Chapter Thirteen: The Dark Enchanted Markings

Everything unfolded just as Xiu Yi had predicted; he successfully demonstrated his strength. The Carmel family was astonished by his prowess in alchemy, and they even extended an olive branch, hoping this young alchemist would stay and serve the family.

However, Xiu Yi politely declined.

He proposed a simple condition: he would sell the family improved recipes for three potions, reducing their production costs by an average of two gold Vitt each, and provide a brand-new formula for a premium potion, capable of earning them at least ten gold Vitt per bottle. In return, they were to provide him, according to his list, a batch of expensive and rare materials, plus a sum of cash.

Xiu Yi didn’t require much cash, but the value of these materials reached nearly seven thousand gold Vitt. Weighing the pros and cons, the Carmel family finally agreed. To ensure their exclusive rights to the new formulas, Xiu Yi swore a blood oath on a magical scroll: the transaction would remain strictly confidential, he would never divulge it to anyone or any family, nor sell the formulas for these four potions again in any form, and he himself would never engage in their commercial production, only making them for personal use.

Even though the deity of oaths was often said to be lazy and asleep, to the Carmel family, such a sworn agreement was reassuring—should word leak or should Xiu Yi breach the oath by selling the formulas to another family, the Carmels had the right to hunt him down regardless of his status as a mage, and the Lance Empire would not pursue responsibility, guaranteeing their legal ownership of the formulas.

It resembled a modern copyright agreement. The Carmel family was especially satisfied because Xiu Yi proactively refined every detail of the contract, closing loopholes that he might exploit, showing his sincerity.

After all, for the Carmel family, these arrangements had been secured through immense effort, and any theft would inflict devastating losses.

Once the oath was made, Xiu Yi handed over the four potion formulas and demonstrated their preparation on the spot. The haughty Mr. Damon, upon witnessing Xiu Yi’s exquisite technique and the miraculous formulas, was utterly convinced. If not for his own contract with the Carmel family, he might have abandoned everything to become Xiu Yi’s student.

The Carmels delivered all the materials Xiu Yi required to his inn, completing the transaction perfectly.

It didn’t take long to return from the Carmel estate to the inn, and when Xiu Yi arrived, he found the entire troupe awaiting him—including Clarice.

Everyone had heard that Xiu Yi had been invited by the Carmels. Despite their initial rudeness followed by deference, the event still left hearts pounding.

But when they saw Xiu Yi return in the Carmels’ luxurious carriage, greeted by Butler Gary with the title “Master,” everyone was dumbfounded.

If before the troupe hadn’t realized the significance of the boy who had suddenly joined them, now their attitude had changed completely.

They looked at the boy with awe.

There were few who could prompt a great family to send a luxurious carriage and respectful butler for their return.

Back in his room, Xiu Yi began packing.

He needed to make preparations quickly.

No one knew when the people from the Law and Governance Office might find him, and it was always better to be prepared than to pray for luck at the last minute.

“Fink.” Outside, Daisy and Lanty’s sweet voices called.

“Daisy, Lanty, I can’t answer any of your questions right now. I’ll be gone for a few days and won’t be back until later,” Xiu Yi replied from inside.

“You’re leaving?” The girls’ voices betrayed their panic; they hadn’t expected him to depart so soon after returning.

“…Just for a while, don’t worry—I’ll be back soon.”

“But aren’t you going to say anything to us? We have something to tell you.”

“Not now. Wait until I return.” Xiu Yi’s tone was firm.

“All right, Fink, we’ll wait for you.” The girls left quietly, clearly disappointed.

Free from their interruption, Xiu Yi hurriedly left the inn.

He went to a wild stretch outside Fragrant Leaf City, carefully checked his surroundings, and after confirming he was alone, released Red and Green to stand guard.

The next moment, he took out all the materials he had collected.

Before him lay the book obtained from Pierre’s room, containing all of Heinz’s experimental records.

This time, he was about to attempt something he had never done before—Magic Mark Engraving.

Electra’s Magic Mark Engraving was essentially a kind of human array.

Magic arrays were indispensable tools for casting large-scale spells. Basic magic required only incantations. Intermediate and advanced spells needed incantations plus gestures, which is why Xiu Yi used a hexagram array for Void Slash. For even higher-level and forbidden spells, massive arrays were necessary.

Generally, seventh-level spells required some degree of array support.

There were no casually usable forbidden spells; otherwise, the world would have long since been destroyed.

Arrays were vital supports for human mages using spells. Ordinary mages could harness their power to cast stronger magic, and even those without magic could use elemental resonance arrays to temporarily wield magic by chanting incantations.

But setting up arrays consumed vast amounts of materials, each use drained energy and rare resources, so people rarely employed them.

Electra’s Magic Mark Engraving evolved from arrays—he hoped to engrave arrays onto the human body to enable magic, with energy provided by the person’s own magical or life force.

This was undeniably a revolutionary innovation. Engraving arrays onto skin meant many materials could not be used. You couldn’t embed energy crystals or large quantities of materials in the body; you could only accomplish it by creating special magical potions.

Moreover, magic marks were smaller and more intricate than traditional arrays, raising the requirements even further.

Thus, Heinz’s repeated experiments on his servants with various magic mark formulas were essentially a search for suitable materials to make the right potions for engraving.

Completing a magic mark involved two steps: first, finding the right materials for a formula that could be engraved onto the body to create elemental resonance—hence why magic marks allowed even non-mages to cast spells. Second, engraving the array itself. Using a pre-drawn diagram, the potion would be infused into the body, forming a miniature array and achieving the desired magical effect.

Those with magic marks could dispense with gestures, casting spells with only incantations. For a mage, this was minor, but for a warrior, the ability to cast spells with a word was a huge advantage. His freed hands could continue wielding his weapons, dealing devastating blows to his foes.

For twenty-three years, Heinz sought to recreate Electra’s brilliance. He tried to use a single magic mark to replace elemental resonance, but always failed. Every time he thought he was about to break through, he found he couldn’t.

Until Xiu Yi appeared.

From the magic dragon Rita, Xiu Yi learned that even spells of the same element required different degrees of resonance depending on the magic, so magic marks shouldn’t be singular. Each mark represented a specific elemental resonance, and each array diagram corresponded to a particular spell effect.

Everyone had misunderstood Electra’s achievement, believing he had invented a few magic marks to replace all magical elements, but this was not so.

This approach didn’t grant humanity the innate ability of any element, but it did allow them to wield a single spell.

Heinz, all along, had taken the wrong path.

Soon after, Xiu Yi subtly alerted Heinz to the issue, awakening him to the truth.

From then on, Heinz’s magic mark research progressed rapidly.

After nearly two relentless years, Heinz discovered fourteen formulas for various degrees of elemental resonance, and devised over twenty magic mark diagrams. In other words, after twenty years without results, thanks to Xiu Yi’s hint, Heinz gained more than twenty spells he couldn’t learn but could use freely.

Heinz was undeniably talented in this area, but unfortunately lacked the gifts of a mage, so he often couldn’t perceive the world of magic. As clever as an ant, it cannot understand the world of humans.

To be fair, his earlier efforts weren’t wasted. The countless lives and materials sacrificed left records that formed the basis for his eventual success.

Now, Xiu Yi’s task was to engrave a spell array onto himself, following Heinz’s formulas.

He had never done this before.

“Ah!” A guttural cry escaped Xiu Yi’s lips as searing pain overwhelmed him.

As the prepared potion entered his skin, its spreading properties brought intense agony. He finally understood why the youths in the valley had screamed with such terror—the pain was like voracious insects gnawing at his nerves, impossible to withstand even for a man of iron.

He nearly broke down, hastily biting down on a cloth to prevent his cries from alerting any passersby.

Hold on!

Eyes wide open, Xiu Yi watched the fine engraving needle dance across his body like an invisible hand, etching strange lines of dark gray potion across his chest.

The needle pierced and cut his skin, yet no blood flowed; the potion stayed within, glowing with a deep, mysterious light.

Gradually, the once chaotic lines formed a peculiar miniature array, firmly embedded in his chest.

When the needle traced the last path and miraculously withdrew from his body onto the ground, Xiu Yi lay gasping on the cold earth, barely able to sit up. His face was contorted, sweat pouring as though his muscles were wrung.

He finally understood why neither Heinz nor Andrew ever engraved magic marks onto themselves—the pain was so great one wished for death.

After resting for a long while, Xiu Yi managed to sit up.

He looked down at his chest.

There, three hexagram arrays, each composed of eighteen spell lines, intertwined to form a whole, radiating eerie, shadowy light.

Those unfamiliar might think it was an ordinary geometric pattern, and even alchemists and mages versed in arrays would not guess its purpose.

But Xiu Yi knew: this array was the most valuable of the dozens of magic marks Heinz had devised—the Shadow Magic Mark.

The Shadow Magic Mark was peculiar, affecting only soul power.

It was suited solely for soul mages.

With this mark, a mage could induce soul oscillations, just as Xiu Yi’s wind element talent allowed for wind oscillations, greatly enhancing the power of soul spells.

In Heinz’s magic mark research, the sheer number, complexity, and intricacy of marks meant he couldn’t decide which formulas he might discover or not; he could only adjust his direction as he went.

As a result, Heinz found that most of the dozen magic mark formulas he created were not suitable for ordinary people at all. On the contrary, they were perfect for mages seeking to amplify their magic.

The cost of these potions was so high that using so many resources just to help a mage reach a deeper realm seemed utterly uneconomical to Heinz.

He researched magic marks to become a true mage, not to upgrade existing mages.

This was Heinz’s dilemma and also why he never submitted his findings to the Empire.

But for Xiu Yi, it was good news.

Back on Inferno Isle, Xiu Yi had realized that alchemy alone could only take his soul magic so far, but with the Shadow Magic Mark, everything changed.

Now, his soul magic talent was equal to his wind element talent.

The utility of soul magic far exceeded wind magic—not because wind spells were inferior, but because soul magic ignored the gap in levels.

If both types of magic were mastered to their limits, their power would be equally immense, but at the basic level, soul magic had far greater potential to turn the tide.

Xiu Yi was about to face the terrifying sixth-level spatial mage, Abritel, a foe far stronger than Heinz. Against such an opponent, soul magic was much more useful than wind spells.

After the Shadow Magic Mark was engraved, Xiu Yi could clearly sense the waves of soul energy emanating from his chest.

Closing his eyes, his mind felt crystal clear, surrounded by countless points of light, like clusters of white flames.

These glowing orbs extended threads outward, intertwining and connecting with each other—and with himself…

“Ha!” Xiu Yi’s eyes snapped open.

He instantly realized that these orbs were the soul energy emitted by every living thing nearby. The strongest belonged to the Flamebird and Xu—the Flamebird’s soul was like a blazing fire, while Xu’s soul was a black hole devouring light…

The ordinary birds and beasts had much dimmer soul energy, some nearly undetectable. He hadn’t expected that, after engraving the Shadow Magic Mark, he could observe other beings’ soul energy waves; the sensation was novel and wondrous.

Such was the nature of soul magic.

Soul spells targeted the soul, so soul mages were most sensitive to the soul energy of nearby life. As their mastery advanced, they could unleash a psychic storm—an energy-based attack on these observable soul energies, or directly control others’ souls, making them permanent slaves.

The latter was especially terrifying, which is why soul magic was classified as forbidden.

At this moment, Xiu Yi could perceive the soul energy around him thanks to the beginner spell, Mental Probe.

The four basic abilities of beginner soul magic—Will Weakening, Will Strengthening, Mental Probe, and Mental Cohesion—were all studies of human will and spirit, though some required innate talent.

Thus, it was only now that Xiu Yi mastered this spell.

The next moment, he felt his magical power begin to rise; thanks to the Shadow Magic Mark, he’d finally leveled up.

The thought that his first breakthrough to second-level magic was in soul magic made Xiu Yi chuckle wryly—he seemed doomed to be hunted.

Fugitive servant from Inferno Isle, soul mage practicing forbidden arts… who knew what other crimes would be added?

Yet engraving the Shadow Magic Mark was not the end.

For Xiu Yi, another, even more important magic mark awaited: the Energy Transfer Magic Mark.

This mark was discovered by Heinz by accident and was, in Heinz’s view, the most useless formula. Its only benefit was to absorb enemy attacks and convert them into personal power.

But it neither reduced damage nor could be used often. After a single use, the mark vanished. Even if re-engraved, it couldn’t absorb similar attacks again.

For weak attacks, the absorbed power was negligible, not worth the resources or pain of engraving. To absorb strong attacks, one risked instant death.

Looking at the bottle of potion prepared long ago, Xiu Yi laughed bitterly to himself, “Anyone brave enough to use this stuff can be summed up in one word: suicidal.”

With that, he drove the engraving needle into his right arm.

Boom!

The immense pain swept over him again, drowning him in darkness.