Velociraptor

"In reply to you, senior, Ernst Academy is naturally the number one magic academy on the continent. This is universally acknowledged; it gathers magic geniuses from all corners of the continent and selects only the best."

"Our talent may be nothing in your eyes, but our academy has recruited true magic geniuses in the past few years."

"Dixie Lane, the greatest magic genius of Ernst Academy in the last hundred years, is a dual-element mage with super-grade elemental affinity and a spiritual force 68 times that of his peers."

Jonathan nodded after hearing this, feigning a profound tone: "The talent is not bad, but talent is talent, and strength is strength. What level is he at now?"

"A level five mage."

"Only level five? He should have reached the level of a level three mage after just a short period of cultivation upon enrollment. Has he been cultivating for more than five years?"

"Such speed is indeed genius in my eyes, but it can hardly be called dazzling."

The female mage said: "Dixie does have the strongest talent, but Ernst Academy has another freak named Linley. He is a triple-element mage with super-grade affinity for earth and wind elements, and medium-grade for fire, though his spiritual force is a bit weaker, only eighteen times that of his peers."

"However, his cultivation speed is truly formidable. He enrolled at the same time as Dixie, yet in just a few years, he has caught up to him."

"What does a young mage like that look like in your eyes, senior?"

Jonathan had only used a slight provocation to get them to reveal all the information he wanted, all while never mentioning the name of Linley himself.

"At this speed, if he can maintain it, he should become a level seven mage before the age of 20. It just depends on how many years early he can achieve it."

"If he can reach it by seventeen, he would likely become the second greatest magic genius in history. At sixteen, he would be the first."

The male mage said: "Senior, you really dare to imagine. They are already fourteen years old. Crossing two levels in two or three years? It's not like breaking through at level one or two."

"Level seven is a threshold; many mages have been stuck at this bottleneck for more than a decade."

"That's right, senior, you're talking nonsense. How could such a person exist in this world?"

"If I said that I am that person, would you believe me?"

No one spoke, and the atmosphere became extremely awkward.

"Forget it, I won't waste time chatting with you little ones. I'm off!"

Having received confirmation, Jonathan leaped away and soon disappeared into the dense forest.

"That person was inexplicable," the male mage remarked.

"Why bother with that? Let's leave the Magical Beast Mountain Range as soon as possible. The longer we stay, the more dangerous it becomes."

"True. We didn't gain anything this time; let's just treat it as a lesson learned."

The location of the Red-Tailed Silver-Armored Scorpion was very close to the hundred-mile mark; Jonathan only walked for half a day before crossing that boundary.

Above, the scorching sun hung in the sky.

It was currently July, a time of unbearable heat.

After discovering a lake ahead, Jonathan observed his surroundings before stripping off his clothes and jumping into the water.

He swam on his back, then breaststroke, then dove, and finally let himself float quietly on the surface like a corpse.

By this point, humans were extremely rare.

Those who dared to enter alone were even rarer.

More than an hour later, Jonathan heard vibrations coming from the ground in the distance. The sound of the tremors was very rhythmic, like the footsteps of some creature.

He swam to the shore, put on his clothes, and leaped onto a giant tree to look out into the distance.

Soon, a massive body, at least two stories tall, was slowly walking toward him.

The creature had fire-red scales like shields covering its body, even on its thick limbs, and a long tail behind it that was as flexible as a whip.

"So it's a Velociraptor."

A rare level seven magical beast on the outside, the Velociraptor was frequently seen in the depths of the Magical Beast Mountain Range.

The Velociraptor glared with eerie, ruby-red eyes as it walked step by step toward the lake.

"Fine, I'll use it to practice."

Assassination techniques were not very effective against level seven beasts, especially those with dragon bloodlines and thick hides, so he appeared directly and launched a frontal assault.

"Gravity Spell!"

The level seven Gravity Spell could reach four times the force of gravity. The Velociraptor was already heavy, and it sank directly into the mud.

The area for hundreds of meters around was a gravity zone.

He did not use an anti-gravity spell; for one, it was not yet perfected, and for another, it would only be counterproductive against a Velociraptor.

Given its heavy body, his current incomplete level seven anti-gravity spell would hardly make it float.

It was already a struggle for humans.

The Velociraptor discovered its enemy and immediately let out a violent roar, a foul stench with the smell of sulfur drifting from its mouth.

Then, a torrent of flames sprayed toward Jonathan, and the space for dozens of meters in front was instantly engulfed in fire.

Jonathan was incredibly agile and sharp-witted; the moment the flames appeared, he burst into motion and ran out of the attack range.

His timing was just right—neither too fast nor too slow.

If he were too fast, the Velociraptor would change its angle of attack; if he were too slow, he would be trapped in the flames and have to waste his own magical power to break out.

Deep within the range of the Gravity Spell, the Velociraptor's movement speed was greatly reduced, making it nothing more than fish on a chopping block for Jonathan, with the only troublesome part being its tail.

It was already moving with incredible speed as it lashed out.

Jonathan's dagger was custom-made for him by Xue Yan and was extremely tough; even with the Velociraptor's armor-like scales protecting its body, the blade tore open wound after wound.

After every attack, he would instantly pull away, only to immediately launch his next strike.

It was as relentless as a violent rainstorm.

After tearing a large number of wounds into the Velociraptor, Jonathan began to cast dark magic, using Shadow Poison Mist to inflict toxic damage while instantly casting several low-level spells.

Because it lacked the protection of its scales in those areas, even low-level magic could easily inflict massive damage upon it.

The Velociraptor let out continuous roars of pain, spewing fire wildly as if it cost nothing; sensing that its life was in danger, it began to flee.

But how could Jonathan let it succeed? He cast the seventh-level spell, Swamp Technique, once more, turning the ground within several dozen meters into a quagmire.

Although it couldn't completely submerge the beast, the combination of the seventh-level Gravity Spell and the swamp meant there was no longer any possibility of it escaping.

In just a few moments, those giant, ruby-like, bell-shaped eyes dimmed.

Jonathan hadn't cast the Swamp Technique at the very beginning simply to conserve his magical power.

He wasn't like Linley, who possessed the Coiling Dragon Ring and only needed to consume one-sixth of the usual magical power to cast spells of the same level.

He had tested it before; he would run out of magical power after using seventh-level spells five or six times at most, a level that already exceeded that of an average mage of the same rank.

Even if they used top-tier magic staves, they would likely only reach this level.

There weren't many people as lucky as Linley, and ordinary divine artifacts couldn't possibly have that kind of effect.

Therefore, when using his magical power, Jonathan had to save where he could to prepare for any unforeseen circumstances.

Jonathan dug out the Velociraptor's magic core; a seventh-level magic core was enough to sell for tens of thousands of gold coins, and the Velociraptor's scales were actually good items as well.

But unfortunately, Jonathan did not have a spatial ring, so he could only take what was easy to carry.

The Velociraptor's magic core was the size of a fist, and touching it gave a sensation of intense heat; it looked like a massive ruby, extremely dazzling and bright.

Having ended the battle, Jonathan headed deeper in the direction from which the Velociraptor had come.