After saying that, Raymond checked the time.
On the 37 sinner cards on the first underground floor of Abyss Prison, there were a total of 148 draw chances accumulated.
Adding the 39 extra draw chances he got from killing 13 death row prisoners today, Raymond had a total of 179 draw chances.
Without any hesitation, Raymond started doing five-draw pulls one after another.
By the time all 179 draw chances were used up, Raymond had received 179 experience cards, including:
[Experience Card (Black Iron Stage 30 Days)] x27
[Experience Card (Black Iron Stage 20 Days)] x64
[Experience Card (Black Iron Stage 10 Days)] x54
[Experience Card (Black Iron Stage 5 Days)] x42
...
Why is it all experience cards!
Looking at what he had just done, Raymond was dumbfounded.
But after thinking about it, he figured it was still better than pulling some weird knowledge cards. After all, experience cards were the most practical reward.
He did some quick math in his head.
All these experience cards together could give him 2,840 days of experience instantly.
That was basically the equivalent of training non-stop, 24 hours a day, for 94 months straight.
With this kind of time, Raymond could not only make up for the 16 years he had wasted in the past, but still have plenty left over.
So, without any hesitation, Raymond used 500 days worth of experience cards to upgrade his Holy Hall Body-Tempering Technique.
Raymond snapped out of a daze.
He felt like he had lived through a very long period of time.
When he checked his information panel, he found that his original [Holy Hall Body-Tempering Technique (Advanced)] had been upgraded to [Holy Hall Body-Tempering Technique (Master)].
It took 500 days worth of experience cards just to go up one rank?
Raymond felt the changes in his body and let out a quiet sigh.
This Holy Hall Body-Tempering Technique really lives up to its reputation as the treasure of the Holy Hall. It’s incredibly hard to train.
If he wanted to upgrade the Holy Hall Body-Tempering Technique to Legendary, or even Epic, wouldn’t that take decades?
Thinking about it, Raymond decided to put improving the Holy Hall Body-Tempering Technique on hold for now.
Next, Raymond used the two magic knowledge cards he had just obtained.
[Elemental Wave Theory] and [Basic Mana Circulation Model] are both required courses for mages and are considered basic theories.
Raymond simply tore the two cards apart, and the knowledge diagrams of both theories flooded into his mind.
He let out a few deep breaths, feeling dizzy. A massive amount of knowledge had been crammed into his head all at once, making him exhausted.
Now’s the chance to test if I actually have any magical talent!
Raymond gritted his teeth and used 1,540 days’ worth of experience cards all at once to train his [Basic Meditation].
If even after all that, Raymond still couldn’t communicate with the magic elements and build a mana circulation loop in his soul, then he would seriously consider giving up on becoming a mage.
Another wave of dizziness hit him.
Raymond staggered and sat down on the ground of the empty space.
He took more than a dozen deep breaths before finally steadying his mind, a look of wild joy spreading across his face.
Then, a flame of crimson fire flickered in Raymond’s pupils - a sign that the fire-element magic circuit was now running inside his soul.
Raymond opened his information panel, and sure enough, a new skill appeared in his skill list: [Basic Meditation (Intermediate).]
Just Intermediate?
Intermediate is still good!
At the very least, this result proved that Raymond could learn magic! It just took a bit more time than most people.
But right now, time was the one thing Raymond had plenty of!
Once he registered all the prisoners in Abyss Prison as cards, he would probably be able to pull thousands of days’ worth of experience cards every day.
With that thought, Raymond took out the last [Skill Card (Fire Blast)] and tore it apart!
For 800 days straight, Raymond practiced [Fire Blast] inside the white world.
From awkwardly stumbling through the incantations at the start, to guiding the mana circulation later on, Raymond went through countless attempts before finally succeeding in casting the spell he had been longing for - [Fire Blast].
Unlike the usual learning path for mages, Raymond skipped the beginner and basic stages of magic like Light Spell and Fireball Spell entirely, and went straight to learning [Fire Blast].
It felt strange - like a person who didn’t know the basic moves of swordsmanship could somehow perform a sword skill like a sword energy slash.
When Raymond came to his senses again, his information panel now showed a new skill: [Fire Blast (Intermediate)].
Looking at the panel, Raymond let out a sigh.
As expected, his Basic Meditation was limiting how high his magic skill could go.
It was the same as swordsmanship. The upper limit of all sword techniques and sword-related skills was tied to Basic Swordplay.
Only by raising Basic Swordplay to a high enough level could the advanced sword skills unleash their true power.
Looks like next time I draw cards, I should focus on using experience cards to raise my Basic Meditation first.
Raymond shook his head and returned directly to the real world.
"Almost forgot, there are still two bodies here." Raymond turned to look at the prison wagon beside him, muttered a spell under his breath, and casually fired off a Fire Blast.
In an instant, the bodies of the two mages, along with the wagon, were engulfed in flames.
Ralph and Bobby were standing by the fire. When they saw Raymond cast magic, they were both dumbfounded.
"Did I just see that right?" Ralph rubbed his eyes and stared at the burning prison wagon.
"Was that... an advanced fire spell, Fire Blast?" Bobby’s voice trembled, his eyes full of shock.
The flames on the wagon grew stronger, and the heat from the blast scorched Ralph and Bobby’s faces, burning hot and painful.
"Raymond, you’ve been hiding your skills all along! Not only are you a master of swordsmanship, but you can even use advanced fire magic this smoothly!" Bobby stepped back a few paces, his little face flushed red as he looked at Raymond, a strange emotion flickering in his eyes.
"Dammit! I’m going to learn swordsmanship too, and become a strong man like Raymond someday!" Ralph clenched his fists, silently setting a new goal for his life.
Raymond chuckled but didn’t explain anything.
Just then, Gregory, who had been unconscious the whole time, woke up.
When he saw the horrific scene around him, his eyes went wide: "How is this possible! Everyone else is dead! And you’re still alive?"
Raymond stood up, his gaze fixed on Gregory, and said coldly: "Next, it’s your turn."
Hearing this, Gregory screamed in terror.
Seeing the fear in Gregory’s eyes, Raymond placed his longsword against Gregory’s neck: "Do you want to die, or do you want to live?"
Gregory’s eyes widened: "Don’t kill me! I want to live!"
Raymond nodded and laid out his terms: "If you want to live, then before we go out, I’ll knock you unconscious. When you wake up, you’ll say you don’t know anything. Got it?"
Gregory wasn’t stupid. He quickly understood the reasoning behind this arrangement.
If he ratted out Raymond, Raymond would probably kill him on the spot.
If he ratted out Marcus, Marcus wouldn’t even give him a chance to speak.
The only way for Gregory to stay alive was to pretend to be unconscious and claim to know nothing!
Once he figured that out, Gregory nodded frantically: "I’ll do whatever you say!"
Next, Raymond asked Gregory about his cell.
It turned out that the death row prisoners who took part in the junior guard test were all from the core area of the first underground floor, and Gregory was locked up there.
Besides them, there were more than a dozen other prisoners involved in serious cases who were also kept there, but they hadn’t participated in this junior guard test mission.
"Besides you, Zephyros, and Ignis, are there any other mage prisoners?" Raymond asked curiously.
"Yes! There’s actually one tough guy. He used to be a Silver Stage necromancer, but he got injured and his strength regressed, so they locked him up on the first underground floor." Gregory gave a detailed description of that mage, and Raymond got excited.
A mage prisoner in the core area - that was great news.
As long as Raymond had enough time, he could definitely drain every bit of magical knowledge from that Silver Stage mage!
After resting a little longer, the group headed back to their camp along the same path.
On the way, Raymond passed by a cave. He pushed aside the boulder blocking the entrance, and inside, six dead prisoners with crippled hands and feet were lying scattered on the ground.
After Gregory confirmed that none of these prisoners had any special skills, Raymond fired off six Fire Blasts in a row and burned them all to ashes.
These people were different from Gregory. Keeping them alive came with far more risk than reward.
The reason Raymond let Gregory live was twofold. First, if Gregory died, it would affect Raymond’s test results. Second, Gregory was a mage who specialized in witchcraft and curses, so he could bring Raymond magic-related rewards in the future.
With the six death row prisoners dead, six more transparent cards appeared in Raymond’s empty space.
Raymond wasn’t in a hurry to use the draw chances on those cards.
Compared to those rewards, he was more curious about the crimes and life stories of these prisoners.
If he was lucky, the treasures, secrets, and wealth these prisoners had left behind in the outside world would all become Raymond’s!