Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

Chapter 828 - 756: Abyssal Demon (Part 2)

Cohen then raised his hand and made a grasping motion in the air; that demon was lifted up by an invisible force, hanging in midair.

It was still struggling, but those black flames had already grown as weak as a candle in the wind.

"Spirit pollution is the most troublesome method of Abyssal demons, and also what you most need to experience personally." Cohen’s gaze fell on each student’s face. "Next, you’ll go up one by one, feel its Spirit pollution, and then try to resist it."

Someone’s expression changed slightly.

"Relax, you won’t die." Cohen’s tone was as flat as if he were commenting on the nice weather. "I’ll be watching and won’t let it truly hurt you. But don’t even think about killing it; this demon is a live specimen with research value. It mustn’t be killed."

He waved his hand, and the demon was sent to a spot ten steps in front of the crowd, suspended in the air.

"Who’s first?"

The crowd looked at one another; for a moment, no one answered.

Leon gritted his teeth and was just about to step forward when a voice rang out from the crowd:

"I’ll go."

Audric.

He strode out, his dark red robe billowing slightly in the wind.

When he reached a point ten steps from the demon, he stopped and turned, those pale golden vertical pupils locking onto the demon.

"Come on."

The demon seemed to understand his provocation; its dark red eyes suddenly flared.

An invisible Spirit fluctuation spread outward from its body, surging toward Audric.

Audric stood where he was, motionless.

The instant that fluctuation touched him, a faint golden halo appeared around him.

It was the pressure of Gold Dragon Blood, clashing with the demon’s Spirit pollution and producing a faint sizzling sound.

They were locked in stalemate for a few breaths.

The demon’s breathing grew heavier and heavier; the black flames flickered unsteadily, clearly consuming it greatly.

Audric, however, still stood there, expression unchanged.

Cohen nodded slightly. "The bloodline of a Golden Dragon truly does not fear the Spirit pollution of Abyssal demons. Next."

After that, the others stepped up in turn to personally experience and resist the Abyssal demon’s Spirit pollution.

Some succeeded, some failed; quite a few couldn’t withstand the pollution and were drenched in sweat, faces pale.

If Cohen hadn’t intervened in time, these people might well have been injured.

When it was Duke’s turn, he walked to a spot ten steps in front of the demon and stopped.

Those dark red eyes fixed on him, and the Spirit pollution surged toward him like a tide.

In an instant, the world around him changed.

The grassland vanished, the sky vanished, the students beside him vanished.

In their place was endless darkness—no light, no sound, no reference point he could rely on.

Duke stood in the void, with no ground beneath his feet, no sky above his head, and nothing but all‑consuming nothingness on all sides.

Then the voices appeared.

They weren’t coming from any particular direction, but sounded directly from the depths of his mind.

Countless fragmented mutterings wove together, like thousands of insects crawling along the inner wall of his skull, and also like some ancient, evil existence whispering softly.

Those mutterings had no specific language, yet directly conveyed chaos, madness, fear, and despair.

Every syllable tried to tear his consciousness apart and dissolve his reason.

"Give up..."

"You can’t escape..."

"This is where you belong..."

"Flesh... soul... all献给the Abyss..."

Those voices grew louder and denser, surging against his mental defenses like tide after tide.

The darkness began to twist, and countless grotesque shapes writhed at the edges of his vision.

Some were distorted human faces, some were severed limbs, and some were existences that couldn’t be described with language at all.

They reached their hands toward him, opened their mouths, revealing throats like black holes, trying to drag him into a deeper void.

Duke felt that pollution attempting to invade his Spiritual Sea.

They were like countless venomous snakes burrowing into his perception, winding around his thoughts, trying to corrode the core of his will.

The feeling was very real—real fear, real despair, real madness.

It was as if a hand were stirring inside his mind, turning everything stable, orderly, and rational into a mass of chaos.

Duke snorted coldly; deep in his Spiritual Sea, that Six-Element Compound Spiritual Crystal trembled slightly.

The pollution that had invaded his Spiritual Sea vanished instantly like ice and snow under a blazing sun.

The twisted darkness faded, the grotesque shapes dispersed, and those mutterings were cut off before the last syllable could fall.

The grassland returned, and the sky returned.

Sunlight poured down on him, warm and bright.

Duke stood where he was, face as usual, breathing steady, as if nothing had happened.

Cohen stood to the side, his gaze lingering on him for a moment.

In that gaze was a trace of extremely faint, almost imperceptible scrutiny.

But he didn’t say anything, only nodded slightly.

"Next."

...

A month passed in a flash with the weekly practical drills.

Cohen’s classes were never dragged out; at the start of each session, he would spend half an hour explaining the type of race they would face that week, covering bodily structure, energy circulation, attack methods, defensive weaknesses, and so on.

Then came combat practice, with the students taking turns facing those typical creatures whose power had been partially sealed.

After class came the assessment, and the content was simple—mainly dealing with various special lifeforms from different Planes.

Although these special lifeforms were all ones they had never seen before, as long as they followed the knowledge Cohen had taught in class, they could quickly grasp the traits of these beings and then adopt corresponding countermeasures.

After the assessment, Duke also obtained the contribution points for this course: two hundred points in total.

Current contribution balance: 1315 points.

There were only two months left until the year‑end assessment, and Duke needed to do more preparation in that time.

Regardless of the content and format of the assessment, improving his own strength was the only way to respond to all changes by remaining unchanged.

After completing the course assessment, Duke returned to his dorm and dived straight into the Light God Court.

He was planning on refining a new Meditation‑assisting Magic Potion.

The Level 1 White Mist Forest Potion had once been a powerful aid in his Meditation Practice.

The Automatic Meditation trait he obtained after maxing it out allowed him to automatically enter a Meditation state while the potion was in effect, saving him a huge amount of time and mental effort otherwise spent on active Meditation.

But as his Spiritual Power broke through four hundred points, the effect of White Mist Forest had become negligible.

That bit of amplification, for his Spiritual Sea now exceeding four hundred points, was like dripping a drop of water into a lake, not even stirring a few ripples.

Duke could only choose a Meditation‑assisting Magic Potion more suited to his current strength—namely the Kudzu Root Potion, a Level 2 Meditation‑assisting Magic Potion.

He had picked it as his target after combing through all Level 2 Meditation‑assisting Magic Potions in the library.

Its effect wasn’t the strongest, but its formula was relatively mature and stable, and its ingredients could be found in the Central Islands.

Most importantly, its refining logic had common ground with the White Mist Forest Potion he was familiar with: both centered on stabilizing the Spiritual Sea and guiding energy flow, only on completely different tiers.

Duke’s goal wasn’t just to obtain the potion, but to acquire the trait granted after the potion reached max level.

If he only needed the potion itself, he could simply pay Magic Stones and buy it.

He just didn’t know whether the Kudzu Root Potion, once maxed, would still grant him an Automatic Meditation trait.

The core ingredient of the Kudzu Root Potion was century‑old Ancient Kudzu root tendrils, supplemented with Tranquil Blossom Dew, Moonlight Moss Essence, Silvermoon Grass powder, Luminous Ore solution, and so on.

Duke reread every step and every note in the formula three times, and only after confirming he could recall it perfectly did he prepare to begin refining.

The ingredients were laid out in a row on the workbench.

The Ancient Kudzu root tendrils were about as thick as a finger, dark brown, the surface covered in fine patterns and exuding a faint earthy scent.

This was the core of the entire formula; only roots over a hundred years old contained a high enough concentration of active components.

Tranquil Blossom Dew was a small vial of pale blue liquid, the essence extracted from the stamens of Tranquil Blossoms through special techniques.

Its function was to ensure stability and prevent excessive energy fluctuations during refining.