Wizard: I Have a Cultivation System

Chapter 139: Chapter 131: Great Knight’s Secret Medicine, Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and Spell Power Quantification

Inside the cave, Murphy sat cross-legged on a blue-green stone, a delicate red sandalwood box placed before him.

The box was open, revealing small, Glazed Bottles arranged neatly inside. Each bottle contained a crystalline powder that shimmered with a faint golden luster in the dim light.

This was the Dust of Dawn that Margaret had sent via Richard.

A rare Secret Medicine used for the Cultivation of a Great Knight.

Murphy remembered Richard’s deferential posture when he presented the box, as well as the note enclosed within: "My master must be preparing this for that lovely little sister of his, right?"

He glanced at it, then casually burned the note to ash.

Murphy picked up one of the Glazed Bottles and observed it carefully.

The powder flowed slowly within the bottle, twinkling with a faint light as if it were alive.

’A Great Knight’s Secret Medicine...’ he mused.

He recalled asking Margaret for this type of Secret Medicine back when he was still Lord Duval. Her reply at the time had been that she was "powerless to help."

Now, times had changed, and she had delivered these rare Secret Medicines to him so easily.

Murphy didn’t ingest it immediately. Instead, he took out a small pinch of the powder and began to test it.

First, he sprinkled it into clear water to observe how it dissolved.

Then, he used various metals to test for toxicity.

Finally, he even used his Spiritual Power to carefully sense the Energy Fluctuations contained within.

After confirming it was fundamentally safe, he began a more in-depth experiment.

He caught two wild rabbits from outside the cave and mixed an extremely small amount of the powder into their drinking water.

After giving it to one of the rabbits, the creature initially grew restless but soon calmed down.

Murphy observed it for three days, confirming that not only did the rabbit show no adverse effects, but it actually seemed more robust and active.

To further verify the medicine’s effects, he captured several mountain rats and gave them varying doses of the Secret Medicine.

Through comparative observation, he discovered that an appropriate dose could significantly enhance a creature’s Life Force, but an overdose would lead to meridian chaos.

After repeated experiments, he finally determined that the Secret Medicine was, at the very least, not a problem.

Considering Margaret was still under the control of Control Human, he felt slightly more at ease.

Murphy then placed an appropriate amount of the powder under his tongue.

A cool sensation instantly spread out, then transformed into a warm Spiritual Qi that slowly seeped into his meridians.

He immediately activated Qi Absorption and Eating Mist, guiding this Spiritual Qi to circulate through his body.

A short while later, Murphy opened his eyes, a trace of pleasant surprise flashing within them.

The Secret Medicine was indeed effective for him. By his calculations, reaching Qi Refining Perfection, which would have originally taken sixty years, could now be accomplished in just twenty.

This was why Murphy had never taken extreme measures against Margaret, despite knowing she was an extremely dangerous existence.

First, killing a Royal Princess who was also a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice would have unthinkable consequences.

It was far more dangerous than killing the previous Baron Duval. The Royal Family would never let the matter rest, and the Church Court would also get involved in the investigation. He would face an endless pursuit.

But more importantly, she could provide tangible benefits.

Setting aside other things, just consider the Great Knight’s Secret Medicine.

The path of Cultivation was long. Even with a lifespan far greater than that of a mortal, it still had its limits.

If he couldn’t break through to the next realm within a finite time, he would ultimately be unable to escape the fate of returning to dust.

Every year shaved off his Cultivation time was another step closer to the great dao of immortality.

He recalled what Margaret had said in the castle bedroom: "Master, as my strength increases, I will be able to acquire more and more resources. These Great Knight’s Secret Medicines are just the beginning..."

She had added meaningfully at the time, "Even if you had been lucky enough to successfully control my uncle, Duke Douglas, you would never have been able to obtain such abundant resources."

Murphy remained noncommittal about this.

He certainly wouldn’t trust Margaret easily, but he had to admit that there was currently no better option.

The Holy Hall Pharmacy’s control over Grand Knight Level cultivation resources was extremely strict. The flow of every single portion of Great Knight’s Secret Medicine was rigorously monitored.

If not for Margaret’s dual identity as a member of the Royal Family and a Witch, it would be impossible to obtain such a large quantity of the Secret Medicine.

’Risk and opportunity...’ Murphy sighed inwardly, placing a new dose of the Secret Medicine under his tongue.

The cool Spiritual Qi once again flowed through his meridians. This time, he could feel the advancement of his Cultivation even more clearly.

At this rate, perhaps he wouldn’t even need twenty years.

’And besides, she has other uses...’

...

「Half a month later.」

TAP. TAP.

Murphy walked slowly toward a testing room he had carved out in the depths of the cave and lifted the heavy bearskin door curtain.

This stone chamber had been meticulously modified. The Moonlight Stones embedded in the four walls emitted a soft glow, brightly illuminating the entire space.

In the center of the chamber was a custom-made set of weightlifting equipment, which Murphy had specifically ordered artisans to forge from pig iron during his time as Baron Duval.

The pig iron barbell bar glinted with the cold light unique to metal. Beside it were dozens of square counterweights arranged neatly, each with its precise weight value engraved on the side.

He started his warm-up by lifting a base weight of five hundred kilograms with a single arm, extending it straight above his head and feeling his muscles stretch.

Then, he began adding plates to both ends of the barbell—first two fifty-kilogram plates, then one-hundred-kilogram plates.

When the total weight reached seven hundred kilograms, he exerted his strength with one arm and lifted the barbell straight over his head, his arm fully extended.

Finally, he took a deep breath and added another twenty-five-kilogram plate to each end.

’Seven hundred and fifty kilograms.’

Murphy recited the number silently, his right hand gripping the textured handle tightly.

As he slowly exerted force, the muscles in his arm tensed like a bowstring, with blue veins faintly visible beneath his skin.

The iron plates slowly lifted off the ground until they were held steadily above his head, his arm completely straight.

After holding it for ten seconds, he controlled the barbell as he lowered it, the contact of metal on stone producing a dull thud.

’Essence: 1.5.’

To precisely quantify his own progress, Murphy had established a system by referencing a Wizard’s Scripture.

He had defined the five hundred kilograms of single-arm strength he possessed upon entering the Qi Cultivation Realm as a baseline of 1 for "Essence." Every 1-point increase meant his strength had doubled.

In other words, a score of 2 corresponded to one ton with a single arm, and 3 corresponded to two tons.

According to this standard, his current physical strength was indeed at 1.5.

After testing his physical strength, Murphy turned to the three crystal balls in the corner of the stone chamber.

These were Star Realm crystals that Margaret had specially delivered to Murphy, which he had personally polished into testing devices according to the records in a Wizard’s Scripture.

The first was a "Power Crystal," used to measure the standard destructive force of a unit of Dimensional Energy.

Murphy placed his hand on it, and the golden scale inside the crystal immediately flowed, finally stabilizing at the "1.5" position.

’Qi: 1.5.’

According to the Wizard definition, the standard for a unit of destructive force from Dimensional Energy was based on the 1-unit low-point baseline of the four basic elemental energies.

Murphy recalled that when he first broke through to the Qi Cultivation Realm, his "Qi" was only an estimated 1.2 by this standard. Now, although the total amount of his "Qi" had more than doubled, the power of a single unit of output had only increased to 1.5.

The reason was simple: the power of Qi was not determined solely by its total amount but also by its unit output capacity.

Next was the Magic Power Quality test.

Murphy moved his hand to the Quality Crystal.

When he infused his basic Mana, the crystal glowed with a milky-white luster, and the number on its surface displayed "1.4."

’Magic Power Quality: 1.4.’

Similarly, when he had just broken through to the Qi Cultivation Realm, its quality was only 1.2. Eight years of arduous Cultivation had only brought it to 1.3.

But after just one year of practicing *Qi Absorption and Eating Mist*, it had increased by 0.1 to 1.4, a testament to its effectiveness.

Afterward, he switched to channeling his Black Light Mana.

The crystal instantly erupted with a deep, dark light, and the number rapidly jumped to "2.9."

Of course, his Black Light Mana hadn’t been at 2.9 from the start.

Murphy estimated it was barely over 1.0 when he first obtained it. After devouring that wisp of pink mist from Ailendra, it had leaped to 2.8. Nine more years of arduous Cultivation had allowed him to painstakingly raise it by another 0.1, reaching the current 2.9.

The quality of Dimensional Energy was also benchmarked against the low-point quality of the four basic elemental energies, defined as 1.

Last was the Spiritual Power test.

Murphy placed his hand lightly on the Spirit Crystal and slowly released his Spiritual Power.

’Spirit: 1.7.’

Referencing the Wizard’s Scripture, the baseline Spiritual Power for a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice was 1.

Thanks to a system reward and his own Cultivation, he had now reached 1.7.

After completing the basic tests, Murphy stood before the crystals, lost in thought.

In the Wizard system, the final power of a spell was determined by three major factors.

Spell Power = (Spiritual Power + Magic Model Coefficient) × Control Level

The unit for Spell Power was "degrees."

Among these, Spiritual Power was the foundation of a Wizard.

The Magic Model Coefficient depended on the complexity and sophistication of its construction; the upper limit for Apprentice Level magic was 2.

And Control Level reflected the caster’s understanding and manipulation precision of the model, with a maximum of 100%, or even exceeding it.

However, there was a key difference: Murphy had not integrated his Spiritual Power into his Source Sea, so he couldn’t leverage Dimensional Energy as easily.

If he used pure Spiritual Power to cast, his effective Spiritual Power would be halved.

This meant that when he cast magic in the conventional wizarding way, the formula was:

Spell Power = (Spiritual Power + Magic Model Coefficient) × 0.5 × Control Level

But if Murphy used his Qi or Black Light Mana as the energy source, the formula became:

Spell Power = (Magic Power Quality + Magic Model Coefficient) × Control Level

When Murphy first met Margaret, he had countered her casting of Control Human because her Spell Power was insufficient.

At that time, although Margaret was a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice and Control Human was a top-tier Apprentice Level Magic Model with a coefficient of 2, her Spiritual Power had likely just broken 1, and her Control Level was extremely low—probably less than 30%.

That was why he had been able to forcibly break it with his Spiritual Power.

But now, Margaret’s Control Level over Control Human had probably soared to over 90%. Her Spiritual Power was also likely on par with Murphy’s.

And Murphy’s Control Level for Control Human was only 70%.

If they fought conventionally, Margaret’s Spell Power could reach (1.7 + 2) × 0.9 = 3.33 degrees. Meanwhile, Murphy’s was a mere (1.7 + 2) × 0.5 × 0.7 ≈ 1.3 degrees, putting him at a clear disadvantage.

However, once he used his Black Light Mana, his Spell Power reached (2.9 + 2) × 0.7 = 3.43 degrees.

As long as Margaret’s Spiritual Power didn’t exceed 1.7, her Control Level didn’t break 90%, and her Spell Power didn’t surpass 3.43, she couldn’t defeat him.

This was the key to how Murphy had been able to suppress Margaret when they met again in Duval Castle.

Margaret’s Spiritual Power seemed to be subtly transforming again, so the outcome of a future conflict was still uncertain.

Finally, if Murphy didn’t use a Magic Model and simply attacked with his "Qi," the formula was:

Attack Power = Qi + Magic Power Quality

This was his most direct means of destruction.

In a normal situation, his Attack Power was 2.9 degrees.

If he used Black Light Mana, it would be 4.4 degrees.

Nine years ago, when he faced Ailendra, it was 4, which was already the limit for a typical Wizard Apprentice. That was how he had been able to threaten her defenses.

This was the composition of Murphy’s current strength.

A little more than the limit of a Third-Class Wizard Apprentice.

...

「Half a month later, in Murphy’s former bedroom.」

Moonlight filtered through the stained-glass window, casting mottled patterns of light and shadow on the stone floor.

Murphy stood before the window with his hands behind his back, gazing out at the silent courtyard.

"How are the preparations?" he asked without turning his head.

Margaret knelt in the center of the room, her plain white robe shimmering softly in the moonlight. "Master, everything is ready." Her voice carried a hint of piety. "You are truly merciful, to have the war stopped two months ahead of schedule."

Murphy turned slowly, his gaze as deep as the night sky. "Will it affect your position?"

"Of course not," Margaret said, the corners of her lips turning up slightly. "But it will affect the deployment of my forces on the border."

"Will it affect the supply of the Great Knight’s Secret Medicine?" Murphy’s voice remained calm.

Margaret shook her head gently. "No, it won’t."

"Then that’s fine." Murphy gave a slight nod.

Margaret gazed at Murphy’s back and suddenly sighed softly, "I don’t know if you’re heartless or sentimental, Master. So concerned with your own interests, yet you also care about those insignificant commoners..."

Murphy sneered. "That is none of your business."