23: Professor of the Sphere

As the incantation for Sand Wall trembled on my lips, the Dragon King transformed into a streak of light and darted towards the two heavily wounded Dire Wolves.

Its flight path left a long, thin, white afterimage on my retina, like a shooting star, with stardust-like phosphorescence trailing in its wake.

Perhaps because the Dragon King's body was too small, the two heavily wounded Dire Wolves had not yet sensed the danger.

They merely glared at me fiercely, their emerald vertical pupils practically spitting fire.

They stumbled a few steps, then accelerated and continued to run towards me.

"Puff…"

A white flash, and one of the Dire Wolf's eyes brightened for a moment, then that eye could see nothing.

It was the Dragon King's sharp claw, which, in its high-speed flight, had torn through one of its eyeballs.

Like shattered crystal, the internal fluid spurted out, and the moonlight splintered into strange light patterns in the Dire Wolf's viscous pupil.

"Awoo… woo…"

A mournful wolf howl echoed in the night sky.

The other wolf was also startled.

It had been severely injured by the fireball explosion, and now its companion suddenly screamed.

It stopped in its tracks.

From a distance, I watched as the Dragon King transformed into streaks of slender light, dancing up and down around the two heavily wounded Dire Wolves.

The two Dire Wolves tried to bite the terrifying "little flying insect" in the air, but repeatedly missed.

Occasionally, they even bit their own companion, and wolf howls continuously rang out.

Before long, one of them fled in disarray.

The other, however, was hit by the Dragon King's Wind Blade skill, stunned for a few seconds, and then was struck by the Dragon King's head, which pierced through its eyeball and through its brain.

At this moment, I was simultaneously controlling Sand Wall to trap one Dire Wolf and using Cause Fear to control the other.

The frightened Dire Wolf closest to me was blindly darting in all directions, and finally, it charged towards me and the Wizard Shack.

"Damn it, I can't let it hit the shack."

I ran towards the east, away from the shack, while calling the Dragon King back for assistance.

Before this Dire Wolf could hit the shack, I stopped maintaining Cause Fear.

"Awoo…"

It was a close call; it stopped just before hitting the shack.

I continued running east, the distance from this Dire Wolf increasing from 2 meters, 3 meters, 4 meters, to 5 meters…

"Awoo…"

It might have stepped on the trap I had set by the door; a sharp wooden stake pierced its paw.

Then, a foul wind rushed from behind me, a "thud," accompanied by a searing pain in my back, and I was sent flying.

The yellow sand dissipated, and I could no longer maintain the other Sand Wall.

Turning my head to look at the other Dire Wolf that had escaped, running towards me, my eyes went black, and I passed out.

Late at night, a cold sea breeze woke me up.

I got up and looked around; the Dire Wolves were all gone, except for the one killed by the Dragon King on the distant grassland.

The shack was still safely in place, and the unusual glow on its body had disappeared.

On the grass beneath me, my dark red blood had congealed, along with an empty potion bottle.

The Dragon King was perched on my shoulder; seeing me awake, it joyfully flew over and rubbed against my cheek.

I communicated with it mentally, asking what had happened after I fainted.

The Dragon King could not speak, but I roughly understood its meaning.

After I fainted, it arrived in time, drove away the two Dire Wolves, then took out a healing potion from the leather box on my waist and fed it to me.

Fortunately, the Dragon King was there; otherwise, I would not have been able to protect the Wizard Shack or save my own life today.

I hurriedly checked the system information.

"Host has completed System Mission Three. Reward has been issued."

The mission was displayed as completed.

I took the Dragon King back into the shack, where a grapefruit-sized gray stone sphere had appeared on the ground.

The system provided the following information about the stone sphere:

[Sphere Professor]

[Category]: Wondrous Item

[Level]: Rare

[Alignment]: Lawful Good

[Attributes]: Intelligence 18, Wisdom 12, Charisma 8

The Sphere Professor is a smoky gray quartz sphere, smooth-surfaced, weighing 5 pounds, and the size of a grapefruit.

Upon closer inspection, one would find 7 irregularly arranged small holes on its surface, through which light from deep within the sphere emanated.

This sphere can speak, read, and understand four languages, and it also possesses 60 feet of normal vision and hearing.

Unlike many other intelligent items, it has no goals of its own and cannot resist the creature holding it.

This sphere has a considerably broad understanding of four obscure areas of knowledge. When it makes an Intelligence check to recall knowledge from its areas of expertise, its roll gains a +9 bonus (including its Intelligence modifier).

In addition to the knowledge it possesses, this sphere can also cast the Mage Hand cantrip at will, but it only uses this spell when it needs to move itself.

It can speak, read, and understand common language, elvish, draconic, and netherese.

The Sphere Professor is an absolute chatterbox and believes all humanoids are fools.

When speaking on its areas of expertise, it will use an unintentionally condescending tone.

It possesses the following four areas of expertise:

· History of Elves.

· History of Netherese.

· Behaviors and characteristics of Sirens.

· How to make Seven-Color Spirit Fruit Wine (a lost colored elvish liquor, distilled from moonlight and sunlight and seven kinds of spirit fruits).

After I finished reading this information, an elderly male voice, with a metallic quality, came from the stone sphere.

"Tsk tsk, truly a house with bare walls…"

"Tsk tsk, you brat, is this your humble abode?"

"Tsk tsk, what a pitiful pauper!"

"Tsk tsk, you must be seeing the Sphere Professor for the first time, yes?"

"Tsk tsk, how ignorant. I am a noble creation of Netherese…"

"Tsk tsk, what is this? A dragon? Truly strange, I have never seen such a dragon. Is it a new species?"

As soon as I learned about the Sphere Professor, this talking stone sphere began to chatter incessantly.

It seemed to be speaking in an ancient form of common language, which I only half-understood.

The Dragon King also curiously flew to the stone sphere and circled it, observing.

"Um, I… my name is Ryan, it's nice to meet you," I tried to communicate with it in common language.

"Tsk tsk, nice? Pleased to meet? I am truly displeased, your home is extremely poor, without even a table. Except for this dragon."

"Tsk tsk, your accent… very strange, you brat, where are you from?"

"Um, I got separated from my parents.

Before, some kind people took me in and taught me some common language, elvish, Halfling, and a few draconic symbols, but I can't speak them very well."

"Tsk tsk, what a pitiful brat.

What kind of language is Halfling? How can it compare to the great netherese!

Aha, common language, elvish, draconic, and netherese, all are my strengths, and you have already glimpsed three of them! It shows you are quite talented!"

"Tsk tsk, what a pitiful person, no, a pitiful elf? No, a pitiful Half-elf child!

Do you wish to learn these four languages from the great Sphere Professor? I am an expert in this field! An expert among experts!"

"Good, good. Sphere Professor, it's really great that you are willing to teach me!" I replied.

"Tsk tsk, you brat.

Don't be ungrateful, do you know how many students are lining up to beg me to teach them…"

"Wait, what you just said…

You said you wish! He said he wishes to learn! Wishes to receive my instruction! Haha…"

"This is truly, truly excellent!

Cough… Hmm… So, you brat, what is your name? Ryan! Yes, yes! Ryan, from now on you shall call me—Professor!"

"Okay, Professor," I answered.

"Tsk tsk, considering your sincerity in seeking knowledge, I will… I will reluctantly agree."

"Tsk tsk, where shall I begin teaching you? I need to prepare teaching materials for my new apprentice! I also need to create a test to gauge your foundation."

"Tsk tsk, you brat, you go now, I need to prepare exam questions overnight, leave me in peace for a moment."

"Okay, Professor."

…

He really is a talkative Professor.

I took the Dragon King out of the shack and checked the system information again.

Much information about the Wizard Shack had been updated, and additionally, the system space had become available.