章 73: Viscountess Lex (Part 2)
編集者: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Even though Saleen possessed precious treasures and massive knowledge about magic, he was still a country bumpkin at heart. Liki led him through various courtyards. After several turns, Saleen was already feeling a little dizzy.
The viscountess’ residence was much too big. It was even bigger than the harbor in Ceylon City.
After a while, the buildings around them were no longer as neatly arranged as the ones they had seen earlier, and there were signs of dilapidation. Liki led Saleen into a larger courtyard and announced, "Lord Faerun, the viscountess has asked me to bring someone to you."
"Is that you, Liki?" A voice that sounded young came from inside the house.
Liki was elated. Lord Faerun actually remembered his name! Liki grew very respectful and in a voice that quivered with excitement, he immediately replied, "Yes it’s me, Lord Faerun."
"Let them come in, but do not enter through this courtyard again," the young man replied curtly. Liki’s delight was instantly extinguished by that curt reply. He was in a bit of a daze and dared not show any displeasure. Liki merely bowed his head and left the courtyard.
"The rest of you, come this way." The young voice sounded through the air once more. Saleen followed the voice and led Sika and Nailisi through an empty room, finally arriving at an enormous magic laboratory.
The laboratory only contained a single table. That table was over ten meters long and had a metallic luster despite being made of wood. The wooden tabletop had a fine texture, and was filled with numerous carvings of magic patterns. Arranged neatly on the tabletop were magic props and alchemy equipment.
Sitting next to a piece of alchemy equipment that had been made entirely out of gold was a middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man wore a grey magic robe with three magic symbols on it.
A Grade 6 mage!
Saleen felt a sudden and unexpected excitement inside him. That was the first time that he had seen a Grade 6 mage, and it was every mage’s dream to be able to see a Grade 6 mage. Only a Grade 6 mage could build a magical tower and then use it evolve their magic chords. With their magic chords, they could then become a sorcerer. A sorcerer would enjoy longevity, and a Grade 7 sorcerer could live for at least three hundred years!
To a mage, time was extremely precious. The magical knowledge to be learned was as vast as the ocean, as though it were inexhaustible. Generations of mages had used their finite lives to chase after limitless knowledge, and this had cast mages into glory.
Just as Saleen was excitedly admiring Faerun, Faerun suddenly pointed his finger at Saleen and a fireball of faint blue flames flew towards him.
The fireball was only the size of a meatball and Saleen could not even feel its heat, but he knew that if the fireball were to hit him, it would definitely cause more than just a hole in his shirt. His body might have disintegrated instantly.
Saleen did not dodge, as the fireball had the ability to follow its target and Saleen could not have been faster than the fireball. Furthermore, this fireball had come from the mage master, which meant that there was a high level of magic concentration in it. Even if Saleen had tried to escape on a horse, he would not have been able to escape in time. Instead, Saleen cast a Water Shield spell without any hesitation.
A chain of gigantic bubbles blocked the path of the fireball. Pop, pop, pop… The blue fireball easily broke through the Water Shield spell. With every bubble that the fireball hit and burst, the fireball grew one size bigger. Furthermore, there was an impression of a human face on the surface of the fireball.
Saleen did not have time to think. His Water Shield spells had all been cast off of the top of his head. If he had not been promoted to a Grade 2 mage, he would never have managed to do this.
But so what if he was a Grade 2 mage? In the face of a Grade 6 mage, Saleen’s water shields could not have been weaker.
Within a second, Saleen cast the Water Shield spell thirty times. But, the mage master’s fireball managed to break through the Water Shield spell thirty times as well. The speed with which Saleen was casting those spells was actually fairly terrifying. However, the fireball was not blocked at all and continued to grow larger in size.
All of a sudden, two bubbles the size of a palm appeared on Saleen’s left hand. These were the results that Saleen had produced when he had cast his magic shields with the Gift of Life spell. The two shields had never disappeared all this while. It was truly amazing.
The two bubbles coated the blue fireball and shrank down to half of their original sizes. The two bubbles then started to float up.
Even though the fireball had not been blocked, it had actually slowed down. Saleen’s heart was filled with fear, and the badge appeared in his hand.
At the heart of this heavy and tough badge was a flaw in the shape of a lighting bolt. Saleen had run out of ideas with which to counter the fireball, and thus placed all his hopes on the badge.
Just as Saleen was about to cast a spell to release the power of the badge, the fireball that had been right in front of him disappeared into thin air.
Saleen had long since guessed that the mage master was testing his powers and capabilities. However, when death had been in his face, it had felt extremely real. Saleen heaved a sigh of relief as the fireball disappeared, and felt as if he had just been drained of all his concentration. At this point, the two magical bubble shields, now smaller, returned to his left hand.
The entire process of the fireball attacking Saleen and then disappearing had taken just a little over a second. However, Saleen felt as though he had just died and been revived. Sika and Nailisi, who were standing behind Saleen, had not moved an inch and did not react to what just happened. Saleen did not manage to see what methods the mage master had used to suppress them. Even if Sika’s powers had been diminished, Nailisi still possessed a soul bond with him. However, despite their abilities, they had no reaction to what just happened.
"Well done. Your foundation is extremely solid." The mage master laughed and praised Saleen.
"Please show me guidance, master," Saleen replied respectfully. He bowed, not daring to be rash.
"What you just did was the best you could’ve done. Your powers are a little imbalanced, but your technique was good. The water shields were actually instantly deployed. Who is your teacher?" The mage master asked with intrigue.
The Water Shield spell could never be instantly deployed. This meant that even at the highest level of mastery, a water shield could never be cast instantly. However, Saleen had made some tweaks to the spell. This had raised its defensive ability and allowed the water shield to be cast instantly.
"My teacher has forbidden me from revealing his name. I figured this out myself," Saleen answered honestly.
"What great talent. Your teacher was lucky to have you as a student."
When Saleen heard the mage master’s compliments, he grew a little depressed. In the past, his own teacher had even said that it was possible that he would never be able to promote. But, his teacher had still given him an opportunity. In this moment, Saleen wondered whether Earl Sufonso was making his teacher’s life unnecessarily difficult.
"What is your name?"
"Saleen Metatrin."
"So, the viscountess asked you to look for me, but do you know what the job of a lifestyle mage entails?"
Saleen shook his head.
"A lifestyle mage takes care of the viscountess’ daily life. Do you understand now?" The mage master answered Saleen cheerily.
Saleen could not help but show his disdain.
Take care of her daily life? So that was how Viscountess Lex was using her mages. They were no more than just servants!
"Are you angry?" The mage master asked.
Saleen nodded. He did not want to hide his feelings. In fact, you could not really hide anything from a Grade 6 mage.
"Saleen, come over and take a look at this," The mage master called to Saleen. Saleen walked over to the pure gold alchemy equipment and began observing closely.
That pure gold prop had been made by stacking numerous solid gold squares, causing it to resemble some sort of building block game. The gold squares were scattered, forming a base that resembled the Figaro formula.
Suspended in midair inside of the gold prop was a blue gem whose texture was pure and extremely clear. Black magic rays shot out from the insides of the gold prop and into the gem in a sequential manner, causing corrosion on the rock and forming magic patterns.
"This is Youlian rock!"
"What good eyes. Most people would have thought that this was sapphire. Do you know what this rock is used for?" The mage master asked Saleen.
"I don’t know," Saleen answered honestly. Youlian rock could be used to fuse different items and create various magic props. Even the mage master could not decipher what the magic array carved into the rock meant. After all, that would have affected the period of time the rock remained useful.
"This is a magic pendant, and it can be attached to a necklace. The pendant is able to lower the surrounding temperature of the user, and the viscountess uses it because she likes cool weather."
"That’s it?"
"Yes, that’s it."
Saleen was speechless. The gold prop must have required at least three thousand solid gold pieces to be built, and it was extremely expensive. All of these gold pieces had been stacked by the mage master to form the Figaro formula and shoot dim rays to corrode the rock. Following this, the mage master would control the distance and carve a magic array into the rock.
How could a mage master be satisfied doing such a job?
"When I decided to follow the viscountess ten years ago, I was only a Grade 3 mage," the mage master said, causing Saleen to be astonished.
Climbing through the ranks of mages was extremely onerous. At the beginning, it was not so bad. An average human would take around a year or so to become a high ranking magic apprentice, and another two or three years to be a Grade 1 mage. As long as a person had enough money, this would not be a problem.
But for a Grade 1 mage to promote, it would take the average human at least five years to do so. The higher the grade, the more time one would need to spend in order to be promoted. Once a person became a mage master, the effectiveness of money would be greatly minimized.
However, the speed of training would decrease without the use of money. Thus, many high ranking mages were very wealthy.
Mages were extremely willing to spend money since they raced against time their whole lives. As long as a mage was able to be promoted to a sorcerer before they died, they would be able to restructure their constitution and extend their life, and thus be able to work towards a higher stage of mastery.
As soon as a mage became a sorcerer, money would become meaningless to them.
Their money was only used to purchase raw materials to help create magic equipment that was unique to themselves.
For the mage master to have been promoted from Grade 3 to Grade 6 within ten years, the speed of his promotions was truly horrifying. Furthermore, Faerun was only middle-aged, meaning that he would definitely become a sorcerer before he died.
"How many ways are there to arrange the Figaro magic formula?" The mage master suddenly asked Saleen.
"Eight thousand one hundred and ninety-two ways," Saleen replied without any hesitation.
"In order to create the pendant, I have experimented with every single arrangement, and I now possess the knowledge of all the alterations the different formulas would bring. Also, the spell of Corroding Rays has no more research value to me," the mage master said thoughtfully.
Huge waves of emotions welled up in Saleen. The mage master actually knew all the changes to the Figaro formula!
What did this mean? It meant that the mage master had already bolstered his foundation in preparation for his promotion to a sorcerer.
"Saleen, I’m guessing that you know what the most renowned motto for all mages is?"
"The existence of mages is to gain insight into the truths of this world," Saleen said word for word. As Saleen said those words, he unexpectedly became upbeat.
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