The duel between Prince-level Mage Boothly and Omnimagus Ye Chui was thus settled. It would take place three days later in the Jores family’s beast garden. The news spread like wildfire. Archbishop Elisha, who had initially been calm and collected, instinctively sensed something amiss, but Ye Chui and Boothly had played their parts so perfectly that the matter was already sealed. He could no longer stop it.
Earlier, he had pressured Boothly by saying she needed to do something for the honour of the Magic Guild. Now Boothly was using exactly the same justification. “I am fighting for the honour of the Magic Guild.” What more could he say?
Choosing the beast garden as the venue was also perfectly reasonable. Thirty years ago the Blue Knight had fought the Star Greatswordsman there. A hundred years ago the Ghost Crab Prince had duelled the White Sheep Prince there. Three hundred years ago the Dustless Monk had battled the Blue Succubus Summoner there. For mages as powerful as Ye Chui and Boothly, the beast garden was the most logical arena. No one could find fault with it.
Boothly stared at Ye Chui with burning excitement in her eyes. “Omnimagus, three days from now, I hope you will not disappoint me. I very much want to experience your brand-new magic!”
“Heavenly Maiden Prince-level Mage, I am equally eager to see just how powerful your ice magic truly is!” Ye Chui shouted back at once.
“In the name of the Magic Guild, I will defeat you!”
“In the name of the Random Name Magic Guild Master, I will never lose to you!”
The two exchanged a few symbolic taunts. Then Boothly returned to Elisha’s side, gave the old man an obedient smile, and affectionately took the Red-Robed Archbishop’s arm.
Elisha glanced at her with a strange look. He was now almost certain these two little brats had played him… but the die was cast. If he interfered further, Boothly could simply use his earlier words against him, claiming he had prevented her from duelling Ye Chui. That would damage his own position. As for changing the venue… there was truly no place in the entire Star Empire more suitable than the beast garden.
The others lacked Criann’s sharp instincts.
The Jores patriarch even sneered coldly at Ye Chui. Ye Chui could never be a match for a Prince-level Mage, especially not in the beast garden. He could quietly ask Lord Beast God for a little assistance… This time Ye Chui was finished!
Supported by Black Priest, Criann had already recovered his handsome appearance under the healing of several believers, though he still looked extremely frail. His gaze remained venomously fixed on Ye Chui. Of course, that was all he dared do. The moment Ye Chui looked back, he hurriedly averted his eyes, then cursed inwardly that he would definitely tell his father and have him take revenge…
Seeing Boothly escorting Elisha away, he quickly tried to leave with them.
Just then, Green suddenly called out to him.
“Wait a moment.” Green walked up to Criann. As Criann looked at him in confusion, Green declared solemnly, “My name is Green, nicknamed the Gambler. The next time we meet, I will personally defeat you!”
Green had once been a weak, money-grubbing gambler, smooth-talking, somewhat cowardly. But after adventuring with Ye Chui and Debbie, he had grown tremendously. Having been gravely wounded by Criann earlier still gnawed at him, so he issued this challenge. The next time they met, he would reclaim the pride he had lost.
“You…” Criann stared at Green, his mind flashing to the fact that this guy was the one Boothly actually fancied. Curse of the Magic Emperor! When had Boothly gone blind? In looks, strength, or status, how was he inferior to this fellow? Yet Boothly had chosen him!? He sneered disdainfully. “You think you’re worthy to be my opponent?”
Perhaps Green’s words reminded him of something. He had been utterly humiliated by Ye Chui today. He really should leave Ye Chui with a few ruthless lines first. Thinking of this, he turned to Ye Chui. “This time I lost to you. The next time I see you, I will definitely…”
“You think you’re worthy to be my opponent?” Ye Chui cut him off, throwing Criann’s own words back at him. He casually turned away, inviting Prince Gayler into the villa for a seat, completely ignoring Criann.
“…” Criann’s face turned hideous. As if venting, he glared at Green. “The next time I see you, I will kill you. I’ll pierce you to death with ten thousand swords!” he hissed viciously, keeping his voice low for fear Boothly might hear.
“Same to you,” Green replied seriously.
Green was currently only an intermediate-level mage. Whether in talent or realm, the gap between him and Criann was astronomical. In the past, he would never have dared hope to defeat a heaven-blessed genius like Criann. Yet now he possessed such ambition and determination. Criann would be his target, the opponent he would relentlessly chase and one day smash with a brick!
His hostility toward Criann stemmed not only from being injured earlier, but also from a trace of rivalry over the same girl…
Boothly had already escorted Elisha to the guild gate. Watching her departing figure, Green suddenly felt something. The lust that Ye Chui’s anti-lust divine tune had buried seemed to be rapidly reviving. Unable to hold back, he shouted, “Boothly! After your duel with the guild master is over, let’s go on a date, okay?”
Boothly’s body trembled slightly. She turned back, looking at Green with a touch of girlish charm. “Hmph, that depends on whether I have time!” Yet a smile spread across her face. By now, she had probably long abandoned any thought of seducing Green just to dump him later…
Criann: “…”
…
The somewhat battered Random Name Magic Guild quickly returned to calm. Prince Gayler summoned craftsmen to repair the damaged guild gardens and castle.
He anxiously asked Ye Chui what on earth he was planning. Was he really going to fight Boothly for real?
He had thought Ye Chui and Boothly had already formed a deep friendship.
Ye Chui smiled and said it was just a friendly spar. Otherwise Boothly would have trouble explaining things to the Magic Guild. He kept the true objective hidden. Even Prince Gayler never imagined it. Destroy the beast garden? He would not even dare think of such a thing. Countless terrifying magical beasts lived inside the garden. Though none were higher than tier five or six, the garden itself existed on the back of an enormous magical beast. That was the Beast God worshipped by the Jores family, a terrifying giant turtle. Causing trouble in the beast garden was simply courting death, was it not?
With some doubts lingering, Prince Gayler left the castle. Before departing, he reminded Ye Chui to treat the matter seriously. Boothly was, after all, a Prince-level Mage. In the first year after awakening, a Prince-level Mage’s power grew almost by the hour. In three days, she might have mastered many spells Ye Chui had never seen before.
Ye Chui smiled and promised he would. He had never underestimated Boothly’s grimoire.
In certain respects, a Prince-level grimoire was very similar to his own iPad grimoire. Both were like cheats. But Ye Chui could now confidently say that although both sides were cheating, his cheat was the higher-level one…
After Prince Gayler left and the villa had a brief rest, evening arrived.
Everyone finished dinner in the dining hall.
Debbie and the others were clearly worried about the duel. They knew Ye Chui and Boothly planned to destroy the beast garden. They had witnessed how terrifying the desert giant turtle in the secret realm had been. Even the current Dragon Baby could not kill that desert turtle outright, and it was merely a descendant of the true magical turtle. To destroy the beast garden meant facing that Beast God turtle. It was definitely dangerous.
“You don’t need to worry. The Beast God was injured long ago. However strong it is now, it cannot possibly be at its peak. Boothly and I together can at least keep ourselves safe,” Ye Chui said with a smile to reassure everyone.
Suddenly inspired, he picked up a metal fork from the table. It was a silver fork. Under Ye Chui’s magnetic magic, it slowly floated above his palm.
“In these few days I might be able to develop some powerful new attacks…” With that, he flicked his finger. Whoosh! Using electromagnetic acceleration, the fork shot out at extreme speed. Bang! It streaked like a silver flash and embedded itself deep into the stone wall nearby.
Magnetic magic could only affect iron, nickel, and similar metals in ordinary understanding, but the magnetic force produced by magnetic magic was not limited to Ye Chui’s original knowledge. It worked on all metals. Ye Chui could control it like a railgun to fire metal projectiles, exactly like Cannon Sister’s super electromagnetic cannon.
However, the power seemed underwhelming. Just embedding a fork in a wall. For the current Ye Chui, such an attack was almost useless.
He had always been interested in magnetic magic. When he first chose to comprehend the magnetic element, he had two options: Cannon Sister or Magneto. Today, facing Criann’s [Thunder Magnetic Heavenly Punishment], he had been forced to comprehend Magneto. Now that he had magnetic magic, could he also acquire the railgun along the way?
Yet comprehending Cannon Sister required a specified comprehension costing 5000 points. Ye Chui hesitated. The principle behind Cannon Sister’s railgun was electromagnetic acceleration. He could already achieve the same thing with Magneto’s [Power of Ten Thousand Magnets]. Though it appeared less powerful than Cannon Sister’s version, spending points to comprehend her again might just waste them.
Firing small bits of metal with electromagnetic force looked impressive in anime, but for Ye Chui now, it was not very helpful. He could already fire magic missiles, after all.
Still, today’s battle with Criann had given Ye Chui an idea inspired by the railgun.
“Ye Chui, what are you doing?” Debbie asked curiously, staring at the fork he had shot into the wall.
“I’m creating a new spell… Debbie, summon Gilgael first,” Ye Chui told her.
Debbie blinked, then did as he asked and summoned Gilgael.
Gilgael quickly appeared before everyone in the casual home outfit Ye Chui had programmed for her. Discovering she had been summoned into the kitchen, she immediately beamed. “Are you inviting me to dine with you? Wonderful… huh?” Her eyes landed on the nearly empty dinner table, and her face fell. Even the single upright antenna-like hair on her head (a quirky feature Ye Chui had set to appear only in home mode) seemed to droop listlessly.
“Next time I’ll definitely invite you to eat with us,” Ye Chui remembered that the Golden Female Swordsman also had a glutton attribute and laughed. He walked up to her. “This time I called you out because I want to learn your Golden Sword Aura.”
The dining hall fell silent for a moment before everyone exclaimed in unison, “What did you say?”
Learning Golden Sword Aura. That was supposed to be impossible.
Golden Swordsmen had always been exceedingly rare, appearing perhaps once every few decades. Comprehending Golden Sword Aura required immense luck and talent. How could it simply be learned?
Yet Ye Chui was already smiling as he logged into Gilgael’s memory world.
Because of their high affinity, he entered smoothly.
Every memory world contained a skills page listing all learned abilities. Spirits were no exception. Ye Chui had long been interested in Golden Sword Aura, but before awakening the lightning skill, he had not dared download it. Now he could.
He found Gilgael’s skills page. It was filled with all kinds of sword techniques. Near the bottom, he quickly located [Golden Sword Aura]. It was a special sword skill that transformed the dragon breath within gold into power.
Downloading it cost 6000 points. Ye Chui selected download.
While waiting, he browsed the rest of Gilgael’s skill list. He soon noticed that many slots further down were greyed out. Gilgael had learned those skills but could not use them.
Gilgael herself was a Greatswordsman, but due to Debbie very high, Debbie’s limitations prevented her from displaying her full power, and many skills remained locked.
“Three Million Golden Rain… Summon Golden Hell… tsk tsk, just the names sound amazing,” Ye Chui murmured.
Gilgael’s breathtakingly beautiful face showed a trace of nostalgia at those skill names.
Debbie hurriedly comforted her, promising she would work hard to improve her summoning ability and one day restore Gilgael to her full strength.
Soon the download finished, and Ye Chui directly mastered [Golden Sword Aura].
Though it was a swordsman skill, learning it through the iPad gave it a magical flavour. Ye Chui immediately took out a piece of dragonblood stone and activated [Golden Sword Aura]. The dragonblood stone transformed in his hand into a cloud of golden mist filled with cold, murderous intent.
With a sweep of his hand, whoosh! The golden mist turned into countless peerlessly sharp sword auras that shot forth. Crash! One side of the dining hall’s stone wall was instantly blasted open with a huge hole.
Golden Sword Aura!
All his companions were stunned speechless. Ye Chui had actually learned Golden Sword Aura just like that!
Gilgael wore an expression of absolute shock.
“And next…”
Ye Chui excitedly took out a gold coin. Dragonblood stone could be converted into Golden Sword Aura, but it was not metal and could not be accelerated by magnetism. If he used a gold coin instead… Ye Chui placed the coin on his thumb, aimed at the wall, and simultaneously activated [Golden Sword Aura] to convert the coin into sword aura while using magnetic magic to accelerate it.
In an instant, golden light blazed from his hand. “Bzzz!” The gold coin seemed to melt in strong acid, turning into mist, yet at the same time powerful magnetic force launched it from his finger. It spun at blinding speed, reaching bullet-like velocity.
Spinning!
Shooting forward at terrifying speed!
The coin fully transformed into ferocious sword aura that became a pillar of golden light. A tremendous gust of wind instantly swept the entire room like a tornado. Tables, chairs, plates, and bowls crashed to the floor.
BOOM!
The golden pillar struck the wall, instantly reducing the stone to powder and erasing it completely!
The Golden Railgun was born!
Ye Chui had created a pay-to-win spell!
