abnabooks Chapter 56 Ether is Dancing
Chapter 56 Ether is Dancing
Hey, my friend.
Have you ever seen ether dancing?
Magic hissed, and clusters of light shone.
The whole world was plunged into an inexplicable ecstasy.
Your body lost its weight; it turned into wind, into water, into the basic particles that make up the world.
It travels across the earth, across the boundless sky, floating, scattering, and dancing among the clouds.
Your pulse merges with the tides of magic—a unity of heaven and man.
Hey, hey, hey.
When Goblin Grubb swallowed the solidified aether, he finally understood what the artifact had promised him when he first opened the Book of Sand.
Eternal.
I was once a dull goblin, not even knowing what I wanted, living in a daze.
And now, I am...
I am a wizard.
In the meditation space, Geb slowly descended amidst the tadpoles of light, his feet touching the ground.
He stood within the circular rune, which he had already broken through to complete. The rune had not disappeared; on the contrary, as Gebu completed the Deep Well Ritual, the rune expanded outward.
A new ring grows out of the old one, transforms, rotates, and then settles. New ancient sage symbols appear outside the ring, the entire rune emitting a faint silver light.
From ring 0 to ring 1.
Geb lightly touched the circular rune—after swallowing the aether crystal (he almost choked to death, it was even more difficult than completing the Deep Well Robbery), the excess magical energy contained in his body was transmitted to the rune through his fingers, and three of the six nodes surrounding the rune lit up in sequence.
【Node 3/6】
Geb trembled with excitement—it's here, it's finally here! After all this hard work, he can finally become a real wizard!
Book of Sand, tell me quickly, what have I obtained?
The Book of Sand revealed to Geb what he had obtained in vibrant golden script.
-----------------
The Path of a Wizard
Level 1 Wizard
It can cast a level 1 spell.
Gain 2 spell slots in the first ring, refreshed through meditation.
Unlock spells via nodes:
1 first-level spells;
1 ritual spell;
4 first-level spells;
-----------------
many!
Geb grabbed his pointed ears and ran wildly around the edge of the rune like a wild dog, turning the tadpoles of light watching the fun above the rune upside down.
Previously, when you broke through a node, you could only learn a 0-level spell with great difficulty. After officially obtaining the wizard level, the rewards for each node have also increased!
It took Geb a while to calm down after his initial excitement—he picked up the Book of Sand and began reading the information line by line.
First-level spells like Cloudfall and Burning Hand are significantly more powerful than first-level spells.
The cost is that there are only two loop positions per day.
Spell slots need to be refreshed through meditation, and meditation can only be performed once a day—it's not that Gebu isn't diligent, it's just like sleeping; if you're not sleepy, you can't fall asleep even if you want to.
Perhaps forced meditation could be achieved through sleeping pills?
Gebu thought about it and realized that even so, a single meditation session would take eight hours, which was basically equivalent to a day.
Therefore, there are two ring positions per day.
"How stingy! I'll have to use it sparingly," Gebu thought.
After consuming the crystallized ether, Geb quickly broke through three nodes, completing 3/6 of the progress.
very good.
He didn't even remember the girl who lost her shoe and was trapped in the deep well during the robbery—guilt? What was that?
Hey, what can she do? She trusted a goblin.
Anyway, that guy already knows how to solve the trial's puzzles, so we can just climb the tower again... to keep fit.
I did it for her own good, to let her experience the ugliness of society early on. Yes, that's it.
Next comes the most exciting part:
Choose a spell!
-----------------
Gebu realized that the next challenge he would face was the old shaman and the Broken Tooth tribe—he needed to act like a ghost, he needed offensive power, and he also needed to protect himself.
Let's see what the Book of Sand offers...
For 0-ring spells, the Book of Sand offers a familiar choice of three.
[0st Ring Spell]
[Swarm Technique] [Water Control Technique] [Secondary Illusion]
[Swarm Spell]: Creates a swarm of magical bees that attack a creature within a 10-meter radius for six seconds. The magical bees cannot be dispersed or killed, and disappear after the time expires.
This spell is more disruptive than lethal—Gebu recalled being chased by bees while raiding a beehive, and it was indeed terrifying.
But six seconds isn't enough to kill someone! What a useless snack.
[Water Control Technique]: To manipulate 1/10 of a cubic meter of water within a ten-meter radius.
This includes: changing the direction of water flow—not enough to cause harm;
The water body changes shape and continues to do so for one hour.
It alters the color and transparency of the water, lasting for one hour;
Or let the water freeze.
Note: This product is only effective for liquid water present in the external environment; it is ineffective for water within living organisms, water vapor in the air, and ice.
Ah, I initially thought there was a lot of room for maneuver, but after seeing the last point, it all became meaningless.
Originally, I was thinking of something like freezing the water inside a person's body... a blood vessel explosion technique.
Hmm... a level 0 spell can't be that powerful.
The last one is [Secondary Phantom].
Create a still image or sound within ten meters. The duration is one minute.
The size of the image must not exceed 1 cubic meter, and the intensity of the sound must not exceed three times the volume of the spellcaster's voice.
Gebu thought for a moment and realized that compared to the previous two spells, the ability of Lesser Illusion to feign divine intervention might be effective in the upcoming final battle.
It's him!
Next, we will perform ritual magic.
[Detecting poisons and diseases]
Animal Communication Skills
[Identification Techniques]
Does this even need explanation? You can tell what it does just by looking at the name.
The first spell can detect toxins and diseases in food and living things, while the second spell allows you to talk to animals for 10 minutes.
The third spell allows you to understand the functions and attributes of magical items.
Each of the three spells costs 1 gold coin. That's a bit pricey.
The first one can be skipped—it's not very useful right now.
The second one might be very useful: if you can talk to the giant hyenas, maybe you can persuade them to join you?
Uh... just because you can communicate doesn't mean they'll be friendly to you. In their eyes, you're probably no different from a piece of pork rib.
Gebu isn't very interested in making friends with animals; she's not a princess from a fairy tale.
The third spell has a clear purpose, and it can be used right now—we still don't know what those two magic scrolls are!
After a moment's thought, Gebu chose Appraisal as his second spell.
Now, here comes the main event! First-circle spell!
Gebu chuckled and rubbed his hands together in a lewd manner.
Come on, give me a choice of three: the Book of Sand! Let me see what magical treasures it contains!
The words on the Book of Sand slowly accumulated energy, arranging themselves in a leisurely order—as if teasing the goblins.
Gebu wished he could reach into the book, pluck out the knowledge from it, and stuff it into his own brain.
Just as the goblins were becoming increasingly anxious, the Book of Sand suddenly erupted with a surge of energy—one, two, ten…
Hundreds and thousands of ancient sage letters drift and rotate on the paper—
Then, countless spell names appeared on the Book of Sand:
[Element Absorption Alarm, Beast Transformation to Friend, Catastrophe, Burning Hand, Cataclysmic Thriller, Ceremony, Charm Human, Dazzling Orb, Rainbow Jet, Command Spell, Water Creation...]
Feed...feed!
I told you to choose one of three, but you listed out every single first-level spell?!