Chapter 264: A New Journey, A New Beginning
Two years was neither too long nor too short.
Watson had a really fulfilling two years. His level had not improved, but his strength had increased dozens of times during the past year. That was because he had been training and learning every day for the past two years.
First, he had to learn magic from Antonio and Sylvan.
One was the most powerful mage in the kingdom, while the other was the greatest mage in the kingdom; they possessed a thorough understanding of magic. For example, they could not cast spells that took too long to cast when they faced warriors with a short attack range. When confronted with a mage with the same long attack range, they first had to identify the opponent’s magical attributes. When facing one or more people, the spells they had to cast were also different.
Those were all valuable battle experiences. Watson had relied on the overwhelming power of his fusion magic in battle, but things had changed. His battle style had become exquisite, and he was already a full-fledged mage.
He had learned all the spells that Antonio and Sylvan had mastered, in addition to his own experiences. The spells that the two of them knew ranged from iron to platinum-tier and included the six qualities of earth, fire, water, wind, light, and darkness. Platinum-tier spells accounted for only 10 percent of those spells; they became diamond-tier spells after Watson fused them.
One could say that Watson knew more spells than Antonio, and the intensity of his spells was also greater than Sylvan’s.
His skills as a warrior did not suffer while he was learning magic. Every day, he would check in with Elvira, Ron, and Nightingale. Their military experiences were undeniably superior to his. His swordsmans.h.i.+p had also advanced swiftly under their tutelage, and he was already a platinum-tier warrior.
After all, the caliber of the provider was different. He had mastered swordsmans.h.i.+p, but it was still much inferior to magic. His master a.s.sured him that he had called an old friend in the royal city, who was supposed to be an expert swordsman. He could learn from the man if he were to go there.
Winter outside of Mount Creation also lasted for three months. Watson decided to pack his belongings and travel to the capital.
“Watson, today’s magic lesson is not quite done yet. We have plenty of time to practice.”
Sylvan sat up on the gra.s.s and beckoned Watson with his finger.
“Forget it, Lord Sylvan. Every day, I train for 24 hours. It is rare for me to take a break before leaving. I don’t want to fight anymore! Plus, this place is quite close to the World Tree. It won’t be good if we break the World Tree because we can’t control the magic.
“Stop this nonsense, Watson. You and Master Antonio are leaving. I’ll be the only person on the mountain for a long time! It’s not easy for me to advance to diamond-tier. It would be too lonely if I didn’t have a worthy adversary. At the very least, you should spend more time with me every day for the next few days.”
Sylvan’s eyes lit up with kindness as he gazed at Watson. Then, with his right hand extended, he said, “Absolute Explosion.”
He used his finger to point at the air and gra.s.s on the ground and dyed them red; they were transformed into deadly bombs. They detonated, one after the other, and the airwaves from the successive explosions converged. A sweltering wind blew right at Watson. The terrible power appeared to be capable of uprooting the ground within a few kilometers.
Watson had cast the Absolute Explosion spell on Sylvan and Antonio two years before that. That diamond-tier magic had already been extensively studied by the two of them for two years, so it no longer drained their energy when they cast it. Their method was to cast the magic with one hand and stab their heart with the other, dropping down amid the blood splashes.
The cut on his chest healed quickly, and he could stand up again.
They used death to counteract the Absolute Explosion spell. The strength in his body would not be exhausted if he were to die. Since he had obtained immortality, the Blackmoon Knights did not hold back until he had murdered his opponents throughout the training. That approach imbued all Blackmoon Knights with a murderous aura that existed only after thousands of deaths. What Sylvan did then was child’s play compared to the Blackmoon Knights.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The environment was filled with m.u.f.fled sounds. When confronted with Sylvan’s attack, Watson, who had matured, wore a look of helplessness on his handsome face. Then he drew his arm from behind his head and elevated it.
“Perfect Seal.”
The flames and explosions that had filled the sky fell silent with a swoosh as they spread to Watson’s surroundings. Then they quickly condensed into a small red dot that vanished into the air. It was as if nothing had changed; the surroundings were still alive with birds and flowers.
“You can’t use the Absolute Seal, Watson. If you use that ability, neither you nor I will be able to use magic. It’s against the rules.”
“Oh, well, Lord Sylvan, you may proceed.”
“Draping the true-red battle armor on your body, the destructive fire of calamity churned in your palm and condensed into brand new suns. The ringing sound was like an elegy—cleave the heavenly court, cast the stars! Diamond-tier fire-elemental magic, Vermillion Nova Barrage!”
Sylvan chanted the incantation swiftly. In a single moment, dozens of bright-red suns appeared in the sky with a wave of his hand. They plummeted abruptly, burning everything and scorching the air into ripples.
That maneuver was an improved version of Sylvan’s most potent spell in two years. They were significantly more powerful, whether it was due to the quant.i.ty of mimicked suns or their might.
Watson was calm. Then, he read a long paragraph of runes. “Freeze the extreme cold of s.p.a.ce and time, return to the absolute temperature of death, let the ice age come again! Diamond-tier spell, Nine Layers of Absolute Zero!”
Watson’s body was enveloped in a similar milky-white fog as soon as his voice faded, shutting off s.p.a.ce and time. It extended to the fiery-red suns that Sylvan had launched; the suns immediately compressed into solid ice, like an amber-sealed bug. The ice shattered, and the suns inside shattered as well, turning into a red streak that would not melt.
That was one of the diamond-tier spells that he had combined with the platinum-tier spells that Antonio and Sylvan had taught him. That spell would cast Absolute Zero nine times in a row, and the combined power was enough to destroy everything. Therefore, it was called Nine Layers of Absolute Zero. Sylvan’s magic was instantly overwhelmed by the amplification of the Loen script to the spell.
The Loen script that Watson had discovered in the Dragonspine Snow Mountain was the language of an ancient race—angels and devils. Watson could use it after his transformation into an angel. It could boost the runes’ impact on magic. If he used the runes and not the same magic, the difference in power would be two to three times greater.
“Watson, you are not allowed to use the runes either. We must use human language in our chants. The duel has to be fair. Fair—do you understand? It’s just like when I entered the diamond tier and mastered Absolute Defense, and I have never used it on you,” Sylvan complained; he looked dissatisfied.
During those two years, he and Antonio had taught Watson and vice versa. Watson’s magic was fused with theirs and pa.s.sed on to them. He could advance to the diamond tier within two years because of the spells that Watson had fused. Plus, he had eaten well and acc.u.mulated a large number of magic elements as well.
He had only mastered the Absolute Defensive spell after entering the diamond tier. As the name implied, no attack could break his defense as long as he had used the Absolute Defense spell. However, he could not use it in an attack. He had cast the spell on Watson for a different reason—the younger man had mastered stronger spells than he did.
Watson had initially only mastered two spells—the Absolute Burst and the Absolute Seal. Watson had also learned Absolute Time Freeze and Absolute Defense as a result of Antonio and his lessons. In addition to those criteria, Watson had combined all of the platinum-tier spells he had learned with other qualities, resulting in a slew of new ones.
For example, his Absolute Magic Immunity spell could negate the opponent’s magical effects, and the Absolute Hits spell could counter all attacks, no matter combat techniques or magic. There was also the Absolute Sight spell, which could prevent him from being blinded by fog or any other distracting spells, and the Absolute Luck spell that could bring him luck all the time.
In those two years, Watson had fused more than 40 types of diamond-tier spells. If they were not diamond-tier spells, their power would still be more than that of an ordinary diamond-tier expert. Therefore, Sylvan simply banned all the spells. Otherwise, Watson would use them to end the battle all too quickly.
“Alright, Lord Sylvan, as you wish.”
Watson had no choice but to obey Sylvan’s instructions and abandon the Loen tongue. Instead, he began to chant the spells in human language. Within a short while, a slew of platinum-tier spells materialized all around him. All six attributes were present—earth, fire, water, wind, light, and darkness. For example, the summoning of the giant rock golem, the simplified version of the Vermillion Nova bullet that Sylvan had just used, and the super large black hole.
The spells were combined to form a flood of elements that surged toward Sylvan. Aside from magic, Watson also used the Law of Domain beneath his feet. They overlapped and turned into layers of halos that wrapped around him, illuminating him as if he were a G.o.d.
After a long while…
“Watson, this is a magic compet.i.tion. Why are you using the Law of Domain that is unique to platinum-tier warriors?
“You can also release spells of the six basic elements, but not the seventh element—the chaotic-elemental magic.
“You also can’t use the platinum-tier ring on your finger or the platinum-tier armor on your body. If you use it, you’d be breaking the rules.”
Watson shrugged helplessly and rose from the gra.s.s when he heard Sylvan’s babbling. “You won’t let me use this or that, Lord Sylvan. Why don’t you just tie my wrists and ankles, and I’ll let you hit me without retaliation?”