HP: The Root of Everything - The Magician

Out of fear of the two enormous anacondas, Teach Carl decided to only enter the swamp to capture the ball bird when the weather was clear and the commotion was not too great.

Based on the observations of anacondas, they only emerge from their burrows when it rains.

Although triangular crocodiles do not have fixed activity times, they are used to lying in water or mud, so Teach doesn't need to worry too much as long as he doesn't go near their territory.

After waiting for two days, the swamp returned to its original state. Then, Teach grabbed a shovel, took his protective firearms, and set off.

Once inside the swamp, Teach began tracking the direction the ballerinas were heading back to their nests, as captured by the camera.

After tracking for a long time, the bird's tracks suddenly disappeared.

Teach estimated that they had already reached the area of ​​the nest, but they couldn't see the entrance. After all, the Ball Birds have the ability to teleport, and for safety, they certainly wouldn't return to their nests using their short legs.

Having confirmed his hypothesis, Teach put down his equipment and began digging with a shovel.

Using the most foolish method to do the most impossible thing was the only approach Teach could think of after rejecting all other ideas about capturing the enemy.

That means digging holes and creating earthen pits or traps.

The method involves digging a ten-meter-deep hole, filling it with water, covering it, and placing some rice or grains as bait. Teach then hides nearby. When the ball bird accidentally falls in, Teach immediately swoops down, covering the hole with its own flesh and blood, thus capturing it.

Blink can cross obstacles and ignore enclosed spaces, but it cannot pass through the flesh and blood of living beings.

The ten-meter-deep pit is the limit of the Ball Bird's teleportation range. If it can't escape, the water in the pit will suffocate it.

This is the weakness that Teach could think of after repeatedly analyzing the 'Flash' skill.

Since Teach was all alone, he could only dig one hole and then hide there, waiting for his prey to come to him.

Patience is what hunters need most.

Teach Carl waited patiently and motionless until the ball birds finally appeared out of nowhere from their nests.

At this moment, Teach had completely transformed into a venomous snake lurking in the reeds, watching with bated breath as its prey fell into the trap.

The trap was activated, the prey fell into the pit, and Teach swiftly pounced to cover the entrance.

After covering it, Teach could hear the splashing sound of water in the trap and feel the force of the ball bird using Blink to hit his body in an attempt to escape: [Hahaha~ It didn't escape, it worked, this clumsy method is completely feasible].

After a dozen minutes, the sound of water in the pit stopped. After waiting a few more minutes, Teach carefully moved his body aside and peered inside through a small gap.

A round, plump 'chicken' was floating headfirst in the water.

Upon seeing this, Teach quickly took out his pole and retrieved the invaluable corpse of the Ball Bird. He then tightly sealed the trap entrance before rushing back to base.

Time didn't stop. Teach opened the metal box, took out an emerald, and stuffed it into the mouth of the Corpse Ball Bird, letting the life force within the emerald preserve it.

Next, all the household items on the table were overturned to the ground. After clearing the experimental table, the scalpels for dissection and the containers for collecting blood were prepared and arranged neatly. Then, the work of plucking and preparing the food began.

During the autopsy, Teach's eyes were unusually focused, as if the end of the world wouldn't bother him.

First, they meticulously peeled off the poor Ball Bird's skin, then cut open its chest cavity, removed all its organs and internal organs, and placed them separately.

After all the bones were completely removed, the Ball Bird was left with only a soft, bright red mass of flesh.

After Teach finished the dissection, beads of sweat involuntarily appeared on his forehead. After a quick wipe, he took out sophisticated scientific research instruments and began to observe and explore meticulously under the microscope.

After a day and a night of observation and record-keeping, and by combining this with the knowledge of 'magic circuits' from the magic book, Teach finally understood the principle behind it.

It's urgent, I don't want to wait.

Teach Carl cleared a small space in the underground base, took out a container filled with the blood of the Ball-Escape Bird, then unsleeved his sleeve and cut his wrist, mixing his blood with the Ball-Escape Bird's blood in a one-to-one ratio.

Once finished, pour in the mercury and stir.

Through a series of operations, the blood used to depict the training formation was prepared.

After losing 1,000 milliliters of blood, Teach felt weak, dizzy, and cold, but he couldn't rest, because if the prepared blood cooled down completely, it would lose its effect.

So Teach could only drag his weak body and painstakingly use his hands, smeared with blood, to inscribe the magic ability training array.

The patterns in the 'Magic Ability Training Circle' have special requirements, completely different from the training circle that Croton Carr used to extract life force.

The formation needs to be depicted according to the meridians and nerves within the biological material.

Teach's fingers kept moving, and after half an hour of drawing, he finally finished drawing the meridians and nerves of the Bird of Destiny on the training array.

Finally, after placing the Bird of Destiny's internal organs one by one into the circular array plate left on the formation, the Life Emerald was used as the energy needed to activate the formation. Teach half-closed his eyes, fighting off the drowsiness that came with blood loss, and watched as the formation was completed in a blinding crimson light.

After the bloodstains dissipated, a golden thread appeared before our eyes.

It swayed at the center of the now-ineffective alchemy circle, as if it were alive.

Teach stretched out his excited and trembling hands, picked up the golden magic circuit that was only 'one centimeter' long, and after admiring it for a while, placed it on the wound from his slit wrist.

The golden magic circuit burrowed into the wound and began to erode Teach Carl's body.

"Ah............", she screamed instantly.

Excruciating pain, a pain so intense it made him want to commit suicide, coursed through Teach's body, gradually spreading as the golden magic circuits eroded him.

Then it spread all over the body.

It felt as if the flesh was being devoured, the blood being sucked out, the nerves being bitten off, and the bone marrow being swallowed.

The pain seemed to be controlled by the golden magic circuits, making it impossible for Teach to escape by fainting. He could only remain perfectly conscious and slowly experience the agony of his body being eroded.

The unbearable pain caused Teach to fall to the ground, clutching his knees and curling up in a ball, writhing and struggling in a sorry state.

Golden circuits entered his arms, passed through his heart, and circulated throughout his body. After connecting Teach Carl's entire body, they converged and took shape on his back.

When it ended, Teach was like a soulless corpse, a broken shell.

After a long while, Teach, panting heavily, slowly regained his senses and immediately began to examine the magic circuits. Although the circuits were located on his back, Teach could clearly feel their presence, as clearly as if he could see them from a third-person perspective.

But to Teach's surprise, the golden magic circuit was only a tiny segment of one centimeter.

It's a full 39 centimeters shorter than the 40-centimeter complete loop recorded in the magic book.

[In other words, I have to capture 39 more Ball Birds and endure 39 more times of that excruciating pain before I can complete a 'one' magic circuit?] Just thinking about it made Teach tremble all over, and he felt a chill run down his spine.

Although the process was painful, the result was gratifying.

After the one-centimeter golden circuit appeared on his back, Teach Carl could feel magic emanating from his body.

Human lifespan is finite. As long as we live, our life energy will be lost every day as our lifespan decreases. The 'magic circuit' can collect, gather, and store this lost energy.

After experiencing the tangible benefits, Teach's eyes became unusually determined.

It's just minor pain; I can get through it.