Versatile Mage

“Holy cow, what is that? The black thing that dove to the ground from the sky… f**k me, is that a Forbidden Curse Mage!?” Mo Fan yelled all of a sudden, staring at the blurred recording.

The quality of the recording was very bad due to the interference of the spells. However, he could still see an enormous figure moving rapidly. It was shocking even though he had only seen the tip of the iceberg. It felt like the overwhelming energy was about to burst out from the screen!

“Look at that, holy shit, did you just see that? That thing just knocked Essendale flying more than a few kilometers away!” Zhao Manyan smashed on the screen to pause the recording.

The recording was a total mess. Mo Fan was unable to tell if the person was Essendale, but the monster that Zhao Manyan was referring to was terrifying, indeed!

The people of the Holy Judgment Court were not involved in the fight. They simply surrounded the area.

The enormous dark barrier encapsulating the area vaguely resembled the Dark Dueling Groundset up through the Dark Contract. However, it was a lot scarier than the Dark Dueling Ground where Mo Fan had fought the Dark Swordmaster. It seemed like Essendale was trapped within the magic barrier.

The clip did not last for long, and Mo Fan and Zhao Manyan were not able to see the existence inside the magic barrier clearly. They only knew that the monster was responsible for tearing Essendale to pieces.

“Could it be the legendary Hayla?” Zhao Manyan took a deep breath. He recalled someone telling him some rumors before, that anyone who saw Hayla’s true appearance was doomed to be dragged into the Kingdom of Death. He immediately felt his skin crawling.

“Hayla, the creature that tore Essendale into pieces?” Mo Fan asked.

“The God of Death in Europe! It’s like Yama, the King of Hell, is for us. I remember hearing the old folks of our clan mentioning it before. It’s a creature on par with the Sphinx,” Zhao Manyan said.

“Sphinx? The one guarding the pyramids?” Mo Fan remembered the name.

“Yeah, the Sphinx was once Egypt’s national beast before it started guarding the Great Pyramid of Giza. It was the most symbolic creature of death. The ancient magic records also mention that the Sphinx was actually an ancient beast of the Netherworld. Meanwhile, Hayla was the mystical beast that represented the Realm of the Dead in ancient Greece mythology. It was basically like Rama, the King of Hell in China… but unlike the mythology in our country, the mystical beast of the Realm of the Dead is real!” Zhao Manyan told him.

Mo Fan was convinced when Zhao Manyan cited the records about the ancient civilizations. “I bet Essendale would be proud to die at the claws of the mystical beast, Hayla.”

Zhao Manyan nodded and said, “Yeah, killed by one of the strongest creatures in the world! He didn’t bring disgrace to his reputation as the Master of the Shadow Element.”

“These countries with ancient civilization as each have their own mystical beasts, but doesn’t China have a long history too? Don’t we have any mystical beasts on par with those creatures?” Mo Fan asked.

“Of course there are! The Totem Beasts were the ancient mystical beasts of our country, but they were all eliminated… oh, that giant snake in Hangzhou is the only ancient mystical beast that we have left! I used to hear my grandfather mention that China once had the Four Great Totems, which were the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger, and the Black Tortoise, the four legendary mystical beasts that everyone knows about. I wasn’t sure if my grandfather was being boastful, but he did say that if the Four Great Totems are still around. Even the weakest among them, the Black Tortoise, could still end up in a draw against the Sphinx or Hayla,” Zhao Manyan replied.

“But they are no longer around, so it’s meaningless to say that now. I bet they were killed by the people of our country, since most of them believed it was not safe to keep them around,” Mo Fan scoffed.

“But I think he wasn’t lying, I believe you know better than me how strong that giant snake in Hangzhou is?” Zhao Manyan asked.

“Of course,” Mo Fan said.

The Black Totem Snake was a real Totem Beast!

“The Black Tortoise had two offspring: one is the Black Snake, and the other is Bixi. The Black Snake is obviously the Black Totem Snake, and it’s already so powerful, so I find my grandfather’s words rather convincing,” Zhao Manyan said.

Mo Fan glanced at Zhao Manyan and asked, “Since when do you know so much?”

“Well…well, I just checked the information out of curiosity, hehe,” Zhao Manyan said nervously, and seemed to be hiding something. He immediately switched the topic, “By the way, your Xinxia has already become a Saintess, why don’t you seem concerned at all?”

“What Saintess, she has always been a Saintess to me,” Mo Fan replied instantly.

“Bro, haven’t you read the news? They have announced the final four Candidates, who are referred to as the Saintesses. The Goddess will be elected from them! Now that Andi is dead, there are only three Candidates left, meaning that the odds of Xinxia being elected as the Goddess is one in three!” Zhao Manyan exclaimed.

Mo Fan was dumbfounded.

He had just come out from seclusion, and had not had time to contact Xinxia yet. He was utterly clueless that something so serious had happened.

“What is it? Why do you look so gloomy?” Zhao Manyan said.

“I don’t really think that’s good news. I know her situation better than anyone else. It’s already a surprise that she joined the Hall of the Goddess, but it simply did not make sense going this far!” Mo Fan said grimly.

“The Parthenon Temple’s election isn’t just about influence. Maybe her temperament and her character suits the role of the Goddess perfectly, or maybe the Soul of the Goddess is fond of her? Who knows, but I think Xinxia is a worthy candidate; at least her heart is the purest that I have ever seen,” Zhao Manyan said.

“What the hell is the Parthenon Temple up to?” Mo Fan was even more confused about what the Parthenon Temple was trying to achieve.

“Forget about it, the finals are starting tomorrow. Are you ready?” Zhao Manyan asked.

Zhao Manyan was obviously trying to ask if Mo Fan had fully refined the good stuff that he had acquired from the treasure hunt.

Mo Fan was easily the biggest winner out of everyone on the team. The man was already so strong before the treasure hunt, and with the awesome loot, his strength was surely going to reach another height.

“Do you know about the levels of mental strength?” Mo Fan asked.

“Yeah?”

“I’m at the fourth level now!” Mo Fan grinned.

“Holy crap, you’re basically unbeatable!”

“Hehe!”

—

The format of the duels was different than the knockout round. Even though it consisted of team battles, the teams were allowed to substitute members in the middle of a match.

The number of participants in a match was still ten, but if a student was knocked out, the team could immediately send another student onto the stage.

A team could only substitute members three times, meaning that eight people could represent their team in a match during the finals. It was a test of the entire team’s strength, since eight out of the ten representatives of a national team were expected to fight in a match.

It was the simplest way to test the strength of each country, allowing them to implement different combinations of the members and strategies based on their Elements.

—

As the finals of the World College Tournament were about to start, the people soon forgot about Andi’s death. The bars and pubs in Venice were hung with the portraits of the students of different national teams. The students were ranked based on their strength.

The ranking was based on the performance of the students during the knockout round and the treasure hunt. Without surprise, Mo Fan was ranked fifth.

Mo Fan did have some words to say to the person that came up with the ranking, “Are you f**king blind or what? How am I only ranked fifth when I took out six people by myself during the treasure hunt?”

Mo Fan found it hard to accept. In his opinion, no one around his age could possibly stand a chance against him. If he really needed to pick someone that could defeat him, it was going to be Mu Ningxue with her bow.

Mo Fan was not pleased with the ranking. He swore to beat the crap out of the four participants that were ranked higher than him!

“Rank one is the captain of the English team, Zorro. He has green hair, and dark green eyes… even now, no one knows what his primary Element is, since he has only used his Summoning Element so far in both the knockout round and the treasure hunt. His Summoned Beast and Contracted Beast have simply crushed all his opponents. Rumors say he is a Lightning Mage, with a remarkable Innate Talent.” Jiang Yu had gathered the information and revealed it to the rest of the team.

“Lightning Element… he’s managed to get my attention!” Mo Fan harrumphed coldly.

“Rank two is from the American team. She’s closely related to the Sacred Hall of Liberty. Her name is Jessie. She’s already a member of the Sacred Hall of Liberty even though she’s still studying. She has taken down lots of wanted criminals. Her nickname is the Cold Face Magistrate. Her primary Element is Plant, secondary is Curse, and tertiary is Light. She’s a control-type Mage. Apparently, she was on her own throughout the treasure hunt, and ended up with resources summing up to 1.3 billion,” Jiang Yu said.

Jiang Yu showed Jessie’s picture to the team.

Zhao Manyan and Mo Fan immediately whistled and exclaimed, “She’s at least E! Oh mama, look at that picture, that’s f**king insane. She’s like a character from an anime!”

“This woman, I believe she’s really impressive!”

Jiang Shaoxu knocked on the heads of the perverts and purposely stuck her chest out, “Her boobs are clearly sagging, mine clearly look better!”

“But she has E!”

“Die!”

“Enough, you guys! The third rank is Reed, from the German team. He’s a destructive Mage, with similar Elements to Mo Fan. His primary Element is Fire, secondary is Lightning, and tertiary is Space.

“Rank four is known as the Iron Bucket mage, Bilton of the American team. He is tall and huge. His primary Element is Earth, secondary is Summoning, and third is Light. He’s a defensive-type Mage. He was surrounded by five members of the Swedish team in the knockout round, but they failed to penetrate his defense. He’s the nightmare of a destructive Mage!”