Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 178 Dancers and Audience
night.

Ruger decided to make up for the deep meditation he missed in the afternoon, then rest for a while before starting his evening meditation. This was the kobold archmage's plan, progressing steadily each day. If he was too busy that day, he would make sure to do the optimal number of meditations he had found through trial and error. If he had free time, he could also add a round of meditation as needed while studying spells.

During his break, he sat by the window for a while. It was another peaceful day. This kind of life living in the attic wasn't bad at all.

By the window of the opposite attic, there happened to be a graceful figure that I hadn't seen for many days.

A pair of blood-red eyes looked over, and Ruger met their gaze.

Elena, whom we haven't seen for many days, seems to have changed a bit in appearance. Of course, she is still beautiful, but her teeth on both sides seem to have grown longer, and she has also grown slightly taller, though not very noticeably. Overall, she is becoming more like the rumored bloodline infected person.

Ruger heard from old Lenser that Miss Elena, with Mr. Nuondo's help, had used a foolish and ill-advised method that was already known to be avoided: attempting to reduce her vampire nature by increasing the proportion of infected individuals in her bloodline. Mr. Nuondo's bloodline possessed a peculiar inclusiveness, which could be seen as a buffer for this experiment, but old Lenser still didn't approve of them. Nuondo's help to Elena over the years was also an attempt to resolve some of his own problems through this method.

Elena across from him smiled, her two sharp teeth becoming even more prominent in the smile.

Luger returned the smile.

Suddenly, a noise drew their attention.

A staggering figure emerged from the alleyway in the distance, running towards them.

Elena's brow twitched slightly, a look of confusion on her face.

Ruger recognized him at a glance; it was the black-and-white-spotted cat-headed fellow who had been asking him all sorts of questions that afternoon.

He suddenly remembered what old Lenser had said about the hunting for the hearts and heads of modified humans during their delivery trips. But Ruger had no intention of going down to help. It wasn't that he disliked the cat-headed guy out of petrification, but rather that the guy must have come here to find the old man who fought against petrification. That man was a first-ring wizard, so why would he, a little brat, need to help him?

Suddenly, a dark figure leaped out of the alley and headed straight for the staggering cat-headed man. The leaping figure seemed to stretch into a black ribbon.

Ruger looked up and saw that Elena across from him had jumped out of the attic window and was looking at him.

He shook his head, indicating that he didn't need to intervene. However, he really didn't expect that this mixed-race beauty, who loved to risk her life to compete with him, would actually have a strong sense of justice.

The recent events involving vampires have drawn people's attention, causing them to overlook the vicious man who has appeared nearby and enjoys digging out the hearts of hairy targets.

Miss Catwoman rolled on the ground, nimbly dodging the oncoming figure, and ran towards the alley where Old Lunser's Pharmacy was located.

Ruger stroked his chin, wondering if the old man would be too slow to act. He quickly dismissed the foolish thought; even a properly functioning wizard should possess some impressive skills.

At this point, he could no longer see Miss Catwoman from his perspective.

Ruger immediately turned and headed towards the door of the attic. He was going to his small alchemy room, from where he could see some of the situation in the alley.

"Wait for me."

Elena jumped in through the window.

Ruger knew this would happen, so he wasn't surprised. He pushed open the door and headed to the fourth floor.

Upon arriving at the small refining room, he did not open the window rashly, but instead looked into the alley from the side.

Elena leaned over the window, glanced at Ruger, and then restrained herself and crouched down, only peeking out from the windowsill. Ruger thought that if he hadn't been there, she might have already opened the window.

Miss Catwoman suddenly unleashed a Light spell, seemingly without having time to fully activate it, resulting in the Light sphere being only the size of a fist.

Just as the ball of light floated up, a dark shadow flashed by and wiped it away as if it had been swallowed whole.

Ruger frowned slightly. As the shadowy figure once again entangled the owl, the fighting below fell silent. He hadn't yet activated the silencing array in the small refining room.

Moreover, Miss Cat had already staggered towards the neighbor's door, but the old wizard had not yet made a move.

"You want to save her?" Ruger tilted his head and looked at Elena.

"Isn't it good?" she asked, looking up.

“It’s just that it’s relatively rare, so I’m a little surprised,” Ruger admitted. “It’s not rare, it’s just that there are more people who don’t do it. If you think it’s rare, you can think of me as a rare eccentric. After all, the world is full of all kinds of people.” Elena said, putting down her serious expression, tilting her head by the window, and reverting to her usual teasing and mischievous self.

“Little dog, this person looks a lot like the murderer from a while ago. Someone saw a dark figure before, and look at that other person who has more hair than you, he has a wound on his chest, it looks like his heart was almost ripped out.” She said with a smile.

The silent battle continued below.

Ruger always felt that there were more than just the two of them watching.

Miss Catwoman sometimes blends into the darkness, and sometimes fights back fiercely, but her staggering figure seems completely powerless against her opponent.

Is it a fixed spell? Or a peculiar bloodline ability? Why is there no sound? You know, it's inevitable that walls and nearby doors and windows will be bumped and damaged during a battle, but there's still no sound.

Ruger turned to look at Elena.

The red-eyed beauty had already placed her hand on the handle of the refinery window.

"Do you mind if I leave from here?" she said with a smile. "If you're worried about causing trouble for your uncle, I can go back and come around from the other side."

Ruger glanced at the bizarre battle below: "Are you confident you can be of help?"

“My body hasn’t adapted to the changes yet, so I might be a little slow, but I don’t think I need to exert much effort. A successful light spell will be enough to scare away that cowardly guy,” Elena said, clenching her fist.

Ruger nodded; that made sense.

However, he didn't really want to scare the other party away. Since he was going to take action anyway, it would be better to resolve the matter completely.

"Just wait and see."

Ruger spoke up and calmed Elena down.

As he spoke, he was already quietly empowering the spell model. In addition to his mastery of spells and his meticulous control of his mental power, slowly and steadily empowering the spell model was also a conventional method to reduce spell fluctuations.

The fact that the fight lasted so long against an injured person suggests that the shadowy figure chose the wrong target this time. Perhaps the injury was merely a result of a successful sneak attack. The fact that the shadowy figure could succeed several times over several dozen days suggests that such deceptive tactics played a significant role. Since Miss Owl can still contend with the shadowy figure, their current strength is clearly not that different. The solution lies in breaking the balance between them.

Even better than a complete solution is a complete solution that is completely unknown to anyone.

Should we use a freezing ray or a fireball spell through a window? Of course not. Those might disrupt the balance, but they wouldn't be able to do so silently.

Ruger had quietly completed the empowerment of the art of stinginess. He stood quietly by the fourth-floor window, glancing at the dark figure in the alley below. He first scratched his chin, then quietly pointed through the window.

Even Elena, standing to the side, didn't react. His daily deep meditation and potion-making had made his control over his mental power more meticulous. Under his manipulation, the fluctuations of his solidified, high-quality mental power had been reduced to an extremely low level. If there was one slight flaw, it was that his practice of the art of stinginess was not enough, but it was not exactly rusty either.

The dark figure in the alley suddenly paused. Its fighting style, which was known for its speed, was now exactly what it wanted, and it began to make frequent mistakes, like a nimble dancer who suddenly lost the rhythm it knew best.

In a life-or-death battle, even the slightest mistake can tip the scales.

Then, an unexpected scene unfolded: Miss Cat didn't take the opportunity to finish off her opponent.

She seized the opportunity, and despite the spurt of blood from her wounds, she struck her opponent down. Then, she simply cast a spell, using several shadows that writhed like cat tails to immobilize the fallen killer. She then staggered and led the subdued killer into the home of the petrified old man.

Elena was also taken aback, but not only because of the murderer's sudden defeat, nor because she was surprised by Miss Owl's handling of the situation.

Both she and Ruger saw the killer's facial features.

Ruger turned to look at her and asked as if to confirm, "What's wrong? Our beautiful Miss Justice."

“That… seems to be a bloodline, a bloodline infected wizard.” Elena said, her bright smile returning as she raised the corners of her mouth, becoming increasingly certain as she spoke.

Ruger smiled and clapped his hands twice.

“Alright, that concludes tonight’s entertainment,” he said, gesturing towards the door of the crafting room, then urging, “I haven’t finished my meditation for today yet.”

(End of this chapter)