Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lin Li only lived in the tower for 10 days. The rest of the time was wasted in the Cinder Woods. He worked under Andoine’s supervision almost every single day in the Twilight Forest and the Cinder Woods. The reasons were quite varied. Andoine could tamper with a Teleportation Portal for one day, and hide some herbs the next day. The following day, he could be requesting to eat some specialty food from the Cinder Woods…
“Damnit, what specialty food is there in the Cinder Woods? Are you going to eat the mud there?” Every time he heard those excuses, Lin Li could not help but roll his eyes.
Lin Li could not defy Andoine’s instructions. How could he not know the intentions of the old man? Andoine just wanted him to have more experience with the Cinder Woods so that he could adapt to the fluctuations in his magical abilities.
Honestly speaking, it was really a strange feeling…
In the morning, he had the abilities of a level-15 Archmage. Yet, his abilities deteriorated to level-14 in the afternoon. Then, at night, it returned to normal again…
For the period of 10 days, Lin Li nearly became a schizophrenic.
The benefits, however, were clear.
Almost every morning, Lin Li would have a surprising discovery from the new changes in him. Those changes might not be obvious to outsiders, but Lin Li could clearly feel that the accumulation of these changes was like being reborn.
Yet, Lin Li was still a Level-15 Archmage after the 10 days. Although the improvement was not visible, he’d gained unimaginable insights over himself and the control of his strength.
In comparison, he’d previously been only an oblivious kiddo who had good weapons. If his luck was good, he could kill two men. Yet, if it was bad, he could even injure himself.
As the days passed by gradually, Lin Li became more adept in controlling his magical powers. Especially so for those spells that were at the Archmage level—he’d previously needed to use rapid recitation when he needed to employ the Levitation Spell. However, when he returned from the Cinder Woods, he did not even need to use gestures. He just had to use a little bit of mana to activate the element structure to cast this Archmage level spell instantaneously.
Just like anyone else, Lin Li, a man who feared death, would not reject the opportunity to increase his power. At the start, when he was thrown into the Cinder Woods by Andoine, he would still sulk a little. Yet, after he realized the changes in him, he gave up complaining and focused on battling with a variety of magical beasts in the Cinder Woods. Even if he were to return to the tower at night, he would be researching all the different types of Archmage-level spells till midnight.
It could be said that Lin Li worked in these 10 days the hardest since he’d left Jarrosus.
Lin Li had looked through all the spells below level-15 within 10 days. He was always seen with a huge pile of books when he returned to his room at night every day.
When he passed by Lin Li’s room every night, Andoine always saw the light inside shining brightly while a figure donning a long robe was leaning against a table. There would be the sound of recitation in a low voice and weak magical waves emitting from the room. Andoine would sigh unbearably upon seeing how Lin Li forgot his meals when he was at work.
Tonight, Lin Li likewise went into his room right after eating dinner.
What was different from the past few days was that in front of him was not a pile of books, but an old parchment. It was a scroll with a level-15 spell that was lost for generations. Macklin gave it to him after he helped to forge a magical weapon when he just arrived at Alanna.
Now, that long lost spell was right in front of Lin Li.
Lin Li still remembered that Macklin once told him the spell on the parchment was called Mental Disruption. Once a person comprehended it, they would be able to use their own mental strength to disrupt the spell his opponents were trying to cast. If he were to use it well, it was like another Mana Retroaction.
Children would know that battles between mages depended on who was able to unleash a stronger spell. If either side suddenly had a Mana Retroaction, how horrifying would it be?
However…
The focus of Lin Li’s research was not to understand how to use that spell.
With his familiarity with the abilities of Archmages, a level-15 spell was a no-brainer. He only needed to look up the element structure to be able to unleash it the same way. Although the Mental Distruption Spell had been lost for a long time, Lin Li only spent one or two hours on it.
However, after he understood the spell, Lin Li had new concerns.
The Mana Retroaction, together with the Arcane Wall from the Dragon’s Eye, was more than enough to deal with any opponent of the same level. Yet, the additional Mental Disruption Spell might have a belaboring effect in dealing with opponents that were too mighty. What he should think of should be survival, and not how to use Mana Retroaction.
Hence, Lin Li changed his research’s focus…
Among the Level-15 spells, the structure with Mental Disruption was not complicated. There was minimal use of the High Elves Language on the parchment. It meant that there were few details written in High Elves Language. For a man who had already reached the Archmage Realm, Lin Li naturally understood that spells with a simpler structure would be easier to modify.
But, if Mental Disruption could distract opponents from casting spells, would Mental Blast work as well?
To other people, it might be a joke.
Unless the abilities of the two opposing parties were starkly different, or either of them had extremely high magic attainments, none could employ pure Attacking Spells to injure any enemy.
How would a normal mage have such a great mental strength?
Mental strength was required in elemental sequencing and controlling powers. It was the same principle in the regaining of mana. It was like money. People knew gold coins were valuable things, yet everyone felt that they did not have enough coins.
Only a freak like Lin Li would think of touching the Mental Blast effect.
His Mental strength was too strong.
Regardless of the elemental sequencing, he could complete any games in an instant. Despite the great mana involved, he could control it proficiently. Have you seen how much water from the sea dried up, and how a bottomless pit got filled to the brim? In Lin Li’s few months in Anril, he never needed to worry about his control over his mana.
Lin Li spent most of the entire night staring at the yellowish parchment.
He was thinking of a solution to separate the Mental Blast segment from the spell. But, it was not as easy as expected. Any minute errors would result in great destruction. Even the creator of the spell might not know its impacts. It might cause the entire structure of the spell to collapse, or produce an entirely new spell. There would definitely make an impact.
“Felic, why are you not sleeping yet?” Andoine walked into the room all of a sudden.
“Oh… I’m looking into a spell…” Lin Li turned to look at Andoine, who entered his room casually without knocking on the opened door.
“What spell is it that is worth spending so much time looking at…?” Andoine walked to Lin Li’s desk and picked up the old parchment paper. “Eh? Is this the Mental Disruption Spell? From Macklin?”
“How do you know?” Lin Li asked curiously.
“Of course I know.” Andoine smiled as he placed the parchment back on the table. “I clearly saw how Macklin recorded the spell on the scroll back then. That fella thought I would not be able to find out about it if he did it sneakily in the library. He should have better understanding that the Supreme Council is not a place where any random Archmage can commit dishonest deeds…”
“You mean that the contents of this scroll have dubious background?”
“Not quite. We had decided to let that fella go to the library to record some spells as our welcome gift to him. Who knew that this fella was that presumptuous to sneak into the library himself, and escaped right away he got the Mental Disruption Spell.”
“…” Lin Li was very speechless. He knew that only Macklin would resort to such a despicable act.
After explaining, Andoine asked Lin Li curiously, “Why are you so interested in this spell?”
“I just want to know more about it.”
“Since it’s so late already, you should stop dwelling on it. If you are interested, I can bring you to the Sky Castle one day. I know the creator of the spell. You would be able to comprehend it after you talk to him.”
“You know the creator of this spell?” Lin Li’s eyes lit up.
That entire night, he had been researching how to isolate the section with Mental Blast. Until now, he’d only gained a little bit of inspiration. However, there were a few runes written in the High Elves Print that gave him some dilemma. He could not decide how to modify the runes such that he would not affect the section with Mental Blast.
“If only we could ask the creator of this spell…” Lin Li could not help but hope for an easy way out.
Of course, it was just a dream. How could he meet somebody who could create a level-15 spell that easily?
Never did he expect that the old man would say that.
