He let out a long breath and opened his eyes, only to feel that the true qi in his dantian was more abundant than ever before, and his whole body was filled with a sense of boundless strength. It was as if, with a single punch, he could flatten a mountain.

Of course, this was merely his imagination; he didn’t really believe he possessed such incredible powers.

“Zhi Ling, how am I doing?” he asked inwardly.

“Very well. This pill has saved you a month of hard cultivation. Your true qi has already reached the peak of the first level. As soon as you fully absorb the remaining medicinal effects in your body, you’ll immediately advance to the second level.”

Chad Brooks’s heart thudded. Although he had already suspected that this pill’s effects would be extraordinary, he hadn’t expected it to be so astonishing.

No wonder his three cousins treated the Nourishing Life Pill as a treasure—it truly made sense.

“Ah, are… are you alright?” A timid voice sounded in his ear, pulling his thoughts back.

Startled, Chad Brooks turned his head and saw the young girl looking at him cautiously, her eyes filled with anxiety and panic.

He nodded slightly and said, “I’m fine. Thank you, miss, for giving me the pill.”

The girl looked him up and down. Seeing that he was indeed unharmed, she finally let out a long sigh of relief and said apologetically, “I forgot just now that your true qi cultivation is only at the first level, but the pill I gave you was a mid-grade Nourishing Life Pill. Fortunately, your willpower is exceptional, otherwise…”

She trailed off, mumbling.

Chad Brooks drew in a sharp breath, only now realizing how dangerous it had been.

But what shocked him even more was… mid-grade. This was actually a mid-grade Nourishing Life Pill.

Who exactly was this girl, to possess such a precious pill? Even the Nourishing Life Pills provided by David Brooks were only low-grade.

Slowly, a subtle change appeared on his face. It seemed that pills really shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The girl bit her lip gently, then after a moment said softly, “I’m sorry.”

Chad Brooks waved his hand and said with a wry smile, “It’s alright.”

Although he still felt a lingering fear, seeing the girl’s pitiful expression and recalling that it was an unintentional mistake, his heart softened.

He picked up the longsword and short needle from the ground, smiled slightly, and said, “Didn’t you want to see me inscribe spirit patterns? Then watch closely.”

Chapter 006: Technique

A faint white light emanated from the short needle, and Chad Brooks’s eyes lit up. He could clearly sense that his true qi had made great progress.

Although this wisp of white light looked no different from before—flickering and seemingly about to go out at any moment—in his eyes, this bit of white light was flawless and extremely steady.

This was the great benefit brought by the leap in true qi. As his true qi increased, even his confidence changed dramatically.

True qi flowed, and that bit of white light gently landed on the longsword.

He focused intently on inscribing spirit patterns onto the longsword, so he didn’t notice that the girl’s expression had changed several times in an instant, and even a trace of shock flashed across her face.

Her true qi cultivation was actually much higher than Chad Brooks’s, and her mastery of spirit patterns was far beyond what his amateur skills could compare to.

But precisely because of this, seeing Chad Brooks’s performance left her deeply astonished.

Although a first-level true qi user could also activate the power of the Inscription Needle, this power was quite limited. More importantly, at the mere first level, it was impossible to guarantee the stability of this power.

And for an artificer, stability was the most important thing.

Even she, whom her uncle called a genius, only began to study spirit patterns when her true qi reached the fourth level.

But even then, when she activated the power of the Inscription Needle, she struggled greatly to control it.

It wasn’t until her true qi reached the peak of the fourth level that she could barely keep the power of the Inscription Needle relatively stable.

Yet, looking at the young boy before her now… her face truly showed an expression as if she’d seen a ghost.

First-level warrior true qi!

Judging from the white light on the short needle, this was definitely first-level warrior true qi. But once this seemingly unstable wisp of light landed on the longsword, it immediately became as steady as a mountain, without the slightest fluctuation.

This level of stability—not only was she unable to match it when she was at the fourth level, even now, she couldn’t say she could do better.

But now, her true qi was far beyond just the fourth level…

It was hard to imagine that a boy with only first-level true qi could possess such terrifying control.

At this moment, for the first time, she had a deep doubt.

Her uncle had always said that she possessed a rare talent to become a spirit master, whether it was infusing spirit or inscribing spirit patterns.

But after seeing Chad Brooks’s performance, she couldn’t help but ask herself.