"Fortunately, I've saved up a decent amount of Magic Stones during this period. Even with the ridiculously high prices in town, I should be able to manage for a while..."
Ronan thought to himself, then promptly opened his character panel.
[Name: Ronan Damien]
[Age: 16]
[Talent: No Attribute Affinity]
[Strength: Level 5 Wizard Apprentice (5%)]
[Skills: Basic Meditation Technique (Expert 219/800)
Energy Missile (Expert 799/800)
Charging Weapon (Mastery 342/400)
Rune engraving — Clean (Proficiency 177/200), Shining (Proficiency 27/200), Protection (entry-level 13/100)
Ascetic Body Refinement (Mastery 101/400)
Basic Swordsmanship (Mastery 388/400)
Fireball Technique (entry-level 10/100)
Ice Ball Skill (entry-level 20/100)
Detection Skill (Proficiency 5/200)]
Ronan's panel had some new changes compared to two months ago.
He learned three more Low Zero Rank Level Magics, which are the remaining three in the spellbook.
He didn't put much effort into the attack spells, Fireball Technique and Ice Ball Skill; they were just at entry-level.
Among the five Low Zero Rank Level Magics, the only support spell, Detection Skill, was trained to Proficiency level.
"..Eye of Truth Peeping.."
Ronan chanted softly, and as spiritual power surged, a faint white glow appeared in his eyes.
The casting of the Detection Skill is quite simple, almost no gestures are needed, but its effectiveness is limited.
It can only detect some auras that are invisible to the naked eye, traces of Energy Particles lingering after the spell is cast, and performs a detection of other wizards' strength, but there is a certain chance of failure.
The Detection Skill somewhat filled the gaps in his surveillance methods.
In two months, Ronan's spiritual power had hardly grown, only increasing by 4% more than before.
"The soul quality of this body is really poor.."
Not even the expert level Basic Meditation Technique can save it.
At this rate, it would take Ronan a full four years to advance from a Level 5 Apprentice to a Level 6 Apprentice.
As a wizard, progressing further becomes increasingly difficult; Ronan estimates that without consuming Magic Potions, he might spend his whole life struggling to break through to becoming an Official Wizard.
Even reaching Level 9 Apprentice would be a significant challenge.
...
Since most of his energy was spent on rigorous practice, Ronan's proficiency growth in rune engraving skills was moderate.
The Clean rune is still at Proficiency level, the Shining rune just barely passed entry-level, but the Intermediate Zero Rank Protection rune was finally mastered successfully by him.
"Nowadays, the market price of Protection runes has risen to nearly twenty Low-level Magic Stones each... Even though my success rate in engraving Protection runes is lower, I still earn more than before..."
Ronan currently has a stock of over a dozen Protection runes, and he plans to wait a bit longer, to sell them when the prices peak.
"The invasion from Black Witch Land hasn't officially begun; when the real fighting starts, there will be a massive need for Protective Magic Items, especially Protective Magic Items... That's when Protection runes will be in shortest supply and most valuable.."
Now, all the major workshops in the market are buying various middle and low-level runes. Ronan now thinks back and realizes that these shops and workshops must have received the news about Black Witch Land's impending invasion from the academy side quite early, and they had been privately making arrangements.
This could also explain why his first time going to the Weiling Workshop to sell runes went so smoothly.
However, what these workshops are targeting is not the rune stone business; most of them have their own Forging Masters and Enchantment Masters, and what they are stocking up on is finished magic tools.
In these two months, Ronan has been training day and night, but ended up plateauing with Energy Missile, and also in body forging.
Initially, the practice of Body Forging Technique was quite smooth, with the support of Magic Beast Meat, his proficiency level rapidly increased.
But when he made it to Mastery, and practiced the fifth posture of Ascetic Body Refinement, Ronan really couldn't continue anymore.
His body could take it, but his willpower couldn't endure.
The deep bone-penetrating pain during practice almost caused Ronan to cry out in pain to the point of incontinence.
"If spiritual power doesn't have a breakthrough, wanting to progress in Ascetic Body Refinement will be difficult... Eating Magic Beast Meat every day isn't effective either."
Ronan sensed that the effect of Magic Beast Meat could only be said to speed up body forging, but the key to determining the progress limit of Ascetic Body Refinement lies in willpower.
Although spiritual power and willpower are not completely linked, if the spiritual power is strong enough, one can bear more pain, at least not to the point of fainting or losing control of one's body.
"Why make it so hard for myself, in my past life I was even afraid of drawing blood or getting an injection…"
"I'll wait until my spiritual power has improved before continuing the training, or perhaps look for some magic potion that enhances pain tolerance..."
Ronan walked into a forest clearing covered with thick fallen leaves, stopped, and slowly drew his one-handed sword from his waist.
Looking back over the past two months, what he gained most were Basic Swordsmanship and the Charging Weapon that he practiced each time along with it.
One was moving from entry-level to complete mastery, and the other was about to advance to expert.
Ronan chanted softly, his left hand gesturing lightly over the blade of the one-handed sword, a layer of overflowing light attached to it.
When the ordinary silver one-handed longsword became dazzling with light, Ronan started to move.
"Zi!"
A thrust filled the air with a tearing sound, the sword slashing horizontally, churning up a fierce airstream. The fallen leaves on the ground were quickly swept up, then shattered, like dancing dry leaf butterflies, scattering in all directions.
Ronan's moves were ordinary, but the transitions between sword strokes were extremely smooth and natural, proficient like those seasoned adventurers who had immersed themselves in the Knight Path for years, even sleeping with their greatswords.
The sword technique Ronan practiced was simple at its core, making it easier to practice once his muscles memorized the movements.
At the same time as his proficiency soared, his understanding of the sword technique deepened continuously. Each practice session, the sword movements were constantly adjusted to better suit his personal preferences, transforming…
Ronan practiced for a while, felt a bit hot, and simply took off his magic robe, revealing a sturdy and perfect body.
Every time he wielded his sword, the muscles in his arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen, and thighs moved together, undulating like water waves under the skin, sweat pouring down, showcasing a formidable and wild beauty.
"Boom!"
Ronan flicked his wrist, the glowing light on the one-handed longsword exploded, directly emitting a visible white air wave, the grass in front directly blasted into a big pit, two unfortunate trees got caught in the blast and fell down with a creaking sound, and leaves fluttered down all over the sky.
"Hu—"
Ronan exhaled a breath of stale air, sheathed his longsword, looked around at the chaotic scene, and a sense of accomplishment arose in his heart.
"Common Intermediate Zero Rank Protective Magic Tools might not even be able to block my spell-infused Sword Qi!"
The burst effect of energy particles on the enchanted Charging Weapon, coupled with Ronan's terrifying physical strength, indeed had quite shocking destructive power, almost equal to the prowess of Energy Missile when just entering the expert level.
The key is that no casting guidance is needed, Charging Weapon allows pre-casting, and the effect of Charging Weapon with Mastery level proficiency can last about five minutes.
"An Apprentice Level Wizard without any physical transformations is more or less like a normal person... As long as I can close the distance and strike before the opponent completes casting, even an Advanced Apprentice is likely to fall by my sword.
Of course, that's assuming the opponent doesn't have any activated Protective Magic Items..."
"Does this make me a new profession, a fusion of Wizard and Knight—A Magic Swordsman?!"
Ronan thought, looking down at the longsword in his hand, reaching out to touch the fine cracks on the blade.
"Unfortunately, the material of this sword is somewhat lacking, just practicing with it already caused this much damage, in real combat it would probably be completely ruined after two uses…"