Close Combat Mage

Chapter 96 - Contesting With Innate Skills Part 2

The two girls obviously didn’t have any objections to Suo Jia’s plan, and immediately followed Suo Jia to the White Villa. Since then…the two girls cultivated in the underwater training ground day and night, completely forgetting the concept of time.

Of course, Suo Jia wasn’t as hardworking as them, but he wasn’t slacking off either. In reality, after obtaining Atlantis’ Crown, Suo Jia no longer needed to meditate. His free time had thus increased by a lot. As for training in the Ice and Snow Pact, he could do it any time.

The concept of requiring good items to do good work was something anyone could understand. Suo Jia obviously knew this even clearer than anyone else. Before the tournament, Suo Jia had to choose some weapons and equipment for the two girls. Even if it didn’t increase their chances at victory, it would at least provide some more safety for the girls.

Firstly, each of them had to get their own interspatial rings. This was equivalent to giving each of them three extra lives. They could use it during critical moments, and reverse the flow of battle.

Since defense was somewhat ensured by this, the next point to address was attack. Although both girls used staffs, it was obvious that neither of the staffs were high grade goods. They could only increase water magic’s formidability by a very minor amount. Staffs like these weren’t enough to grant victory to them in the tournament.

Of course, Suo Jia didn’t plan on buying them too highly ranked and precious staffs either. Even if he did give them High-ranked staffs, they wouldn’t be able to bring out the staff’s power. In reality, Suo Jia had been contemplating this for a while — it was best to get the most appropriate staff. However, exactly what kind of staffs could match with these girls well?

Was it really impossible for a water mage apprentice to activate the Ice Sphere Technique? Actually, this wasn’t entirely correct. Some staffs originally had the ability to condense ice; and Water Spheres shot out could congeal into Ice Spheres. If mages that could already use the Ice Sphere Technique used such staffs, then they could lower the Ice Sphere’s temperature, boosting its hardness and its strength even further.

Suo Jia’s current objective were these very type of staffs. Obviously, Suo Jia would only buy these for the two girls. He personally didn’t plan on using a staff; he had already gotten used to activating magic with his bare hands. He didn’t plan on changing his methods at the moment. It should be known that uses of a staff also had a restriction limit. One had to practice it quite a lot; it wasn’t like it could be used just by picking it up and waving it around.

Aside from a few Legendary and Epic-ranked equipment, most staffs weren’t things that anyone could use. For example, if the Vulcan’s Roar was taken by a mage apprentice, only 1% of its formidability could be brought out. Only absolute peak-level experts would be able to use the staff’s entire extent of formidability.

Suo Jia didn’t plan on purchasing Legendary or Epic-ranked staffs for the two girls; that was a request that couldn’t be granted even if it was presented to him. Besides…Suo Jia didn’t have the money to purchase such things anymore. Thus, Suo Jia could only buy for them common type staffs that official mages used.

However, despite this, staffs that had the ability to condense ice were extremely uncommon and precious. Their prices were also much higher than normal staffs. Fortunately… Suo Jia had Emma as his friend. Without much effort, two beautiful models of ice-condensing staffs were handed over to Suo Jia for free.

Suo Jia entered the underwater training area with a staff in each hand. At that moment…the two girls had just recovered from the Exhaustion Training Method. Seeing Suo Jia enter, both of them turned around excitedly to look at him.

After the staffs were handed to them…Suo Jia commanded for Aimi and Aila to test the special effect of the staff on magic targets that he had carefully placed in front of them.

The first one to test it was naturally Aimi. She raised her staff, and in an instance, a Water Sphere about the size of a person’s head whistled as it leapt out of the staff. It let out a muffled bang and it directly hit the magic target opposite of her.

“This…” Hesitantly looking at the staff in Aimi’s hand, the three people were momentarily stunned. Theoretically, shouldn’t the ice-condensing staff release Ice Spheres?

After some contemplation, Aila curiously walked forward. Her staff lit up, and a blue Ice Sphere appeared from the staff with a shrill sound. It emitted a white air, and after colliding into the magic target, the Ice Sphere broke into many pieces, which flew all over that place.

“What! Your staff is fine; mine’s broken. Let’s try switching.” After seeing this scene, Aimi grabbed the other’s staff, and then shoved her staff that had shown no results into Aila’s hands.

Aimi lifted the staff with 100% confidence, and aimed it at the magic target a few dozen meters away. She once again activated a Water Sphere, and with a blue flash of light, the massive Water Sphere once again leapt out of the staff and collided into the magic target.

Aimi’s mouth dropped open in shock at this. She looked disbelievingly at her staff. At the same time, Aila pursed her thin lips, and the staff in her hand lit up, once again whizzing out an Ice Sphere.

“Wa…” Aimi’s small mouth began to tremble as she wailed out loud, “I give up! Even the staff is bullying me! Why can’t I release an Ice Sphere? How come she can?”

Seeing Aimi crying loudly gave Suo Jia an endless headache. However, he had no way of stopping it. Just as Suo Jia was trying to solve this difficult problem, Aila coldly said, “Congratulations, Aimi. If my guess is correct, your attribute is Heaven’s One Holy Water. No matter how low the temperature is, I’m afraid that you most likely won’t be able to condense it into ice.”

“What? Heaven’s One Holy Water? What’s that?” Aimi’s eyes grew wide in curiosity at Aila’s words, forgetting how she had just been crying so miserably.

Facing Xue Er, Aila coldly explained, “Heaven’s One Holy Water is a special attribute. It’s said that it only appears once a century. Moreover, two people with the Heaven’s Holy Water attribute definitely cannot meet, because only after the first person dies can a second one appear.”

Aila paused for a moment before continuing, “The characteristic of Heaven’s One Holy Water is that no matter how low the temperature is, ice cannot be condensed. However, the freezing effect is far stronger than that of ice magics.”

“Eh!” Hearing Aila’s words, Suo Jia asked in confusion, “How could that be? Theoretically speaking, shouldn’t the freezing effects of anyone’s magic be increased by lower temperature?”

Without batting an eyelid, Aila looked at Suo Jia and flatly said, “If you don’t believe me, you can test it yourself. Check if the piece of ice or the freezing water is colder. I believe you’ll quickly find your answer.”

“That…” Suo Jia couldn’t help but go into a foolish daze at Aila’s words. There was no need to test it. If the temperature was the same, then one would obviously freeze faster if their body was completely submerged in the water.

Suo Jia was envious to death of Aimi, and shot her a jealous look. He looked at the talented her, and then looked back at himself; Ai…how could there be such a great difference between himself and her?

Catching Suo Jia’s envious look, Aimi finally brightened. In fact, she was so happy that she was grinning from ear to ear. However, Aila then said, “But while Heaven’s One Holy Water has incomparable freezing effects, its defense is extremely weak, and its magic has low destructive powers. It can only kill living things; it’s very difficult to break any inanimate objects. Its general magic characteristics are the same as normal water magic’s.”

Suo Jia opened his mouth in shock; he had finally understood. The Heaven’s One Holy Water was indeed very powerful, since its freezing effects were 2x stronger than ice magic’s. However, with such an outstanding advantage, it also had a disadvantage; the water’s form meant that one with Heaven’s One Holy Water didn’t have a defense like the Glacial Armor, nor a penetrating attack like the Ice Arrow. It could be said that Heaven’s One Holy Water used its extraordinarily low temperature to instantly freeze enemies to death.

Hearing Aila’s words, Aimi’s previously large smile gradually faded. Her large eyes began to form tears once more; as soon as something went wrong, she’d go back to crying.

Seeing the tearful Aimi, Suo Jia no longer knew if he should be envious of her anymore. While gaining the 2x stronger freezing effects, she had also lost powerful destructible abilities. Was this really good or bad?

At that moment, Aimi seemed to release her resentment onto Aila and angrily shouted, “You must be jealous of me. That’s right……it must be because you are jealous of my talent that you make my Heaven’s One Holy Water sound so unbearable. I don’t believe that my Heaven’s Only Holy Water is inferior to your ice magic in any way!”

Faced with Aimi’s challenge, the Aila who was incomparably stubborn in obtaining victory said in reply, “Your Heaven’s One Holy Water is indeed powerful, but it doesn’t necessarily beat my Ice Fiend’s Nine Prisons. Although my ice magic doesn’t have freezing effects as strong as yours, it’s still stronger, harder, sharper, and more destructive than yours. In addition, it also has higher defensive powers.”

Hearing Aila’s words, Aimi opened her mouth, wanting to refute her words. However, she had no means of doing so; after all……she wasn’t as proficient as Aila in the secrets of the water element, and thus lacked the ability to argue against her.

“Damn…” Although Aimi was speechless, Suo Jia’s face turned bitter as he said dejectedly, “What is this? One of you has Heaven’s One Holy Water, and the other has the Ice Fiend’s Nine Prisons. How come it’s just me that doesn’t have any special attribute, and is entirely normal?”

Aimi immediately calmed down at Suo Jia’s words, and she giggled, “Even if your Ice Fiend’s Nine Prisons isn’t inferior to my Heaven’s Only Holy Water, I’m at least stronger than the average person. Haha…I’m in between.”

Sweeping a cold glance at Aimi, Aila said in a frigid voice, “Who told you that normal was bad? Although his ability to freeze isn’t as good as yours, nor is it as hard and sharp as mine, Lord Suo Jia has some characteristics from the both of us. Although his strength is extremely average, he isn’t necessarily any weaker than us.”

After a slight pause, Aila earnestly said, “Talent is admittedly important, but ultimately, it’s still the person that matters most. No matter how amazing one’s talent is, it doesn’t mean that he/she can become an almighty mage. In reality, the two of us only have some distinct characteristics. Lord Suo Jia, on the other hand, is more all-around.”