It wasn't the case that once one's physical attributes reached the required standard, they would naturally possess a corresponding level of life energy seed.
If that were true, then creatures like giants, trolls, or even dragons—whose physical capabilities far surpassed human limits—would be born with life energy seeds.
But in reality, they were not.
A life energy seed required specific techniques to be condensed.
Levi's improved physical attributes only reduced the difficulty of raising the level of his life energy seed, but it still had to be done step by step.
His rate of improvement had been too fast. Using Conversion was one thing, but with Detection assisting him as well, all aspects of his bodily energy attributes had surged upward like a rocket—yet his life energy seed had not.
Levi had also undergone a burst state, but even after doing so, his strength still fell short of that bearded middle-aged man.
Originally, the bearded man's physical attributes had been slightly weaker than Levi's, with a base value of around 5. But after unleashing the power of his life energy seed, those values instantly rose above 7, making him far stronger than Levi.
He moved faster than Yalina's fiancé, Jacob, and the other bandit leader. With a straight punch, he rushed in front of Levi, the air itself letting out a sharp whistling sound. Even without using a weapon, that punch would seriously injure someone at the knight level.
Levi's reaction speed was slightly slower than the bearded man, who had activated his life energy seed. He only managed to raise his fist in time to meet the attack head-on.
Bang!
With a dull impact, Levi was forced to retreat repeatedly, his fist aching—clearly outmatched.
Meanwhile, the bearded man grew even more ferocious, like someone possessed. A faint black aura seeped from his face as he continued to unleash a barrage of punches at Levi.
Yalina's fiancé Jacob and the bald brute also attacked Levi from two other directions.
Levi had almost no room to retreat.
Surrounded and suppressed by several burly bandits, Yalina, who was already at a disadvantage, saw this scene and her eyes dimmed.
Was this the end? Was death unavoidable today?
Her own death didn't matter much to her, but she felt guilty. She believed she had dragged Levi into this—if she hadn't suddenly asked him to escort her, he wouldn't be in danger now.
Unable to hold back, she shouted toward Levi, "Levi, I'm sorry."
The moment her voice fell, Yalina saw the most ferocious of the group—the bearded middle-aged man—his neck suddenly cave inward as if struck by an invisible fist. His entire body was sent flying backward before crashing heavily onto the ground, frothing blood at the mouth, completely incapacitated.
With that man gone, Jacob and the other bandit leader attacking from both sides were no longer worth Levi's attention.
Although they had also activated their life energy seeds and experienced a surge in strength, they were still inferior to Levi—let alone the fact that Levi had wizardry.
Levi easily dodged their attacks, then struck like lightning, delivering a punch to each of their temples, killing them cleanly and directly.
He turned back to look at Yalina, who was still being surrounded, and asked, "Miss Yalina, what are you apologizing to me for?"
Yalina was utterly stunned, even forgetting to maintain her defensive stance.
The remaining bandits didn't press the attack either. They had been terrified by what had just happened. Exchanging glances without speaking, they reached a silent understanding and scattered in all directions to flee.
"Get back here!"
Levi had no intention of letting them escape. Level 3 Wizard's Hand activated—various weapons floated into the air and shot toward the fleeing bandits one after another.
Very quickly, the bandits were struck in their vital points and collapsed to the ground, dead.
Only Levi and Yalina remained at the scene.
Oh—and a girl who had been cursed into a nightingale by wizardry.
At that moment, the nightingale girl shrank inside her cage, as if recalling something horrifying, trembling uncontrollably.
Yalina was equally shaken. Looking at Levi's calm expression, she blurted out, "I know now—you're a male witch."
"…"
A wizard is a wizard.
Why add "male" in front of it?
Levi fell silent.
Yalina's face showed fear—far more fear than when she had faced the bandits.
She looked at Levi and asked, "Will you turn me into a toad or a crow… or eat me?"
"…"
Levi was speechless. But he also understood—thanks to the Church's long-standing propaganda, wizards did not have a good reputation in this land.
He shook his head helplessly and said, "You're overthinking it."
"You should think about how to deal with things here instead." After a brief pause, Levi added.
His gaze fell on the nightingale inside the birdcage.
This nightingale was connected to an old witch from a certain fairy tale, and Levi was very interested.
With a thought, he once again used Wizard's Hand to pull the birdcage into his grasp.
The nightingale inside trembled violently. Before Levi even said anything, the Origin Energy within his body stirred on its own, flowing into the nightingale's body before returning to him.
The next moment, within Levi's soul sea, a new spell crystal appeared—
Polymorph: Nightingale!
With the appearance of this spell crystal, Levi's soul sea became even more solid, its strength further enhanced. In other words, the upper limit of his Spiritual Power had increased as well.
At this point, the number of spell crystals in Levi's soul sea had reached five.
That already exceeded the standard of a Third-Ring Wizard.
If his Spiritual Power also met the requirement, and one of his spell crystals reached the standard of a Third-Ring Spell, then Levi would become a Third-Ring Great Wizard.
A Third-Ring Great Wizard!
With such strength, Levi felt that even if he couldn't defeat the Magic Mirror Queen, he would at least have the confidence to contend with her.
Surely, the day he could smack the Magic Mirror Queen's backside wasn't too far off!!!
Thinking of this, Levi was brimming with excitement.
Meanwhile, the nightingale girl was on the verge of being scared to death.
Even Yalina couldn't bear to watch any longer and shouted at Levi, "Look at that nightingale—it's about to die…"
"Hurry up and put it down!"
"No matter what, it warned us!"
"A talking nightingale—there might not be a second one like it in this world!"
Levi smiled faintly at her words, his gaze resting on the terrified nightingale as he said, "This isn't a real nightingale!"
"What do you mean?" Yalina froze slightly, confusion written across her face.
And the nightingale, upon hearing Levi's words, went rigid as if struck by lightning.
Levi continued, "This is a pitiful one."
"Like you, she was once a beautiful girl, but was turned into a nightingale by magic."
"What?" Yalina was shocked, staring at the nightingale in disbelief.
The nightingale, meanwhile, looked at Levi with a complicated expression.
"Tell me your name, poor thing!" Levi said to the nightingale girl.
The nightingale girl inside the cage fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking under Levi's gaze, "Odelle."
"Odelle, sir wizard." Her voice was very respectful.
"Very good, Miss Odelle. Thank you," Levi said sincerely to the nightingale girl in the cage.
His thanks were not for her warning them of danger, but for bringing him a new spell crystal. Although this Nightingale Polymorph seemed rather useless, its appearance had raised the upper limit of Levi's Spiritual Power. And as long as Levi used this spell frequently, its power would grow—perhaps one day, what he transformed into wouldn't be a mere nightingale, but a nightingale god with truly world-shaking power!
Of course, Miss Odelle the nightingale didn't know any of this.
She thought Levi was thanking her for the warning. Yalina thought the same.
"No need to thank me, sir wizard."
Gathering her courage, Miss Odelle said, "Sir wizard…"
"My name is Levi," he interrupted.
"…Sir Levi, could you help remove the curse on me?" she asked.
Levi shook his head. He wasn't a standard wizard—he only knew a handful of spells. Lifting curses was beyond his ability.
He cast Detection on her, and the feedback he received was—
That only the large pearl inside that purplish-red flower from the fairy tale could break this curse!
"I'm sorry, Miss Odelle. I currently don't have the ability to remove your curse," Levi said softly.
Hearing this, tears began to fall from Odelle's eyes.
Yalina felt distressed watching her and asked gently, "Odelle, can you tell me how you became a nightingale?"
"Perhaps we can find a way to help you from that."
Odelle stopped her tears. She glanced at Levi, then at Yalina, fell silent for a moment, and said, "Of course."
"I was originally the daughter of a noble. One day, I went into the forest with my father and our guards to hunt, but somehow, I got lost. Then, a castle appeared before my eyes."
"A castle in the forest? As a noble, how could you not know about it?" Yalina couldn't help but ask.
Odelle replied, "No—I'm very familiar with that forest. I had never heard of that castle before."
"Only later did I learn that it was a magic castle. It can travel through the mist and appear in different forests."
"The master of the magic castle is an old witch."
"Once a young person comes within a hundred steps of the castle, they will be frozen in place until the old witch arrives. Only then will they be released, driven away, and made to forget this memory."
"But if a beautiful young girl approaches, she will be turned into a nightingale, locked in a cage, and made to serve the old witch."
"That's what happened to me. I came within a hundred steps of the castle, was turned into a nightingale, and locked inside a cage."
"There are more than seven hundred nightingales like me," Odelle said.
Yalina's brows immediately furrowed.
More than seven hundred nightingales—didn't that mean more than seven hundred innocent girls had been harmed?
Her innate sense of justice flared up, filling her with anger. "Evil witch!!!"
Levi felt slightly offended, but he didn't care much. His attention was fixed on the magic castle Odelle had mentioned.
This was a detail that hadn't been described in the original fairy tale.
This magic castle was likely something similar to the Magic Dining Table, a kind of treasure—otherwise, his Origin Energy wouldn't have reacted.
A magic castle that could travel through the mist!
Levi suddenly felt that his alchemical carriage wasn't so impressive anymore.
He wanted a magic castle like that too!
With a thought, Levi put on a serious expression and asked Odelle, "Odelle, do you know what ring-level wizard the old witch who turned you into a nightingale is?"
"What ring? I don't understand!" Odelle said blankly.
"So you don't know her strength…" Levi said with some disappointment. After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "Then can you find that magic castle?"
"I can!" But soon after, Odelle shook her head. "I can't."
"What do you mean?" Levi frowned.
"I can sense the location of the magic castle—but only when the old witch summons me do I have that ability."
"Every three months, the old witch sends out a summons. I carry letters from these three evil god believers and fly to the magic castle to deliver the letters and report the situation," Odelle said.
"How long until the next time you receive the old witch's summons?" Levi asked.
"Two and a half months." Odelle was very clear about the timing.
Two and a half months… Levi nodded.
After a moment of thought, he asked, "Then would you be willing to come with me? I can't guarantee that I'll be able to remove your curse, but I will do my best."
Levi extended an invitation to Odelle.
Without the slightest hesitation, Odelle said, "I'm willing!"
"The evil god believers have already been killed by you. If I return, I won't escape death either! I might as well go with you!" Odelle said.
Levi immediately sensed something off and asked, "How do you know you'll die?"
"Because there have been other cases. Once the people we serve die, we lose our value, and the old witch will execute us," Odelle said, a trace of fear still lingering in her eyes.
"Don't be afraid! You have us! We won't let that old witch kill you!" Yalina stepped forward and said to Odelle in a gentle yet firm voice.
Levi glanced at her. What did she mean, 'us'?
But he didn't say anything. Instead, he asked another key question, "The ones you serve as messengers for—are they all evil god believers?"
"I don't know. I only know that these few people I serve are believers of an evil god."
"They were originally just a group of bandits. By deceiving ignorant young girls and offering them as sacrifices—pleasing the evil god through indulgence—they received its rewards," Odelle said.
"They weren't even knights before. It was precisely because of these rituals that their strength increased rapidly, all reaching the knight level."
"Not just that. One of them has already reached the Great Knight level," Levi said, looking at the bearded middle-aged man who hadn't completely died yet. He couldn't help but marvel at the vitality of a Great Knight.
At this moment, the man could no longer speak. His eyes were filled with pleading as he looked at Levi.
Levi nodded and activated Wizard's Hand, granting him a quick death.
Yalina witnessed Levi's wizardry once again, her expression turning somewhat complicated.
After a moment of silence, she asked Odelle in the cage, "Miss Odelle, you said those girls were used as sacrifices… what happens to them?"
"Death," Odelle said.