Close Combat Mage
chapter-19

Chapter 19 – Daring Imagination

Suo Jia was curled up in a ball under his blankets, timid and trembling. This idea had a problem, he had to be within 1 meter of his target, otherwise he couldn’t control the water. His strength over water was still too low and one’s ability to manipulate water would only get weaker as distance increased.

Just based on his initial tests, so long as the target was within 10 meters of Suo Jia, he could control his victim’s movements by manipulating their blood. Within a distance of 1 meter, if the target had an open wound, then Suo Jia would be able to control the target’s blood and make it spurt out from the wound!

Suo Jia hugged his arms tightly in fear, not daring to believe that all of this was real. Could such terrifying magic really exist in this world?

One must realize that even though Suo Jia only had relative control over blood while it was within 10 meters of him, and only gained absolute control while it was within 1 meter of him, however, how old is he right now? By the time he grew older, region of relative control would surely be 100 meters and the area of absolute control would truly increase to 10 meters. How frightening would this be?

If he was really able to achieve this, then as long as he was within 100 meters, Suo Jia could use his control over his enemy’s blood to manipulate his enemy’s movements; within 10 meters, he could force all the blood within his enemy’s body to burst out from any type of wound! This….is probably the greatest fear of water magic that existed!

The only thing Suo Jia could not understand was, why hadn’t others thought of such possibilities? Why has this magic never appeared? Such a phenomenon is abnormal!

Actually it wasn’t the fact that Suo jia was the only one smart enough to think of it, plenty of others probably already have, it was more the fact that no one had ever reached the realm of perfection for control over water at the age of 8 was definitely an act that could not be achieved by either his predecessors nor his successors. If this realm of control over water had never been achieved, then how could they possibly have been able to feel the traces of water within the impurities of bodily fluids in living organisms?

Suo Jia’s thoughts were right; there had been people in the past that had thought of this as well. However to a water mage, directly freezing their opponent was easier. Once the body’s blood is completely frozen, the person will inevitably die.

An ice mage’s specialty is freezing; the result of using ice magic is the target being frozen. This is similar to the burns caused by the fire element. If this specialty was given up, then it would be equivalent to giving up the ice element’s greatest existing strength.

What’s more, all mages pursue controlling from a distance. Even though absolute control over blood could be achieved at a distance of 10 meters, in reality, as soon as you are within 20 meters, a warrior can activate his battle aura and dispatch the opponent on the spot. Thus, a distance of 10 meters is useless. To a normal person, having absolute control at 10 meters and realistic control at 100 meters is already an extreme.

There have been people who have had similar ideas in the past, however not a single one has ever carried it out. A water mage still has to study the art of freezing, learning to borrow power from nature. How can they compete with the natural world who they are borrowing their power from?

The Suo Jia who did not understand these circumstances had thought that he had discovered some type of unique secret. He felt both fear and excitement, curled up in his blankets thinking of various things. However he didn’t know that once water mages passed the apprentice stage and became official mages, they never again learn from water magic books. Ice magics become the target of their lifelong struggles. Control over water is nowhere near as important as controlling the power of ice.

Feeling both excited and scared, Suo Jia was unable to fall asleep throughout the whole night. Perhaps to any other water mage, even though this move was extremely powerful, it was like ‘sacrificing a watermelon for a sesame seed’. However to Suo Jia, who had always aimed to become a warrior, this type of powerful close combat skill that could ignore any type of defense was fatally enticing to him.

During the next few days, Suo Jia remained in an excited state. Whenever his spirit power was fully restored, he would continuously use his the Moisture Technique on his little pet. When his spirit power ran out, he would unconsciously draw out a water stream and start manipulating it. Even when he was in class, his hands would flip around, controlling the water.

Time passed very quickly. In the blink of an eye, it was Sunday again. Since Suo Jia’s mother no longer needed to continue going to work, the two of them did not leave too early. They waited until the sun had risen to leave their home and go to pray.

After they had finished praying, while Suo Jia was preparing to return home to retrieve the chairs and the white cloth with large words written on it, his mother had actually stopped him. Suo Jia did not understand the reason behind her actions, but she directly brought Suo Jia towards the direction of a grocery store instead.

Entering the grocery store, the woman warmly said: “Boss, have you finished making the tent I ordered? It’s already been 3 days since the arranged retrieval date!”

“Ok ok ok…. Give me a moment and I will go get it!” The grocery store boss replied to the woman.

Watching the conversation between his mother and the grocery store boss, Sou Jia’s forehead began to sweat. He urgently wanted to ask his mother about it but his mother stopped him with a glare.

Soon, the grocery store boss walked out carrying a small bundle. While walking, he smiled and said: “I specifically requested a well-known Earth Master to make it himself. You will definitely be satisfied with this Earth Tent!”

“Earth Tent!” Hearing the grocery store’s boss’ words, Suo Jia opened his mouth in shock. Even though Earth Masters didn’t have high statuses in society, their Earth Tents were extremely famous. In fact, they were a must for adventures.

However, Suo Jia also knew that the term “very famous” was a very exquisite term. What did “very famous mean”? At what point could something be deemed “very famous”? In reality, if this Earth Tent’s Earth Master was really “very famous”, then the grocery store’s boss could have directly stated the Earth Master’s name. Otherwise, why would he be called “famous”?

Note: famous -> well-known? (its what taffy used in the boss’ previous sentence). Youming can be translated by both but this is just a little constancy issue – Totokk

While Suo Jia was thinking about this, his mother pulled out some heavy coins from a leather pocket, and passed it to the grocery store boss: “Okay, I believe in your work. Here is 1000 gold coins, go ahead and count it.”

“1000 gold!” Even though Suo Jia had known that the Earth Tent would not be cheap, once he heard the value in person that the small bundle was actually worth 1000 gold, he could not help but be shocked.

Accepting the coin purse in the woman’s hands, the grocery store’s boss smiled and said: “I’m very grateful for your trust in us but….not only do you trust us, we also trust you, so this money does not need to be counted.”

Smiling at the grocery store’s boss, the woman nodded and retrieved the small bundle, and said to Suo Jia: “Suo Jia, Mother knows that you want to do some things. There are many things that Mother cannot help you with, so I bought this Earth Tent for you. I hope that your business will become larger and more famous.

“Mother!” Hearing his mother’s words, Suo Jia’s eyes quickly reddened. His mother’s support was reckless; if this business failed, then their daily lifestyle would soon be unable to be maintained.

The woman warmly said: “Let’s go Suo Jia, Mother leisurely stays at home without much to do now; today I want to go experience with you, and help you as well!”

“Nn….” Hearing his mother’s words, Suo Jia nodded his head eagerly. Even though his mother was ill, his business did not have much tiring work. He would just let his mother sit at the side and let some people talk with her; it would definitely be better than letting his mother hide away in the dark and chilly room.

Carrying the small bundle, Suo Jia and his mother once again arrived on the main street. This was the most bustling part of Holy Light, as well as the most appropriate area for running a business

Just as they arrived at the location, Suo Jia saw a large group of girls. The most eye-catching one was naturally the girl wearing red clothes, with fiery long hair standing the center of the group of girls. As his very first customer, she had left a very deep impression on him.

Seeing Suo Jia arrive, all the girls eyes lit up with a ferocious light. Flocking over and surrounding Sou Jia, they gave off the impression of eating someone, each one trying to outdo the other. This truly allowed Suo Jia to experience the horrors of women!