Advancement

Images of the giant-winged bat unleashing its power flashed across his mind once more as Vallis strove to grasp that harmonious resonance between wind and bone. *It isn't a crude shove.* *It's intertwining... merging.* Vallis drew another arrow, channeling his battle aura to his fingertips once again. *Intertwining... merging...* The battle aura began to flow from his fingertips, cautiously spreading from the nock until it gradually enveloped the entire arrow. It was an intensely grueling process; the slightest mistake would ruin all his efforts. Vallis drew a deep breath, fighting to keep his mind steady and serene, unmoved even as sweat trickled into his eyes. At last, his battle aura reached a delicate equilibrium with the arrow. The shaft gave a low hum, vibrating as though it possessed a will of its own, unable to hold back any longer. He drew the bowstring taut once more! Taking a deep breath, Vallis let go. *Boom!* This time, it wasn't the ordinary whistle of an arrow piercing the air, but a high-frequency roar that echoed throughout the woods! Arcs of lightning danced in the air as the entire arrow, cloaked in a pale blue radiance, surged forward! *Crash!* The instant the arrow struck, terrifying kinetic force blew a bowl-sized hole clean through the tree trunk! Charred scorch marks torn by lightning rimmed the edges of the hole—a brutal sight. "Heh..." A faint smile appeared on Vallis's taut face. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and raised his chin slightly. Years of hard work, combined with this single flash of inspiration, had finally borne fruit. From this moment on, Vallis had officially crossed the threshold into becoming a mid-rank ranger! He felt both joy and mild surprise. Vallis hadn't expected his battle aura to manifest lightning properties; he had assumed it would be something like wind blades. Still, not bad at all. Vallis stood up, preparing to return to Blackstone Town. But his ears twitched as he suddenly caught a faint noise. *Bang... Bang...!* Was something exploding? Vallis looked toward the source of the noise, full of curiosity. After a moment's thought, he decided to check it out. Pushing past the final row of dense bushes, a winding river appeared before him, with a few massive black boulders scattered along the bank. The figure responsible for the noise was right beside the boulders, and seeing him filled Vallis with surprise. It was actually Zelier. At that moment, he was holding his ash wand level, channeling magic as faint ripples of light shimmered around him. At the tip of the wand, wisps of light converged, condensing into an ever-purer form until a rhomboid missile of energy took shape, radiating an intimidating surge of power. Vallis's eyes widened slightly. Finally, the moment the missile compressed to its limit, blue light flashed! Like an artillery shell bursting from a barrel, it blasted out with a roar, slamming straight into a black boulder by the riverbank! *Boom!* A deafening explosion rang out. Surging magic dispersed in an instant, and the rough surface of the black boulder was gouged out, leaving a fist-sized crater from the horrific impact. Fragments of rock splashed into the river, kicking up sprays of water. "That's exhausting..." Zelier panted heavily and plopped down onto the ground. What he had just cast was the Arcane Missile he had witnessed back at the Sparring Arena. After nearly half a month, Arcane Missile was finally parsed. Though both were Tier 3 single-layer spell structure spells, Arcane Missile was more powerful than Fire Dragon. At least in terms of single-target destructive power, Arcane Missile surpassed Fire Dragon; its only shortcoming was likely its area of effect. However, just as Bev had said before, spells of the Arcane School consumed far more mana than those of the Elemental School. With Zelier's current mana pool, he could cast Arcane Missile three times at most. Moreover, the channeling time for Arcane Missile was even longer than for Fire Dragon, requiring nearly nine seconds to unleash. In addition, the Ice Spike spell he had seen Rand cast was also fully parsed. Ice Spike had greater piercing power than Wind Blade, and upon hitting its target, it triggered a minor frost explosion similar to a blast effect, making it a fairly solid offensive spell. There was another piece of good news over these past few days. Flowing Mist Veil had also finished parsing. At the same time, however, came bad news. Zelier couldn't use it. [Flowing Mist Veil] Magic School: Arcane School Structure Type: Single-layer spell structure Spell Tier: Tier 4 Effect Description: The caster mobilizes their magic power to weave a dampening force field around their body. The force field guides, deflects, and diffuses any high-velocity physical kinetic energy that enters its perimeter. From the outside, the force field appears as a hazy halo. When a physical attack contacts the field, it is like sinking into a quagmire; the enemy's force is instantly dispersed, making it difficult to inflict effective damage. However, this spell only defends against physical kinetic energy and provides zero protection against purely energetic attacks, which will also disrupt the dampening force field and cause the spell to fail. As a Tier 4 single-layer spell structure spell, the complexity of its runic circuits was exceptionally high. No matter how hard Zelier tried, he couldn't complete a full circuit with his magic power. Such was the limitation of his magic power control. If his Intelligence attribute fell short of the threshold, knowing the spell structure of an advanced spell wouldn't allow him to cast it. Zelier pondered in silence. A Tier 4 spell... perhaps once he officially advanced to a low-rank mage, he would be able to cast it smoothly. The battle with the Mist Demon that day was still fresh in his memory. The thought of possessing that special ability to ward off physical attacks was thrilling. Over this period, Zelier had also been trying to optimize the spell structure, yet made no progress. Even with four additional points of Intelligence, that invisible shackle remained in place. "What kind of magic was that just now?" Vallis's voice rang out abruptly, startling Zelier. He glanced back. "Oh, it's you... You're here too?" "Just honing my skills, same as you." Vallis walked over and sat down beside him. Zelier looked closely at Vallis. He noticed that Vallis seemed subtly different from before in some indefinable way. Had he gotten stronger? "It's an offensive spell," Zelier explained briefly. "Unlike spells like Fireball or Wind Blade that rely on elemental attacks, the missile just now was formed from pure magic power, so it hits harder." He then asked, "From the look of you... did you break through?" Vallis had mentioned something about it during their group meal. Apparently, he had drawn inspiration from the giant-winged bat's attack style? "Yeah. I've mastered combining battle aura with my arrows, so I'm considered a mid-rank ranger now." Vallis nodded. "Congratulations." Zelier smiled.