Close Combat Mage
chapter-172

Besides, it wasn’t like the girls didn’t know the feeling of defeat. They would be effortlessly suppressed by Suo Jia every day. Even if the two of them teamed up, they would still be easily defeated by Suo Jia. There was nothing that could be done about it…Suo Jia’s battle skills were too powerful. Even if they had a whole set of linked Legendary equipment, the girls still weren’t able to stand up against him.

Suo Jia’s training speed wasn’t something that the girls could compare to. The effects of the Atlantis crown alone was enough to make the girls feel powerless. Suo Jia could remain in the state of meditation 24 hours of a day, 365 days a year. With the addition of the Faerie’s Soul and others, the equipments’ effects to boost training far surpassed the auxiliary effects of superior grade Legendary ranked equipment. The more time passed, the greater the distance between the girls and Suo Jia would become.

After a year, the emblem on Suo Jia’s right arm was now the emblem of a Great Mage. Both his magic and spirit power had reached over 3000. On the other hand, the two girls hadn’t yet broken through 1000. In terms of just meditation alone, Suo Jia’s training time was at least triple of theirs!

It could be said that the equipment on Suo Jia’s body barely boosted the might of magics. However at the same time, it had the effect of boosting training advancement by 200%. It was precisely due to this reason that Suo Jia was still much stronger than the girls even if he didn’t wear those magic equipments that could increase magic formidability.

Most importantly, Suo Jia had mastered the exclusive passive magics: Precision Strike, Spirit Lock, Acceleration Drive, and Berserk Impact. This made his activated magic stronger by severalfold!

Although Suo Jia was currently still a beginner Great Mage, he could already say that he was able to defeat any other Great Mages. This was because aside from his equipment, Suo Jia also had the help of these four great battle skills.

Passive battle skills actually didn’t need to be directly activated. They automatically helped other battle skills. Precision Strike aimed, Spirit Lock traced, Acceleration Drive…after mastering, would become an instinct. For example, a skilled warrior could just lift their weapon and the attack would automatically hit its target. That’s because the warrior had already mastered the use of Precision Strike and Spirit Lock.

There was no way to improve passive skills aside from constantly using them. After one used them enough, the battle skill’s power would increase. Having self-confidence meant that one had to have practiced a lot. The more one trained in something, the more they’d naturally believe in their ability.

After 10 months of training, and at the same time Suo Jia turned 12 years old, his Precision Strike, Spirit Lock, Acceleration Drive, and Berserk Impact had all been trained to the second realm. The might of his magic power had exponentially increased compared to the him of 10 months ago. Combined with his equipment and his original strength, as well has his proficiency with magic and level of mastery, Suo Jia’s overall strength surpassed the girls’ strengths combined by severalfold.

Within the secret room, Suo Jia was currently facing a wall. He raised his right hand, and a blue line of light flashed, causing a fine hole about the girth of a chopstick to silently appear on a magic target across from him. What was this? This could only be the Ice Arrow Technique that Suo Jia had mastered.

Although it was an ice attack, its speed rivaled a Wind Blade’s, and its force of impact rivaled a Violent Fireball’s. In terms of sturdiness, it rivaled an Earth Pike, and at the same time, it had the same freezing effects of an ice magic. It was an extremely formidable attack, and was the result of Suo Jia training nonstop for 10 months.

Lightly retracting his hands, Suo Jia fished out a blue colored potion and drank it. He then lifted his right hand once more, and shot out a few dozen Ice Arrows in succession. Lines of blue light continued to flash between Suo Jia and the magic target; these lines were the afterimages left from the Ice Arrows!

During these past 10 months, Suo Jia had activated the Ice Arrow Technique 10,000 times each day. As the most powerful singular ice elemental attack, Suo Jia knew that he had to train this to its limit. This was the most powerful, and most effective singular magic in 1v1 battles.

Activating the Ice Arrow Technique had many benefits. It could not only allow one to become more proficient with the Ice Arrow, it could also improve one’s comprehension of the Ice Arrow’s might. At the same time, it could help one train in all four passive attacks. Most importantly, it could quickly increase magic and spirit power.

Humans were just like this; everything they used more often would become more formidable. If one never used something, it was possible that their skill would deteriorate. For example, a person that runs every day would naturally become faster, and his leg power would also be boosted. It was this kind of practice.

Magic power and spirit power were like this as well. The more one used them, the faster the powers would improve. This wasn’t training, but practice. It was hard work and numerous revisions that improved spirit power and magic power. This made the energies more refined, and more resilient!

It was exactly these dull and monotonous types of training that Suo Jia had done during the past year. This had allowed him to raise the four passive magics to a new realm. These passive magics had a total of only three realms. The peak of training was the combination of all three of these magics, which formed an entirely new passive magic: Magic’s Core! Nobody really knew what effects it had. Only those that managed to achieve this realm would know what kind of state it was.

Time slowly trickled by. From beginning to end, Suo Jia stood there, monotonously activating the Ice Arrow Technique over and over again. He’d occasionally pick up one of the three colored potions and drink it to replenish his magic power, spirit power, and physical strength so that he could continue training nonstop.

After some amount of time passed, Suo Jia finally breathed out in satisfaction. He fished out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat off his brow, and then turned around to leave the room and towards the backyard.

There were currently 10 girls sitting at a long table in the backyard’s new building. They were so concentrated and preoccupied in their work that they didn’t even notice Suo Jia’s arrival. As their hands continuously moved back and forth, exquisite spears would form from their hands.

These 10 girls were slaves that Suo Jia had bought from the market. They were Suo Jia’s alchemy helpers. Being youthful and beautiful weren’t their strengths; in fact, it was their sharp and bright alertness that made them special! These were also the standards at which Suo Jia had chosen them.

As soon as he entered the building, one of the maids walked over and passed a dozen letters to him while respectfully saying, “Young Master, these are the letters you’ve received these past few days.”

Suo Jia nodded and took the dozen letters. After flipping through them, Suo Jia first chose to open the letter from the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes, and he read it closely.

Suo Jia’s face soon broke out into an excited smile. During the 10 month period, the girls had finally achieved it; they had conquered the Gold Triangle’s trade routes just as Suo Jia had ordered them to. These were the empire’s most flourishing and profitable major trade routes. Glory City was its center, while Tidal Granary City and White Fields City were its horns, perfectly forming the Gold Triangle. The profits from this area were definitely something that a typical person couldn’t even imagine.

However, after a period of joy, Suo Jia also became distressed. He knew that now, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes had nothing to do. After seizing the Gold Triangle, they no longer needed to move about, nor were they allowed to. From a training standpoint, Suo Jia needed to quickly find them a new objective!

Suo Jia didn’t continue to ponder it, and casually destroyed the letter. He then opened the second letter. This was sent from the Adventure Union. Its contents were simple; someone had provided information about the pieces of the Atlantis set!

Suo Jia’s eyes flashed, and then he calmly stuffed the letter into his interspatial ring. He then opened up the fourth letter; after a careful read, he discovered that it was from the Empress. The letter said that the Emperor was no longer well!

There was no point in guessing; when it said he wasn’t well, it didn’t mean that he was dying or anything, but that his skills in bed were no good anymore. He couldn’t get it erect or very hard anymore, and even when it did, it wouldn’t last long. He had begun to turn impotent, and ejaculated prematurely. However, after thinking about it, it made sense; the old man was already 54 or 55 years old. After encountering the Empress’ wonders and falling to her attacks, it was something inevitable.

In the letter, the Empress begged Suo Jia, saying that he had to help her. She had already prepared a pair of Fire Phoenix bracelets as a thank you gift. In addition…the Emperor had agreed that as long as Suo Jia could recover his youthfulness, he’d raise Suo Jia’s rank by another level. This would make Suo Jia into an absolute aristocrat: a viscount!

Suo Jia destroyed the letter with a smile, and continued to look at the next letters. These were all sent from the major unions to notify him of the Golden Angels, Dark Angels, and Blood Angels corps’ rise in rank. After casually sweeping a glance at the letters, Suo Jia destroyed these letters as well; there was nothing significant.