Wizard's Hand

"0-circle spell: Wizard's Hand!"

After the mental-power rune had been permanently stabilized, using it became much more natural.

Of the three 0-circle spells, Yin Ming chose to practice the one with the simplest rune—Wizard's Hand.

Perhaps because he had once studied the runes of the Immortal Dao, his mental power swiftly traced out a spell-rune circuit connected end to end.

Wizard's Hand!

It was not a permanently stabilized rune; without mental power to sustain it, it would dissipate.

Yin Ming hurriedly infused it with the mana he had just condensed. In an instant, an illusory giant hand appeared behind him, like the transparent palm of a giant.

"Let's see how powerful it is."

Yin Ming controlled Wizard's Hand and grasped a half-withered old tree beside him.

There was a sharp crack.

The bowl-thick trunk was lightly clenched by Wizard's Hand and snapped cleanly at the waist into three sections.

It took barely any effort, like snapping a disposable chopstick.

[0-circle spell: Wizard's Hand.]

Traits: Flexible, like a third hand on the body. Grip strength approximately 3,000 kilograms. Extendable range: 12 meters.

Can attack or defend. It can crush an enemy in one squeeze after grabbing them, or loosely clasp the body and serve as a defensive shield.

Duration: 15 seconds.

Mental power consumption: 1.

Mana consumption: 0.5.

For every 0.5 mana and 0.5 mental power consumed, it can be maintained for 15 seconds.

Both mana and mental power can recover on their own and will not reduce the maximum limit.

Just as using muscular strength does not lower one's physique, the difference is that the physical body must draw energy from food to restore stamina, while mana needs to consume mysterious elements.

Yin Ming was in no hurry to practice the other two 0-circle spells. The mana in his body was like a weak child crying to be fed; it needed time to accumulate before it could reach the normal level of a Junior Wizard Apprentice.

"..."

The next morning.

Jeroen Hoven's whip cracked at precisely the appointed time, like a timed alarm clock.

Sometimes, Yin Ming found himself rather impressed by the man.

As a servant of the Adams Lineage, the manor's output had nothing to do with him—not a single coin of it.

Being harsh on the serfs was one thing, but he was equally ruthless with himself. He managed over a hundred serfs alone and attended personally to every detail; it was not much easier than being a serf himself.

"Eno! That Hemostatic Powder you gave me is incredible!"

Randy woke early in the morning and discovered in astonishment that the whip wounds on his back no longer hurt!

Though the black blood scabs had not yet fallen off and the new skin had not fully grown in, as long as it did not affect normal movement, that meant he was healed in a serf's eyes!

"I learned it from an old serf. Silverleaf Grass Root can stop bleeding, though its effect shouldn't be this good. Maybe your constitution is just better!"

Silverleaf Grass Root was the raw material used to refine Hemostatic Powder.

But without the Scavenger Gourd to purify and strengthen it, its medicinal effect could only reach one-tenth of its potential, and it even carried slight toxicity.

"Really? Why does the wound suddenly hurt again?"

Randy did not want words like strong and good constitution to have the slightest thing to do with him. Otherwise, whenever there was hard labor or exhausting work, that old dog Hoven would set his sights on him.

He hurriedly slowed his pace, as if terrified of tugging at the wound on his back.

"..."

At breakfast!

The three of them discovered in surprise that the old three-item menu of black bread, pickled vegetables, and water had actually changed!

The water had become a bowl of thick soybean soup.

"An extra meal!"

The bean soup was heavily salted, and the serfs' faces darkened.

An extra meal was not a good sign. It meant today's work would be extremely heavy, just as horses were given richer fodder and eggs before heading onto the battlefield.

Yin Ming seriously suspected that whoever handled the serfs' food rations had specifically studied nutrition.

Otherwise, how could they manage to make the energy drawn from food balance exactly with the energy consumed through labor?

"Collect!"

Avoiding everyone's line of sight, Yin Ming stored the black bread in the yellow-skinned gourd.

He obtained two white Grain-Repelling Pills that smelled of wheat.

Jeroen Hoven's eyes were webbed with blood as he issued the day's orders to the serfs. "Serfs from the odd-numbered barracks will clear stones into the Magic Beast Forest. Serfs from the even-numbered barracks will transport materials for building flowerbeds into the manor."

Clearing away the excavated stones meant risking attacks by magic beasts in the forest.

Transporting the stone, sculptures, and other materials for the flowerbeds was all grueling physical labor.

Either dangerous or exhausting! Sure enough, not a single job was good.

"..."

Yin Ming lived in Barracks No. 13 and was assigned to clear stones into the Magic Beast Forest. With Wizard's Hand ensuring his safety, it actually counted as an easy task.

"You! Clear the stones at the forest's edge. If you don't finish before nightfall, don't even think about eating."

Jeroen Hoven suddenly pointed at Yin Ming and assigned him a task of his own.

The stones at the edge of the Magic Beast Forest were not only numerous, but especially large as well. It truly combined danger and exhaustion.

An ordinary person could not move them all in a day even without sleeping or resting, unless they used Wizard's Hand.

Yin Ming certainly would not make such a losing bargain as spending mana for a piece of black bread. Besides, with Grain-Repelling Pills, he did not need to worry about starving to death.

"Staring at me? Got a problem!"

Jeroen Hoven grinned, and his whip cracked through the air with a violent sonic boom.

Killing was an art!

When the target died without ever knowing why, and the murder was carried out under the eyes of countless people—that was the highest realm of the art of killing.

Yet—such a perfect murder had failed!

Why would this lowly serf refuse to die?

For no reason, his mood became irritable. He tossed and turned all night without closing his eyes.

Before finding a new target, Jeroen Hoven decided he had to torture this fellow to death in agony, making him regret not dying in ignorance and unconsciousness.

"No."

Yin Ming smiled and shook his head. He truly could not summon any hatred for an ant he could crush to death with one hand.

He took the hauling tools himself and carried several small stones he could manage.

At that moment, carts streamed endlessly into the manor, and all kinds of building materials piled high throughout Tulip Manor.

Artists were planning the layout of the land that had only been reclaimed yesterday, while professional gardeners planted flowers that were just about to bloom, ensuring that a hundred flowers would bloom together on the day of the birthday banquet.

It was said that the prices of premium flowers in Green Forest City had risen severalfold. Some people even risked their lives to enter the Magic Beast Forest and dig up flowering plants.

"What bustle, what festivity—but for serfs, the grander the celebration, the more people die."

Yin Ming only hauled stones once.

Then he slipped deeper into the Magic Beast Forest to loaf around.

No one would risk venturing deep into this place to look for him. He found a large tree, climbed to its crown, and began meditating.

[+0.01.]

[+0.02.]

[+0.03.]

After constant exploration.

Yin Ming discovered that by maintaining his brain at a 4% enhancement, the speed of mental-power cultivation could increase by 30%.

Moreover, it would not affect his lifespan. The only side effect was that his body's daily energy consumption doubled, which merely meant eating one extra Grain-Repelling Pill a day.

As dusk approached.

Yin Ming's mental strength was exhausted, and for the time being, he could no longer enter a meditative state.

His mental-power limit had risen to: 10.3.

It had only increased by 0.3 points, and he needed two days to recover. At this cultivation speed, gathering enough mental power to permanently stabilize the second rune would require at least four months of meditation.

"Heh heh... Found you!"