The majority of the seventy-two types of materials were very inexpensive, and not difficult to buy. The most difficult was the maintaining of the time and heat. Saleen's mental power was extremely stable, yet he still failed seven times. These failures helped him gather much experience. He still had two sets of materials left for the medicine, and he did not wish to continue failing.
Six hours had passed. The door to Jason's laboratory remained locked. He usually conducted his experiments for three to five days. After he prepared the food, Saleen did not have any other things to do.
The last trace of the achy feeling left his body. Saleen sat up, feeling that the increase in his mental power this time was extremely obvious. He could even feel the minute movements of the air in the room. An insect had hit the window without making a sound. Saleen turned his head, looking at the insect as it shook itself before flying off.
Saleen leapt up, and swiftly came to the front of the table. He lit the magic flame, and began to add materials into the crucible. His current mental power was strong yet clear, such that he could quickly sense the minute changes to the medicine. He used his limited magic power to control the stability of the flame while he stared attentively at the materials as they changed in the crucible.
Ten hours passed, and Saleen did not even feel hungry. The last portion of the stabilizer had been added into the crucible. The medicine in the crucible had already completely melted into a liquid, and was emitting various colors.
Success was imminent! Saleen swiftly added the magic flame medicine into the crucible to catalyze the flame.
A strong magic wave was emitted. Saleen’s heart pounded violently. This had given him a big shock. There was no advanced magic array ornament in his room, and within three seconds, Jason would be able to discover the abnormality in his room.
The conspiracy between Saleen and Viscount Gugger had been carried out behind Jason's back. If Jason found out that Saleen was making such medicine, he would certainly know that Saleen had collected money from Gugger.
Saleen grabbed his badge and pressed it into the liquid in the crucible while releasing a Grade 0 spell. The mysterious badge drew in Saleen’s magic power, and absorbed the new burst of magic wave at the same time. Saleen fell to the ground with fear in his heart.
Being a mage’s apprentice, he would not be able to clearly explain why he had received so much money from Viscount Gugger.
Only when night came did Saleen climb up from the floor. As he looked at the empty crucible, he wanted to cry. There were no dregs left this time around. Success had been so close! When he had been shaken by the powerful magic wave, he had destroyed the magic chord medicine with his own hands. That damn badge!
Saleen picked up the badge, his eyes drawn to it.
The dark green magic pattern on the black-metal badge was now a luxuriant green. The center part of the crack exuded a blue liquid. He did not detect any magic wave within the translucent blue liquid. Saleen did not dare release a magic detection spell, lest he had to lie down for another six hours.
What was it? Magic chord medicine?
Normally, magic chord medicine was supposed to be colorful. Saleen looked at this blue liquid. He would not dare drink it immediately regardless of the circumstances. He retrieved a green jade bottle and stored the blue liquid in the bottle. That tiny jade bottle, shorter than a finger, had cost Saleen two hundred gold coins. It had originally been prepared to store the magic chord medicine.
Saleen did not know what it was that he had made. He was also afraid that this strange medicine would evaporate so he contained it first. He cleaned the table and ate his dinner without even tasting it. Then, he lay on his bed, thinking hard.
It was two weeks to the mid-autumn festival. He was left with four thousand gold coins and two sets of materials for the magic chord medicine. At most he could prepare six sets of materials, but it was possible that he wouldn’t succeed with those six sets of medicine material, judging by his past failures.
Gritting his teeth, Saleen decided to wait until the next day. If he could not succeed with the two sets of additional materials, those four thousand gold coins needed to be saved. Once he progressed to being a Grade 1 mage, he would need to spend even more money. If he spent all of his gold coins on magic chord medicine, his future education would be arduous nonetheless.
Saleen could not ask Viscount Gugger for money. This was different from when Viscount Gugger had hired him. Asking for money was the same as selling himself out to the viscount.
In the next two days, Saleen exhausted the last two sets of medicine material. In the end, all he obtained were dregs. The feeling of success in producing the medicine that he had previously experienced was not to be. Even an error-free procedure did not guarantee success.
With no other option, Saleen considered using the translucent blue medicine in the bottle.
It was ten days to the mid-autumn festival. Saleen waited until Jason was conducting his experiments again before hiding in his room to drink the bottle of blue medicine in secret.
A cool, refreshing feeling glided down his throat and entered his stomach. Saleen strictly followed the requirements stated in the magic book. He drank only milk the entire day and did not eat any solid food. He also took medication which removed impurities from his body. His famished body immediately absorbed the medicine that had entered his stomach. Saleen felt as though the medicine had penetrated the walls of his stomach, infiltrated his blood vessels, and flowed through his entire body.
This outcome was different from what the book had described! Saleen was a little nervous but it was too late for regrets.
Now, Saleen's condition became a little strange. He was obviously feeling changed all over, but could not stop sweating. His sweat smelled very disgusting, and was a dark black. After more than ten minutes, Saleen could feel that his body was extremely dehydrated. He used a ladle to scoop up at least half a kilogram of clear water from the wooden pail and guzzled it down into his stomach. Still, the feeling of dehydration worsened.
Saleen knew that something was amiss, and he did not dare hesitate. If he did not act now, he could end up as a corpse in less than half an hour. He quickly put on his robe while trembling and dashed out of the ancestral house.
His ancestral house was built in front of a mountain. Saleen ran desperately towards the back of the mountain where there was a small stream.
Usually, it took half an hour to get there; Saleen had dashed there within five minutes. He dove straight into the stream and found a relatively deep area. He then threw off his robe, removed his clothing, and immersed his entire body in the water.
The water of the stream entered Saleen’s stomach and simultaneously passed through his nose into his lungs. Saleen did not feel as though he were choking. Every pore on his body was now respiring, inhaling the stream’s clean water and expelling dirty bodily fluids.
This was not a painful process, but a physically exhausting one. Saleen felt extremely hungry, but there was no food, and he dared not leave the stream. Although he had already immersed himself in the water, Saleen still felt as though there was not enough liquid in his body. It was not a feeling of thirst, but a sign of dehydration.
The magic chord medicine flowed through Saleen’s blood vessels, absorbing the water within his body and forcefully expelling the impurities from his body at the same time.
This process continued for nearly six days. Saleen thought he was going to starve to death in the deserted wilderness. At this time, there was finally a new change in the magic medicine within his body.
Saleen sensed the water element in the area, and his mental power immediately became active. Shutting his eyes, Saleen felt his body become transparent, and he seemed to be able to observe all activity within his body. The blue translucent medicine was diminishing, and was fine like gossamer. It was probably only as long as a finger. After it had flowed into the blood vessels throughout his entire body a week ago, the medicine entered his brain, and appeared to have exploded without warning.
Saleen was startled. He thought he was doomed, but then he realized that the explosion was only an illusion.
An empty space suddenly appeared in the middle of his brain region. A fine translucent blue line floated in this space, and continuously absorbed the water element between heaven and earth.
Originally, when he had used his mental power to sense the water element, it had been formless. Now it seemed as though Saleen was watching from the sides. The formless element was objectified. Numerous transparent blue elemental bodies were closely lined up in the empty space, resembling a massive blue crystal. It was so enormous that there were no signs of any of its edges.
Saleen observed the basic structure of the water element carefully. Before becoming a Grade 4 mage, this was his one and only chance of sensing the element this way.
The filament in the middle of the empty space of his brain region was absorbing the water element, but did not seem to get any bigger. It was still as long as a finger, and much finer than hair. This was the magic chord that the books had described. This elementary magic chord would eventually develop into a network of complete magic chords.
These networked chords would have six properties, representing the six core types of magic. The longer a mage’s magic chords, the more powerful the magic he would be able to cast.
Each time, the magic chords would automatically restore themselves after being exhausted during the deployment of magic. Mage apprentices could also use meditation to restore their magic power. However, the magic power that magic apprentices could store was very little, and was incomparable to magic chords.
With the use of magic chords, a Grade 1 mage could deploy one Grade 2 spell, ten to twelve Grade 1 spells, and almost a hundred Grade 0 spells. Fundamentally, the most advanced mage apprentice could only deploy one Grade 1 spell, and around ten Grade 0 spells.
This was the power of magic chords; they were the cornerstone of the entire world of magic.
Coupled with meditation, the restoration of the magic chords that the mage had exhausted would be swift. A powerful mage would only need one or two hours of meditation to restore combat effectiveness. For ordinary mages, six hours would be sufficient to restore all magic chords that had been lost.
The magic chords in his brain finally began to grow steadily. They continued to grow until they were a foot long, before becoming as thick as a thumb and then stopping. Thereafter, they began to grow branches. Saleen had no clue as to how much time it had taken. The senses in his body had disappeared, and all observational power was concentrated in his mental realm, observing the growth of his magic chords.
The space formed in the middle of his brain was very large, as though it were a water droplet more than three meters tall. The branches that grew out of the foot-long magic chords were very tiny. They resembled the veins of tree leaves, and were mostly spread out throughout the brain region.
Saleen carefully recalled the illustration of magic chords in the book. A foot-long magic chord was a special characteristic of a Grade 1 mage. He had bypassed the stage of being a senior mage apprentice and had advanced directly to being a Grade 1 mage. This was truly thrilling.
However, there were two other problems regarding things that were different from what the book depicted.
The first problem was that the book had mentioned that the space of a mage’s magic chords would be about a cubic meter or so. But the space of Saleen’s magic chords had exceeded what was recorded in the books by at least six times.
This was not a big problem, though. When the space for one’s magic chords was big, it illustrated that one could learn more elementary magic. But the second problem was serious.
There were twenty-four branches of magic chords in the space. They were divided into six colors. Yellow represented Ground Magic, blue represented Water Magic, clear represented Wind Magic, red represented Fire Magic, black represented Dark Magic, and white represented Light Magic.
These six-colored magic chords represented the various magic types he could use, but all of Saleen’s magic chords were translucent blue, without any exceptions. This meant that he would only be able to deploy Water Magic in the future. Until the magic chords had been completely formed, he had not sensed any other element.
Saleen lacked some ability in releasing Grade 0 magic. Other than the six series of unpopular magic, he was now also unable to deploy the Invisible Shield.
Saleen remembered the sentence in the book –"Whatever you pay out will exceed what you receive".
Was that the payment? Saleen crawled ashore, feeling depleted of energy. He lay face down at the side of the stream, desperately gulping down water. Having starved before, Saleen knew that by filling himself with water, he could temporarily provide his body with a little energy, allowing him to rush home.
His body felt as though it weren’t his. This was worse than torture, and worse than usage of the badge. But Saleen was smiling, because magic chords had been formed. He had finally become a qualified mage. He ran towards his home unsteadily. When he entered his room, Saleen saw Jason sitting on his bed, meditating.
"Teacher…"
Jason opened his eyes and looked at Saleen for a while, then said, "My materials are nearly used up. Make a trip to the city tomorrow."
Saleen was uncertain, not knowing whether he should tell Jason that he had formed his magic chords. Jason did not say anything else, and left Saleen’s room straight after.
Saleen did not know if Jason had discovered anything. He did not have time to ponder, his stomach was rumbling. He ran to the kitchen, yanked down the smoked meat hanging on the stove, and chewed it hungrily. He ate as he walked back to his room. He looked at the magic clock on his table and realized nearly ten days had passed.
Tomorrow was the mid-autumn festival!
Saleen had no energy, but desperately tried to stay focused in order to learn a Grade 1 spell – Icicle Magic.
He succeeded in his first deployment; a white light appeared between his hands. A piece of icicle with the thickness of a finger flew out and hit the opposite wall. A hole was made in the stone wall. Saleen stood up, used his finger to reach in, and felt around the hole, but could not feel the end.
He was astonished in his heart. The power of Grade 1 magic was indeed adventurous, incomparable to Grade 0 magic.
It was a pity that he lacked proficiency, and needed both his hands to cast this spell. His preparation time was as long as six seconds. According to the rules, he could cast such spells twelve times at most. It seemed like he needed to continue with the Grade 0 Acid Sputtering spell. Magicchords were a mage’s safety net, and so should not be completely exhausted.
It was a pity that he would only be able to deploy Water Magic in the future. It would be great if he could learn the Fireball skill. It caused a smaller amount of magic depletion and required a short preparation time, but was still powerful.
Facing the messy display of his magical tools on the table in the laboratory, Jason did not have the heart to continue with his experiments for now. He had felt the magic wave in Saleen’s room, but did not know what Saleen had done. Had he showed enough concern for this student of his? Saleen was still young, and could easily be deceived if Jason did not pay more attention to him.
Saleen’s appearance had changed. Something that Jason could not guess was definitely happening.
The whole night, Saleen practiced the Icicle Skill. He was surprised to find out that he could actually continuously release the Icicle Skill more than twenty times. That was to say that he had almost twice the magic chords of a Grade 1 mage. In addition, through meditation, the restoration of his magic chords was an exceptionally fast two hours.
The two hour restoration rate was an ability which only genius mages possessed. Saleen knew his capabilities were average, but did not know that the magic chord medicine had completely changed his body structure.
Only at dawn did Saleen lay on his bed to sleep for a while. His nerves were too stirred up, and his sleep this time was hardly sound. Before noon, he jumped up from his bed and approached his mirror, planning to get dressed.
At this time, Saleen was stunned to find that there were changes in his appearance.
The youth in the mirror was slightly taller, and his hair had turned from brown to black. The most noticeable thing was his pair of eyes which had become as blue as the sea.
He was dazed for a while, recalling that his master had seen his appearance yesterday, and felt a little guilty. Hence, he did not bid Jason goodbye, but immediately picked up his leather sack and left his ancestral house in a hurry.
No matter how many books he had read, Saleen was still a child. He did not know how to explain things, and so chose to avoid doing so instead.
Feeling troubled, he came to the outside of Ceylon City where a joyous sight beheld him. Wreaths of green plants were hung outside the main doors of all buildings. Three kinds of plants had been bound together – wormwood which ridded plague, millet sprays which represented bountiful harvests, and a branch of silk leaves.
This was an ancient Myers Mainland custom, and was the vestige left behind by the Goddess of Nature. Even though the Holy See had influenced more than half of the mainland, it could not change the people's customs.
Sikeqinya was an empire established by trade. There were squares of various sizes in each city, provided for small traders with no permanent stores to set up stalls. Today, these squares had been renovated, and Viscount Gugger had used his own money to invite some performance troupes to perform for the people of the city free of charge.
Strictly speaking, Viscount Gugger was a traditional nobleman. During such a festival, his biggest expense was to distribute money and food to the poor. Saleen’s life had once been saved by Viscount Gugger’s flour. Hence, despite knowing that Gugger was making use of his relationship with Jason, Saleen had still chosen to accept his proposal.
Viscount Gugger had announced earlier that the taxes for this month would be waived. There was joy on the faces of the people, coming from the happiness radiating in their hearts. On the dilapidated rooftop stage, the travelling performing troupes were putting in their best at their performances. Saleen felt a little unwell. All this felt a little surreal.
Everyone’s smiles and voices seemed to bear a layer of invisible film. This had nothing to do with him though. Saleen suddenly had a feeling of desolation as he carried his leather sack and weaved through the various sized squares. His mood was abruptly dampened.
Everyone who saw him deliberately kept a distance from him, as though Saleen were a demonic beast who had intruded into the city.
Saleen suddenly understood why Jason did not live in the city. It was an uncomfortable feeling. The dignity of a mage was simultaneously a chain of shackles, separating mages from commoners into two types of beings. The commoners intentionally remained reverential, whereas mages had to be reserved, and maintained their dignified manner at all times.
A group of people were walking up from afar. They were a troop of soldiers carrying a statue of a sea monster. The Goddess of Nature had instructed the sea monster not to disturb the fishermen near the sea. After the fall of the Goddess, the fishermen had decided to honor the sea monster, to pray for the safety of those out at sea.
Saleen silently turned away. If he continued to walk in the middle of the road, this troop would probably turn away. As he was brooding, there was suddenly chaos amongst the soldiers. A youth dashed out of the crowd, having seen Saleen from afar, and shouted loudly, "Saleen, save me!"
Saleen frowned as that youth ran towards him, staggering. One of his sleeves was torn, the bloodied flesh of his left arm partially visible. This person was the young bandit that he had been peddling magic medicine with.
"Decca, return their things to them." Saleen knew what had happened.
"Returned. They want to kill me." Decca had come before Saleen. Saleen saw that the white bone of Decca’s left arm was visible. The bone was broken. This was an injury caused by the sword aura. The opponent was at least a junior swordsman.
Saleen sighed. Should he deal with this matter or not? Decca then noticed that Saleen’s eyes had turned blue, and pointed at Saleen in shock speechlessly.
"The person up ahead, catch that little thief!" Four swordsmen emerged from the chaos of the crowd, fiercely shouting at Saleen.
Saleen’s frown deepened. When he was young, he had not been short of scolding. Today, he had stored the fake mage robe in his leather sack, but had lacked the time to change into it. However, even so, the people in Ceylon City could recognize him and knew him as the mage apprentice whose teacher was a Grade 5 mage. No one had dared to even speak to him.
This was a group of foreigners!
Decca had obviously acted because of this. In general, a senior bandit would not target the locals in case it caused a disturbance among the people and made future business tough. It was unfortunate that Decca had met with trouble this time. The other party was comprised of four swordsmen, and Decca had been unable to deal with them alone.
The four swordsmen were dressed in fine metal armor; Decca’s small dagger would be up against the long weapons of the swordsmen. He was doomed. Saleen moved back and began to prepare magic.
A whole night of practice had not only increased Saleen’s release speed, but had saved him the step of chanting. After Saleen silently prepared three Icicle Skill spells, he started to speak, and said to the swordsman who had by now slowed down, "Give him grace and let him off. Just name the compensation you are after."
Saleen’s Icicle Skill was induced but not released, and continued to exhaust his magic chords. He did not dare act hastily, because Saleen was unsure whom Decca had provoked.
"Kill him!" A young man dashed out of the crowd, his beautiful long robe ripped open in the front. His forehead was bruised, something likely caused by Decca. This young man’s extremely thin lips had been painted a faint green color.
Saleen was in a serious dilemma. Decca was considered a friend of his in Ceylon City. Was he worth starting a feud for? Based on the other party’s attire, he must have been a nobleman.
At this thought, he deployed the readied Icicle Skill. This was because the other party’s swordsman had exhibited an attacking stance. Once they came close, Saleen would not have the magic to defend himself against four long swords.
Saleen had previously learned the Grade 0 Invisible Shield, which was a form of Wind Magic. After the formation of his magic chords, this Wind Magic had disappeared. No matter how accurately Saleen chanted, or how powerful his mental power was, he was no longer be able to cast any other magic besides Water Magic.
"Mage!" The swordsman opposite him hurriedly leapt away. Except for the swordsman in the middle who had used his sword to block Saleen’s icicles, the other three swordsmen were struck in their abdomens. Fresh blood instantly spluttered out.
The swordsman who had blocked the icicle was shocked. He had just developed the sword aura, which was why he had managed to block the magic attack. The long sword in his hand had become so unusually cold that he almost could not hold on to it. In addition, the force of the icicle was stronger than he could have ever imagined. It had shaken both of his arms, numbing them. The sword aura had completely dispersed.
The worst part was that the extremely young mage opposite him had started to prepare his magic once again.
The embarrassed young nobleman screamed, pointed at Saleen, and shouted, "Little brat, do you not recognize who I am?"
Saleen was suddenly filled with killing intent. It had been three years since anybody had berated him in such a manner. Those humiliating days had seemed non-existent. This young man instantly brought Saleen back to reality. He looked at the young nobleman coldly, and opened his mouth to chant a spell. The swordsman who was unhurt was unable to call upon the sword aura, and could only shout loudly, "Young master, run!"
As he shouted, he leaped forward with his long sword. He had experienced many battles, and could easily see in Saleen’s blue eyes the intention to kill. Only one who was determined to kill the other would look at his opponents in that way.
También te puede interesar
Comentario de párrafo
¡La función de comentarios de párrafo ya está en la Web! Mueva el mouse sobre cualquier párrafo y haga clic en el icono para agregar su comentario.
Además, siempre puedes desactivarlo en Ajustes.
ENTIENDO