0.4 Ring Sorcery, Thunderbolt Ice

"Why would you suddenly say something like that?"

Lechi stopped himself from folding his arms across his chest.

He knew perfectly well that Eleanor had met Ahab in private plenty of times.

But there was nothing he could do. He was Eleanor's good friend with the same surname.

As her good friend, how could he stop her from meeting another friend?

"You came to the library today to see Ahab again, didn't you?"

Lechi tilted his body slightly to one side, cocking his head as his gaze angled faintly upward.

Right now, compared with a middle-aged man suffering under his wife's petty tyranny, the only thing missing was a cigarette dangling from his mouth.

"And you're wearing a diaper too, aren't you?"

"Normally, when you dress like that, the hem is 1.5 centimeters thick. Only when you wear that does it become 3 centimeters..."

Before Lechi could finish, Eleanor cut him off by force.

"You just don't trust me anymore!"

After saying that, Eleanor left without looking back.

She did not bring up the Magic Stones Lechi had left with her again at all.

"Huff—huff—huff—"

Lechi could no longer keep up his usual gentlemanly manner.

One day, Lechi had clearly seen Ahab even slap Eleanor across the face.

Yet Eleanor had become like sticky rice cake, clinging to him even more.

Why?

Damn it...

Clearly—clearly he was the gentler one. He could not even bear to flick her forehead!

Carrying a bellyful of dark fire, Lechi Incalos helplessly began planning what came next.

Betting on Freshman Research... pfft, investing in Freshman Research still had to be done.

This was one of his few chances to turn things around!

As long as he had a little more Magic Stone on hand, he could try to advance to First-Rank Wizard Apprentice.

"Looks like I can only borrow money. But before that..."

Lechi gritted his teeth in resentment and went to the freshman area.

His purpose was to meet a Third-Rank Apprentice.

"Ah, Senior Lechi!"

Wilson put down the Research Manual in his hands and hurried forward in a few quick steps to greet him.

This Wilson was the freshman Lechi had his eye on for investment this year.

Wilson had developed a potion that could effectively suppress the hair-loss effects brought on by Bloodline Transplantation.

This would be extremely popular among Second-Rank Apprentices, and even First-Rank Apprentices.

Sometimes the world really was that magical. Freshmen carried a kind of spirituality, and the first research they did could even have the power to shock veteran apprentices.

After a bit of back and forth, Lechi had even gotten to know Wilson.

"My dear junior, you're in trouble."

Lechi said this to Wilson.

With Lechi's many years of experience, Wilson's research would most likely take first place in Freshman Research.

But to be safe, Lechi had pulled a few strings today and looked over the other freshmen's research.

He would never have known if he had not looked. Once he did, he was shocked.

The research Ahab Gul had submitted was something called "Corpse Dissolving Powder"!

The Academy had, of course, researched similar things in the past.

But the formula Ahab had submitted was extraordinarily cheap. A dozen or so Magic Stones would be enough to make it.

However, because of Eleanor, Lechi truly was unwilling to invest in Ahab.

He could even say he had thoughts of sabotaging him!

"That's about how it is. The research done by that new apprentice called Ahab Gul will most likely surpass yours."

Lechi gave Wilson a rough explanation.

"Huh? This—Senior! What should I do?"

Wilson was fairly clever too. He knew that since Lechi had come looking for him today, he must have advice to offer.

"I'll tell you. There's one more condition for entering Freshman Research."

"That is, the freshman whose research is chosen as number one must be a living apprentice."

Lie Qi said something that sounded like nonsense.

But in truth, there was a great deal behind that rule.

What the Academy wanted to cultivate was not apprentices who only knew how to get themselves killed doing research.

A qualified wizard needed not only sufficient knowledge, but also flexible abilities in other areas.

If you could not handle all sorts of relationships and got killed by other apprentices, then what else was there to say?

"Also, Aha should be staying in the library all afternoon today and won't return to the dorm until midnight."

Lie Qi added another extra hint.

To be honest, even Lie Qi himself could not quite understand why he would suddenly do something like this.

The old him had clearly been very gentlemanly and graceful.

But lately, he seemed to be growing more and more twisted.

At certain moments, thoughts even surfaced in Lie Qi's mind.

How about he simply went in person and dealt with Aha...

But the evaluation for Freshman Research was close at hand, and during this period, the Academy had already warned First- and Second-Rank Apprentices.

Dropping a few hints like this was already skirting the line.

If higher apprentices could act personally, then there would be no need to hold Freshman Research at all. They could just see who had the stronger backing.

The Academy needed fresh blood too.

"Also, when you set up the ambush, the helpers you find absolutely cannot have the same element as you."

"Ahab Gul has some ability from who knows where that can render an enemy's witchcraft ineffective."

Back then, Lie Qi and Aha had both taken part in the mission to hunt down the Bloodkin.

He had observed Aha's actions with particular clarity.

After a long period of analysis, Lie Qi reached a conclusion.

In a one-on-one fight, Aha could utterly crush any Second-Rank Apprentice.

But he could not handle multiple Third-Rank Apprentices at the same time.

That ability that rendered witchcraft ineffective seemed to have a strict limit on the number of uses!

"The witchcraft model for [Thunderbolt Ice] is finally complete."

Late at night, in a window seat at the library, Aha let out a long breath.

The witchcraft [Thunderbolt Ice] had been enhanced on the foundation of his original [Ice Spike Spell].

The ice spikes it fired were not only faster, but also came with an extremely powerful explosive effect.

In short, its burst power was very high.

This was to fit his See Through Authority.

Someone like Vivian had an affinity for the lightning element, so her witchcraft naturally had the trait of high burst power.

Unfortunately, he had no similar affinity at all, so he could only pick the tallest among the short.

"Still, at least for the short term, [Thunderbolt Ice] will be enough."

Aha nodded in satisfaction.

[Thunderbolt Ice] was a 0.4-ring witchcraft. In other words, it was witchcraft at the Second-Rank Apprentice level.

This was also one of the two essential requirements for becoming a Second-Rank Apprentice.

0.4-ring witchcraft, and 30 points of mental strength.

"But from now on, I'll have to be even more cautious when I make a move."

"0.4-ring witchcraft consumes 40 points of magic power each time."

"My mental strength is 20, so even at full capacity, I only have 200 points of magic power."

Only Second-Rank Apprentices, with their 300 points of magic power, had enough to squander on 0.4-ring witchcraft.

It was very rare for Aha to learn witchcraft like this so early.

"That's about it. Back to the dorm."

Walking out of the library, Aha took a deep breath.

The new apprentices had enrolled at the end of February. Now that half a year had passed, it was already almost September.

The early autumn night breeze was especially cool.

The bright full moon hung high in the sky, looking completely normal.

"Student, please stop!"

Aha had only walked past two streets when two apprentices blocked his path.

At the same time, behind Aha...

An apprentice climbed out of a trash can, casually flicked the fishbone off his head with the back of his hand, and blocked Aha's retreat.