Living Off a Woman

The next day, in just one morning, Charles finished processing the three Magic Beasts awaiting treatment.

He was faster now, and not nearly as exhausted as before.

His confidence swelled, and he immediately asked for another three Magic Beasts to be delivered that afternoon.

By the end of the day, he had saved another four Soul Coins.

As the days passed, Charles's work at the Magic Beast slaughterhouse gradually settled into a routine.

He could save roughly four to five Soul Coins each day. At the same time, after serving as an apprentice for a month, he passed the assessment and became an official employee of the slaughterhouse.

With money in hand, Charles began to entertain other ideas.

So far, his cultivation had been going smoothly. His accumulation of magic power and mental strength was also much faster than before.

Thus, Charles planned to purchase some witchcraft to learn.

After two months, Charles had only managed to save twenty-five Magic Stones. Including his own, he had only around forty in total.

At Fenny's Hand, a single zero-ring witchcraft cost twenty Magic Stones.

A better Black-Scale Meditation Method, meanwhile, required one hundred Magic Stones.

At Charles's current earning rate at the Magic Beast slaughterhouse, it would take nearly a year to trade for a meditation method.

Charles was unwilling to wait that long, so he needed to find another way.

Recently, he had found a decent side job, one that could satisfy both his need to earn Magic Stones and obtain Soul Coins.

Catching goblins!

It was a long-term job, but Charles did not rush in headfirst. Instead, he planned to learn two witchcraft spells first and strengthen himself before going.

After washing himself clean, Charles bought two zero-ring witchcraft spells from Fenny's Hand. They were:

Rat Speech

Bone Needle Bee.

Rat Speech allowed him to understand the simple emotions of rats and gave him a chance to command them.

It was quite a useful functional zero-ring witchcraft spell.

Bone Needle Bee, on the other hand, was an offensive zero-ring spell.

Once cast, it could fire three bone spikes in succession. According to the spell's description, each had the power of a crossbow bolt.

Both witchcraft spells greatly supplemented Charles's arsenal.

One was supportive and functional; the other was offensive.

Together with the Acid Missile gifted by the wizard earlier, Charles now possessed three witchcraft spells.

Moreover, after purchasing those spells, Charles found cultivation insights for both of them in Wuduo shops run by wizard apprentices at Fenny's Hand.

As long as he bought them, they could greatly speed up Charles's learning of witchcraft.

Late at night, accompanied by a high, drawn-out moan, Erika collapsed weakly atop Charles.

Her fingertips traced across Charles's chest, drawing a circle one moment and a cross the next.

Erika asked, "Are you really going to take the goblin-catching mission?"

"I heard that mission isn't very safe."

Charles gently stroked Erika's hair and said, "I have the physical strength of a knight, and I've learned two new witchcraft spells. You don't need to worry about me."

"The work at the Magic Beast slaughterhouse earns Magic Stones too slowly. At this rate, when will I ever be able to trade for a meditation method?"

"Don't worry. I'll be careful."

Erika asked curiously, "What witchcraft did you learn?"

Charles did not hide it from her. After all, all Erika had to do was ask around at Fenny's Hand, and she would know.

"Rat Speech and Bone Needle Bee."

Erika hesitated before asking, "Aren't you going to learn a defensive or healing witchcraft spell?"

Charles let out a long sigh. "I'd like to, too, but I don't have any Magic Stones left. Even if I wanted to learn one, I couldn't."

"I have a set of knight's light armor. It should be enough to deal with those goblins."

Hearing Charles's words, Erika lay on his chest without making a sound for a long while.

After some time, Erika raised her upper body and silently looked at Charles's face.

At last, she got up and rummaged out a small pouch. After hesitating for a long time, she finally stuffed it into Charles's hand.

Charles squeezed the pouch. It was actually filled with Magic Stones. He asked in surprise, "Why are you giving me Magic Stones?"

Erika lay atop Charles and bit down hard on his shoulder. "I'm afraid you'll die in the sewers!"

"I don't have any more Magic Stones either. Take these and buy another witchcraft spell."

Charles gently stroked Erika's snow-white back. Countless thoughts churned within him, yet he did not know where to begin.

After holding it in for a long time, he said, "Erika, I'll repay you properly someday!"

Erika directly straddled Charles and said viciously, "I don't want repayment someday. I want repayment right now!"

"Hiss!~"

After leaving Erika's room, Charles held the several dozen Magic Stones she had given him. After careful consideration, he bought two more zero-ring witchcraft spells: Stone Deflection and Dim Vision.

Stone Deflection counted as a defensive witchcraft spell. However, even among zero-ring spells, prices varied. Good defensive witchcraft could cost anywhere from dozens to hundreds of Magic Stones.

Charles did not have that many Magic Stones, so he could only buy something cost-effective.

Stone Deflection could alter the trajectory of thrown objects roughly the size of a fist.

It would be quite effective in the upcoming battles against goblins.

Besides deflecting stones, it also had a slight effect on thrown spears with little force behind them, or whose speed had slowed due to distance, as well as arrows fired from afar.

With this witchcraft spell, Charles could fight with greater peace of mind when facing ranged attacks.

Dim Vision was even more of a boost to combat power.

After casting it, he could gain roughly half an hour of night vision. Although the vision it granted was not as good as daylight, it was still better than becoming blind the moment he entered a place without light.

After returning to his residence, Charles began purchasing cultivation insights for the three zero-ring witchcraft spells one by one.

He bought them from the Wuduo shops of four first-class wizard apprentices.

Once the purchases were complete, knowledge began flowing into Charles's mind.

How to memorize witchcraft runes, how to construct witchcraft arrays, how to cast spells faster, and a series of other little tricks all passed through Charles's mind.

When he had learned Acid Missile aboard the sea ship before, Charles had spent nearly a week just getting started with the spell, then another month before he could truly use it in actual combat.

This time, after purchasing the cultivation insights for the spell, Charles successfully gained an initial grasp of Bone Needle Bee in only half a day.

Over the next two days, he became proficient in using the spell and compressed the casting time to within one and a half seconds.

That amount of time was already enough for this zero-ring witchcraft spell to be useful in actual combat.

Moreover, Charles could tell that if he spent another week at most, he could further master the spell and reduce its casting time to under a second.

With Bone Needle Bee mastered, Charles's heart finally settled. Next, he learned the other three zero-ring witchcraft spells as quickly as possible.

Once everything was ready, Charles packed his equipment and prepared to set out!