After dinner, Colin made his way to the basement as usual.
Normally, he practiced his Breathing Skills and witchcraft in the basement, while meditation was done in the Meditation Room of the master bedroom.
But this time was somewhat different—
He brought along his gray money pouch.
Entering the basement, he placed the money pouch on a wooden table to the side.
Colin began to practice witchcraft in rotation, with streams of light flickering over him.
As such, time quietly passed by, the moon reaching its zenith, and the night deepened.
Finally, Colin stopped practicing.
With a thought, he summoned the Golden Paper.
For a month now, he had not slacked off, continuing to work hard from dawn to dusk—
The Hope Defense Field, Lesser High Temperature Tolerance, and Fireball Technique, he had just pushed the progress of these three witchcraft skills to their limits.
Picking up the money pouch and converting enough Limit Breaking Points, he did not hesitate and began the Limit Breaking.
With a determined thought, he pressed heavily on the ↑ symbol!
Bang.
With the shimmer of golden light, Colin involuntarily closed his eyes. His mind felt as if a fresh spring had been uncovered, knowledge bubbling forth like spring water.
His brain whirred rapidly, causing his face to slightly redden.
After an indeterminate amount of time, he opened his eyes and looked at the Golden Paper again.
[Name: Colin Leonard]
[Rank: Intermediate Wizard Apprentice (7/100); Great Knight (80/100)]
[Meditation Method: Apprentice Circulation Meditation I (60/100); Sunlight Breathing Method II (10/100)]
[Witchcraft: Zero Level Tricks: Summary; Zero Level Witchcraft: Steel Armor I (34/100); Arrow Shooting Skill I (38/100); Lesser High Temperature Tolerance I (0/100); Hope Defense Field I (0/100); Fireball Skill I (0/100); Detect Evil (85/100); Purification Evil Power (89/100)]
[Skill: Basic Level Magic Crystal Making—(Bright Crystal Making (Golden))]
[Talent: Intermediate Strong Life (99/100)]
[Limit Breaking Points: 0]
This time, breaking the limits of three witchcraft skills cost a total of three Limit Breaking Points, or three Magic Stones.
From now on, he had 89 Magic Stones left.
Colin's gaze slowly shifted downward.
In the Talent section, Intermediate Strong Life was about to reach its limit.
'Maybe… today?' he pondered with a flicker in his eyes.
After all, the progress of Intermediate Strong Life had already reached 99/100 five days ago. Based on the past rate of progress, the time to reach the limit should be today!
With that thought in mind, Colin immediately began to practice the Sunlight Breathing Skill without even trying out the three witchcraft skills post-Limit Breaking!
Time flowed like water.
After completing the Sunlight Breathing Skill for the third time, the progress of Talent Intermediate Strong Life on the Golden Paper gradually changed, reaching 100/100. A black ↑ symbol began to slowly emerge behind it.
Just like before, Colin eagerly started to convert Limit Breaking Points, paying close attention to the ↑ symbol behind Intermediate Strong Life on the Golden Paper.
When the edge of the ↑ symbol began to shine with a dazzling halo, it meant that the converted Limit Breaking Points were sufficient to break the limit!
One Magic Stone, two Magic Stones… they were swiftly converted into Limit Breaking Points.
But gradually, Colin's expression began to change.
The amount of Limit Breaking Points he had converted had reached 40!
Yet the ↑ symbol behind Intermediate Strong Life remained unchanged, its black color still dull.
He momentarily paused in his conversion of Limit Breaking Points and then continued.
Although whether it was the witchcraft learned earlier or the Breathing Skills, the cost had never exceeded 10 points on their first limit break, the highest being 5 points for the Circulation Meditation Method.
But after all, when Intermediate Strong Life first appeared on the Golden Paper, it was enveloped in a circle of purple light, while other witchcraft, to this point, only had the twice Limit Breaking Sunlight Breathing Method in purple.
So it was quite normal that the first limit break required more Limit Breaking Points.
After a while, Colin suddenly stopped the action of converting Limit Breaking Points.
When he checked the Golden Paper, at the very bottom under the Limit Breaking Point section, the number of Limit Breaking Points had reached 81.
Yet, the ↑ symbol after the Intermediate Strong Life remained completely unchanged.
And the Magic Stones in his hand now numbered only eight.
Just as when he first enhanced his Circulation Meditation without gambling, this time, he didn't intend to gamble either.
Moreover, by deduction based on color—
The Sunlight Breathing Technique, also purple, had consumed a full 50 Magic Stones to break the limit for the second time and turn purple, while it had only taken 1 Magic Stone for the first limit break.
If we calculate using the same increase, the cost in Limit Breaking Points for the third limit breaking of the Sunlight Breathing Technique would likely be 2500 stones.
Thus, for the Intermediate Strong Life, also purple, it probably would take far more than merely another 8 Limit Breaking Points to break through.
"Perhaps, it's time to revert to the old business of accumulating Magic Stones..."
Colin stored away the remaining Magic Stones and began testing the witchcraft he had just broken through with.
First was the Hope Defense Field.
After casting it, Colin picked up a bee sting—relegated to a mere ornament next to him—and thrust forcefully into his other arm!
Under his powerful force, the slender blade of the bee sting bent quickly, and after a careful feel, Colin retracted the sting.
The Hope Defense Field now provided at least twice the defense compared to before—this boost was in physical defense, and the mental aspect... would presumably not be too far off.
As Colin withdrew the sword, the flexible blade of the bee sting snapped back to its straight form instantly, and the tip vibrated with a buzzing sound.
It has to be said, the bee sting was indeed a fine sword... it was just a pity that in his hands, it was at most an ornament. By the time he was so pressed as to need the bee sting, it likely would be of little use.
Next, he tested the Fireball Technique.
Whoosh!
The fireball flared up in his palm abruptly, its brightness casting an orange glow over Colin's skin.
He considered the small basement and hesitated before slightly reducing the intensity of the Fireball Technique.
Only then did he shoot it towards the iron-clad wooden target in the distance.
Boom!!
The moment the orange fireball came into contact with the wooden target, it exploded violently, the shock wave knocking down the target and the intense heat causing the iron plate on the chest of the target to turn slightly red.
Looking at this... a Fireball Technique after one limit break would be equivalent to the more powerful hand grenades from his previous life. Of course, this was only a rough comparison—after all, grenades mainly rely on shrapnel, while the Fireball Technique relied on flames and shock waves.
Regarding High Temperature Tolerance, the Second Level.
Colin approached the iron-clad wooden target which had become slightly red from the Fireball Technique, cast the spell, and then tried touching it with his finger. It was very hot but not enough to burn and cause pain.
His gaze flickered as he drew a solid iron cone bomb from his pocket, concentrating his thoughts.
An orange flame from the Ignition Technique appeared beneath the cone bomb, heating it continuously.
The color of the cone bomb first turned to a dark red, then to orange-red, getting brighter and shifting to orange-yellow.
It was at this moment that Colin began to feel a burning sensation in his hand.
"Likely, it can provide immunity to temperatures below 800 to 900 degrees."
Colin set the cone bomb aside to cool and nodded in satisfaction.
A breakthrough in the second level of High Temperature Tolerance, Hope Defense Field, Steel Armor, and Blood Energy Armor, made his defense undoubtedly top notch among the Advanced Wizard Apprentices.
Not to mention he also had the life-saving Talent of Strong Life at its peak.
He could already imagine the despair on his enemies' faces when, after much effort to pierce his defenses thinking they could seriously wound him, they would find that any injury they inflicted would heal in the blink of an eye!
On the other hand, his Fireball Technique had also broken through the limit, and when combined with the Arrow Shooting Skill, his offensive capabilities were also quite adequate.
Colin couldn't help but smile and then pondered in silence.
"With offense and defense already solid, the only shortcoming right now... might be evasion."
Thinking this, he suddenly regretted converting a full 51 Magic Stones into Limit Breaking Points...
Otherwise, he could go to the trade street tomorrow to see if he could find a fitting witchcraft.
But then he thought again. Arrow Shooting Skill was just an ordinary witchcraft after all.
He still had 8 Magic Stones, and perhaps he could find a comparable witchcraft to enhance through the Golden Paper.
"I'll go have a look tomorrow," he silently decided.