Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Underwater Breathing

Trying to catch Shadow Squid in the sea is not an easy task; otherwise, the Shadow Squids in the waters near Academy Island would have long been caught by the Wizard Apprentices. Duke thought for a moment: first, he needed to solve the problem of underwater breathing. Even with a Great Knight-level physique, it was nearly impossible for him to hold his breath and complete the process of capturing a Shadow Squid. Wizards have several methods for underwater breathing; one such method involves a type of seaweed called Mandev, which enables underwater breathing just by holding it in the mouth. However, this seaweed is very expensive, even surpassing the value of the Shadow Squid itself, which Duke could not afford. Duke planned to use a magical technique from the "Basic Theory of Water Element," a magic known as Underwater Breathing. This magic is just a secondary-level spell, with a complexity of just N2, appearing quite simple. But successfully mastering and casting this spell is not easy, and many Wizard Apprentices spend a long time without being able to master it. Because this spell requires the caster to have an extremely high ability to control the Water Element; the essence of the spell is to extract oxygen from the countless Water Elements underwater for breathing. Duke felt he should be well-suited for this spell since he possessed the High-Level Water Element Affinity talent, enabling him to complete this step relatively effortlessly. Constructing magic models with an N2 complexity is not difficult; Duke was already quite familiar with building such simple magic models. He filled the bathtub with water, submerged himself completely, fully immersing his head. The bathtub was somewhat small for him, unable to completely submerge his body, but it sufficed for testing the spell's effect. Once Duke was underwater, he began using the Underwater Breathing spell to extract oxygen from the surrounding Water Elements. Water Elements automatically adhered to his body, transmitting oxygen from all over. Duke found himself completing this step very easily, almost as if it were instinctual. The most challenging part for ordinary Wizard Apprentices mastering this spell lies here; they expend considerable effort just to absorb the Water Elements and obtain oxygen, yet the effect is often not very satisfactory. Most people fail to absorb enough Water Elemental Particles, rendering the obtained oxygen inadequate to sustain their breathing, let alone engage in high-intensity underwater movement. This results in the high difficulty of this spell, causing most people to eventually abandon it until they acquire greater strength in the future. [Underwater Breathing: Level one (one over five hundred)] In the bathtub, Duke found the skill proficiency for Underwater Breathing advanced very slowly; he likely had to rely on this spell to truly swim in the sea to make significant progress. Once in motion, the consumption of oxygen increases, necessitating more oxygen obtained from surrounding Water Elements, resulting in greater skill proficiency growth. Duke decided to act on it immediately - he got up, dried himself, changed into his robe, and left the room, intending to head to the island's edge. As he closed the door, Hanna from next door was also about to go out, wearing black stockings on her legs and high heels on her feet. Hanna rarely wore high heels in the room because previously, walking around in high heels inside had led to complaints from downstairs. Not wanting to cause trouble, she rarely wore high heels indoors anymore.