Chapter 0167

Astrapi watched Bei Ting Mao fight the Page Mage with deep consideration.

Millenniums ago, a low affinity mage by the name of Louture Marshal couldn’t accept the hand dealt to him by fate. He didn’t have any spirit vein nor mental powers. His soul wasn’t that great either. The only immortal potential Louture Marshal could pursue was the heart. Cultivating the heart was mostly dependant on the spirits. Unless they have great luck or an amazing treasure, most low affinity mages were destined to get nowhere.

Louture Marshal didn’t have great luck or an amazing treasure. Even if he had the luck to find the treasure, he couldn’t hold onto it because resources for mages were really scarce. The fight for resources as a mage was more vicious and dangerous than any other cultivators out there.

Therefore, Louture Marshal needed an edge over the other mages. The edge he came up with was to combine a mage’s spell with melee combat. Louture Marshal was a spear user so he combined spells with his spear art.

Louture Marshal proceeded to fight and gain the resources he needed to become an immortal. He later created his own guild and pass down his method of fighting any mages willing to learn.

His story brought hope to many of the low affinity mages.

Traditional mages looked down on his fighting style. Louture Marshal method of fighting was more suited to low affinity mages, the same low affinity mages the traditional mages looked down upon. To hold their superior outlook as the chosen mortal of their spirits, they coined the name Page Mage to mages who fought by combining their spells with weapon.

Louture Marshal shrugged his shoulder and adopted the name Page Mage. Although he was strong, he couldn’t fight against the entire Magus Alliance. He also saw no reason to fight against them. The strong trample over the weak. That is a fact of life. Then he proceeded to create a whole new cultivating ladder for his disciple.

Mages needs steps to measure their progress. A Page Mage need those steps as well. Therefore, a whole new subset of mages were created. They were called the Marshal Mages. Their ranking goes Page, Journeyman, Knight, Captain, General then Marshal.

Astrapi was pleased when Louture Marshal came up with another method for mages to cultivate.

Spirits can be a stubborn lot. They are old and have seen the vicissitudes of life. They tend to stick to their way, uncaring of the damage their behavior brought to their mortals.

Astrapi believes the spirits should not allow their issues to affect their mortal, yet their separation from the main collective did just that, weaken the potential of their mortal.

A mage’s potential was completely determined by their affinities. Few low affinities mages ever had the chance to overcome the restriction placed upon them by their spirits. Astrapi was all in favor of mortals finding a way to increase their independence from the spirits. Mortals should be treated like children. Someday they must leave the nest. Parents should encourage their children to be as independent as possible.

“Quit messing around with the Page Mage and kill him. We need some help over here. It’s still 8 verse 4 here.” Fenix yelling caught Astrapi’s attention.

The pure fire mage was quite an unusual character. Astrapi didn’t hate the girl but she did not want Fenix to be in Tempest’s group. Secrets are too hard to keep. Once others learn about the girl’s Aspect of the Phoenix, she would be targetted by everyone. She would embroil Tempest in a manhunt spanning the entire Cardinal Realm and beyond.

It’s best to nip the issue in the bud.

Sadly, the others didn’t agree with her. They accepted her into Tempest's group so now they have to take care of the girl.

"Oh good. The yelling was a diversion." Astrapi thought to herself as she watched Fenix attacking a mage in red with one of her trump card, “Spontaneous Combustion.”

Spontaneous Combustion can be a two-circle spell or it can be a three-circle spell depending on how the mage arrange the rune words. Spontaneous Combustion simply burns fast and furiously inside the opponents body. The first circle of the spell calls for a high temperature fire. The second line of the spell calls for oxygen to be fed into the fire. Note, the second line states oxygen, not wind or air. Oxygen is a component of wind but it can be manipulated by a fire mage if they know how it works.

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Spontaneous Combustion requires coordinates to work. The coordinates can be written into the first circle or specified in a third circle. Coordinates written in the first circle has a speed advantage. It doesn’t require the mage to wrap another circle onto the spell circle. Wrapping a third circle onto the spell circle allows mages more flexibility in their casting.

Tempest can do both but opts to add the coordinates within the first spell circle for speed.

Spontaneous Combustion also requires the coordinates to the location of their opponents head.

Cultivators of any immortal path have strong physical defenses with body cultivators having the strongest physical defense given the same elements. Trying to kill a cultivator from the inside out requires the mage to bypass the cultivator natural defensive ability as well as overcoming their regenerative ability. Furthermore, if the mages doesn’t kill the cultivator right away, the cultivator can heal the damage done by taking pills.

My mortal is good. You don't have to worry about her. It took her a while but she was able to figure out the best place to cast Spontaneous Combust was the brain. Fenix's spirits whispered to Astrapi.

The fire inside the brain burns faster and longer than anywhere else on the body and if the brain is attacked, the cultivator doesn’t have the mental capacity to react to the attack fast enough.

Most mages are aware of coordinate type spells. They way to counteract coordinate type spell is by moving. Good mages can cast spells while on the move and the variable mage Fenix was targeting was an experienced fire lightning mage.

The moment of inattention cost him his life. The fire started inside his head and became a full fledged inferno, spreading throughout the rest of his body within seconds. After his first scream, he was nothing more than ashes.

My Fenix is good.

Astrapi grinned at Fenix, please by her display of power. Yes, she is good.

You don't have to worry about My Fenix dragging Your Tempest's hind leg.

I'm not worried about that.

Thankyou.

You're welcome.

“Leave me some corpses. I’m bringing out my beauties now.” Graden chided Fenix then brought out his three beauties, a rose bush, a vine and a strange sapling.

Heh. Fenix spirits said. That one will cause you more trouble than my little Fenix.

Astrapi ignored Fenix's spirits in favor of watching the battle.

Once the plants appear, one of the variable mages died.

“7 verses 4 now!” Fenix crowed as Mark Aventil yelled, “These plants are poisonous.”

The variable mages and Hannah Trellis’ group pulled closer together.

Astrapi continued to wait for the mages to all group up. The spells she cast requires all the mages to be within the spell circle.

Graden was skilled enough to summon his beauties in strategic locations, blocking off all of their escape routes. Slowly, the plants began to herd the mages into the trap Astrapi set.

“Yay Graden.” Starm cheered from the side.

“Why didn’t you do this earlier.” Li Ming complained.

“Women, can never satisfy them.” Graden grumbled under his breath before quickly explaining, “The fire lightning mage can easily kill them.”

“You should have brought them out earlier. They are nothing but plants.” Li Ming grumble.

“Less talking, more casting.” Graden said sweetly now that the pressure had lesson. Astrapi noted his expression and smiled serenely. The blackbellied boy was making a noting down Li Ming’s transgression in his little black book.

Teams tend to squabble here and there. As long as each members didn’t cross the line Astrapi set for them, she couldn’t care less if Graden was going to ‘prank’ Li Ming or not. Pranking Tempest on the other hand is a big NO NO.

Astrapi noted the position of her enemies and immediately activate her trap. Paralysis Cage and Heart Spark paralyze the mages then a round of electric spark came out of nowhere and zapped the group, causing them to turn black from the resulting burn.

“Ahhh.” The screams of trapped mages echoed through the cave. The Sound Barrier was quite handy. Astrapi noted the condition of her enemies as well as the guarded expression on her current allies. She didn’t want careless or weak teammates for Tempest. Her beloved daughter deserves better.

Astrapi loath to admit the others were right. This group had potential.

They were able to note the elements their enemies were using. After Fenix killed the fire lightning mage, they knew there wasn’t another lightning mage among them. However, the spells cast belong to the lightning element.

They were immediate cast their most powerful defensive spells. Astrapi was pleased to note they stood protectively around her and Starm.

“I guess it is time,” Astrapi muttered before popping up from her position on the cave floor and rushing towards her enemies.

Chop.

Chop.

Chop.

Chop.

“Wait! I’m the sixth prince of the -” Chop.

Chop.

Then Astrapi walked up to Hannah Trellis.