Old Gold Tooth and Spring

"Look, how beautiful these lights are—more beautiful than the lamps those pointy-ears boast about. Ah, though I've never seen those dazzling, multicolored lamps they talk about," Old Gold Tooth said. Perhaps he lacked the strength to turn his neck; he did not look at the two who had come to his side, only stared straight overhead. "This is good. This is quite good. Better than dying bit by bit of old age, and better than being bitten to death while hunting. I can see the light growing out of my body, sprouting and becoming more and more beautiful..."

"Do you know? No, you don't. Legend says kobolds once lived in places where they could see the light."

For quite a while, Old Gold Tooth did not blink even once.

The old kobold seemed to have already decided that he was about to leave this world.

"Look, look at these lovely little things. They're growing upward in circles, working hard so that I can see this light," Old Gold Tooth said, finally taking a moment to glance to the side. "It wasn't for nothing that I ate all those awful things, especially those tiny, hard-to-find pointed mushrooms."

"How much longer can you hold on?"

Ruger had no choice but to interrupt the old kobold.

Old Gold Tooth did not seem worried in the slightest. The calmness he displayed made him seem even less like a kobold than when he told those bizarre tales.

"I already said Aisijin wasn't to disturb you. They've merely grown a little faster. I still have plenty of time left to live! At least—at least until my stomach gets hungry another few dozen times, maybe even a hundred," Old Gold Tooth said without blinking, his eyes fixed on those threads of light.

Despite what the old kobold said, Aisijin was not Big Silly Hum. She had judged from details such as the old kobold no longer eating, and only then decided to seek out Ruger.

Going by how long an ordinary kobold could last after one meal, Old Gold Tooth could still live for quite some time—provided he was telling the truth.

"I believe you," Ruger said. "I've already found a way to save you. To make sure it succeeds, we'll prepare according to the time you gave."

After saying that, he gave Aisijin a few instructions before turning and leaving.

Even after walking several steps, he could still hear Old Gold Tooth quietly questioning the kobold girl behind him.

He made his way back to his large bedroom, open on three sides.

Leaving to visit Old Gold Tooth could also be considered part of the experiment. During the time he had been gone, the spatial door had remained open on that cave wall.

His plan to take Aisijin for a look around that peculiar space had also been interrupted by Old Gold Tooth's situation.

So he planned to go in by himself.

Of course, not yet. He took out a book, sat down to one side, and began flipping through it.

He wanted to see how long this door could remain standing when no one interfered with it and no one passed through it.

The appearance of that strange dragon had disrupted the order in which he had planned to learn spells.

Since Old Gold Tooth could still hold on, there was no need to waste the Spiritheart Potion. He had only one bottle left of that potion, which could practically help raise a person's comprehension.

Pages constantly turned beneath his fingers.

This was a spell that had not been in his original plans, one that had absolutely ranked near the bottom of the spells he most wanted to learn. But now, he had no choice but to work hard and master it as soon as possible.

A zero-ring spell: Light Body Spell.

His current reading strategy was to first skim through the entire book without seeking to understand every detail, gaining a general impression, and then return to the first page for careful study.

Just as he finished reaching the last page for the first time, the spatial door before him flickered several times before vanishing completely with a swish.

He glanced up at it, then continued reading.

This spell did not seem overly difficult, but it would not go as smoothly as the Demon Skin Spell either. After all, the Demon Skin Spell had enjoyed the wind at its back, along with half a bottle of Spiritheart Potion.

Still, there was no need to overthink it. He could simply learn it slowly. If Old Gold Tooth had lied, he would surely have Aisijin come find him in a few days to lay everything bare.

This old kobold was fairly clever, after all. He knew how to assess the circumstances and act with restraint.

What Ruger had seen and heard during his last outing had given him many things to consider—for instance, broader applications for spells. Different methods, different situations, even using spells not directly on the target. Like how Baangte had used Phantasmal Sound Spell to influence the judgment of two targets at once and send away someone he disliked. Though it was later proven that the disliked fellow was very hard to make leave on his own; that fellow had most likely become a new contributor to the strongman's spoils of war.

Ruger had roughly calculated that even with the encounters and clashes with those lizardmen along the way, he had cast Strength of the Savage Bull far more often while traveling than in battle.

The use of spells in daily life was also an important part of spell training and expanding their applications.

He raised a hand and cast Mental Boil on himself. This was something he had discovered recently—a marvelous tool for reading late into the night. Its effects were far better than he had imagined.

Yet the inheritance scroll had mentioned it only briefly: after casting, it could temporarily make one's spiritual power more active and keep one awake. It even followed with an unhelpful assessment. Ruger felt that calling it unhelpful was unfair. Becoming more alert and finding it easier to concentrate might indeed seem like a small thing, but accumulated over years or decades, the boost to learning efficiency would be immense.

He even cast Strength of the Savage Bull on himself again. Who said reading could not leave one's back sore and aching? Good physical endurance meant he would not tire no matter how he sat or read, which was quite powerful in itself. The increase in strength also kept his reading posture from gradually collapsing, reducing the buildup of fatigue from another angle. In any case, he was already a second-level wizard apprentice, with more spiritual power to spare, and hiding in the cave meant he did not fear this small expenditure.

Time always slipped away quickly when one was focused.

Five days passed.

He stood and stretched, and a series of cracks sounded from his small body.

After stretching, he warmed up, then dropped into a squat and sprang fiercely upward. The effect was astonishingly good.

With a thud, he slammed into the cave ceiling.

He had mastered Light Body Spell.

A spell model with nineteen nodes floated within his spiritual space.

Come to think of it, he had never cast a spell on anyone else. Of course, he did not mean spells like Freezing Ray, but spells such as Light Body Spell and Strength of the Savage Bull, which he could use on Aisijin and the others. The effects might be weakened when they landed on them, depending on their compatibility with the spell. Spells like Foul-Smelling Skin and Demon Skin Spell, on the other hand, could only be cast on himself.

After eating his fill, he planned to begin arranging the Abyss Bedroom space.

The shimmering, dreamlike spatial door appeared once more. During breaks from reading over the past few days, he had practiced opening it. Though the practice had not yielded much, he had not given up. At the very least, he no longer needed to lean against the cave wall and fool himself into opening the door.

The effect he imagined—or rather, the effect he wanted—was to casually open a door at any moment and slip inside with ease to escape.

He slowly stepped forward, first extending one foot through the doorway and giving it a little shake.

This was already his second time coming in, yet it still felt wondrous. In the end, he crossed that door and stepped onto the land he had laid himself. In the distance, a dark-red fissure flickered. On the other side stood several large rocks pieced together, serving as either a dining table or a makeshift bed.

A large pool of stone and frozen earth was quickly built.

Satisfied, he stood at the pool's edge with his hands on his hips, looking it over.

Since Old Gold Tooth was already gravely wounded and on the brink of death, he would use this pool to give him a second spring. While saving the old gnoll, he could also have him contribute something. This strange dragon's blood bath needed a test subject, after all—let Old Gold Tooth wade through the waters first.

Once Old Gold Tooth succeeded, and they observed for a while to make sure everything was normal, they could consider letting Aisijin and the others come into contact with it.

He could also let Bald Tooth try again and see what effect it would have, he thought, hands still on his hips.