Strongest Mage with the Lust system

Chapter 942: Taking a Risk to Profit

He took the second Spirit Replenishment Pill and recovered his Spirit Energy completely. Same as before, overall Spirit Energy increased by a small amount.

He would have liked it more if this was an increase in quality instead, but this was also good enough.

Expelling the distracting thought, he began preparing the thirteenth talisman paper. Unlike before, this time he went a lot faster and ended up exhausting less Spirit Energy, at least 30% lesser.

Then, he began inscribing.

Because he had already infused the Thunder Energy into it earlier and had been using his Bloodline Sense to keep it from fully mixing with the ink, he didn’t need to waste any more Thunder Energy.

10 minutes later, when he was done inscribing 20% of the rune…

Buzztt… Bang!

The talisman suddenly exploded.

This didn’t shake him because this outcome wasn’t unexpected. After all, he hadn’t been as thorough when preparing the talisman paper and was inscribing at a much faster speed to conserve his Spirit Energy. Thanks to this though, he only used up less than 20% of his Spirit Energy.

After adjusting his mental state, he picked up the fourteenth talisman paper.

Twenty minutes later…

Buzztt… Bang!

The talisman exploded again.

[Spirit Energy: 60%]

…

He rested for a short while and thought about whether he should go slow.

If he did go slow, he might be able to create a second talisman. After selling the two, he would get around Five Hundred Merit Points which he could use to buy more supplies.

On the other hand, if he continued the same way as last two times… he probably wouldn’t be able to create the second which would leave him with just over 200 Merit Points. And with this much, he could buy the bare minimum supplies for the next batch. After all, just the Talisman Paper and Ink cost 100 Merits.

After thinking for a little bit, he chose the second method.

Sure, this didn’t seem favourable to him at the moment, but if he succeeded in creating talismans this way, he would be able to make two or maybe even three talismans in the same amount of Spirit Energy he currently needed to make just one—the benefits were extraordinary.

He began preparing the fifteenth talisman paper and was done in five minutes. Then he began inscribing the rune, but when he had inscribed less than five percent, he suddenly stopped.

After a moment, he discarded it.

The reason he did so was because he got a feeling that it would also explode down the line. Since he believed in his instincts, he chose to stop right there instead of wasting his time and Spirit Energy.

[Spirit Energy: 52%]

A short while later, he picked up the sixteenth talisman paper.

Ten minutes later… he discarded it.

Then, came the seventeenth paper and it was discarded just nine minutes later.

[Spirit Energy: 41%]

This time, he didn’t continue and instead stopped and began meditating.

Half an hour later, he had recovered a small amount of his Spirit Energy and had deliberated over the failed attempts.

Then, with a fresh mind, he picked up the eighteenth paper.

He didn’t slow down when preparing the talisman or inscribing the rune, but he paid more attention to every step, making sure each stroke was correct and smooth.

This increased the Spirit Energy consumption by a small margin, but as result…

Just twenty minutes later, he made the final stroke and the talisman lit up, arcs of lightning flashing across it.

Phew!

When the glow and lightning vanished, he finally let out a long breath and let himself relax.

He then checked his Spirit Energy and a small smile appeared on his face because he still had over five percent Spirit Energy left, meaning… he had only spent less than forty percent of Spirit Energy to make this talisman.

The improvement was stark when compared to the eighty percent he used up the first time.

Stowing away the second talisman, he glanced at the Talisman Ink. Quite a bit was still left, unfortunately, he didn’t have any more Spirit Replenishment Pills to recover his Spirit Energy use it to make more.

‘Wait!’

Just as he was about to withdraw his Bloodline Sense from it, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Can I reabsorb the Thunder Energy from it?’ the thought was tempting, thus he immediately gave it a try.

His eyes lit up because it was indeed possible. However, he failed to consider one thing—if he was using his Bloodline Sense normally, it didn’t matter much but when used it to do some heavy lifting, it exhausted his Spirit Energy.

At the moment, he barely had any left, so when he tried to re-absorb the Thunder Energy from the ink, a splitting headache hit him and his vision swam. He also lost control of his Bloodline Sense which allowed the Thunder Energy to mix with the talisman ink.

‘Damn.’ He chuckled wryly and fell back before closing his eyes. Soon, he fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was already midnight and just like the day before, while some of his Spirit Energy had recovered, it wasn’t enough to relieve the headache he was having. Still, it wasn’t crippling like before, so it was good enough.

[Dan, if you are up, prepare a meal and bring it over. I’m starving.] he sent Dan the message, then entered the washroom for a shower which helped relax him a little.

Just twenty minutes after he was done, Dan arrived with piping hot dinner. From the sleepy look in his eyes that he tried his best to hide, he knew the guy must have been sleeping when he got the message.

“Let’s eat.” He invited him in, but Dan smiled, “I have already eaten Young Lord.”

“Alright. Go and sleep then. Also, thanks for the trouble.”

“It’s no trouble, Young Lord. Please contact me anytime you need me.” Dan said before he bowed and left.

…

Half an hour later, after having dinner, he left the Violet Peak and headed toward the Inner Hall.

A while later, he arrived and headed into Talisman Hall’s direction, but on the way, he saw two groups facing each other. One group had five people while the other one only had two.

‘Hm?’ When he saw the two, his eyes narrowed because he recognised them.

Then, killing intent flashed in his eyes, ‘You all really want to die.’