Chapter 99: Chapter 99

"Skill [Fireball] Lv1 (10/10) upgraded!"

"Current skill [Fireball] Lv2 (0/20)"

Although he really wanted to see what a Level 2 Fireball looked like, unfortunately, Lin Mo's mana was completely depleted.

He could only release over ten fireballs and level up this skill because he had some time to rest and recover.

If he had cast them consecutively, with his current mana pool, he'd be lucky to release four or five...

He would take it slow.

After all, he had just started on the path of magic. When Fireball reached Level 3 and he added another point to his magic attribute, things should get slightly better.

Oh right, there was also this...

Lin Mo took out a tightly packaged iron box from his backpack. The box was specially filled with cotton padding, inside which quietly lay a potion and a red magic stone.

After all, this thing was truly precious - Yulian had offered a full 800 gold coins to purchase it!

If he remembered correctly, it should be called Primary Flame Reagent?

But being uncertain, Lin Mo hadn't recklessly drunk it, planning to ask Flora first during the noon break.

The carriage continued moving. Since his mana was depleted and needed time to recover, the rest of the journey became less interesting for Lin Mo.

Both [Vanish] and [Tenacity] were already difficult to level up through these ordinary goblins, but [Cross Slash] and [Shield Bash] were still viable, so he focused on grinding proficiency for those two skills.

By noon, Lin Mo had killed over ten more goblins, with [Cross Slash] proficiency reaching 153/180.

"Miss Flora, may I disturb you for a moment?"

During the noon break, he went to Flora's carriage and knocked on the door frame.

Flora lifted the carriage curtain, "What is it?"

For some reason, Lin Mo felt there was a hint of... wariness in her gaze when she looked at him?

He handed the box in his hand to her: "I heard from the alchemist Granny Yulian in town that this is Flame Reagent, which can enhance fire element affinity and improve resonance efficiency with fire elements."

Flora looked somewhat surprised at the potion in her hand and nodded: "That's correct, and this bottle of Primary Flame Reagent is of quite good quality... Where did you get this?"

"I accidentally entered a secret realm by chance before..."

Lin Mo didn't explain in detail, "So can I drink this directly now?"

Flora returned the potion to him, "This potion's effect is about 30% stronger than the most ordinary ones. After drinking it, it should increase your fire element affinity rate by 13%, which will be somewhat helpful for practicing fire element magic and can also improve casting speed and power of fire element skills."

As an instructor from the Royal Capital Mage Academy, Flora's judgment was indeed precise - 30%, exactly the same assessment as Granny Yulian had given.

Lin Mo didn't hesitate any longer and directly drank the reagent.

Immediately, a fiery sensation spread through his body, making him feel as if he were burning all over.

It sounded somewhat terrifying, but it wasn't uncomfortable at all - rather, it felt quite pleasant.

Half a minute later, when the sensation passed, Lin Mo clearly felt some changes in his body.

"As for this magic stone—"

Flora then picked up the magic stone from the box: "It's also quite decent. After you buy a magic wand, you can embed this on it..."

She paused mid-sentence: "Speaking of which, will you use a sword or a magic wand in the future?"

This question actually stumped Lin Mo too. Fresh chapters posted on NoveI(F)ire.net

Flora thought for a moment, then suddenly said: "That half-orc girl in your team, does she have Ice Wolf Clan bloodline?"

Lin Mo nodded, not understanding why she suddenly brought this up.

"You should have seen that although she uses a sword in battle, her attacks contain elemental power... This belongs to her racial talent, of course impossible to imitate, but perhaps it can serve as a reference."

Lin Mo's eyes immediately lit up: "You mean..."

"Magical power and warrior skills aren't necessarily incompatible."

Regarding this concept, many great mages had actually researched it before, but very few could truly master multiple professions, so related progress was extremely difficult and often ended up abandoned.

In limited materials, Flora had seen an interesting concept—

"Using materials for making magic wands to forge a sword, then this sword could serve the functions of both sword and magic wand, usable for slashing while also amplifying magical power. Fighting with such a sword could make combat styles extremely versatile and unpredictable."

"But this is ultimately just a concept. Common wand materials are either not very sturdy or lack the elasticity required for close combat weapons, and there's no reference material for the forging process. Achieving it probably wouldn't be easy..."

"For now, you could try buying a smaller magic wand to carry as backup, or purchase a pair of mithril gloves and embed this magic stone on them."

A mage's weapons weren't limited to staffs either - some preferred to make affinity materials into gloves or even armguards, though overall staffs still provided better effects.

But for Lin Mo, a pair of spellcasting gloves was clearly more suitable.

Setting aside the currently unachievable wand-sword for now, the mithril gloves Flora mentioned interested Lin Mo greatly.

This way, it wouldn't affect his sword use while also amplifying magic.

However, he wasn't very familiar with the price of mithril material... it sounded somewhat expensive...

"How much would mithril gloves cost?"

"At the royal capital, around 1000 gold coins, but there's a small mithril mine near Silverstream City, so the price should be cheaper, probably about 800 gold coins."

Lin Mo's mouth twitched. Fine, he hadn't asked.

He only had 157 gold on hand currently - when would he ever be able to afford that?

Seeing his defeated expression, Flora finally felt vindicated and momentarily felt quite pleased: "Mages are - expenses are higher than other professions. Even if you don't buy mithril gloves, just a relatively ordinary qualified staff would cost at least three to four hundred gold coins."

"By the way, how's your Fireball practice going?"

Since her carriage was behind, Flora hadn't seen Lin Mo's battles in the morning. Although she could sense fire element fluctuations ahead, she just thought he was practicing.

As he spoke, Lin Mo gathered a fireball in his hand and threw it at an empty space nearby.

Compared to Level 1 Fireball, Level 2 was larger by another circle and had increased power.

The smile on Flora's lips disappeared again, and she wished she could slap herself.

She shouldn't have asked!

Last night he could only barely form a fireball - how in just half a day could he not only learn to control and throw Fireball but also make it so much larger?

There was still some break time left, so Lin Mo took out the spell scroll given by the Falling Leaves Village elder from his backpack.

Previously, since he had just started learning magic, he wanted to focus on one first, but now he could consider learning this, since learning a new magic would also give him 1 point of magic power.

But there was one problem... this was an ice element magic.

"Can mages learn multiple elements of magic?"

It wasn't surprising Lin Mo had this question - he had never seen Flora use magic other than fire attribute.

"Of course it's possible, but generally not recommended..."

As she spoke, Flora extended her hand, and an ice spike condensed in her palm.

"I've already explained the essence of magic to you. Although a mage's power comes from heaven and earth, when one's own magic power becomes sufficiently strong, they aren't restricted by this. Even in special environments where corresponding elements don't exist naturally, through long practice, your magic power itself already possesses sufficient elemental adaptability and can still resonate to cast spells."

"The higher the adaptability to corresponding elements in your magic power, the smoother learning magic of that element will be, with faster casting speed and greater power. Although this adaptability doesn't have mutual exclusivity between different elements, magic power's adaptability to each element requires extensive practice and long accumulation. Therefore, most mages choose to specialize in skills of one element."

Flora took the scroll from his hand: "Ice Spike, one of the most common basic skills among ice element magic. Practicing it is fine and won't have any impact, since you've just started learning magic. But when you have opportunities to contact higher-level skills later, you'll need to determine which element suits you and embark on the path of 'specialization'."

Lin Mo nodded: "I understand."

Flora's advice was very correct for the vast majority, indeed almost all mages.

Being a jack-of-all-trades sounds good, but actually being skilled in everything often leads to mastery in none. It's better to focus on one field where greater breakthroughs might be achieved.

But just as it's best to choose only one profession, yet Lin Mo held multiple professions, this principle was correct but not absolute.

To put it bluntly, cheaters aren't normal people and shouldn't be judged by normal people's logic.

Even without considering magic learning and practice speed, just the fact that each skill automatically evolved and taught new skills when maxed already placed Lin Mo completely beyond the scope of ordinary people.

His choice was naturally "I want it all".

"Ice Spike is also the simplest basic magic, composed of circuits 11 and 14. These are simple circuits developed during the earliest discovery of magic, so it shouldn't be difficult for you."

After speaking, Flora returned the scroll to Lin Mo.

For this freak, she couldn't be bothered to teach him, and he fundamentally didn't need teaching anyway.

Lin Mo nodded, unfolding the scroll and preparing to start studying.

Flora stopped him in time: "Go back to your own carriage to study, not in front of me..."

Lin Mo glanced at Flora's constipated expression and tried very hard to keep a straight face, but ultimately failed.

"What are you laughing at?"

Flora glared at him irritably.

"I'm not laughing... pfft..."

Flora raised her staff as if to hit him, and Lin Mo quickly turned and fled.

Flora didn't chase him, just tapped her staff on the ground and snorted lightly: "That damn kid..."

But such exceptional talent absolutely must not be wasted. After this matter is resolved, she needed to discuss properly with Teacher Elvish about luring him to the academy.

The noon break soon ended, and they continued their journey in the afternoon. Lin Mo held the spell scroll, studying the circuits, and when monsters blocked the road, he would temporarily stop to grind Fireball proficiency.

The rest of the journey continued largely ...

At noon the next day, the caravan that had been traveling for over two days finally reached their destination.

Standing on a distant earthen slope, Lin Mo gazed far ahead at the city.

After all, Silverstream City was a proper city - compared to Roland Town, its scale was immeasurably larger.

"Is that Silverstream City? It truly lives up to its reputation!"

In comparison, Alden, who had seen Lania City, was even more impressed: "Lania City compared to this is completely unremarkable."

"Although both are border cities and originally developed similarly, under different lords' governance, these two cities are indeed no longer on the same level..."

Flora clearly knew more: "Lania City's current permanent population is less than 100,000, while Silverstream City's population has already exceeded 200,000. In recent years, they've continuously been reclaiming land and expanding territory. Soon, it will become a medium-sized city."

"Has Miss Flora been here before?"

Lin Mo asked curiously.

"My graduation assessment during student days was completed here. Plus, after finishing studies, I had nothing to do temporarily, so I stayed for a while longer - altogether about half a year."

No wonder she even knew the local lord after such a long time.

"What kind of person is Silverstream City's lord?"

"You mean Viscountess Bechila? She's a respectable, elegant lady. Two years ago after her husband passed away unexpectedly, she took over Silverstream City's heavy affairs, inheriting her husband's last wishes and the plans he organized before his death, developing this city into their ideal vision."

"I've interacted with her many times. She's a kind noble - benevolent, generous, caring for the people... She reminds me of Lady Raphael."

Recalling those past events, Flora's eyes felt somewhat sore.

"It's precisely because people like them exist that I haven't completely lost hope in this country's nobility."

She sounded like a very good ruler.

Although this didn't have much direct relation to Lin Mo, having a good person as the lord of the city you're in was itself something that felt comfortable.

Perhaps this was exactly why Silverstream City's population could reach over twice that of Lania City and was still rapidly growing.

In such a city, the number of adventurers would naturally be greater, and the tasks available at the association would likely be more diverse and exciting...