Chapter 18: The Spatial Ring

Lin Yuan tried his best to suppress the excitement in his heart and casually glanced at the ring, saying, "What's so special about a ring?"

Hearing this, the old mage was so angry that his beard seemed to stand on end.

"This ring is a spatial ring!" Glancing at the fire-and-ice ball that was still spinning in Lin Yuan's hand, he restrained his anger and patiently explained to Lin Yuan, "Do you see this light? Oh... you've probably never seen a spatial ring before and don't know what it means. Let me tell you now. This light indicates that the ring contains the power of spatial magic, which means this ring is a genuine spatial ring."

It was indeed a spatial ring!

Although Lin Yuan had already guessed it, his heart still skipped a beat upon hearing the old mage's confirmation.

The magical system on the Farinos Continent, after a long period of development, had gradually divided into four major branches: elemental, light, dark, and spatial magic.

Among them, the four elements of water, fire, wind, and earth belong to the branches of elemental magic. Every mage usually starts learning one of these four elemental magics from a young age. After mastering it to a certain extent, they would choose another elemental magic as a secondary skill. In any case, the magic they learn and use from a young age is essentially elemental magic. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that elemental magic is the foundation for mages.

Unlike elemental magic, light and dark magic are often related to natural talent and cannot be mastered simply through systematic learning. Other mages, even if they understand these two types of magic well, cannot use them because they lack the corresponding magical power within their bodies. This is also why there are so few light and dark mages on the Farinos Continent.

Spatial magic is different again. In theory, any mage can learn and master it. However, due to the enormous amount of magical power required for spatial magic, mages below the level of Archmage are unable to use it. Across the entire Farinos Continent, there are no more than a thousand Archmages.

So, strictly speaking, there might be even fewer mages who can master spatial magic than there are light and dark mages.

A mage who can skillfully master spatial magic, if willing to expend a great deal of magical power and with a certain level of metallurgical skill, is qualified to create a spatial ring.

It sounds not too difficult, but there are already very few mages who can skillfully master spatial magic, and even fewer who also possess a certain level of metallurgical skill. On the Farinos Continent, there are only three mages currently capable of creating spatial rings.

Moreover, the creation of spatial rings is extremely challenging. Not only does it require expensive materials, but the mage creating it will also expend a great deal of magical power, making mass production impossible. As a result, spatial rings have become something highly sought after but very rare.

Among mages, owning a spatial ring signifies not only status but also power. After all, using a spatial ring requires knowledge of some spatial magic. Being able to master spatial magic means you are at least an Archmage.

Knowing that the old man in front of him was at least an Archmage, Lin Yuan remained even more composed.

"A spatial ring? It does seem so. But sir, even if you give it to me, I won't be able to use it."

The old mage was taken aback. He had thought that offering such a valuable item in exchange for a secret would surely make the young man jump at the opportunity. He didn't expect him to raise such a question.

Unfortunately, he had to admit that Lin Yuan was right. Given his age, even if he were a genius, he couldn't possibly master spatial magic. After all, the super genius Grand Mage Finor from 300 years ago didn't become an Archmage until after the age of 30. And the young man in front of him didn't look like he was 30 years old.

"Actually, I don't want anything from you. I just want to know..." Lin Yuan made an effort not to look at the spatial ring again and pointed to the broken stones on the ground. "How did you know I used both water and fire elemental magic to attack this stone simultaneously?"

He had been curious about this for a long time. Magic is different from swords and knives; after an attack, it leaves no trace to indicate the type of attack. When magic hits a target, the power within the magical elements explodes and then dissipates back into the environment as raw magical elements. Although one can more or less tell what kind of magic caused the damage and which element it was from the target's condition, it is impossible to know the details.

It was not surprising that the old mage could tell the stone had been attacked by water and fire magic. What was surprising was that he said "simultaneously."

For most mages, mastering both water and fire magic is already very difficult, let alone using them simultaneously. The old mage's ability to confidently state that Lin Yuan had used both water and fire magic at the same time must have had its unique basis.

After a night of research, Lin Yuan's curiosity about magic was at an all-time high. Now encountering a question about magic, he was not willing to let it go.

As for the spatial ring, although he wanted it very much, he knew he couldn't use it yet, so he had to give up the fish to get the bear's paw.

"Oh?" Seeing Lin Yuan's inquisitive look regarding magical knowledge, the old mage felt a sense of kinship. He smiled and picked up a piece of broken stone from the ground, handing it to Lin Yuan. "Try to enter a meditative state and sense this stone."

"What's so special about this broken stone..." Although skeptical, Lin Yuan still pinched the stone and entered a meditative state.

Sure enough, as soon as he entered the meditative state, Lin Yuan immediately sensed that the surface of the broken stone seemed a bit different. Focusing his spirit to sense it, he discovered that the surface of the broken stone was actually coated with some very faint magical elements. Upon closer inspection, they were the water and fire elemental magic elements he had become very familiar with that night.

The amount of these two elemental magic elements left on the surface of the broken stone was very small, and they were also being constantly assimilated by other external magical elements. If it weren't for the old mage's hint, Lin Yuan would have overlooked it even in a meditative state.

"This does indicate that the stone was attacked by water and fire magic, but how did you know it was attacked simultaneously?" This was Lin Yuan's main question, and he wouldn't be satisfied until he got an answer.

"Try to sense again, the distribution of the magical elements on the surface of the stone."

There was no need to sense it again because Lin Yuan was already very sensitive to the two elemental magic elements. He immediately reviewed the condition of the broken stone's surface in his mind.

"I see." Lin Yuan realized that the water and fire elemental magic elements on the surface of the broken stone were distributed very evenly and did not repel each other, just like the situation with the two elemental magic elements inside his fire-and-ice ball.

Seeing that Lin Yuan understood, the old mage nodded at the fire-and-ice ball and said, "Now you can tell me."

Lin Yuan chuckled and did not hide anything, revealing everything about the creation of the fire-and-ice ball, including his special physique.

He naturally knew that even if other mages learned the principle of the fire-and-ice ball, they wouldn't be able to master it immediately. To use mixed magic, one would need at least two different types of magical power within their body. And every adult mage already has a fixed magical power attribute; it's not easy to cultivate another one.

"Maybe Zona can." Lin Yuan suddenly had this thought. Since Zona could become a Level 3 Water Mage and a Level 2 Fire Mage at the same time, it meant that she had a certain foundation for the two types of magical power in her body. If she were to learn the fire-and-ice ball, she might succeed easily.

"I see..." After listening to Lin Yuan's explanation, the old mage fell into deep thought.

Lin Yuan didn't disturb him and began to consider his future teaching plans.

The month-long "military training" had ended. Since the students had already been trained during this process and had developed a sense of belonging to the same class, it was time to really start teaching them about magic. In terms of magical knowledge, Lin Yuan didn't think he was much stronger than these students who had been learning magic since they were young. However, compared to the students, he had a huge advantage: he was not originally from this world.

Since he was not originally from this world, he was naturally not influenced by the common sense of this world. And Lin Yuan's own special magical physique also made him never feel that there was any common sense in magic, which was also the main reason he dared to conduct this experiment.

Not being constrained by common sense means that Lin Yuan can bring them something new. And isn't a teacher a profession that brings new things to students?

"It's not possible to figure it out in a short time," the old mage suddenly stopped thinking and sighed. "The world of magic is indeed incredibly profound. Even though I am now already a Grand... never mind, young man, here." He casually threw the spatial ring in his hand over.

"What are you doing? I said I don't need it," Lin Yuan said in astonishment.

"Hey, a mere spatial ring is nothing to me. Since I promised it to you, just take it," the old mage's demeanor seemed to change with these words, his previous fervor for knowledge instantly transforming into confidence and wisdom. "Come to think of it, I really should thank you. If it weren't for our conversation, I wouldn't have realized that my magical research had hit a dead end."

"You're too polite. I was just experimenting casually," Lin Yuan waved his hands in denial.

"Casually?" A smile flickered at the corner of the old mage's mouth. "Magic research is all about experimenting casually." He paused and continued, "Just take the spatial ring. Although you can't use it now, I believe you will in the future."

With that, he nodded at Lin Yuan, his magical power surged and then contracted sharply, and he vanished into thin air.