Chapter 273 - 25: Spiritual Strength Doubled

Chapter 273: Chapter 25: Spiritual Strength Doubled

But the facts were plain to see.

Her master had been reading for over ten minutes, yet the Artificial Soul hadn’t detected the slightest hint of agitation.

Instead, she would occasionally see a faint smile grace her master’s face whenever the Pen of Contemplation completed a Divination calculation for a particular point of knowledge, and he grasped the Mystery within.

A few seconds later.

Flower used a form of Witchcraft to observe his Spiritual Strength and keenly detected that her master’s spiritual fluctuations were gradually increasing.

He was beginning to digest the Spiritual Power from the Soul Spirit Water.

Such a rapid absorption rate was proof positive that he had found an effective way to combat the contamination.

The Artificial Soul felt a rare sense of a daze, as if her entire understanding of the world was being overturned.

She continued to observe for another moment and, just as she’d hoped, detected a new change: her master’s Spiritual Strength had climbed to 1.12, an increase of 0.01.

Flower thought to herself, ’What an amazing Mr. Mo Ning!’

She suddenly remembered something. ’Oh dear, I forgot to prepare the honey Birch Juice for Mr. Mo Ning.’

It was an "upgraded version" of Birch Juice. She had gone to great lengths to find honey in the Great White Birch Forest that contained trace amounts of Spiritual Power, which she then combined with several other ingredients to create this new beverage.

Mo Ning had tried it a few times before and had given it high praise.

Flower quickly retrieved the drink. She thoughtfully added a freshly made ice cube to the glass and placed it gently to Mo Ning’s left.

She watched as her master picked up the glass and took a sip, a flicker of pleasure passing through her stream of consciousness. ’I hope this sweet, cool sensation brings him a little more joy and helps him better fend off the contamination from the Soul of Deathly Silence.’

*****

An hour drifted by as quietly as the wind wandering through the Birch Forest.

Mo Ning remained in a state of intense focus, his eyes nailed to the page.

The contamination from the Soul of Deathly Silence was completely suppressed by his Spiritual Power, unable to cause the slightest disturbance.

The only difference was that the page number had gone from 1 to 26.

The Pen of Contemplation still danced rapidly across the scale pattern paper, pouring out neat lines of Secret Spirit Text.

This was already the third stack of manuscript pages.

The 23 pages Mo Ning had studied in detail were expanded into over 280 pages of densely packed notes.

Surprise once again flooded Flower’s stream of consciousness.

Previously, when faced with such a difficult Divination Scripture, her master could typically only get through about ten pages an hour, even with his exceptional efficiency.

But today was different.

Perhaps it was the Spiritual Power of the Soul Spirit Water giving him a boost, or perhaps it was the need to unleash his full potential to fight the contamination, but her master’s reading speed was more than double his usual pace.

She discreetly checked her master’s Spiritual Strength—1.2.

In just one hour, it had risen by another 0.08.

The Artificial Soul couldn’t help but marvel, ’Such an insane speed.’

At this point.

Flower, who had been on edge, could finally relax a little.

’It seems my master will be able to successfully absorb the Spiritual Power from the Soul Spirit Water this time,’ she thought. ’Even if his condition fluctuates later, he should be able to absorb at least fifty percent of it.’

Based on her experience, that should be enough to raise his Spiritual Strength by a full point.

’That’s already very good!’

The Artificial Soul noticed that the honey Birch Juice by her master’s side was nearly empty and quickly refilled his glass.

Nine hours crawled by.

Outside the window, the Birch Forest was now bathed in the light of the setting sun.

The sunset glow filtered through the trees and the glass, casting fragmented patches of red light on the floor, reminiscent of an impressionist painting.

Mo Ning remained oblivious, his mind completely submerged in the ocean of knowledge woven by the Magic Pattern Group.

Flower glanced at the page number—298!

She suddenly felt that the word "insane" was an understatement for her master.

Over the past few hours, his focus and reading speed hadn’t waned due to fatigue; on the contrary, they had been slowly increasing.

Even more incomprehensibly, the Pen of Contemplation’s output had also sped up considerably. On average, it was writing 320 pages of manuscript per hour, and in the last hour, it had filled a staggering 345 pages.

Her master had stopped once during this time.

To be precise, three hours and twenty-three minutes ago, he had suddenly stood up, clenched his fist, and pumped it in the air, his face flushed with excitement.

Flower understood instantly. He must have overcome a major hurdle.

Just before that, her master had been showing faint signs of impatience, which had made her watch with bated breath.

But after that one pump of his fist, he had instantly returned to a state of calm—a calm even deeper than before.

Flower checked her master’s current Spiritual Strength again—2.16.

It had nearly doubled!

In just nine hours, it had surged by another 0.96!

Based on this, the Artificial Soul made an astonishing deduction. ’This time, after taking the Soul Spirit Water, Mr. Mo Ning’s increase in Spiritual Strength will likely exceed the theoretical limit of 1.5.’

Based on her experience, the increase on the first day of absorbing Spiritual Power usually accounted for over seventy-five percent of the total gain.

After that, the rate of increase would drop significantly, accounting for less than twenty-five percent.

Yet so far, only nine hours had passed—not even half of the first day—and her master’s Spiritual Strength had already skyrocketed by 1.05, like an erupting volcano.

Flower quickly ran the numbers through an empirical formula. ’Even if the peak growth period is over and the rate of increase starts to decline, the final gain will still be between 1.67 and 1.75.’

’This is just absurd!’

’The instructions for the Soul Spirit Water state an increase of "1.0 to 1.5." Was that data wrong?’

Of course not.

The creator of this potion was at least a Second Level Wizard; they would never make such a basic error.

Flower could only think of one logical explanation:

’When the Second Level Wizard evaluated the potion’s efficacy, they must have fully accounted for the influence of the Soul of Deathly Silence. The user would need to divert their focus to fight it, inevitably wasting a portion of the Spiritual Power. ℯℯ𝑙.

’But Mr. Mo Ning maintained absolute focus for an extended period, keeping the contamination firmly suppressed almost the entire time. This allowed him to absorb the Spiritual Power to the fullest extent, minimizing the waste to an extremely low level.’

It was, quite frankly, a miracle.

Who would believe that a mere First Level Apprentice had managed to do what even a First Level Wizard would find difficult?