31

 Chapter 31 Detection and the Magic Swordsman

  "Fortunately, I have saved up a lot of magic stones during this period. Even though the prices in the town are ridiculously high now, it should be able to hold on for a while."

  Ronan thought to himself, and then clicked on his character panel.

  [Name: Ronan Damien]

  Age: 16

  [Talent: No attribute affinity]

  [Strength: Level 5 Wizard Apprentice (5%)]

  [Skill: Basic Meditation (Expert 219/800)

  Energy Missile (Expert 799/800)

  Charged Weapons (Mastery 342/400)

  Rune Marking - Clean (Proficient 177/200), Shining (Proficient 27/200), Protection (Entry 13/100)

  Ascetic Bodybuilding (Mastery 101/400)

  Basic Swordsmanship (Mastery 388/400)

  Fireball (Beginner 10/100)

  Ice Hockey (Beginner 20/100)

  Detection (Proficient 5/200)]

  Compared with two months ago, Ronan's panel information has some new changes.

  He learned three more low-level zero-level spells, which were the three remaining in the spell book.

  I didn't spend too much time on the offensive [Fireball] and [Ice Ball], I just started learning them.

  The only auxiliary spell among the five zero-level low-level spells, [Detection], has been practiced to a proficient level.

  "..The Eyes That See the Truth"

  Ronan chanted softly, and as his mental power surged out, a faint white light appeared in his eyes.

  [Detection] is very simple to use and requires almost no hand gestures, but its effect is also limited.

  It can only detect some auras that cannot be captured by the naked eye, the residual traces of energy particles after the spell is released, and a detection of the strength of other wizards, but there is a certain chance of failure.

  [Detection Techniques] made up for some of his shortcomings in investigative methods.

  In two months, Ronan's mental strength has hardly increased, only 4% more than before.

  "The soul's aptitude in this body is really poor."

  Even the expert-level [Basic Meditation] can't save him.

  At this rate, it will take Ronan four full years to be promoted from a fifth-level apprentice to a sixth-level apprentice.

  The further you advance on the path of a wizard, the more difficult it becomes. If Ronan doesn't take drugs later on, he estimates that even if he spends his entire life, he may not be able to break through to the realm of a formal wizard.

  Even reaching the ninth-level apprentice is a big problem.

  Because he put most of his energy into hard training, Ronan's rune engraving skill proficiency increased only slightly.

  The [Clean] rune was still at the proficient level, and the [Shining] rune had barely passed the entry level. However, he had successfully researched the zero-level intermediate [Protection] rune.

  "The price of the [Protection] rune in the market has risen to nearly twenty low-level magic stones per piece. Even if my success rate of engraving the [Protection] rune is a little lower, I still make more money than before."

  Ronan now has more than a dozen [Protection] runes on hand. He wants to wait and see when the price reaches its peak before making a move.

  "The invasion of the Black Witch Land has not officially begun yet. When the real fighting begins, a large number of magic tools will be lost, especially protective magic tools. That is when the [Protection] rune will be in the most scarce and most valuable..."

  Now all the major workshops in the market are buying up all kinds of low- and medium-level runes. Ronan now thinks back and thinks carefully that these shops and workshops probably received the news of the imminent invasion of the Black Wizard Land from the academy a long time ago and had already made arrangements in private.

  This also explains why his first trip to Welling Workshop to sell runes went so smoothly.  

  However, these workshops are not targeting the rune stone business. Most of them have their own blacksmiths and enchanters, and what they want to stock up are finished magical tools.

  In the past two months, Ronan practiced hard day and night, but his [Energy Missile] and body building skills were stuck.

  In fact, the practice of body-building techniques went smoothly at the beginning. With the help of monster meat, my proficiency increased rapidly.

  But when he reached mastery and practiced [Austerity Body Building] to the fifth posture, Ronan simply couldn't practice it any further.

  His body could handle it, but his willpower really couldn't.

  During the practice, the pain penetrated deep into Ronan's bones, and there were several times when Ronan almost became incontinent due to the pain.

  "Without a breakthrough in mental strength, it will be difficult to continue to improve [Physical Training]. Eating monster meat every day is useless."

  Ronan felt that the effect of the monster meat could only be said to be to speed up the pace of body building. The key to determining the upper limit of the progress of the body building method [Austerity Body Building] was still willpower.

  Although mental strength and willpower are not completely linked, if the mental strength is strong enough, people will be more resistant to pain. At least they will not faint from the pain or lose control of their bodies.

  "Why do you have to make it so hard on yourself? In my previous life, I was even afraid of having blood drawn or injections."

  "I'll practice again when my mental strength improves, or look for a potion that can increase my pain tolerance."

  Ronan walked to a clearing in the forest covered with thick fallen leaves, stopped, and slowly drew out the one-handed sword from his waist.

  Looking back, his biggest gains in the past two months were the [Basic Swordsmanship] and the [Charged Weapon] that he used every time he practiced swordplay.

  One is on the verge of becoming a master, and the other is about to be promoted to an expert.

  Ronan chanted softly, and gently wiped the blade of the one-handed sword with the fingers of his left hand. A layer of overflowing light attached to it.

  When the originally ordinary silver one-handed sword became radiant, Ronan began to move.

  "Squeak!"

  The sword pierced through the air with a tearing sound, and the sword slashed horizontally, bringing up a violent airflow. The fallen leaves on the ground were quickly rolled up and then torn into pieces, like a group of dancing dead leaf butterflies, fluttering around.

  The moves Ronan practiced were very ordinary, but the connection between sword moves was extremely smooth and natural, and he was as skilled as those veteran adventurers who had been immersed in chivalry for many years and even slept with a greatsword in their arms.

  The sword technique that Ronan practiced was simple in itself, and it became easier to practice after it formed muscle memory.

  As his proficiency increased, his understanding of this sword technique also continued to deepen. After each practice, he would constantly modify his sword techniques to better suit his personal habits. After

  practicing for a while, Ronan felt a little hot, so he simply took off his robe, revealing a strong and perfect body.

  Every time he swung the sword, the muscles in his arms, shoulders, chest, abdomen and thighs would move along with it. The subcutaneous muscles would rise and fall like water waves and sweat would drip down, showing his masculine and wild beauty.

  "Bang!"

  Ronan shook his wrist, and the stream of light attached to the one-handed long sword exploded, directly throwing out a white air wave visible to the naked eye. A big hole was directly blown up in the grass in front of him. Two large trees that were unfortunately affected fell down with a creaking sound, and fallen leaves were flying all over the sky.

  "call--"

  Ronan exhaled, put away his sword, looked around at the mess on the ground, and a sense of accomplishment arose in his heart.

  "Even an ordinary level zero intermediate protective magic tool may not be able to block my magic sword energy!"

  The enchanted energy particle explosion effect of [Charged Weapon], coupled with Ronan's terrifying physical strength, is indeed quite lethal, almost as powerful as [Energy Missile] when he first entered the expert level.

  The key is that there is no need to do any casting guidance. [Charged Weapon] can be cast in advance, and the effect of [Charged Weapon] at the mastery level can last for about five minutes.

  "An apprentice wizard who has not undergone body modification is just like an ordinary person. As long as you can close the distance and strike before the opponent completes the casting of a spell, a senior apprentice will probably die under the sword.

  Of course, the prerequisite is that the opponent does not have any activated protective tools."

  "Is this a new profession that combines wizards and knights, a magic swordsman?!"

  Ronan thought about it, lowered his head to check the sword in his hand, and reached out to touch the fine cracks on the sword.

  "It's a pity that the sword is made of inferior material. It has been damaged so badly just by practicing. I'm afraid it will be completely scrapped after two actual combats."

  (End of this chapter)