Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice

Charles and Joseph chatted idly, simply getting to know each other.

After all, in Isata, the vast majority were still wizard apprentices. One more friend was far better than one more enemy.

For the time that followed, Charles's life and work were both exceedingly simple.

Every three days, he went to Isata to attend a class.

The rest of the time, he either meditated and trained at home or went down to the lower district to capture goblins and earn Magic Stones.

His days were full and comfortable.

Whenever he was bored, he would also seek Erika out to nurture their relationship.

In the dead of night, Charles sometimes thought of Molly.

Charles had considered searching for Molly as well, but it was simply too difficult.

Isata had clearly scattered the newcomers deliberately. The middle and lower levels where Isata's apprentices lived alone contained a full twenty-four districts.

Including the lower district, there were even more areas.

Molly had already been a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice when she arrived, but she had been diverted during the assessment. There was no telling which district of Isata's middle or lower levels she had been sent to.

He could only hope Molly would have a good fate.

During this time, both Charles's spiritual power and magic power had been growing rapidly.

His talent for spiritual power was not poor, and his talent for sensing magic power, bolstered by his Succubus bloodline, allowed him to quickly reach the peak of a Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

Half a year after he began attending Loran's classes, Charles had already touched the threshold of a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

Late at night.

Inside a meditation room rented with Magic Stones, Charles was meditating.

Half a year ago, Charles had switched to the Gloomy Eye Meditation Technique.

Compared with ordinary meditation techniques, the Gloomy Eye Meditation Technique was at least twice as effective.

That was while Charles had only consumed the eyeballs of ordinary pigs and sheep.

If they were the eyeballs of Demonic Beasts or other powerful creatures, one could easily imagine that the gains from meditation would be even faster.

Inside the meditation room.

Charles bit open a sheep's eye in one bite. Feeling it burst and spray juice in his mouth, his expression did not change.

When he had first started eating eyeballs, he had found them somewhat hard to stomach.

But after half a year of training, the strange texture of eyeballs no longer affected Charles.

In fact, having eaten enough of them, he could now even comment on their texture and flavor.

After swallowing the eyeball, Charles once more meditated upon the Gloomy Eye, a rune eye composed of over a hundred runes.

As Charles meditated, this rune eye gradually grew larger or smaller as it absorbed magic power.

Throughout this process, Charles's spiritual power and magic power were both tempered and improved.

Charles's magic power and spiritual power had long since accumulated to the peak of a Third-Rank Apprentice. As this meditation began—

His spiritual power and magic power began to pile up.

Snap!

Charles felt a faint sound inside his head.

His spiritual power, which had previously reached the limits of its growth, gained the chance to continue growing once more.

Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice!

Charles opened his eyes, his face filled only with delight.

More than a year had passed since he had transmigrated here. At last, he had gone from an ordinary person to a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

Over that time, Charles had experienced quite a few things and witnessed the wondrous, magnificent nature of the wizard world.

Charles rose from the pitch-black meditation room. In the darkness, only his eyes seemed to glow.

He silently said to himself, "In this life, I have the chance to become extraordinary, and I have the help of my golden finger. I will definitely become the strongest one!"

A room he had rented could not be wasted.

After his moment of reflection, Charles continued meditating.

His speed in becoming a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice was neither slow nor fast.

Good talent and experience could sometimes still not compare to someone else burning money.

Jody had become a Second-Rank Wizard Apprentice two months before Charles, but Jody's advancement represented the consumption of enormous resources.

She could take one or two potions almost every day.

Yet over this period, Charles had not consumed more than ten potions in total.

Even so, Charles had not fallen behind by much.

Over the past half year, Charles had learned quite a few new zero-ring spells, namely:

Environmental manipulation: Vine Tendril Snare, which caused thorny vines to grow in places with vegetation and wrap around an enemy's legs.

Mud Swamp Trap, which softened the surface of the earth and formed a muddy pit.

Puddle Summoning, which summoned a puddle in a location that was not dry, and could be used for drinking.

Restoration and healing: Vegetation Extraction, which absorbed the life force of nearby plants to heal wounds.

Bone Needle Suturing, which summoned a magical bone needle to stitch wounds.

Neural Numbing, which reduced sensitivity to pain.

Mobility: Frog Leap Spell, which enhanced jumping ability. With a light hop, one could leap more than ten meters.

Pain-Driven Burst, which used pain to stimulate sprinting speed.

Defense: Lesser Arrow Defense, which protected against ranged attacks no stronger than zero-ring spells.

Bone Shield Spell, which summoned a bone shield that floated around the body.

Misaligned Phantom, which caused attackers to misjudge the distance by roughly half a foot.

Utility spells: Eagle Eye Spell, which strengthened vision and extended one's sight to at least three hundred meters.

Danger Sense, which made the back of one's neck turn cold in the face of killing intent or hostility.

Hound's Nose, which enhanced the ability to track scents.

Carrion Disguise, which emitted the aura of a corpse to feign death.

Refraction Camouflage, which blurred one's outline while standing still.

Finally came offensive spells, of which Charles had learned the most:

Moth Swarm Veil, which summoned a swarm of moths to block vision.

Twelve Cough Technique, which made an enemy cough twelve times in succession.

Shadow-Stealing Spell, which stole a target's shadow and weakened their vigor.

Ice Spike Spell, which summoned an ice spike to attack a target.

Pus-Blood Bomb, which caused pustules to grow on a target's body, rapidly explode, and splatter outward.

Berserk Red-Eyed Rats, which summoned seven red-eyed rats to tear into an opponent.

The offensive effects of zero-ring spells were often not especially powerful. Their strength also depended on how much magic power was poured into them during casting.

For example, if Charles used enough magic power when casting Berserk Red-Eyed Rats, he might be able to summon more than ten red-eyed rats.

Likewise, if Twelve Cough Technique was powerful enough, it could make someone cough twenty or thirty times in succession, or even more.

If that hit an enemy, there would be no need to keep fighting. The coughing alone could make him cough his lungs out.

Over the past half year, Charles had already mastered these spells proficiently and used them more than once.

They had all performed admirably in his battles to capture goblins.

Unlike Charles, Joseph had plunged headfirst into studying spell modification and experimentation.

Charles did not approve of this, but neither did he try too hard to dissuade Joseph.

In Charles's view, apprentices were still apprentices. They only had a half-baked understanding of much knowledge.

Using half-full buckets of knowledge to conduct experiments, improve experiments, and modify spells was nothing more than twice the effort for half the result.

Even if results came from it, they would only emerge by sheer luck. That was why Charles had not wasted his time in that area.