Chapter 209: Flame Bullet

Five more days remained before the monthly exam arrived. In order to give the freshmen a sense of urgency, the academy set up a countdown on the homepage of the freshmen’s forum. Whenever they logged into the forum, they would be met with the striking red string of numbers. The ticking down of time only increased everyone’s anxiety.

Xiao Lin’s meditation progressed rather smoothly, though he was unsure whether it was due to the effect of an advancement in his Academic Genius talent or the therapeutic effect of the elemental floating fish that Song Junlang gave to him. It took only two days for him to raise his basic meditation to LV5. In addition, he had also mastered the Basic Fire Element Affinity LV1 and Basic Water Element Affinity LV1.

Elemental affinity was a complement to meditation. The elemental affinity that each person had was different and highly dependent on their own talent as well as personal effort. For example, he could easily perceive the fire element in his meditation realm, so it was undoubtedly easier if he chose fire spells.

That was not to say that he could not choose other spells. It was feasible, but his affinity toward the other elements was too low, resulting in the need to spend several times the effort and time to actually learn them.

Therefore, the Lolita tutor strongly recommended that everyone chose their future learning path based on their own talents. Whichever element was easier to perceive would then determine the direction of their future study.

Four basic elements existed: wind, fire, water, and earth. In most cases, a person could only recognize one of them within their meditation realm. There were relatively few people like Xiao Lin who could sense two at the same time, and even fewer individuals who could sense more than two.

To be more precise, there was one person who had affinity for more than two elements within the entire freshman year—it was Gu Xiaoyue, who had an affinity for all four elements at the same time.

Xiao Lin had already subconsciously learnt how to ignore Gu Xiaoyue in that respect. Comparing oneself with others was a vain exercise, though his own situation was actually quite unique too.

Song Junlang later told him that having an affinity for two elements was actually normal, because the prerequisite for learning compound spells was mastery over multiple elements. Be that as it may, water and fire were incompatible. There was hardly any common ground between those two elements, which meant that there would be increased difficulty in learning them.

Xiao Lin felt that it would be a pity if he just gave up on them. Although he could also spend more time continuing to sense the wind element or the earth element, he could already foresee that he did not have much talent for the affinity of those two elements. Spending more time on it might not necessarily result in a favorable conclusion.

He planned to proceed with what he had, at least for the time being, since the monthly exam was approaching.

Then came the learning of spells. The first thing Xiao Lin thought of was the Flame Bullet skill book that he brought back from New Washington. Those skill books given to him by the bookstore owner at New Washington were tossed to the corner of his room and nearly forgotten, since he had yet to reach the conditions required to learn them.

The learning conditions for Flame Bullet was Fire Element Affinity LV1 and Basic Meditation LV4. Xiao Lin just so happened to have met those conditions. Instead of working on his meditation level or element affinity in the final few days, it was better for him to master two skills first. That was the best way forward.

The Flame Bullet was actually a personally tweaked skill. The original was Flame Ball, one of the most basic and common Black Iron-rank spells in the flame series.

As a flame spell, the power of the Flame Ball was quite high, reaching the E- rating along with a low probability of burn damage. Like many high-damage skills however, the Flame Ball’s defects were evident, requiring high mental power. Individuals whose basic meditation and intelligence did not reach the standard generally had to rest after using three or five flame balls.

The improved version of the Flame Bullet was based on a considerable weakening of its spell-damage evaluation from E- to just F-. It was a reduction by three full levels, but the casting process had been greatly simplified as well. The annotations in the skill book stated that someone who is fully proficient in the spell could basically release a flame bullet in half a second without consuming a lot of mental power.

It was impossible to say which one was better when comparing those two spells. Seeing as the class was bound to collective cooperation with each other within the monthly exam’s environment, it was likely that they would have to face many enemies. Xiao Lin therefore gave priority to the Flame Bullet as his number one spell to learn.

The second spell of his choice was the Water Shield, one of the most basic defensive skills of water element spells. In light of the fact that his custom-made leather armor was still somewhat low in terms of defensive ability, the Water Shield would be a good supplement.

Learning and mastering spells were a somewhat cumbersome process. In addition to the basic meditation and elemental affinity, it was equally important to understand a certain set of theoretical knowledge was also important. Simply put, it was the composition and arrangement of elements, all of which were explained in detail in the skill books.

The process of casting spells was actually through controlling the elements, then recombining them in a predetermined manner before finally creating a spell out of it. In Gu Xiaoyue’s words, it was like computer programming.

Assistance might occasionally be needed in the process of casting spells, such as incantations, spellcasting actions, and even spellcasting materials. The so-called incantations or actions were aimed at guiding the elements, so it was impossible for them to be rigid, since everyone might possess their own understanding of it.

Fortunately, the Fire Bullet and Water Shield were the most basic of spells and did not require such complicated processes. They could be completed using only simple casting actions.

The Water Shield was slightly more troublesome than the simpler Flame Bullet. By then, Xiao Lin had realized the advantages of the notebook: its owner had simplified the casting action of the Flame Bullet, making it much easier to master.

Xiao Lin spent nearly all his time on the spell. The high learning efficiency of the Academic Genius talent, coupled with Song Junlang’s elemental floating fish, played a significant role.

In short, he finally mastered those two skills a day before the monthly exam. The speed with which he mastered them could be considered rather rapid indeed. Most people started learning their skills at the beginning of the month, and it took about half a month to master their very first spell.

With one day left to go, Xiao Lin had no plans to continue training, especially when he could not master any new skills in that time. He gave himself some time off and relaxed a little, since mental exhaustion was inevitable after his intense training over the past few days.

The final preparation before the exam came soon enough. Although no one knew the specific contents of the exam because of its confidential nature, a little bit of insider information from unknown sources began spreading all over the forum.

For example, it was said that the simulated scene in the upcoming exam was one of the smaller battles that took place in the war between Dawn Academy and the Orcs, of which the simulated time span would be relatively long.

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