My inventory is full of monster materials.

Prior to this, Mark dissected the skulls of more than twenty Frost Goblin Shamans. Although he did not find the "Solidify" special attribute he wanted, he did collect a lot of useful spells.

Therefore, Mark specially commissioned a leather cylinder with five slots inside, which could fit five goblin heads in one slot.

To put it simply, Mark created a five-slot "skill bar" for himself, allowing him to switch spells anytime, anywhere.

As for why not add more slots?

Firstly, having too many would be too troublesome, and secondly, it would avoid attracting too much attention.

Currently, Mark has selected five heads for himself, namely:

1st Ring "Feather Fall Technique"

1st Ring "White Mist"

1st Ring "Ice Blade"

1st Ring "Witchcraft Arrow"

Effect: Intelligence +3

Since we need to focus on dealing damage now, then... Mark reached behind him into the cylinder and muttered to himself.

【equipment】

The next second, a vast amount of magical knowledge flooded into his consciousness—

The guidance of ice elements, the construction of the blade edge, the force of the slash...

A moment later, Mark mastered a spell—the first-level "Ice Blade".

At this moment, the charging bison herd was almost upon them, and all the animals that blocked their way were overturned and trampled, causing the earth to tremble.

Henry knew that the charge of dozens of bison was something no ordinary person could withstand, so he immediately turned to his teammates behind him and gave them a stern order.

"Everyone! Get behind me!"

The team members' expressions changed drastically. They dared not be coy in the slightest and crowded together under the huge tower shield.

Only Mark remained standing still.

Brady, seeing this, shouted in alarm.

"Big brother! Stop standing there, come quick!"

Mark still did not respond.

The others looked puzzled, wondering what he had done wrong.

Mark clenched his right fist, his fingers trembling slightly from the force, and a dense frost power flowed down his arm to his wrist, as if he were holding a piece of glowing ice in his palm.

When I looked up again, my teammates had formed a human ladder, one short and one tall.

The next second, Mark launched himself forward, his first foot landing on Emily's head.

The little girl felt a sudden heaviness in her head and a buzzing in her ears.

Before she could react, Mark had already leaped onto the shoulders of the second person. Clyde, Orion, Brady, and Henry, each step he took was supported by the others as he climbed upwards.

Finally, they leaped over the towering shields, soaring into the air to face the surging herd of bison.

Everyone stared wide-eyed, with only one thought in their minds—

Has he gone mad?

Then, they saw Mark's right arm burst forth with brilliant blue light, and he swung it sharply, unleashing a crescent-shaped ice blade of azure blue that swept straight toward the bison herd.

"Ice Blade" is one of the most powerful offensive spells among first-level spells, and these bison are ultimately just ordinary wild beasts, far less physically robust than demons.

So when the ice blade fell, the bison's body collapsed like wheat stalks during the autumn harvest, leaving a bloody path nearly ten meters long.

The charge of the bison was neutralized by a single man with a knife!

The remaining cattle on both sides did not stop or detour, but charged out of the outer wall of fire with undiminished force, leaving behind carpets of blood and flesh.

Mark landed hard on his feet, plunging into the bloody mud, the blood plasma reaching up to his calves.

The surroundings suddenly became empty, filled with a deathly silence.

Henry and his companions stood there dumbfounded, their expressions gradually shifting from initial confusion and shock to awe.

Mark, on the other hand, looked calm and walked back to the end of the line.

At this moment, Emily was still squatting on the ground, holding her head in her hands, her little brows furrowed, clearly still feeling aggrieved about being trampled earlier.

Mark came to Emily's side, gently ruffled her soft, light blonde hair, and asked her in a soft voice.

"Does it still hurt?"

Emily pouted and muttered.

"It doesn't hurt anymore."

"It doesn't hurt? Then hurry up and comfort me."

"snort."

Emily gave a small snort, but still obediently recited the sacred words.

A beam of holy light enveloped Mark's body.

At the same time, a prompt appeared on the panel in front of them.

[A fluctuation of "Prophecy Spell" has been detected. You have temporarily gained +1 to your "Intelligence" attribute.]

"Oh? Not bad luck."

Mark raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised.

The effect of "Divine Guidance" is to increase any one of the six attributes of the target by one point within one hour.

This wasn't the first time Mark had received "divine guidance," but it was the first time it had increased his main attribute, Intelligence.

He then inserted his fingers into the hole in the leather cylinder again.

【equipment】.

Intelligence +3.

Mark glanced down at his character panel.

Basic: Intelligence 13

Potion: Intelligence +1

Divine Guidance: Intelligence +1

Equipment slot: Intelligence +3

At this moment, Mark's intelligence has reached a terrifying 18 points—compared to before, his brain's thinking speed, memory, and so on have been expanded by more than double.

As we all know, intelligence, spirit, and magic are closely related.

Mark's earlier statement at the Adventurers' Guild that he could only cast 6-8 first-level spells was based on his Intelligence of 13.

Now that his intelligence is 18, he certainly can't be calculated the same way.

Mark estimates that he can now easily cast "Ice Blade" 10 times in a row.

"mark!!"

Suddenly, a trembling voice interrupted Mark's thoughts.

Clyde stared at him, his expression indescribably complex.

"You just used... a level 1 'Ice Blade'? You also have a level 1 'Frozen Path', a level 0 'Freezing Ray', and that spell that looks like 'Eye of Magic'..."

The more Clyde counted, the more absurd the sound seemed.

"Are you really a magic apprentice?"

Henry and the others all looked over at the same time.

Mark was silent for two seconds.

He let out a deep sigh.

"Sigh... there are some things... I can no longer hide them from you."

Suddenly he raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping over every face, as if he had made some kind of decision.

"If we're still alive after this battle, I will definitely give you an explanation."

The group exchanged glances, but did not ask any further questions; they simply nodded emphatically.

Back on the battlefield.

The bison herd's defeat was a turning point.

The remaining seven or eight hundred animals gradually came to their senses from the frenzy and were all too afraid to go forward.

The brain-core slime on the pool of water clearly noticed this change as well.

This time, it opened its mimicry maw, no longer in a state of impotent rage, but instead pumped out gelatinous material and then fired a series of anti-aircraft shots into the sky.

Thud! Thud! Thud! ...

More than ten times in a row.

It deployed slimes of all sizes, without cores, onto the battlefield.

Just as everyone in the squad was on high alert.

Instead of launching an attack, these coreless slimes rushed into the wall of fire like moths to a flame, not caring if they were burned to ashes.

"???"

Henry and the others looked at each other, puzzled as to what this meant.

As the fire gradually died down, in addition to the strong, pungent smell of iron, a charming, sweet fragrance wafted through the air.

Mark's expression changed drastically, finally revealing a hint of panic.

"Oh no! Clyde, give us the antidote!"

"OK."

Clyde was unaware of the situation but did as instructed, quickly taking out six milky white test tubes from the medicine bag and distributing them.

"Quick! Drink it all!"

Mark took the antidote and drank it all down, while urging his teammates to drink it as well.

"what?"

At that moment, Clyde realized he had finished drinking and still had an antidote in his hand, and his heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.

"Who among you didn't drink?"

Henry, Mark, Emily, and Orion all looked at each other's empty test tubes.

"Hiss~"

A suppressed laugh rang out from the middle of the group.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound.

Brady's head was bowed, his shoulders were shaking violently, and his laughter was being forced back into his throat.

But the next second, Brady suddenly threw his head back and burst into wild laughter from deep in his throat.

"Hehehe—hehehehe—!!"

At the same time, the beasts that had been hesitant to approach them all turned to look at them, their faces contorted with madness and laughter.

"Hoho-hohoho-hoho-!!"

...