Wizards begin by accessing the Inspiration panel.

Chapter 112 Master-Level Shadow Grip

Given the recent violent explosion, it should have already attracted the attention of the nearby merfolk tribe.

So Richard decided to set off early the next morning to find another cave to live in.

In case a nearby murloc tribe sends a significant number of mid- to high-level murloc warriors to investigate, not only would we be easily exposed, but we would also face a fierce battle, which is completely unnecessary.

So, early the next morning, as soon as it was slightly light, Richard, along with the shelled tentacle monster controlled by the Soul-Eating Spider, left the cave and searched around the fishman tribe for another cave to live in.

After tidying up a bit, Richard hunted some animals and threw them to the shelled tentacle monster controlled by the Soul-Eating Spider.

The current shell-like tentacle monster is severely injured, covered in wounds, and has lost three tentacles, greatly reducing its combat power.

However, according to the consciousness feedback from the Soul-Eating Spider, as long as it is provided with a large amount of flesh and blood, it can control the body of the shelled tentacle monster to feed, thereby quickly healing its injuries.

Including those three tentacles that were cut off by the Skeleton Berserker, they can all grow back quickly in the next two days!

This delighted Richard. If the shelled tentacle monster could recover most of its combat strength in a few days, it would greatly facilitate his next plan: to capture a mid-to-high-level fishman.

After feeding the shelled tentacle monster, Richard returned to his new residence and summoned another skeleton guardian to stand guard at the cave entrance. He then accessed his inspiration panel and began to examine it carefully.

This Gray Fern Wilderness, teeming with monsters, is practically Richard's paradise for acquiring energy points.

Richard decided to use the 5543 energy points he acquired last night to directly boost his strength, and he believes he will receive more energy points in the coming days.

After thinking for a while, Li realized that his defense had improved significantly. Whether it was the near-instantaneous dark element shield or the ability to summon four skeleton warriors at once, there was no need to strengthen it further in the short term.

However, its attack power needs to be further strengthened, especially its offensive magic.

At this point, Richard realized that, excluding Slow and Weakness spells, his only standard offensive spell was Shadow Grip, but that was because he had previously lacked energy points.

I never expected to have this opportunity to come to the Grey Fern Wilderness.

But it's okay, just focus on one thing and improve it quickly.

Seeing the message displayed on the panel: [Witchcraft] Shadow Grip (Proficiency 34%), Richard immediately began practicing it.

[Host detected practicing the level 0 sorcery Shadow Grip. Do/Do you wish to consume energy to gain inspiration for practicing the level 0 sorcery Shadow Grip?]

Looking at the number 5543 at the far right of the slider, Richard thought for a moment, then decided to use all his energy points and selected "Yes!"

In an instant, Richard's soul left his body and entered the dream world, where he found himself in a lush forest.

He possessed the body of a black-robed man whose face was obscured and began chanting incantations day and night to cast the level-zero spell, Shadow Grip.

Because Richard's manipulation of skeletons had reached the master level, this allowed him to increase the speed of Shadow Grip with astonishing speed.

After practicing only a few times, he almost mastered the technique, even the subtle details he hadn't noticed when casting Shadow Grip.

After practicing dozens of times, Richard was able to control the dark elemental hand with exceptional ease and freedom, performing complex maneuvers such as arc attacks, flips and turns, and fist and palm variations.

Meanwhile, fueled by a wealth of inspiration, numerous insights into the level-zero sorcery Shadow Grip kept surfacing in Richard's mind.

After hundreds and thousands of practice sessions, Richard is now able to freely manipulate each finger of the dark element hand by mimicking the complex muscle groups of a real hand with his nearly one hundred spiritual tendrils.

He couldn't have done this before, but now Richard has used bionics to simulate his mental tendrils.

For example, by using five spiritual tendrils to imitate the little finger's opposing palmar muscles, abductor little finger, flexor little finger brevis, palmar interosseous muscles, and turbinate muscles, the flexibility of the entire little finger becomes close to that of Richard's own hand.

The same principle applies to the other fingers!

This brought about a radical change to Shadow Grip, which originally had significant problems in terms of power control.

Richard can now freely pluck a leaf or break off a branch in the dream space, his control over the power is as precise as the palm of his hand, it's simply exquisite.

After an unknown amount of time, Richard's soul quickly returned to his body after a dizzying spin.

Upon opening the panel, Richard discovered that Shadow Grip had not only been upgraded to the Master level, but also, thanks to the Inspiration panel, had developed special effects and secret techniques. He was immediately overjoyed.

[Witchcraft] Shadow Grip (Master 13%, Special Effect: Lightness of Being, Arcane: Shadow Step)

[Effortless Mastery: The control over the massive hand formed by dark elements is as delicate as the caster's own palm.]

[Shadow Grip: In areas with shadows, additional mental energy can be consumed to instantly dissipate the Shadow Grip, composed of dark elements, into dark elements, turning it into nothingness. After passing through a physical entity, it will recombine into the Shadow Grip.]

Richard carefully read the special effects section, which was fine; it was roughly in line with his understanding.

However, Richard muttered the description of the Secret Technique Shadow to himself several times. If it was really as the Inspiration Panel said, then it would be an essential tool for sneak attacks!

Moreover, being in a dark and gloomy area, finding a shady spot is incredibly easy; it's practically everywhere.

Inside the cave, Richard couldn't wait to unleash his master-level Shadow Grip.

Inside the cave, Richard had casually lit a torch, which was stuck in the cave wall. The torchlight cast a long shadow over his own figure, which could be used to test the secret technique, Shadow Step.

Sure enough, Richard's dark elemental hand disappeared without a trace when it passed through the shadowy area inside the cave, and then suddenly reappeared in front of him.

"Hiss! This secret technique, if used in a specific environment, would be absolutely impossible to defend against!" Richard couldn't help but exclaim.

Two days later

As evening approached, a thin mist enveloped the area.

Near the murloc camp, on a lush hillside in the Grey Fern Fields, lay six or seven murloc warriors, one of whom was a dual-wielding murloc warrior.

Just now, Richard, taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, used the shelled tentacle monster that had regained its fighting power, along with his four undead summons, to catch the enemy off guard and wipe out a squad of merman soldiers.

At this moment, the Soul-Devouring Spider slowly crawled out of the mouth of the shell-like tentacle monster and entered the body of the dual-wielding merman warrior.

Before long, the dual-wielding merman warrior seemed to have been resurrected, slowly getting up.

At this moment, the Soul-Eating Spider began to invade the brain nerves of the Dual-Blade Fishman Warrior, transmitting images of memories originally belonging to the Dual-Blade Fishman into Richard's mind like slides.

As the images unfolded, Richard gained a deeper understanding of the fish-man tribe.

First, among the murloc tribes, there were originally twelve high-ranking murloc warriors, but now only four remain. The other eight went to the surface with the murloc prophet and obviously will not return.

Secondly, Richard's second question is whether there are any experts in the murloc camp who are close to the murloc prophet. As it stands, there shouldn't be any.

The Murloc Prophet remained behind, with two disciples guarding the turf. One disciple, the eldest, was named Dib, and the other, the third disciple, was named Fingart. According to the memories of the Twin-Blade Murloc, the two were vying for the position of the new Murloc Prophet.

Dib was the most senior, but Fingart was exceptionally talented. The two were evenly matched in strength. Based on the memories of the dual-wielding merman, Richard estimated that they were both around the level of a third-level wizard apprentice.

However, at present, Dibu is still the main person in charge of the entire murloc tribe, after all, he is the chief disciple of the murloc prophet.

As for the last question, regarding the high-level magic stones, it's unclear whether the dual-wielding merman even possesses them in his memories.

But now, Richard has basically determined that if there are high-level magic stones in the merfolk camp, they are most likely in the hands of Dibu, the prophet's top disciple.

-

Inside an unusually spacious stilted house in the merman camp.

A group of mid- to high-ranking murloc warriors from the murloc tribe, along with two gray-robed murlocs, were holding a meeting.

A fishman holding a fishbone staff and wearing a gray robe was presiding over the meeting.

If Richard were here, he would be able to recognize that the gray-robed fishman in front of him, who looks very much like the Fishman Prophet, is Dib, the Fishman Prophet's chief disciple.

"Everyone needs to be careful lately. The monsters in the Gray Fern Wilds seem to be increasing. In the past few days, several members of our tribe have gone missing. Especially yesterday, a small squad of tribal warriors went missing. Everyone must be on high alert!" Dibu said solemnly.

Dibu was filled with worry. Ever since his teacher and most of the tribe's elite warriors went on an expedition to the surface with the Night Elves, there had been no news of them.

A few days ago, devastating news arrived from the east: the night elves had been utterly defeated by human wizards on the surface, and their teacher remained missing without a trace. Presumably...

If that's the case, then it's terrible.

Soon, the monthly Black Tide will arrive again. If we cannot hunt enough blood sacrifices to offer to the three-headed serpent god Kumaila in the Darkwater Lake, we will not be able to obtain Kumaila's protection. At that time, the Black Tide will destroy the entire merman tribe.

Dieter frowned deeply when he glanced at Fingart, who was in first place to his right.

Ever since his teacher's accident, Fingart has been coveting the position of the tribal prophet, even though his own strength is only about equal to Fingart's.

However, his own wizarding talent was far inferior to that of Fingart, and as time went on, the strength of both sides would only increase.

Originally, if he and the other man could work together, Dieter believed that the tribe would overcome the difficulties and become strong again.

But now, Fingart, this ambitious fellow, has begun contacting the few remaining high-ranking murloc warriors, hoping to rise to power.

(End of this chapter)