"Son of a bitch!"

Arran cursed loudly as the Essence in his hand dissipated once more. Each time, success was just a hair away, yet somehow, every time it evaded him at the last moment.

It was impossible to track the passing days within the cell, but already, Arran had spent months trying to master the Windblade spell. And still, he had not succeeded.

At first, he had made good progress. Learning how to control the strands of Essence had taken him several weeks, but through effort and persistence, he had succeeded. Weaving them together into a single Windblade was more difficult, but eventually, he had achieved that, too.

The only thing left was to send the Windblade flying, and that was where Arran failed. Every time he tried to control the Windblade, it dissipated before it could move even an inch, falling apart like a house of cards.

Arran couldn't understand why it didn't work.

According to both Adept Kadir's manual and Jiang Fei's notes, the hardest part of the spell was forming the Windblade. After that, it should be easy to control — Jiang Fei only gave it a single sentence in her notes.

Yet every time Arran tried it, he failed miserably. It was as if the Wind Essence itself resisted his control.

Sometimes he would stop practicing the Windblade spell to work on his Body Refinement or practice the Shadow seals, and there, his progress was better. In less than a month, managed to form a complete Shadow seal for the first time.

He would have been ecstatic if it had happened at any other time, but now, it almost seemed like a cruel joke. He was finally able to seal and hide his Realms, but he was stuck in a dungeon cell with no one to hide them from.

As the final part of the Windblade spell still eluded him, he sat down, intent on figuring out what it was that caused him to fail.

Thinking about the issue, he tried to understand what it was that made the final part of the spell so easy for others, but so difficult for him.

After some time, a thought struck him.

While Jiang Fei was more skilled than Arran, in terms of raw strength she was far weaker than he was. Naturally, when she learned the spell, she had been practicing with strands of Essence far thinner than his.

Arran wasn't a complete fool, of course — while trying to learn the Windblade spell, he had limited the amount of Essence he used to a small fraction of his true power. But was it enough? The only way to find out was to try.

Once more, he formed a Windblade from Wind Essence. This time, he used only the smallest amount of Essence he could, going so far as to draw Essence away from his hands as he worked the spell.

It was like trying to manipulate thin strands of spider silk, and unused as he was to working with such minute amounts of Essence, the spell collapsed several times as he tried to form it.

Yet he persevered, and when he finally formed a full Windblade a few hours later, he let out a gasp of surprise.

It worked.

In the air hung a tiny razor of Wind Essence, invisible to the naked eye, fully under Arran's control.

Heart pounding in excitement, he sent the miniature Windblade soaring ahead, making it turn and twist as it cut through the air.

When he finally let go of the Windblade, it immediately dissipated, and he grinned in delight. Finally, he had done it. He had cast his first spell.

He glanced at the door, but then he shook his head. Trying now would be pointless. First, he would need to increase the size and strength of the Windblade.

With that, he set to work.

In the weeks that followed, he gradually strengthened the Windblade, with each attempt increasing the amount of Essence he used in forming it.

His progress was slow but steady. Each time he channeled more Essence into the Windblade, he would fail several times, struggling to control its power. But each time, with some effort and practice, he would eventually succeed.

After a month, he could form a Windblade the size of a greatsword, and he decided it was finally time to put his new power to the test.

Eager with anticipation, he stood about ten paces from the door. While he could already create a Windblade in the blink of an eye, this time he took it slowly, taking his time to gather Essence, then shaping it into the strongest Windblade he could control.

When it formed, the Windblade was so strong that it was no longer fully invisible. Instead, it shimmered with power, like the heated air above a fire.

He took a deep breath, readying himself for the attack. Then, gritting his teeth in effort, he sent the Windblade soaring toward the door, a high-pitched whistle sounding as it cut through the air before it.

Clang!

A loud noise sounded as the Windblade hit the door, striking with enough force to cleave through granite. Immediately, Arran rushed over to see what the effect had been.

His heart sank upon seeing the door. While he had managed to leave a mark this time, it was only a hair-sized scratch, barely even visible.

He sat down on the floor with a sigh. The Windblade had been his last hope, and he had purposely avoided using it against the wall until he felt confident in its strength, afraid that trying sooner would only leave him discouraged. Yet it was no use. Even now, he was still unable to do any true damage to the door.

Perhaps, if he kept training the Windblade, he would eventually be able to use it to break out. He was still unable to control it when he used all his Wind Essence, and he knew he could strengthen it further with more time and practice.

But that would take years if not decades, and even then the outcome was far from certain. Worse, the food Lord Jiang had given him would not last anywhere near that long, and he would likely starve well before being able to break out.

At last, he understood that he only had one choice left.

With a sigh, he took out Panurge's void bag. He had long avoided this moment, but now, he knew that he was out of options.

He hesitated for only a moment before binding it. Despite his previous wariness, he could no longer bring himself to care about the consequences. Months of imprisonment had worn down his worries, and now, all he wanted was to escape.

He examined the bag after binding it, instantly amazed at the sheer size of the interior. Where the void bag Master Zhao had given him was the size of a large room, this one was something else entirely — vast enough to fit several farms, and then some.

Equally surprising were the contents. At least half the space inside the bag was taken up by endless stacks of food, meat, fruits, and vegetables, and what looked to be several thousands of wine bottles.

Panurge had said there was enough food to last a decade, but this… this looked like it could feed a village for a century.

After Arran recovered from his shock over the mountain of food, he examined the rest of the void bag and found that other than the food, it was nearly empty, containing only a small chest and a large cabinet.

He looked inside the cabinet first, and saw that it was filled with pills and potions. Most of these he did not recognize, but his eyes widened when he saw that there were four Realm Opening Pills. These, he grabbed instantly, adding them to the two he had left after the battle against Stormleaf.

Finally, he opened the chest, where he found three scrolls. One of them, he knew, would be the Force Realm Scroll, while the other two should be spell scrolls. He took the scrolls, then put them in his own void bag, unwilling to start studying just yet.

He sighed again. It was done — he had accepted a gift from Panurge, and there would be no turning back.

Despite his misgivings, it felt like a load had been lifted from his shoulders. There would be consequences, but he could not bring himself to worry about those right now.

For the moment, all he could feel was relief at knowing he had a path to escape from the dungeon cell.

After he made the decision, he took two bottles of wine and a big stack of food from Panurge's void bag. Today, he would feast, and tomorrow, he would start working towards his escape.