Moonlight Flower

After successfully casting Detection Technique for the first time, the system panel prompt appeared right on cue.

He chose to inscribe Detection Technique, and the soul of a grinding addict slowly awakened as he entered a mode of relentless training.

Five peaceful days passed, and the sixth morning arrived.

The air carried the chill of last night's rain, mixed with the earthy, sweet scent of freshly turned soil.

It was as if the earth had just taken a bath, carrying the damp fragrance of grass and plants.

In the clearing outside the shelter, Dago stood dressed in a brand-new, thick hunting outfit.

He had bought it in town yesterday. Besides a dagger at his waist, he also carried a meter-long machete.

No one who did not know better would have recognized him as an Apprentice Wizard. He looked more like a seasoned hunter.

Dago summoned the system panel, displaying the results of his five days of hard training.

Universal Wizard Meditation Method (Beginner 611/1000); Ice Crystal Cannon (Beginner 832/1000); Resonance Art (Beginner 187/1000); Detection Technique (Beginner 135/1000)

All his skills had reached the Beginner level. As Resonance Art improved, he could now use dormant ice elements to form two pairs of white gloves.

Detection Technique's range for sensing energy particle fluctuations had also expanded by ten meters.

Most importantly, Air Bullet and Ice Crystal Technique had improved tremendously. He had even combined them into an entirely new personal skill: Ice Crystal Cannon.

Now that compressing the air for Air Bullet had become increasingly difficult, he could use mental power to control the direction in which the compressed air was fired.

However, its explosive power was also limited.

Although the system panel's bonuses had helped him improve, they were mainly reflected in Air Bullet's compression speed.

So, he found another path for Air Bullet: serving as an auxiliary method for casting Ice Crystal Technique.

When he had first learned Air Bullet, it had been an auxiliary training method for Meditation Technique and had not been included among spell-based wizardry.

In other words, Air Bullet could be cast simultaneously with Ice Crystal Technique.

Thus, in a sudden flash of inspiration, a new skill was born...

He used Air Bullet as gunpowder, while the ice pillar created by Ice Crystal Technique served as both the projectile and barrel...

By forcing the two skills together, he created the combined skill Ice Crystal Cannon.

The Ice Crystal Cannon's power had directly pierced through two large trees. No carbon-based lifeform would want to take a hit from that.

It was currently his most destructive elemental-shaping wizardry. After he cast it for the first time, it had even received the system's wholehearted recognition, merging Ice Crystal Technique and Air Bullet into one skill.

It scared him into thinking Air Bullet and Ice Crystal Technique could no longer improve, but after confirming it, he realized it had been a false alarm.

The two skills could still improve. Casting Ice Crystal Cannon would grant simultaneous progress to both component skills.

It was just that now, he needed to consciously open Ice Crystal Cannon to check the progress of the two component skills.

Did anyone know how he had spent those five days? When he woke up, he trained. When he trained until his mind went blank, he slept.

As for meals, it was always cornbread and grilled magical beast meat. He even had to train while eating. Thinking about it brought tears to his eyes.

"Today, I will conquer the lake southwest of the forest. Not even Shadow Leopards can stop me. I said so."

Dago made a show of wiping away a tear and spoke with a resolute gaze.

Dago slung his pack over his back and strode toward the dense forest along the marked route. A cool breeze swept over his sharply defined face.

The forest leaves swayed in the wind.

Yellowing leaves drifted down before Dago's eyes.

Watching the leaves slowly settle to the ground, he suddenly realized that autumn had arrived without him noticing.

Darkening blue rings flowed through his pale-blue eyes as soon as he entered the dense forest where he had encountered the Shadow Leopard last time...

Dago kept Detection Technique active the entire time, monitoring the flow of energy particles ahead.

The dense forest was still packed layer upon layer with bizarre, impenetrable trees. Sunlight was shut out, leaving the surroundings dim.

Dago held his machete and advanced slowly, remaining on guard.

Though the machete was not a supernatural piece of equipment, its cold, gleaming blade still gave him considerable reassurance.

Flashes of cold light streaked through the air as he chopped apart vines blocking his path.

Based on his observations and analysis around the forest's outskirts over the past few days, this dense forest stretched a very long way.

It was essentially impossible to bypass. The lake described by that Second-Level Wizard Apprentice was probably surrounded by the forest.

He needed to constantly watch out for the Shadow Leopards living in this forest, or any other ferocious beasts.

By then, an hour and a half had passed since he set out.

Following the route of the Shadow Leopard he had killed last time, he estimated that another half hour would take him through this section of forest and to the lake.

He carefully hacked through the undergrowth, advancing slowly and cautiously.

As sparse sunlight began filtering through the leaves, Dago knew he was close to leaving this dangerous forest.

The closer he got, the less he could let down his guard. A ship was at its most dangerous when it was about to dock.

When his machete split apart a person-high thicket, his view suddenly opened up...

He saw the most beautiful lake he had ever seen in both his lives.

The lake's surface resembled silk laid out from crushed moonlight, resting quietly upon the earth. The morning mist had yet to fully disperse, draping it in a pale white veil, as though even the wind could not bear to disturb it.

Dago walked toward the lakeside and scanned along the shore, spotting the purpose of his journey.

A vast patch of silvery-white Moonlight Flowers swayed gently by the lake. His eyes lit up, and he ran over.

He set down his pack, crouched on the ground to examine them, and found that they matched the descriptions in Wizard Rosalyn's manuscript exactly. They were undoubtedly Moonlight Flowers.

Recalling the details about Moonlight Flowers from Mentor Rosalyn's manuscript...

He took out the tools he had prepared in his pack and carefully uprooted the plants whole, roots and all.

Before long, he had dug up an entire packful.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Dago remained alert to the dangers around him even while digging.

Especially the calm lake surface. He always felt that something within it was watching him, sometimes there, sometimes not.

Only after hoisting the stuffed pack onto his back did he have the leisure to look at the lake in the distance, though he did not approach the water.

Sunlight slanted into the water. It was an extremely pale blue, tinged with emerald green.

The branches of old trees along the shore drooped into the water, their shadows stretched long. Several pieces of deadwood floated near the shore, creating faint ripples across the surface.

The scene was so beautiful that Dago stared blankly as one piece of driftwood slowly moved toward land.

A trace of moving energy particles flashed through Dago's Mental Sight.

He instantly became alert. Blue rings flowed through his eyes as his lips murmured softly. Cold air began to gather, and the wind started to howl.

A magical beast crocodile nearly five meters long burst from the water over ten meters away, its green back resembling bronze armor...

A hissing sound came from deep in its throat as it charged toward Dago at high speed.

Using all four limbs, it crawled to within less than ten meters in an instant, its flat, axe-blade-like snout opening slightly...

Two rows of fangs slanted upward, gleaming with cold light beneath the sun.

Dago stared at it intently, blue light blazing in his eyes. His hands, clad in white gloves, rubbed together to create an ice crystal shell as thick as a leg, with a compressed Air Bullet of equal size embedded in its tail.

His trembling pupils watched the massive Bronze Crocodile rush to within five meters, watching its slowly opening maw full of fangs and its savage, grinning face.

Then, he activated the ice crystal shell.

The powerful airflow shoved Dago back as the spinning ice crystal shell shot toward the Bronze Crocodile, trailing a beautiful plume of white mist.

"Bang—!!!!"

Amid the thunderous sound of earth and rocks exploding, countless snowflakes burst forth and drifted down.

The nearly five-meter-long Bronze Crocodile had lost half its head, leaving a gaping hole in its skull.

The powerful impact sent it rolling backward twice. It kicked up dirt before collapsing to the ground, completely motionless.

The ice crystal shell, dragged onward by powerful airflow, fell into the distant lake. It exploded into a splash and vanished without a trace.

The other pieces of "driftwood" were so startled that they sank underwater, only floating back up after realizing they had not been harmed.

Dago turned and ran without even touching the magical beast's corpse.

This was a group of magical beast crocodiles. Even ten of him would not be enough to feed them.

Having just escaped the wolf's den, he had walked into a tiger's lair. No wonder the Moonlight Flowers grew so luxuriantly—they were protected by two species of magical beasts.

Gritting his teeth and gasping for breath, Dago stopped at the boundary between the forest and the lake.

Dago braced himself with his machete. He had run too hard just now, and his breathing had not settled yet.

A charged Ice Crystal Cannon could kill one Bronze Crocodile, but it was far from enough to let him survive the siege of a whole group of Bronze Crocodiles.

Although he could still fire several more Ice Crystal Cannons, the casting windup and cooldown were both too long. Once surrounded, he would be in a very passive position.

Before long, his breathing steadied, and Dago began returning the way he had come.

I hope I won't run into any more little cuties with no eyes on the way back, Dago prayed inwardly.

As he wished, the return journey was uneventful. He was not attacked by a Shadow Leopard while passing through the dense forest.

Only when he saw the small slope where his shelter stood did Dago finally feel at ease.

The outside world was truly dangerous. His own little nest was much more comfortable.

With a creak, Dago pushed open the shelter's wooden door, placed the pack from his back on the wooden table, and removed his equipment.

Dago washed his face and checked the time. It was already one in the afternoon.

He took out a frozen piece of Shadow Leopard meat from his homemade "refrigerator" to thaw, then cast Ice Crystal Technique on the refrigerator to replenish its ice.

These past few days, Dago had been living well. He ate magical beast meat every day, and his body had grown much stronger.

His old hunting clothes no longer fit him, though the apprentice robe was still fine.

Sitting on a wooden stool, Dago closed his eyes and carried out a round of Meditation Technique as if resting his mind...

The sphere of light in his mental power space had grown considerably larger, and the area in which it refined Mental Mist had expanded as well.

He took out the Second-Level Wizard Apprentice badge that he had not used in a long time and infused it with mental power. The crystal lit up...

Its color was getting closer and closer to deep blue. It seemed he was not far from becoming a Third-Level Wizard Apprentice.

Seeing that the Shadow Leopard meat had nearly thawed, Dago picked up the chunk and went to the clearing outside the shelter to light a fire and grill it.

Truly good ingredients only needed the simplest cooking methods.