After figuring out what the Soul-Devouring Rune actually did, Wei En had Little Ashi keep meditating.
"Apu."
"Baba."
As the two heads kept swallowing, Wei En clearly felt the changes taking place in his body as he meditated.
So Little Ashi's swallowing was actually devouring specific elements.
Once these elements entered his Origin, their traits were devoured and transformed.
At the same time, thanks to the interconnected nature of his Origin, the transformed power flowed into his body and became mental energy.
As for what elements they devoured each time—those were the elements Little Ashi called chaos, despair, death, darkness, and so on.
"Truly worthy of the name Ghost. Not one of those elements is positive."
Wei En sighed, then stopped paying attention to the meditation process.
As long as it made him stronger, did it matter what elements they devoured?
With that thought, he opened the System Panel and started looking around, hoping to find the cause of the pain he'd felt earlier.
[You successfully endured the Origin Erosion of an unknown entity. Your Origin Trait has mutated once again. Evaluation: Chaos, despair, death, darkness... Heh heh. Special rewards: Origin +2, Mental Level +1, Resilience Level +1, Survival Points +5.] [You successfully inscribed the Soul-Devouring Rune and learned the Spirit Devouring Method, Level 1. You can devour and absorb the Origin power of other creatures. Evaluation: Congratulations. You're finally starting to look like a wizard. Special rewards: Mental Level +1, Survival Points +2.] [Note 1: The speed at which you devour and absorb an Origin depends on the quality of the Origin being devoured and absorbed, as well as the level of the Spirit Devouring Method.] [Note 2: Devouring an Origin with excessively high quality carries the risk of mutation.]
His Origin Trait had mutated again...
Had those whispers earlier been the Origin Erosion?
And had the intense pain he felt been caused by his Origin Trait mutating again?
Wei En looked down at himself, then checked the mirror. Once he'd confirmed that his body hadn't changed, he breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. As long as I don't mutate into something like Captain Ariana, I can live with it...
Then Wei En looked at the skills section. A new spell had appeared there—the Spirit Devouring Method.
As soon as the notification had appeared, knowledge about the spell had surfaced in his mind.
First of all, this wasn't a spell for combat. Its targets had to be on the verge of death or recently dead.
Only then could he devour and absorb them safely.
He also had to be careful not to devour an Origin with too high a quality, or it could trigger a mutation.
"I finally learned a spell."
Let's see how it works.
Wei En looked around, but couldn't find a suitable target. In the end, he had no choice but to sacrifice a quill... Three pence each. They were expensive.
"Spirit Devour!"
Wei En pointed one hand at the quill in the corner, pouring out his mental energy to activate the Soul-Devouring Rune.
The Little Ashis, who had been meditating, abruptly looked toward the quill. With solemn expressions, they cried out in unison, "Adagua!" (Spirit Devouring Method!)
At the same time, the Soul-Devouring Runes between their brows flashed with a black light and shone on the quill.
Then, right before his eyes... the two heads lunged forward, bit down on the quill together, and chewed noisily until they'd devoured it completely.
Was this damn thing the Spirit Devouring Method?
Wasn't that just like a couple of vicious dogs pouncing on their food?
A question mark slowly appeared over Wei En's head. "???"
He watched the Little Ashis resume meditating after casting the Spirit Devouring Method, then couldn't help letting out a few syllables: "Ayinishibadongxi!"
It took Wei En a good while to resign himself to reality.
However you looked at it, this was the first spell he'd learned, and the core spell of the Specter School's secret spell system.
Even if the sight had been too painful to watch... he could only grit his teeth and accept it.
Besides, the System Panel said it cost five Survival Points to raise the Spirit Devouring Method to Level 1. That was proof enough that the spell was reasonably powerful.
So without much deliberation, he decided to spend Survival Points to raise the spell's level.
Spirit Devouring Method Level 1 (1/5), Spirit Devouring Method Level 1 (2/5)...
[Spirit Devouring Method Level 1 (5/5). Upgrade?] [Upgrade.] [Congratulations, your skill: Spirit Devouring Method has reached Level 2. Effect: Slightly increases the quality level of the Origins you can devour and slightly increases the speed of devouring and absorption.]
Wei En checked the skills section of the System Panel: Spirit Devouring Method Level 2 (0/50).
Did each upgrade cost ten times as many Survival Points?
That much?
Did the other spell skills work the same way?
Looking at his remaining Survival Points, Wei En couldn't help sighing. "There's so much I need to improve, and nowhere near enough Survival Points."
He'd originally wanted to keep raising the Spirit Devouring Method's level, but it looked like he'd have to wait.
As for his other skill, Introduction to Marksmanship... Wei En didn't hesitate. He casually added one point.
He didn't have 50 Survival Points.
But one point? Who did you think he was?
Besides, marksmanship was one of the few offensive abilities he had for now. Improving it would also help him stay alive.
Introduction to Marksmanship (1/1),
[Introduction to Marksmanship (1/1). Upgrade?] [Upgrade.] [Congratulations, your skill: Introduction to Marksmanship has advanced to Proficient. Effect: Increases your accuracy when using firearms.] [Note: Proficient marksmanship is equivalent to having completed 10,000 shooting drills.]
As his marksmanship level increased, scenes of firearms training appeared in Wei En's mind.
Whether it was a rifle, a pistol, or a sniper rifle, he felt as proficient with them as if he'd trained with each one ten thousand times.
Not bad. At least now he could make sure every shot hit its mark when he used a flintlock.
Wei En checked how many Survival Points he needed for Proficient marksmanship. It was only 0/10. Not much... Let's keep going!
Proficient Marksmanship (10/10),
[Proficient Marksmanship (10/10). Upgrade?] [Upgrade.] [Congratulations, your skill: Proficient Marksmanship has advanced to Mastery. Effect: Increases your accuracy when using firearms.] [Note: Master-level marksmanship is equivalent to having completed 100,000 shooting drills.]
This time, even more knowledge about firearms flooded into his mind.
With Wei En's current Mental Level, it still took him nearly an hour to absorb it all.
The knowledge included not only shooting experience but also the structure of firearms and the specifications of their components. He knew it all by heart.
Wei En thought with a wry smile: Are they trying to get me to improve the flintlock?
It wasn't that he was looking down on marksmanship... but compared with a wizard's abilities, firearms had a very low ceiling for attack power.
Still, they'd serve well enough for now. Once his wizard level increased, he could stop using firearms then.
Mastery Marksmanship (0/100)... This one needed a lot more Survival Points.
Wei En looked at the 34 Survival Points he had left and did the math. It should still be enough to improve his knowledge of Potions a little.
He'd be happy even if he only learned to make one potion.
After all, Potions was tied to his plans to make money.
And from what he'd observed over the past two days, the Secret Investigation Bureau alone used enough potions to make him a fortune.
Of course, that depended on whether his knowledge of Potions was good enough to make what the Secret Investigation Bureau needed.
After working it out, Wei En pulled out Introduction to Potions: Basic Theory of Potions, which had nearly gathered dust, and began studying...
Name: Wei En Loft
Bloodline: Salute People
Profession: Wizard Apprentice (Intermediate)
Resilience Level: 24
Mental Level: 32.66
Origin: 6 (7) (1 Origin Sealed)
Talent: None
Partner Contract: Increased wound-healing speed, increased recovery speed. (Calamity Species)
Skills: Ghost Meditation Method Level 2 (0/100), Gonzalez Language Proficient (0/100), Introduction to Marksmanship (0/1), Spirit Devouring Method Level 1 (0/5)
Runic Studies Knowledge Tree: Introduction to Runic Studies (1/10 runes), Soul-Devouring Rune at Max Level (cannot be upgraded)
Survival Points: 50
Before you continue