Spells

He could no longer meditate, and now he did not dare sleep either. He could only lean by the window, relying on the faint moonlight.

He summoned the magic book again and began studying the three zero-tier spells recorded within.

Ashen Mist, White Bone Fangs, Touch of Fatigue.

Of the three spells, he would naturally learn White Bone Fangs first, because it was the only one with offensive power.

The other two could wait. In this perilous Spirit Realm, possessing some offensive capability would make survival easier.

White Bone Fangs did not use many spell runes, but memorizing those runes was quite difficult.

With no teacher to guide him and only this magic book to learn from, it would take Huo Ling a long time to master a spell.

According to the book, an apprentice needed anywhere from a week to half a month to master a zero-tier cantrip.

And that was only enough to get started—to successfully cast the spell. There was still a chance of spellcasting failure.

To cast spells faster and better required long periods of practice.

Fortunately, such failures would not cause backlash to the caster. Otherwise, before mages even entered battle, a great many would die while learning.

Learning and mastering spells required immense amounts of time, and it was something that demanded lifelong persistence.

Casting a zero-tier spell normally, from tracing the runes to successfully releasing it, took around three seconds.

That was fine under ordinary circumstances, but in battle, three seconds was enough time for an enemy to do many things.

So, to truly use a spell in combat, one first had to be able to cast it successfully with proficiency and shorten the casting time.

Some casters could compress a spell down to one second or even less, casting it with a thought. Their advantage in battle was simply too obvious.

Casters who had just entered the apprentice rank were at their weakest. Most zero-tier spells lacked lethal power.

Even offensive spells were not especially powerful, took time to cast, and could still fail.

There was not much mana within their bodies either. Combined, it was unlikely to be enough to cast many spells.

This was also the only stage when warriors could bully casters.

Unlike casters, warriors who relied on their bodies for close combat began to possess fighting power at the apprentice stage.

They used the battle qi they cultivated to bolster their bodies and unleash tremendous strength.

Even after exhausting their battle qi, their trained bodies could still support them in combat.

Of course, a caster's strength did not necessarily lie in battle. There were simply too many things casters could do.

Apprentice-level casters might not have many offensive spells, but once they mastered them, those spells could easily kill several warriors.

And even zero-tier spells came in countless varieties: disguise, protection, attack, pathfinding, decryption—every kind of spell could be learned.

As for warriors, apprentice-level warriors only knew how to chop people and chop monsters.

Once both sides advanced further.

Black Iron and Silver-ranked casters could master more spells to solve all kinds of problems encountered in life and battle. They began to possess more destructive spells, better control spells, and could even learn healing spells.

And Black Iron and Silver warriors? They learned how to chop people harder.

Once casters reached the Gold and Sanctuary ranks, their spells could basically fulfill every need in combat and daily life. They could use powerful magic to destroy enemies with unstoppable force, and they could summon powerful creatures to fight for them.

They could even revive the dead, teleport across vast distances, travel across several planes, and create a space for resting.

And Gold and Sanctuary-ranked warriors? They could chop people even more violently.

Legendary casters were even more extraordinary. Moving mountains and filling seas required only a thought; creating a plane, destroying a world, and plucking stars with one hand were all within their power.

Space before them was like a sheet of thin paper. They could traverse endless planes, and even the Bottomless Abyss could not stop them from coming and going as they pleased.

And legendary warriors? With their legendary physiques and legendary strength, they could chop people even more powerfully.

That was the difference between casters and warriors.

Why did casters have another name, Spell Lords? Because compared with other professions, they were powerful enough to be called grandfathers.

Late at night was when drowsiness set in. After waiting for a long time without hearing any more walking corpses pass by,

Huo Ling, whose eyes were nearly too tired to stay open from reading, finally decided to get some sleep.

He had already experienced the dangers of the night, but he still did not know whether this abandoned city would be dangerous during the day.

If he did not rest and recover now, then should danger arise tomorrow during the day, his exhausted self would have no way to deal with it.

Fortunately, he did not snore. Otherwise, would his snoring attract the walking corpses? Huo Ling thought this before falling asleep.

He did not know how long he slept. Faint sunlight shone onto Huo Ling's face, and he slowly opened his eyes.

His second day in the Spirit Realm had arrived. Feeling the warmth of the sunlight, he stood and stretched.

After simply taking care of his hunger and thirst, Huo Ling opened the magic book again and continued studying spells. Learning spells was a process that required vast amounts of time, with no shortcuts whatsoever.

Memorizing the runes with all his effort and repeatedly tracing them in his mind—this was what Huo Ling needed to do that morning.

At one point, he found a room upstairs to relieve himself. He then used some of the room's debris to bury the waste, preventing its scent from spreading.

While Huo Ling hugged the magic book and continued his studies, he heard another series of sounds.

Will this never end? What kind of trouble is there in this city during the day?

He cautiously poked his head out and looked in the direction the sounds came from.

Squinting, he watched for a while before finally spotting several green figures at the end of the road.

Upon closer inspection, they were actually goblins!

They were a common type of Spirit Realm creature, green all over and between 1.2 and 1.4 meters tall.

Omnivorous herd creatures, most goblins were not very intelligent, possessing the intellect of seven- or eight-year-old children at most.

Goblins generally existed in the form of small tribes. They were both fierce and cowardly, with their courage depending on the number of companions around them.

The more companions they had nearby, the braver they became.

At the same time, once a goblin tribe grew to a certain size, some members of their kind with greater intelligence would emerge.

The more goblins there were in a tribe, the higher their intelligence became. Some goblin tribes could even develop into goblin kingdoms.

These intelligent goblins could also cultivate battle qi and even possess casters, though there were not many of them.