30: Stormy Night

Over the past three months, under Sphere Professor's tireless guidance and pronunciation correction, I have made rapid progress.

Including the Thunderclap successfully cast today, I have now mastered four zero-ring cantrips: Create Bonfire, Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, and Thunderclap.

Ray of Frost, like Create Bonfire, was taught to me previously by Wizard Wedell and Lavinia.

Thanks to Sphere Professor's rigorous language instruction and pronunciation correction, I quickly mastered the Ray of Frost, an evocation zero-ring cantrip.

Subsequently, I swiftly mastered the conjuration zero-ring cantrip: Mage Hand, the only cantrip the Professor specialized in.

"The root of your tongue must touch the upper palate!" The silver light from one of the Professor's orifices reflected my contorted mouth shape. "The 'Ignis' syllable of Mage Hand must resonate from the abdominal cavity!"

Under his meticulous guidance, in less than twenty days, I successfully cast Mage Hand.

However, compared to the Professor's Mage Hand, mine was clearly inferior.

The Professor told me that what I lacked was practice and insight. I had just learned it, and there was bound to be a gap compared to his Mage Hand, which he had used for thousands of years.

With the first three zero-ring cantrips as a foundation, I just mastered the Thunderclap cantrip today.

Thunderclap

Spell Level: Zero-ring

Spell School: Evocation

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Self (5-foot radius)

Components: Verbal

Duration: Instantaneous

The caster creates a thunderous boom that can be heard within 100 feet.

Creatures within a 5-foot radius of the caster (excluding the caster) must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d6 thunder damage.

The maximum damage of this spell increases with the caster's level.

...

Starting in the afternoon, the weather worsened, with colossal waves rolling across the sea and dense curtains of rain pouring down.

Hurricanes swept in from the sea, stirring up giant waves, blowing towards the forest, and scattering the thick fog.

A Wizard Shack, twice as large as before, appeared and disappeared in the mist.

Several trees by the sea were suddenly uprooted, one of them rolling eastward, then swept into the air by a gust of hurricane, finally landing on the shack.

The Dragon King, perched by the roof's skylight, its warning roar arrived simultaneously with the giant tree.

"Crack..."

The sharp roof, supported by a protective field, acted like a sharp axe standing on the ground, splitting the giant tree in two.

Stable Medium Wizard Shack

Anchor stability has increased from 0.3% to 0.6%.

The protective field has been strengthened:

Where there are physical objects... unless external force instantly exceeds 12 tons (the comprehensive equivalent value of all... energy);

Where there are no physical objects, external destructive force instantly exceeds 1.2 tons...

Reduces system energy dissipation rate by 0.00048%.

...

Unfortunately, several branches, in the moment of rolling, broke through the protective field at the skylight.

Fortunately, the Dragon King warned in time, and my reaction was quick. The moment I heard the dragon's roar, I hugged Sphere Professor and rolled on the ground, narrowly dodging the branches that pierced into the shack.

I wiped the rain from my face. The branches were severed by the restored force field and fell indoors, the rain on the leaves splashing all over me.

I used the Qiankun Ring to store the broken branches in the system space and began to clean up the mess inside the shack.

Explosions echoed around the shack, with fire and various colored mists intertwining.

Three Magic Bean plants were triggered by the broken trees, while the remaining three danced wildly in the storm.

In the early hours of the morning, the weather outside gradually became calm and rainy.

Had the hurricane passed?

Most of the protective traps had been destroyed, and the surrounding mist began to gradually recover.

As the Dragon King and I braved the rain, preparing to repair some of the traps, the howling of a wolf pack came from afar.

It's a pack of Dire Wolves!

Suddenly, a "boom" sounded behind me, the dull thud of a heavy object hitting the ground shaking even the earth.

At the edge of the thin mist, a tall, blood-soaked black panther suddenly appeared, collapsing in front of me.

Just as I was about to draw my blade, the black panther's golden vertical pupils, looking at me, suddenly transformed into a dazzling golden light that enveloped me.

Time seemed to freeze, and countless images flooded my mind:

The trembling of tender spring shoots striving to grow, the arc of salmon leaping against the current, ancient memories slumbering in tree rings... finally settling on the mist outside the shack—the several pregnant creatures I had spared over the past three months...

"Save my children!"

This is... the black panther's language!

I instinctively felt that the black panther in front of me was speaking, and it wasn't speaking human language, but its own language.

To my surprise, I could understand it!

"Don't doubt yourself, you are also a child of nature!" the black panther continued, "Concentrate, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and you will naturally feel the presence of nature, like the Mother of the Forest."

Unconsciously, I followed its words, seemingly entering a wonderful state.

I found that I could hear the whispers of the surrounding trees, feel the breath of the wind, and even perceive the flow of the surrounding natural forces, as if every inch of land, every leaf, was telling me the story of life.

"Child of nature, I have observed you for a long time. You never slaughter wantonly for selfish desires, nor do you ever harm pregnant creatures. You follow the way of nature.

You have long gained the recognition of the Mother of Nature.

The Dire Wolves ambushed and surrounded me when I was weakened and about to give birth. My time is running out.

I know they also see you as an enemy.

Please take care of my child. In the future, it will become your animal companion and fight alongside you when it grows up!"

After the light dissipated, I was surprised to find that I was still in the same posture as before.

"System notification! System notification!" The mechanical voice in my skull kept ringing.

The weak black panther in front of me was struggling to give birth, its expression seemingly telling me that it had no hostility, and even a hint of pleading.

How could I understand its expression? I even doubted myself, but never doubted the meaning of its expression.

Just now, I seemed to have entered some kind of dream. Was it really this black panther talking to me just now?

Looking at the black panther giving birth in the fine rain, my heart seemed to be filled only with pity.

I called the Professor and the Dragon King for help, moving the tarp from the supply pile over the black panther to shield it from the wind and rain. Then I dispelled the mist around the black panther's tail.

While waiting for the black panther to give birth, I checked the system information in my mind.

(For Mage Hand spell data, please refer to "Author's Notes" at the end of this chapter. For Create Bonfire and Ray of Frost data, please refer to previous text.)