Chapter Forty-Eight: The First Spell Technique

Four days later, in the dead of night.

Chenqi thrust the Debt Collector’s longsword into the sofa and turned his gaze to the New Sun Game.

[Current Spiritual Power: 10/16.]

“Seventy-sixth attempt today.”

Over the past days, aside from increasing the digestion rate of the Blood Blade Fruit to thirty-two percent, Chenqi had been immersed in studying spell techniques.

He gripped his right forearm tightly; a sharp, intense pain surged through his hand, the side effect of excessive practice with spiritual power.

For the past two days, neither his game character nor himself had ventured out for exploration; instead, he devoted himself wholly to mastering the Fire of the Black Prison.

Chenqi glanced at his skill panel.

[Basic Spell Power Conduction: 100%]

With heightened inspiration and the simultaneous progress of his game character, Chenqi had already completed the study of basic spell power conduction.

The process was not complicated; its essence lay in guiding and controlling spiritual power to flow within the bloodstream, and the higher one’s inspiration, the easier the task.

Chenqi quickly mastered basic spell power conduction, but he remained stuck at the spell technique for the Fire of the Black Prison.

He couldn’t even conjure a spark, let alone unleash the full force of the spell!

The true difficulty lay in the Fire of the Black Prison, which required spiritual power to be channeled through complex, precise guidance, then structured and released as an entirely new force.

Chenqi’s progress was painfully slow at first.

Yet, thanks to the dual learning of his game character and the ability to directly track progress in the game, those initial hurdles were gradually overcome.

Though outwardly he seemed to have made little progress, the New Sun Game’s panel showed that every attempt contributed meaningfully.

This panel saved him much wasted effort.

Now, Chenqi had achieved significant progress.

He looked again at the skill panel in the game.

[Fire of the Black Prison—Basic Technique Learning Progress: 38%]

Chenqi pinched the flesh of his left arm firmly, keeping himself alert.

“Let’s try again!”

He had already failed seventy-five times in a row; if this attempt failed, he would have to seek another path.

Chenqi took a deep breath, opened his right hand, and once more constructed the spell technique for the Fire of the Black Prison in his mind.

Starting from his heart, spiritual power coursed swiftly through his blood, gathering at the fingertips of his right hand.

White Dove Vision!

He opened the White Dove’s Eye, observing the flow of spiritual power glowing white in his left forearm, ensuring no deviation.

Spiritual power slowly converged at the tip of his right index finger.

Many previous attempts had failed at this step; this time, Chenqi concentrated as much as possible.

Suddenly, a faint sizzling sound emerged!

There was hope!

In an instant, the white glow at his fingertip transformed into black fire; a tiny black flame formed at the tip of his finger.

Success!

He had finally mastered his first offensive spell technique!

Chenqi carefully raised his fingertip to his eyes. The black flame burned, and a sharp sting and cold sensation spread through his finger.

This must be the chilling and burning effects described in the Fire of the Black Prison!

He looked at the New Sun Game.

[Fire of the Black Prison: 50% (You have preliminarily mastered the use of the Fire of the Black Prison)]
[Spiritual Power Consumption: 1, Current Spiritual Power 11/16]

A single practice increased progress by twelve percent.

Wait—

Chenqi’s brow suddenly furrowed, the joy of success instantly dissipating.

Something felt off.

He was slightly disappointed; the Crow Feather Staff’s built-in Crow Summoning could call forth ten crows at a cost of only four spiritual power.

Yet this tiny black flame cost one spiritual power, which did not seem worthy of the knowledge from a forbidden tome.

Could it be that he hadn’t fully mastered the Fire of the Black Prison?

Theory alone was insufficient; the book stated that as a blade-aligned spell, only in true combat could one perfectly comprehend the Fire of the Black Prison.

The chilling sensation spread from his fingertip through his entire body. Chenqi exhaled and stopped the flow of spiritual power.

He murmured to himself: Shadow Soul, hand me the blade.

The Shadow Soul darted forward, picked up the Debt Collector’s longsword from the sofa, and presented it to him with both hands.

A normal person’s blood and body were limited in spiritual power conduction and construction.

Thus, many weapons were inscribed with auxiliary spell circuits to aid in spellcasting; some weapons could even execute a complete spell technique by themselves, such as the Crow Feather Staff.

He decided to try casting the Fire of the Black Prison with the Debt Collector’s longsword.

Chenqi took the blade, gripped the cloth-wrapped hilt, pointed the tip toward the window, and channeled spiritual power along the hilt, injecting it continuously into the circuit at the tip.

Through the White Dove Vision, he could see black spiritual power flowing along the circuit etched into the blade!

Sizzling, sizzling!

With his earlier success, this attempt proved much easier.

Chenqi was delighted; on the pitch-black blade, clusters of tiny black sparks flickered to life!

“Fire of the Black Prison!”

He tried pouring more spiritual power into the Debt Collector’s longsword, aiming to envelop the whole blade in black fire!

Sizzling—he instinctively retreated!

A massive surge of black fire burst from the blade tip, flooding half the room like a torrent, expanding rapidly!

The icy black fire was out of control, brushing against his neck with a fierce sting!

Was this the same spell as the tiny black flame just now!?

The black fire before him was overwhelming!

It spread like a tidal wave, furiously siphoning his spiritual power!

Chenqi decisively cut off his supply, interrupting the spell!

Unlike ordinary fire, the black fire extinguished rapidly once deprived of spiritual power.

Whoosh—

The black fire instantly receded.

Chenqi let out a long breath; if he hadn’t stopped, he would have been consumed by the flames.

[Spiritual Power Consumption: 2, Current Spiritual Power 9/16]

Two points of spiritual power consumed!

He was astonished; the scale of the flames was considerable, especially since the room assigned to him by the Sunwalkers was the most luxurious double suite in the Quan’an Tower, with ample space.

Chenqi gripped the blade and examined it closely; the internal circuit was exquisitely crafted.

While using a spell implement was certainly superior to casting with the body, he hadn’t expected such a dramatic difference.

Or perhaps the auxiliary spell circuit of this blade was simply too powerful?

Impressive, indeed. Chenqi sheathed the blade and opened the Sunwalkers’ forum.

According to the Newcomer Spell Encyclopedia on the forum, compared to the basic fire spell, the Fire of the Black Prison consumed noticeably less spiritual power.

An ordinary fire spell, to produce flames of that scale, would cost at least ten spiritual power.

Moreover, the Fire of the Black Prison had a special tearing burn effect and could reduce mental value.

There were drawbacks, though—the burn effect was weaker than normal fire and could not spread or expand.

Both had their pros and cons.

However, mental value reduction couldn’t be tested; black fire could not decrease the caster’s own mental value.

Chenqi looked at the Sunwalkers’ forum. Unlike other basic attributes, mental value was not a pointable stat; all Worldwalkers had a default maximum of ten.

No items in the game could increase mental value, only talents or items could boost mental resistance.

Chenqi glanced again at the New Sun Game.

[Fire of the Black Prison Learning Progress: 55%]

He would likely need real combat to fully master it, and would have to find an unlucky soul to test its mental damage effect.

Chenqi pondered; neither Chen Shi nor Lin Yuxing seemed suitable for testing.

Perhaps his game character would have to endure the next round of practice.

From here on, the Fire of the Black Prison would only progress through battle—the unique learning method of blade-aligned spells.

Chenqi stepped out for some air. Suddenly, a crow, startled and frantic, flew past the window at the front of the tower.

These past days, the Crowgrassman’s crow attacks had not ceased; every day, uncontrolled crows crashed into the tower.

The crow flock, having learned the tactics of the Net Shadow, liked to threaten in various ways, but whether they would actually act remained a mystery, their harassment unmistakable.

He had to fully master the basic Fire of the Black Prison soon; the Holy Disaster Association was full of pure madmen.

Even without any vested interest, many among them would still launch attacks.

Chenqi opened the New Sun Game; in the game, daylight had not yet come.

The arrival of daylight marked the beginning of the Medicine Tower’s trial.

He read the text.

Daylight approaches; it was nearly time to set out!