Chapter 207: Continuing the Tests |
After that, the mages took the tests one after another.
Among them, Nora of the Elemental School and Cole of the Modification School truly opened Fulan’s eyes and showed her what mages from the great societies were really like.
Although neither of them passed the trial, both of them managed to defeat the second dummy and only failed at the final one.
When facing the first dummy, the methods they used were surprisingly identical: they both used a Spell Ring to fire off an instant spell.
But when the second dummy appeared, the two of them dealt with it in completely different ways.
The instant the second dummy dropped down, the black spots on Cole’s neck seemed to come alive, spreading across his skin and, in the blink of an eye, extending to both sides.
Wrinkles then appeared over those blackened patches, like gills, opening outward.
Then Cole opened his mouth wide toward the dummy, and an invisible attack shot forward.
Almost in the very next instant, the dummy was smashed to pieces, with numerous parts scattering across the floor.
As for Nora, she used one of the techniques Fulan was most familiar with—Wind Blade—to attack the dummy.
But no matter what, Wind Blade was still only an apprentice spell. Against the cloth covering the dummy, it simply was not enough.
Yet the Wind Blade Nora used was not the same apprentice spell Fulan used. Fulan could tell that this spell was far stronger than an ordinary Wind Blade.
That was not normal. Under ordinary circumstances, a spell’s power was fixed by its spell structure.
No matter how much spiritual power one poured into it at the end, the spell’s final power ceiling remained the same.
That was the frustration all mages shared. They too wished a single spell structure could be used from the apprentice level all the way to the fifth tier, but that was impossible.
The updated spell structures of each new tier were vastly stronger than those of the lower tiers.
If spiritual power were not the limiting factor, mages would have loved to use higher-tier spell structures in advance.
But the Wind Blade Nora used—or rather, the spell that ought to be called 【Enhanced Wind Blade】—had a crucial feature that none of the elemental spells Fulan had learned possessed: the infusion of wind element.
That was right. Fulan also possessed Wind Elemental Affinity, so she could sense it clearly. Nora was feeding wind element into the spell, making the spell she released more powerful.
“How is that possible?” Fulan was utterly puzzled. In this regard, she had been blind all along. Only today did she learn that elements could actually be inserted into spells to strengthen them.
Even after being enhanced, the power of the Wind Blade spell was only somewhat greater than that of most apprentice spells. In terms of raw power, it still probably could not compare to a First-Tier Spell.
Nora knew that as well, so she had adjusted the way she released the spell.
Since one Wind Blade was not enough, then she would send out three more.
Thus, before Fulan’s astonished eyes, Nora actually released three Wind Blades in a single burst.
And that was not the end of it. Nora’s pace in releasing Wind Blades did not slow at all, and wind element continued to gather in her palm.
By the seventh Wind Blade, the dummy could no longer endure it. Its entire main frame was blasted apart, and bits of debris and fragments fell to the floor.
By all logic, at the speed Nora was releasing Wind Blade, she should have been able to easily bring down the third dummy as well and pass the attack test.
There was nothing wrong with Nora’s casting speed. The Wind Blades she released were still sharp and incredibly fast, but they simply were not accurate enough.
For some unknown reason, after Nora fired the seventh Wind Blade, her aim dropped drastically.
The Wind Blades she released afterward could only graze the edge of the cloth and caused almost no damage to the dummy.
As for the rest of those Wind Blades, they all struck the silver-gray wall behind it, leaving behind numerous savage scars.
At the side, Zane frowned. He had not expected the testing room, which had only just been repaired, to be damaged again.
But it did not matter. The damage was still not serious enough to stop the test from continuing. At worst, it made the room look less sightly.
Next, it was Fulan’s turn. She was the last one. As she walked forward, she passed Nora shoulder to shoulder just as Nora was coming out.
She could see the smug look on Nora’s face, as if she were saying that the spells of the Elemental School were the only ones that were truly powerful.
Fulan ignored her and walked straight in, waiting for the dummy to be cleared away automatically before confirming the start.
Zane did not pay her much attention. He assumed she would fall at this stage just like the previous two, so he directly pressed the start button.
The dummy immediately dropped from the ceiling, then flipped over the hourglass used for the countdown, sending fine grains of sand trickling downward.
The moment the sand began to fall, Fulan started casting.
But rather than using a Spell Ring to instantly destroy the first dummy, she remained where she stood and began channeling her spell.
During the first second, the dummy that had fallen from the ceiling had not even settled yet. Its body was still swaying.
And in Fulan’s hand, there was only a rather intense fluctuation of spell power. Aside from that, nothing else happened.
Fulan stood there without moving, concentrating fully on channeling her spell.
Watching from above, Zane saw what she was doing. He knew that Fulan was now channeling a First-Tier Spell, but could that really work?
As far as Zane knew, for a First-Tier Mage, the shortest possible time to channel and release a First-Tier Spell without any equipment assisting them was roughly 2.3 seconds.
And even that result could only be achieved when the mage was in peak condition, had already cast multiple spells and was fully focused, and had deliberately chosen a spell with a short channeling time.
That was the limit of a First-Tier Mage’s spiritual power. A First-Tier Mage only had this much spiritual power to work with, so no matter how fast they were, they could not be that much faster.
When ordinary mages passed this test, most of them had to rely on equipment. Either they used equipment to instantly destroy a dummy, or they made good use of the timing by beginning to channel a spell while the previous dummy was still there, destroying that dummy with a Spell Ring, then using the already prepared spell to destroy the next one.
By the second second, the dummy’s swaying had calmed somewhat. The cloth covering it had settled against its body, and one could vaguely make out the structure beneath the cloth.
Yet Fulan’s spell was still being channeled, showing no sign of being released.
At that point, Zane judged that Fulan would most likely fail. Even if she really did release the spell, it would still need a certain amount of time to travel to the dummy’s position, and he did not believe she could destroy the dummy before time ran out.