Wizard starting from shoeing donkeys

Chapter 162 – 133: Three Levels Up!

Yes!

The next second, the rich blood-red energy in the diamond-shaped crystal surged into Rein like a flood escaping a dam.

However, it seemed that the system absorbed it in a ‘discard the dregs and keep the essence’ manner, leaving Rein with no discomfort. Instead, a lot of black ash-like substance fell to the ground from his left hand that was holding the blood-red crystal.

The absorption and transformation process was completed almost instantly.

“[Ding! Transformed a total of 1024 supernatural experience points, please choose Knight (Transcendent)/Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) to level up.]”

Seeing this, Rein pondered for a moment and decided to choose the latter for points allocation.

The reason was simple; he was currently a Knight (Transcendent) lv3 (84/500). If he chose Knight, he could only level up once, while as a Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) lv1 (0/100), he could level up three times.

Moreover, Rein noticed that the experience gained in battle was automatically added to the Knight (Transcendent) profession panel. Could this be because the Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) profession panel had no attack skills?

Or was it for some other reason?

But for now, he did not worry at all about the leveling speed of the Knight (Transcendent) profession level.

On the other hand, it seemed that the professional experience of a Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) could currently only be increased through practicing basic meditation.

After weighing the two options, the choice was not difficult to make.

Rein silently recited ‘Wizard Apprentice!’ in his mind.

In an instant, three system notifications appeared before Rein:

“[Congratulations, your Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) profession level has increased!]”

“[Congratulations, your Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) profession level has increased!]”

“[Congratulations, your Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) profession level has increased!]”

Although Rein had predicted that his Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) profession panel might jump three levels at once,

Seeing this scene unfold, he too was struggling to contain his joy.

Rein clenched his fists and swung vigorously in mid-air twice!

This move had saved him at least half a year, or even one to two years of time.

After calming his excitement a bit, Rein looked at the panel where the level of Wizard Apprentice (Transcendent) had jumped from lv1 to lv4 (124/1000) and couldn’t help but show a radiant smile.

Continuing to look down,

He saw at the bottom of the panel a prompt indicating remaining attribute points: 3, and remaining skill points: 4.

Among these remaining skill points, one had been left unassigned from the last level-up.

Looking at the attribute points and skill points in front of him, Rein suddenly felt like he had jumped from being poor straight into the middle class.

Previously, he had to carefully consider each point allocation; now, things were different—he had plenty to spare!

However…

After thinking about it, Rein didn’t choose to allocate his points immediately but decided to deliver the items first before coming back to consider how to allocate the points carefully.

After all, with his newfound ‘savings,’ he couldn’t just spend them recklessly; he needed to be frugal and deliberate.

Rein looked at the diamond-shaped crystal, which initially had a rich blood color but now showed a pure transparency, and a sly smile spread across his face.

He wondered if Viscount Hamadi, upon seeing the current state of the crystal, would still be willing to exchange the spoils for Merit Points.

“Forget it! I’ll just give him the bone staff as well!” thought Rein.

“After all, since I’ve reaped such a huge advantage, offering the crystal and the bone staff shows my sincerity,” Rein thought to himself.

“Click!”

Rein then attached the transparent diamond-shaped crystal back to the bone staff, and then, he quickly went downstairs and headed towards the church.

Soon, when Rein returned, he saw the church’s Rudolph and Viscount Hamadi seemingly arguing about something.

This made Rein slow down his steps and listen.

“Your Excellency Viscount, it is customary for the Energy Storage Crystals to be handed over to our church for handling.”

“Rudolph, as you yourself said, it is a customary practice. According to the empire’s rules, first and foremost, it belongs to the empire.”

“….”

Aha! This crystal really must be a treasure!

It even caused these two dignitaries to scramble and fight over it, what a pity that this ‘Energy Storage Crystal’ has now become a ‘blank crystal.’

Although Rein didn’t know why they valued this crystal so much, it was obviously for the blood-red energy within it.

Rein made his footsteps slightly heavier, causing Hamadi and Rudolph to stop their dispute and look over.

When Rein passed the bone staff to Hamadi, he could clearly feel Alonso’s eyes flicker, and although he tried hard to conceal it, there was an undeniable joy on his face.

Rudolph, however, glanced at the transparent crystal on top of the bone staff and then at Rein, his face showing confusion.

Clearly, Rudolph had realized that it was a ‘blank crystal.’

“Haha, Rein, that’s it!” Viscount Hamadi laughed as he spoke.

“You’re too kind, Viscount.”

However, as soon as Hamadi took it over, the next second, his expression changed dramatically, turning incredibly grim!

“Empty?”

“What do you mean, empty?” Rein played dumb. Continue your adventure at m

Hamadi’s eyes were fixed intently on Rein as he said, “Rein, was it like this when you got this ‘Sacrificial Staff’?”

“Of course, Viscount.” Rein said, telling a barefaced lie without batting an eyelid.

“Right, so this bone stave is called ‘Sacrificial Staff’, huh? Viscount, you really have a deep understanding of the Black Flame Cult,” Rein added.

“Cough… The cult poses a great threat to the Empire, so I took the effort to learn more about them,” Hamadi, realizing his slip of the tongue, coughed slightly and said.

It seems the blood sacrifice ritual was not successful.

It must have been interrupted just as it was about to succeed.

What a pity.

In an instant, Hamadi guessed the most likely scenario that had occurred.

“Viscount, about the matter you mentioned before, assisting me in converting my spoils of war into Merit Points…” Rein said.

“Of course, no problem!” Viscount Hamadi waved his hand dismissively.

However, from the slight twitch of Hamadi’s mouth, Rein could tell that deep inside, Hamadi was incredibly disappointed!

Viscount Hamadi, looking rather unsightly, charged Hamilton with certain tasks and quickly left Flashgold Town. Baron Alonso from County Town didn’t stay long either and was the first to head back to County Town.

The delegation from the Church of the Monsoon and the Sea Goddess, led by Head Priest Rudolph, after a thorough investigation, also began to leave Flashgold Town and return to County Town to report.

Baroness Crowley and Jenny, after bidding Rein farewell, followed the church’s delegation back to County Town.

As for the aftermath of the cultists’ attack on Flashgold Town, since Hamilton, the town’s sheriff, had returned, naturally, he was left to take full responsibility for the handling of the matter.

And so, Rein and Lagaray started walking home.

Despite feeling a tinge of disappointment, Lagaray didn’t mind too much; after all, the long-anticipated journey to Nightingale Forest was halted mid-way due to the cultist incident.

Fortunately, it was not a matter of never going, but merely a delay of a few days; hence, her slightly dispirited mood soon adjusted.

Having returned home, Rein began to reflect on his performance in the recent battles.

Simply put, it was a ‘post-mortem’!

After all, the old ancestors had said, “Learning without thought leads to confusion, thought without learning leads to danger!”

Although this was originally intended for academic study, the principle was the same.

Reflecting earnestly after battle is the key to improvement.

“In the four battles I encountered, it was quite clear that my combat methods were too simplistic,” Rein mused.

“The greatsword is indeed very useful in many situations, but when facing enemies with strong defensive power, it’s difficult to inflict effective damage, like when facing an enemy of the Angel Envoy’s caliber.”

“Perhaps, my next step should be to gradually start learning the Hammer Skill. The overwhelming armor penetration and shock from a heavy hammer can do severe damage to enemies with stacked armor.” Rein pondered with a twinkle in his eyes.

Use valuable Skill Points to improve Hammer Skill?

Of course not!

As long as I use the heavy hammer more frequently in battle, I’ll naturally be able to improve quickly.

“Furthermore, it’s about the armor. Despite having the supernatural trait ‘Iron Skin lv2’, wearing a full set of sturdy knight’s plate armor can still mitigate a lot of damage. So, acquiring a set of solid plate armor is also a matter of urgency!”

“As for attribute points and Skill Points…”

“Perhaps I should first take a look at ‘An Exploration of the Application of Scorching Touch in the Field of Smithing’…”

Soon, Rein took out the three ancient Akkadian tomes and placed them on his table.

Since he was not very proficient in Akkadian, Rein could only study and research while referencing the materials.

It took a long time for him to briefly browse through the ancient tome.

After finishing, Rein, with his arms crossed and fingers stroking his chin, started pacing back and forth in his room, his brow furrowed or relaxed at intervals.

This was a non-formal book written by a third-level Wizard Apprentice named Lias Johnston several centuries ago. Before embarking on his path as a Wizard Apprentice, he used to be a blacksmith, so naturally, he included some of his personal creative ideas.

According to the book, ‘Scorching Touch’ is a beginner-level fire witchcraft spell that requires manipulating the free fire energy particles in the air for casting.

Luckily, the book also contained the incantation and witchcraft model for ‘Scorching Touch’.

Therefore, for Rein, who could already sense fire energy particles, this was clearly good news.

Moreover, the difficulty of learning ‘Scorching Touch’ wasn’t high, and with his current level, he could already begin trying to learn it.

However, according to the book, ‘Scorching Touch’ is a contact-based witchcraft spell that requires close proximity to inflict damage.

According to the book, this is typical of most beginner-level witchcraft spells.

This made Rein hesitate for a moment, even though he currently had four Skill Points at his disposal.

After all, this was far from what he had hoped for; it wasn’t the powerful, long-range attack like a Black Flame Fireball that he had imagined.

Moreover, to reach the level of direct application in smithing as described in the book, one would need a high degree of mastery over the spell.

After some consideration, Rein didn’t rush into practicing the fire witchcraft spell ‘Scorching Touch’ and began his daily foundational meditation exercises.

Because as clearly stated in the book, visualizing ten Will runes at once is the minimum requirement for practicing ‘Scorching Touch’, and if one can’t even achieve that, then there’s no point in attempting it.

Before long, Rein’s forehead was slightly sweaty, but the next moment, he exhaled deeply, successfully visualizing ten Will runes simultaneously!

At that moment, a system prompt quietly appeared:

[Congratulations! Your Spirit Attribute has been increased!]

Rein’s face lit up, and he glanced at his status panel to see his Spirit Attribute increase from 15 points to 16 points.

In doing so, his chances of successfully learning the fire witchcraft spell ‘Scorching Touch’ had greatly improved!