Chapter 119: Sword Spirit (Bonus Chapter 1/4)

Qi Xiao opened the ancient pink parchment book and studied it for a while. He had asked his senior brother about this book before. According to Rupert’s explanation, the runes recorded within only had effects within dreams or the dream realm—essentially a unique product of the dream system. In reality, unless used on things closely connected to the dream system, such as dream anglers, they were no different from meaningless scribbles, utterly ineffective.

Qi Xiao casually prepared a cup of blue lemon strawberry jelly. After finishing it, he lay down to meditate, savoring the rare tranquility. This special drink did indeed help accelerate meditation efficiency—though not noticeably, it was already a good start.

After the magic was purified and absorbed into his body, Qi Xiao’s form greedily took it in without any swelling sensation. From what he read in the book, apprentices who absorbed a large amount of magic in a short time would feel a kind of “fullness,” but Qi Xiao had never experienced this. Every time he practiced, his body felt ravenously thirsty, as if there was no end in sight.

He suspected it might relate to his meditation method. If he meditated ceaselessly day and night beyond alchemy sales, coupled with the system’s pure magic feedback, he might ascend to advanced apprentice wizard within about a month. But that was too conspicuous and unnecessary.

Qi Xiao planned to wait until he became an advanced apprentice wizard before pushing himself to that peak, then seek the opportunity to advance. Once he broke through to a full-fledged wizard, no one would care about the speed of his cultivation, apart from admiring his talent—there would be nothing else to say.

Besides, he didn’t know how long he might be stuck. Though confident he could fully become a wizard, it was common to be held back three or five years at the gate to the wizard’s path.

His internal biological clock reminded him it was morning. After converting the last of the external magic into pure magic and absorbing it, he opened his eyes and went to wash up.

In truth, a simple cleansing spell could have handled this, but Qi Xiao felt uneasy without a proper bath. It wouldn’t take much time anyway.

After bathing and brushing his teeth, Qi Xiao made his way to the dining hall in search of breakfast—a rare treat. Today’s breakfast was quite normal: a fried egg from a murre hawk, paired with white magnolia bread and cheese, alongside a meat patty whose origin was unclear, and a bowl of creamy mushroom stew that looked very appetizing.

Having enjoyed his meal and thanked Ayak, Qi Xiao first visited his teacher’s room to ask questions about spatial spells. Just as he was preparing to craft the gear needed for sale this week, Raymond came rushing over, tears and snot streaming, embracing him tightly.

“Waaah… Junior brother, you have to stand up for me!”

“Senior brother? Speak calmly. Get up first… Your snot—snot!” Qi Xiao looked utterly confused, staring dumbfounded at the clinging Raymond until he nearly rubbed snot onto his sleeve, prompting a fierce struggle.

“Waaah, that sword spirit was too much! He actually said I don’t understand the sword! He’s just a sword spirit—what does he know about swords? My style is a heavy blade without edges… he has no appreciation at all!”

After Qi Xiao shook Raymond off, the latter sobbed and cursed the newborn sword spirit from the Sword Tomb. Qi Xiao wiped the tears off his clothes with some helplessness, saying,

“Though smashing is indeed a form of sword technique… it’s a bit unconventional. That little sword spirit just recently came into being; it’s normal to have a biased perspective. You’re someone pursuing the wizard’s path—you shouldn’t be bothered by a kid like that, and getting cried on by a brat? Isn’t that embarrassing?”

Raymond seemed to feel the loss of face and finally stopped sobbing, muttering angrily, “It’s because he’s too young! Otherwise, I’d definitely challenge him to a duel, let him see what a true sword cultivator is! His understanding of the sword is too narrow, but even the Sword Elder praised my Heavy Mountain sword technique, hmph.”

Qi Xiao shook his head, unsure how to respond. Raymond’s cultivation was a rare bloodline sect, focusing mostly on body strengthening and self-enhancing spells, with all other magic tied to his weapon.

Though Raymond’s weapon was the most mainstream sword today, it was an extremely niche type—a heavy sword. He rarely used cutting, slashing, chopping, or thrusting techniques. In fact, his sword wasn’t even sharpened; all his moves centered around one word: smashing.

While smashing was indeed a sword technique, it was among the rarest and least used, let alone being a main style.

Qi Xiao had also heard of that sword spirit. Newly born, it already possessed notable self-awareness and could understand the concept of “self,” appearing more intelligent than many spirits centuries old. It was highly regarded by elder spirits and even personally taught by the ancestral spirit, considered a rising star among spirits. As a newborn spirit emerging from the mainstream longsword lineage, it was understandable that it couldn’t grasp the abstract heavy sword techniques.

Qi Xiao sighed and comforted Raymond, mixing encouragement with praise for half an hour until he finally coaxed a smile out of him with a homemade cotton candy. Raymond left happily.

Watching Raymond with his somewhat dim-witted expression, Qi Xiao was quite helpless. When they first met, he was a cheerful red-haired handsome youth. Not much time had passed—how had he become like this?

Reflecting that human nature had grown colder, Qi Xiao called out from a distance, warning Raymond not to bother that little sword spirit again. Receiving a response, he returned to his room.

Changing into fresh clothes, Qi Xiao began his alchemy work for the day. He had been crafting potions for weeks; the basic ones were nearly complete. It was time to return to his specialty—alchemy for equipment.

He had almost finished all ordinary-level magic rune blueprints except for a few newly acquired from the library, so he planned to craft mixed gear integrating both metalwork and rune magic.

A gold ingot the size of a soccer ball was tossed into the air, encircled by a ring of purplish-blue flames. Beneath it sat a large cauldron. The ingot melted into molten gold, droplets falling into the cauldron and automatically converging at its center.

To speed up the process, Qi Xiao simultaneously cast a smelting spell relying on rapid frequency vibrations for heating. Originally mediocre, this spell had been greatly improved recently after he gained the “Infrasound Frequency Adjustment” skill, itself based on frequency modulation to produce various effects. From this, Qi Xiao drew much inspiration and refined his smelting technique.

Under this dual heating, the ingot quickly liquefied into a pool of molten gold, flowing within the cauldron with no sign of cooling or solidifying. Qi Xiao set the cauldron aside and proceeded to the next step.