The Wizard: Grinding Experience Starting with Knight Breathing Techniques 98

On the lake’s surface, the Great Knight’s corpse was dragged ashore by Li Wei.

Li Wei stripped off his armor and other belongings.

Most of his possessions had been incinerated by the Flame Stream Seal.

“Damn it, thankfully this guy wasn’t carrying any breathing technique scrolls, otherwise I’d be heartbroken if they were destroyed,” Li Wei suddenly thought.

However, if given another chance, Li Wei would still do the same. Breathing techniques are valuable, but life is even more so.

Finally, he found a few hundred gold coins on the Great Knight’s body, a shark-tooth broadsword, and a half-burnt portrait. Seeing the half-face in the portrait, Li Wei immediately remembered where he had seen it before.

“The middle-aged noble I killed earlier, I got the *Spirit-Driving Manual* from him. That man was connected to the Duke of Black Mountain, who was having this Great Knight search for him.”

“Could it be that the Duke of Black Mountain is also looking for clues about wizards? Does he also know the secrets of the four extraordinary families?” Li Wei pondered in his heart.

“Heh, anyway, the inheritance is mine now. This snatching must have driven the old dog Black Mountain mad.” The most infuriating part is that the Duke of Black Mountain has no idea who snatched it.

In the end, apart from the gold coins and the shark-tooth broadsword, Li Wei found nothing else on the Great Knight.

“Trash sword, only the materials are decent, with some mithril added. I’ll have it recast, or maybe this big guy can still use it.”

This big guy was dead, and Li Wei didn’t know his name.

But what he was called before didn’t matter; from now on, Li Wei would call him “Magic Shark.”

“Next, comes what I’m truly looking forward to.”

“Hell’s Seal!”

Li Wei took out the death core.

The Hell’s Seal requires a readily available corpse to perform the spell.

In other words, it’s similar to being a “corpse-driver.”

“A Great Knight-level corpse, resurrected through the Hell’s Seal, should at least have the combat power of a peak Knight, right?” Li Wei thought.

Casting the Hell’s Seal requires some other materials.

After hiding the Great Knight’s corpse, Li Wei returned to Icewind City.

Silver Mountain Castle.

The delicate-faced Earl of Silver Mountain, wearing brand-new armor, looked at himself in the mirror.

“Truly perfect,” the Earl of Silver Mountain muttered to himself.

It was unclear whether he was praising the armor or himself.

Shortly after, a subordinate came in.

“My Lord Earl, the invitation to Master Tela has been sent. The meeting is scheduled for three days later at the Shining Tavern.”

“Good, you may leave,” the Earl of Silver Mountain said, gazing into the mirror, recalling the Frost Heart that appeared at the auction.

As a well-known and powerful noble in this kingdom, and a Great Knight himself, he saw and knew more than ordinary people.

Since the Millennium, the world has changed.

The Church’s attitude shifted from refusing to acknowledge the existence of evil spirits before the Millennium to acknowledging them afterward—a fascinating change.

Evil spirit attacks have been increasing year by year across the country. Of course, the number of people killed by evil spirits is still a fraction of the casualties caused by war, famine, and other natural disasters.

However, this is not a good sign.

If evil spirit attacks are still low-probability events, the frequent Snow Wraith invasions in the Eternal Night Kingdom are almost a harbinger of the Dark Age.

Although Snow Wraiths are not as terrifying as evil spirits, and are physical creatures that can be killed by ordinary people, their numbers are increasing day by day.

Based on the information currently available to the Earl of Silver Mountain, the Snow Wraiths seem to have mutated from some residents of the Eternal Night Kingdom.

No one knows when this mutation began, and at first, no one paid much attention. By the time the severe winter arrived, the Snow Wraiths had become rampant.

The entire Eternal Night Kingdom was plagued by these incomprehensible undead creatures. The Ice Queen had repeatedly requested assistance from the Emerald King of the Emerald Kingdom and the Emperor of the Tua Empire.

Unfortunately, the Emerald Kingdom was old and cowardly. Seated on his decaying Dragon Bone Throne, he refused the Ice Queen’s request, choosing to focus his limited energy on the intrigues of the lower nobles.

The neighboring Tua Empire, after last year’s end rebellion, remained in a state of civil war. The Emperor’s Fist had disappeared, and though the rebels temporarily occupied the holy city, the zealous followers of the former Emperor’s Fist continued their stubborn struggle. The two factions spread the war from the holy city to the whole country, fighting relentlessly.

Therefore, no one came to the Ice Queen’s aid.

But the Earl of Silver Mountain, having witnessed the terror of the Snow Wraiths firsthand, knew that if these three nations near the far north did not unite now and quickly eliminate the Snow Wraiths in their infancy, this disaster would spread from the Eternal Night Kingdom to the Emerald Kingdom and the Tua Empire, and might even spread to the entire Seven Kingdoms in the future!

The kingdom’s territory closest to the far north is the Black Mountain Province, and the Icewind Territory within the Black Mountain Province would be the first to be threatened.

“Something must be done. This decaying kingdom is unwieldy, like a thousand-legged worm where each leg has its own independent thought.”

Regardless of whether the kingdom takes action, as a northern nobleman, he must consider the well-being of countless people and the legacy of the Silver Mountain family. He knew the Duke of Black Mountain felt the same.

Currently, the Earl of Silver Mountain has stockpiled a considerable amount of mithril.

He needs a true master craftsman, someone like Master Tela, to arm himself with an army fully equipped with the best mithril armor and mithril weapons.

“Who would have thought that little mithril would be the key to countering these undead Snow Wraiths?”

The Earl of Silver Mountain muttered to himself, awaiting his meeting with the master in three days.

Meanwhile, in Icewind City, Li Wei quickly gathered the other materials needed for the Hell’s Seal from the Emerald Merchant Guild and the Shining Tavern.

After confirming that no one was following him, he quickly returned to the small island by the Heavenly Lake.

Harris followed Li Wei, soaring high in the sky, keeping watch for him.

On the island, Magic Shark’s corpse was already cold.

However, the temperature was still relatively cool, so it hadn’t decayed that quickly. Especially since Magic Shark himself was a Great Knight, his body was exceptionally strong.

“Preservatives, mercury…”

Li Wei checked the materials one by one.

Before performing the Hell’s Seal, the corpse needed to be embalmed and then filled with mercury, using a method similar to mummification to wrap the corpse.

After half a day, the preparation was almost complete.

Li Wei took out the death core.

A faint blue mist emanated from it, quite beautiful.

This blue flame resembled the soulfire in the eye sockets of undead skeletons in some games.

Li Wei had already memorized the hand seals for the Hell’s Seal.

Soon, he completed the seals.

Simultaneously, he muttered incantations, using the Constantin family’s special incantations for communicating with hell. Translated into the language of this world, it roughly meant:

“Hell’s lost soul, grant you rebirth.”

Boom!

A force came from the unknown.

The death core slowly rotated, emitting a dazzling blue light, and then it burrowed into Magic Shark’s head, which was disfigured by burns.

Li Wei held the materials for casting the Seal of Protection and the Flame Stream Seal, ready to deal with any unexpected situations.

After a few breaths, blue flames suddenly erupted from Magic Shark’s eye sockets. Frost power covered his face, emitting a chilling aura.

After a moment, the blue flames began to shrink, eventually becoming the size of a pea, resembling bright blue pupils.

Soon, Magic Shark’s stiff, lifeless body began to tremble. Finally, the corpse strangely stood up straight, like a zombie in a movie.

Li Wei was startled, his right hand holding the Flame Stream Seal, his left hand the Seal of Protection, black energy covering his upper body.

However, Magic Shark’s corpse didn’t move after standing up.

Li Wei continued to perform the hand seals of the Hell’s Seal. At the same time, Magic Shark’s body began to walk, from initially stiff to increasingly fluid, until it moved almost like a real person.

“This is far more powerful than corpse driving,” Li Wei marveled.

Then, he ordered Magic Shark to attack a tree.

Magic Shark charged forward like a locomotive, picking up the jagged broadsword!

Rumble!

Black energy coiled around Magic Shark’s arm, eventually appearing on the jagged broadsword.

Crack!

A large tree, as thick as a water bucket, was easily split by Magic Shark.

“Wow, he can even use the black energy.”

“That’s pretty powerful.”

Li Wei was amazed.

He tried to make Magic Shark perform more combat moves.

After playing around for about ten minutes, Li Wei had almost completely mastered how to control Magic Shark.

He found that Magic Shark’s combat ability was indeed much weaker than it was before his death, yet still much stronger than a peak Knight; barely a Great Knight level combatant.

Li Wei experimented on himself and discovered Magic Shark was actually becoming increasingly stronger, even against him. If he didn’t use his ultimate moves, Magic Shark was still very formidable.

“Excellent, my combat power has increased again, albeit through external means.”

Li Wei was very excited. With Magic Shark’s help, his strength had improved. Although Magic Shark’s power was only half a Great Knight, he was an absolutely loyal puppet.

For Li Wei, this was far more useful than a subordinate Great Knight.

After all, a Great Knight might betray him.

But Magic Shark would not!

After finishing everything, he looked at his proficiency panel.

Sure enough, a new skill appeared.

Li Wei————

Hell’s Seal: Level 1 (5/1000)

…

“Hehe, the third seal has finally appeared on the proficiency panel. No, I only cast it once, why did the skill proficiency increase so much?”

From Li Wei’s research on the Flame Stream Seal and the Seal of Protection, each casting increased proficiency by 1 point, without fail. This was completely different from cultivating breathing techniques.

Until Li Wei saw the lines of prompts below the proficiency panel:

[Hell’s Seal proficiency +1]

[Hell’s Seal proficiency +1]

[Hell’s Seal proficiency +1]

…

Suddenly, Li Wei understood.

He only needed to continuously control “Magic Shark” using the hand seals to engage in sufficiently prolonged combat.

The proficiency of the Hell’s Seal would then increase by 1 point.

“Then this skill will level up quickly.”

“However, the energy stored in each death core is limited. Each time Magic Shark fights, it consumes a considerable amount of the death core’s energy, so there’s a limit.”

Li Wei stopped Magic Shark, then made a finishing hand seal.

The death core in Magic Shark’s eye sockets reappeared in Li Wei’s hand.

Li Wei looked at it; the death core’s energy had been used by one-twentieth.

“In other words, once a death core’s energy is completely used up, it can only increase the Hell’s Seal proficiency by 100 points. To reach level two, I need 10 such death cores? Where the hell am I going to find so many death cores? Should I personally go to the far north to kill Snow Wraiths?”

Li Wei dared not play around carelessly anymore.

“Perhaps the quality of this death core is too low.”

According to the *Manual*, the stronger the undead, the higher the quality of the death core produced.

Li Wei injected the death core into Magic Shark’s body again.

This time he didn’t let Magic Shark fight using the black energy, but simply made it move with him.

Li Wei’s research showed that if it wasn’t fighting, only ordinary movement, Magic Shark consumed very little of the death core’s energy.

At this rate of consumption, it would probably consume only one percent of the energy per day.

“I get it. The death core is a battery, walking is standby, and fighting is playing a power-consuming game.”

Li Wei gradually understood the principle of the death core.

Now he felt relieved. He had previously worried that Magic Shark’s walking would also consume a lot of energy, making the Hell’s Seal too useless.

He couldn’t possibly make a large coffin to put Magic Shark in and carry it around every day.

Li Wei used the prepared materials to give Magic Shark some makeup and covered the stench of death. Then he had Magic Shark put on his own armor, wear the iron helmet, carry the jagged giant sword, and follow him back to Icewind City under the cover of night.

He personally tailored a full set of armor for Magic Shark.

Magic Shark’s entire figure was concealed by the armor, and the airtight iron helmet made it difficult for others to notice his unusual nature.

While there was still a faint smell, many nobles and knights in this world were not particularly hygienic, so a little odor was normal.

(Chapter end)

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