Elemental Ocean Vortex (Please Vote!)

Hearing Lyle say that, Mason became even more doubtful of the matter's authenticity.

A flower could attract elements and even improve meditation efficiency?

It was practically a racial joke!

Although he was only a Tier Three mage, he had worked under Professor Hicks for many years and possessed a basic foundation in potionology. He knew very well that no such plant could exist.

Otherwise, wouldn't all those potions that improved meditation efficiency, along with the Magic Towers built at enormous expense to achieve high elemental concentration, be a complete joke?

"Friend, don't let him fool you." Mason kindly advised, "Those pretty-looking types often have black hearts."

"Hey, brother, talking badly about someone behind his back isn't a good habit." Lyle patted Mason on the shoulder. "Besides, I'm not a mage, and I wouldn't buy these flowers. If you really think he's lying, go expose him to his face."

Provoked by Lyle, and driven by the teaching instinct of a teacher, Mason immediately felt a sense of mission rise within him.

As an experienced mage, he naturally knew how to distinguish truth from falsehood. He was certain there was something fishy going on here. But if some inexperienced magic apprentice happened to be here and got talked into buying a flower by this crafty young man, wouldn't that mean the fellow had succeeded?

Since he was about to resign anyway, he might as well do one last good deed before leaving.

As Mason thought this, that sense of mission grew even stronger.

However, the young man before him was still meditating.

Out of basic mage ethics, Mason did not step forward to interrupt him. He intended to wait until the young man finished meditating.

While Ron meditated, Mason looked into the Flower Shop.

The Flower Shop was exquisitely arranged. The cylindrical glass columns stretching to the ceiling were visually striking, and the overall layout had a certain aesthetic beauty.

But the shop was far too empty.

Other than the purple flowers placed on the grid shelves, there were actually no other varieties of flowers in the shop!?

Couldn't he at least make his scam look more convincing?

Mason curled his lip, becoming increasingly convinced that Ron was the sort of unscrupulous merchant who would swindle a batch of money and run.

What a waste of a handsome face!

As for the undeniably dense elements in the surroundings, perhaps this young man had inscribed a temporary Gathering Element Array on the ground outside the shop?

Mason was not deeply versed in magic arrays, but he had heard of certain simple temporary arrays that should be capable of producing effects like this.

The elements gathered this way might indeed reach a high concentration, but they would also become chaotic and difficult to absorb, offering no benefit whatsoever to meditation.

So clearly, this young man named Ron was scamming people, hoping to trick ignorant magic apprentices into buying...

The moment he thought of this, Mason caught the fresh floral fragrance, and his mind suddenly became crystal clear. The Magic Seed in his mind seemed to stir restlessly!

"This..." Mason instinctively sniffed sharply. That strange fragrance rushed into his nostrils, refreshing his mind.

He suddenly felt that the bottleneck which had troubled him for over a year seemed to be loosening!?

How was that possible!?

Was it an illusion?

Mason was faintly excited, yet cautious as well. He desperately told himself to stay calm.

Before this, every time he had felt capable of breaking through his bottleneck, he had ultimately failed and been slapped in the face by reality.

He had had enough of the torment of hope and despair alternating.

Yet at this moment, he truly had the urge to sit down and enter meditation immediately.

And all of this seemed to be because of that fragrance in the air that could clear one's mind and invigorate one's spirit?

Mason recalled what Lyle had said earlier—

The fragrance of flowers could improve a mage's meditation efficiency...

How could that be possible...

The magical world had never seen such a plant...

Even the experiment-crazed bunch in the Magic Academy laboratories had never encountered such a plant. There was no way Mason could believe it was real.

Even if such a miraculous plant truly existed, how could it possibly have ended up in the hands of this young man, who was not even a First-Order Mage yet?

Much less be put up for sale!

If it really had such miraculous effects, wasn't he afraid that other envious factions would try to seize it?

Or perhaps its real effects were not that extraordinary, and there was another explanation for everything he felt?

With suspicion written across his face, Mason scrutinized Ron at the entrance of the shop, as well as the flowers before him.

Then he carefully examined the markings on the ground, searching for anything suspicious and hoping to deduce the existence of some special magic array.

Could it be some kind of gas that stimulated the mind, even creating the illusion of magical disturbance in a mage?

This scammer's methods were quite sophisticated?

Mason secretly guessed to himself.

The problem now was that he had found no concrete evidence to prove that the flowers' effects were fake.

If he relied solely on magical common sense to argue against it, that would be far too irresponsible for a teacher.

At that moment, an obvious wave of magic power suddenly spread from Ron at the entrance!

Mason could clearly sense the surrounding elements converging toward the young man before him!

Water and earth elements in particular surged toward him desperately, as though they had seen their own mother, leaving Mason dumbfounded.

"This... what the hell..." Mason's eyes widened, unable to believe what he was sensing.

In the magical world, there were many ways to judge the quality of a person's magical talent.

When someone was still a magic apprentice, they could only sense the elements in their surroundings through meditation.

At that stage, magical talent was judged by the density of elemental particles of light they could sense.

The greater the density, the higher the talent. The greater the density of particles representing a particular element, the higher one's magical talent in that aspect.

After that, one could also judge a person's magical talent by observing the Magic Tide caused when they condensed a Magic Seed.

If it only created a slight ripple among the elements, it meant the talent was mediocre. At best, they would remain a First- or Second-Order mage for life.

If it could make a splash among the elements, it meant the talent was decent, with hope of becoming an intermediate mage. Mason himself had once been at that level.

But if it could stir up an Elemental Tide, it meant the talent was exceptionally high, and becoming a high-level mage in this life was within reach.

Beyond that, the only differences were the scale and number of Elemental Tides.

For example, Professor Hicks of the Magic Academy was only forty-five this year, yet he was already a Tier Six high-level mage. When he condensed his Magic Seed, he had once raised seven Elemental Tides and had been personally accepted as a student by the Magic Academy's headmaster.

That was already the pinnacle of genius.

As long as Professor Hicks continued to delve into this field, he would surely have the opportunity to touch the Tier Seven Legendary Realm in the future.

But the young man before him, Ron...

Mason swallowed, beginning to wonder whether there was something wrong with his senses.

This elemental reaction Ron had caused... was no longer an Elemental Tide...

This was practically an Elemental Ocean Vortex!

Votes! Votes! (???????)

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