Talent level increased by one, a transcendent Star Wizard

After her body returned to normal, Xia Jianbi began to use her mental powers to examine her body.

Just as the black book described, Xia Jian immediately sensed a sense of obscurity when he used his mental power. His mental power did not seem to be as smooth as before.

Moreover, some of his blood and qi were depleted, and even his physical attributes decreased by 0.1. This was the first time Xia Jian had encountered such a situation.

"There's definitely a reason why it's listed as a forbidden technique."

As Xia Jian carefully savored his experience of using the forbidden technique, a vast amount of unfamiliar information began to flood his mind.

Xia Jian opened the panel again to check.

Wow, I went straight from level 1 to level 4...

This cultivation speed completely baffled Xia Jian; it was the second time he had witnessed something so outrageous.

The first time was with the Demonic Fear Meditation Method, which showed Xia Jian what compatibility meant.

This time it was even more outrageous, showing him what forbidden techniques were really like.

"Maybe we should just learn forbidden techniques from now on."

Seeing the incredibly fast-paced progression of "Soul Drain," even Xia Jian's unwavering beliefs began to waver.

According to feedback from the '+1' talent, the power of Soul Absorption did not change much after the upgrade, but the consumption was reduced.

This is undoubtedly a huge boost for someone who has exhausted their own resources, and might even turn Soul Absorption into a regular spell.

If every forbidden technique is optimized in this way, then Xia Jian should consider whether or not he should collect all the forbidden techniques.

When encountering an enemy, he uses forbidden techniques; standing there is like a human nuclear bomb, and even the Demon Child would have to give him some leeway.

I have to say, it sounds pretty cool.

Of course, it's just something to think about.

Even a small amount of consumption still has its costs, and these costs are real, equivalent to directly converting one's hard-earned cultivation into mana.

Fighting someone outside, only to find after a year of training has been for nothing—that's even more frustrating than having Mu Shuang steal your skills. Who could bear that?

…………

This incident sparked Xia Jian's desire to learn how to absorb souls.

For the next three days, Xia Jian almost never went out, and took care of all her needs indoors, including eating, drinking, and relieving herself.

During this time, Mu Shuang thought Xia Jian was provoked, and even pretended to come back to comfort Xia Jian.

As someone who holds grudges, Xia Jian naturally didn't give Mu Shuang a friendly look.

After being lectured by Mu Shuang, Xia Jian reverted to his previous obedient self and no longer dared to give Mu Shuang a hard time.

After three days of hard work, Xia Jian successfully broke his own record for the shortest time to learn a skill, mastering the Soul Absorption Forbidden Technique to an astonishing level 10 within three days!

Of course, the price was also very heavy.

[Name: Xia Jian]

[Talents: +1, Advanced Cultivation Talent, Advanced Mental Strength Talent, Superior Dark Element Talent]

[Rank: High-ranking Knight (Late Stage), First-tier Wizard (Early Stage)]

[Attribute: 75 (far, far, far, far beyond the average person)]

[Mental Strength: 11 (far exceeding that of ordinary people)]

[Mana: 10.9]

[Techniques: ...Storm Battle Technique (10) Demonic Fear Meditation Technique (3+1)]

[技能：摩砣文（4+1）炼药（6+1）暗魔附魂（6+1）汲魂（10）潜影手（2+1）射矢术（10）念动术（11+1）敛息诀（10）符文学（1+1）解剖学（3+1）生物改造（1+1）基础剑术（19+1）基础身法（13+1）基础拳法（5+1）……]

His physique dropped by 5 points, from a high-level knight to a late-level knight, and his mental strength dropped by a terrifying 0.8!

The Soul Absorption Forbidden Technique, now at its peak, has reduced its energy consumption to a minimum, and its power has also been enhanced to a certain extent.

Even so, it still cannot be turned into a regular spell.

Moreover, the decrease in mental strength is secondary; the main problem is that Xia Jian discovered that the intensity and resilience of his mental strength had also decreased!

In other words, not only did their strength not increase in these three days, but their overall strength actually declined significantly.

Throughout the entire history of wizarding, it is estimated that only a handful of people have practiced reverse cultivation, and he is probably the only one who used his own attributes to cultivate the forbidden Soul Burning Technique.

After all, everyone else uses it as a survival skill, but Xia Jian trains it as a regular skill.

However, in order to ensure the smooth progress of this journey to the ruins, Xia Jian was going all out. If he was lucky, he might be able to make up for the previous losses by grabbing another batch of loot.

…………

The next day, noon.

Everyone was gathered on the deck at that moment.

Bro looked around and around, but only saw Mu Shuang, not Xia Jian.

Just then, a man walked up to Bro.

"WC! Who are you?"

Bro was startled and involuntarily took a step back.

"What? Who am I? You don't recognize me after just three days?"

Xia Jian rolled her eyes and said irritably.

Upon hearing this, Bro looked Natsumi closely, but Natsumi's bruised and swollen face made it impossible to recognize her original appearance.

"Hey buddy, you were acting like you'd lost your virginity just a few days ago, how come you're all bruised and battered now, looking just like my uncle? I almost didn't recognize you."

Xia Jian glanced at Frank and saw that he did look somewhat like him. He could only chuckle awkwardly and wave his hand, "Don't worry about the details. I've been practicing a powerful spell these past two days, and it's done a lot of damage to my face."

He couldn't very well say that he was beaten by Mu Shuang, that would just make him a laughingstock.

"There's such a spell? I've never heard of it."

Bro touched his chin, but no matter how hard he tried to recall, he couldn't remember any spell that could cause such severe damage to his face.

"It's okay if you haven't heard of it. If you want to learn, I can teach you. Anyway, you're shameless."

Xia Jian patted Bro on the shoulder and said matter-of-factly.

Realizing that Natsume was teasing him, Bro rolled his eyes at Natsume.

Is this even human language?

"I'm known as the most handsome, coolest, and most charming man in Neilbella. Without this face, wouldn't the women in Neilbella be so heartbroken that they'd jump into the river and commit suicide?"

Upon hearing this, Xia Jian's eyes revealed a look of disdain.

The others scoffed at his words and unconsciously took a few steps back, afraid that such narcissism would be contagious to them.

If we're talking about looks, how could any of you here compare to me?

The male witches smoothed their hair and began to display their charms to the witches beside them.

Before long, the once quiet deck became lively, though mostly filled with the witches' curses.

…………

Just as everyone was playing around, the large ship came to a stop over a plain.

The area is covered in lush green grass, interspersed with boulders and tall trees, with small animals occasionally running past below.

In front of the large ship, seven different aircraft were already waiting.

Some are as tall and majestic as ships, some are like ethereal paintings, and there are even huge birds circling and flying.

"You're late."

At this moment, a rough voice reached Xia Jian and the others' ears.

…………