Arnold's Secret

After seeing Linley effortlessly use earth-style magic to fight Rand, Arnold was shaken as well.

Both of them used earth-style magic in battle, but Linley's combat awareness was far stronger than Arnold's.

Yet he had bragged in front of Linley and his three brothers that earth-style mages did not have much offensive power. Judging from those shocking memories in his mind, he had simply underestimated his own element.

Arnold knew that Linley had a secret. Linley had barely attended any earth-style magic classes, yet he could cast earth-style magic so skillfully. It was obvious enough.

But Arnold actually had a secret of his own. He came from a commoner family in a small town within the Fenlai Kingdom.

When he was seven and a half years old, Arnold accidentally ran into a stone while playing and fainted.

Yet astonishingly, during the time Arnold was unconscious, what his father did not know was that another person's soul had appeared in Arnold's mind.

It was the soul of a young man from Earth. Having died tragically in an accident, his soul had crossed over to the Yulan Continent. While Arnold was unconscious, that young man's soul had entered Arnold's body. When the two souls met, the young man's soul naturally tried to devour Arnold's.

However, perhaps because crossing space had greatly weakened the young man's soul, the soul of a seventeen-year-old actually lost to that of seven-and-a-half-year-old Arnold. Arnold devoured the seventeen-year-old Earthling's soul and inherited all of his memories.

As Arnold went through the young man's memories one by one, he was utterly dumbfounded. In those memories, carriage-like things made of iron could travel at astonishing speeds, while bird-shaped things could fly through the skies like real birds.

After reviewing all those memories, Arnold gradually became more mature. After being shocked countless times, Arnold slowly stopped being surprised by things, because he had become numb to it all.

The young man's memories had also made Arnold bolder.

Before this, no matter what, Arnold would never have dared to gamble everything his family owned after his father, his only relative, died just to test his magical talent.

This decision was a rational choice Arnold had made after seeing all the things the young man from Earth had experienced during his short seventeen years of life.

Fortunately, Arnold's earth-style elemental affinity was exceptional, and his spiritual essence was dozens of times stronger than that of children his age. He had actually caught the attention of Ernst Academy, the number one magic academy on the Yulan Continent.

Linley had a huge secret just like him. Based on certain plotlines Arnold had seen in the Earthling's memories, there might be the soul of a powerful mage by Linley's side, guiding him. That powerful mage might be a Ninth-level earth-style mage. Or, if he dared to speculate even more boldly, perhaps that earth-style mage's soul belonged to a Saint Domain expert.

That was why Linley was so confident about skipping earth-style magic classes. Linley had already been a First-level Mage before arriving at Ernst Academy. If no one had taught him, Arnold would not believe even if beaten to death that Linley had been talented enough to understand meditation and magical-force refinement on his own.

Going by the novels in that Earthling's memories, Linley had such incredible luck: an old grandpa spirit guiding him from behind, a good pet like Bei Bei... Such a heaven-defying protagonist setup meant Linley was probably the favored child of fate in this world. No matter what he did, everything would go smoothly for him. Even if someone hunted him down, he might suddenly gain enlightenment and experience a huge leap in strength.

He was merely an ordinary person. Even with exceptional earth-style elemental affinity, his future achievements would probably never compare to Linley's.

But he had his own pride too...

"I will definitely cultivate diligently!" Arnold shouted directly in the cultivation grounds behind the mountain.

He did not seek to surpass Linley or reach the same level as him. He only wanted to narrow the gap as much as possible.

As for stealing Linley's luck or anything like that, Arnold did not have the nerve for it. Even if he ambushed Linley, the powerful spirit behind Linley would definitely warn him immediately. If he fought against Linley, the chosen child of fate, the final outcome was beyond doubt. Besides, Arnold wanted to cling to Linley's coattails. Every novel of this type in the Earthling's memories showed that those who stood by the protagonist's side gained great advantages. Even if their strength lagged far behind the protagonist's, once the protagonist reached an extraordinary level of power, those around him would also make significant progress.

Therefore, Arnold's current main goal was to achieve great things in earth-style magic, hoping that for a period early on, he could surpass Linley. Linley cultivated both wind-style and earth-style magic, while Arnold focused all his efforts on earth-style magic. He could not possibly fall too far behind Linley, right? That was why Arnold had wind-style magic but hardly practiced it. Of course, when refining magical force, his wind-style progress was actually not much different from his earth-style progress. He simply had not intensified his spell practice for wind-style magic, and Arnold had his own plans.

Because Arnold's soul had devoured that of a seventeen-year-old young man, the outward result was that his spiritual essence was more than sixty times stronger than that of children his age. In other words, before Arnold had even begun cultivating, his spiritual essence had already reached the level of a Third-level Mage.

Originally, Arnold had planned to take things as they came, advancing magical-force refinement and spiritual essence cultivation together. But after he developed the desire to catch up to Linley, the first thing Arnold gave up was meditating to increase his spiritual essence. Apart from occasionally practicing magic, he devoted all his attention to refining magical force, intending to reach Third-level Mage first.

During Arnold's first year at Ernst Academy, he had only reached the intermediate stage of First-level Mage. That was because he had never refined magical force before and could only be considered a beginner. It took time to go from beginner to First-level Mage. Moreover, Linley had already been a First-level Mage when he entered Ernst Academy. If they had started cultivating at the same time, Linley might not necessarily have been faster than Arnold.

Once Arnold made up his mind, he worked desperately to refine magical force. By the middle of his second year at Ernst Academy, Arnold had reached Third-level Mage, while Linley was still a Second-level Mage. After that, Arnold began spending most of his time meditating to train his spiritual essence. His cultivation progress was ahead of Linley's, and Arnold felt rather proud. Despite possessing the experiences of a seventeen-year-old young man, Arnold was still just a child.

However, his progress over the following years left Arnold deeply frustrated. Linley improved far too quickly. He became a Second-level Mage at nine and a half, a Third-level Mage at eleven, a Fourth-Level Mage at thirteen, and a Fifth-level Mage at fourteen and a half. As for Arnold, he had only become a First-level Mage at eight and a half. After that, he was somewhat faster, becoming a Third-level Mage at ten. At twelve, he had almost reached Fourth-Level Mage in sync with Linley. But when Linley became a Fifth-level Mage, Arnold was still a Fourth-Level Mage. He would probably be stuck for at least another half year before reaching Fifth-level Mage. His wind-style magic was only at the Third-level Mage stage, and meanwhile, Arnold was nearly fourteen himself.

Arnold knew full well that Linley was a year older than him, but even if they had been the same age, their mage levels would probably only have been equal. In the first one or two years after entering Ernst Academy, Arnold had enjoyed an advantage in spiritual essence, and his progress had been faster than Linley's. But after the second year, Linley's progress far surpassed Arnold's. They both had exceptional elemental affinity, so their speed in refining magical force was actually similar. However, a mage's advancement was limited by both magical force and spiritual essence. As long as spiritual essence did not meet the requirement, magical-force refinement would also stagnate. A mage's meditation could slowly increase spiritual essence, but the speed was very slow. Arnold did not need to think hard to know that Linley had probably obtained some special method for cultivating spiritual essence. But what could he do even if he knew? Was he supposed to ask Linley for it? Arnold was not stupid, and neither was Linley. If Arnold wanted to keep up with Linley's progress, he could only come up with a way to increase his spiritual essence quickly as well. But such a method could not be thought of overnight.

That day, Arnold did not go to the back mountain to cultivate. Instead, he went to Linley's dormitory courtyard to chat with Yale, Renault, George, and the others.

"Arnold, after cultivating so hard, it's time for you to relax, isn't it?" Yale teased.

But the moment Arnold thought of Linley's monstrous cultivation speed, he could not help sighing.

"Boss Yale, stop rubbing it in. You clearly know Arnold has always taken Third Brother as his goal, yet he has never once improved faster than Third Brother," George said teasingly.

"Exactly. George, and you think that isn't rubbing it in?" Renault laughed.

Arnold ignored the three fellows who often made fun of him, while Yale and Renault once again began discussing the embarrassing matter of "losing one's virginity."

After reading the Earthling's memories, Arnold had naturally had the chance to see those unforgettable "adult romance films" in his mind, so he was no longer innocent either.

However, Arnold had not gone to Clear Water Hall to find girls. Although Yale repeatedly said he would cover the costs as long as Arnold enjoyed himself, Arnold righteously refused every time.

As they chatted, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard. Arnold knew Linley must have returned.

Linley entered carrying a huge boulder on his shoulder. The stone was a full meter tall and definitely weighed several hundred jin.

Yet Linley looked relaxed as he carried the boulder into the courtyard. Yale, George, Renault, and Arnold stared in stunned disbelief as Linley casually set the several-hundred-jin boulder in a corner of the courtyard. The heavy crash as it struck the ground made all four of their hearts tremble.

At a glance, Arnold understood that Linley must be cultivating both magic and martial arts.

"What the hell is this, Third Brother? I knew you were strong, but how can you be this strong?" Yale stared at the boulder. "Could this thing be hollow?" As he spoke, Yale walked over and wrapped both arms around the boulder, trying to lift it.

Hmph!

Yale strained with all his might, his face turning red, but the huge stone seemed rooted to the ground and did not budge at all.

"Boss Yale, don't waste your strength. You can't move it," Linley said with a smile.

Yale's physical strength had not even reached the level of a First-level Warrior. How could he possibly lift it?

Renault stared wide-eyed at the boulder, exclaiming in amazement several times. All of them wanted to know what Linley intended to do with such a huge stone.

Linley merely gave a brief answer. "Stone carving."

Stone carving was undoubtedly Linley's livelihood skill, a skill specifically used to earn gold coins. Perhaps Linley's rapid progress was even related to this stone carving.

Stone carving required a great deal of time before there was even a slight chance of success, so Yale and the other two naturally did not believe him. Arnold, however, attributed Linley's exceptional stone-carving skill to the spirit behind him and naturally believed it.

Sure enough, to convince Yale and the other two, Linley immediately began carving the huge stone with a flat chisel.

His graceful movements and the constantly flying stone chips all showed that Linley was probably truly excellent at stone carving.

Thus, the four of them had another reason to visit a hotel, returning to their usual spot. At Wadeley Hotel, Yale and the others ate and drank heartily again to celebrate Linley's exceptional stone-carving skill.

Because of Renault, Yale and George also regarded Arnold as a good friend. This time, when they went to Wadeley Hotel to eat and drink, Arnold did not refuse.

Although his cultivation speed was far inferior to Linley's, Arnold's current progress was still quite good. In the future, he would surely become someone of note as well. Arnold kept Yale's hospitality in mind.

As soon as the five brothers sat down and the dishes had just been served, Bei Bei, who had been sleeping lazily, poked his head out from Linley's outer robe. His clever little eyes fixed on the roast chicken on the table, and Renault immediately grabbed the chicken and began bribing Bei Bei, the Shadow Rat.

In less than ten seconds, Bei Bei had completely devoured the roast chicken, which was twice his size. His belly had barely changed at all.

First, Yale mentioned to Linley that he wanted to send the stone carvings to Proulx Guild Hall for exhibition. Then Linley brought up his desire to go train in the Warcraft Mountain Range in June.

Although the others tried to persuade Linley a little, his mind was already made up. With the strength of a Fifth-level Mage and a Fourth-level Warrior, Linley actually had a certain chance of surviving in the Warcraft Mountain Range.

But Yale, George, and Renault could not do so. Their strength was far too low. Even Arnold was the same. He was only a Fourth-Level Mage, not yet qualified to train in the Warcraft Mountain Range.