45: Chapter 45 Magic Stagnation

Late at night.

Norma was still cultivating, her silk nightgown long since soaked through with sweat.

Meanwhile, Nie Ning lounged on the bed at an angle, holding fruit in his hand, admiring Norma's body with great relish.

It had to be said, although this girl was a bit feisty, her figure was truly beyond reproach—curvy in all the right places, with everything she should have.

Most importantly, she wasn't wearing any underwear!

'I wonder if she's like this normally too...'

Just as Nie Ning was lost in his fantasy, Norma's whole body shuddered, followed by a surge of energy and blood within her. In moments, her strength reached the Mid-level mid-stage.

Seeing this, Nie Ning felt a wave of regret in his heart.

If he had known the holy water was this powerful, drinking it himself might have allowed him to break through to the high-level.

Of course, if it really came to him drinking it, just pretend he never said that.

It was best to just think about things from the gods; there was no need to take them seriously.

Especially for someone like Nie Ning, who didn't believe in ghosts or gods, he instinctively felt these deities harbored ill intentions.

Unless absolutely necessary, he would never use items related to gods, especially things that needed to be ingested to work.

That was why he had given up on the black scroll last time, fearing it might have a negative effect on him.

But despite all his calculations, he had still ended up absorbing the black water potion unintentionally.

As Nie Ning's thoughts wandered, Norma, who was still cultivating, slowly opened her eyes.

Noticing Nie Ning's gaze, Norma instinctively looked down and realized her clothes were soaked with sweat. She immediately covered her chest in shame and anger.

But just as Norma raised her hand, intending to teach Nie Ning a lesson, the memory of slapping him until he coughed up blood surfaced in her mind. In the end, she slowly lowered her arm.

'Hmph!'

With a cold snort, Norma covered her chest and ran out of the room.

Coming back to his senses, Nie Ning was full of question marks, not understanding what nerve this girl had struck now.

But he had seen everything worth seeing and hadn't suffered any loss, so he decided not to bother with this silly girl.

'Sleep, sleep.'

Nie Ning yawned, pulled the covers over his head, turned over, and went to sleep.

...

The next morning.

Worried that Norma might be distressed or, like last time when he fused with the crystal core, something might happen, Nie Ning went to the small building and knocked on the door.

The door opened, and Norma walked out, her expression cold.

Seeing that Norma looked well, Nie Ning felt somewhat relieved.

After all, Norma had taken care of him for a long time, and he didn't want to see anything happen to her.

A strange glint flashed in Norma's eyes as she looked at Nie Ning.

Last night, after she returned, she carefully recalled everything that had happened and gradually noticed many things that didn't make sense.

Her condition had clearly been very poor at the time, yet Nie Ning hadn't gone to call for help. Instead, he had just watched from the sidelines.

Either this guy was truly foolish, or he had understood her situation, or he had ulterior motives—like... lusting after her body.

Moreover, when she had mentioned finding a doctor earlier, Nie Ning's reaction had been equally strange, as if he had understood what she said.

All signs indicated that this guy, who spent all day grinning foolishly, might not be as simple-minded as he seemed.

Nie Ning gestured with his hands, trying to convey that he just wanted to check if she was okay and if she needed to see a doctor or something similar.

Norma shook her head, indicating that Nie Ning didn't need to bother.

She also sternly warned Nie Ning not to tell anyone about what happened last night, especially the part about her wearing a nightgown.

Now that her strength had inexplicably increased, she didn't want too many people to know about it.

Advancing a whole major stage in one night would only cause trouble if word got out.

Nie Ning was more than happy for Norma not to speak carelessly, as it would also reduce the chance of him being discovered.

After that, the two didn't talk much more. Nie Ning used work as an excuse and quickly slipped away.

Watching Nie Ning's retreating figure, Norma's eyes filled with doubt.

'His energy and blood are ordinary. Last time, the doctor also said Nie Ning's body is very weak. He seems like an ordinary person in every way. Could he really just be foolish?'

'Or maybe, as Nie Ning said last time, he ate some unknown medicinal herb that made him even more foolish?'

...

Over the next month, Nie Ning resumed his normal cultivation.

Every day, apart from tending to the flowers and plants in the garden, he spent almost all his time cultivating the Meditation Technique and handled two cases for Borton.

With the help of a large number of secret spirit pills, Nie Ning's strength recovered to the Mid-level mid-stage once again, and his wizard cultivation also reached the early Apprentice stage.

It was at this time that another troubling problem arose for Nie Ning.

His magic power was no longer increasing!

It was just that inexplicable.

His cultivation had been going smoothly; everything was developing in a positive direction.

But over the past two days, no matter how hard he cultivated the Meditation Technique, his magic power had stagnated after reaching the early Apprentice stage.

Keep in mind, he hadn't reached the peak of the Apprentice stage yet, so there shouldn't be any bottleneck to speak of.

Before encountering a bottleneck, the main focus was on increasing spiritual power and accumulating magic power.

It was like knight cultivation: because each person's situation was different, with varying aptitudes, the speed of cultivation naturally varied.

But the problem lay here. Poor aptitude could indeed lead to stagnation in strength.

However, logically speaking, spiritual power acted as the upper limit. The more magic power one had, the stronger the spiritual power needed to be. Otherwise, stagnation would occur.

In his case, his spiritual power was still increasing, but his magic power could no longer grow.

When he cultivated the Meditation Technique, he could still absorb elemental energy, but the beast source no longer converted it into magic power.

'If only I had a wizard to exchange ideas with,'

Nie Ning turned over in bed, his face full of helplessness.

His understanding of wizards was too limited.

Aside from the few wizard books he had obtained, he was mostly relying on his own wild guesses. He wasn't even sure if what he was cultivating now was correct.

And after incorporating the crystal core, he might have already deviated from the original path of a wizard.

Unfortunately, even Borton didn't know if there were any wizards in Ska City, so it was even less likely for Nie Ning to find any trace of them. This meant he had to figure everything out on his own.

...

Late at night.

Wantai Forest.

A figure continuously darted through the trees.

As the view gradually opened up, a canyon blocked Nie Ning's path.

'This should be the place,'

Nie Ning examined the traces around him. The ground was marked with many huge footprints and fallen trees.

A few days ago, he had learned from Borton that despite so much time having passed, that Frenzied Giant Bear still hadn't died. Instead, quite a few Transcendents who had come to hunt it had perished.

Perhaps because the Frenzied Giant Bear had never left Wantai Forest, the city lord's manor showed no intention of intervening.

After careful consideration, Nie Ning felt that the reason his magic power couldn't increase might be related to the crystal core.

Because ever since the crystal core had successfully fused, the crystal core in his chest hadn't grown larger like those of conventional mutated beasts.

Thus, Nie Ning reached a conclusion: perhaps the reason his magic power growth was limited was that his crystal core couldn't grow, leading to this situation.