Devil's Skin and Face

Demon Skin Spell, a zero-ring spell.

Demon Skin Spell was a relatively common zero-ring spell, but its effects varied greatly in the hands of most casters. Cast normally, it stimulated the skin to generate a layer of demonic hide, offering the caster a certain degree of protection. It could also be cast directionally using prepared spell materials, such as Blackthorn Treant bark or demon hide. This produced better results and could even grant some of the extraordinary traits of the corresponding spell material.

In theory, using spell materials that matched the caster's rank would, except in certain special circumstances, reduce both the consumption and difficulty of casting Demon Skin Spell. Likewise, if a caster chose spell materials far above their own rank, the casting difficulty would rise sharply, and they would face a considerable risk of failure.

Ruger took out the book on Demon Skin Spell as well.

Since Half-Man wanted him to learn Demon Skin Spell and had even prepared the casting materials, there was naturally no reason for him not to learn it.

He had originally placed Demon Skin Spell right after Freezing Ray in his mind. With a small frame like his, he did not disdain having too many protective measures. Given the chance in the future, he intended to learn at least another eight or ten spells that could help him take a beating from every angle and in every way. Of course, he also needed to get moving on expanding his shorts into armor.

This was the last calm stretch before breaking through Freezing Ray. He would casually read the book on Demon Skin Spell for a while to clear his head.

When that female elf had left yesterday, he had planned to drink one of the Spiritheart Potions Half-Man had given him earlier and speed up his brain. But after thinking it over, he had not been in the best state, so he spent another day reading and sorting himself out.

He first ate a piece of slightly overcooked meat worm, then took out the white bottle of Spiritheart Potion and tipped his head back to drink it.

In Ka Liu's diary, he did the same every time he used a Spiritheart Potion. In his words, using one would bring a person into a transcendent state of extreme focus, and the body's consumption would naturally intensify as well. If one were interrupted by hunger or something else while enjoying that self-forgetting state during the potion's effect, it would simply be too stupid.

Ruger had never experienced such a feeling in his life.

Holding the booklet on Freezing Ray, he found the places where he had previously needed to go through several steps of reasoning, only to easily make wrong judgments, laughably simple. At the same time, he understood one distinction in spell compatibility. A compatible spell often did not require such laborious, entirely rational deduction to master. It was more like reading those mischievous little fellows—understanding them naturally, instinctively grasping the rules within.

After breaking through several difficult points that had previously eluded him, he simply flipped the book back to the first page.

Starting from that first page, which he had long since mastered, he read carefully, felt, understood anew, and began sorting through everything from the beginning.

A flash of inexplicable spiritual light passed through him, making him feel that this was exactly what he should do.

As though he had suddenly thought something through.

The initial, simplest stage that he had clearly already mastered was not passed over at once. Instead, the opening went the slowest in his hands. Then came page after page, and once he passed the halfway point, he flipped faster and faster, like a charging beast. This was completely contrary to his usual performance—when he normally read this book, the pages turned slower and slower the farther he went.

Huff—

He raised both hands and snapped the entire book shut, letting out a long breath at the same time.

Then he tilted his head back and rolled his neck, producing a series of crisp cracks.

Without wasting a moment, he casually set the book beside his legs and immediately began meditating to restore his spiritual power and adjust his condition. Right afterward, he began constructing the spell model for Freezing Ray.

Ever since he had started learning this zero-ring spell, he had tried to construct its spell model countless times.

Yet he had always found it difficult to grasp the whole picture.

That state of not having fully digested it until it became subconscious instinct, where every tiny detail had to be worked out through personal deduction, truly gave one a sense of despair. Fortunately, wizard apprentices possessed sufficiently resilient spiritual power. Otherwise, learning spells alone would produce a whole heap of deranged lunatics.

This time, he finally experienced that pleasure of doing as he pleased. What deduction? Could he not understand it at a single glance? He could even see the chain reactions several steps ahead.

He completed the construction of the spell model in one breath, yet the potion's effect had not even ended.

He immediately performed a brief meditation to recover, stuffed a piece of worm meat into his mouth without even having time to chew it properly, and opened the booklet on Demon Skin Spell.

The preciousness of Spiritheart Potions was evident from the amount of ink Ka Liu had devoted to them even in his proud diary. Moreover, this potion could not be taken consecutively. Though Ruger still had one bottle left, it was best to wait several days between doses.

If he wanted to master Demon Skin Spell quickly, this was his chance.

Although he had received no spiritual guidance for Demon Skin Spell when choosing spells, he felt that this spell was far more lovable than Freezing Ray. The gap in compatibility was at least severalfold.

He had already thoroughly digested more than half of Demon Skin Spell.

Just as he wanted to press on while the iron was hot, his seated body swayed, and he nearly toppled over.

An abnormal dizziness followed close on its heels.

"This Ka Liu—he never wrote a thing in his diary about the discomfort after using the potion..."

He covered his forehead and lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move for a while.

With Freezing Ray fully empowered, he casually cast it at the nearest angle between two stones. A few seconds later, he had some shaved ice scraped off with his fingernails, which he slapped onto his forehead with a wet smack. As for the uses of low-ring spells in daily life, Ruger felt it was absolutely necessary to write a book about them. Ka Liu's diary had mentioned some fools—of course, Ka Liu was the one who called them fools. Sometimes, these people forgot to use spells in everyday life, yet relied on them too heavily when they did use them.

For example, there was an apprentice who had long studied Phantasmal Sound Spell. This had happened when Ka Liu had just entered the academy. When danger arose and they needed to wake their companions, that apprentice's first reaction had actually been to cast a spell. Ka Liu directly opened his throat and shouted furiously, startling the other into breaking off his casting while successfully waking everyone up. There was also an apprentice skilled in Strength Spell. Because he had once been a knight, he basically used spells only in battle, and the type of spell he chose was also severely limited by his way of thinking.

And Ruger now faced a difficult choice as well.

Should he stay here and learn Demon Skin Spell before going to see Half-Man, or should he follow his original plan and go out in search of treasure once he had mastered Freezing Ray?

The sooner he picked up the inheritances, the better. Yet Half-Man had summoned him for a meeting for the first time, and mastering Demon Skin Spell would make going outside safer.

But he had a premonition that something would definitely happen after he met Half-Man.

At that point, he might find it difficult to get away for quite some time.

So after hesitating again and again, he finally decided that safety came first. He would focus on mastering Demon Skin Spell, then go out and collect the nearby inheritances. After offering his sincere blessings to those dead wizards, he would return and go see Half-Man as quickly as possible.