Another World’s Versatile Crafting Master

But Sarsen wasn’t a rookie, either. He was not an easy opponent for anyone with his peak level-14 strength. Moreover, he was in good condition. He hadn’t suffered any losses during all the exchanges. His performance was far beyond his usual standard. At least Lin Li could see that the present Sarsen was stronger than he’d been back in Shadowglen.

Nevertheless, the battle was a boring one despite their powerful strength. There was neither an interesting display of casting skills nor an intense clash at all. There wasn’t even a slight thrill in the battle. All there was constant probing from both sides. The energy they spent on defense far exceeded that spent on attacks. They’d put up another Elemental Shield once the previous one disappeared, but they were holding back the Mana Retroaction, never releasing it at all.

From a level-one spell to a level-eight spell—this was the entirety of the match.

There was no excitement at all in this process. There were no splendid casting skills like those in the battle between Lin Li and Loken; there was no hair-raising clashes like the battle between Mason and Larry. Both of them were only using basic skills learnt from the textbooks, and repeated cautious probing.

Lin Li was falling asleep. This was simply a torture for him. He’d rather watch two mage apprentices fight than watch those two guys sounding each other out.

However, he had to put up with the torture.

Matthias’ progress was too out of the ordinary. He’d been only slightly stronger than Mason in the beginning, but he was on par with Sarsen at present. Covering this distance couldn’t be explained in a word or two. Even Lin Li—who thought himself to be extraordinarily lucky such that even a pie would drop before him while walking on the streets—couldn’t have done this. Even with the Eternal Furnace left behind by Osric and the magical crystal from the fire dragon, Lin Li had merely made the leap from level-13 to level-15. What did Matthias have? Surely it couldn’t be that there were another Eternal Furnace and another fire dragon magical crystal in the world? It just couldn’t be possible…

A total of 24 guilds took part in this trial. 24 apprentices were divided into 12 groups in the first round of the competition. This was decided long before the trial, but no one had expected that Orrin would be injured before the finals—and it was a bad one at that. It was difficult for him to walk a few more steps, let alone take part in the finals.

Each of the 24 trial apprentices had his own task and there was nobody to spare. It was just like a radish for a hole—there was an empty hole now that a radish was spoiled. And Lauren was the lucky one that filled for that hole.

Mason wondered where that fool got his luck from. He’d actually drew the empty lot and advanced to the second round without even breaking a sweat…

Unfortunately, that was where his luck would end.

“Hahaha…” Mason watched Lauren from afar and smiled sinisterly.

Mason couldn’t care less about being neighbors currently. There was only one thought in his mind—as long as he defeated this fellow, he’d be able to make it to the final six!

Although the Chevan City guild had produced a large number of talents over the past several hundred years, there wasn’t anyone who made it to the final six in the trial finals. If he were to achieve a breakthrough this time, wouldn’t he be able to walk with airs in the Chevan City Guild of Magic?

“Brother Lauren, I have to go hard on you this time. You can only blame yourself for your luck…”

Just as Mason was mumbling away, the results of the lots were out. Some of the hot favorites were lucky not to be up against one another in the second round. Gryffindor was up against a level-13 Magic Shooter called Mark from Starlight City’s Guild of Magic. Matthias’ luck was better; he was to be up against a level-12 Magic Shooter.

When Lin Li saw the results of the draw, he couldn’t help but think, Matthias, that jerk, is going to be up against a level-12 Magic Shooter this time. Surely he can’t be that sly again?

In contrast, Lin Li was up against a more difficult opponent, Garat from Far Seeing City. His strength was definitely considered first-class among the trial apprentices, and he had always been mysterious. He had never gotten too close to anyone. He didn’t even build a friendship with his two roommates. Lin Li could only vaguely judge by observation that this fellow had broken through to level-14, and was probably at the same level as Sarsen.

However, it did not make any difference to Lin Li. As long as it wasn’t Gryffindor or Matthias, everyone else was the same.The gap between level-15 and level-14 could not be summarized as just a difference in level. Unless it was an unconventional kind like Loken, an ordinary mage would not stand a chance against an Archmage.

After the draw results came out, Lin Li only took a glance at him from a distance. This man looked about the same age as Gryffindor. He was tall and thin. He was wrapped in a black robe all over—apart from his frighteningly pale face. From a distance, he looked like a black bamboo pole standing in the wind.

As Lin Li glanced over, the other party’s eyes fell on Lin Li as well. At that moment, Lin Li suddenly felt a sense of familiarity. Just then, Mason’s match had started. Lin Li merely frowned slightly and threw the matter to the back of his brain.

Compared with the bitter first match, this one was really easy for Mason. However, it wasn’t because Mason was strong. He could only be so relaxed because the other party was simply too useless. Lauren was probably the most inferior stuff in this trial.

Not to mention him not making any progress at all in the two months, what was worse was his terrible performance in the finals. His casting skills were dogmatic; even the characters and syllables of the spells were no different from those of the textbooks. He was just like a mage apprentice struggling for a breakthrough. He’d do whatever his mentor told him to and whatever was written in the textbooks. There were no highlights at all to his performance. If he were to have a change of clothes now and re-enter the arena, Lin Li was sure that at least 90% of the mages wouldn’t be able to recognize him.

His strength was far worse than Mason’s, let alone matching up against people like Gryffindor and Sarsen. Lin Li wondered how such a rookie like him could make it into the trial…

Lauren impatiently released a Mana Retroaction upon the commencement of the match, for he saw Mason open his mouth and thought the latter was about to begin his recitation. However, Mason merely said, “Brother Lauren, don’t blame me!”

“…” Lauren almost vomited blood.

What was to be a serious match turned out to be an amusement afterwards.

There was a disparity in strength and Lauren had wasted a Mana Retroaction as soon as the battle started. The outcome was settled by this point. However, Mason was not in a hurry to end the battle. He was having a great time playing with Lauren. The short five-minute match had become his one-man show. He applied all the casting skills he’d learnt from Lin Li in the past month on Lauren. Moreover, he deliberately went easy on the other party. He’d pull the brakes each time his opponent was about to be beaten. Lauren was suffering immensely from this repetition.

The only thing Lauren could do was to recite all the spells he knew in a hurry. However, except for a freak with infinite mana like Lin Li, this high-intensity spell-casting was not for anyone to bear. Not to mention Lauren, even an Archmage wouldn’t have been able to withstand such consumption of energy. As such, Lauren exhausted all his mana in a mere five minutes, and was blasted off by an Air Bomb Mason had so sinisterly released…

The match ended too fast, such that Mason didn’t even sweat a bit. Just like that, he was the first to make it to the final six.

“Old man, how’s that? I haven’t disgraced you, right? Shouldn’t you reward your disciple for being the first to make it to the final six? I don’t want just any reward. I’m not a beggar. Don’t think you can send me away with just two lousy scrolls…”

“Go and die, will you…?” Macklin was annoyed. If they weren’t under the public’s eyes, he would’ve given Mason a kick in the butt. Bloody hell, this little brat really thinks too highly of himself. He’d forgotten his name after having won against a level-10 Magic Shooter. He should take a look at how amateurish he is instead of having the cheek to boast about his petty win.

But then again, that was some sorcery from Aldwin. How could he manage to draw Lauren and Mason in the same match? Bloody hell, now that he had won, that little brat’s going to have to brag about it for a few days…

“What are you looking at, Felic?” Mason was boasting excitedly when he suddenly realized his teammate was staring into space.

“Did you notice? Something seems off about that fellow…”

“Which fellow?” Mason asked, puzzled. He followed Lin Li’s gaze and realized that the latter was staring at his opponent for the next round, Garat from Far Seeing City. “Him?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You don’t say. This fellow is indeed weird…” Mason scratched his head in puzzlement. “Far Seeing City isn’t that far from Chevan City. My mentor once brought me to their Guild of Magic when I was young. That fellow was a jerk from young age. He peeped at girls taking shower when he was just in his teenage years. I heard that he’d gotten worse as he got older, visiting houses of ill-repute as and when he likes. Nine out of ten prostitutes in Far Seeing City has once served him. Why else do you think he’s so skinny?”

“For real?”

“Duh…” Mason finished with a lecherous smile, then frowned, and mumbled to himself, “Strange. When we’d just arrived in Alanna, that fellow wanted to take me for drinks and what not. Why has he become like this? Look at his face and his eyes. Reminds me of the zombies in the Shadowglen…”

“He really does look like one…” Lin Li nodded. Although Mason’s words might sound exaggerated, Garat had indeed given him such a feeling. If Lin Li were to find someone similar to Garat in aura, it would be Sendros, who had visited the Guild of Magic a few days ago.

However, even a half-human, half-undead monster like Sendros had more human aura than Garat.

“Anyway, you’d better be careful later. I can’t stop thinking how abnormal this fellow is. He could’ve been cursed. It’ll be trouble if he spreads it to you…”

Mason was exaggerating way too much. Even Orrin, who had stayed quiet all this while, couldn’t listen any longer. He scolded him feebly in his chair. “Idiot…”

“Damn…” Mason glared at him, and was about to break out in a curse when he suddenly lost heart. “Forget it, pretty boy. You’re injured. I shan’t hold it against you.”

“Do you even dare…” Orrin pouted, and looked at Mason with disdain. Then, he turned his attention to Lin Li. “Be careful.”

“Mm-hmm.”