Emerging from meditation, Luge found himself lost in thought.
Upon investigation, he discovered the spell model had undergone a subtle change—no, a significant change. The spell model solidified in his spell slot, now fused with him, had actually gained an extra node.
Fetid Skin’s nineteen spell model nodes had actually become twenty.
The number of nodes did not represent the spell’s strength, but rather changes in direction and functional effect.
Was this a change an apprentice wizard could produce on his own, without actively doing it or remaking it by hand?
Was it because the spell solidified in his spell slot had fused with himself, becoming like an instinct? He speculated wildly, very much wanting to find someone to ask—whether other wizards who had completed spell solidification had encountered this.
If it were uncommon, it would pique wizards’ interest even more; someone would surely record and study it, perhaps at the wizard academy mentioned in Kaliu’s diary, where there might be something to answer his questions. Perhaps in such a place, this wasn’t a difficult question at all.
Half-Man should know about this, right? he thought.
Perhaps he would also know what that Holy Bone-Hand Tree was.
The other’s strangeness and mystery had invisibly elevated his image; at least he crudely believed Half-Man should be more powerful than the instructors mentioned in Kaliu’s diary.
As for the spell’s changed effects, he already had a rough idea.
He raised both arms and stretched fiercely.
After just sleeping and then meditating, his spirit had recovered well, and his arms no longer ached.
He had originally planned to use the remaining two inheritance scrolls, then pick a spell from those books to study, but now a dream had disrupted everything.
He got up and went straight to the kobold settlement where Old Gold Tooth lived, since he had some things to discuss with the old kobold.
The appearance of lizardfolk, the inexplicable change of the Holy Lord, and the iron-wielding distant kinsmen from who knows where seemed to have no effect on these kobolds; after the initial panic, they remained as they were.
Seeing two kobolds walking toward him, he felt a stir and activated the Fetid Skin spell.
The extra node affected the other nodes on the spell model.
In his perception, the spell wasn’t completely changed; rather, it had gained a function, or perhaps a new method of use.
He first passed by discreetly; as the distance closed, the two kobolds were definitely within the spell’s range. But they seemed fine, carrying two broken wooden staves with beast teeth that weren’t even tied on, walking leisurely.
Just as he was thinking this, one kobold turned and glanced at him, then promptly collapsed with a thud.
Watching the twitching figure on the ground, most of his previous speculation was confirmed.
His mouth corners once again couldn’t help but turn upward.
Instantly becoming a smug little kobold—too bad their tribe had no tails, otherwise they’d surely wag a bit.
Previously, he had noticed he could occasionally sense others’ malice more clearly; he had thought it was the wild instinct of kobolds, or that becoming an apprentice wizard with stronger mental power would naturally make him more sensitive. Now it seemed this was also related to the solidified zero-ring spell Fetid Skin.
This change in the spell allowed him to more clearly sense others’ malice toward him.
And after entering that state, those without malice toward him would not suffer the stench.
Although he hadn’t figured out how the dream caused the change in the spell, it was indeed a good change.
For a moment, his mood was like a child who had received a new toy.
Too bad there was no one to share it with; he truly wanted to find an apprentice wizard to discuss and exchange ideas with.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the stench fed back wasn’t the original spell’s stench; perhaps the stench when he learned this spell had already been somewhat different.
It came from the mental level—the stench of malice, a taste unique to evil; the greater the malice, the denser the malice, the more evil stench would be fed back from the source of malice.
It was feedback, and also a gift from evil.
Thud!
The other kobold also fell.
Kobolds, simple-minded creatures, upon seeing their companion fall and noticing him in the distance, immediately surged with malice toward him.
Of course, this was understandable, but this spell required even more cautious use, he thought.
This was a spell likely to leave one without friends.
Living in a big city or wizard academy, one couldn’t use it recklessly; who could have no malice in their heart? Swing your arms to knock everyone down, and you wouldn’t see a single friend.
Just like now, he had stopped the spell because he was going to see Old Gold Tooth.
Malice came in sizes great and small, and individual threats varied in weight; in his eyes, Old Gold Tooth belonged to the category that didn’t matter at all—an old kobold with impaired mobility and not long to live; even with the heaviest malice, he posed no threat.
“Young kobold sage, you’ve come to chat with Old Gold Tooth again, and want to hear another of Old Gold Tooth’s stories?”
Old Gold Tooth seemed very happy to see him arrive.
Aisjin was not nearby.
“Little Aisjin took the big guy out to catch bugs; that big-bellied fellow might not be back for a while.”
Old Gold Tooth said this, fiddling with the luminous threads on his body with his fingers, appearing utterly indifferent to the approaching end of his life.
“You mentioned the sun before,” he said, casually sitting down, not wanting to stand and look down at the old kobold. “Have you ever been to the surface? Or do you know the way to the surface world?”
Old Gold Tooth was stunned, apparently not expecting Luge to say these things.
“Well, I knew young people would definitely be interested in these,” Old Gold Tooth chuckled, “You can actually speak of the surface world—it seems you have some other friends. Before I contacted those dark-skinned pointy-ears, I knew nothing about this. When they spoke of longing for the surface, I completely didn’t understand. When they spoke of sun and moon, I thought they were food unique to elves.”
“However, you’ll be disappointed, young man—I’ve never seen any sun at all. I only heard them talk about it in those little taverns on the pointy-ear elves’ turf, and they don’t know how to get to the surface either. The dragonborn kobolds are the same; anyway, none of those I’ve met have ever been to the surface world.”
Old Gold Tooth curled his lip and twitched the corner of his mouth, as if the luminous threads on his face made him very uncomfortable.
“By the way, those pointy-ears said the sun—those humans’ Earth Cave cities are very big, very big. Every large Earth Cave city has a sun above its head. They said that light can illuminate the entire Earth Cave domain surrounding the city where life exists, and every so often the light dims, then after a while brightens again. When it dims, humans sleep in their nests.”
Old Gold Tooth kept marveling at human strength.
When Luge heard nothing new from him, he would speak up to introduce the next topic, and Old Gold Tooth was happy to do so, always having a new topic to chat about.
This unexpected old kobold was like a treasury hard to exhaust, but he also had moments of getting stuck.
“A kobold tribe serving a true dragon must be very powerful,” Luge guided, saying, “Earlier I encountered a group of tall kobolds with iron weapons appearing nearby; they happened to run into a squad of lizardfolk and fought. I don’t know if they’re from the same place as you.”
“I truly didn’t expect the vicinity to be in such a mess. It seems you were right not to let Aisjin follow them hunting. Unfortunately, I no longer have the strength; even eating meat is difficult…”
Old Gold Tooth chattered on and on, but just wouldn’t mention where his former tribe was.
Chapter 15