The Greater Gravity Spell Shows Its Might

The mercenary band at the front of the caravan was locked in battle with the bandits. On Arnold's side, Teren had gone to gather with the others, leaving only Arnold and Pitero behind.

"Looks like I still have to step in!" Arnold remarked. But from another perspective, this was another chance to show off. Ever since joining the caravan, Arnold had been showing off much more often.

Arnold swiftly chanted a spell. Within a fifty-meter radius encompassing both the mercenaries and the bandits, earthen-yellow light flashed everywhere. It was a multiplied Greater Gravity Spell.

Miserable cries rang out from the bandits within the area. Roughly half of them were crushed to death by the terrifying gravity, their hearts and blood vessels shattered within their bodies. The surviving bandits were all Advanced Warriors and had not died on the spot, but they could no longer move. Even the Eighth-level Warrior fighting Dolong was pressed directly to the ground, completely unable to budge.

Every mercenary, meanwhile, remained completely unaffected. "Finish them quickly." Arnold's voice was not loud, but Dolong in the distance heard it clearly.

"Brothers, kill these bandits quickly! They can't move now!" Dolong shouted again.

The bandits panicked upon hearing this and tried to flee the Greater Gravity Spell's range. Unfortunately, even the strongest Eighth-level Warrior could not stand after channeling all his battle qi through his body, much less the others.

They all looked unwilling, but it was useless. These mercenaries were warriors who lived by the blade and would not soften their hearts easily. They swiftly killed every last bandit.

After Dolong counted the injured brothers, he found that only one was severely wounded, while several others had minor injuries. Learning that the casualties were not serious, Dolong breathed a sigh of relief. He first sent people to treat the severely wounded brother. Although a mercenary band could not possibly employ a high-level light-element mage, they still had certain special healing techniques.

Once everything had been settled, Dolong came to the carriage where Arnold was and began expressing his thanks.

"Thank you, Lord De. If not for you, our mercenary band would definitely have suffered heavy casualties today." Dolong led several of his brothers over to convey their gratitude.

"You're welcome, Dolong. Go take care of those injured mercenaries. Don't mind me," Arnold said casually.

"Understood. Then please rest, Lord De. I'll take my leave first." Arnold had directly sent Dolong away, and Dolong did not dare linger any longer.

Before leaving, Dolong instructed Teren and Pitero to be more respectful toward Arnold.

Late at night, the campfires continued to burn. Yet most people could not sleep, privately discussing Arnold's strength.

Beside a carriage some distance from Arnold, five or six mercenaries sat around a campfire, talking about what had just happened.

"In my opinion, Lord De must at least be an Eighth-level Magus!" one mercenary analyzed.

"Bullshit. The spell that suppressed all the bandits and left them unable to move was obviously Gravity Spell. But I heard that even an Eighth-level Gravity Spell cast by an earth-element Eighth-level Magus only produced eight times gravity. It couldn't possibly keep that bandit, who was evenly matched with the captain, from even crawling. So, all things considered, Lord De must at least be a Ninth-level Archmage." One self-proclaimed analyst said this, and he had actually guessed correctly. However, even a Gravity Spell cast by a Ninth-level Archmage could produce at most sixteen times gravity, which still should not have left an Eighth-level Warrior completely unable to resist.

"Bullshit. Lord De definitely isn't a Ninth-level Archmage," said an old bearded mercenary.

"Old Blackhead, if you can't give a reason, I, Tuo De, won't accept it." The analyst named Tuo De was extremely displeased that his analysis had been overturned.

"Yeah, yeah," several other mercenaries chimed in.

"Of course I have my reasons for saying that." Old Blackhead looked very pleased when everyone turned to look at him. He continued, "I once had the good fortune to witness an Eighth-level Warrior fight a Seventh-level Mage. That mage took out a gravity scroll and used it, saying outright that it was a Ninth-level Gravity Spell."

"Yet although the Eighth-level Warrior fighting him had his movement speed drastically reduced, he could still move with difficulty. What does that prove? It proves that even a Ninth-level Gravity Spell cannot leave an Eighth-level Warrior completely unable to move. But you all saw it." Old Blackhead paused before presenting his point. "The bandit who could fight the captain to a standstill had to be an Eighth-level Warrior too, right? But until the captain killed him, did he move at all?"

"That's right. Until he died, that bandit was struggling, but it was completely useless. The captain killed him outright."

"Then what level do you think Lord De is? Don't tell me he's a Saint Domain expert?" Tuo De said indignantly.

"Hmph. Someone who can unleash gravity stronger than a Ninth-level Gravity Spell must be a Saint Domain Magus, right? Is there another level between Ninth-level and Saint Domain?" Old Blackhead snorted.

Tuo De could not refute him, and the other mercenaries agreed with Old Blackhead. Yet Old Blackhead himself did not truly agree with that conclusion.

Lord De looked extremely young, probably no more than thirty. Such a young Saint Domain Magus—how could the O'Brien Empire possibly have a Saint Domain Magus that young without anyone having heard of him? Unless Lord De was an ascetic who had secluded himself in cultivation at the distant end of the North Sea, but his age still did not fit.

Unable to figure it out, Old Blackhead simply treated Arnold as a Saint Domain expert.

Though they were over a hundred meters apart, Arnold still heard Old Blackhead and the others' conversation. It could not be helped; after merging with wind-elemental essence, Arnold's hearing had greatly improved.

He had shown off quite well today. No wonder there were so many protagonists in the novels that young man from Earth remembered who loved showing off. The feeling of showing off really was quite enjoyable.

However, Old Blackhead's final guess that he was a Saint Domain Magus made Arnold grow serious. He knew his own strength best. Calling himself one of the strongest among Ninth-level experts would not be an exaggeration. But when it came to Saint Domain, Arnold only felt that his strongest move might be able to cause a Saint Domain expert some trouble, and nothing more. The gap between Ninth-level and Saint Domain was likely even greater than the gap between First-level and Ninth-level.

Without thinking further, Arnold glanced at Pitero, who was sitting cross-legged beside him. Pitero was also excited, but the powerful Lord De was cultivating right beside him. Pitero did not want Arnold to think poorly of him, so he forcibly suppressed his excitement and began cultivating. However, he was too excited to even enter a meditative state.

Helplessly, Pitero began refining wind-elemental essence again to increase his magical power. Whether increasing spiritual power or magical power, mages relied on meditation.

This was Arnold's first time observing Pitero meditate. With one look, Arnold noticed something strange.

Pitero appeared to specialize in absorbing wind-elemental essence, so theoretically, there should have been an enormous amount of wind-elemental essence around him. Yet among the elemental essence Pitero gathered through meditation, there was not only wind-elemental essence but also a small amount of earth-elemental essence.

Using a little method, Arnold directly woke Pitero from his meditative state and asked, "Pitero, what level is your earth-element affinity?"

"I don't have any talent for earth-element magic. I only have wind-element and fire-element affinity," Pitero answered. He did not particularly mind that Arnold had forcibly pulled him from meditation.

"This time when you meditate, try refining only earth-elemental essence," Arnold instructed.

"This... all right." After hesitating for a moment, Pitero answered firmly.

This time, Pitero entered meditation quickly and rejected all other elemental essence, leaving only earth-elemental essence. Yet the result left Pitero dumbfounded.

Because Pitero sensed countless densely packed earthen-yellow specks floating around him. They were unmistakably earth-elemental essence. The earth-elemental essence around Pitero was far more abundant than the wind-elemental essence he had attracted during deep meditation in the past.