Earn Money, Cultivate, Marry Tang Yue
"I'll pass on that — I want to get into a good magic university. From what I've heard, higher-tier magic can only be learned there." Mo Fan said.
Head Instructor Zhankong felt a surge of irritation.
*This little punk — it should be his honor that I'm recruiting him into my unit, and he has the audacity to say no!*
"Take your things and get out of my sight." Zhankong said sourly.
"Oh — was the Gloom Wolf Beast in that cave the only one stationed there?" Mo Fan remembered something as he was leaving and asked.
"Just the one. If there had been others, you'd all have ended up as somebody's next meal long ago. Why, do you have some concern?" Zhankong said.
"Nothing really, just asking." Mo Fan nodded, then glanced over at Instructor Baiyang and said, "Your Gloom Wolf Beast sure could drink."
Baiyang looked briefly puzzled but didn't pay it much mind.
"Get out already, get out!" Zhankong said impatiently.
……
Mo Fan was roared and booted out of the camp, muttering to himself: *A high-level mage throwing this kind of tantrum over a single piece of Enchanted Gear — was it really worth it?*
The Sickle-Bone Shield sat in the palm of his hand.
The entire shield barely covered his palm. Mo Fan, who knew absolutely nothing about Enchanted Gear, was at a complete loss.
*This palm-sized thing is supposed to block Demon-Beast attacks? What, does it think every Demon-Beast has OCD and has to land every hit on a Captain America shield?*
After a bit of experimenting, Mo Fan finally figured out how the Sickle-Bone Shield worked.
When a mage channeled their Mental Intent into the Sickle-Bone Shield, the shield automatically forged a bond with the mage's soul, leaving an Enchanted Gear imprint inside the mage's Inner World.
Once the imprint formed, the palm-sized shield immediately merged into the mage's body.
When the mage used Mental Intent to activate the imprint, the Enchanted Gear would materialize in front of them — and at that point, the shield was no longer palm-sized. It expanded into a wall of bone nearly as tall as a person, so solid that an attack like the Gloom Wolf Beast's debris breath would never scratch them again.
"No wonder this thing is worth so much. If I'd had the Sickle-Bone Shield during the fight with the Gloom Wolf Beast, I could have cast magic in complete safety." Mo Fan looked at the enormous bone shield before him — broad and diamond-shaped, etched with a sickle motif — and a smile spread across his face.
With this piece of Enchanted Gear, he would have far better odds in a fight against the Mu Clan's Yu'ang.
"That said — I have Lightning Element and Fire Element, and Lightning Seal and Fire Burst are both excellent, but when it comes to an actual fight against a Demon-Beast, I still can't hold my own." Mo Fan found himself turning the problem over in his mind.
Killing the Gloom Wolf Beast this time had involved a lot of luck. If it hadn't been for Light Radiance illuminating the cave at just the right moment, letting him spot the stalactites deep in the cavern — if Zhang Xiaohou hadn't had Wind Trail — if the other students hadn't coordinated that whole wave of attacks beforehand — he would have been torn apart the instant the beast closed in. There was no way things could have gone so smoothly otherwise.
*I need to learn mobility skills — something like Wind Trail or Earth Wave, techniques that let you move fast and reposition on the fly. At my own plodding pace, a Demon-Beast will swat me dead before I even finish connecting the Star Trails.*
That fight had taught him just how vital defensive and mobility skills really were.
At the basic level, only Water Element had any defensive capability. Water Control — the Water Element's foundational skill — was the sole defensive technique among all the basic elemental skills. At school, everyone dismissed Water Element as the weakest of the lot, but in actual combat against Demon-Beasts, a Water Element mage was a lifesaver for the entire party.
"I've got the Sickle-Bone Shield now, which covers me on defense — barely. So for my next Awakening I can focus on a mobility-type element: Wind Element... or maybe something like Teacher Tang Yue's technique. That way she moved through the shadows — that was something else."
Wind Trail at the basic level was genuinely outstanding in practice. Without a way to break free from a Demon-Beast's pursuit, you'd never even find a window to Release your magic.
Wind Element was a solid choice — but Mo Fan had a feeling the Shadow Element would suit him far better.
After doing some research, Mo Fan learned that the shadow-movement technique Teacher Tang Yue had demonstrated was a Shadow Element ability.
At this stage of their education, every technique students encountered belonged to Elemental Magic.
But beyond Elemental Magic, there were three other major branches of magic: White Magic, Black Magic, and Dimensional Magic.
The Healing Element was one of the disciplines within White Magic.
The Shadow Element was one of the disciplines within Black Magic.
And the Summoning Element that Instructor Baiyang commanded was one of the disciplines within Dimensional Magic.
The nine years of compulsory magic education and the high school curriculum covered only Elemental Magic. All three other major branches — White Magic, Black Magic, and Dimensional Magic — were exclusively available at the university level.
Right now, Mo Fan had Fire Element for high damage output and Lightning Element for its dominant blend of control and raw power. The Sickle-Bone Shield had given him a measure of defensive capability. What he was missing was mobility.
To truly go toe-to-toe with a Demon-Beast in a solo fight, all of these pieces had to be in place before he could call himself a real match for one.
Shadow Element.
That was clearly the right fit for him.
*I need to reach Intermediate-Level Mage as fast as possible so I can have my second Awakening — and with any luck, it'll be Shadow Element.* Mo Fan thought, buzzing with anticipation.
At the basic level, everyone awakened only one element.
Mo Fan had been born with Dual Elements — already a full rung ahead of everyone else from the very start.
Upon reaching the Intermediate level, a mage not only gained access to intermediate-tier magic skills, but also earned the right to a second Awakening, giving birth to a brand-new Stardust.
It was only after that second Awakening that a mage's combat power underwent a truly qualitative leap.
Take Head Instructor Zhankong — the first time Mo Fan had laid eyes on him, Zhankong had been idly playing with flames, marking him clearly as a Fire Element mage.
But inside the cave, a breathtaking pair of Wings of Wind had unfurled at his back.
Beyond Fire Element, he had evidently cultivated Wind Element as well.
And by all logic, Head Instructor Zhankong likely commanded a third element on top of that.
Wings of Wind was a technique only a High-Level Mage could master. An Intermediate-Level Mage wielded two elements — but at the High Level, a mage earned a third Awakening and gained a third element.
To put it simply:
A Basic-Level Mage commanded one element.
An Intermediate-Level Mage underwent a second Awakening and commanded two elements.
A High-Level Mage underwent yet another Awakening and commanded three elements.
With his innate Dual Elements, Mo Fan had started one rung above everyone else.
And without the combination of Lightning Element and Fire Element working together, there would have been no killing the Gloom Wolf Beast. Head Instructor Zhankong had never been able to figure out why the beast couldn't dodge the falling stalactite — because it never would have occurred to him that Mo Fan, beyond being a Fire Element mage, also possessed Lightning Element Stardust. It was Lightning Seal's paralysis effect that had rooted the beast in place.
"I've got the little Loach Pendant, and my cultivation time is already twice anyone else's to begin with — so my advancement will be much, much faster than theirs. Still, having just Lightning Seal and Fire Burst isn't enough to stand on my own. I need to reach Intermediate-Level as quickly as I can. That way I'll not only have the intermediate-tier skills for both Fire and Lightning, I'll also gain an entirely new element. You can never have too many tricks up your sleeve."
Right — keep pushing!
What was that motto all the boys in Class 8 used to shout?
Right. *Earn money, cultivate, marry Tang Yue!*