The lead stag was particularly alert. While drinking, it would raise its head every few seconds, eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings as its ears twitched nonstop, catching any suspicious sound.

Everything around seemed normal—only the RUSTLE of leaves in the breeze and the occasional birdsong in the distance.

In the midst of this peaceful atmosphere, a roar filled with malice suddenly erupted from a bush dozens of meters from the riverbank!

"ROAR!!!"

The roar instantly shattered the tranquil atmosphere, and the sika deer reacted at once.

By all rights, the naturally timid sika deer should have bolted and vanished deep into the forest.

However, something bizarre happened.

The lead stag was about to sprint when its body suddenly went rigid. Then, as if all its strength had been drained, it collapsed onto the bank with a THUMP.

The other deer suffered the same fate. They panicked, trying to flee, but their limbs refused to obey. They could only scramble and stumble in place, completely unable to make an effective escape.

Watching this unfold, Zelir nodded slightly from within the bushes.

’Not bad at all.’

[Evil Words Skill]

Magic Faction: Spirit Magic System

Structure Type: Single-Layer Spell Structure

Magic Level: Level Two

Effect Description: The Caster channels Magic Power to emit a roar filled with malice. The target suffers a Spirit shock, inducing a state of panic.

The Evil Words Skill has no physical offensive power; it is a pure Control Magic. It is remarkably effective against creatures with weak willpower or low Intelligence, capable of temporarily robbing them of their ability to move.

However, against an opponent with resolute willpower, the control effect of the Evil Words Skill is greatly diminished. It might only cause them to act with slight sluggishness or hesitation, and may even have no effect at all.

Note: The Evil Words Skill is not an area-of-effect spell. Only selected targets will suffer the Spirit impact. The number of targets that can be locked onto increases with the amount of Magic Power invested.

This was the Magic Zelir had learned from the White-haired Goblin; after just a few days, he had finished analyzing and learned it.

With 82 points in Intelligence, his analysis speed was much faster than when he had first unlocked Technique Celestial Calculation.

Zelir was quite satisfied with the magic’s effect.

Now that he had both the Heavy Pressure Technique and the Evil Words Skill, he had a significant advantage in field control and could handle more complex situations.

On the riverbank, it took the sika deer more than ten seconds to gradually regain control of their bodies. They struggled to their feet and fled the area in a panic.

After the sika deer were gone, Zelir walked over to the bank and began to practice his other Magic.

"Fireball Skill!"

"Wind Blade Technique!"

"Ice Cone Skill!"

One after another, Level Two Magic spells flew from his hands.

Finally, Zelir felt his Magic Power beginning to run low.

He braced his hands on the grass and sat down, exhaling softly.

These past few days, Zelir had spent nearly all his free time practicing Magic, determined to fully grasp the improvements brought on by his Intelligence Attribute.

His diligent practice had paid off. Zelir’s understanding of Spell Structures and his Magic Manipulation Level had both improved.

So far, his casting time for the Level Three Elemental Magic, Flame Breath Skill, had broken the seven-second barrier, dropping to just over six seconds.

Meanwhile, the casting time for the even more powerful Arcane Missile had been compressed to just over seven seconds through Zelir’s constant practice and optimization.

And with the addition of the White Wax Wood Base Material, his Casting Speed could be boosted even further.

However, Zelir could clearly feel that this was his limit.

His Casting Speed for Level Two Magic was still stuck at four seconds. Although the process of tracing the spell with Magic Power had become smoother, he still couldn’t optimize the Spell Structure itself.

He was still a fair distance from the Junior Mage standard: "cast Level Three Magic in under five seconds, and Level Two Magic in under three seconds."

’Sigh... I guess I just have to keep leveling up.’

Zelir sighed to himself.

He’d hit a bottleneck. Sheer hard practice was having little effect now. Only a breakthrough in his Attributes from leveling up could shatter these shackles.

’Time to go back to the Adventurer’s Association and take on more quests!’

After finishing his training, Zelir didn’t go straight to Marcus. Instead, he first went to find Valles.

He needed to find out what exactly was written in that ancient text in the Elven Language.

Valles’s room was immaculate; even the blanket on his bed was folded with meticulous care.

Zelir’s room, by comparison, was a mess.

Every morning, he just kicked his legs free of the covers, too lazy to tidy up—after all, he’d only mess it up again when he came back to sleep.

Valles, who was in the middle of polishing his Longbow, stopped in surprise when he saw Zelir.

"Your leg’s healed?" Valles asked, looking at Zelir.

"It’s all better now."

Zelir hopped in place twice. "There’s a Mage at the Association who knows Healing Magic."

"Getting ready for a quest?"

"Yes, but before that, there’s something I wanted to show you."

Zelir carefully took the ancient text, made from white tree bark, from within his clothes and handed it over. "Do you know what this says?"

For the past few days, Zelir had been trying to permeate the parchment that advanced his Great Creation Skill with his Spiritual Power, but he hadn’t made any further breakthroughs.

Valles took the book, a puzzled look on his face, and opened the cover. The moment his eyes fell upon the ancient, elegant script on the pages, his expression turned to shock.

"This... Is this book written in the Elven Language?"

"Yes. I stumbled upon it in the Association’s library. It piqued my interest, so I thought I’d ask if you could read it," Zelir said.

Seeing Valles’s reaction, Zelir felt a flicker of anticipation.

Valles began to read it carefully while Zelir waited quietly to the side. He couldn’t help but notice, however, that Valles’s brow was knitting tighter and tighter.

After a good while, Valles finally shook his head.

"No... I can’t read it."

"You don’t know the Elven Language?" Zelir asked, surprised.

"I do, but there are different dialects of the Elven Language."

Valles explained, "Most Elf clans rarely move from their ancestral homes, so their communities are relatively closed off and traditional. Over a long time, their languages develop their own unique differences."

"But those differences are usually like regional dialects. Even if you can’t understand everything, you can still grasp the general meaning."

"But this book..."

Valles flipped through a few more pages. "The Elven Language in this book is too different from the one I know. So different it’s practically another language."

"I can barely make out that it’s an ancient text recording myths and legends. Beyond that, I can’t tell you anything more."

Valles closed the book and handed it back to Zelir, his eyes filled with puzzlement. "I really have no idea... what kind of Elf clan would ever use a language like this."