MTL - I Have Medicine - ~ 837. Hard work

“Even if this universe is truly nothing more than a brutal bloody shadowy forest, we Cultivators will burn all that we have just to give off a single weak flickering spark in the darkness!

No matter how weak each spark is, how short-lived, how small… As long as the sparks flow unabated, then one day one of those sparks will light some tinder, and that tinder shall light some fallen branches, and those branches shall set ablaze each and every last tree of the forest!

In the end, even the smallest sparks will eventually set the shadowy forest ablaze, and illuminate the whole world!”

In a world teeming with cultivators, Li Yao, who makes his living collecting scrap metal, encounters the soul of a titan powerhouse from forty thousand years in the past.

- Description from novelupdates

After years of exile, Marcus is coming back home. A powerful mage with few equals, Marcus lives in a world full of monsters and powerful adepts, many of which have bad histories with him. But he has not come back to pursue vengeance or start a fight. All Marcus wants to do is reconnect with old friends, build himself a house, and maybe train a successor or two.Alas, the world didn’t stop just because Marcus went into exile, and not everyone is content to let go of old grievances. Strange things are happening in the world at large, too, hinting at a looming disaster of unknown nature. Still, where there is a will, there is a way.If nothing else, Marcus has a lot of magical power to throw at problems.+++Zenith of Sorcery is set in its own original setting and isn’t related to Mother of Learning… beyond being written by the same person, of course. This is a more classical fantasy story than my previous one, with a lower level of technology and stuff like elves and dwarves, but it has a lot of worldbuilding effort put into it and its own complex magical system. The story has significant xianxia influences, but isn’t meant to be a xianxia story.For those of you not familiar with my previous work, I write relatively slowly. I intend to publish chapters at the rate of one chapter every three or four weeks, subject to further delays as life intervenes.

The Coinbound System lets him buy spells, skills, and stat boosts like a magical vending machine...But nothing comes free.Every fireball costs gold.Every body enhancement? Taxed.Even getting a suggestion comes with a convenience fee.While nobles train for years to master a single flame spell, he can just buy it off the System. From summoning spirit beasts to crafting forbidden runes, his power grows with every coin he scrapes together… and every unnecessary expense he dodges.But in a world where magic is passed down through noble bloodlines and ancient family grimoires, a broke outsider with a price tag on every spell has no business rising through the ranks.Still, he’s surviving. Thriving, even.So long as he tracks every copper and refuses to overspend on fireballs, he just might make it out alive.They call him cheap.They call him stingy.But one day… they’ll all remember the name:The Frugal Mage.

When Arran decides to become a mage, he quickly discovers that magic can be more dangerous than he had ever imagined. Soon, he finds himself hunted for powers he never knew he had.