23: At the pinnacle of mastery, spells can be cast instantly.
As Zhang Sheng formed hand seals with both hands, the Spiritual Qi in his body circulated according to a specific route.
Rise!
The cup on the table slowly rose.
"Spell: Object Manipulation Art (Beginner: 1/10)"
Wonderful!
Simply marvelous!
Indescribably wonderful!
Zhang Sheng released the Spell and cast it again.
The hand seals and energy circulation for this Spell were very simple, but it consumed a significant amount of spiritual power.
But compared to other students, the thing Zhang Sheng lacked least was spiritual power.
After consuming 10 spiritual power, Zhang Sheng's Object Manipulation Art reached the Proficient level.
The biggest change at this moment was that Zhang Sheng could control the output of spiritual power; the minimum consumption per cast became 1/10.
Not only that, the Spell's effect and casting speed had both improved.
He didn't continue to Cultivate the "Object Manipulation Art"; Zhang Sheng's priority was still nurturing the gold spirit rice.
So he continued casting the "Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique" to form an extra-small spirit cloud.
The resulting spirit rain was poured directly into the toilet.
Cast!
Cast!
Cast non-stop!
Zhang Sheng wanted to know what kind of effect the Perfected State of the "Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique" would have.
Even a skill like Running, after reaching Perfection, had the effect of improving Physique and potential; this Spell should also have a good effect.
"Spell: Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique (Transcendent: 32105/100000)"
This was the Spell Zhang Sheng had been cultivating the longest, and there was still a significant amount of progress left until the Perfected State.
Until the spiritual power in his body was exhausted, Zhang Sheng helplessly continued to Cultivate.
The last two hundred essence food pills had already been consumed.
Zhang Sheng had no choice but to continue to Cultivate "Primordial Chaos Qi Refining"; since he couldn't seek it internally, he could only seek it externally.
That night, Zhang Sheng didn't return to school but slept directly in the base's cultivation room to make it easier to look after the gold spirit rice.
Cultivating "Primordial Chaos Qi Refining",
Casting Spells to nurture the gold spirit rice,
Cultivating the "Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique"
...The next day, after attending a public lecture, Zhang Sheng returned to the Planting Base to continue cultivating and planting.
Cultivation knows no time; two days passed.
Finally!
"Cultivation Technique: Primordial Chaos Qi Refining (Proficient: 7/100)"
"Spell: Thick Earth Art (Transcendent: 1245/100000)"
"Cultivation Technique: Gluttonous Eating Method (Transcendent: 125/100000)"
"Spell: Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique (Perfected State: 100000/100000)"
The Thick Earth Art and Gluttonous Eating Method had reached the Transcendent stage and underwent miraculous changes; the Thick Earth Art was similar to the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique, further reducing casting consumption and increasing casting range.
As for the Transcendent stage of the "Gluttonous Eating Method," it increased the body's digestion speed by a hundred times, an astonishing effect.
What surprised Zhang Sheng the most was the Perfected State of the "Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique."
No hand seals needed, no energy circulation needed—Instant Spellcasting!
With a single thought, the wind rises and clouds form!
Although 1 spiritual point still covered a hundred-meter range, he could inject more spiritual power to form even larger spirit clouds. Unfortunately, he couldn't conduct experiments for now and didn't know where his limit lay.
But the trait of Instant Spellcasting was extremely mysterious.
Zhang Sheng speculated that it was highly likely other Spells would have the same effect after being upgraded to the Perfected State through the talent panel.
Keep cultivating! He would eventually find out.
The "Thick Earth Art" and "Gluttonous Eating Method" were both getting closer to the Perfected State.
The gold spirit rice had also reached the moment of maturity, each stalk of rice heavy and golden.
Each ear of rice had at least 54 grains of gold spirit rice, with the most having 81; it was a bumper harvest for the two acres of gold spirit rice.
Three days of hard work, but it was worth it.
Zhang Sheng prepared to take the specially-made electric hydraulic shears to harvest the gold spirit rice; these specially-made electric hydraulic shears were provided for free by the school.
"Hey, do you know who planted this? Why is the yield so high? Did they undergo an Awakening of a Spirit Farmer Talent?"
"I don't know them, but they should be from our Spiritual Plant College. I've seen them a few times over the last two days; they're exceptionally Proficient with the Spring Breeze Turning into Rain Technique."
...Seeing Zhang Sheng approach, those who knew what was going on gathered around.
"Buddy, do you need help harvesting the rice? Just two academic credits and I'll take care of these two acres of spirit rice for you!"
"And I'll bag the rice for you and stack all the stalks neatly!"
The boy who approached was not tall, very thin, and had sun-tanned skin.
"Wan Hu, looking for customers again? I really envy your Talent; you can help others harvest to earn academic credits."
Only then did Zhang Sheng realize that the boy in front of him was there to solicit business.
Two academic credits wasn't a lot, but it wasn't a small amount either. Zhang Sheng thought about it; rather than wasting energy on harvesting rice, it was better to spend more time cultivating.
The stalks of the gold spirit rice were as hard as iron, making harvesting quite time-consuming and laborious; if he planted more in the future, it would be even more of a hassle.
Zhang Sheng looked it up on his phone and found that if he had the school send someone to harvest, it would cost two academic credits per acre, whereas this student Wan Hu charged one credit.
From the looks of it, his business around here was quite good.
He then nodded in agreement.
"Hello, classmate Wan Hu. I'm Zhang Sheng. Let's exchange contact info; I'll leave these two acres of gold spirit rice to you!"
"No problem! Thanks for your business. Feel free to contact me whenever you need help in the future."
"Let's get to work!"
The thin boy excitedly rushed into the field, and two giant scissors manifested in front of his hands.
"Snip snip!"
The speed was extremely fast; in the blink of an eye, large swaths of gold spirit rice fell.
The iron-like stalks were like paper under his giant shears.
What kind of Spell is this?
No! This is a Talent; I didn't see him form hand seals or cast a Spell just now!
But this Talent is too fierce.
"This classmate Wan Hu is a student from the War God Academy. This pair of blades is incredibly sharp. I heard him say it's the S-rank Talent he awakened—Peerless Blades," a student nearby explained to Zhang Sheng.
For Wan Hu, harvesting spirit plants not only earned him academic credits but also trained his Talent. It was killing two birds with one stone.
In less than five minutes, the two acres of gold spirit rice had turned into a pile of rice and a pile of stalks.
Those two academic credits were earned quite easily.
"Classmate Zhang Sheng, earning this one credit wasn't easy; the yield of your one acre is two or three times that of others. It wore me out!"
"Classmate, thanks for the hard work!"
Then, Zhang Sheng transferred two academic credits to him via phone.
The school allowed such legitimate academic credit transactions between students.
Zhang Sheng quickly logged onto the campus network to submit the gold spirit rice planting task.
In less than three minutes, a truck drove up to the side of Zhang Sheng's spirit field.
Three people in school staff uniforms got out. "Hello, are you the student who just submitted the task? Please begin identity authentication."
In fact, this was out of caution; surveillance cameras were everywhere in the Planting Base.
"Hello, classmate! According to the smart statistics, a total of 12,240 kilograms of gold spirit rice and 8,500 stalks of gold spirit rice were harvested, which can be exchanged for a total of 122+85 academic credits, totaling 207 credits. Would you like to exchange all of it or just a portion? Just a reminder, you still have a storage quota of 200 cubic meters at the school. You can also choose to store it."
gold spirit rice itself is one academic credit per 100 kilograms, while 100 stalks are one credit.
These stalks must have some important use; otherwise, they wouldn't sell for so much.
"Let's do this: exchange 10,000 catties of gold spirit rice, exchange all the stalks, and store the remaining 2,240 kilograms of gold spirit rice!"
His academic credits suddenly increased by 185, bringing his current total to 283.
Now all five acres of land can be planted with gold spirit rice! He could even apply to the school for more spirit fields.