cities.

Therefore, for daily travel between villages and towns, unless it happened to be on the way, most people would not go out of their way to take the imperial highway.

As it happened, the road from Jinshui Town to Changyang Town did not align with the imperial highway.

There was, however, a small path that cut through several mountain villages.

As the saying goes, there were no roads in the world until many people walked them.

Aside from the highways frequented by merchant caravans, daily travel mostly relied on rugged, narrow paths.

These were mostly carved out by those looking to save some effort, and they rarely saw large groups of people.

Consequently, the paths were overgrown with weeds and sparsely populated.

However, Ling Qing was not worried about the difficulty of the terrain.

A Druid with the Forest Walk skill could tread as if on flat ground, even through thorn bushes or dense mountain forests, so a mere path was of no concern.

He had already taken a detour of over ten days; if he were to take the main highway, he feared he would be delayed by several more days.

Small paths between villages, unless the village was extremely remote, rarely took more than a day to traverse.

After all, in this era, it was far more dangerous to continue traveling at night or to camp out in the wild.

Thus, Ling Qing arrived at the next mountain village just as the afternoon set in.

Although it was still early, he did not intend to continue forward.

Ling Qing estimated that he definitely wouldn't reach the next village before dark, and if he kept going, he would certainly have to spend the night in the wild.

He went directly to the village head's house, produced his Identity Token, and requested to stay for the night.

In ancient times, there were household registration documents similar to identity cards, which had to be checked when traveling or doing business.

Generally, private citizens were not allowed to host strange travelers.

However, this was where the advantage of choosing the scholar identity became apparent.

Once the village head saw his proof of identity and inquired further, learning he was a scholar, he immediately agreed.

After settling the arrangements for his stay, Ling Qing went to the woods behind the village.

He first sat cross-legged in the forest to recover his primal force using the Heart of Nature, then continuously balanced the surrounding environment, striving for every bit of experience.

Throughout the journey, aside from traveling, he had been constantly practicing his new spells.

He aimed to transcribe the new spells into his spellbook as soon as possible.

Before entering the dungeon, he had scrambled to save up over two thousand experience points.

After comparing the benefits of increasing his class level versus upgrading his Five Animal Frolics to gain attribute points, he chose to increase his class level.

Character consumed 2250 points of general experience; Druid class level increased to level 3.

"The character has received a class baptism; your comprehensive base attributes have increased to a certain extent, and your understanding of the Path of Elements has improved to a certain extent."

"The character has gained a new class skill: Traceless Step."

When leveling up, the Heart of the Druid also erupted with a surge of energy that washed over his body, making his physique even more powerful.

At the same time, he also gained new class skills.

However, these were not the main reasons why Ling Qing chose to level up.

A Druid can learn 1st-circle spells at level 1, but to learn 2nd-circle spells, one must reach level 3.

For spellcasting classes, one can learn the next circle of spells for every two class levels gained.

Unlike 1st-circle spells, which have limited utility, the Druid's 2nd-circle spell list is extensive.

Whether it is spells like Bull's Strength that can temporarily provide attribute bonuses.

Or Barkskin to increase defense, Bodyguard to absorb damage, or Sky Mastery to grow wings of air and fly.

All of these greatly enhance a Druid's survivability.

Even the offensive spells include much more powerful options like Thorn Spear, Flaming Sphere, and others.

But because time was too tight, Ling Qing hadn't had the chance to learn many of the spells, so now he had to practice while on the road.

After practicing the spells for a while, he began to transcribe the spells he had learned into his Book of Nature while recovering his mana.

It wasn't until the sky turned dim and dark that he got up and returned to the village chief's house.

The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Ling Qing rose early, left some copper coins behind, and bid farewell to the old village chief to continue his journey.

Over the next few days, he spent his time learning and mastering new spells while traveling.

Sometimes, he would use the power of his spells to increase his speed.

Especially Sky Mastery, which allows one to fly.

Sky Mastery
Spell Level: 2nd Circle
Casting Cost: 5-20 Mana
Casting Time: Standard Action
Spell Components: Verbal (Air), Somatic, Material
Range: Personal
Target: Self
Duration: 1 round/level
Spell Description: When you hold a feather high and chant the incantation, massive transparent wings unfurl from your back, allowing you to leap up and take flight.
Spell Focus: A feather from any bird or a wing bone from any bat.

As soon as he learned it, Ling Qing couldn't wait to leave the path and enter the woods by the roadside, intending to find some bird feathers.

Since this spell leans more toward the Path of Elements, Ling Qing could not use the Book of Nature to cast it without materials.

Furthermore, the same applied to using Owl's Wisdom, which requires owl feathers or droppings.

Therefore, he had no choice but to inconvenience the owls; besides collecting some feathers that had fallen into the bushes, he also "borrowed" quite a few directly from them.