Chapter 158 - Arcane Wall
Lin Li rubbed his eyes hard so that he could see even more clearly.
He hadn’t seen it wrong.
Gone—all gone…
Whether it was the colorful light on the Elemental Shield or the four fireballs around the Flame Shield, all of them had suddenly disappeared without trace…
“That’s too fake…” Lin Li stared at Macklin in dismay. For a moment, his eyes were straightened out.
Macklin was someone close to the legendary-level. The elemental and flame shield that he had propped up at the same time could almost withstand all strikes of the Archmage-level. Lin Li even felt that if someone like Aldwin had made the move personally, he might not even be able to break these two shields.
However, everything before him was so real.
“Let me tell you a secret…”
“What secret?”
“Do you know Matthias from Sunrise City? I heard that he’s impotent!”
“F*ck! That exciting?”
“Yes, yes. Pity Sir Wilhelm, he finally has a son, but he turns out to be impotent…”
“Sigh, it’s a tragedy indeed…”
“You’re the only person I told this secret to. You’ll have to help me keep it, and not tell anyone else about it!”
“Mhm, no problem.”
…
“Let me tell you a secret…”
“What secret?”
“Do you know Matthias from Sunrise City? I heard he likes men instead of women!”
“F*ck! That exciting?”
“Yes, yes. Pity Sir Wilhelm. He finally has a son, but it turns out that he likes men, and not women…”
“Sigh, it’s a tragedy indeed…”
“You’re the only person I told this secret to. You’ll have to help me keep it, and not tell anyone else about it!”
“Mhm, no problem.”
…
Rumors were like plague—it would only spread faster and wider. From impotence to liking only men and not women, then to STD and body stench; it took only four to five days for such a complex process to evolve, and it seemed that there was a trend of it getting worse…
As for the authenticity of the rumor, no one was willing to care about it.
In fact, everyone knew that this was false. But, for them, the truth was not important. What was important was the satisfaction and pleasure in the process of spreading the rumor.
So, it was unfortunate for Matthias…
“Damn it! Damn! Damn! Damn it!” Matthias’ face was as black as the bottom of a pot. He was desperately smashing things to vent his anger. Everything that could be smashed in the room had already been smashed by him, but his rage only grew stronger and stronger.
If possible, he really wanted to capture the Jarrosus country boy right away and torture him for ten days and ten nights with the cruelest means so that he could die in endless pain after he had shed his last drop of blood!
It was because of this darned guy that he had become the laughing stock of all people. Just listen to what they were saying… Matthias had been recovering recently, but the jokes circulating in the guild had passed through his ears without miss. Matthias felt as if he was on pins and needles listening to all the comments every day.
He couldn’t live another day like this anymore.
That Jarrosus country boy… he’d have to pay for everything he had done!
Matthias slammed open the door. He dragged his wounded legs that had yet to fully recover, planning to look for that darned fellow. However, he had just opened the door when he saw a figure in black robe standing outside the door.
“Matthias, what are you doing?”
“Mentor Aeron, I… I…” Matthias froze, then stammered “I” a few times before finally continuing, “I want to go out for a walk…”
“Walk?” Aeron looked at him, and a sneer appeared on his squarish face. “I’m afraid you’re going to see that Jarrosus mage named Felic?”
Having been exposed by Aeron, Matthias was more or less pricked with guilt. All along, Aeron had given him an unfathomable feeling—Matthias was afraid of him, but he also respected him.
“Alright, go if you want…”
“Ah?” Matthias gave a start of astonishment.
“But, I’ll tell you, Matthias, if you have your limbs broken by him again this time, don’t expect me to take out the Restorative Potion to save you. You’d better think it through.”
“But… Mentor Aeron…”
“But what?” Aeron looked at him, his squarish face was still calm. It was impossible to figure what his mood was.
“But I can’t swallow this down!”
“What about that?” Aeron sneered, his eyes fixed on Matthias. “You can’t swallow it, but what can you do with him? Do you think you’re his match?”
“I… I was only careless the last time…” Although Aeron’s stare made him nervous, Matthias did not give in.
During those ten days in bed, he had thought over and over again, gradually finding out the crux of the battle.
In this world, it was absolutely impossible for anyone to withstand a fireball without magical shield. Even a legendary mage would not be able to bear it. It was not something that could be endured with physical strength at all, unless… unless that fellow named Felic was wearing some magical equipment…
Matthias could even guess that the use of this magical equipment would most likely produce a similar effect to a magical shield. The fireball that he’d fired at that time must have been blocked by this magical equipment.
This was exceptionally important…
It was the magical equipment that had blocked the fireball, not the strength of the fellow himself.
Matthias believed he couldn’t be mistaken. The Jarrosus country boy’s strength would never exceed level-seven. Even if he had made new breakthroughs in the past dozen days, it would never be beyond that of level-ten. As long as he knew the real strength of his opponent, with his strength of a level-12 Magic Shooter, how could he be making the same mistakes again?
It was also because of this that Matthias never understood why Mentor Aeron had asked him to endure.
Endure, endure… He wondered how long he’d have to endure…
“A moment of carelessness? Hahaha…” Aeron seemed to have heard some funny joke when Matthias’ words fell into his ears. After a long laugh, Aeron said to Matthias with sarcasm, “You should thank yourself for your carelessness…”
“Mentor Aeron, why is that?” Matthias was a little guilty, being laughed at.
“Why?” Aeron looked at him; his face was still full of derision. “Matthias, you’re not really so naive, are you? Do you really think that the Jarrosus mage named Felic was only at the strength of level-seven?”
“Was he not?”
“Matthias, you are so naive that I want to laugh…” Aeron snickered derisively and continued until Matthias was rather insecure. Then, he shrugged his shoulders, and said indifferently, “Alright, alright. Matthias, just treat it as he’s a level-seven mage; but, what about that? Do you think Macklin will allow you to hurt his disciple?”
At the mention of this, let alone Matthias, even Aeron himself was somewhat discouraged. There was one thing he had not told Matthias, because he feared that it would frighten him completely.
The so-called level-seven mage not only had the backing of Macklin, but also of a legendary mage named Andoine…
After returning from the Nightmare Mountains that day, Aeron had said nothing to anyone, and even forbade the two trial mages from speaking of that day again. In order to lull Macklin, he even pretended to have forgotten about it. But, Aeron remembered everything clearly in his heart. The person who hurt Bathrilor had to pay the price!
Aeron was only tolerating…
Aeron knew he had made a mistake.
It was the same mistake as Matthias—they had both underestimated the Jarrosus mage, Felic.
At that time, Aeron had thought it was just a level-seven mage, and there was no need for schemes and intrigues. He even thought that even if Macklin was right in front of him, he would never fall out with himself because of a low-level mage. So much so that Aeron didn’t even bother coming up with a scheme when he was in the Nightmare Mountains. He merely tried to charge Felic with hurting his fellow mage and was going to take him to the guild dungeon by force.
It never occurred to him that this Felic could have prompted Andoine’s help, and from later development, he found that the relationship between the two men had gone so deep that it was frightening—it had even gone beyond the scope of apprenticeship.
For this reason, Aeron had reflected on himself for a long time.
Andoine’s existence gave Aeron a feeling of being tied behind his back. He couldn’t deal with Felic directly. Even if he did, he could not let Andoine know that he had something to do with the matter.
That day, after returning from the Nightmare Mountains, Andoine had asked Macklin to convey his words to him.
“You dare touch a hair on Felic, I’ll chop off Bathrilor’s hand.”
Aeron knew Andoine did have the capability to do so. He dared not provoke Andoine until he had gotten his father’s support, so he could only pretend nothing had happened.
But, that didn’t mean that he had forgotten about it. In fact, Aeron didn’t forget anything; he just hid his thoughts deeper.
Aeron soon had an idea—because it suddenly occurred to him that the fellow named Felic had not only hurt Bathrilor, but also his disciple, Matthias!
Matthias was not an ordinary person. If he was willing, he could make big news out of Matthias’ status…
“Forget it… Matthias, if you really want to vent that anger, you should listen to me and follow my arrangements. Don’t act on your own imagined cleverness and look for Felic like that.” After Aeron had finished, he turned and walked out of Matthias’ room. He had already devised a complete plan. As long as Matthias didn’t act on his own, he’d soon be able to bring that Felic down. There was no need to tell Matthias what the plan was. After all, he was just a chess piece; chess pieces needed not know too much…