Chapter 147 The Price of Conclusion

A whole day's work only resulted in successfully learning one spell, and this spell wasn't even that great. Seeing his own results, Shaoke was genuinely disheartened for a while. Fortunately, with the maid's soft, comforting words and his timely adjustment, the negative emotions didn't last too long.

In the following days, after successfully interpreting a spell structure each time, he would copy the complete spell into his spellbook. At the end, he would record in detail the spellcasting techniques and precautions for that spell. Of course, he didn't attempt to cast spells here to test the results, as this place was not a spell training ground.

Reading books, memorizing their contents, meditating to recover from reading fatigue, interpreting spell structures, and copying spells—a series of tasks proceeded quickly and orderly in the manner Shaoke had long since arranged.

As time passed, the spells Shaoke had selected were copied one after another. For example, the advanced spell, Lava Ray, which evolves from the second-rank Blazing Ray, the third-rank special-class Green Flame Manipulation, and the Disintegration Structure spell that could be embedded in a three-pointed star magic array and cast through meditation alone. Of course, the military's unique search-type spells and some relatively common spells were also fully copied into his book. However, it was a slight regret that among the third-level spells, there weren't many that could be cast through meditation alone, a result that left Shaoke somewhat annoyed.

After copying over a dozen third-level spells, Shaoke finally felt truly relieved. This way, he wouldn't have to worry about being blasted by enemies during his first mission due to a lack of spells.

Seeing Shaoke finally stop copying, the maid couldn't help but burst into tears. Hearing her sobs, Shaoke felt somewhat irritated and asked impatiently, "What's wrong? Is there something going on?" Having not spoken for dozens of days, his voice sounded hoarse and weak, like that of a dying old man.

The maid quickly helped Shaoke from the writing desk to the bed, crying, "Mage Xueye, thank goodness you stopped, otherwise I would have faced punishment." She then hurriedly fetched some water and carefully poured it into Shaoke's parched mouth.

Only after stopping did Shaoke realize he was sore and weak all over. In the previous period, busy with copying spells, even during meals and exercise, he had rushed through them, paying no attention to his physical condition. Now that everything was over, he realized his current state was quite terrible.

The maid quickly added a few pieces of firewood to the hearth, raising the room's temperature once again. She then fetched some special medicinal juice, placed it in a small copper pot, and set it on a grill to heat. After doing all this, she put aside her shyness, only worried as she carefully removed Shaoke's clothes, revealing his even more emaciated body. After quickly massaging a few key areas, she covered him with a thick cotton quilt. Then, she held Shaoke's head against her chest and gently massaged it.

Shaoke licked his dry, cracked lips, feeling his swollen head gradually regain some sensation under the maid's massage. Soon, it began to ache. "How long have you been serving me?" To distract from the pain, Shaoke had to find a topic.

"It's been over five months now," the maid replied, hearing the shakiness in Shaoke's voice and knowing the mage was in pain again. Through her recent reading, she understood this was caused by overexertion of his energy in a short period. Without a better way to prevent this bad situation, the maid could only use the massage techniques she had just learned to repeatedly alleviate Shaoke's pain.

"Mage Xueye, you can rest for a few days. You haven't had a medicinal bath in a long time," the maid said, unable to help but sigh softly and add, "Your body is quite weak now."

Shaoke nodded. As the pain lessened, he sat up. "Prepare some food for me. Bring it over in one magic hour. I need to meditate for a while." Seeing the maid's worried expression, he explained, "Just to recover some energy. That will make it better." He then waved his hand, signaling the maid to follow his instructions.

The maid hesitated for a moment but finally left the stone house as instructed, carefully carrying the small copper pot from the grill, its handle wrapped in a white cloth.

After the maid left, Shaoke stood there naked in front of the writing desk, wanting to see just how bad his current physical condition was.

Everything was still within an acceptable range. Shaoke breathed a sigh of relief. The mirror didn't show him having turned into a special-class necromancer-type physique, which slightly reassured him. Touching his somewhat withered hand, he thought that if this situation continued for a while longer, he would definitely be mistaken for a necromancer based on his appearance.

After quickly recovering his energy through advanced meditation once more, he lay on the bed and slowly fell asleep. After all, during the spell-copying period, he hadn't slept much. He only slept for one magic hour before copying a spell structure to concentrate his energy; the rest of the time, he relied on meditation to sustain his activities. Now that he had relaxed, the accumulated exhaustion inevitably overwhelmed him.

Shaoke, with his mind at ease, didn't know how long he had slept. He only realized upon waking that a naked, smooth body was curled up in his arms. Somewhat dazed, he ran his hands over it a few times, startling its owner awake.

"Mage Xueye, you're awake?" The young maid's face was no longer weary and worried; her face was now lit up with joy. "Let me apply some medicine for you. I made this medicine according to the method in the book." She then wrapped herself in a thin woolen blanket, tiptoed on her fair, delicate feet across the thickly carpeted floor to the hearth, fetched a small white porcelain jar and a small dish placed nearby, and, under Shaoke's gaze, blushed as she climbed onto the bed. She wasn't used to standing naked before a man, letting him observe her, even if he was the one she was supposed to serve wholeheartedly.

Shaoke quickly cast a detection spell and, finding the transparent ointment had no side effects, lay there, letting her apply it to his body with a special technique. "Did you learn this when you went to borrow books with me?" Feeling the cool ointment and the massage technique different from before, Shaoke couldn't help but voice his question.

"Yes," the maid replied without stopping her work, kneeling beside Shaoke as her small hands quickly applied the ointment to his body in a certain pattern. "I read in the book about your condition and, following the treatment method recorded there, had someone prepare this medicine."

"Are you not allowed to go there alone to borrow books?" Shaoke looked at the maid's naked body, trying hard to control his reaction. He knew the current situation wasn't suitable for any special actions.

"Will you always stay here?"

The maid blushed and nodded, confirming Shaoke's guess. After applying the transparent, smooth ointment to the last area, she answered, "If the mages we serve leave here or abandon us, we will receive money provided here to leave, or we can stay and do paid work." After saying this, the maid put down the medicine, gently leaned over Shaoke, and massaged him again. "After all, the pay here is good, and every once in a while, we can leave and go home for a period."

Thus, Shaoke casually chatted with the maid. Finally, after eating some food the maid had prepared again, he held her and slowly fell asleep.

Upon waking, Shaoke found the smooth medicine had disappeared without a trace, leaving no residue on the bed. Standing up and moving around a bit, he felt the exhaustion in his body had almost vanished. If not for his emaciated body reminding him of the fact that he had once overexerted his energy, he would have felt everything was wonderful. Well! At least the maid, who was intently reading a book nearby, was still good.

After stretching his body, the maid was startled from her book world. She hurriedly stored the book and helped Shaoke put on his robe and cloak.

"Mage Xueye, we can go out for a walk. Not far from here, there's a tavern where you can relax," she said, once again adjusting Shaoke's cloak to make him look more spirited.

"To the medicinal pool. I want to stay there for a while. Hopefully, it can speed up my body's recovery." After saying this, he and the maid prepared a few things and went to the huge medicinal pool area. They chose a secluded pool and enjoyed themselves there. Of course, the maid's full-body massage was unavoidable. Fortunately, Shaoke was used to it and didn't find it inappropriate. Moreover, wasn't this exactly what he had imagined in the past?

For a period afterward, Shaoke's life returned to its normal routine. With the maid's prepared medicine and the effects of the medicinal pool, his body began to slowly recover.

Accordingly, Shaoke reduced his meditation time and instead focused on learning the language skills required for those third-level spells. Even with reduced meditation time, his mental energy growth rate and meditation speed remained fast. Shaoke roughly estimated that his progress was equivalent to other mages meditating for five or six magic hours daily.

One day, while Shaoke was receiving the maid's careful massage in the medicinal pool, a stranger politely interrupted them.