Chapter 56: Spellbook

After the inadvertent stimulation brought by the female mage faded, Shaoke could only manage to bite her hair resignedly before slowly drifting off to sleep.

The distance to the capital was gradually shortening, and the atmosphere between the two mages grew increasingly tense. That evening, when Shaoke once again asked the coachman for the exact time, the coachman told them, "Two more days to the capital."

Upon hearing the specific time from the coachman, both mages fell silent. They knew that once they arrived in the capital, opportunities to meet would become scarce. Even the feelings they had for each other could not halt this trend, and both understood the reasons behind it.

As usual, the female mage placed her small feet on Shaoke's lap. This time, she wasn't reading but quietly watched Shaoke busy himself. She wanted to commit his face to memory as diligently as she would a spell, lest she forget these ordinary features after parting.

Shaoke decided to complete the 'spellbook' that night. He took out the semi-finished 'spellbook' soaked in magical solution and carefully examined the pages. Due to the special effects of the solution, the pages were extremely smooth and would not be damaged by water or fire.

After feeling the smooth pages, Shaoke wrapped them with the pre-made cover and set it aside for the next step. Then, he began taking out various materials: gem powder, magic stone powder, extracts from some magical plants, a small amount of blue silver... He mixed them in a copper basin on the writing desk, stirring evenly with a glass rod. Carefully, he retrieved a fist-sized jade bottle from a small box nearby, which contained all the Snow Bee Queen blood he had collected over the past two years. Adding this blood to the energy carrier would, upon activation, generate a random special effect. Of course, these effects would only manifest after the 'spellbook' was tempered by the spellcaster himself. It was said that some mages' 'spellbooks' could enhance the user's mental power, while others could slowly increase magical power... In short, various strange abilities would randomly appear on 'spellbooks' that used a sufficient amount of Snow Bee Queen blood.

After pouring all the blood from the jade bottle into the basin, the mixture of materials began to change slowly, emitting a faint coolness. The female mage stared nervously at the liquid in the basin and said, "Mage Xueye, you didn't miscalculate the amounts of the materials, did you?"

Shaoke let out a soft sigh of relief. "Don't worry. Everything was precisely measured. I've weighed these materials countless times since I started preparing them. There's absolutely no problem." Hearing this, the female mage felt her anxiety subside. After all, seeing Shaoke add Snow Bee Queen blood—a material that was precious even in the capital—to the mixture, it was impossible not to worry about failure. This blood was one of the most coveted materials among mages across the entire Blue Feather Empire for adding to their 'spellbooks'. Despite her long stay in the Misty Forest, she had only obtained a tiny amount of Snow Bee Queen blood, far from enough to make a 'spellbook'.

The reaction of the magic materials lasted nearly half a magic hour. During this time, the female mage kept a close watch on the changes, while Shaoke relaxed, leaning against a pillow and gently toying with her small feet. He even dared to slide his hand through the gap in her clothes to feel her smooth calf—the first time he had touched skin other than her hands or neck. Shaoke was secretly thrilled.

Eventually, the mixture in the copper basin solidified into a pale blue paste, primarily due to the addition of blue silver. Normally, without special materials, it would form a brown solid.

Shaoke placed the prepared array base on the writing desk and carefully filled the engraved patterns of the array with the solidified material using a small spoon. By the time he finished, the material was completely used up.

The female mage withdrew her small feet and shot Shaoke a reproachful look. "Shouldn't you rest properly? The critical moment is coming soon." Shaoke chuckled and grabbed her foot again. "Leave it here. It won't affect my spellcasting."

After a moment of hesitation, under Shaoke's firm gaze, the female mage placed her foot back. "If you fail, where will you find these materials again?" Though she said this, she didn't actually want to interfere with the final stage.

Shaoke ignored her words and began to relax his somewhat tense mind. After a brief rest, he placed the pages and cover on the array and started chanting the spell.

Chanting in Ancient Magic Language consumed more mental power but yielded better results. His hands moved continuously through a series of gestures to activate the array structure, and his magical power began to manifest as images above the array, slowly rotating before finally imprinting onto the array on the wooden board in specific positions.

The energy carrier applied to the array started to flow slowly, emitting a faint blue light. The female mage watched Shaoke's every move intently, tiny beads of sweat appearing on her face.

The slow flow of the energy carrier gradually caused the spellbook to float above the array. Shaoke changed his hand seals, and one after another, complex magical imprints infused with magical power, fused with mental power, were imprinted onto the pages. Finally, the entire book was enveloped in a faint blue light, shrouding the pages from view.

The carrier on the array diminished, but its flow accelerated. Beads of sweat rolled down Shaoke's face, and his initially flushed complexion turned pale. The female mage watched nervously, not daring to move.

When Shaoke formed the final hand seal, the magical carrier on the array disappeared, and the blue light surrounding the floating spellbook slowly dissipated. With a soft 'thud', the 'spellbook' fell onto the cracked wooden board, quietly awaiting its master's inspection.

Shaoke let out a long sigh, swaying slightly but managing not to collapse onto the carriage floor. The female mage, without stopping to see whether the 'spellbook' was successful, rushed to Shaoke's side anxiously. "Xueye, Xueye, are you alright? Quick, rest now."

Seeing the female mage's flustered concern, Shaoke grinned. "Hehe! Francis, you finally dropped the 'Mage' when you address me. Can I borrow your lap to lie down for a bit?"

Realizing Shaoke wasn't seriously hurt, the female mage immediately pulled back. "Shouldn't you start meditating right away? Do you want your mental and magical power to suffer damage?" She took out a handkerchief from within her robes, carefully wiped his sweat, and urged him to begin meditation.

Shaoke knew that his priority wasn't checking the success of the 'spellbook' but quickly restoring his depleted mental and magical power. The earlier crafting had completely drained him.

Upon entering his meditation space, Shaoke observed the state of his mental and magical spaces. What he saw startled him: the light points representing each attribute in both spaces were completely depleted, leaving only the diamond-shaped array spinning slowly within. However, no mental or magical power was being absorbed. Fearing that prolonged delay might cause the spaces to shrink—history recorded many such cases among mages—Shaoke immediately began deep meditation to restore both simultaneously.

After meditation ended, Shaoke found the female mage sitting closely in front of him, watching him anxiously. At this moment, Shaoke could even see the faint fuzz on her upper lip. When she saw Shaoke suddenly open his eyes, she gasped, "Ah! You're awake... Mmm!... Mmm!" Shaoke, unable to restrain his emotions any longer, embraced her and kissed her.

Shaoke's mind went blank—this was his first kiss in this otherworld. All he knew was to eagerly suck on the softness before him, oblivious to everything else. The female mage, wide-eyed and momentarily stunned, began pushing against Shaoke. She hadn't expected him to kiss her at this moment. She felt something soft slip into her mouth. After several struggles, driven by urgency and shyness, she bit down on that soft thing, which then retreated from her mouth.

Feeling the bite on his tongue, Shaoke quickly withdrew it. He could taste blood; thankfully, she hadn't bitten too hard, or he might have become the first man to die from having his tongue bitten off by a woman!

The female mage lay on Shaoke's chest, panting heavily. "You... Xueye, you went too far. How could you be so rude? Hmm...!"

Enduring the pain in his tongue, Shaoke moved his hand along her back and said, "You... bit my tongue..." "Who told you to be so rude! And you're still like this," the female mage retorted breathlessly.

"What if I can't chant spells because of this?" Shaoke said before lowering his head to kiss her again. Since it was already the first time and she had bitten him, he might as well try a few more times!

After resisting for a while longer, the female mage went limp in Shaoke's arms, allowing him to have his way with her lips, occasionally emitting soft nasal sounds—"Hmm!... Hmm!"—as if encouraging his actions.

—————— For the sake of the first kiss, feel free to bookmark if you like it! Thanks!