Wizard's Hand

"Zero-Ring Wizardry: Wizard's Hand!"

After the Mental Rune was made permanent, using it became far more natural.

Of the three Zero-Ring spells, Yin Ming chose to practice the one with the simplest runes—Wizard's Hand.

Perhaps because he had once studied Immortal Path runes, his mental power quickly traced out a connected circuit of ritual runes.

Wizard's Hand!

It was not a Permanent Rune; without mental power sustaining it, it would dissipate.

Yin Ming hurriedly poured in the magic power he had just condensed. A massive phantom hand instantly appeared behind him, like the transparent palm of a giant.

"Let's see how powerful it is."

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

With a sharp crack.

The bowl-thick trunk was lightly gripped by Wizard's Hand and snapped cleanly at the middle into three pieces.

And it took almost no effort, like breaking a disposable chopstick.

[Zero-Ring Wizardry: Wizard's Hand.]

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

Can attack or defend. It can crush an enemy in one grip, or loosely clasp around the body as a shield.

Duration: 15 seconds.

Mental power consumption: 1.

Magic power consumption: 0.5.

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

Both magic power and mental power can recover on their own and will not reduce their maximum limits.

Just as using muscular strength does not lower one's physique, the difference is that the physical body draws energy from food to recover stamina, while magic power feeds on mysterious elements.

Yin Ming did not rush to practice the other two Zero-Ring spells. The magic power in his body was like a frail child crying out to be fed; it needed time to accumulate before it could reach the normal standard of a Junior Wizard Apprentice.

"..."

The next morning, at dawn.

Jeroen Hoven's whip cracked at the exact appointed time, like an alarm clock set to go off.

Sometimes, Yin Ming almost admired the man.

As a servant of the Adams Lineage, the manor's yields had nothing to do with him.

Being harsh on the serfs was one thing, but he was equally brutal toward himself. He managed over a hundred serfs alone and handled every matter personally; his life was not much easier than that of a serf.

"Eno! The Hemostatic Powder you gave me is miraculous!"

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

Although the black blood scabs had yet to fall off and fresh skin had yet to grow back, as long as it did not interfere with normal movement, that meant he was healed as far as a serf was concerned!

"I learned it from an old serf. Silverleaf Grass Root can stop bleeding, though it normally isn't this effective. Maybe your physique is just better!"

Silverleaf Grass Root was the raw ingredient used to make Hemostatic Powder.

Without the Scavenger Gourd's purification and enhancement, however, it could only bring out one-tenth of its medicinal effect, and it was mildly toxic as well.

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

Randy did not want to be associated with words like strong or physically fit in the slightest. Otherwise, whenever there was heavy or exhausting work, that old dog Hoven would set his sights on him.

He immediately slowed his pace, as though afraid 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 no good omen. It meant the day's work would be especially grueling. Just as before going to war, horses were given richer feed and eggs in their fodder.

Yin Ming seriously suspected that whoever was responsible for rationing the serfs' food had specifically studied nutrition.

Otherwise, how could he possibly make the energy drawn from food balance perfectly with the energy consumed through labor?

"Store!"

Avoiding everyone's line of sight, Yin Ming stored the black bread inside the Yellow-Skinned Gourd.

He obtained two white Grain-Repelling Pills with the fragrance of wheat.

Jeroen Hoven's eyes were webbed with bloodshot veins as he assigned the day's tasks to the serfs. "Serfs from the odd-numbered barracks will clear the excavated stones into the Magic Beast Forest. Serfs from the even-numbered barracks will carry construction materials for the flower beds into the manor."

Clearing away the excavated stones meant risking attacks from Magic Beasts in the forest.

Carrying stones, statues, and other materials for building the flower beds was all brutal 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 was actually a fairly easy job.

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

Jeroen Hoven suddenly pointed at Yin Ming and assigned him a separate task.

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

An ordinary person could not finish moving them in a day even without sleep or rest, unless he used Wizard's Hand.

Yin Ming certainly would not make such a losing bargain as spending magic power 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 with a violent sonic boom.

Killing was an art!

For the target to die without ever knowing the cause of death, and for the murder to be carried out beneath the gaze of countless people—that was the highest realm of the art of killing.

Yet—such a perfect murder had actually failed!

Why would this lowly serf not just die?

For no reason, he had become restless and tossed and turned all night without closing his eyes.

Before finding a new target, Jeroen Hoven had decided that he had to torture this fellow to death in agony. He would make him regret not dying while still ignorant and unaware.

"No."

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

He took the hauling tools on his own initiative and carried several small stones he was able to move.

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

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

It was said that the price 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 liveliness, what festivity. But for serfs, the grander the celebration, the more people die."

Yin Ming carried stones only once.

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

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

[+0.01.]

[+0.02.]

[+0.03.]

After constant experimentation.

Yin Ming discovered that if he kept his brain at a 4% enhancement, the speed of his 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, meaning he only needed to eat one extra Grain-Repelling Pill each day.

As dusk approached.

Yin Ming's mental energy was exhausted, and for a short while, he could no longer enter a meditative state.

His mental power limit had risen to: 10.3.

It had increased by only 0.3 points and would require two days to recover. At this cultivation speed, accumulating enough mental power to make the second rune permanent would take at least four months of meditation.

"Hehehe... I found you!"