Wiz immediately brightened up upon hearing this, "Alright! May I ask what you would like to learn? I'm a lich, and I don't have many skills, but I do have a rather convenient skill called Life Drain. If you have enough skill points, I can teach you this skill."
Roa had come here specifically for this skill, so upon hearing Wiz mention it, he didn't hesitate and said, "Let's go with that skill. Please demonstrate it for me, Miss Wiz."
"Miss?" Wiz's smile widened, her eyes squinting into slits, looking quite pleased.
Roa noted her reaction and assessed in his mind: It seems Wiz is indeed a bit concerned about her age.
But actually, most girls are quite sensitive about their age.
Wiz nodded and led Roa to the center of the small shop, moving a bit away from the counter. She might have been worried about any accidents, so she tried to keep Roa away from the explosives on display.
Unfortunately, due to the small size of the shop, even trying to move away didn't get them very far.
"Are you ready?" Wiz's expression became serious. Not to mention, when Wiz got serious, she had a certain intimidating presence.
Roa nodded, and the next moment, Wiz grabbed Roa's hand. A strange power began to spread, and a purple light rose from Wiz, creating a peculiar sensation.
Life force, in a way, is also magical power. There are differences between the two, but they are not too significant.
A warm current surged towards Wiz, and this warmth was so comforting that it made Wiz feel a bit suspicious.
"This power, Roa, your life level is quite high, isn't it?"
Wiz looked at the young man in front of her with some curiosity.
As a lich, Wiz naturally possessed considerable strength, and Life Drain was a type of magic she excelled at.
Even facing another cadre of the Demon King's army, she would definitely not lose in a direct confrontation.
This was quite remarkable in this world.
After all, in the absence of the Demon King, these cadres of the Demon King's army are, in a sense, the strongest group of people in this world.
That's why when Roa killed the Headless Horseman as easily as killing a chicken, it instantly drew the attention of many.
While Wiz was still marveling, the Life Drain skill didn't last long. Soon, a sense of awkwardness came from her, and the power being drained was rapidly diminishing. In the end, even if Wiz exerted all her strength, the amount of magic power she could extract was quite limited.
Wiz instinctively froze, her expression somewhat bewildered. She looked up at Roa, her somewhat lazy and delicate face showing a hint of confusion, as if she had never dealt with such a situation before.
Unlike Roa's astonishment, he had already opened the system panel, where a line of small text had popped up.
[Do you want to spend five skill points to learn the skill Life Drain?]
Without much hesitation, Roa clicked to learn.
A golden light appeared from Roa, and a segment of memory instantly filled his mind.
It was the rules of this world, concerning the release techniques of the Life Drain skill.
This world also had a panel, which was that adventurer card. As long as he learned it, he would be able to reach a level where he could cast it.
Roa was originally a king-level mage, with a deep understanding of many spells.
Almost instantly, this power was easily mastered by Roa.
He looked at Wiz and activated the skill from the lich, but strangely, while a strange purple light emanated from Wiz, a golden light appeared around Roa.
This golden light looked quite holy, but when it touched Wiz, she felt a powerful suction force erupt.
Since Wiz was also in the process of Life Drain, the two powers intertwined at that moment and then suddenly exploded.
According to logic, as a lich, Wiz would have maxed out the Life Drain skill.
The effects of a max-level skill were naturally worlds apart from someone like Roa, who had just learned it.
However, strangely, this power was able to counterbalance Wiz's suction force, and for a moment, Wiz found herself unable to do anything about Roa.
Wiz's eyes widened, her bangs falling away, revealing her amber eyes. This sensation was actually quite uncomfortable.
With a somewhat complex mindset, Wiz increased her output.
She tried to overpower Roa directly.
The result was quite pleasing; ultimately, Roa's Life Drain intensity was still limited and could not compete with Wiz's Life Drain.
Roa frowned, seemingly dissatisfied with this outcome. The young man opened the panel again and found the Life Drain skill.
He clicked on the upgrade icon in the upper right corner, and a line of small text appeared before him.
[Do you want to spend fifteen skill points to upgrade this skill?]
Roa's frown deepened.
This skill indeed seemed quite unusual, and even the cost to upgrade it was quite steep.
Just to upgrade from level one to level two required a full fifteen skill points.
Fifteen skill points meant that an ordinary adventurer would need to level up fifteen times to accumulate that amount of skill points.
This also indirectly indicated its potential.
However, right now, what Roa lacked the least was skill points.
He currently had a three-digit number of skill points, which he usually didn't even use up, so he naturally didn't need to worry about this.
Without much hesitation, Roa clicked to upgrade.
A golden light surged into Roa's body. This golden light was like a brilliant sunrise, and the originally faint golden light around Roa brightened a few shades, dazzlingly enveloping his figure. An unnamed power spread outward from Roa.
And at that moment, in the area covered by the light, it seemed that Roa could deprive others of their life.
However, this feeling was only momentary. The invisible power didn't seem to last long, and the brilliant light receded back into Roa's body.
The light shone unreservedly around, soft and holy, radiating pure sacred power.
Like an angel descending to earth, the brilliant light shone on Roa, making the young man seem like a god walking among humans.
However, this power was not as holy as it appeared.
A force was constantly eroding Wiz. Her originally listless expression had become tense, and she exuded a terrifying sense of oppression, perhaps revealing Wiz's true nature.
"This power… you're too terrifying, aren't you?" Wiz's forehead was beaded with sweat. In the tug-of-war between powers, she was at a disadvantage. Her own life force was constantly being drained, and a sense of weakness began to spread throughout her body, making her expression uncertain.
Wiz, a Lich by profession, was incredibly powerful. Since learning the skill of Life Drain, she had been virtually unstoppable.
Truly unstoppable, as no living being could withstand Wiz.
After all, very few people could learn Life Drain.
When she was young, Wiz was quite volatile and violent, beating up any monsters she caught. During her adventurer days (around 20 years old), she was the leader of a famous adventurer team with a high bounty from the Demon King's army. Her teammates were the Sword Saint Brad and the High Priest Rosalie.
(These two characters don't have much significance, so let's just assume they were quite remarkable?)
With a fiery personality, hatred of evil, and a tendency to take things seriously, she was known as the militant, the Ice Witch.
Due to certain reasons, Wiz was struck by a forbidden spell and subsequently became a powerful Lich. She then single-handedly tore through the Demon King's castle barrier with a sword of light, froze the Demon King's army executive, the Poison Slime Hans, into ice, used the Lich's unique skill Life Absorption to paralyze the Demon King's army executive, the Chimera Sylvia, and finally beat the still-recovering Beldia into serious injury again (poor Beldia).
In a sense, she single-handedly took on the entire Demon King's castle.
After retiring as an adventurer, she became more detached and less fiery. She found a small village, this godforsaken place, and started a small business, becoming more refined and easygoing.
This significant change was also due to her inherently kind nature.
Having seen through many things, she naturally wouldn't be too petty.
In short, she was now in a state of semi-retirement.
But it was precisely because of this that she readily agreed to Roa's request.
Of course, this was also related to Roa's ability to successfully deal with the Headless Knight.
However, this formidable person was now facing a huge problem.
Even after Wiz initiated Life Drain, the other party could stand still, seemingly unaffected, allowing Wiz to drain their life force.
This indicated that the other party's life force was incredibly vast, and what Wiz was absorbing was only a fraction of it, perhaps not even a fraction.
Yet, that fraction of life force was enough to make Wiz feel somewhat alarmed.
And the subsequent development became increasingly bizarre.
Life Drain was being resisted. The other party's constitution seemed somewhat special, making it much harder to draw their life force than expected.
This wasn't too difficult to accept. It was normal. Roa, someone like him, clearly wasn't ordinary, and it wouldn't be surprising if he possessed some strange abilities. After all, there were many secrets in this world.
But when Roa learned Life Drain, he could counter-invade Wiz and contend with her power, which truly baffled Wiz.
Wiz's Life Drain was max level, and with the Lich class bonus, it had special attributes. Even if ordinary people knew Life Drain, how could they possibly be Wiz's opponent?
But reality played a cruel joke on Wiz.
Just having learned it, he could contend with her.
And looking at him, it seemed he was preparing to max out the skill points for this skill directly.
And that was indeed the case.
Roa didn't hesitate. Without even looking, he directly leveled up the skill to max level.
And as soon as it reached max level, the small text in front of him changed again.
[Life Drain evolved into Life Siphon.]
[Life Siphon (Max Level)]
[Description: Consumes magic power to siphon the life force of all living beings within a certain range (Note: Targets can be freely selected).]
[Life force siphoned is determined by the level/attributes/life level of both parties.]
[Note: This suction is like a Fiji cup.]
Almost as soon as this line of text appeared, the brilliant light became even more dazzling. The young man stood there, his smooth golden hair shining even more brightly in the golden holy light. The young man's pale golden eyes stared at Wiz in front of him, those eyes indifferent, without any emotion. A sense of oppression rose from the young man's body.
The invisible pressure spread around, and the brilliant golden light circled around, gentle and like the morning sun, enveloping everything. However, apart from Wiz, there were no other living beings around.
The light swept past, not lingering for too long.
But Wiz's face changed again and again. The moment the gentle light touched Wiz, an irresistible force instantly eroded her, and a strong sense of weakness surged into her heart. The purple luster representing Life Drain also dimmed at this moment.
Wiz knew exactly what this meant.
In this head-to-head confrontation, she had suffered a crushing defeat.
For the first time, Wiz had encountered such a thing.
If it were a direct confrontation, Wiz was confident she wouldn't lose to anyone. After all, she wasn't called the Ice Witch for nothing in her early years.
And after becoming a Lich, her strength had improved even further. Yet, she was being suppressed by a young man who had just learned Life Drain.
Wiz's life force was constantly being stolen by Roa and gathered in his hands.
Roa didn't really intend to drain Wiz dry. He had no deep hatred for her, so he naturally wouldn't do such a stupid thing.
He flipped his fingers, returning the life force from Wiz back to her, and at the same time, Roa stopped Life Siphon.
The holy light dissipated, and the inexplicable suction disappeared without a trace, as if everything before had been an illusion.
Wiz let out a long breath, collapsing to the ground. Beads of sweat flowed from the Lich's forehead, as if she had just been pulled out of the water.