Kobold Wizard's Journal

Chapter 275 Familiarity and Strangeness

Ruger noticed that the fair-skinned girl's wizard robes were somewhat ill-fitting, with a torn hem. Her large eyes were looking around with a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

"This is my first time in the Nightmare World, but I feel very comfortable and familiar here..."

The naive and petite girl spoke in a low voice as if she were already familiar with someone.

Ruger blinked, controlling his expression.

“My name is Ruger, and this is Lord Leiden. If I’m not mistaken, you’re not a level five wizard apprentice yet, are you?”

As he spoke, Ruger pointed to another seat by the campfire, a simple stone.

After bowing again, the girl sat down on the stone with a sense of peace.

At the same time, her expression seemed to indicate that she was still puzzled by Ruger's casual question, as if she was trying to think about it.

“If it’s something I can’t answer, you don’t have to worry about me,” Ruger said hastily when he saw her looking thoughtful. “I sometimes say things that are impolite, so please don’t mind.”

Leiden handed him a cup of fruit tea.

The girl, who was deep in thought, was startled and instinctively stepped back.

The two of them were completely baffled.

The girl, Nana Erz, snapped out of her daze, gave another apologetic smile, and carefully took the cup from her.

She held the cup in her hand, her face showing doubt again. Instead of looking at the tea in the cup, she slowly rotated the cup between her fingertips, as if she were feeling the temperature of the tea, or perhaps stroking the roughness and smoothness of the outer wall of the cup.

Ruger glanced at Leiden, and neither of them spoke to disturb the somewhat strange girl.

Leiden regained his composure and began to take out various ingredients, mainly the meat of the black and white python.

In fact, the two of them had been sitting there all day, each lost in their own thoughts, and had not eaten a meal.

“That’s not right,” the girl said softly, looking at the doll in Ruger’s hand. “There’s a little trick to making this kind of puppet. Don’t wait for the puppet to accumulate its own curse power after it’s made. That turbid power isn’t strong enough on its own. You can actively guide it. For example, you can plant a curse spell of your choice in its body beforehand as its core to guide the curse power it has accumulated and transform together with it.”

Upon hearing this, Ruger recalled what he had written in his notes, and there was indeed a short passage mentioning this matter.

However, spells involving curses are very rare in zero-ring spells, so Ruger did not include them in his future plans.

The Blood Curse Doll can consume the blood of its enemies, accumulating the fear and resentment within the blood to brew and accumulate the power of a curse. If this trick is not used to guide it, then the crude use of this turbid power will only make the enemy uncomfortable, or cause a minor illness in a person with a weak constitution. Once guided, however, it will be very different. The curse power accumulated by the Blood Curse Doll after guidance will transform into the power of the curse that was planted in advance. In other words, every time the doll fights an enemy, even if it is just biting the enemy, it carries that curse power.

“Thank you for the reminder, Miss Nana Erz,” Ruger said with a polite smile, “but I haven’t had the chance to learn a zero-ring curse spell yet.”

"for you."

The girl is crisp and authentic.

The sudden change made Leiden's hand tremble, and he almost spilled the ingredients from the spoon out of the pot.

A girl in a tattered robe was holding up her hand, offering a spellbook.

“This must be very valuable,” Ruger said.

He wasn't just making excuses; he genuinely didn't want it.

“It’s alright, consider it an apology for my numerous rudenesses!” she said. “Besides, I’ve already learned the spells, so keeping them is of no use to me.”

The girl's hand holding the book didn't waver at all; its soft appearance seemed to reflect a stubborn nature, showing no intention of retracting it.

Leiden glanced at it briefly before returning to tending the campfire and preparing the remaining ingredients. Ruger sighed inwardly, unable to resist glancing at the spellbook.

Kafi's Impatience Technique

A curse? It really is a curse spell!

However, the name "Impatient Spell" doesn't sound very powerful. It's not the kind of curse that makes the enemy dizzy or vomit black blood with a single cast. But considering it's a zero-level spell, it makes sense.

From the title, Ruger could already guess the name of the spell's creator, which is a fairly common naming convention—prefixing the spell with the creator's name.

The brief moment Luger was distracted by his rambling thoughts did not shake the girl's delicate hand.

He had no choice but to accept it, and he took it with both hands.

He thought to himself, "These small hands must be excellent at experiments and concocting medicines."

The girl smiled slightly, but very restrainedly, with only a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth.

After withdrawing her hands, she held the teacup with both hands again. Perhaps the cup was a bit too big for her. She nodded slightly, brought the cup to her lips, and after rubbing the cup together for so long, she finally tasted the fruit tea in the cup for the first time.

The girl frowned slightly after taking a sip of tea, then raised her eyebrows.

Ruger looked at Leiden, who then gave him a wink.

Ruger rolled his eyes.

“Beautiful and elegant Miss Nana Erz, may I ask where you come from?” Ruger said softly.

The girl was still savoring her tea with raised eyebrows when she heard this, and she stood there stunned, holding her teacup.

Her eyes were slightly vacant as she sipped her tea and fell silent.

Luger and the other man exchanged a glance.

The camp fell silent again.

The only sounds were Leiden silently preparing the ingredients, and occasionally the barely audible sound of a young girl drinking tea.

Ruger played with the doll in his hand, observing everything.

Leiden's main course this time was grilled skewers of black and white python meat paired with a black fruit. The python meat was cut into thumb-sized pieces, with a fruit attached to every two pieces of meat. Each skewer consisted of six pieces of meat and two small black fruits.

The aroma of meat began to waft around the campfire.

The side dish is a light pink fruit that bursts open when cooked. To be precise, this is the main dish. After a dozen or so small fruits burst open, you can simply cook them for a while to get a pot of thick, white porridge with a light pink tinge.

Leiden reached out and handed a skewer of grilled black and white python meat to Ruger, while giving him another wink.

Luger nodded.

“Miss Nana Erz, Lord Leiden’s culinary skills are renowned far and wide,” Ruger handed the skewers of meat to the girl. “If you don’t mind, please have a taste. He has already prepared your portion.”

The petite girl looked up at the huge meat skewers in front of her, her teacup already empty without her realizing it.

She silently accepted the meat skewers, and after a moment of hesitation, she remembered to thank Luger and the other person. But Luger had already started eating heartily, so she just nodded vaguely.

Watching Luger devour the meat, she opened her mouth and took a bite. The perfectly roasted meat seemed too delicious, making her pause again. After a moment, she began to eat in small bites, just like when she first took the teacup.

(End of this chapter)