Matthews had no choice but to abandon his attack on the first warrior with Hanguang and instead tap the spear tip with it, deflecting the spear thrust!
After exchanging more than a dozen blows, Matthews could tell that the two seventh-level warriors worked together with practiced ease. Thanks to his advantage in Electromagnetic Induction, he had managed to keep them at bay for a while, but he now understood that relying on swordsmanship alone, he wouldn't be able to kill them quickly.
"Whoosh—"
Taking advantage of a momentary gap as he dodged an attack, the electromagnetic device on his left hand fired a bullet crackling with electricity straight at the warrior wielding a saber. He had originally planned to close in and engage his opponent in close combat.
That would have created an opportunity for the spearman to strike, but the saber-wielding warrior had never expected Matthews to know instant-cast magic. In the split second he had to react, he could only swing the saber he had raised toward the direction from which the bolt of lightning came.
Unfortunately, the electrified bullet was moving too fast, and he couldn't strike it in time. Matthews's Electromagnetic Cannon smashed through the Battle Qi shield he had hastily formed, then wounded him outright.
Matthews's figure, both feet flashing with electricity, followed close behind. Hanguang swept past. The saber-wielding warrior's head hit the ground!
"Oh no, instant-cast magic!"
It had all happened in the blink of an eye. The spearman had thought that two seventh-level warriors coming to kill a single seventh-level warrior was a sure thing, so he hadn't been in much of a hurry.
Now he realized they had miscalculated. Seeing Matthews kill his companion with a single instant-cast spell, he finally understood—but it was already too late to run. From the attack just now, he could tell that his target knew long-range magic. A warrior who turned and ran while fighting a mage would have to be an idiot.
"I'll risk it!"
The spearman and his partner had formed a pincer, deliberately leaving space to block Matthews from escaping. Now, that choice had become a disadvantage in battle. Naturally, Matthews wasn't going to let him close in so easily. He fired an instant-cast Electromagnetic Cannon.
"Boom—"
Unable to dodge in time, the spearman could only use his weapon to take the Electromagnetic Cannon head-on. Once a warrior let a mage put distance between them, he became the mage's plaything. In the end, the spearman died beneath Matthews's Electromagnetic Cannon, full of regret.
Only then did Matthews walk over to search the two warriors' corpses. A moment later, he wore a sour expression.
"Broke as hell. Not a single treasure."
The two warriors had had bank cards, but they'd been destroyed by Matthews's Electromagnetic Cannon and were clearly unusable. Unfortunately, they had no other valuables on them. All he found was a handful of loose silver coins.
Matthews left soon afterward, abandoning the two warriors' bodies by the road.
Two days later, Matthews arrived at the destination for this training session.
"Asolun, you weren't much help in our last battle. Your boss is going to whip you into shape!"
"Boss, I only know one water-mist spell."
"Hmm, then let's train here for a while. We'll come up with a spell for you, too."
Just after Matthews finished speaking, Asolun suddenly remembered something and said excitedly, "Boss, wait here. I'll go get something!"
Matthews asked in confusion, "Weren't you kicked out of your home? What treasure could you possibly have?"
"Boss, you didn't have to bring that up."
"My bad. I'm sorry!"
"I found some good stuff in the river and hid it away. I'll bring it over for you to see!"
Before long, Asolun climbed out of the river and spat out several things in front of Matthews.
"Hmm, a ring."
After Matthews picked it up and bonded it to himself with his blood, he discovered that it was indeed a Space Ring. His spiritual sense revealed that its interior was about the size of a room. Inside were some gold coins, several magic books, and a magic wand.
Matthews looked over the other things Asolun had spat out. There was one unusual piece of ore; the rest were just jade.
"Boss, what's that ring?"
"It's a Space Ring."
As he spoke, Matthews took out the magic books and looked through one—a diary. That was when he discovered that the mage had been a ninth-level mage who specialized in the Wind and Water Elements.
"Too bad. There's Water Element magic in here. You can study it!"
"Boss, what about the other book?"
"The other one is Wind Element magic. It doesn't have the Lightning Element magic I specialize in!"
After that, Matthews began training there with his magical beast, Asolun. The lightning he had brought from his previous world resided in his dantian. When he had no Battle Qi or his Battle Qi was weak, it had repelled other elements, preventing him from cultivating them.
Now Matthews had already broken through to the seventh level, and his Battle Qi had liquefied. He had gradually absorbed all the lightning in his middle dantian into his lower dantian, leaving the middle dantian empty. He could now cultivate magic there.
In the mornings, Matthews practiced swordsmanship and cultivated Battle Qi. In the afternoons, he practiced magic. At dusk, he used meditation to train his spiritual strength.
"Water Ball Technique!"
Matthews cast a first-level Water Element spell and found that low-level magic like this couldn't muster much power in battle. He then thought of the water blades he'd seen cutting things apart in videos. He also knew that the higher the water pressure, the greater its cutting power.
He explained the theory to Asolun, and the two of them began discussing how to improve the spell.
"Asolun, use Mystic Ice Technique."
As soon as Matthews spoke, Asolun cast the fourth-level spell. Streams of water vapor spread across the ground, and wherever the vapor touched, it immediately began to freeze.
Matthews's feet flashed with electricity as he lightly tapped the tips of his toes against the forming ice. He danced across the frozen surface, wielding his twin blades. Hanguang flickered in his right hand like a serpent tasting the air, striking and thrusting. Youying followed like a shadow, never straying from his side.
Asolun, who had switched from coiling around Matthews's right arm to winding around his waist, now poked his head out beside Matthews's. The Water Ball Technique they had spent over a month experimenting with had finally been put to use by Asolun.
A stream of water shot straight from Asolun's mouth and struck the boulder three meters ahead. Matthews followed up with a slash, splitting the boulder in two.
After completing the sequence, Matthews walked over to the boulder and examined the smooth surface left by his blade. He then looked at the damage caused by the Water Blade Technique Asolun had summoned and saw that the blade had also struck the boulder, leaving a pit about ten centimeters deep.
"Hahaha, not bad! We're getting better and better at working together!"
"It's all thanks to you, Boss. You came up with the idea of using the Water Ball Technique this way!"
Before you continue