It was actually quite hard for a warrior to beat a sorcerer. An experienced sorcerer would always keep their distance and kite a warrior with spells. By the time the warrior struggled to close the gap, they might already be dead.
Zhao Si knew his own shortcomings. He had never considered whether the Flowing Sword could cut through magic, either. But as long as he stopped a sorcerer from casting, there would be no problem. That made striking first essential.
Besides, he had insisted on coming to the Academy of Magic precisely to make up for his lack of ranged attacks.
Not every monster in the Lands Between was easy to fight in melee. Against dragons, Trolls, or sorcerers who kept their distance, taking them out with a volley of ranged attacks was the smarter choice.
Sure enough, the other sorcerers pulled out their staffs. Zhao Si wasn't about to give them a chance. Some spells could be cast incredibly quickly, and he couldn't let them use those.
He pushed off hard against the ground and performed the Flowing Sword with his fists. In one seamless flurry of movements, he knocked down every sorcerer in an instant.
Eight people lay on the ground, all their headpieces shattered. They weren't dead, merely unconscious. Still, the humiliation of having their headpieces smashed by a warrior would surely be etched into their hearts for a long time.
Zhao Si hadn't done it just for Thops, but for Alberich as well. He figured Alberich must have wanted to give these academy sorcerers a beating for ages.
When he went back and told her he had thrown the academy into chaos, she would surely be pleased.
The disturbance drew the attention of the Cuckoos.
A squad of soldiers headed their way.
Thops grabbed Zhao Si from behind. "Come on, follow me!"
Without thinking twice, Zhao Si ran after Thops, with Helena close behind.
The three darted all over town, using its layout to shake off the soldiers pursuing them.
Thops led Zhao Si and Helena to a small wooden house.
Helena tethered the horse. Zhao Si asked, "What is this place?"
It was quite secluded, practically on the edge of town. A gazebo stood within sight.
Thops wiped away his sweat. "This... this is my secret base, I suppose. I keep a lot of my things here. It's safer than the academy."
"Have you ever thought about leaving the academy?" Zhao Si asked casually. He knew Thops wouldn't leave.
"No." The answer was just as he had expected.
Thops found his key, opened the door, and invited the two of them inside.
The wooden house was fairly spacious. There was a workbench, with discarded glintstone and other ruined materials piled in a corner.
Looking embarrassed, Thops tidied up a little and offered Helena a seat on the less-than-clean bed.
Zhao Si said he was fine standing and didn't need a seat.
"I'm still very grateful for your help," Thops said, a little shyly. "I don't know how to repay you, but if there's anything you need me for, just say the word. If I can do it, I will."
Zhao Si sighed. "Honestly, I'm not even sure I helped you. After this, they might start bullying you even worse. I might have hurt you instead."
Thops scratched his cheek. "I know. But you meant well, after all. I'll just have to deal with whatever comes next myself."
"The academy seems like a place where strength does the talking, too. How about this? I'll work with you to make whatever you're trying to create. Then you can help me research some new spells." Zhao Si proposed a plan.
Thops's eyes lit up. "You're willing to help me?"
"Of course." Zhao Si pulled down his lower eyelid and stared at Thops. "You've seen it yourself. I'm a Tarnished, with the Two Fingers backing me. What are you afraid of?"
Thops scratched his head. "The Two Fingers don't carry much weight here, either."
Caria was indeed a weak point in the Two Fingers' sphere of influence. Zhao Si said, "But at least your research funding will be covered. And I can protect you from other people harassing you."
"You really are a good fighter," Thops said with genuine admiration.
"By the way, how did you know I wanted to research something?" Thops asked curiously.
"Uh..." Zhao Si looked at the ceiling. "I heard people talking about some of your exploits while I was wandering around town."
"Haha, so that's it." Thops suspected nothing and scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed.
"I was thinking, warriors can block blades and arrows with shields, so could there be a shield that blocks magic?" Thops's eyes shone. "I believe there could. All sorcery uses glintstone as a medium, so there must be similarities that would let spells cancel each other out."
"But I've never even seen basic Glintstone Pebbles collide and cancel each other out."
At that, he grew a little dejected again.
"Have you ever considered Carian Retaliation?" Zhao Si asked, leaning against the workbench.
Thops touched the small round shield on the workbench. "What's Carian Retaliation?"
"Haha." Zhao Si laughed and patted his shoulder. "It's fine. Don't worry if you don't know. Maybe you're approaching this the wrong way. Think about it: people only have two hands. How many sorcerers use both a staff and a shield?"
Sorcerers who carried shields did exist, but they were rare. Those who practiced the Carian Royal Family's sorcery tended to use them more often. Sorcerers were physically frail, so they weren't particularly good at close combat and mostly used light weapons for self-defense. Their main approach was to keep their distance and overwhelm the enemy with a barrage of spells. Most people couldn't withstand it.
Simply put, the gap in combat power between sorcerers and warriors was so great that sorcerers had no need to improve their melee abilities. All they had to do was take some spirit ashes, ring a bell, and summon a tough melee fighter to keep their opponent occupied.
"What should I do, then?" Thops couldn't quite think of a solution.
Zhao Si gave it some thought. "Hmm... how about making the spell into a protective barrier around the user? That would give you an invisible shield, wouldn't it?"
"Oh, maybe that's worth a try!" Thops found a pen and paper and began writing and sketching, working out the corresponding designs and calculations.
Later, Thops approached Zhao Si with a small round shield fitted with glintstone, looking rather uncertain. "I've given it a try. Could you help me test it?"
For the experiment, attaching it to a shield was the only approach he could think of for now.
Zhao Si thumped his chest. "No problem."
They left town and found an open patch in the wetlands. Zhao Si raised the shield. "How do I use this?"
"Do you know any sorcery?" Thops asked first.
Zhao Si shook his head. "Not a single spell."
"That should still be fine." Thops scratched his head. "Try channeling your intent into the glintstone while thinking about protecting yourself."
Zhao Si understood. So this works on the same principle as spending focus points to use a skill.
He looked at the shield, silently repeating Protect me as he poured his intent into it. Sure enough, the glintstone crudely set into the shield
flashed and emitted a thin film.
Thops looked delighted. "Are you ready?"
Zhao Si nodded. "Go ahead."
As soon as he spoke, a Glintstone Pebble shot from the tip of Thops's staff. When he cast, the glintstone serving as the medium displayed the academy's emblem while releasing the corresponding spell.
The Glintstone Pebble flew at a moderate speed, much like a casually thrown stone, but the damage it inflicted was genuine magic damage, which an ordinary shield couldn't completely negate.
Crack!
The shield in Zhao Si's hand was knocked aside, and the impact of the Glintstone Pebble left his arm tingling.
It had clearly failed. The damage to the shield's outer face said it all: the thin protective film it emitted had done little good.
Thops crouched on the ground, crestfallen. "Another failure."
"Look on the bright side. At least I can use this thing," Zhao Si said with a smile. "Have you ever thought that creating something that lets more people use Glintstone Sorcery quickly and easily might be a good thing? I mean making magic more accessible, instead of leaving it solely in sorcerers' hands."
"Hmm..." Thops pondered for a moment. "I hadn't thought of that."
Zhao Si's face fell. "It's not too late to start."
Before you continue