Chapter Seventy-One: Regrettable Defeat

  This is really too hurtful...

  Looking at the young magician in front of him, Old Green couldn't help but feel a little unbelievable. The same person who just a few days ago couldn't even tell whether his magic was real or fake had just accurately judged his true intentions in that last battle and grasped the brief pause after he cast his spell, successfully suppressing him with a few low-level spells.

  Watching Lin Li grow up day by day, Old Greene was getting more and more frightened.

  Think about that ice explosion just now, if it wasn't for the magic rebound, I'm afraid I would be the one lying on the ground right now.

  "I was still a bit too hasty." Lin Li came back to his senses from the dizziness brought by the arcane missile, but he didn't rush to get up. Instead, he sat on the cold floor, summarizing his previous failure, which had become a habit for him in the past few days. After each failure, he would analyze the battle just now and find out the key to his own failure.

  "This is just one of the reasons." Old Green shook his head: "With your current spiritual power, even if you cast spells faster, it's hard to encounter magical backlash. This time was just bad luck and happened to meet. Your real problem lies more in your mindset."

  "You've been losing for the past few days, and today you finally had a chance to win, so your mentality was inevitably a bit abnormal. You hoped to use an Ice Blast to defeat me, but at that time, I had already taken magic feedback and couldn't cast spells within five seconds. Although my elemental shield was still up, it had already withstood several low-level spells. At this point, why didn't you continue to suppress me with low-level spells? You only needed two or three Wind Slashes to easily cut through the elemental shield. Why did you choose to use Ice Blast, which takes three seconds to chant, at that moment? Did you think about what would happen if this Ice Blast failed? The opportunity you had finally grasped would slip away from you again, and you might even fall into a passive position for the entire battle."

  Lin Li carefully recalled the situation at that time, and indeed, as Old Green said, in the face of an imminent victory, his mentality was somewhat out of balance.

  Old Green's face was stern, and in his heart, he had already taken Lin Li as his student: "This time the magic backlash is just an accident, but a truly powerful magician, doesn't give the opponent any accidental opportunities. The battle between magicians is like this, one accident can be fatal. Maybe your strength is far stronger than your opponent's, and in 100 battles, you can win 99 times, but that only once may cost you your life. You will never have the chance to fight another 99 battles with him."

  "Thank you." The old man's words fell into Lin's ears, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of gratitude in his heart. He was very clear that the experiences Old Green had shared were the culmination of a lifetime of summary, which was more precious than any magic or knowledge. Except for those who truly cared about him, no magician would be willing to say such things.

  "But, Ferre..." Old Green said with a hint of a pleased smile on his face: "Your performance has given me experience. If it were two days ago, I wouldn't have thought you could push me to this extent. Just now, I even secretly used a 14th-level magic spell to steal from you..."

  "No wonder..." Lin Li suddenly realized: "I said why my elemental shield was gone so quickly..."

  "Hehe..."

  "How about another round? But this time, it's a fair game, you can't use magic to steal..."

  "No problem!" Old Green agreed readily, these few days of fighting with Lin Li made him feel like he had become decades younger, as if he had returned to his youthful days of hunting monsters and searching for precious herbs in the corners of Anril with an adventurer team.

  Just as the old man nodded, Lin Li had already "whooshed" out two wind blades from his seat on the ground. These two wind blades had been prepared for a long time, just waiting for Old Green to accept the invitation. This was what Old Green himself said: A magician is not a knight, and should cast spells in any possible situation, as long as he can kill his opponent, don't care about elegance or not, corpses have no qualifications to talk about elegance.

  "Not bad, you learn quickly." Old Green didn't flinch, one icy shield rose up and easily blocked Lin Li's suddenly shot wind blade, followed by a slow but exceptionally smooth chanting of incantations.

  Just as he was about to finish his spell, he suddenly felt an abnormal surge of magical power. The raging fire element seemed to be frozen in place. Old Grin looked up and saw Lin's triumphant smile. This was a brilliant display of magical counterattack, released just one second before the end of the spell. Not only did it disrupt Old Grin's casting rhythm, but it also successfully consumed the remaining time on his Ice Armor technique.

  However, Old Green didn't panic and relied on a thin layer of ice armor to withstand the subsequent low-level magic suppression.

  The battle between the two was truly dazzling to Grian, with their skilled spellcasting techniques, precise timing calculations, and rapid attack and defense conversions. The various qualities were all perfectly displayed, especially over the past two days, as Lin Li's strength surged higher and higher each day, making the battle more and more thrilling, so much so that Grian couldn't bear to leave.

  Unfortunately, just as things were getting interesting, Kevin sent back a message.

  The people of Shadow's Nest have once again invaded the Demon Slaying Valley.

  "Ashole, you have a kind!" In the guild hall, Grian slammed his fist down, almost shattering the crystal ball connected to the Demon Slaying Valley. Enraged, Grian spoke to Kevin inside the crystal ball in a near-roar: "What the hell is going on in the Demon Slaying Valley now?"

  "There were about a dozen bandits on the other side, who came stealthily from the Night Song Forest. They destroyed two watchtowers and captured the wizards in them."

  "Damn it!" Griffin blurted out a curse, but after a while, he gradually calmed down: "How many people were captured?"

  "There are four in total."

  "Now you immediately write a letter to Es Hol, demanding an exchange of prisoners. Didn't we capture some Shadow Nest people last time? Use them for the exchange. If the other side doesn't agree, then add a bit more to the price. In short, we must get our people back." Grian said in one breath, and after thinking for a moment, added: "There are still seven days until that duel. You must hold on for me... The outer sentry towers, if you really can't hold them, then give up some first. These things we can take back at any time. What's most important is that people are safe."