Fiona the Genius

Desolate—utterly desolate. Pirate Island, which had been bustling yesterday, had barely any people left today.

Though it had not been reduced to ruins everywhere, most houses stood empty. Holes smashed through walls were a common sight, and some places were scorched black. Fortunately, the houses were built of stone and were not afraid of fire.

Yang Mu walked all the way to Barrel's villa without seeing a single corpse. Just as he wondered where all the bodies had gone, he rounded a corner and saw three piles of corpses of varying sizes.

The two beasts, Jack and Higgs, were still smiling as they tossed corpses onto the piles, as though they were not throwing away bodies but picking up money.

To a certain extent, they really were picking up money. After all, these were fuel for their Dark Furnaces; burning them would make them stronger.

The reason the corpses were divided into three piles was simple: they could not burn that many at once. Burning too much in one go would not benefit either of them.

After estimating their limits, the two piled everything they could not digest onto the largest heap. They could not digest it, but could the Captain not?

After the two explained the situation, Yang Mu casually tossed a Flame of Annihilation onto the largest pile and burned it away. Ordinary people did not provide much benefit, but there were enough of them, and the Dark Forge Meditation had no diminishing returns.

Even Yang Mu gained quite a lot from burning that pile of corpses. His Mental Power reached 8.91, nearly nine points, enough for him to inscribe his third spell model.

Though last night had been chaotic, the people who had purchased potions had not suffered much harm.

Although Yang Mu had not said anything, Jack had still assigned some of his Undead Servants to protect them yesterday. There was no need to do much—twenty Walking Corpses standing at the entrance, together with their own guards, were enough to ensure that no one dared provoke them.

As for why they had not fled, one reason was greed—they wanted the potions. The other was fear. As representatives of certain powerful figures, they understood perfectly well that some things did not need to be explicitly stated by their masters; that did not mean they were free to do them.

Yang Mu did not hold some lofty position, but he was strong enough. Power gave rise to authority, and he still stood high above others.

When Yang Mu truly handed the eight bottles of potions over to them, they naturally thanked him profusely. How they left afterward was no longer Yang Mu's concern.

After letting his crew indulge themselves on the ruined Pirate Island for several more days, Yang Mu dragged a ship full of goods toward Shipwreck Island.

This cargo had originally been intended for Barrel, but Barrel had now been slaughtered by Yang Mu himself. He could only haul the goods to Shipwreck Island instead; it was the consequence of his own actions.

Over the past few days, Jack and the others had been venting the pent-up frustration of staying aboard the Undead, while Yang Mu continued sweeping up the newly replenished materials at Seaside Cottage.

This time, however, Fiona was no longer the only one receiving him. Her grandmother was there as well—the powerful First-Order Witch, and the true owner of the cottage.

Compared with her grandmother's kindly gaze, Fiona stood to one side with puffed cheeks, sulking furiously. Yang Mu had turned Pirate Island into a complete mess. Until another powerful pirate arrived and established a new order, their business would plummet. It was no wonder Fiona was angry.

Yang Mu leisurely conducted business with the elderly Witch, completely ignoring Fiona beside him. There was even a smile on his lips, as though he were deliberately teasing her.

The more Fiona watched, the angrier she became. She let out a heavy snort and left.

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"Child, your future is shrouded in mist. I cannot see through it, but it is full of death. You may encounter danger after leaving this time. This is the greatest warning this old woman can offer you. Thank you for visiting us so many times and for tolerating Fiona."

"Heh, it is nothing. Fiona is very innocent, and you have protected her well. But it seems your lifespan is running short. How much longer can you look after her? It is time for her to gain some experience."

"As the shop where I obtained my first batch of Transcendental Materials, I will give you a gift as well. The strong devour the weak; only the strong deserve innocence."

Before Yang Mu left, he gave the old Witch—or rather, Fiona—a Dark Forge Meditation.

Fiona's talent was exceptionally high, so high that even practicing an ordinary Meditation Method would allow her to easily become an Official Mage.

Yet such a genius lacked a complete system of training. She was already in her twenties, but her Mental Power had not even reached the level of an Intermediate Apprentice. It was truly a pity.

The training system of the Mage World seemed unconcerned with whether Apprentices lived or died, but for geniuses, the path to advancement was incomparably clear. As long as they followed the rules step by step, they could reach the upper limit of their talent. As for breaking beyond that, it depended on themselves.

Do not think that practicing the Dark Forge Meditation required no talent. Yang Mu had merely leveled the threshold; that did not mean he had paved the road to the summit.

Once one reached the Third-Level Peak and wished to advance to a Fourth-Level Wizard, one needed to master at least one law. At that point, the more talented the Mage, the faster they progressed. It was not that lower-level Mages had no hope of breaking through; they simply needed to grind away with time.

Take Fiona and Jack as examples. Before becoming Third-Level Wizards, Jack's cultivation speed might be several times, or even far more than, Fiona's. He would reach the Third-Level Peak before her.

But he would remain stuck at the Third-Level Peak for a very long time. Perhaps by the time Fiona advanced to a Fifth-Level Wizard, he might only then have a chance to break through—provided his lifespan had not reached its limit.

That was also why Yang Mu had only completed the broad framework up to the Third Order ahead of time. Above the Fourth Order, someone had to cultivate to that point first before Yang Mu could have a reference.

But he had fallen before he could test it on himself.

Fiona was an excellent test subject. Though he himself would certainly cultivate to the Fourth Order first, Fiona was still a very good control group.

There was another point as well: the more talented a person was, the faster they learned to precisely control their Mental Power.

The intervals they needed between burnings would be shorter. If Jack grew lax, and Fiona underwent a drastic change in temperament for some reason, then it was still uncertain who would reach the Third-Level Peak first.

Naturally, Yang Mu did not want Fiona's talent to be wasted like this. Rather than studying that Witch path, she might as well become a Mage.

As for whether she would learn it? Once her Witch grandmother passed away, she would inevitably practice it. Leaving aside that she would desperately need strength to protect herself then, even the temptation of the Meditation Method's increased Mental Power growth was not something innocent Fiona could resist.

Not just Fiona—even in the Mage World, Mages who claimed to be the most rational would definitely switch to the Dark Forge Meditation when they saw no hope of advancing. Even if they knew it was a trap, they would still jump in.

This was a Meditation Method created from Yang Mu's lifelong knowledge, the foundation he relied upon to break through to become a Seventh-Level Wizard and join the strongest ranks of the Mage World.

How could it possibly be so simple?