Chapter 172: Spatial Energy Riot

It turned out that the reason why Rowling had just declared his intention to compete with Anthony for the championship was that his confidence came from Uncle Kuss. Earlier at the hospital room door, while Rowling was agonizing over how to handle the final examination of tomorrow's grand finale, Kuss had suddenly emerged from the white stone, telling him that he could help Rowling temporarily elevate his magician rank, thereby forcibly boosting his alchemy.

Upon hearing this, Rowling could not help but be overjoyed. He still trusted Kuss's words immensely, so he had re-entered the ward and used reverse psychology to goad Anthony into a contest with him tomorrow before discussing the matter of Bill, temporarily relieving Victoria's urgent crisis. Otherwise, in that kind of situation, Rowling could easily foresee that between her own happiness and her younger brother's life, Victoria would most likely have chosen the latter.

If things had come to that, leaving aside whether Bill could be saved or not, given Victoria's character, once she gave her word to someone, she would certainly never go back on it. As a result, both she and Rowling would likely have lived with lifelong regrets.

Although it bought only a single night's respite, with Kuss's assistance, tomorrow's final held a glimmer of turnaround. If Rowling could truly win the championship and secure the materials for brewing the Three-Color Poison-Resolving Potion, then there would still be room for negotiation. As for how to refine those alchemy materials into a potion after winning them, that was not something Rowling needed to consider right now; because if he could not even win the championship, thinking about such a matter was utterly pointless.

"You brat, don't pin all your hopes entirely on this lord either," the skeleton-like Kuss floated in mid-air and said. "Under normal circumstances, it would be simple enough for me to elevate your cultivation in a short span of time. But in a place like the Alchemy Convention, I can guarantee that if I make a grand display of boosting your cultivation, apart from those three guild presidents on the grandstand, there should be no less than ten people who could instantly detect my presence. In that case, elevating your cultivation will become several times more difficult, and I can only do my utmost!"

Because over the past few years, Rowling's progress in his magician cultivation had been completely stagnant, focusing solely on being a martial warrior and practicing alchemy—areas where Kuss was somewhat powerless to help—Kuss had rarely communicated with Rowling during this period, spending most of his time residing within the white stone. It was only when Rowling had been pacing anxiously outside the ward earlier that Kuss had chosen to appear.

"Hehe, Uncle Kuss, don't I know your capabilities? I reckon even if the Pope himself were to grace the scene, you'd still be able to help me secure victory without revealing the slightest flaw!" Having spent several years getting along with the other party, Rowling naturally knew that Kuss was the kind of person whose fur had to be stroked the right way. Complimenting him directly yielded far better results than anything else.

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Kuss laughed and scolded, "You brat, you really have figured out this lord's temper. Rest assured, tomorrow I will definitely do my best to help you. But... brat, you haven't forgotten what I told you earlier, have you? Helping you out tomorrow will probably cost me half my life, so you had better remember to brew a soul-replenishing potion for me. Otherwise, if this goes on for too long, this lord will kick the bucket for real!"

"Uncle Kuss, you are the one who guided me onto the path of a magician. Without you, I wouldn't have everything I am today. After this Alchemy Convention, regardless of the outcome, once my alchemy improves and I find the alchemy materials, I will surely restore your lost soul at the earliest opportunity. Hehe, once I reach the rank of a Sanctuary Magician and my potion alchemy hits nine stars, I'd also love to see what you look like after recovering your physical body—whether you'll still be as... uh, as full of personality." The word 'ugly' that had just reached the tip of Rowling's tongue felt inappropriate, so he hastily swapped it for 'full of personality.'

"Stinky brat, stop spouting nonsense with me here. This lord has no time to waste with you; humph, I'm going back to sleep in the white stone!" Though he said this, the ethereal and faint figure of Kuss violently rippled the moment Rowling spoke those words. He had not expected the youth to still remember the matter of restoring his physical body. Although Rowling currently needed his help and there might be a few flattering undertones in his words, Kuss was nonetheless deeply moved inside.

Watching Kuss practically flee in panic back into the white stone, Rowling naturally understood what the other party was thinking. He did not point it out aloud, but instead said silently to himself: "Uncle Kuss, it's not just you. As long as I grow stronger, I will ensure that the family and friends around me have fewer regrets and more happiness. I must—I will definitely accomplish this!"

Next, Rowling began his indispensable daily cultivation routine.

Even during the Alchemy Convention, Rowling had never interrupted his cultivation, because he knew that cultivation was just like losing weight: after persisting for a long time, if you were to cut it short halfway due to some reason, it would become extremely difficult to pick it back up and persevere as before.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Rowling first initiated his martial warrior cultivation.

Ever since he consumed the divine-grade Hegemonic Blood Potion refined by Misius, Rowling's body had been thoroughly remade, causing the newly generated blood within him to continuously transform into a purplish-golden 'Hegemonic Blood.' When practicing his martial warrior cultivation on ordinary days, he only needed to refine the Hegemonic Blood Qi contained within this 'Hegemonic Blood,' accumulating it continuously in his lower dantian.

After several years of cultivation, Rowling's martial warrior tier had long since reached the fifth level. Not only was his physical strength several times greater than before, but his speed and power had also increased by leaps and bounds. It was precisely because of this that, during his battle with Treshi a few days ago, he had been able to defeat him using the thunderous methods of a martial warrior.

The Hegemonic Blood Qi contained within the lower dantian of a fifth-level martial warrior was already quite substantial. At this moment, under his continuous refinement, wisps of pure Hegemonic Blood Qi surged endlessly toward the dantian like tiny streams...

Half an hour later, Rowling concluded his martial warrior cultivation. He stepped off the bed and stretched his limbs, causing his joints to pop with crisp cracks, making his whole body feel immensely comfortable.

Immediately afterward, he waved his arm lightly, and an alchemy stone platform along with a large pile of potion alchemy materials appeared on the floor.

Crouching down, Rowling gazed at the rare materials before him, his eyes shining with excitement.

These materials had been given to him earlier by Master Cervantes. In order to secure the 'agency rights' for Rowling's whitening potion, Cervantes had spared no expense. This pile of alchemy materials amounted to a full seventy or eighty portions, among which no fewer than twenty portions were sixth-tier potion alchemy materials. With them, the worry Rowling previously had regarding the materials for brewing high-tier alchemy potions during tomorrow's examination was resolved, which naturally lifted his mood considerably.

First, he put away all the fifth-tier alchemy materials, then sifted through the sixth-tier materials, carefully returning the extremely rare ones back into his undead space to be used during tomorrow's examination. Rowling picked out two portions from the remaining dozen or so sixth-tier alchemy materials and placed them on the alchemy stone platform, stowing the rest away into the undead space.

During the examinations of the past few days, the potions Rowling brewed had all been of the fifth-tier level. Tomorrow's examination would undoubtedly require crafting sixth-tier potions, so he decided to take advantage of this free time tonight to brew two portions and familiarize himself with the feel.

His alchemy had broken through to the sixth tier as early as half a year ago, but due to his excessively low magician rank and the scarcity of sixth-tier alchemy materials, his potion alchemy had not seen much progress.

Over the past six months, his success rate in brewing sixth-tier low-grade potions had only hovered around seventy percent, still some distance away from the ninety percent success rate needed to break through to the sixth-tier mid-grade. Rowling believed that if his magician rank were elevated to the fifth level tomorrow with the help of Uncle Kuss, his alchemy should be able to reach the sixth-tier mid-grade. That way, at tomorrow's Alchemy Convention, he would truly possess the qualifications to contend with Anthony and the others for the championship.

As time passed, both portions of the sixth-tier alchemy materials were consumed by him. The result was quite good; both portions were successfully brewed.

Next, Rowling exhaled a deep breath of turbid air, rested for a brief moment, and once again sat cross-legged, beginning his final item of cultivation—the cultivation of spatial energy.

Just as he usually did, he continuously augmented his magical power and spiritual power through 'meditation,' using the oppressive force of the two to compress the spatial energy located within that specific meridian.

However, less than five minutes after Rowling began cultivating, an abnormal change suddenly erupted—

"Hum!" Within his meridian, that tiny cluster of pitch-black spatial energy suddenly burst forth with astonishing fluctuations!