Flower Bud and Savage Bull

Although he had no idea what kind of flower bud it was, it was still better than a dog's face, he thought.

He picked up the small storage bag, connected it with his mental power, and pressed the back of his hand against it. This made imprinting the Arcane Imprint a little easier.

The strangely constructed little bag established a connection with him in an instant. From then on, it was completely under his control.

His mental power probed inward. The tiny bag contained a space roughly the size of two small wardrobes. The interior space was irregular and constantly shifted in shape, so he could only make a rough estimate. However, he did not need to worry about items being crushed. Whenever the changing space encountered something stored inside, it would spring away from it.

The imprinted storage bag was extremely convenient for storing things. As long as he brought something near the bag's opening and willed it, it would whoosh inside. When retrieving something, he only needed to probe the bag with his mental power, and the item would appear directly in his hand.

After packing everything away, he spent a long time playing with the Inheritance Scroll of Strength of the Savage Bull before finally putting it inside and no longer taking it out.

He stood where he usually sat and looked at the materials for making shorts that had been carefully arranged against the cave wall. In the end, he did not put them into the storage bag.

The time spent organizing his belongings calmed him down and helped him think through a few matters. His thoughts became clearer.

He parted the sparse hair on his arm. The Stinking Skin Spell had been continuously maintained, and his skin had already turned a strange blackish-purple color, yet he felt no discomfort at all.

When he tried stopping the spell, the blackish-purple color faded in the blink of an eye.

After thinking for a moment, he took out the stone strip used by Wizard Apprentices to test mental power.

He gripped it tightly and concentrated. One dot still lit up on its surface, but it seemed slightly brighter than before.

There were ten dots on the stone strip. One dot represented one standard unit of mental power. The mental power standards of the first five dots corresponded to the five levels of Wizard Apprentice. If someone could make five dots light up, it meant their mental power had reached the qualifying standard for a Level-Five Wizard Apprentice.

However, the path of a Wizard Apprentice did not end there. The upper limit for a Level-Five Wizard Apprentice was ten standard units of mental power. Only upon reaching that height could one prepare to advance to a Formal Wizard.

Thus, even among Level-Five Wizard Apprentices, there were differences in mental power strength. Furthermore, many old Wizard Apprentices had lingered at this stage for years, so their accumulation of spell knowledge naturally varied as well. Therefore, the strength of Level-Five Wizard Apprentices could differ enormously.

He began maintaining the Stinking Skin Spell again and intended to keep it up indefinitely. The less he felt its consumption, the more he wanted to see where his limit lay.

As long as he did not stop the spell, he could at least sleep peacefully.

He suddenly realized that by being able to maintain this spell continuously, he had become the safest Kobold in the tribe. He might even be the only Kobold who could wander around the hunting grounds alone.

Before he knew it, he felt a little safer.

Perhaps he would no longer suffer from insomnia.

Thinking of this, he took out his ever-precious Black Book.

Now that he had become a Wizard Apprentice, it was time to try turning to the next page. He also needed to continue learning the meditation method and prepare to construct his next Demonic Mark.

As his fingers rubbed the pages, a thought suddenly occurred to him. He wondered whether the Half-Man also practiced this Demonic Mark Meditation Method.

Although the book had been given to him by the other party, perhaps the Black Book had belonged to the owner of that diary—the Wizard Apprentice Ka Liu, whose writing he had seen but whose person he had never met.

The Half-Man looked neither dead nor alive, strange and terrifying. Unless necessary, he truly did not want to see the Half-Man's incomplete head again. But there was no such thing as a free lunch. It was probably because he was too weak that the great Kobold master of catching meat bugs had been looked down upon.

He raised an eyebrow and flipped open an unread section of the Black Book, turning many pages at once.

In one go, he saw six more complex new runes. The second Demonic Mark required the six runes he had already mastered, plus these six he had yet to master. Twelve runes in total formed the second Demonic Mark, allowing him to advance to a Level-Two Wizard Apprentice.

The Black Book's unprecedented generosity made him feel somewhat uneasy, but it also showed that his mental power had grown to a certain stage. After becoming a Wizard Apprentice, his mental power had become more solid, and his ability to withstand impacts had strengthened.

"Short-lived species? Short-lived? Does that mean I'm already not that young?"

The first thing he thought of was that his plan to grow taller and stronger would probably have to be declared a failure.

"I wonder if there's enough time for me to successfully advance to a wizard."

He looked at the new content in the Black Book, lost in thought.

Turning to a new page, the very first passage described a method for accelerating mental power recovery. It was exactly what he needed right now. Originally, he had planned to use the Inheritance Scroll for the Zero-Ring Spell Strength of the Savage Bull tomorrow.

Following the instructions, he meditated on the six runes that formed the Demonic Mark above the first Demonic Mark in his Mental Power Space. Runes outlined in this state would not consume anything. Instead, they seemed to absorb something through the Demonic Mark, promoting the recovery of mental power.

His mental exhaustion quickly dissipated, and the consumption from continuously constructing spell models and forming the Demonic Mark was replenished.

He became completely refreshed.

It seemed that his own recovery speed was considerably faster than what the Black Book described.

After a brief rest, he decisively tore open the Inheritance Scroll of Strength of the Savage Bull and began constructing its spell model.

The spell model for Strength of the Savage Bull had twenty-one nodes. Once it was successfully constructed, he immediately began empowering and filling it. The spell models of Strength of the Savage Bull and Arcane Imprint circled and drifted around the Demonic Mark in the void. When the empowerment was complete, under his guidance, a phantom with the same twenty-one nodes was drawn out from the spell model and plunged headfirst into the Demonic Mark.

The Demonic Mark's Temporary Spell Slot had finally welcomed its first tenant.

It was just that this twenty-one-node tenant was already destined not to stay long.

He began meditating to restore his mental power.

Since he could no longer grow taller and stronger, he would make up for it with the power of spells and arm himself with spell power.

As for the remaining Shedding Spell and Mental Boil, there was no need to rush. His Mental Power Space had already endured enough upheaval in one day, and he still had one more thing to do.

By his estimate, with his mental power fully restored, he could empower and fill the spell model of Arcane Imprint around twelve times. In other words, he could cast the Zero-Ring Spell Arcane Imprint twelve times in a short period, while Strength of the Savage Bull could probably be cast eight times.

That was probably the extent of a Level-One Wizard Apprentice's abilities.

These were all his estimates, but they should be more or less accurate.

He ended his meditation and picked up his long staff. The Black Book had already been stored in the storage bag, so he no longer needed to carry it on his back. Only the final step remained. He had to verify it to set his mind at ease and test whether this spell that was supposed to stink but did not actually stink had gone wrong somehow.

After the spell had been solidified, he increasingly felt that choosing Foul-Smelling Skin had been better than choosing something like the Fireball Spell.

As long as nothing had gone wrong, he would be very glad that he had made that decision.