Chapter 0161

There were very few differences between a level one magical beast and level two magical beast.

Mages have the poorest sensing skills among the cultivator in the Cardinal Realm.

The differences become more pronounced as the level of the magical beast increases.

Normal mages can easily tell the difference between a level two, level three or level four magical beasts. The power difference between the mid to upper-level magical beast was so vast, even a mage with crappy sensing abilities can detect it through their elements.

Tempest, a dunce in some ways, was pretty good at sensing the movement of magical beasts however she has a flaw typical of all-powerful mages. Her mana reservoir was too large. If Ventus didn’t tell her then Tempest couldn’t tell the difference between a level one magical beast or a level two magical beast. The difference in power was too minuscule for Tempest to differentiate.

If Cardis’ mana reservoir was big as an ocean, then Tempest’s mana reservoir was as large as the sea. It was easy to find Nemo in a fish tank. Trying to find Nemo in the ocean with over seven billion fishes in the sea… Tempest thank the gods she wasn’t Nemo’s father.

Trying to find a whale in the sea was much easier.

Hence, Tempest was more sensitive to the movements of high-level magical beasts instead of low-level magical beasts.

No matter how much of an idiot mages were, they should be able to sense the massive gather up ahead.

Tempest sent a message to her party via a spell. “Massive magical beasts gathering up ahead. Four level five magical beasts control the horde.” She then shot a quick glance towards the dubious overseers.

Everyone got the message very quickly.

The three stooges have something on them that can manipulate the mana surrounding them, further distorting the sensing abilities of the mages in the group. The more experienced mages should have noticed they were walking into an ambush.

Tempest was unsure of her next course of action. If she was by herself, she’d run. She wasn’t at the point where she needed to challenge her limits. Being in a group limits her actions. She can’t run and leave the rest of her group to fight the magical beasts. Okay, she could run away and leave them to fend for themselves but that wasn’t the kind of person Tempest wanted to be. They could fight. The group of magical beasts up ahead might not pose a challenge for them. While Tempest made an effort to grasp the capabilities of her group members, the same can’t be said for the rest of the mages traveling with them.

Luckily for Tempest, her group members had a better grasp of the situation than she did. They slowed their travel speed until they were more towards the rear of the group before Graden yelled, “It’s a trap. There’s an ambush up ahead.”

Tempest followed Graden’s lead. She asked Ventus to work with Graden to alert the rest of the group because she couldn’t do it herself.

Once Starm realized there was a major battle coming their way, he started to regulate his mana.

Tempest had forgotten Starm was all but useless if he didn’t regulate the mana inside of his body and by regulating Tempest meant drawing the mana into his body then sending it through Tempest to be filtered and receiving it back.

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It took Ventus five seconds to release several statements, each using a different voice.

“He’s right. Something is muting our abilities to sense mana.”

“Use your five senses to detect the magical beasts.”

“Someone activate a Mana Disruption Array.”

“Defensive position everyone! They’re coming.”

Tempest knew in those five seconds Starm was able to drain Tempest’s entire mana reservoir and replenish it with his own.

Tempest wanted to scold the little brat for his behavior, as the process of speedily increasing his mana was painful to Tempest, but the situation didn’t allow it.

Tempest made a mental note to keep Starm charged at all times. She didn’t want to experience any sort of pain if she didn’t have to.

Before Tempest had a chance to recover from being used as Starm’s mana filter, Fenix hit her up for a charge up.

The process the evil fire witch put her through was rough, crude and extremely heart wrenching to Tempest. She grabbed the hand that Starm released and suck all the water mana she could. Damn thief! Not only did she steal Tempest’s mana, she also hit her up for more charms.

“This is an emergency. Give me all the water and wind charms you have on you.” Again, dire situations made for strange behaviors. Without a single protest, Tempest gave Fenix all the water and wind charms she had on her.

She might have whimpered “My money,” in a soft pitiful voice when she did so but no one heard her as the magical beasts finally engaged the group.

Even though they haven’t fought as a group before, Tempest’s group knew what they were doing. Bei Ting Mao took the vanguard position since he was better fighting in close combat and he has the highest defense among them. Graden took the rearguard while Li Ming and Fenix flanked Tempest. They put Starm and Tempest at the most secure position, the center of the group, as Starm has the potential to deal the most damage and Tempest was the rocket fuel to his nuke.

Bei Ting Mao took Tempest’s lecture to heart. He didn’t wait until the end of the expedition to speak with his spirits. When Tempest was being a lazy slug and slept through the night, Bei Ting Mao was communicating with his spirits. Due to his spirit veins and affinities being the same elements, Bei Ting Mao had an easier time speaking with them.

It had been a long time since Bei Ting Mao experienced unconditional love and support. He wallowed in a sensation for a while before trying to explain his desires to his spirits. His spirits responded in kind, giving him three one-circle spells and one two-circle spell to augment his melee skills. They would have given him stronger spells, but his body can’t handle it yet.

The metal spells, Sharpen Metal and Pierce were one-circle spells that increase his attack power by three folds. Sharp Metal enhanced any weapon attacks, making the weapon sharper than before, thus allowing it to cut through enemies easier. It was the equivalent of increasing the strength of the cultivator by three times. Pierce increased the attack power of any pierce type attack by threefold as well.

The earth spells he received from his spirits are defensive in nature. Iron Skin was a one-circle spell that increases the toughness of the skin, making it as strong as iron. The two-circle spell he also learned was called Gravitational Vortex. Gravitational Vortex increases the gravity in a location by x amount, depending upon the amount of mana the caster infused into the spell.

The best aspect of the three one-circle spells was its universal application. It can be cast on any melee fighter.

Bei Ting Mao cast the three one-circle spell on himself and a few melee fighters nearby then cast Gravitational Vortex ten meters in front of him.

Once he was done with his preparation, he started to kill the magical beasts coming his way.

“Spiritual Earth Sword Art: Laden Earth.” The Spiritual Earth Sword Art was the sword art Bei Ting Mao was most proficient in. It was a mid-tier sword skill that harmonized the power of the earth with the cultivator to kill the enemy. There were 12 moves in all. Bei Ting Mao manage to learn half of the moves in the Spiritual Earth Sword Art. If Bei Ting Mao depended on his comprehension abilities alone and not his increased cultivation speed from his spirit veins and affinities then he’d be considered mediocre at best.

“It is good to be able to execute the Spirit Earth Sword Art again.” Using mana as a source of energy instead of qi wasn’t hard. Both types of energy needed to be circulated through the body. The only difference was the pathway used. Still, Bei Ting Mao was able to adapt to using mana instead of qi.

With the thought of testing the effects of mana on his body, Bei Ting Mao focused on the intense fight in front of him.