novelArcane Combustion and Countercurrent Vortex
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was a mark of maturity for mages to have their own Magic System. It signified flawless technique in the use of magic as well as a thorough understanding of magic rules. It was an entirely different realm in itself, and meant that the mage was on their way to reaching the peak of their strength. Nobody knew where the end of this journey lay, nor did anyone knew if there would be countless obstacles along the way, but one thing was certain—any mage who walked on this path was a truly powerful one in the field of magic.
They were like ascetics trying to figure their way out alone on a path littered with unknowns; nobody would be there to give them any guidance, nor would there be anyone with past experiences they could learn from. Everyone walked a different path, and their Magic System belonged only to themselves. There was no way for anyone to emulate them, and even if they did, they would only fail trying...
Even a mage like Andoine would never give Lin Li any advice on this as he knew that it was a journey Lin Li had to embark on alone—it was up to him to scale the peak of magic. Of course, Lin Li did not disappoint him. He was only in his twenties, but already had his own Magic System; this was definitely a rarity even in the whole of Anril.
Furthermore, Lin Li used two kinds of level-16 magic to support his Magic System.
He was probably the only one since the Dark Ages ended 1, 300 years ago to be able to create two kinds of level-16 magic at once. This was no small feat, as the Magic System Lin Li would have would be incredibly powerful since it was supported by two sorts of level-16 magic. Well, his starting point was already too advanced: Arcane Combustion directly targeted mana, while Countercurrent Vortex targeted mental strength. Mana and mental strength were the two most essential elements of magic, so how powerful would a Magic System created from these two be? Even the God of Mages Geresco might not be able to predict the extent of Lin Li's future achievements had he come back to life.
The campfire celebration only ended in the dead of the night. Lin Li had been silently sitting in his tent the whole time, repeating the events of the fight in his head. It seemed like Lin Li had nothing to do with the fight in the eyes of Jason and the rest as they thought that Norfeller had won purely by his own means and rescued them from the Ice Howler. Nobody had paid any attention to the cowardly employer...
This fellow had done nothing besides using two lowly kinds of magic before sitting beside the fire the whole time, not moving an inch even when Norfeller nearly died in the hands of the Ice Howler. Who would associate him the Ice Howler's death?
Nobody would guess that this cowardly fellow who seemed to have been a free rider the whole time was actually the main contributor to the Ice Howler's death. He had neutralized the Frost Shock with an Arcane Combustion, and killed the Ice Howler with a Countercurrent Vortex. By using the two spells together, he changed the outcome of the fight completely.
Honestly, even if Jason and the rest knew of this, they would find it hard to believe that this fellow had mastered such terrifying magic, what more be their creator...
The principle behind Arcane Combustion was not complicated: to put it simply, one had to release a large amount of mana at once to form a dense field with it. Any magic that passed through the field would be strongly stimulated, which caused the magical elements to become more volatile. Once the stimulation was strong enough, it would create an evaporation effect and cause any magic to disappear immediately, just like the Frost Shock earlier...
The Countercurrent Vortex was much more complicated as it required an immensely strong mental strength as well as a thorough understanding of magical mantras. Only those who mastered the core magical mantras would be able to forcefully reverse the flow of magical elements. This was a meticulous and complicated process, and a tiny mistake could change the magic in unpredictable ways. Sometimes, even Lin Li did not know what would happen when he released a Countercurrent Vortex...
Actually, Lin Li had already thought to create such magic back in Alanna. He had enriched his knowledge of magic in the Omniscient Tower and learned a great deal of advanced spells. All the copying and emulating had given him ideas to create his own magic. It was just that Lin Li had not been equipped with the ability to do so then...
The match in the Aurora Square came next.
Lin Li suddenly obtained a dozen core magical mantras during the match. It was a windfall bestowed upon him by the heavens as this was immeasurable wealth to any mage. All he needed to do was learn how to use this wealth, and he had spent his time in Black Clouds Town trying to master the core magical mantras. At the same time, his knowledge of magic and techniques of using magic had reached an unimaginable level. It was only natural that he started creating his own magic...
Lin Li had only wanted to cause some trouble for his enemies, using a nearly unlimited amount of mana when he first created the Arcane Combustion, but after some tests, he slowly realized that instead of forcefully oppressing his opponents, he could give them a hand instead. By increasing the speed of release of their magic and forcing it past a certain threshold, he could create a Brand Of Dusk effect and cause their magic to vanish.
Of course, the two kinds of magic varied in nature as one accelerated the meltdown, while the other used a channel to redirect the magic. However, they both resulted in a similar outcome, which was basically to extinguish the effect of his opponents' magic.
Moreover, the biggest advantage of the Arcane Combustion was that it worked regardless of his opponent's level. As long as Lin Li's mana was stronger, he could attempt to engulf their magic with Arcane Combustion.
Then, the Countercurrent Vortex...
Quite honestly, more than half the credit for creating this magic went to Darian. He had slightly altered the Inscription Structure of the Aurora Square back in Alanna and attempted to use this trap to trip up Lin Li in the finals. Little had he known that Lin Li's accomplishments in Inscriptions were far beyond what he could imagine, and the young mage was able to ruin Darian's carefully planned ploy and take Matthias his life as well with just a small change.
The Countercurrent Vortex worked quite similarly to the change in Inscription, which was by using the advantage he had in mental strength to forcefully change the flow of magical elements. If it worked, he would be able to kill almost any of his enemies.
Alas, both of these kinds of magic carried fatal flaws.
Firstly, it took too long to use Arcane Combustion as it required too large an amount of mana. Even with Lin Li's technique, he had to recite the spell for at least 20 seconds before switching to a guiding mode immediately. He had to constantly remain in a guiding mode as he could not allow the field of combustion to detach from him, or else, all the mana he had painstakingly released would vanish in a second...
The flaw in the Countercurrent Vortex was even more fatal as using mental strength to forcefully alter the flow of magical elements was already dangerous in itself. It might be alright if his opponent was a magical beast like the Ice Howler if he was accidentally caught in it. However, it could be devastating against a mage as their battle could turn in so many directions at once that even Lin Li was not confident of constantly suppressing his mental strength.
He could easily make a long list of flaws, and every single one of them was enough to cost him his life.
Well, it was two kinds of newly created magic, after all, and they had too many areas to be improved upon compared to magic that had been passed down and perfected for thousands of years. If the latter was a carefully crafted piece of art, his magic could only be described as the doodling of a child, messy and unrefined, with ridiculous loopholes everywhere.
However, it was these ridiculous loopholes that gave the two unlimited potential as even Lin Li might not know the extent of power they could achieve after repeated improvements and modifications.
Lin Li spent the night racking his brains for ideas to improve them, and only drifted off into a deep sleep when the sky started to become bright.
Not long after he fell asleep, Lin Li heard Jason's voice from outside the tent.
"Are you awake, Mage Felic?"
"What is it?"
"I'm here to inform you that we are setting off soon."
"Why so early..." Lin Li rubbed his eyes as he peered outside the tent, only to realize that the sun was already shining brightly.
"No choice, the Dragon Mountains are the Syer Bandits' territory, after all, and after the ruckus we caused fighting the Ice Howler last night, I'm afraid there'll be trouble if the bandits came over..."
"True..." Lin Li thought for a bit, and realized that Jason was right. He quickly crawled out of his sleeping bag and put on his robe, only to get a shock when he emerged from his tent. He clearly saw a few dozen people encircling his tent—there were even some familiar faces among them. Norfeller, the Priest, the mousy-looking bandit and the young leader... Last but not least, he saw the helpful middle-aged adventurer and the young missus of the castellan's family...
"Are you kidding me!"
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