Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

"A sacrificial summoning... What is she summoning?!"

"Gaga cried out urgently, 'Ian, interrupt her!'"

Ian certainly knew.

His left arm was still bleeding, and he was in excruciating pain, but he kept walking.

As it charged toward the crow, it unleashed several Frost Rays, which were blocked by an extremely tough force field.

He loosely clenched his right hand again, preparing to rub the second gravity-collapsed ball.

But it was too late.

The raven's body was completely shriveled, like a skeleton covered in human skin.

But suddenly, two eerie green flames ignited in his eyes!

"Hehehe..."

Inhuman laughter emanated from her throat.

She raised her hand, her withered fingers reaching for Ian, and made a grabbing motion in the air!

hum!

Five dark green energy chains appeared out of thin air and wrapped around Ian's limbs and neck!

The chain has fine barbs on its surface; once wrapped around, they will pierce into flesh and blood, draining life force and spiritual energy.

Ian gritted his teeth; the gravity collapse sphere in his right hand hadn't taken shape yet, so he could only dodge for now.

He pushed off with his feet, shifted his body to the left, and raised his left arm to withstand a chain!

laugh!

The chains wrapped around his left arm, and his formidable defense and outer layer of memory-soft gold were pierced through as easily as paper.

The barbs pierced the flesh, and dark green energy seeped into the wound, like countless tiny insects gnawing at it.

Ian grunted, veins bulging on his forehead.

But he didn't stop, constantly resisting the pulling force of the chains and struggling to dodge.

When the crow saw that Ian still wanted to use witchcraft, a strange smile appeared on its withered face.

She raised her other hand, and a complex array of runes appeared in her palm.

Death and Decay!

A dark green halo exploded outwards from her, instantly spreading to a range of hundreds of meters!

Wherever the halo passed, the weeds withered and turned to ashes, the ground turned charred black, and even the air was filled with the smell of decay.

Ian was struck by the halo, and his skin felt like it was being pricked with needles. His life force was draining away like water from a burst dam!

He bit his tongue, the intense pain stimulating his mind, pushing the [Furnace Tempering Technique] to its limit.

The jade-like luster beneath the skin shone again, barely resisting the decay and erosion, but the body became incredibly heavy.

At this point, the crow, besides having a greatly reduced IQ, had surpassed the limits of a first-level wizard.

His withered, bony claws reached out and grabbed at Ian's head from afar!

A hair's breadth away.

"Ian!"

With a piercing scream, it pounced out of the shadows, its body instantly swelling to its maximum size.

He recklessly crashed into the crow, his broad wings forming a black shield in front of Ian!

laugh!

Bone claws pierced through Ga Ga's wings, black feathers flew everywhere, and blood splattered out.

"Gah!"

With a scream, it didn't retreat, and at the same time, [Eye of Calamity] was cast again!

Han Ya froze, countless tragic fantasies flashing through her mind, but she immediately dispelled them!

"Get away!" she roared, grabbing at Gaga's head with her other hand.

But it was only a brief delay.

Ian’s gravity-collapsed sphere has finally taken shape!

A small, gray ball, about the size of a marble, appeared in his palm and then disappeared.

He telepathically transmitted to Gaga: "Retreat quickly!"

The next second, it appeared on the crow's chest.

Han Yuan's pupils contracted sharply, and she wanted to retreat.

Gaga's body suddenly shrank, and its figure disappeared into the shadows.

"Let's die together!"

She screamed, and all the remaining death energy within her exploded, attempting to self-destruct.

But... the gravitational collapse sphere exploded first.

The grayish-white energy ball expanded, engulfing the crow, the spot where the cawing had disappeared, and half of Ian's body.

hum...

The low hum lasted for three seconds.

The energy cluster dissipated.

The crows were gone, leaving only a small clump of ashes.

Gaa landed in the grass forty meters away, with a large bloody hole in its wing.

Its feathers were charred black, its small eyes were half-closed, and blood was still flowing from its mouth.

Ian knelt on one knee, the skin on his left arm where the Death Chains were wrapped was ulcerated and blackened.

His chest was swept by the halo of decay, leaving large charred marks, and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

But he is still alive.

He took a breath, struggled to his feet, staggered over to Gaga's side, and squatted down.

"quack……"

Gaga opened its eyes, saw Ian, its shrunken wings fluttered, and it tried to stand up, but failed.

"Ian...we won, huh..."

Her voice was weak, but it carried a smile.

Ian felt a lump in his throat; if Gaga hadn't risked his life to hold him off for a moment, he wouldn't have been able to cast any spells.

He took out a potent healing potion from his dimensional ring, uncorked it, and carefully poured it onto the wound on Gaa's wing.

When the medicine comes into contact with the wound, white smoke rises, and the flesh and blood regenerate rapidly.

He then took out a [Mental Recovery Potion] and fed it to Gaga.

"Drink it."

It opened its mouth wide and drank in small sips. After drinking, it felt better and the bleeding from the wound on its wing stopped.

Ian then tended to his injuries.

The death chain on his left arm had disappeared, but the wound was still festering.

He rinsed it with a treatment agent, disinfected it with a purifying agent, and finally sprinkled hemostatic powder on it before wrapping it tightly with a bandage.

He scraped away the charred skin on his chest with a knife, then applied medicine, the pain causing him to sweat profusely.

After finishing, he walked to the ashes' corpse, squatted down, and began to loot.

We found a dimensional ring and a token from the Purple Iris Merchant Guild.

He emptied everything from the ring onto the ground.

There weren't many magic stones, a little over two hundred high-level magic stones, plus some miscellaneous materials, potions, and scrolls.

But a few things made Ian's expression turn serious.

The first item was two secret letters found inside the Ash Ring.

Written in shadow cipher, Ian, seeing that Gaga had regained some of his spirits, had it deciphered.

"Target: Ian Marcus, a first-class potion master at Shadowmoon Tower, highly suspicious, suspected of being involved in the death of Deacon Hector."

The "Cursed Dead" squad has been assembled and will arrive within ten days. They are tasked with uncovering the treasure Hector spoke of.

Another letter, written by someone from the Crimson Royal Court, provided some supporting information.

Their goal appears to be investigating Patton's death, but their focus is different; they prioritize "retrieving the secret manual."

After reading it, Ian remained silent for several minutes.

Trouble from the underground world eventually came his way.

On the Crimson Royal Court's side, they must have used some kind of secret method to track down some of the aura of the [Crimson Codex].

But Hector felt something was amiss while he was underground.

This person is very purposeful; they must have obtained some specific information to appear in the Withered Forest.

"As expected, there's no such thing as a free lunch."

Ian shook off these distracting thoughts and stored the useful information into his dimensional ring.

Burn the useless ones, along with the corpses, to ashes using [Frost Ray] and scatter them into the weeds.

This battle made him clearly realize the limits of his own strength.

Below the level two wizard level, with the help of Gaga, he was virtually invincible.

In the entire Shadowmoon Tower, including some old monsters, there are probably fewer than ten level two wizards.

"Every liquefaction wizard is extraordinary; they all possess secret techniques for fighting to the death. Remember this in the future."

That woman just now, apart from lacking the soul attack of a level two wizard's crystallized silk threads, was not much different from a level two wizard.

Fortunately, although there were some unexpected events, the result was still pretty good.

When his cultivation level improves further and his spiritual power becomes more refined...

He walked back to Gaga, picked it up, and gently stroked its head.

"Does it hurt?"

"It hurts..." Ga Ga nestled in his arms, her voice muffled, "It's good that we won."

"Yeah, we won," Ian said. "I'll treat you to something extra when we get back—the best blood essence, all you can eat."

"Really?"

"real."

"Then I'll eat ten!"

"Okay, twenty pills are fine."

Ian held Gaga in his arms, and his figure gradually disappeared.

The wind blew, the ashes scattered, leaving not a trace.