The cave was brightly lit.
Ma Lin was actually a bit afraid of this wolf spirit. Although it couldn't really harm him, it could inflict pain.
Last night he lost over a dozen rounds, which meant he experienced the sensation of being bitten to death that many times.
Today, he continued.
He started off by losing three rounds in a row.
Fortunately, the pain deepened his memory of failure, helping him to correct his mistakes. He still wasn't a match for the wolf spirit, but he was able to fight back to some extent.
His attacks would cause smoke to rise from the wolf spirit's body. It was said that if he hit a vital spot and too much smoke poured out, the spirit would be immobilized for almost a minute before it would become lively again, ready to be used for training.
The more he used the dagger, the more insights he gained.
Outside, there were still two wolves blocking the entrance.
He didn't have the ability to drive them away, so he could only shrink back inside the cave.
Training was extremely exhausting, but luckily he had plenty of food. Eating when tired was a good strategy.
By midday, he had lost around twenty rounds but had won one.
His mind was filled with memories of being attacked and torn by wolves.
Glancing at the two wolves outside the door, he lacked the courage to launch an attack.
He ate quite a bit for lunch and increased his training intensity slightly in the afternoon.
Outside, two new wolves replaced the ones blocking the door. Didn't they need to hunt? This was really strange.
This was a crisis of survival.
Therefore, he trained even more diligently. He actually added a total of four points to agility and three to strength through "The Book of Servitude," and his physical condition was not bad at all. The main reason he could not beat the wolf spirit was that he lacked combat experience.
Every round of training, being 'killed' by the wolf spirit, the pain was deeply etched in his memory.
He felt very fortunate that this was a training session and not a real fight, and that he had cheated death once again.
Fortunately, he was making rapid progress. He never felt irritated but instead exhibited increasing naturalness, patience, and rhythm in combat.
In the afternoon, several rounds of fighting lasted more than four minutes, and he became more familiar with this wolf spirit. Yet, he only won a few rounds, all because the wolf spirit made careless mistakes.
Last evening, he had fought over twenty rounds with that skinny wolf, so he had some understanding of their fighting methods.
The biggest problem with being trapped was the lack of a place to use the toilet; he had to rely on a ceramic pot for that. Thankfully, the pot was magical, and the smell didn't spread outside.
Also, the water he stored was not sufficient. If he wanted to stay in the cave for a few more days, he had to conserve water and couldn't wash his feet.
As for why the wolves had come to blockade his door, he couldn't fathom the reason.
By nightfall, he had spent ten contribution points to change the wolf spirit for training. He needed to familiarize himself with the fighting methods of different wolves, or else the effectiveness of his training would decrease.
The new one was slightly weaker, but Ma Lin still lost more than he won.
The primary reason was that these wolf spirits were much stronger than ordinary wolves.
The following day was still dedicated to training from morning to evening.
It must be said that the skill and attribute points gained from "The Book of Servitude" were truly helpful. He was rapidly improving in combat, a level of progress that would normally be impossible to achieve in such a short period.
That night, he was winning more than losing.
The next morning, he had frightened the wolf spirit, causing it to emit thick smoke and become immobilized four consecutive times.
So he spent another ten contribution points and changed the wolf spirit again.
By evening, he had scared it as well.
"The Book of Servitude" explained his rapid improvement: This servant has just started combat training and is enjoying a fourfold increase in experience points.
The quadruple effect meant that he could easily grasp the knack during training and wouldn't get stuck.
After some consideration, he spent another twenty contribution points to summon a second wolf spirit, practicing combat with two wolf spirits at the same time.
So he began to get abused in all sorts of ways, remembering the lessons in pain.
The cave was always closed off, and thus the temperature was quite high, he took off his fur coat, fighting in just his undershirt and underpants.
Just to conserve water, he had not washed his feet, and the wooden tub he used to cook had also become quite dirty.
He was now engrossed in combat training, primarily because the effect of quadrupled experience points was too precious to pass up.
In the beginning, he was utterly defeated by two wolf spirits, so he had to cast a slowness spell on one of them.
They were very skilled at cooperating, with a wide variety of tactics that gave him a severe headache.
He felt that his proficiency with the dagger was increasing rapidly, and his body's agility and reaction speed were also improving significantly.
Logically, he would need a lot of training to fight two wolves at the same time, but fortunately, "The Servant's Book" provided him with a new task.
Copying a certain demon script a hundred times would bring the reward of a grand demon egg.
"The Great Egg His Majesty believes your loyalty is commendable, willing to slightly improve your physique and bestow upon you a trace of demonic power," it said.
Note: This demonic power has negative effects, causing one to become a bit mad."
Ma Lin looked at the demon script; it was full of praises about how magnificent the grand demon egg was—acne turning into volcanoes, farts thundering, peeing causing torrential downpours, defecating creating deserts, sneezing triggering tornadoes.
It was clear from this that the grand demon egg itself was quite mad; the way it did things was not particularly vicious or sly by human standards.
After pondering for a short while, "The Servant's Book" provided a pen to copy the scripture directly onto its blank pages. After a hundred copies, the task was completed.
A red light emanated from the book, shining upon him. He felt an unbearable itch all over his body.
The book suggested that to accept this trace of demonic power, he should perform a dance first.
He started dancing, and indeed, as he danced, the itching subsided; however, he felt like his dancing was deranged.
After dancing for a minute, he felt different sensations in his body than before.
He couldn't describe it in more detail.
The subsequent training combat with the two wolf spirits became a bit easier.
He wasn't getting bitten as badly, and thus he began to discover some tricks.
The process was still extremely tough; it took roughly three days before he could fight the pair on equal footing, and another two days before he began to defeat them more consistently.
By then, he was extremely dirty; he hadn't bathed in a long time, nor had he washed the dishes or changed clothes.
There was still plenty of food, but water was almost gone. The clay jar was also nearly full, and although it was magical enough to prevent the stench inside from escaping, he couldn't stand to keep relieving himself in it day after day.
Early that day, he made sure to eat his fill and drink plenty of water. He put on his large fur coat and grabbed his canine tooth dagger.
He then ate a nut and a demon orange, which gave him strength and made his body more agile, respectively.
Two wolves were blocking the door outside, and although he didn't understand why they were doing it, he could no longer put up with it.
They had never seen the door open and didn't know that he could see them from inside, so their guard was down. They were currently facing away, basking in the sunlight.
Ma Lin quietly opened the door.
Before they could react, he cut through the spine of one wolf with his dagger.
His dagger was truly formidable.
The other wolf had just started to react when he lunged forward, slit its throat, and then leaped to the side.
And just like that, the fight was over.