Chapter 103: The Human-Faced Flower King

At this moment, the "Witchcraft Scepter" held in Gune's hand was withered yellow all over, with a slight hint of black. It was slightly shorter and thinner than a chopstick.

It looked very inconspicuous; when held in hand, if others were not paying attention, it was hard to notice the existence of the "Witchcraft Scepter."

More importantly, when the activation degree of the Witchcraft Scepter reached about 20%,

the Witchcraft Scepter could transform into a bracelet that perfectly fit around the wrist.

At that time, the Witchcraft Scepter would be equivalent to a "wrist staff."

A staff worn on the wrist like a bracelet.

At that point, some of the drawbacks of casting spells while holding a staff would no longer exist.

Such as some spells that could expel the staff, easily noticeable habitual casting movements, and the embarrassment of being unable to produce the staff in a sudden outbreak of battle—all could be avoided.

At the same time, if you did not wear a robe or cast spells, it would be hard to be discovered as a caster.

This would also indirectly increase the safety of the caster.

Concealment was a major feature of the Witchcraft Scepter.

Just the aspect of being a "wrist staff" was enough to surpass most mithril magic gold-level staves.

At the same time, the power of the spell runes on the Witchcraft Scepter also satisfied Gune greatly.

Secret Passage Runes: 4.

Amplification Runes: 10.

This was the strength of the Witchcraft Scepter.

With these four Secret Passage Runes, Gune's instant-cast limit would increase significantly.

Once Gune reached the second rank and perfectly attuned to the Witchcraft Scepter, high-level spells would also fall within his instant-cast range.

At the same time, after perfect activation, the 10 Amplification Runes would directly double the power of Gune's spells.

At that time, the power of Gune's spells would reach a new level.

A caster could not only use a staff to obtain "Amplification Runes" to enhance themselves,

but could also obtain "Amplification Runes" from supernatural items such as robes, cloaks, rings, necklaces, etc., to strengthen themselves.

This was also one of the reasons why casters became more powerful as they progressed.

After all, the combat and shadow systems could not condense Amplification Runes.

However, Gune also knew that fully activating these ten Amplification Runes would probably take several months.

As for the mithril-level staff "Silver Feather" in Gune's hand, he had no intention of selling it.

Currently, the attunement of the Silver Feather staff was already quite high.

And when the attunement reached perfection, the source power recovery effect brought by Silver Feather would be further enhanced.

No one stipulated that a spellcaster could only use one staff.

Carrying Silver Feather was like having a portable infinite "source power spring" pool; how could Gune bear to discard it?

Gune stood up, ready to try on the "Purple Scale Chainmail."

"It's indeed very heavy."

When Gune picked it up, he felt his arm slightly strained.

After all, it was a 150-jin heavy object; it was difficult for a normal human to lift it with one hand.

Although a conventional first-rank spellcaster's physical body had been strengthened through rank advancement,

it was still very difficult to lift a 150-jin heavy object with one hand.

After putting it on, the 150-jin Purple Scale Chainmail hanging on his body was even heavier than Gune had imagined.

"With my current physical strength and endurance, wearing it will cause some inconvenience in my movements, such as greatly reduced speed, inflexible movement, and walking being very laborious."

"I just underwent reincarnation a few days ago, and my physical strength and power have been severely reduced."

"When I advance to the second rank, the impact of this 150-jin Purple Scale Chainmail on me will be much smaller."

"At the third rank, the impact will be almost negligible."

"In the next few days, I'll keep it in the system space and take it out daily for touch magic acceptance."

"When I reach the second rank, I'll wear it again."

After handling the equipment matters,

with a flip of his hand, Gune took out a worm-shaped "writhing flesh" from the system space.

Before being stored in the system space, this writhing flesh could still wriggle and climb, with relatively strong vitality.

But after being stored in the system space for this period, when taken out now,

the vitality of the writhing flesh had significantly diminished, becoming more like "material."

After placing the writhing flesh, Gune used a Soul-Fixing Ring Spell to mark a good cutting position on the writhing flesh.

Then, the Magic Blade Trick Spell began to aim at that precise position and was released.

Gune was about to start cutting the writhing flesh.

...

In the following days, Gune practiced while idling, cutting flesh, and delving into the study of rune analysis.

At the same time, he continued his follow-up research on secret pattern potions.

The "Nightmare Dragon Blood Secret Pattern Potion" required careful exploration.

Enhancing the body's supernatural characteristics through dragon blood was equally important to Gune.

And the "Soul Secret Pattern Potion" required extensive experimentation.

Both secret pattern potions were progressing steadily.

...

One day.

Around four o'clock in the afternoon, the sky gradually darkened.

After three or four days of clear weather, it was finally coming to an end. From the oppressive dark clouds, it could be seen that a new blizzard was brewing.

After coming out of the private alchemy laboratory and handing over this batch of secret pattern potions to Leona, Gune needed to go to the hall to enjoy the afternoon coffee time.

"My spellcaster realm is starting to approach the peak of the first rank. The improvement speed after reincarnation is indeed faster than before."

"In the system of supernatural beings, the first and second ranks are easy to improve, as they are the initial stages. But once at the third and fourth ranks, the difficulty increases significantly. At this point, it involves not only the soul, body, and source power, but also the deep-level transformation of supernatural genes and the complete integration of supernatural characteristics into the depths of the genes."

"The fertility of third- and fourth-rank supernatural beings will further decrease, but the children they bear will have inherently stronger supernatural characteristics than ordinary children."

"This is also the reason for intermarriage among high-talent supernatural beings in supernatural families."

"Some bloodline families even practice close-kin marriage to increase the probability of producing supernatural beings with even thicker bloodlines."

"When one becomes a high-rank supernatural being, it means the supernatural characteristics are perfectly and completely integrated with oneself."

"A perfect supernatural body is also the reason why high-rank supernatural beings are so powerful."

"The cultivation of the supernatural path is not only about acquiring energy but also about the fusion of powerful genes and supernatural power."

"Changing one's life form and height from the depths of life genes—this is the extraordinary aspect of the supernatural world."

"After all... human evolution is the process of self-genes adapting to environmental changes. By borrowing supernatural power, this timeline is greatly shortened."

"And the direction of change also more respects human will."

As he walked along the stone steps toward the hall, Gune thought to himself.

"And my blood pool is also showing signs of stirring; it will probably open in a day or two."

Just as he entered the hall, Gune saw someone sitting on the sofa.

On the side of the sofa near the fireplace, a demon dog with black scales was curled up resting.

"What brings you here today?" Gune sat down and said with a smile.

The visitor was Veya.

At this moment, Veya was curled up inside her robe, holding a thick book and reading—needless to say, it was one of those steam knight romantic Mary Sue novels.

"Of course, I have something important to discuss with you."

Closing the book, Veya moved her hand slightly, and the thick book was already stored in her storage ring.

"What is it?" Gune began heating the brewed coffee.

"We caught a Human-Faced Flower King." Veya said succinctly.

Gune's movements paused slightly, then he looked up.

"But unfortunately, the flower king's flower body escaped severely injured, and we killed the flower king's human body."

"If we had captured the Human-Faced Flower King's human body alive, we might have obtained enough information."

"Even just the flower king's human body can yield plenty of information." Gune added.

"Of course." Veya did not object to that.

"Last time, you said you wanted to get in touch with the Human-Faced Flower King, right?"

"I mentioned it to the teacher earlier, and the teacher agreed. Tonight, there happens to be time, so I can take you there."

"By tomorrow, when it's not my shift, there won't be a chance to access the flower king's corpse."

"Do you want to go now?"

"No rush. Let's go after dinner!" Veya responded.

"You're not deliberately coming over to freeload a meal, are you?" Gune teased.

"How could that be? I mainly came to enjoy the coffee and the fireplace. Your sofa is comfortable, the environment is quiet, and dinner is just a little extra on the side." Veya was not at all polite with Gune.

"Heh heh..." Gune chuckled lightly.

While drinking coffee, Gune pondered.

After a few minutes, Gune looked at Veya again and asked.

"That Human-Faced Flower King's human body—what rank? How many days has it been dead? How damaged is it?"

"A third-rank Human-Faced Flower King, not very powerful; it probably just advanced a few days ago. Since it was just the human body, I could handle it alone. It was brought back the day before yesterday and is currently stored in the underground icehouse. Damage?"

Veya thought for a moment before continuing.

"The physical damage is not severe; mainly, its soul was killed on the spot by a soul vortex from a half-soul expert."

Hearing this, Gune nodded slightly.

"That's good."

"What's wrong?" Veya frowned slightly.

"I just want to collect a bit more blood. Since the body isn't damaged, there should still be plenty of blood. Is there any problem?"

"Collecting a bit more blood." Veya considered for a moment and nodded.

"No big problem. Even if there is, the teacher will handle it for you." Veya, unwilling to take the blame herself, agreed quickly.