Chapter 326

"This guy, he seems to be a very good swimmer?!"

On the deck of the Interceptor, the alchemical machines in front of the four Sea Hai Shao Bing mages were displaying the underwater dynamics in real-time.

They were watching Gao De dodge Paul's tentacle attack with an extremely agile posture.

In fact, when he left the deck, Gao De dodging Paul's tentacle attack had already surprised them slightly.

Who would have thought that Gao De could have such a performance underwater.

Not relying on spells, but purely relying on himself to make such movements—clearly, Gao De's swimming ability was excellent.

"Didn't it say he came from the Saint Xi En Province? That's a principality without a coastline; how could he have such swimming ability? Could it be that he practiced his swimming in rivers?" another Sea Hai Shao Bing mage speculated.

Just as the four Sea Hai Shao Bing examiners had different thoughts, the underwater battle continued.

Gao De's approach was indeed slightly effective, but only slightly.

Because Paul had more than one tentacle or feeler; the quantity was quite considerable.

One tentacle missed, and another followed closely behind, carrying turbulent water currents and whistling straight toward him.

At the same time, the tentacle that missed did not remain idle; it pulled back violently, carrying immense force, and swept toward Gao De again.

In this scene, it was still holding back, purely playing.

When it truly went all out, Paul would use all its tentacles at once, sweeping in like a surging, angry wave, leaving one with nowhere to hide.

This time, although Gao De sensed the approaching danger based on the water flow, the two tentacles presented a pincer movement, like a giant pair of opening and closing scissors, precisely trapping him right in the middle.

For a moment, the water around him was also stirred into extreme chaos, forming a surging whirlpool like an underwater tornado, with not a single gap to borrow force from.

In a situation where movement underwater was difficult and there was nowhere to borrow force, Gao De did not think his dodging would be useful.

Since it was useless, he would just take it head-on.

Weren't the three protective spells he cast before leaving the deck for this very moment?

Moreover, Gao De had observed the ten mages who participated in the assessment earlier, and none of them were severely injured, which fully showed that Paul would hold back when launching its offensive.

This was also one of the reasons he dared to take it head-on.

The thick tentacle was like a wave-breaking torpedo, brutally breaking through the water and emitting a sharp, piercing sound like tearing canvas.

Shattered white foam sprayed in all directions under the impact, forming a fierce water cannon.

Splash!

The retracting tentacle hit Gao De first, emitting a dull, heavy sound of impact.

The tentacle attack was undoubtedly a physical type of attack.

Therefore, both 【Shield+】 and 【Mage Armor+】 could play a role.

With Paul's formidable strength, protective spells cast by an average first-circle mage really couldn't withstand the violent destruction of its tentacles.

But the 【Shield+】 that had been upgraded with the Wind Spirit Moon Shadow, with its protective ability improved to a certain extent, and stacked with 【Mage Armor+】, really did block all the damage while Paul was holding back slightly.

And at the same time, the recoil ability of 【Mage Armor+】 took effect.

It was visible to the naked eye that the tentacle Paul used to hit Gao De began to tremble violently and rapidly, as if it were having a seizure.

Although Gao De wasn't injured, his body was still sent flying under the force of this powerful sweep.

Fortunately, with the blessing of 【Body of Tolerance】, he had gained extraordinary focus in all areas, including the ability to focus on spellcasting.

Even in a state where his body was uncontrollably drifting, Gao De still did not interrupt his spellcasting.

Underwater, fire-attribute spells certainly couldn't be cast, and for a creature with a huge body like Paul, spell effects similar to 【Touch of Fatigue】 would be reduced to almost nothing.

But there were also some spells that could have their power increased underwater.

For example:

Electricity!

The moment Gao De's body was thrown away, a blue electric light had already begun to bloom.

【Lightning Pull】!

With Paul's strength, 【Lightning Pull】 naturally couldn't pull it even a bit closer.

But Gao De timed the spellcasting perfectly, just at the moment he was thrown away, when the distance to Paul's tentacle was within five feet.

Water can conduct electricity; the higher the ion concentration of the water, the better the conductivity.

And seawater has a much higher ion concentration than freshwater, so in seawater, a little electricity will spread much further.

This lightning bolt, along Paul's tentacle, sizzled with blue light like an agile electric snake, spreading toward its huge body.

Of course, Gao De, who was also in the water, could not avoid being affected.

However, he still had the blessing of 【Improved Resistance+】 on him, and coupled with the great force of Paul's tentacle, his body was flying backward at a very fast speed, which just happened to allow him to avoid the further spread of the electric current.

This was also within Gao De's expectations.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!

The electric current ran wild under the conductivity of the water, and every flicker and jump meant that the current was continuously striking Paul's massive body.

The electric power that a cantrip could produce was limited, and under the protection of Paul's tough skin, it was still painless and itchy.

But its inherent paralysis characteristic was silently taking effect, making Paul's movements a little slower.

Moreover, Gao De had also placed a 【Hunter's Mark+】 on it beforehand.

With the mark present, any subsequent damage Gao De dealt to Paul could produce a second stage of additional damage.

With such stacking, after accumulating bit by bit, the power that could be caused was actually not to be underestimated.

"His Shield and Mage Armor are stronger than those cast by ordinary first-circle mages!" On the deck, Lieutenant Xilin had already seen the difference in Gao De's spells.

"The movement speed displayed on the water surface earlier must also be a first-circle spell; cantrips don't have such powerful capabilities. And that mark, it should be Hunter's Mark, a rare first-circle spell!"

The Sea Hai Shao Bing mage next to him also added; he didn't recognize 【Wolf's Speed】, but he did recognize 【Hunter's Mark】.

"That's at least four first-circle spells already, and the intensity is so high. Who said spellcasting would be his weak point!" Lieutenant Xilin whispered to himself.

And his surprise hadn't ended yet; the next moment he saw the 【Lightning Pull】 released by Gao De.

The fierce spell effect and Gao De's move to use the force of Paul's attack to reduce the damage he suffered made his eyes instantly become burning hot.

Much hotter than when he saw the six words "top-tier mage talent" earlier.

"What a spiritual idea. Is this a judgment and strategy that a fifteen-year-old can make when facing an opponent far stronger than himself?"

Lieutenant Xilin himself was a battle mage who advocated for combat, so naturally, he liked mages who had outstanding performance in battle even more.

Gao De's performance caught his eye.

So much so that his previous concerns about Gao De's identity gradually began to dissipate at this moment.

"This is talent. Based on this performance alone, he can already pass the re-examination. It's just that this identity—if he only came from the Saint Xi En Principality, it would be easier to talk about, but now the Saint Xi En Principality has become a province under the jurisdiction of the Holy Empire, which is somewhat sensitive." Various thoughts flashed through Lieutenant Xilin's mind at this moment.

Finally, after flying backward for nearly ten meters, Gao De managed to stabilize his body with the help of a reverse water current.

He looked through the deep blue, bubble-filled seawater and looked at Paul again.

His "little tricks" and "combo skills" had already achieved some results.

To be honest, Gao De believed that with his current performance, it should be enough to pass the assessment.

However, Gao De had no intention of stopping there at all.

First, it was a rare opportunity to practice, and he was momentarily excited by the hunt; the competitive spirit in his bones was completely ignited.

Secondly, although such a performance was enough to pass the assessment, the level of "just enough to pass the assessment" was far from satisfying his heart.

Gao De never intended to step into the ranks of the Sea Sentinels in an ordinary, unremarkable manner.

He wanted to enter the Sea Sentinels with a high profile!

"The tree that stands above the forest will be destroyed by the wind"—this saying does have some truth to it.

But the question is, where is this?

This is the Jin Quehua Dynasty, one of the two most powerful countries on the Nolan Continent.

In such a powerful dynasty, geniuses are as numerous as crucian carp crossing the river, countless.

Wanting to stand out just a little bit from this dense pile of geniuses is already as difficult as ascending to heaven, so where is the need to worry about the tree standing above the forest?

Isn't this like having the body of Lin Daiyu but the heart of Schwarzenegger?

Besides, the rules of the world are clear and plain: if you want resources, if you want status, power, and authority, if you don't show your value, why would others hand these over to you for no reason?

Many people regard "hiding one's light" as a golden rule.

Doing so does indeed reduce many risks and the jealousy and targeting of others, but at the same time, it also misses countless opportunities and precious chances.

Gao De was not unaware of the pros and cons, but in his view, the philosophy of "hiding one's light" was not suitable for him.

After all, under the modern education system, there is no such thing as hiding your scores; that's not hiding your light, that's being a fool.

Furthermore, even adding the two-plus years since coming to this world, Gao De's actual age does not exceed twenty-five.

At this age, isn't it the most high-spirited age?

It is precisely the time to show one's talent and value; perhaps revealing one's edge will also bring crises.

But in crisis, without ability is the "danger," and with ability, it is the "opportunity"!

Thinking this way.

In Gao De's left eye, the golden lines as thin as silk that were constantly swimming had stopped moving at this moment.

He had already initially constructed a model of the giant octopus Paul and had learned of its weaknesses.

The eyes, gills, and the connection points between the head and the tentacles.

Paul naturally cared very much about its eyes and gills and protected them well.

But because Paul had too many tentacles, the area where its head connected to the tentacles was relatively large, so it was not that simple to fully protect it.

Seeing that Paul's movements were slightly sluggish due to the influence of the electric current, Gao De hurriedly seized the opportunity.

A slow, gentle classical music adagio movement sounded eerily on the seabed.

The music sounded like a tangible elf, floating precisely toward Paul and entering its mind.

【Arcane Chorus+】!

Gao De knew that his strength was far inferior to Paul's.

But in terms of mental power alone, it really wasn't necessarily much worse.

After all, Gao De's mental power intensity had already reached the level of a late first-circle mage, and although Paul was a mutant creature, its rank was also only late first-circle.

And the success of 【Arcane Chorus+】 depended precisely on the mental confrontation between the caster and the target.

It was clearly visible that under the influence of this adagio movement, Paul, who had been somewhat irritable due to the paralysis of the electric current and the damage from the Hunter's Mark, calmed down quite a bit and became friendly:

The tentacles that had originally wanted to attack Gao De again also relaxed, swaying gently up and down with the water current, losing their aggressiveness.

Success!

Seeing this situation, Gao De was secretly happy.

Sure enough, Paul's mental power was not stronger than his, so it did not immunize against 【Arcane Chorus+】, and under the spell effect, it became friendly.

Of course, this friendliness would vanish after his next attack.

However, that was enough.

Gao De only needed this one attack opportunity.

With Paul becoming friendly, he swam toward Paul quickly and without obstruction.

Before long, he was almost pressed against Paul's huge and slippery body.

Gao De stretched out his right hand.

His right fingernails had actually become incredibly sharp and slender at this moment, flashing with cold light, like five sharp little knives.

【Primal Savage Strike】.

Slash!

Five sharp fingernails swept violently across the connection point between Paul's tentacles and its head.

Although the protection here was not as thick and solid as other parts.

But even so, 【Primal Savage Strike】 under the effect of up-casting could only barely scratch its skin, leaving five extremely faint marks.

Boom!

Gao De's attack made Paul's friendliness vanish, directly breaking free from the influence of 【Arcane Chorus+】, and even bringing out some anger—it launched seven or eight tentacles to wrap around Gao De, which was unprecedented.

In just an instant, Gao De was bound by Paul's tentacles.

And the force of the tentacles was deepening, constantly tightening.

Gao De had been in the water for a while, and his oxygen was already mostly consumed; at this moment, being squeezed like this, he felt even more chest tightness and shortness of breath, the discomfort of oxygen deprivation surged up all at once, and his nose uncontrollably bubbled out strings of air bubbles.

"Paul!"

It was also at this time that Lieutenant Xilin's clear voice came from above the water.

This voice seemed to carry some kind of mysterious deterrent power; after it fell, the force of Paul's tentacles gradually decreased.

After it let out a humming sound, it wrapped around Gao De with its tentacles and broke through the water.

Immediately after, just like it treated other mages earlier, it threw Gao De heavily onto the deck with a violent swing.

But the other "examinees" who were still waiting on the side, seeing the sorry state of Gao De landing on the deck, did not think that Gao De was the same as the others.

Not to mention that Gao De's time in the water had already set a new record for this round of re-examination, Lieutenant Xilin's shout of "Paul" was heard by everyone.

Everyone had the same question in their hearts: what kind of astonishing move did this guy make underwater to force the examiner to have to step in and stop Paul!

"Very good, very good." Seeing Gao De already standing up unsteadily, Lieutenant Xilin went against his previous cold attitude, his eyes revealing a bit of undisguised appreciation, and he praised Gao De twice.

"The examiner for the first round gave you an evaluation of top-tier mage talent." He suddenly raised the parchment in his hand and waved it at Gao De, saying something with unclear meaning, the corners of his mouth slightly raised, looking like he was smiling but not really.

Gao De shook his wet hair, tilted his head slightly, and looked directly into Lieutenant Xilin's eyes.

He thought for a moment and said earnestly: "He should be right; I am indeed a genius."

"Hahaha!" Hearing this, Lieutenant Xilin let out a hearty laugh, the sound waves echoing over the deck.

Then he narrowed his eyes slightly and said just as earnestly: "I think so too."

On the parchment in his hand, behind Gao De's name, a big checkmark had already been marked.

Not only that, the evaluation of "top-tier mage talent" given by the first-round examiner was also circled by Lieutenant Xilin, and a checkmark was also marked.

This indicated that Gao De had passed the Sea Hai Shao Bing's re-examination and had performed excellently, gaining extra attention.

The threshold for the Sea Sentinels is indeed high.

But what is a threshold?

A threshold is a threshold; without ability, it is a barrier, but with ability, it is a door!

(End of chapter)