Chapter 8: The Initial Mastery of Magic

After a brief discussion, the students left the Mercenary Guild in small groups.

"Lin, I think it's a pity that you didn't become a politician," Katusha said with a smile, glancing at the door.

"Oh?"

"With your eloquence and strong persuasiveness, I believe that if those students follow you for a while longer, they might just give their hearts to you. With such an ability, isn't it a pity not to be a politician?"

Lin Yuan laughed heartily. "I don't practice Dark Magic. What would I want with their hearts?"

"Do you really not practice Dark Magic?" Katusha suddenly leaned closer to Lin Yuan, staring into his eyes seriously.

"Why do you ask?" Lin Yuan was taken aback.

"If I'm not mistaken, during your duel with Carter, you used the basic elemental magic of all four elements. I really suspect that you might even know Light and Dark Magic, and perhaps... a few spells of Necromancy as well?" There was a hint of teasing in Katusha's eyes. "Don't try to deceive me like you did with the students. Their abilities are limited, and they can't see some important things. I didn't miss it. If I'm not wrong, when you knocked Carter down the last time, you used both Water and Fire Magic simultaneously, didn't you?"

Lin Yuan had never intended to hide his abilities when he decided to take action. Now that Katusha brought it up, he didn't evade the question and gave her a general account of his situation. Of course, he didn't tell her that he was not from this world.

After listening to Lin Yuan's story, Katusha scrutinized him from head to toe, as if she wanted to dissect him to see what was inside.

"Alright, alright. I can use all elemental magic, but my mental energy is limited. I can only cast Level 2 spells at most. It's nothing special."

"True, if you could master the highest-level spells of all elements, even Dean Fernas would have to bow down to you."

The students had all left, but Lin Yuan was not idle. Besides giving the students more experience, he himself indeed needed to earn some gold coins. Otherwise, if he went to Downing Street again, he would have to sleep on the streets.

Watching him carefully search the task board, Katusha couldn't help but laugh and say, "I've never seen a mage as poor as you. What I said earlier still stands. If you really need money, I can lend it to you. The teachers at Finor Academy are well-paid. You don't have to worry about not being able to pay it back."

Lin Yuan waved his hand. "Money earned by oneself is more enjoyable to spend. By the way, if you have nothing to do, check on Fasno and the others. Besides the E-class task on the board, there is also a B-class task. I'm afraid they might run into trouble."

"Alright, but as an A-class mercenary, it's not a problem to take on a B-class task on the side."

Lin Yuan was stunned as he watched Katusha take out a golden mercenary badge to claim the task, and then leave the guild. It finally dawned on him why she was so familiar with the rules of mercenaries—she was actually an A-class mercenary!

Looking at his own F-class white mercenary badge, Lin Yuan could only give a wry smile and turned to take on a few E-class tasks.

Since some time had passed, the tasks on the board that promised low investment and high returns had already been claimed. Lin Yuan had no choice but to pick a few randomly.

These tasks all required a certain basis of physical strength, in other words, there would be fights. From his duel with Carter just now, Lin Yuan had realized the power of mixed magic. The explosion caused by the collision of just Water and Fire Magic was enough to knock out a Level 7 Warrior. If the research on mixed magic that Hawk had envisioned succeeded, the power would be unimaginable. Lin Yuan chose these tasks precisely for the opportunity to experiment.

The first few tasks were relatively simple, mostly dealing with wild beasts that were harassing villages. Although ferocious, these beasts were no match for Lin Yuan's increasingly proficient low-level magic. However, when he reached the fifth task, Lin Yuan ran into trouble...

"Damn it, trying to save money isn't supposed to be like this. It's just trying to get someone killed," Lin Yuan wiped the cold sweat from his palms onto his clothes and cursed in his heart.

In front of him, there was a beast resembling a wild boar, but upon closer inspection, one could see that this boar was much larger than a normal one, and it had two very sharp-looking horns on its head. There was a small, cloud-like swirl at the tips of the horns, and even from a distance of more than ten meters, one could hear a faint whistling sound.

This was not a wild boar, but a Level 4 Wind Magic Beast, the Gale Slaughter.

"Damn it, I'm definitely going to complain to the Mercenary Guild when I get back. Who knows how they do their job." The task had only mentioned dealing with an unusually robust wild boar, but when he arrived, he found a Gale Slaughter instead. The Mercenary Guild had made such a huge mistake in assessing the difficulty of this task, no wonder Lin Yuan was cursing.

While observing the surroundings, Lin Yuan carefully gathered a fireball in his left hand and a water ball in his right hand.

From his brief encounter with the Gale Slaughter just now, he had realized that he could not run away. The Gale Slaughter was much faster than him. Ordinary Level 2 magic could at most slow it down a bit, but it could not pose a real threat to it. The only remaining method was to try the still unformed mixed magic again. Since this magic could even knock out a Level 7 Warrior, it should not be too difficult to deal with a Level 4 Magic Beast.

Who knew that although the Gale Slaughter looked like a pig on the surface, its brain was definitely not as simple as a pig's. Seeing Lin Yuan's movement, it immediately let out a scream and charged at high speed. Its speed truly lived up to its name of "gale."

Lin Yuan felt a blur in front of his eyes, and a dark shadow was already rushing towards him. There was no time for him to calculate the trajectory of the magic and the Gale Slaughter's charge. In a panic, he brought his hands together and pushed forward, while casting a water shield and an earth shield on himself.

He closed his eyes and waited for a while, only to hear a loud rumble in front of him, but the expected violent explosion did not happen, nor did he feel the Gale Slaughter pouncing on him. Lin Yuan opened his eyes in confusion and was immediately shocked by what he saw.

From where he stood, a trench one meter deep and half a meter wide stretched forward. Rocks and wood flew everywhere, and everything in the path of the trench was split into two sides. After splitting nearly ten trees, the trench gradually became shallower and finally disappeared.

Lin Yuan stared blankly for a while before remembering the Gale Slaughter. He looked down and saw that the once mighty Gale Slaughter had been split in two. Even its hard skull had been separated, showing the immense power it had endured.

Lin Yuan couldn't help but look at his own hands. If all this was done by the combination of Ice and Fire Magic just now, then why was he completely unharmed? Even the blood from the split Gale Slaughter seemed to be blocked by something, scattering about a meter in front of him, with not a single drop around him.

He sensed the magic within himself and found that he could still cast a few more spells. Lin Yuan could no longer wait and summoned the fireball and water ball again. This time, his perception was much clearer. The magical elements in the water ball and fire ball did not seem as hostile to each other as they did during the experiment last time. Even when he brought them closer, their flow speed did not change much.

Lin Yuan stared at the water ball and fire ball for a long time, finally gritted his teeth, and pressed them together.

Under Lin Yuan's anxious gaze, the two completely opposing magical elements surprisingly merged perfectly. The bright red fireball and the deep blue water ball combined, with red and blue flashing continuously, yet not interfering with each other. After rolling for a while, they reformed into a spherical shape.

He could clearly sense that the water and fire elements inside had not changed, but he did not know why they could flow together inside the sphere without any conflict or repulsion, which was truly astonishing to Lin Yuan.

He glanced at the corpse of the Gale Slaughter and, on impulse, squatted down and pressed the combined fire-and-ice ball in his right hand onto it.

"Bang——"

A muffled sound. The ground where the Gale Slaughter's corpse lay suddenly formed a large pit with Lin Yuan's hand as the center, with a radius of more than ten meters and a depth of two or three meters. The surface of the pit was incredibly smooth, with wisps of steam rising, looking quite eerie.

What was even more eerie was that Lin Yuan, at the center of the explosion, was completely unharmed, not even a speck of dirt on him.

Lin Yuan stared blankly at his right hand, his shock and excitement beyond words. The moment he pressed the fire-and-ice ball onto the Gale Slaughter's corpse, the fire and water elements inside seemed to be enraged, suddenly spinning at high speed. As they spun, they collided incessantly, and in an instant, an elemental force far exceeding Lin Yuan's own magical power burst out from within the ball. Simultaneously, a gentle elemental force radiated outward from his hand, forming a thin protective barrier. Yet, this barrier, which felt thin to Lin Yuan, completely isolated the intense explosion, leaving him utterly unaffected.

Lin Yuan looked at the large pit in front of him, his mind racing. The explosion had created a perfectly circular crater, with a radius of over ten meters and a depth of two to three meters. The surface was incredibly smooth, and wisps of steam rose from it, making it look otherworldly. Yet, he himself, standing right at the center, was completely unscathed, not a single speck of dirt on him.

He examined his hand again, feeling the residual magical energy. It was as if the explosion had been contained and directed outward, while he remained untouched. This was beyond anything he had experienced before. The fire-and-ice ball, which had the potential to cause massive destruction, had somehow been controlled and focused into a single, devastating blast.

Lin Yuan's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. He had always known that combining opposing elements was risky, but the results were beyond his wildest expectations. The mixed magic he had created was not just powerful; it was precise and controllable. He could feel the potential for even greater applications.

He glanced at the Gale Slaughter's remains, now nothing more than a pile of debris at the bottom of the pit. The sheer force of the explosion had obliterated it completely. Lin Yuan realized that he had stumbled upon something truly revolutionary. If he could harness this power consistently, it would change the way he approached magic.

With a newfound sense of determination, Lin Yuan decided to experiment further. He gathered his thoughts and focused on the remaining magical energy within him. Slowly, he began to shape another fire-and-ice ball, this time with even greater control and precision.

As the ball formed in his hand, he could feel the elements swirling within, no longer hostile but working in harmony. He carefully directed the ball towards a nearby boulder, aiming for a controlled release of energy.

"Bang——"

The explosion was smaller this time, but no less impressive. The boulder shattered into pieces, each fragment flying in different directions. Lin Yuan watched, his eyes wide with amazement. He had done it again, and this time with even more control.

He spent the rest of the day experimenting with his newfound ability, testing its limits and refining his technique. Each successful explosion brought him closer to mastering the mixed magic he had discovered. By the time the sun began to set, he had a much better understanding of how to combine and control opposing elements.

As he packed up his things and prepared to head back to the Mercenary Guild, Lin Yuan couldn't help but feel a sense of accomplishment. He had not only survived the day's challenges but had also made a significant breakthrough in his magical abilities. The future seemed full of possibilities, and he was eager to see where this new path would lead him.