A firm will is a necessary trait to become a powerful Wizard.
On the path of pursuing truth and knowledge, a Wizard must be unyielding and persistent.
Furthermore, when facing powerful enemies, a Wizard must always remain calm.
After all, most battles between Wizards require the use of Spiritual Power.
A Wizard with an unstable Spirit cannot even construct a single magic model.
At that point, no matter how strong their Spiritual Power is, they would be no different from trash.
Perhaps because this was his second life, Pei Ze felt little panic even when facing such a terrifying monster for the first time. On the contrary, he was exceptionally calm.
The invisible Ghostly Giant Palm struck the horned monster with a dull roar, knocking it off balance.
Seizing the opportunity, Pei Ze retreated more than ten meters.
"ROAR!"
The horned monster counterattacked with a punch. A thick, heavy power erupted, shattering the Ghostly Giant Palm and turning it into a gust of wind that dissipated into the air.
After dealing with the troublesome Ghostly Giant Palm, the horned monster charged fiercely at Pei Ze once more.
The latter, however, had already finished his magic. He pointed a finger, and a speck of white light shot out, hitting the plant seed he had just casually tossed at the horned monster's feet.
HISS!
A strange sound suddenly erupted.
Countless vines suddenly appeared at the horned monster's feet. They visibly thickened and lengthened at a rapid pace, swiftly spreading up from its ankles. In the blink of an eye, they had it tightly wrapped up like a rice dumpling, with only its head exposed.
'Strangler Vine! Plant Spirit Light!'
"ROAR!"
The horned monster struggled frantically. The tough, two-finger-thick vines snapped one after another, making a crisp sound like breaking violin strings.
Catalyzed by the Plant Spirit Light, the Strangler Vine, which was strong enough to easily kill an Apprentice Knight, had little effect on the horned monster. More than half of the vines snapped in an instant, and it looked like it would break free in another two or three seconds.
Fortunately, Pei Ze never expected the Strangler Vine to hold the horned monster for long. He only used it to buy time to prepare his next spell.
As the most powerful and only Attack Magic among Zero-Circle Magic, Acid Splash's casting time was far longer than that of the modified Mage's Hand and Plant Spirit Light.
By the time only two or three Strangler Vines remained on the horned monster, Pei Ze's magic was finally ready.
PFFT!
With a point of Pei Ze's finger, a basketball-sized glob of acid shot out and accurately hit the restrained horned monster, splattering right across its face.
SIZZLE!
A large amount of pungent white smoke immediately rose from the horned monster's face as it let out a miserable, pained howl.
The corrosive power of Acid Splash was even more terrifying than aqua regia.
An egg-sized glob of the acid was enough to completely corrode an ordinary adult human male, leaving not even bones behind!
Even with the horned monster's incredibly tough constitution, taking a hit like that to a vital area was definitely not pleasant!
Not to mention it had already taken a Burning Hand to the face.
Looking closely, the horned monster's face was a bloody mess. Its eyes were tightly shut, and it could no longer see its surroundings. It could only swing its fists wildly in all directions, trying to grab the culprit.
With the first strike a success, Pei Ze, his expression unchanged, tossed out another Strangler Vine seed, which rolled to the horned monster's feet.
Thanks to the convenience of working in Medicine Garden No. 8, he had acquired quite a few Strangler Vine seeds. He carried more than ten with him, more than enough to sustain a battle.
HISS!
As the Plant Spirit Light sank in, the Strangler Vine grew wildly, once again binding the horned monster securely.
Pei Ze repeated his tactic, once again aiming an Acid Splash at the horned monster's face.
The modified Plant Spirit Light had a greatly reduced consumption, requiring only 0.4 points of Spiritual Power per cast.
Acid Splash was slightly higher, consuming 1 point of Spiritual Power per cast.
With his current Spiritual Power as high as 16.23, he could cast the two spells repeatedly ten times without any issue.
'Bind, splat, bind, splat...'
Pei Ze repeated the combo with a blank expression, patiently whittling down the 'boss's' health bit by bit.
Although his current physique was inferior to the horned monster's, it was still more than five times that of an ordinary person. Even if the monster occasionally got close, he could quickly pull away.
Seven times, eight times, nine times...
When Pei Ze fired the tenth Acid Splash, the horned monster, already at the end of its rope, could no longer hold on. It collapsed with a BOOM, its body twitched for a moment as if electrocuted, and then it stopped moving, all signs of life gone.
On its hideous, terrifying face, its features had long been corroded away, leaving only a large, black pit. Even much of the bone within had been eaten away.
Seeing this, Pei Ze let out a long sigh of relief.
He had less than 1 point of Spiritual Power left, making it impossible to cast another Acid Splash. 'I'm truly running on empty.'
If the horned monster hadn't died then, it would have been his turn to flee.
Fortunately, he had managed to deal with this big guy without any real danger to himself!
Just as Pei Ze was about to wipe the sweat from his brow, he caught a glimpse of two figures who had appeared out of the corner of his eye and jumped in fright.
When he saw that both were wearing white robes, he relaxed slightly.
White robes were the attire of the academy's Official Wizards.
'The newcomers must be Wizards from one of the medicine gardens in the Garden District.'
On the left stood a broad-shouldered, middle-aged man with slightly graying temples, exuding an aura of calm wisdom.
On the right was a short, stout man around forty years old. His features were unremarkable, save for a pair of exceptionally sharp eyes.
What was more astonishing was that his right palm was covered in fine black scales, resembling the limb of some kind of lizard.
"Not bad, little fellow. A First-level Wizard Apprentice taking down a Demonized is worthy of praise," the short, stout Wizard said with a chuckle, his gaze toward Pei Ze holding a trace of admiration.
The middle-aged Wizard, however, had a thoughtful expression. He waited for the short, stout Wizard to finish before asking Pei Ze, "Little fellow, who modified the Plant Spirit Light you just used?"
Hearing the two Wizards' words, Pei Ze immediately understood. They had clearly been here for some time, just standing aside and watching the battle without intervening.
'No wonder no other Wizards showed up after so long. They were just watching the show.'
Although he knew the two would have certainly intervened if he were in real danger, Pei Ze couldn't help but grumble inwardly.
But grumbling was one thing; he didn't dare refuse to answer a question from an Official Wizard. He could only say, "I saw it in a book."
Pei Ze wasn't worried about exposing the modified Plant Spirit Light.
Wizards valued privacy above all else and would not easily pry into others' secrets, even those of a Wizard Apprentice whose status was far beneath their own.
Perhaps when huge benefits were involved, some Wizards couldn't help but violate this principle and take action, but a modified Zero-Circle Magic clearly didn't hold that kind of allure.
The middle-aged Wizard nodded noncommittally and said, "I'm quite interested in this magic. How about a trade? I can give you three bottles of Spiritual Spring Potion in exchange for it."
Pei Ze was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed when he realized what was happening.
Three bottles of Spiritual Spring Potion were worth 600 contribution points. To get 600 contribution points for a modified version of Plant Spirit Light was an incredible profit for him.
Without hesitation, Pei Ze immediately agreed.
"Mo Weng, didn't you also modify Plant Spirit Light? Why are you still interested in this one?" the short, stout Wizard asked.
"It's different. The direction of modification for the Plant Spirit Light this little fellow used is different from mine. Perhaps it can give me some inspiration," Mo Weng said flatly. "Knowledge is power. As long as it's new knowledge I haven't encountered, I'm very interested, no matter how insignificant."
The short, stout Wizard was slightly taken aback, then nodded gently. "You're right."
He said no more on the matter.
Mo Weng casually waved a hand. Three potions and a Crystal Ball appeared out of thin air and slowly flew toward Pei Ze.
"Little fellow, transfer the magic model into the Crystal Ball."
Pei Ze took the items, carefully stowed the potions, and then looked at the other Crystal Ball. He quickly recognized it as a Memory Crystal Ball.
It was a rare treasure capable of storing transferred magic models, something usually only Official Wizards were qualified to possess.
Pei Ze held the Memory Crystal Ball, closed his eyes, and began to transfer the magic model.
Transferring a Zero-Circle Magic was very simple; he finished in less than a minute.
Looking over at Mo Weng and the short, stout Wizard, he saw they were standing by the horned monster's corpse, discussing something in low voices.
Pei Ze didn't disturb them and instead walked over to Qishan's side.
The latter lay motionless on the ground, his chest deeply caved in. A bloody froth mixed with pieces of internal organs constantly oozed from the corner of his mouth. He was clearly taking more breaths out than in, not far from death.
His eyes were wide open, staring fixedly at Pei Ze, filled with shock, disbelief, and intense unwillingness to accept his fate.