Today really was a perfect day.

Gerald was genuinely excited.

The Qi-Perception Spell's effect on spirit herbs and spirit plants really was like a mod that highlighted harvestable resources in a game.

It was different from the panel he had used before. The panel could only identify a spirit herb once Gerald focused his gaze on it.

The Qi-Perception Spell was more like a scanner, detecting anything within his field of vision or even the range of his spiritual sense.

Once his cultivation improved and his spiritual sense reached farther, he would be able to detect every spirit herb and spirit plant within miles in an instant.

In less than an hour, Gerald already had twenty or thirty Ironwire Vines in his cloth bag.

That was more than he had collected on all his previous trips combined.

The Qi-Perception Spell was so efficient that even he could hardly believe it. Every plant glowing with a blue-green halo stood out clearly in his field of vision. All he had to do was walk over and harvest it.

After venturing another seven or eight hundred meters deeper, Gerald spotted a patch of blue-green light beside a secluded pool, far brighter than the glow of an Ironwire Vine.

The halo came from a small tree with dark brown bark and branches twisted like coiling dragons. Six thumb-sized, dark golden fruits hung from its branches, each with a faint, almost imperceptible glow on its surface.

[Third-tier spirit plant discovered: Darkgold Tree. Its fruit can be used in medicine.]

The information on the panel lifted Gerald's spirits.

He had searched the Forbidden Forest so many times. Aside from his incredible luck finding Seven-Star Grass on his first visit, this was only the second time he had found a third-tier spirit herb or spirit plant.

The Qi-Perception Spell really was a god-tier skill.

After putting the six ripe Darkgold Fruits into his cloth bag, Gerald stood up, ready to head back.

The Ironwire Vines he had gathered today were enough to refine another twenty or thirty bottles of Foundation-Stabilizing Liquid, which would sell for nearly sixty Galleons.

As for the Darkgold Fruits, he planned to combine them with Heaven-Subduing Flowers to refine a true pill: the Darkgold Essence-Gathering Pill.

If he succeeded, it would help him advance his cultivation further.

Gerald tied his cloth bag shut and began retracing his steps.

He held his wand in his right hand and a fireball in his left palm.

He kept the Qi-Perception Spell active.

He passed a few squirrels and a fox along the way, all of which appeared as small white dots through the Qi-Perception Spell.

A few minutes later, three pale red dots appeared ahead of him.

Gerald stopped and held his breath.

The three red dots were rapidly moving toward him. Gerald abruptly picked up speed and began sprinting toward the edge of the Forbidden Forest.

But the three red dots were faster, and they soon caught up with him.

Gerald spun around, fixing his gaze on the direction from which the three red dots were approaching.

Behind a patch of bushes about ten meters away, several dark shapes were pushing through the undergrowth, rustling as they parted the branches and leaves.

Gerald finally saw what those dark shapes were: three spiders, each half a meter tall, with eight legs covered in thick, dark brown bristles and gray-and-black markings on their abdomens.

A little over ten meters separated Gerald from the spiders. The canopy blocked most of the sunlight, making them look even larger in the dim light.

A message popped up on the panel.

[First-tier demonic beast discovered: Acromantula.]

A demonic beast?

Gerald frowned at the line on the panel.

After classifying his wand as a magic artifact, the panel had once again done something he could not quite understand.

As far as he knew, Acromantulas were magical creatures. They were also listed in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and the Ministry of Magic had given them a classification of XXXXX.

That meant Acromantulas were known wizard-killers and impossible to train or domesticate.

Before he could work it out, the three half-meter-tall Acromantulas charged at him.

The one in front raised its forelegs, revealing a pair of venom-dripping fangs beneath its chelicerae.

Gerald realized these must be descendants of the Acromantula Aragog.

It was too late to run.

Just as well. He wanted to see how strong he had become with both magic and immortal arts at his disposal.

Gerald rolled to the left, flinging the fireball in his left palm at the leading Acromantula.

The flames exploded on contact. The spider's stiff, dry bristles ignited instantly like matchsticks in the intense heat, and it let out a piercing hiss, all eight legs scrabbling wildly against the ground.

Furry things really were weak to fire.

The other two spiders were not frightened off by the fireball. They moved swiftly to flank him from both sides.

Gerald's right hand was not idle either. With a flick of his wand, he aimed a Levitation Charm at the one on the left.

Before the spider could change direction, an invisible force lifted its entire body off the ground.

Its eight legs flailed in midair. With nothing to push against, it left the vulnerable underside of its abdomen completely exposed.

"Diffindo!"

Three blades of light shot out, instantly severing two of the Acromantula's hind legs. Green bodily fluid gushed from the wounds.

The spider on the right had already lunged within two meters of Gerald.

This time, he did not use his wand. He drove his foot against the ground, and his right leg shot out like a spring compressed to its limit, kicking the spider in the abdomen.

Nearly a thousand pounds of force traveled from his foot into the spider, sending it flying backward into a large tree over ten meters away. The trunk shook violently.

The Acromantula slid to the ground and twitched several times before barely managing to right itself.

"Thunder-Summoning Art!"

Gerald formed a hand seal. The faint thread of thunder-nature primordial qi in his dantian activated instantly, surging through his meridians to his fingertips.

A bolt of lightning fell from the cloudless sky, striking the still-struggling spider squarely.

All eight of the Acromantula's legs went rigid before going completely limp, its body blasted crisp on the outside and tender within.

Gerald made sure to finish off the other two, one with severed legs and the other still burning.

A Fireball Spell in his left hand, Diffindo in his right.

In less than a minute, they too were dead.

Gerald lowered his hands and exhaled.

This was his first real battle since breaking through to refining essence into qi. His three opponents had not been particularly large, but he was reasonably satisfied with his performance.

The Fireball Spell was more powerful than he had imagined, and the destructive force of the Thunder-Summoning Art had also exceeded his expectations.

Even the Levitation Charm and Diffindo had been impressively powerful.

The biggest weakness of his magic was still casting speed. When using his wand, he had to speak the incantation. No matter how fast he was, he still had to say it.

If only I could cast nonverbally someday, or use Wandless Magic.

The Fireball Spell and Thunder-Summoning Art needed no incantations and could be unleashed with a thought, but they consumed large amounts of primordial qi.

By comparison, spells consumed far less magical power-or rather, mental energy.

Each had its strengths and weaknesses, but fortunately, Gerald could use both.

Combined, they could make him invincible.

Gerald stopped dwelling on it. He walked over to the three spider corpses and crouched down, taking a glass bottle and a small knife from his inner pocket.

Acromantula venom was extremely valuable, fetching a hundred Galleons per pint. This was also why Hagrid was considered Hogwarts' secret millionaire.

If he wanted to, he could collect large quantities of Acromantula venom every month.

The venom from these three juveniles was not as good as that of adult Acromantulas and would fetch a lower price, but he still could not let it go to waste.

Gerald carefully pried open the spiders' chelicerae with the tip of his knife, draining the venom from their venom glands into the glass bottle.

The dark green liquid swayed gently inside the bottle, giving off a pungent, rank smell.

The venom from all three spiders filled roughly half the bottle, making it worth around fifty or sixty Galleons.

Gerald put the venom bottle away and did not linger.

He knew there were thousands upon thousands of Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest. If they surrounded him, he would be in real danger.

He could beat three juveniles, but what about thirty?

Or three hundred?

Gerald quickened his pace, running from the depths of the Forbidden Forest toward its outskirts.

As he ran, he thought to himself.

Today really was a perfect day.