Close Combat Mage
chapter-232

Suo Jia sat at the main seat in the hall of the city lord’s mansion with a fierce expression on his face. The Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes stood in the room, their faces red with shame. Their heads were lowered as they respectfully listened to Suo Jia’s lecture.

Suo Jia swept a glance around and said in a low voice, “What happened. Didn’t you all go out to show off? How were you beaten to this point? If I hadn’t looked outside on a whim today, do you guys think that you’d still be alive right now?”

Faced with Suo Jia’s berating, the girls could only lower their heads further. Their blushes also became brighter. Their consecutive victories so far had made them feel as if they were already unrivaled. It was only today that they suddenly discovered that they were still very lacking. As long as a powerful, long ranged attacker confronted them, they wouldn’t be able to charge their way out.

It’s true that the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes could rise into the air, and even glide. However, if they were attacked in mid-air, they wouldn’t have anywhere to borrow energy from, and they would be forced to fall to the ground. Then, they’d be trapped by the enemy encirclement. If the enemy numbers were too high, even a group of ordinary people would be able to hard-press them.

Moreover, they didn’t even count as experts yet. There were many people more formidable than them. In reality, they were just using the power of the Six-Winged Heavenly Clothes to just face things straight on. Without these clothes, they would’ve died a hundred times, a thousand times over ages ago.

Suo Jia wordlessly looked at the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes with very deep emotions. He had never understood this whole time why those so-called experts were never willing to use the aid of outside items, but now he understood. Even if they knew they weren’t supposed to be like this, the girls would all unconsciously rely on their clothes during critical moments, and they had regarded it as part of their own personal strength.

Suo Jia coldly looked at the girls in front of him and said heavily, “I’ve said before that the Six-Winged Heavenly Clothes are your greatest assets, which isn’t wrong. But…if you only know how to rely on these clothes, then what successes do you have to speak of.”

Suo Jia swept his gaze around and continued, “Duo Mei, tell me why you were all a mess when I saw you girls. You weren’t cooperating and assisting each other at all, why couldn’t you even maintain the most basic hexagram formation.”

Duo Mei raised her head in fear and said timidly, “I’m sorry, Young Master, it was our fault. We had underestimated the enemy too much and we were too careless. With just a small mistake, we were broken up. By the time we had wanted to recreate our formation, it was already too late.”

“Hmph.” Suo Jia snorted and said, “It’s indeed very good that you remember my words. I still keep to my previous point; your equipment is your greatest asset, but…I never said that you were all supposed to fight by relying only on your equipment.”

Suo Jia pointed to his head and said angrily, “Wisdom, strategy, tactics, as well as skills and mutual cooperation are the most important. Armor can be relied on but…that’s your final lifeline. Who would rely on their final lifeline to go up against their enemy? If you do that, you won’t be able to do anything to keep your life once that final lifeline breaks.”

Hearing these words, the Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes’ heads fell even lower. That’s right…today was the most appropriate example. They had relied on their Six-Winged Heavenly Clothes to confront the enemy from the very beginning. Once these clothes were unable to assist them any further, they had already been stranded on the fate of death.

Suo Jia looked at the shamed Angelic Six-Winged Phoenixes and sighed, “Equipment is just an aid. It can boost your strength, but it shouldn’t become a tool to show off your ability. That’s your survival treasure. Unless your strategy, tactics, skills, and wisdom all prove useless, you shouldn’t have any reason to use the equipment’s aid.”

Suo Jia coldly glared at them, “Alright, I won’t blame you all any further. All of you should go back and properly think it over. Tomorrow morning, you’re all to go out and continue disciplining yourselves until you learn how to use your brain and skills during battle. Until you do that, you will all have to float around outside.”

“Yes sir…” The girls respectfully replied. They all turned around and walked out of the hall. At the same time, Suo Jia shouted, “Duo Mei, stay behind. I have something to say to you.”

Hearing this, Duo Mei abruptly stopped in her tracks, charmingly glancing at Suo Jia, She then obediently turned around and began to walk over to him. At the same time, all the other girls began to leave. In a moment, the hall only had Duo Mei and Suo Jia remaining.

“Hah…” Suo Jia sighed and looked at Duo Mei with a complicated expression. “Oh, you, I didn’t even have the heart to reprimand you in front of everyone else. I had left everyone in your hands, but how had you led them? You almost brought everyone with you to meet Satan.”

Duo Mei bitterly glanced at Suo Jia, and after a moment of silence, she pouted coquettishly, “Alright, I understand now. I promise, this won’t happen again in the future.”

As he helplessly looked at the extremely sweet and charming Duo Mei, Suo Jia bitterly smiled and said, “Big Sister, we’re discussing matters right now. Can you not act like that? I can’t bear it!”

“Ok, ok…” Duo Mei lightly walked up to Suo Jia’s side and began to massage his shoulders. “You’ve already stated it very clearly. Don’t worry, Young Master, I won’t act so dumbly ever again. I’m not just a pretty face; although I admit that my mistakes have been extreme, it won’t happen again.”

“Hmph.” Enjoying Duo Mei’s service, Suo Jia snorted, “Do you really think you won’t make the same mistake again? I think not.”

Duo Mei couldn’t help but push Suo Jia in irritation as she retorted, “You, why are you so doubtful? If I said won’t do it again, I won’t. I’ve never disappointed you like that before.”

Suo Jia smiled and shook his head, “Just like I said before, the current you will definitely make more mistakes. The reality is just like that. You haven’t yet realized where exactly you went wrong.”

Duo Mei stopped her actions and looked at Suo Jia in confusion, “Didn’t you already say what my faults were? I shouldn’t have been disorganized and undisciplined, I shouldn’t have let the formation break, I shouldn’t have relied on equipment, I shouldn’t have…”

“Stop.” Suo Jia suddenly interrupted Duo Mei’s words and looked at her deeply. “Why do you mean you shouldn’t have relied on equipment. Under today’s circumstances, if you hadn’t relied on equipment, you would’ve died millions of times already. It’s true you were wrong in the beginning, but your mistake at the end was the greatest.”

Suo Jia’s voice gradually grew louder, “Look at you, you’re wearing a completely linked equipment set that even an Epic ranked equipment set can’t compare to. In addition…you’re also wearing a large portion of the Fire Phoenix equipment set. The Fire Phoenix set has 5 items: a crown, necklace, earrings, ring, and bracelet. You already have 4; the only one you’re missing is the Fire Phoenix Ring. Yet I didn’t think you were much stronger than any of the others on the battlefield.”

“That…” Duo Mei couldn’t help but fall silent after these words. That’s right…the things she used most often were related to Thousand Feathers. But in reality, after gaining the completely linked equipment set, she had gained countless more abilities. With the addition of the mostly completed Epic-ranked Fire Phoenix equipment set, there was no way she should’ve ended up like this.

After a long time, Duo Mei innocently said, “Young Master, you can’t blame me for that. This whole time, I’ve been training with everyone else, so I learned the same things as they did. I never had the time to train in anything else.”

“Sigh…” Suo Jia helplessly shook his head and bitterly smiled, “This is your greatest fault. You, who possesses a great number of advantages, were still unable to display your superior strength. As the captain, your task is to lead everyone to victory against the enemy. When the others are stuck, you need to lead everyone out of the predicament.”

Duo Mei’s eyes lit up at Suo Jia’s words as she looked at Suo Jia in admiration and said, “I understand, Young Master. What I should be doing is everything you did today, right?”

“That…” Suo Jia was stunned for a moment before he rubbed his head in embarrassment and said, “In general, yes. But I didn’t do well enough today either. You have to remember that you not only have to practice with everyone else, you must also allot some time for some self-practice as well. You can only become the most qualified leader if you display the greatest strength of the two equipment sets you have in combination with your omnipotent fire and wind elemental abilities that are talents that occur once every 10,000 years.”

Suo Jia paused for a bit before continuing firmly, “In reality, if you were just a bit stronger, you would’ve been able to lead everyone out today by yourself. My expectations of you are different from my expectations towards the others; your responsibility is to fully master the two Epic ranked equipment sets on your body and display their maximum formidability.”

At this, Suo Jia became more excited and said, “Duo Mei, under normal circumstances, your task is to command everyone else to victory over the enemy with wisdom and skill, as well as the team’s collective power. But when you are really needed, I hope that you can stand up and meet force with force, and use capricious stubbornness to utilize unyielding methods and overturn the enemy. Use absolute strength to destroy all obstacles. Whenever you act, both deities and fiends alike will be unable to escape. That is what I truly expect of you.”