Spell Structure Evolution

"Ha ha! We're going to make a fortune this time!"

Gray's unrestrained laughter rang out. He was covered in wolf blood, looking thoroughly wild.

A single wild wolf carried a bounty of three silver coins. At least six or seven wolves had died beneath Gray's sword this time—more than their combined earnings from the previous five days.

A cold arc flashed as Gray severed the front left leg of a wild wolf that had tried to ambush his neck.

The unfortunate creature let out a whimper and collapsed to the ground. Blood sprayed from the wound in its foreleg, and its breath rapidly weakened.

Zeliel's eyes lit up at the sight.

That wild wolf wasn't dead yet!

If he landed the final blow himself... would he gain experience points?

He had been worrying about where to level up.

He acted at once!

Zeliel drew upon his mana and precisely traced the spell structure of Fireball in his mind.

To ensure a fatal strike, Zeliel poured as much mana into it as he could.

The entire casting process took roughly five seconds.

Scorching flames ignited in Zeliel's palm. He aimed at the wild wolf... and fired!

The temperature of the air rose slightly as a brilliant streak flashed past, striking the thickest fur around the wolf's neck.

The mana impact within the Fireball blasted apart some flesh, then ignited the wolf's fur, setting it ablaze!

Already at death's door, the wild wolf suffered another calamity. The agonizing pain of its missing foreleg and the burning flames overlapped, making it writhe and bounce across the ground like a grass carp. It howled miserably before quickly falling silent.

First Blood!

Zeliel beamed.

Just as he had guessed, killing the wild wolf had increased the experience value on his status panel.

Lv. 1 - Lv. 2. Level up!

An inexplicable force flowed into his body and spread through all four limbs and every bone.

A layer of illusory blue light, visible only to him, appeared before Zeliel's eyes.

Four attribute points were waiting to be allocated, and the previously gray talent skills were unlocked as well.

"Spell Surge" and "Spell Structure Evolution."

Zeliel hesitated for a moment before ultimately choosing "Spell Structure Evolution"!

[Talent Skill "Spell Structure Evolution" has been unlocked.]

Suddenly, a progress bar appeared beneath Spell Structure Evolution.

Great Creation Art, analysis progress—0%.

Zeliel froze slightly.

Great Creation Art...?

What the hell was that? It sounded pretty impressive.

But had someone used that magic in front of him just now?

There was no time to think about it. With a thought, Zeliel allocated all four attribute points to Spirit.

His Spirit attribute rose from 67 to 71.

It couldn't be helped. Although Spell Structure Evolution relied heavily on Intelligence, for a mage, Spirit was absolutely the top priority.

Otherwise, what was the point of learning more spells if they had no power when cast?

Even the strongest mechanics needed stats to support them.

As his Spirit increased by four points, Zeliel could clearly feel the Source Seed circulating a little faster, and his spell power rose accordingly.

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

No matter what, he had finally crossed the threshold into becoming a mage. With a talent skill like Spell Structure Evolution, his path to strength would involve much less trouble.

Gray, who had been about to step forward and finish off the wolf, paused and turned to glance at Zeliel.

Zeliel smiled apologetically.

Sorry, my ass.

For the rest of the battle, Zeliel never got another chance to interfere.

Marcus and Gray were basically killing wolves with a single blow, while Vales's arrows left no survivors either.

The nighttime raid ended quickly. Leaving behind more than a dozen corpses, the wolf pack fled the scene in panic and vanished into the dense forest.

There were quite a lot of them. No wonder the nearby villagers had posted a commission with the Adventurers' Association. If they gathered together and attacked a village, casualties would be inevitable.

"Pretty clever, kid."

Gray wiped the mixture of blood and sweat from his forehead. "You've even learned how to pick up leftovers."

"Sorry, I just cast the spell instinctively..." Zeliel said.

"It's fine. No need to be so polite with me. That wolf is yours. It's your first mission in life—having a little extra to show for it is always a good thing."

Gray grinned. "Feel it now? This is the charm of adventure. Three silver coins—that's a day's wage for a laborer, and you earned it with one Fireball."

The party began cleaning up the battlefield. Marcus selected wolf corpses with relatively intact pelts, while Vales pulled his arrows from the bodies.

Some arrowheads had barely been worn down. After wiping off the blood, they could still be used again, saving a bit of money.

Gray hung a wolf corpse upside down from a branch and used a small knife to cut a circular incision around the ankle of its hind leg.

Following the circular cut, the skinning knife traveled downward with precision to the anus before turning toward the other thigh.

Then Gray began peeling the wolf's hide away from its hind legs.

His movements were steady. One hand gripped the flap of skin that had already been cut open and pulled downward with force, while the other held the skinning knife, carefully severing the fascia and fat connecting the hide to the flesh.

"Zeliel, come give me a hand. Lift this leg," Gray said.

With the two of them working together, the skin from the wolf's hind leg was quickly pulled off intact like a sock.

Then came the torso. The skinning process was filled with dull tearing sounds from the fascia and the sickly sweet stench of flesh exposed to the air.

Zeliel felt his stomach churning, but he forced himself not to look away.

He knew this was a skill he had to learn.

The Adventurers' Association's commission only placed a bounty on wild wolves' lives. Their left ears could serve as proof for claiming the reward.

As for the remaining pelts and other materials, the party could keep them and sell them themselves.

An intact wolf pelt could sell for around three or four silver coins. For low-level adventurers, that was also an important source of income.

The party had killed fifteen wild wolves in total, and several of the corpses had pelts intact enough to be worth skinning.

This unexpected windfall brought even the usually stern Marcus a hint of delight.

Gray began cutting into the hind leg of the last wolf corpse.

His movements were clean and efficient, carrying the elegance of an experienced hand. By comparison, Zeliel looked much clumsier.

His task was to hold the already cut flap of skin and pull it backward with force while Gray sliced through the fascia, creating a taut surface for him.

But the work was more strenuous than he had imagined. The slippery fat clinging to the wolf hide made his hands feel as though they were coated in oil, and he nearly lost his grip several times.

"Hold on tighter, Zeliel!"

Without looking up, Gray directed him. "That's it, keep that pressure... Those hands of yours don't look like a mage's."

From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Zeliel's hands. Thin calluses covered his knuckles, and veins stood out clearly on the backs of his hands. One look was enough to tell that he had endured hardship.