Blood tax

Chapter 35 My precious!
Is this the spirit of a magic item? !Griffith subconsciously wanted to take off the ring and throw it away.

He has come into contact with magical items that have a will, almost alive, and he has tried to purchase some privately.However, it was the first time that he had such a dialogue with the tool spirit.

"Don't be nervous," Xuying said, "Minos is honest and powerful. If you can provide rare and powerful materials, Minos will use the knowledge he has and the castle called Homenworth Precious secrets to exchange with you. After all, Minos has been here longer than your headmaster!"

"It's you who gave Camilla the power and magic of magic?"

"That's right," Minos' phantom raised his head proudly, "If you can collect the corresponding materials, Minos will give you an offer that you can't refuse."

"what do you want?"

"Essence of the Moon Spirit, fresh pith-head mushrooms, mandrake juice, these first," Minos, the tool spirit, said quickly, "You can get these things in the Alchemy course at Hormonworth, as long as A little, just soak Minos in it. In exchange, Minos can share with you the information in the castle and the forest, hidden knowledge or potion formulas, which cannot be seen in textbooks and professors will not easily disclose Good stuff, wait a minute..."

Minos fell silent.Griffith felt as if there was a gaze looking up and down at him, which was extremely uncomfortable.

"You bring, um, how can I tell you~" Minos seemed to be thinking about the bone ring, "can you provide the essence that condenses the essence of life to Minos?"

Griffith nodded: "Go on."

"In return, Minos will give you some valuable knowledge—how to use the power of this magical ring," Minos said, "which can make you stronger very quickly."

"Sounds good," Griffith tapped his weapon, "you speak first."

"Of course, of course, isn't this the deposit!~" Minos' phantom seems to be rubbing his hands excitedly, "Minos knows that you are an apprentice knight. The form of your life energy determines whether you Possesses psychic powers, but it is difficult to mobilize magical powers, so I have to be a 'Muggle'."

Muggle?What does this say?Heard it for the first time.Griffith understood the meaning of Minos, and was curious about the unique noun it used.

"As a psionic node that assists the holder to move forward on a farther journey, Minos can help you condense useless spiritual power into psionic runes with different attributes," Minos said seriously, "You can use this to use The corresponding magic spell. For example, the essence of the flesh and blood you can have now contains the magic of the frost attribute."

"Sounds good," Griffith nodded with interest, "How do I give you the essence of flesh and blood?"

"Just put it on the ring..." Minos said, "Don't be nervous, Minos can only absorb inanimate objects. As long as you are alive, you cannot absorb life energy from your body. You provide The more it costs, the more reward I can give."

Griffith took the gum-like flesh left over from the tentacles from his pocket and carefully pressed it on the ring.

The white bone ring immediately radiated a pale blue light and enveloped the two groups of flesh and blood.Griffith didn't even see the process of digestion, and the essence of flesh and blood had disappeared without a trace.

Moments later, a loud, chaotic babble burst into Griffith's brain.In a trance, he gained some knowledge.

"Frost Rune. This type of rune can condense spiritual power and construct a concrete form of frost magic; the user can cast a spell by calling the stored rune.

"After each rune is constructed, the caster needs to rest and recover mental power before constructing it again.

"The number of psionic runes that can be stored is limited, with a maximum of 9. The holder can condense new runes through mental power to replenish consumption."

"Ice Armor (Tier 15). Condensate the ice layer attached to clothing, armor and weapons, improve defense and cause freezing damage to enemies attacking you, reducing his movement and attack speed; or enchant weapons with frozen Special effect. Casting cooldown is [-] seconds."

"Frozen Nova/Ice Structure (Tier 15). Instantly creates freezing that sweeps the ground, causing freezing effects and freezing damage within a five-yard radius, or taking a certain amount of time to condense solid ice of the specified shape. Casting cools down for [-] seconds.

"It takes 1 seconds to condense a rune, but there is no common cooldown between different spells unfolded through the rune."

The babble was fleeting, and Griffith discovered that a frost rune could be condensed by concentrating on the bone ring.At the same time, he also easily mastered two frost spells.

"The remnants of that tentacle have a good source quality," the bone ring Minos seemed to explain while pondering, "Minos' current state can only unlock part of its power..."

The overjoyed apprentice knight was barely listening, but gave it a try with excitement.

A layer of icy blue light immediately appeared on the surface of his clothes and weapons, and he could condense into solid ice for defense at will, or wrap the blade with extremely cold freezing air.

Griffith was so excited that he couldn't help himself. He turned his wrist, and a cold and sharp ice spear was immediately formed in his hand. The frozen ice was spreading and spreading on the rock under his feet according to his wishes and will.

Frost can be constructed under the drive of a spell!
What a powerful force!
The two frost runes were exhausted, and Griffith immediately mobilized his almost useless mental power to gather new runes.

Soon, he once again unleashed the chilling spell effect, even faster than the seasoned mages in the army chanted.Griffith was even surprised to find that his concentration talent did affect the cooldown time of skills and the time to generate runes, becoming more rapid and flexible!

Isn't my talent useful here!
Suddenly, with the successive appearance of runes and spells, Griffith seemed to be hit hard on the head with a wooden stick, and the severe headache almost knocked him down.

"Stop," Minos hurriedly stopped, "with your current mental power, you can only hold 3 runes at most, and after each condensation, you need to rest for 6 hours to restore your energy. You can improve it through training and taking Spiritual potions to enhance your spiritual power. In addition, if you can find substances containing essentia, you can increase the type, rank, power and duration of rune spells."

Griffith immediately interrupted the attempt, and the reverberation and dizziness in his brain disappeared, replaced by overjoyed excitement.

Spellbreakers cannot cast spells of the caster's path.In order to cross the gap of the Beyonder pathway, apart from the rare dual-attribute Beyonders, the only way is to rely on expensive and rare sacred artifacts and sealed artifacts.

Now, as a Beyonder of the spell-breaker sequence, Griffith actually has a way to master the power of spell-casters.

Although this power is not perfect, and there are many limitations to its acquisition and use, a door to possibility has been opened.

That's how Camilla became a fallen mage, and it's no wonder she's so zealous in protecting the weapon.

this is mine!

My holy artifact!

my darling!
……

"If you can find this kind of good stuff next time, you must give it to Minos," said Minos, the bone ring. "Minos doesn't have the power to provide runes and knowledge of other attributes yet. But...you can find it at Look under this blackstone wall, and there's a hut, just below the slope. There lives the ranger Kroger, the descendant of giants."

Seeing Griffith's gaze moving under the city wall, the tool spirit continued: "He is a regular employee of this school, but he is savage and rude, and is not welcomed by noble mages. If you have a good relationship with him, just There are a lot of opportunities to enter the Whispering Forest and gather valuable materials and valuable knowledge from there. You know, generally students are not allowed to enter there."

"I'll think about it," Griffith pointed to the direction of the imposing hall in the middle of the castle. "Does anyone here know you?"

"The shape of this bone ring is unknown, and it is impossible to detect Minos' breath. In their eyes, it's just a piece of jewelry. Isn't it common for you soldiers to use bones, ears, and noses as jewelry? Minos denied Griffith's concerns. "Minos doesn't like to deal with those self-righteous mages. Unfortunately, the conversation is about to end, and Minos needs to... sleep."

As soon as Minos said goodbye, its will disappeared without a trace, like a cloud of smoke being blown away by a gust of wind.

Griffith hesitated for a moment, groping towards the bottom of the city wall.This sturdy black stone city wall has been damaged in several places under the erosion of the years. Even if he does not go through the main entrance, Griffith can easily find a gap.

The school only prohibited us from entering the Whispering Forest, but did not say that we were forbidden to come here.Griffith thought for a while and felt that Kroger, as a school employee, should not be in particular danger, so he searched under the slope.

Soon, he found a huge thatched hut.The foundations and walls of the hut were built with boulders, and the roof was covered with thick thatch.There was also a large pumpkin patch at the door, covered with large pumpkins two or three times the size of Griffith's head.

On the outside of the pumpkin field stood a wooden sign with the words "Kroger's Hut" in large, ugly letters.

"Who's out there!? Don't mess with the stinky brat!"

Before Griffith could check the terrain, a loud thunderous voice had exploded in the silent darkness.

Unexpectedly, Kroger's perception is so sharp, and I was detected only twenty steps away from the hut!Griffith was taken aback and hurriedly said aloud:

"I'm Griffith Blanton, first-year Cytoral, apprentice knight,

"I've got some rum, and a venison roast, Mr. Kroger, if you're interested..."

Before Griffith could finish speaking, the wooden door of the thatched hut was pushed open with a snap, and a figure nearly three meters tall ran over with a rumble: "Rum! Give me some! Oh no , I mean, come in, first grader!"

Kroger, who rushed out of the hut, was wearing a rough leather jacket, with unusually sturdy limbs and a blood-stained axe in his hand. His red eyes and savage face were like a mountain bear that devoured people. .Even Griffith was taken aback.

The powerful coercion came along with Kroger, and it seemed that he would be crushed by this big guy in the next second.Even facing the wolf cavalry charging Griffith, he has never been so panicked!
"I don't have much, I'm afraid we have to save some drinks," Griffith tried his best to maintain his composure, and shook the wine bag at his waist towards the giant.

"Of course, the rum should be enjoyed slowly in a small glass." Kroger came to Griffith, looking down at the apprentice knight. "Please forgive my rudeness. I was preparing dinner, but the spider He struggled a lot and poked me twice."

"I totally understand. Not having dinner makes me nervous." Griffith respectfully handed Kroger the wine bag and roast meat like a gift, and was led to the hut by the overjoyed hut owner.

"I'm so sorry, I'm very humble here." Kroger scratched the soles of his shoes on the insole at the door, walked into the house while apologizing, quickly took out the wine glasses and knives and forks from the cupboard, and began to pack the wine and food in his hand. .

The humble hut was surprisingly neat.There is almost no sludge on the flat brown wooden board, and some daily necessities are neatly placed on the simple table and chairs.There was half a pumpkin on the dining table, and a giant black spider was twitching on the cutting board beside it.

This terrifying creature has eight black tentacles and a pair of giant pincers, the size of a puppy, and there are huge mouthparts opening and closing on the front of its head.Two axes were stuck in the body of the demon spider, green blood spattered from the wound intermittently, and the painted chopping board was everywhere.

It seems that Kroger was not invited to the banquet just now.With this standard of living, there is usually no wine to drink, no wonder the reaction was so big just now.

Griffith pulled out the chair and sat down, estimating the food the host might serve, and waved his hand and said, "I don't drink, do you have any pumpkins?"

"Yes!" Kroger happily took back the wine glass he had just handed to Griffith, broke a large piece from the cooked pumpkin and handed it to the apprentice knight, then poured himself a full glass of rum liquor.

"Haha~" The giant quickly took a sip, then sighed.The smell of wine and pleasure pervaded together.

"How does it taste?" Griffith asked.

"Taste? Of course there is nothing to say!" Kroger took another sip cautiously, "The principal is afraid that I will get drunk and make trouble, so I can only drink a little bit every month, which is less than a glass."

Griffith immediately watched the giant vigilantly, and found that he did not look like he would go crazy after drinking this, so he took a sip of Kroger's cooked pumpkin with confidence.

Ahh...no taste at all!The apprentice knight chewed the tasteless pumpkin, watched the giant drinking rum carefully, and pushed the paper package containing the venison over.

Kroger immediately took the venison brought by Griffith from the paper bag and chewed it in his mouth, seeing Knight Xi's expression becoming more cordial.

"Mr. Kroger, are you the only ranger under the walls?"

"Yes, rangers are dangerous jobs!" Kroger replied earnestly. "It wasn't that there were no other rangers before, but they were either scared away or died in the woods. Now there are only permanent ones left. I am alone, and occasionally the principal will ask some laborers to help."

With your perception, physique, and strength, the usual dangers must be out of your reach.Griffith got up and walked to the kitchen counter, turning over the dead giant spider corpse, and using iron tongs to erect a broken leg: "Is this black spider also a monster from the forest? Can it be eaten?"

Thick dark green flesh can be vaguely seen in the gaps between the broken arthropods of the magic spider. Aside from the color, it is quite plump.

"Yes, my God! Be careful my friend, its meat is contaminated with evil magic, and eating it directly is not only harmful to the body, but also makes people crazy. It needs careful preparation to remove the poison before eating," Kroger said. , "It takes a lot of time. Next time, if you have time, I invite you to taste the magic spider meat."

"I can understand that it is harmful to the body. What is it like to make people crazy?"

"The forest...has, um, a very strange power that makes animals mutate," Kroger said with his already knotted tongue, who hadn't had a few drinks. "The forest is full of crazy bloodthirsty monsters, and their Together...for a long time, people will also be insane. I don't understand the reason."

What an interesting place... Griffith listened to Kroger's introduction while looking out the window at the silent dark forest.

Gusts of wind blew through the black treetops, blowing an ominous and weird sound that had never been heard until Griffith's ears.The trainee knight calmed down to feel it carefully, and felt dizzy for a while.In the vague darkness, something seemed to be watching Homewarts.

(End of this chapter)