Close Combat Mage
chapter-40

For the next few days, Suo Jia was completely unable to enter the mental state he needed to. However, despite this, Suo Jia still persevered; every night after finishing dinner, he would enter the dark storehouse underneath the lake alone. Even though he was unable to force himself to not be frightened, after staying in that place every night, his fright decreased.

Finally, after putting everything down and spending two weeks for strictly self-disciplining, Suo Jia was able to overcome his fear. The night that he had managed to overcome his fear was also the night he was able to enter the realm of oblivion.

People are just like this; when you are in an extremely frightening environment, your spirit and mind focus on the thing that you are extremely scared of. Once you overcome this fear, your mind will naturally enter the realm of oblivion instantly. This is why fights to overcome one’s self are always the hardest battles.

What should be known is that during the previous week, Suo Jia had once again practiced the Exhaustion Training Method. This time’s result was definitely less than the first time’s, however Suo Jia was unable to sense this. According to Suo Jia’s perception, he had once again raised his spirit power and magic power by 20%, even though in reality, that was not the exact amount.

Once the third weekend’s Exhaustion Training Method was completed, Suo Jia could already clearly sense that his spirit power and magic power had risen around 15%. Currently, compared to three weeks ago, Suo Jia had increased his powers by 60%. It should be known that every time he improved, he was using his previous/latest state as a standard of comparison, not using his condition from three weeks ago as the base.

Feeling the strong magic power within his body, Suo Jia was excited beyond what could be expressed in words. His spirit power was high enough, and he had already achieved the correct mental state. This meant that he could now begin to enter the meditative state.

That evening, Suo Jia sat cross-legged in the center of the storehouse and slowly entered the state of nothingness. Once his soul had reached complete silence and nothingness, Suo Jia gathered all of his spirit power and started to meditate, trying to go all out to perceive his surroundings.

Gradually, within the dark and empty world of meditation, small colorful spots appeared one after another. Each spot of light was only about the size of a single sesame seed. Swiftly and nimbly fluttering around, they wandered and danced around between the heaven and earth like a group of fireflies.

“Are these the magic elements?” Looking at the countless spots of light between the heaven and earth, Suo Jia’s mind was able to glimpse at a trace of understanding.

He silently felt around and explored everything within this mysterious world. After what seemed like only a very short amount of time, he heard Eldest Sister’s footsteps coming from the direction of the door.

As he silently left the meditative state, Suo Jia’s face was covered with tears. The world of meditation was really too beautiful and mysterious. After striving for so long, he could now freely enter the world of meditation!

Suo Jia knew what it meant if he could successfully enter the meditative state. It indicated that he had now officially become a qualified mage. Even though he was only a Novice Mage Trainee, with his current level, he would definitely not have any problems with casting the Ice Sphere Magic.

When Eldest Sister—who had previously came to call Suo Jia to eat left, Suo Jia took a deep breath. He excitedly stretched his right hand forward and started drawing the magic spell formation for the Ice Sphere Magic at lightning speed. Following a faint blue light, a fist-sized ice sphere shot out from the center of the magic spell formation.

“Bang!” An explosive noise resounded in the spacious and empty warehouse. That fist-sized ice sphere broke into pieces upon impact with the solid wall of the warehouse. Although he could successfully perform the Ice Sphere Technique, Suo Jia knew that the temperature of the ice sphere was not low enough, and the hardness was not at a sufficient level yet. It could hurt people, but the power was still lacking. If the lecturer had been the one to perform the technique, the one that broke would not have been the ice sphere, but the wall!

However, Suo Jia also knew it was impossible; Rome was not built in one day. To be able to perform the Meditation Technique and Ice Sphere Technique by the age of eight was already a miracle. Although he had borrowed the strength of the Exhaustion Training Method, Suo Jia himself knew that he had worked hard.

After ending his experiments, Suo Jia silently walked along the passage, approaching ground level. His family was waiting for him to eat; he couldn’t let others wait for too long. However, he had many things he had to think about on the way home.

The Exhaustion Training Method really did play a significant role. In such a short time, it actually allowed Suo Jia to enter a realm capable of using the Meditation Technique. However, as of right now, the Exhaustion Training Method has already begun to show signs of decrease in effectiveness, as it was no longer as effective as the first two times he had performed it. In this situation, should the Exhaustion Training Method continue to be used?

Suo Jia had already used the Exhaustion Training Method to carefully upgrade his magic power with the sole purpose of being able to use the Meditation Technique and cast the Ice Sphere Technique. This was all for the sake of the grand tournament being held half a year from now. Since he was already capable of using the Meditation Technique after using the Exhaustion Training Method three times, he had already reached his previous goal. With that said, he really did not know if he should continue using this technique or not.

Suo Jia knew that repeatedly using the Exhaustion Technique would only degrade the beneficial effects further. This concept was similar to taking medicine; since if one takes the same medicine for a long period of time, a resistance towards the drug is formed. However, if one stops taking the drug before too much resistance is developed, then after not using the drug for a while, the resistance might decrease or even disappear. If at that time, one was to take the drug again, then one could enjoy the great effects of it once more.

Upon undergoing the Exhaustion Training Method for the third time, Suo Jia realized that the effects weren’t as good as before and that he already began to develop a resistance to it. Since it was already like this, then perhaps stopping for a period of time before continuing might be able to restore its effects.

Thinking up to this point, Suo Jia became hesitant. Honestly, if the Exhaustion Training Method was used like crazy to improve cultivation, then it was similar to using harmful drugs that become difficult to abandon. However, if the drugs are not abandoned, the effects will only degrade further, eventually doing more harm than good.

Gritting his teeth, Suo Jia finally decided to temporarily stop using the Exhaustion Training Method. He couldn’t let his only hope be used up. Waiting for the right opportunity might be able to help him get through a critical moment in life. It would be far more effective than using it now.

Even though he was reluctant, Suo Jia still sealed the Exhaustion Training Method without hesitation. With his current status, Suo Jia had already surpassed all the mages in his year by leaps and bounds. Even though he was only 8 years old, he could use the Meditation Technique already. At least compared to other people, he had started 4 years in advance. Such a large advantage was already enough!

Suo Jia tried his hardest to forget the Exhaustion Training Method. When he had returned home and had tastelessly shoved his meal into his mouth, he gloomily began to rush towards the school. He needed something to help distract him so that he could forget the regret he was feeling towards abandoning the Exhaustion Training Method.

Since he had left his home relatively early, by the time Suo Jia had arrived at the school grounds, there was still quite a bit of time before classes would start. Despite this, when Suo Jia entered the classroom, it was filled with all the girls in his class. After all….to them, staying in the dorm all day was boring; everyone gathering in the classroom to talk amongst each other was more interesting.

Along the way, Suo Jia greeted every girl he met with a slight smile. After more than half a year, Suo Jia had already formed deep friendships with every girl in his class. Everyone had already become genuine friends and this made Suo Jia feel comfortable with them. By this point, he had finally realized why his mother had always urged him to form close relationships with his classmates.

If it could be said that Suo Jia had previously only been patient and friendly with the girls before because of his mother’s wishes; it could also be said that Suo Jia genuinely smiled at all the girls now. This was because whenever he made the girls happy, their presence also made Suo Jia feel at ease.

Suo Jia sat in his seat and casually pulled out a pen and paper. He began to write the specific symbols for the Moisture Technique, Swamp Technique, and Ice Sphere Technique. To Suo Jia, practicing these magics literally meant practicing the symbols he was writing in his book.

Author’s Note.

One question? Others would not dare to say, as the country’s future most elite ultimate wind and fire warrior, the most powerful people in the future, even the country could not provide the most simple water mage for them and require them to go and plead to an eight year old child. You think the country’s big shot is an idiot? Such a great opportunity to bribe people, do you think others won’t do it too? Just by practicing fire style, your skin will start to crack. Since the females are like this, the males can’t be much better off. In this world, your skin will crack no matter if you are male or female and look like a ghost. Do you think this is possible? Boss, your settings must have problems.

There was a problem with a concept in the story. Why did the Fire/Wind Battle Goddesses have to go look for a water mage to treat them? Could it be that the water mages have a lower status than the battle goddesses? If this is the case, then you are wrong. Fire/Wind female battle goddesses are the equivalent to bodyguards, while water mages can become high officials. Having someone like a high official give bodyguards any type of service is surely a laughable matter.

Fire wind warriors are definitely powerful, however their formidability is on one-on-one or one vs many combats. However, a mage, especially a Mage Saint, can guard a fort and easily wipe out millions of soldiers at the same time, and embodies the strategy category. However fire wind warriors only fall into the tactics category. No matter how strong they are, if there are only a few of them, they cannot be of much use.

Six rank magic are powerful, the only difference is in the power of the stages. Water magic is only weaker at the initial stage. Afterwards, you can become much more powerful. You could learn spells such as Absolute Zero, Frostsaber Purgatory, Diamond Storm and Frost Breath. Every moves can slaughter thousands and thousands. That’s why you should not underestimate any mage.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that mages are all-powerful; it depends on their level of training. For example, not all students are able to enter college, become graduate students, and earn PhDs, and maybe even go past that level. However, other students still have that hope. Therefore, in terms of position, mages are the country’s cornerstones, and are higher than fire wind warriors. This is because of their strategic positions. In reality, mages are all aristocrats, and warriors are mostly bodyguards. This is not something only I have decided; everyone always sets a similar system, don’t they?

Other than that, the question about fire burning, I don’t really understand, do you wonder if fire mages are immune to fire? This isn’t correct, if you look at the video games, are fire mages immune to fire in there? If they are, then tell me haha.

If you play with fire, you will get burned. This is something that I have always believed in. However, fire wind warriors are especially strong, thus the so-called borrowing the benefits from both fire and wind, where wind aids the fire’s strength and therefore causes intense fires. Moreover, under my decision, playing with fire definitely harms the skin. Perhaps this is seems like an irrational decision, however I think this reasoning makes sense. What does everyone else think?

Using China’s traditional martial arts as an example, when practicing the principles of the iron hands, what happens to them? And when training with the leg, it becomes coarse. Training with the hands means beating them. This type of outcome isn’t uncommon. There is a young Shaolin monk that practiced with only a finger. And as you watched him practice with that finger, you can see it thicken. That is the price to pay I would think. So, when practicing fire magic, wouldn’t the skin become roasted, I do not think that this would be too understand right?

Lastly, you only read the book until here. There is still much more to come. Seriously, I admit what you said makes sense. Since they can bribe, why others did not try to bribe? Why wait until Suo Jia’s turn and make so much trouble for him? It does not make sense, even I think so too. But the story is not finished yet, let’s just continue moving on. As I said, everyone will eventually understand. If I reveal everything now, will there be any meaning left?

I won’t say anymore about this. This friend’s (TL: author referring to himself in third person) opinions and suggestions have all been purposely laid down. If you don’t think it makes sense, it probably actually doesn’t make any sense. However, the answers will be disclosed; in general, everything has its reasons. Nothing is arranged in its place for no reason.

Finally, Suo Jia will not keep going up the aristocratic ladder. It can actually be said that the story’s actual beginning is not in the Holy Light Empire; this is all just portraying the surface of the story. Everyone just please be patient and keep reading; soon, everyone will completely understand everything.