Chapter 33.1: Summoner Mage Mao Mao
Nian Bing had read in the Mage a.s.sociation’s collection that summoning magic was known as the continent’s most mysterious magic; it was even more cryptic than dark magic. Very few people could meet the strange requirements to cultivate summoning magic. The basic requirement was to be an innate null person. A null person is someone born with a body that does not have a specific attribute. Dual elements, admittedly, were rare, but there were around two for every thousand people. But for null people, who don’t have any attributes, their chances were about one in ten thousand.
According to the records, when people from thousands of years ago attained higher levels of magic then they did now, mages were the highest ranking profession. Humans would cultivate a particular magic according to their body’s attribute. A null person at that time would be scorned as a piece of trash. At that time, there were extremely few null people. There was a man who chose to kill himself because he could not bear the pressure from the outside world; but when he was in the process of committing suicide, he discovered something strange. No one knew what exactly had happened, but several years later, the first summoning mage appeared on the continent.
Although null people couldn’t cultivate a system of magic because they had no attribute, they possessed an inherently high amount of spiritual power. Summoning magic utilized spiritual power to summon any kind of beast that they’ve established a contract with. These creatures, from the small birds and beasts to the large dragons, could become the companion of a summoner. The stronger the spiritual power, the stronger the creature that can be summoned. These contracted beasts could be used to battle for the summoner. But while a high spiritual power was essential to become a summoner, luck was also extremely important. Because of these strict requirements, if one couldn’t become a summoning mage with their talent, they wouldn’t even be able to cultivate martial arts. Additionally, how could making contracts with strong creatures be easy? In order to become a stronger summoning mage, these null people had to develop a special magic suited for them. That magic relied on their strong spiritual power cultivation. For ordinary people, this was almost impossible. For them, however, it was not difficult.
At an unknown time, the legendary summoning mages had disappeared from the world stage because of the dwindling number of null people. According to legend, the strongest summoning mage was a dragon summoner, but he had also fallen in the end. Nian Bing did not think that he would encounter a summoning mage before he had even left Ice and Snow City. Although she had only summoned a milk cow, the fact that she summoned anything was indisputable. Nian Bing’s spiritual power couldn’t help but pulse fiercely with this revelation.
“Moo.” The cow raised its head in alarm and looked in Nian Bing’s direction. The girl followed the cow’s gaze to him. At this moment, Nian Bing clearly saw her appearance. Her skin was as fair as sheep-fat white jade. In her pretty face, her large eyes were black as her hair. Those innately large eyes that made people want to protect her blinked as her exquisite red lips pressed together in surprise. “Who’s there?”
Nian Bing came out of the shadows and said with embarra.s.sment, “h.e.l.lo, little sister.”
The girl stuck out her tongue. “Gross, you’re not allowed to call me little sister. I will be sixteen in the eleventh month. What are you doing here? Could it be that you were trying to follow me? No wonder Daddy said that the people from the outside world were all bad. Why are you following me?”
Nian Bing hastily shook his head. “No, you are mistaken. I am not following you. I was coincidentally pa.s.sing here when I felt magic undulations and went to take a look. Little sis, no, young miss, are you a summoner?”
The girl was blank and then said, “You saw me? Daddy said that whoever knows about us must die.”
Nian Bing was frightened. He said, “What? Why is that?”
The girl shook her head and giggled. “However, you don’t need to be scared. Even if I wanted to kill you, it wouldn’t be so easy since I don’t have an attack type pet. Big Brother, do you have anything good to eat? I’m hungry.”
Nian Bing could not help but shake his head and say, “I left very hurriedly. I didn’t bring anything to eat with me. But I can buy you something. Doesn’t that street have a lot of shops to buy food from? Why didn’t you buy anything?”
The girl pursed her lips and said, “I-I secretly ran off and didn’t bring any money with me. I always just drank Dan Dan’s milk so I wouldn’t be hungry. Big Brother, can you buy something for me to eat? I will trade Dan Dan’s milk with you.”
Nian Bing looked at the fleshy cow and said, “It’s called Dan Dan.”
The girl’s eyes suddenly flashed with a strange light. “Dan Dan, why don’t you greet this big brother?”
Dan Dan mooed. She suddenly raised her two hooves, tilting her fleshy body upwards. Nian Bing clearly saw the red, succulent, fleshy bits of a milk cow. It seemed that it had quite a bit of milk. But right that a moment, a strange thing suddenly occured. The cow called Dan Dan’s eight t.i.ts suddenly simultaneously shot out a milky white light towards Nian Bing.
Nian Bing was not a warrior. Even if his response was quick, he could not dodge in the narrow alleyway. At that moment, the trigger magic scroll showed its merits. With a flash of blue light, a thick ice wall suddenly appeared in front of Nian Bing. It was an ice wall close to one meter in thickness, but under the attack of the white light, eight deep pits suddenly appeared. Nian Bing did not know whether to laugh or cry when he discovered that the white light really did shoot out from the cow’s eight fleshy bits. He didn’t doubt in the slightest, that if he hadn’t put up any protection, those eight streams of milk would have easily pierced through his body.
His right hand waved slightly, and the Flame G.o.d’s Stone appeared from the s.p.a.ce ring. Nian Bing carefully chanted a spell and watched the girl in front of him warily.
The girl looked at Nian Bing, who had blocked the cow’s attack, and couldn’t help but be surprised. “You are also a mage?”
Nian Bing nodded his head and said, “Of course. If not, how could I have ever felt your magic undulations?”
The girl curled her lip and said, “Then there’s no way around it. I have to kill you, or I won’t be allowed to go out anymore if Daddy finds out that I’ve leaked the secret of my magic. Sorry, Big Brother.” Her pretty face smiled sunnily, making it hard for Nian Bing to connect the word murder to this girl, but he did not dare to be the slightest bit careless. The girl before him who could use summoning magic could not be simple.
Subconsciously taking a step back, the cow called Dan Dan had already (exasperatingly) slowly moved in front of the girl. The cow’s eyes were looking at Nian Bing and seemed full of disdain. With a moo, it raised up on its two hooves and shot out another eight streams of milk at Nian Bing. This time however, it was much more rushed.
Nian Bing gripped the Flame G.o.d’s Stone in his right hand and slowly extended it outwards. A ball of purple flame suddenly condensed into a fire shield right in front of him. This was the rank 4 spell, Purple Flame Shield. This was the magic he had prepped beforehand. It worked by creating extremely high temperatures. It was typically used to defend against ice magic, but at this moment it was also extremely well suited for defending against milk. Although the milk was shooting forwards very strongly, it didn’t even come into contact with the Purple Fire Shield before it immediately evaporated into milk powder. In a moment, the air was saturated with the scent of Dan Dan’s milk. The Purple Fire Shield, besides letting out some streams of scorching hot air, was completely unaffected.
Relying on the his superior magic control, which was a lot stronger than other mages of the same rank, Nian Bing used his right hand to control the Purple Fire Shield to move forward a step. He looked at the fleshy cow. “You don’t have any other skills besides squirting out milk? I really do not know how you could exist as a magic beast. What would you do if your milk was squeezed dry?” Although the cow in front of him did not look any different from an ordinary cow, its attack showed that it was still a magic beast. The only thing was that its sole ability was rather puny.
The cow looked at the Purple Flame Shield in front of Nian Bing and was evidently frightened. It turned it’s head to look at it’s owner, bellowing several times.
The girl poked her head out from the cow’s back. She looked at Nian Bing in surprise. “Big Brother, you still haven’t died! Before it was ice, and now it was fire. I have never heard father talk about that kind of mage!”
Nian Bing’s heart jumped in surprised. He realized that he had unintentionally revealed his secret. He said cooly, “That wall from before was a magic scroll. This shield is my magic. Young lady, if you don’t want your cow to turn into beef jerky, tell it to get out of the way.”
The girl seemed to respond with difficulty. “But, my cow can kill people! If I send it back to my s.p.a.ce, then how can I kill you?” Her appearance was exceedingly adorable, without any trace of deceit.
Nian Bing laughed and said, “Have you never killed anyone?”
The girl shook her head and said, “No, but Daddy kept talking about killing people over and over again. Mama said that he was being noisy. He was being super boring so I ran out to play.”
Nian Bing looked at the girl who did not understand worldly affairs. An affectionate feeling suddenly surged up in his heart. It was not the feeling a man had for a woman, but the concern an older brother had for his little sister. “So it was like that. Put this cow back into your s.p.a.ce, and I can get you some good food to eat, okay?”
The girl tilted her head in thought and then said, “Okay! After I finish eating, I can kill you. Daddy is very fierce, so I don’t have any other way. Don’t blame me Big Brother.”
Nian Bing dissolved the Purple Flame Shield with a wave his hand. “Come with me.” Saying this, he firmly pressed his hat to his head and walked out of the alley. He had quite a few trigger scrolls on him, so he was not worried even if the girl tried a sneak attack.
The girl happily cheered. She clasped her hands together in front of her chest and murmured a chant. “Dan Dan, return.” The ma.s.sive cow disappeared with a flash of red light, although a low moo remained as the girl walked forward.
The girl walked behind Nian Bing. The two people, one in front and one behind, arrived on the main street. Nian Bing lowered his head and listened to the girl’s footsteps, slowly heading to the north of the city. If he didn’t have to leave Ice and Snow City, he would’ve brought this girl to the Pure Wind House for a big meal. Right now however, there was no way to do so. By staying on this street, he would not have to fear running out of time.
After walking for about an hour, the girl finally could not endure the silence. She quickly ran up to Nian Bing’s side. “Big Brother, my stomach and feet really hurt. I can’t walk anymore. When will we get to eat the yummy food?”
Nian Bing turned his head to look at the girl who was a head shorter than him. He said, “Don’t be impatient; we will get there soon. Then Big Brother will personally make you delicious food to eat.” He didn’t know why, but seeing the pure and innocent black eyes of the girl, Nian Bing’s heart unconsciously swelled with pity.
The girl blinked her eyes and said, “Big brother, carry me on your back. I really can’t move anymore.”
Nian Bing was blank for a moment. He was not even older than this girl by three years. Hearing that she wanted to get on his back, he couldn’t help but turn red. He said, “No can do. Men and women are different.”
The girl pouted and said, “You liar. Daddy has carried me on his back to places to play.”
Nian Bing smiled bitterly and said, “That is not the same. He is your dad!”
The little girl said, “If you don’t carry me, I will just find a place without people and summon Dan Dan so I can ride her.”
Nian Bing immediately shook his head and said, “You can’t do that either. Riding a cow through the main street will attract too much attention.” Right now, his goal was to quietly leave Ice and Snow City. He honestly didn’t know why he bothered with this inconvenience.
The girl stuck out both of her arms. Her snow white hands were as tender as bamboo shoots. “Then you carry me.”
With a sigh, Nian Bing had no choice but to kneel on the ground. Anyway, she was still a young lady1. The girl leaped up with a cheer and clambered onto Nian Bing’s broad back. Although he did not cultivate martial arts, Nian Bing’s build was very robust from a normal person’s point of view. The girl was also very light, so it wasn’t that tiring to carry her. As such, he carried the girl through the winding streets until he finally arrived at his target destination.
After the time it took to eat a meal, Nian Bing breathed heavily as the girl came down from his back. His forehead and temples were dripping with sweat. “Get off, you little imp. We’ve arrived.”
“Shui Huo Metal Shop. Big Brother, there are good things to eat here?” The girl asked curiously.
Nian Bing did not answer, but instead walked in front of the gates and knocked on the door.
“Who is it!?” A familiar voice called out softly. Nian Bing suddenly felt that his heart had warmed. He didn’t know why, but Feng Nu’s appearance was always deeply imprinted in his mind.
“Feng Nu, it’s me, Nian Bing.”