Under the charm, the Bugbear walked blankly to the center of the magic ritual, surrounded by numerous, albeit not particularly precious, magic materials that shimmered slightly.
Faint magical fluctuations appeared in Minori's perception.
Whoosh!
Minori grabbed a corpse from his item box—a manticore over three meters tall—and threw it on the ground: "According to the normal procedure, the corpse of a magical beast needs to be placed in the magic circle as well."
Pfft!
With a flick of his wrist, his hand transformed into a palm blade.
He easily cut open the manticore's chest, reached in, and pulled out a basketball-sized heart, dripping with blood, and tossed it into the magic ritual.
The Bugbear raised its thickly haired arm, caught the heart, and drops of blood dripped through its fingers.
"What if I don't put in the corpse?"
Minori was curious, so he only threw the crucial heart to the Bugbear.
The "Wild Shape" ritual is a power ritual passed down by the Forest Gnome race. First, you must consume the heart of a magical beast, and then activate the ritual with the corpse of the magical beast.
This grants the ability to transform into that magical beast. However, the "Wild Shape" skill completely loses the ability to transform into other magical beasts; it can only transform into this one type from then on.
Under Minori's control, the Bugbear quickly ate the heart. Its face and chest were covered in blood, making it look somewhat ferocious.
"Activate the ritual."
Minori crouched down, placed his hand on the edge of the magic ritual, and injected magic power into it.
Boom!
Vibrating magical fluctuations formed from the ritual, centered on the Bugbear, creating an invisible pulling force, as if trying to absorb something.
"Ah!!"
The Bugbear suddenly let out a scream. Its originally thin body visibly began to deflate, but its head changed and swelled at an alarming rate, transforming into the head of the magical beast manticore.
However.
After only transforming the entire head, the Bugbear's body seemed to have been sucked dry, becoming truly emaciated.
Bang!
The Bugbear's body exploded directly, turning into a cloud of blood mist, with scattered limbs and broken arms. Only half of its head fell to the ground, rolling around a couple of times.
This scene.
Left Minori somewhat stunned. He didn't understand what had happened at all. A valuable experimental subject had died?
"Just a slight modification, and the impact is so great." Minori's eyes twitched.
Logically speaking, the real difficulty of this magic ritual lies in how to hunt powerful magical beasts, not the ritual itself.
If Dugan, the Stone Lizard, were still alive, he would probably say to himself that it was the curse of their Forest Gnome race.
He didn't believe that!
"Fifth Tier: Revive Dead."
Minori looked at the other two Bugbears, who were cowering in the cage with terrified expressions, and cast a revival spell expressionlessly.
The corpse's limbs were all there, perhaps a little fragmented, but they could be revived with a low-level revival spell.
These three Bugbears were not high level, around the fourteenth or fifteenth level, and each could be revived about three times.
That meant he could use it nine times.
"I didn't react in time just now. If this happens again later, I have to use healing magic and regeneration potions. That should save their lives."
"That way, I can research more times." Minori nodded to himself. His voice fell into the ears of the other two Bugbears, who trembled all over.
They looked at Minori with eyes like they were looking at a demon, and let out sharp and terrified roars.
Unfortunately.
Deep in the dense forest of the Great Wetland, there was obviously no one who could save them.
In the following days, Minori, except for returning to the royal capital once to specifically arrange for the Verdant Witch and Enri to continue selling regeneration potions and purchasing alchemical materials as usual,
stayed in the Great Wetland, conducting research.
The "Wild Shape" magic ritual, based on the current situation, did not give Minori any ability to increase his strength.
The reason he valued it so much was because the ritual allowed Minori to see the possibility of helping people from another world break through their level limits.
Transforming into a more powerful magical beast, besides simply increasing strength, would it also inherit the level cap of the magical beast?
Especially the corpse of that ancient fire dragon.
Although dragons are not considered magical beasts, and it was likely to not work, Minori still couldn't help himself wanting to experiment.
...
Upper Water Month, January 5th.
Minori returned to the royal capital. The operation process and hidden restrictions of the "Wild Shape" magic ritual had been explored almost enough, and could be brought to an end.
Only one of the three Bugbears remained, and that one only had one revival opportunity left.
He suddenly returned to the royal capital.
It wasn't because he wanted to stop, but because he had to return to the royal capital to deal with matters.
He arrived in the royal capital on the twentieth of Lower Earth Month, December, and had been here for half a month. In his previous journeys, it didn't count as a long stay.
Half of the previous time was actually spent on the road. Now that he had mastered teleportation magic, time was much more relaxed.
Many plans change with the times.
If he didn't have teleportation magic, Minori wouldn't have allowed himself to be put on the stage so quickly, implementing a plan of exchanging "fame" for "influence."
The identity he was currently disguised as was "genius alchemist" plus "faith-based magic caster." This identity would naturally be placed on the stage for a long time.
Even until the time after the Great Tomb descends, so the earlier it was placed on the stage, the better.
In the inn.
The Verdant Witch and Enri stood at the door of Minori's room, waiting quietly.
Enri carefully observed the Verdant Witch, then quickly retracted her gaze, pinching her pale fingers, and remained silent.
The adult hadn't appeared much during this time. Enri didn't find it strange. As an alchemist, the adult liked to study various potions.
During the journey to the royal capital, the adult often stayed alone in the tent for a long time, and Enri had long been accustomed to it.
Knock! Knock!
The Verdant Witch suddenly raised her hand and gently knocked on the door a few times.
"Come in," a calm voice came from inside the room.
The Verdant Witch then gently pushed the door open. Enri widened her innocent eyes and quickly followed behind, her eyes flashing with surprise.
This scene had occurred several times.
Enri couldn't understand how Miss Verdant could judge when to knock and when to wait outside.
She had been observing carefully all the time, but hadn't discovered anything.
"Is it a magical ability?" Enri could only think.
The Verdant Witch was of course aware that Minori's "truly powerful" power was magic-based, and mastering the fifth-tier "Teleportation" was naturally not surprising.
This was also the second identity that Minori deliberately hid. This power was naturally not without logic or trace. [Alchemist] was originally a magic-based profession.
It could also be considered one of the flaws that Minori intentionally revealed.
Of course, this power would probably not be used in most cases. Simply "Angel Summoning" was enough to solve most troubles.
It was a bit quiet.
Enri suddenly came back to her senses and realized that the Verdant Witch was frowning at her.
In the room, Lord Minori was sitting casually at the round table, stroking Kuro, and smiling at her.
"L, Lord, I was distracted just now." Enri's face turned red, and she opened her mouth in a flustered and cramped voice.
"Haha, it's okay."
"You looked quite cute when you were dazed just now." Minori smiled gently.
"The things." The Verdant Witch said coldly to Enri.
"Oh, here, here." Enri quickly took out two high-quality parchment invitations from her arms.
They were sealed with wax, with special patterns similar to noble crests or patterns, which looked very formal. The only difference was the difference in the patterns on them.
"This was given to me by the person who fought with Miss Verdant last time." Enri handed over the two exquisite parchment invitations.
"'Blue Rose'?"
Minori was a little surprised, and casually tore open the invitations to check the information on them. The two different styles of writing revealed a bit of delicacy.
It seemed that both invitations were written by women, and one of them even had a hint of unique fragrance.
"Read Magic"!
A faint magical light flashed between Minori's eyes, and the information on the invitations immediately appeared.
This is... an invitation from the "Golden" Princess?
Minori narrowed his eyes. There were not many words on either invitation, but the content was very different. One was Lakyus, the captain of "Blue Rose", expressing his apology for what happened to Tina last time.
The other was an invitation from the "Golden" Princess. Lakyus also mentioned this point, and the invitation was not just for him alone, but for the entire "Free Will".
To be precise, it included Enri and the Verdant Witch.
"Sending the invitation through the hands of 'Blue Rose', I thought she would send Leinas."
"Is it a temporary arrangement made after learning about the battle between them and 'Blue Rose' some time ago, or is it to indirectly show off their relationship with 'Blue Rose'?"
Minori pondered slightly, and it was not easy to make a judgment immediately.
However, whether it was "Blue Rose", which had the most prominent current reputation, Lakyus, who had the status of a great nobleman, or the even more famous "Golden" Princess,
such an invitation was indeed difficult to refuse.
Originally, Minori thought that the "Golden" Princess would send Leinas, with the idea of directly refusing at that time, and also taking the opportunity to exchange information with Leinas openly.
At least, Minori didn't plan to meet the "Golden" Princess so early, but if "Blue Rose" was added, it was not impossible.
He was thinking of establishing some contact with "Blue Rose" before leaving the royal capital, but couldn't find a breakthrough point. After all, there had been conflicts between the two sides some time ago.
But the present was an opportunity.
"Very well."
Minori's eyes flickered slightly.
"Lord, not long ago, a noble's carriage sent several sets of dresses." Enri said softly, her eyes full of curiosity.
"We're going to meet the princess tomorrow. Those dresses are prepared for this."
Minori withdrew his gaze from the invitation, looked at Enri and the Verdant Witch, who was also curious but showed a cold appearance, and opened his mouth softly.
"M, meet the princess!?"
Enri couldn't help but exclaim, as if she had heard something unbelievable.
After coming to the royal capital, she had naturally heard rumors about the "Golden" Princess. For such a big figure, Enri felt that the two sides would never have any interaction in this lifetime.
Unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, she was going to meet the princess!
Enri felt like she was dreaming, or rather, since following the adult, all her experiences had been like a dream.
"If you want to wear those dresses tomorrow, try them on in advance." Minori reminded.
Although he didn't know much about some noble dresses, he also knew that these dresses were always complicated to wear, and the first contact would inevitably require a process of sorting them out.
And Enri and the Verdant Witch couldn't have had access to them before this.
Minori waved his arm, signaling the two to leave.
The Verdant Witch bowed respectfully, turned around and left the room, while Enri stood in place with some hesitation.
"What's wrong? Is there anything else?" Minori asked.
"That, Lord, there has been a girl wandering outside the inn, saying she wants to meet you."
Enri grabbed her pink dress and mustered up the courage to speak.
Early on, Minori had instructed that the inn would not see any outside guests. Except for before the festival, when the Rock Team visited and were briefly received, no one else would be received.
After all, there were too many people who wanted to see Minori every day.
The benefits generated by "Regeneration Potion" alone were enough to make most nobles tempted, not to mention those numerous alchemy workshops and potion workshops.
Minori believed that his regeneration potion had been studied countless times by these workshops during this period.
Unfortunately.
His "Regeneration Potion" was manufactured through the [Genius] transformed 10Lv [Alchemist] and the passive ability of [Magic Swordsman].
No matter how much these people study it, there will be no results.
"What, do you feel sorry for her?"
Minori knew that Enri had always honestly carried out his instructions. The only thing that could make Enri speak was if it touched Enri's heart.
Enri lowered her head.
Minori didn't continue to speak, but stood up and walked to the window, looking towards the entrance of the inn below.
The location of the room he lived in was the best location in the entire inn, and he could clearly see the direction of the street and the entrance.
There was indeed a girl squatting at the entrance.
Hmm?
A bit familiar.
Minori briefly recalled and remembered who this girl was.
"Last time."
Minori turned around and said to Enri, then walked towards the door. It wasn't that he was indifferent, but that he didn't want to waste time on such insignificant things.
"Thank you, Lord!" Enri clenched her small fists and waved them hard, her face full of happy smiles.
At the entrance of the inn.
A girl with brown hair and a few freckles on her face was squatting in the corner, wrapping her clothes tightly around her body.
During this period, after finishing her work at the Adventurer's Guild each time, she immediately rushed here, wanting to wait for the appearance of that lord, although she had not seen him so far.
"You're waiting for me, right." A calm voice suddenly came, and a shadow enveloped the brown-haired girl.