Double Tap

Facing Ronan's "charge," the wizard remained utterly calm and even smiled, seemingly at a complete loss for words over Ronan's performance.

It was only halfway through his charge that Ronan remembered: wizards generally fought by keeping their distance, leaving themselves ample room to cast spells before hurling magic at each other. Charging forward headfirst like he was doing was truly rare.

He was a complete Newbie, but he could not afford to worry about that now.

A Charged Weapon could only be effective in close combat. If he did not get closer, he could only serve as a target.

Find an opening and take him out while he's chanting!

Ronan's thinking was clear, but the next second, he nearly went dumbfounded.

The wizard casually raised a hand. A ring on the ring finger of his left hand flashed, and a transparent curtain of light swiftly rose, shielding his entire body.

"Damn!"

Ronan could not help swearing.

"A protective magical artifact?!"

No wonder the man was not afraid of Ronan taking advantage of an opening. He had prepared a backup plan long ago.

Any magical artifact with protective capabilities had to be at least a mid-level Zero Rank artifact, because even the most basic protection rune was mid-level Zero Rank.

Could a mere Level Three Wizard Apprentice like him break through the protection of a mid-level Zero Rank magical artifact? Ronan did not know, but he was already halfway there. Even if he could not, he had no choice but to press on.

"Wooo!"

When he reached within roughly five meters of the wizard, Ronan raised his right hand and spat out a short syllable.

In an instant, the Spiritual Power lying dormant in his mind became like suddenly boiling water, vibrating rapidly at a particular frequency.

Expert Level Energy Missile! As Ronan chanted and raised his hand, the wizard within the protective barrier still wore a mocking expression.

Then, as the short syllable fell, a large number of energy particles surged, the air twisted, and a dark-blue sphere of light as large as two fists spun into existence in midair. The wizard froze instantly.

"Uh... th-that fast?!"

Trailing a terrifying shriek as it tore through the air, the dark-blue sphere reached him in the blink of an eye. The wizard's expression changed dramatically, and he hurriedly raised a hand. "Boom!"

A terrifying blast of air erupted, and the shockwave of scattered energy particles forced even Ronan to take a couple of steps back.

"What kind of spell is that?!"

A voice, sharp and distorted beyond restraint, rang out amid the turbulent blast.

Looking up, Ronan saw the gray-robed wizard staring fixedly at him with an incredulous expression.

Before the wizard, the transparent white barrier was already covered in large, clearly visible cracks.

Even Ronan was startled.

The next moment, that shock turned into tremendous excitement and joy.

"Expert Level Energy Missile is this powerful? Even the protection of a mid-level Zero Rank magical artifact shatters on contact?!"

Ronan dashed forward, chanted again, and fired another Energy Missile.

The Expert Level proficiency showed itself once more.

Ronan's Spiritual Power pulsed like transparent strings, and as he uttered the brief auxiliary chant, vast quantities of energy particles gathered. The entire casting process was as smooth and natural as flowing clouds and running water.

When Ronan raised his hand for the second time, the wizard snapped out of his shock and immediately tried to chant a spell.

But before he could finish even half the incantation, the second dark-blue sphere was already roaring toward him.

"Boom—crack!"

Accompanied by the sound of something shattering, the sphere exploded, and the scattered energy particles swept past like a murky, mottled torrent.

When the commotion died down, Ronan cautiously stepped forward twice and discovered that only most of the wizard's lower body remained standing on the ground. Everything above his chest and abdomen had long since been blasted to pieces by the Energy Missile.

Ronan's first reaction was relief.

Then came surprise and delight. He had actually won?! And it seemed like he had won rather easily?

Only then did wave after wave of nausea rise from his stomach.

He had killed plenty of wolves, deer, and other beasts while practicing spells, and most of them had been blown apart too.

But those had been beasts, after all. Suddenly having a human corpse missing nearly half its body lying before him—especially one killed by his own hand—brought an intense physical and psychological discomfort, like the day after a drunken binge: hollow, numb, and disgusted. After spending quite some time barely calming himself, Ronan began reviewing the battle.

First was his delight at the power of Expert Level Energy Missile.

After Energy Missile reached Expert Level proficiency, Ronan knew its power had increased greatly and had long surpassed ordinary low-level Zero Rank spells.

But he had not expected it to be this strong. It had blasted apart the protective barrier of a mid-level magical artifact just like that, using only two shots.

"Even ordinary mid-level Zero Rank spells might not achieve this."

"And this is only Expert Level. If I train it beyond Expert Level..."

Ronan's heart pounded, and for a moment, he felt as if he had uncovered some kind of treasure.

He immediately made up his mind to train Energy Missile like crazy when he got back and see what this ordinary low-level Zero Rank spell would transform into once he pushed it to max level.

After standing there excitedly for a while, Ronan calmed down and prepared to leave. But after taking only two steps, he turned back.

"Loot the corpse... I almost forgot to loot the corpse."

With complicated, uneasy feelings, Ronan walked step by step toward the dead wizard's body.

He turned his head aside, trying his best not to look at the corpse's upper half.

He carefully removed the two rings from the corpse's hand, then quickly retreated several steps and examined them in his palm.

Both rings emitted fluctuations of magical energy.

One was black, with an unremarkable turquoise embedded in its center.

The other was entirely red and looked much prettier than the first.

Ronan seeped his Spiritual Power into the black turquoise ring and quickly found traces of enchanted runes inside.

The ring was enchanted with a total of two runes, both mid-level Zero Rank protection runes.

Ronan was immediately delighted.

A mid-level magical artifact with two mid-level runes was considered fairly high quality even among mid-level magical artifacts. Its price was far higher than that of most mid-level magical artifacts with one mid-level rune paired with one or two low-level runes.

And these were two protection runes. It could be called a fine little treasure.

Thinking back, he realized that he needed to reassess the power of Expert Level Energy Missile.

The protection offered by two runes was much stronger than that of a single rune. Shattering it with two blasts meant its power felt almost comparable to a high-level Zero Rank spell.

"The main thing is still how fast it casts. Two shots in quick succession leave no time at all to recover..."

Ronan sighed in admiration, then looked at the other artifact ring.

The remaining red ring looked beautiful, but it was only a low-level Zero Rank magical artifact.

It was enchanted with one Fireball rune and two low-level runes Ronan did not recognize.

Ronan guessed that when the wizard had been chasing him earlier and cast three Fireballs, the third Fireball following immediately after the second had likely been cast using this Fireball Ring.

The wizard had probably wanted to catch him off guard and kill him in one stroke, but he had not expected Ronan to react so quickly and move so nimbly that he dodged it.

So he had simply stopped to drink a potion and replenish his strength.