Chapter 25: Wintermoon Spear Dance

Time passed quickly, and soon, three years went by.

During the past three years, Raven had been endlessly practicing his alchemy skills and had finally reached the succession rate of 100% in mortal potion concocting. Although he wanted to concoct many Low-Rank potions and increase his skill proficiency, the materials he got in the local herbal market were nothing but useless trash.

If not for the materials that his Aunt got from the Royal City's black market from time to time, he might not have concocted any Low-Rank potion at all.

During the past three years, he managed to concoct two Low-Rank potions.

One was a 'Paralysis Potion,' and another one was a 'Life Affinity Potion.'

For the first time, he managed to concoct a Low-Rank Affinity!

It was his biggest achievement during the past three years!

But it wasn't an easy task at all. To create the 'Life Affinity Potion' alone, he spent a total of 250 gold coins from his savings just to buy the potion materials.

'I bought twenty sets of potion materials but only managed to succeed once.' Raven knew that even that was due to his sheer luck.

'But I succeeded in concocting the Paralysis potion in the fifth try itself. And the cost of potion materials for the Paralysis potion was cheap, too.'

[Affinity potions are hard to create, lad. That's why no one in this world has managed to create any affinity potion.]

'I know. If I can get more materials, my alchemy skills will increase leaps and bounds.' He muttered.

Although he still lacked many more materials to concoct other affinities potions, he was much more satisfied with the results.

Not only did he progress rapidly in Basic Alchemy, but he also memorized 40% of the books in the Adept level Alchemy section!

'If I only get some good materials, I will even be able to create an 'intermediate rank' affinity potion. Of course, the probability would be only around 1:100 or even more. But there is still hope for me to achieve it only using theoretical knowledge.'

Alas, all he got was nothing but trash potion materials in the Darkcross town.

But even with those trash materials, he managed to make more than 100 Mortal-Rank potions in his free time and sold them on the black market regularly.

Thanks to this, he managed to earn a fortune.

"Even after subtracting the amount of material cost, I have around 430 gold coins remaining." Surprisingly, Athena and Shirley didn't accept his money and told him to keep it for himself.

He also knew what they were still thinking and sighed. Although they became much calmer after learning that he had more years to live, they didn't waste any time and worked harder.

But even after three years of training using the new Knight Techniques, there was no sign of any improvement from both.

[That's because of the shackle, Raven. To break through this shackle, one must need a 'Class Gem' or a Potion. Knight Rank Class gem is not even in the option, so our only option is to concoct the awakening potion.]

'Even if my sister reaches peak rank in her Knight Training, is it impossible to break that shackle?' Raven asked.

After all, he knew that the material cost to concoct the awakening potion would be similar to that of the affinity potion and fell into deep thoughts.

[Without a Knight's awakening potion, it's almost impossible to break through. When your Aunt goes to the capital next time, ask her to search for the potion materials of Knight's Awakening potion. Although increasing your affinity is important, your safety is the utmost priority. As long as you have two Radiant Knights by your side, you can have an easier time getting your hands on the materials. Even if an official Wizard pops up and blocks them, they will have the ability to force him to a corner.]

'Knights can even beat Wizards?' He couldn't help but ask in a shocked tone.

[Humph, wizards aren't all-powerful. I know of a pitiful wizard who got captured by a higher being and got turned into a small crown. Although that pitiful wizard was the one who created me, he ended up in such a state because of his arrogance and overconfidence. So, you must always remain cautious and humble. Also, focus on increasing your wealth by creating more potions.]

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'I know that I need to spend lots of money if I want to continue walking on the path of an Alchemist.' Raven muttered and decided to make an awakening potion for his sister first.

The main reason was that she now held a higher position in Darkcross and was always involved in more danger than her Aunt.

After defeating the Orc Commander, her popularity rose high, which earned her the position of Superintendent. She oversees the Industrial District and Commoners' District and was also responsible for overseeing all the Narcotic crime cases in Darkcross Town.

Meanwhile, Shirley continued to take more commissions and continued to save up money.

Thanks to that, Shirley and Athena had managed to save more than 466 gold coins.

"Along with the auctioned money, they currently have a total of around 660 gold coins. With my current savings, our family have a total of around 1090 gold coins, enough to buy the Miracle Life Potion in the Royal auction." He was also keeping the 'Mutant Magic Stone' and the two Feral Eye Crystals in his inventory.

'Although I don't know how much they can be sold for, I'm sure those items would go for more than 1000 gold coins.' But Zera always told him that it wasn't worth taking the risk and warned him to be more careful of wizards.

Due to that, he decided not to think about selling them for now.

But the one thing that still worried him most was his injured soul. Although he had more than around 12 years to live, it wasn't enough at all.

'No one can expect what might happen tomorrow after all.'

The next thing he had to worry about was to think of a way to enter 'Crows Misery Academy.' Zera told him that he already had Ice Affinity Potion and would be eligible to enter the academy as long as he healed his soul and increased his affinity rank.

'But is it really possible for me to beat all the 10,000 students in the tests and get selected among the top 100?' He knew it was an impossible task.

[Who said it's an impossible task? I know you are impatient, but don't worry about anything, and focus only on improving your alchemy knowledge. Also, first, focus on studying the content related to affinity potion making and finding the materials.]

After hearing those words, Raven didn't say anything and focused only on reading the books most of the time.

At the same time, he also completed the fifth elementary grade and finally entered the Knight Training School.

But unlike the elementary school, knight training school taught the students mostly about physical exercise and about the study of battle tactics.

Of course, the fees also skyrocketed to 2 gold coins per month, causing most of his classmates to give up on entering the Knight Training School.

His best friend Robert also couldn't enroll the school due to their family financial problem and decided to work under his dad's merchant store in the Baron's Highhold City.

Although Raven wanted to help him with his money, Zera stopped him and told him not to attract the attention of others, especially Teacher Elizabeth.

Age of Rune, Year 1415, August 16th.

It was around 9 P.M.

Raven lay on the soft bed and looked up at the ceiling with a deep thought.

[What are you thinking, lad?] Zera asked.

"From tomorrow onwards, I can start training how to wield weapons, right? So, I was wondering if which weapon I should pick up. If I learn sword arts, I can practice along with my sister and improve my skills quickly, right?" Raven asked. But the reason he showed hesitation was mainly because of the 'Frozen Ender' in his inventory.

[You have zero affinity for swordsmanship or any other weapon, lad. Even if you train your swordsmanship with the best swordsmanship technique for ten or even twenty years, you won't be able to create the 'Basic Sword Aura.'] Zera said coldly.

"Can't I concoct an affinity potion for swordsmanship?" Raven asked, still having no intention of giving up.

[There is no such affinity potion for swords or any other weapon techniques. One has to be born with it or increase one's affinity through endless training and enlightenment. Although we can try the experience and hardship method, my owner was never interested in swordsmanship or any other weapon arts. So, there is no memory of such a thing in the memory library.] Zera's words made his face turn gloomy.

"But why did he gift me that Frozen Ender weapon? Isn't it no use?" Raven asked with a frown.

[... I wonder about that, too. But the owner wouldn't have kept this Spear as a beginner's gift in the inventory without any thinking.] Zera went silent for a while and soon added.

[Although I don't have any high hopes in this pathway, I should at least help you learn the basics of how to use Spear.]

As she spoke, Raven felt his consciousness being pulled somewhere and soon found himself on the first floor of the Memory Library.

[Although I don't have any excellent Spearmanship technique, this should do the work.] A familiar voice came from above, causing Raven to look upward.

Soon, he saw the beautiful elven lady hovering through the spiral staircase that led to the second floor and soon landed before him.

Then, she took out a silver-covered book with an image of a man riding on a silver wolf from thin air and gave it to him.

"This Spearmanship technique is called 'Wintermoon Spear Dance.' It is the basic technique and has over ten levels of training. This is the first volume, and it has the first four levels. Once you memorize it, try to practice from tomorrow onwards and master all the levels one by one."

Raven caught the book and opened it before reading the first chapter.

"Chapter 1: Gripping... Hold the Spear with both hands, spaced apart for balance. The leading hand should be positioned closer to spearhead for control, while the trailing hand provides for support..."

"... hand Placement: The leading hand, often the right hand for right-handed individuals, should be positioned closer to the spearhead. This hand provides control and directs the Spear's movement. The trailing hand, usually the left hand for right-handed individuals, is placed farther down the shaft to support the Spear and provide additional stability..."

"... Overhand Grip- The overhand grip is a standard grip where both palms face downward. The leading hand grips the spear shaft with the thumb pressing against the flat side of the Spear. The index and middle fingers wrap around the shaft, while the other fingers provide support..."

As Raven Continued to read the book, he became more and more astonished.

"What is this? To think that there are so many things to learn about the basic gripping itself." He was truly amazed.

[I'll only give you 1 hour per day for reading about Spearmanship, lad. In the remaining time, you should focus on improving your knowledge in Alchemy.] Zera said, damping his excited mood.

"Okay." He could only nod and proceed to read the book.

Once the allocated time was over, he moved to the Adept Rank Alchemy books and started focusing on memorizing the theoretical knowledge.