Chapter 105: Chapter 104: Climb the Stairway to Heaven
In the following days, Fang Zheng stayed in the Mage Tower, learning spells as quickly as possible.
Although he was well aware that haste made waste, at the present time, flaunting one’s strength was the best way to get the White Tower to pay more attention to him. Otherwise, once the White Tower deemed him of no value, Fang Zheng might have to face the choice of returning to the Sanctuary. That’s why Fang Zheng didn’t intend to conceal his abilities at all, voraciously learning every magic spell at the fastest pace.
Watching Fang Zheng’s rate of growth, Rex had no more energy to sigh. He had predicted early on that Fang Zheng definitely possessed considerable talent, but the other’s progress was simply too fast. It had been only a little over half a month since he started teaching Fang Zheng magic, yet Fang Zheng had already completely mastered Level Four Magic—bearing in mind he was learning four spell schools simultaneously, one could describe his growth rate as freakishly fast.
One must know that even for mages of the White Tower, reaching this level would be impossible without over a decade of accumulation and learning.
What was even more blood-boiling for Rex… was that Fang Zheng’s displayed aptitude wasn’t limited to just his talent in learning spells. Truth be told, every time he saw Fang Zheng now, Rex couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d wasted the previous decades of his life like they were nothing.
That feeling was not pleasant at all.
And that was why Fang Zheng was standing here now, ƒreewebɳovel.com
“While I’ve adjusted your schedule as much as possible, to be honest, I think you’ve gone beyond any limit I could have imagined. But this is still not enough, mages aren’t bookworms. Even if you learn Ninth-Level Spells by heart, they’re useless without sufficient experience. So, I’m sending you to a place next—an arena for mages, if you will. As of now, your knowledge is not lacking, only experience. So, I suggest you go there and have a good fight with those mages, hone your skills… you’ll be told how to proceed once you’re there. Right, I’ve prepared a wizard robe and a magic wand for you. Take off these ridiculous clothes before you go. That place is no noble ball or banquet, and no young lady will invite you to dance dressed like that!”
Dressed in a white robe and holding a magic wand, Fang Zheng lifted his head, gazing at the space before him. He had been teleported to this strange space after being hustled into the Teleportation Array by Rex.
Looking around, everything seemed to float in the air as if suspended. Fang Zheng could see floating slabs of stone, a massive plaza close at hand, and circles moving automatically like elevators. He turned his head to look around and saw pure white clouds hanging in the sky, but strangely enough, though the place was extremely bright, the sun was nowhere to be seen. Even more, when Fang Zheng looked down, he couldn’t see the ground either.
Is this a Demi-Plane?
After a period of intensive study, Fang Zheng had come to understand some of the basic knowledge of mages, including their fondness for using demi-planes to solve problems. After all, a demi-plane is an often-employed method by mages, with rumors that some powerful mages could even create demi-plane spaces as vast as half a country. Judging by what Fang Zheng was seeing now, this wasn’t far off.
“The spatial axis here is very precise, with signs of artificial adjustment, master, I think this space must have been man-made.”
At this point, Nymph, following beside Fang Zheng, spoke up—oddly enough, despite her outstanding abilities in this aspect, she couldn’t use a single spell, which was somewhat puzzling.
After a glance around, Fang Zheng moved forward. His location was a small platform with a closed stone gate behind it, carved with a peculiar and mysterious symbol. However, Fang Zheng knew it was Rex’s symbol… which is why he was in this place now.
Together with Nymph, Fang Zheng stepped onto a silver disc in front of the platform. After activating it with the Power of the Soul, the silver disc automatically ferried them swiftly towards the central plaza. The whole process looked straight out of a science fiction movie, even impressing Fang Zheng, who couldn’t help but marvel. Nymph, on the other hand, showed no special expression—perhaps in her world, such a thing was not considered remarkable.
The silver disc carried Fang Zheng and Nymph to a corner of the aerial plaza, and the moment the disc stabilized, Fang Zheng saw an invisible servant made entirely of runes “float” up to his side.
“Greetings, mage. Is this your first time at the Sky Arena?”
Hearing the Invisible Servant’s inquiry, Fang Zheng nodded. After obtaining the answer, the Invisible Servant quickly took out a scroll and handed it to Fang Zheng.
“Then, please sign your name here, as well as the Star Pattern seal.”
“Of course, that’s no problem.”
Having lived in this world for so long, Fang Zheng understood that this was essentially tantamount to “signing your name plus handing over a copy of your ID card,” so he skillfully accepted the scroll and feather pen handed over to him, first signing his name, then taking out the Star Pattern and stamping it on the place of the signature on the scroll. A flash of light passed by, and the next moment, a peculiar Star Pattern appeared there.
“Mr. Fang Zheng from Thunder Tower… Your queue number is 876. The first match will begin in two minutes, please prepare yourself. Your servant may remain on the disc for a close-up view, of course, you may also request her to join the fight. The rules of competition are simple, whatever means you use, knocking your opponent off the stage will determine the victor, or if the opponent surrenders directly, or loses consciousness as well. There is no need to worry about causing physical or mental harm to other participants; any magic that would cause bodily or mental damage will be strictly limited in power, so please don’t worry about that.”
After listening to the Invisible Servant’s speech, Fang Zheng nodded. He could already hear the cheers coming from the square, along with explosions caused by the collision of spells and similar noises.
Clearly, from this situation, it was apparent that these mages were evidently not the types who would settle things verbally rather than physically.
As Fang Zheng contemplated this, the disc at his feet rose again and flew to another side. Soon after, he saw his disc silently land in a small, circular arena—it was about half the size of a soccer field, circular like the arenas of Ancient Rome. On the spectator seats on both sides sat a sparse few spectators. Fang Zheng raised his head and saw a man in a red Mage Robe on the opposite side, staring at him with a serious expression.
“Time to climb the ladder.”
Muttering to himself, Fang Zheng stepped off the disc, then stood at the position designated by the light cursor. Right behind him, a wall of light emerged, separating him and Nymph. After that, a voice appeared in the center of the arena.
As soon as the words were spoken, Fang Zheng saw the Red Robed Mage opposite him start dancing with his Magic Wand and chanting the Spell Text. His wand began emitting a dazzling red light, and the voice of the Red Robed Mage chanting the spell grew louder in the arena. Soon, a bright red barrier appeared beside him, forming a sturdy shield…
Until the Red Robed Mage had finished casting his first spell, Fang Zheng remained unresponsive, standing there. Seeing this, a smug smile appeared on the Red Robed Mage’s face. As a regular of the arena, he certainly knew that many rookie mages who came here would have this initial reaction, just like fools not knowing how to fight at all; a duel between mages wasn’t as brutish as that of warriors, rather it was a collision of wits that was the main melody here. It seemed that this young man before him was the same, so, let him, himself, teach him the basic know-how of this place!
With this in mind, the hands of the Red Robed Mage began to move, once again conjuring runes with the Power of the Soul, when at that moment, he saw the black-haired young man raise his Magic Wand, pointing it towards him.
Hmph, a rookie indeed, not chanting or casting, merely relying on…
However, before the Red Robed Mage could finish his thought, the Elemental Shield in front of him burst like a bubble with a “snap,” and immediately a series of flashes appeared before the Red Robed Mage’s eyes. The merciless Magic Missiles whistled past and, without any hesitation, penetrated the shattered Magic Barrier, sending the Red Robed Mage flying violently.
Feeling the searing pain on his body, the Red Robed Mage’s eyes widened in astonishment. But before he could get up, that previous voice emerged again.
“Number 812 has been defeated, number 876’s ranking has risen to 812.”