Chapter 342: Victory and Apology

Gao De followed the staff's instructions and entered the "exam room."

This is a spell practice field specially designed for mages to conduct actual combat drills.

When Gao De entered the field, he found that more than a dozen Sea Hai Shao Bing mages who came to watch were already standing around the spell practice field. At this moment, discovering his entry, everyone cast their eyes on him.

And on the spell practice field, a burly man who was estimated to be two meters tall and weighed three hundred pounds was standing in the center, also looking at him.

That burly man should be Gao De's opponent for this assessment, but the other party's appearance and looks were too different from a mage in the traditional sense.

The whole body shape was abnormally bloated and burly, giving people the feeling like a square wall. Just standing there was enough to be scary.

"Your assessment opponent today is Metis. Whether it is military merit or strength, he has actually reached the standard of a Sergeant-level mage."

"It's just because he is temperamental and is an extremely rare mage who is good at melee combat. Last year, when he had a dispute with a colleague, he moved to hurt the colleague. Because of this stain record, the Sea Sentinels have not passed his promotion application, so he still stays as a First-Class Apprentice Mage."

"Under normal circumstances, the initial training assessment would never find Metis to be an assessment opponent!"

"Because he doesn't belong to a First-Class Apprentice Mage in the general sense at all!"

A voice suddenly came into Gao De's mind.

He looked towards the crowd of onlookers. Mei Liya was looking at him with some worry.

It was she who reminded Gao De of his opponent's situation through 【Message】.

Gao De's gaze turned and landed on Zuowen Burns, who was standing not far away.

The other party was also sizing him up with a gaze that was difficult to understand, not hiding the kind of ridicule at all.

"In the assessment, it is normal for the assessment object to be injured because the hand was not held back. Everyone will not have any punishment or blame for this. If you are not an enemy, don't be brave, admit defeat in time." Mei Liya was still reminding Gao De.

The assessment did not require defeating the opponent to pass, so even if you admit defeat, it will not be considered a failure.

Besides, it was just a training assessment. Even if you didn't pass, it was not a particularly big thing. You can apply for the assessment again after training for a period of time.

At most, the record of having failed the assessment once in the resume will look ugly.

"Thanks for the reminder." Gao De withdrew his gaze from Zuowen Burns and thanked Mei Liya for her reminder.

His eyes were incomparably calm.

Because after seeing Zuowen Burns at the door, he had already made psychological preparations, so he would not be too surprised by any unexpected situation.

On one side of the spell practice field, there was also a row of long tables, where three senior Sea Hai Shao Bing mages sat side by side, acting as "examiners" for this assessment.

"Gao De?" The Sea Hai Shao Bing mage sitting in the center said after Gao De entered.

"Yes." Gao De nodded to confirm.

"If you are ready, go to the field and prepare to start."

Naxi, led by the staff, walked towards the VIP room inside the Collingwood Academy.

In the VIP room, the six-pointed star magic lamp hanging from the dome was emitting a soft halo.

Behind the walnut wood long table on the dark green carpet, a mage wearing a Sea Hai Shao Bing Captain uniform was sitting on a high-backed chair, picking up bone china tea sets and pouring a cup of tea.

"Naxi, long time no see, you haven't visited me for a long time."

"Mage Luo Er," Naxi mage bowed respectfully: "You are busy with missions, I dare not disturb you."

Captain Luo Er heard this and laughed lightly: "You are still the same as before, thinking too much, always considering others too much. If you can visit me, I will be too happy to be disturbed."

"Sit." He signaled Naxi to sit down and pushed the poured tea in front of Naxi.

"It's not easy to be a guiding mage." Captain Luo Er seemed to be chatting about family affairs.

"It's okay, the mages who can enter the Sea Sentinels have very good talent themselves, so they are very worry-free." Naxi mage replied.

"That is indeed true. When I was your guiding mage, I didn't spend much effort," Captain Luo Er smiled and said again: "It's just that I didn't expect that after the Jaden incident, you would still be willing to continue to be a guiding mage."

Hearing the two words Jaden, Naxi mage was silent for a while before saying slowly: "He is indeed the most outstanding one among the mages I have guided."

"It's just a pity... it can only be said that if you are not a person of the dynasty, you are not worth trusting."

"You can't knock down a group of people because of one person." For Captain Luo Er's assertion, Naxi did not echo, "How many of the nobles of the Holy Empire are local citizens?"

Captain Luo Er raised his head and looked deeply at Naxi, his brows slightly frowned, as if he wanted to refute, but didn't know how to refute.

"Then this one now, do you think he is worth trusting?"

"I don't know," Naxi shook his head, "but his talent, I think, is no worse than Jaden's."

"You can't give up eating because of choking, right?" He said seriously to Captain Luo Er, fully understanding what happened today.

Captain Luo Er thought for a while and said slowly: "If that's really the case, I'd like to see him."

"It's simple. After the assessment, I will bring him to see you."

"After the assessment, he may not necessarily be able to come to see me." Captain Luo Er said.

Naxi heard this, raised his eyebrows, and instantly understood something, "Who is his assessment object today?"

"Metis." Captain Luo Er gave the answer.

"Wasn't the original one Nier En?"

"He had something to do and went on a mission, so the higher-ups sent Metis to top it off." Captain Luo Er gave an explanation calmly.

"Captain Luo Er, how did you get mixed up with those people too." Naxi subconsciously looked outside, realizing that the assessment should have started now, and finally said helplessly.

Captain Luo Er raised his eyebrows: "I don't like to hear this."

"It's just that the Jaden incident is in front, and it's normal for me to have some prejudice against him. The people below want to give him some intensity, so I agreed. Although Metis is reckless, he still knows the bottom line. Besides, there are examiners watching, so you don't have to worry."

Naxi picked up the teacup and took a sip, nodding: "It's not worry, it's just that I don't want to see you mixed up with that group of people."

"Not worried?" Captain Luo Er looked at Naxi quite surprisingly, "That's Metis?"

Naxi smiled, "Although I don't know him particularly well, I always feel that he will give me a surprise."

"If you say so, I'm looking forward to it," Captain Luo Er knew Naxi's personality and was definitely not a person who spoke without aim, so he stood up immediately, "Let's go, let's go and see his assessment together."

Spell training field.

Gao De walked forward facing everyone's gaze.

The mage named Metis, seeing Gao De coming over, seemed to be very polite, and introduced himself in an extremely thick and dull voice: "Gao De, I am Metis, your assessment opponent."

"I am relatively heavy-handed. If I don't hold back and hurt you later, it is definitely not intentional. I will apologize to you in advance here, don't hold a grudge against me." He narrowed his eyes slightly and said in a seemingly honest tone.

Gao De did not reply, but walked slowly in front of Metis and then slowly raised his head.

Because Metis's figure was really burly, standing there like a small mountain, he was looking at Gao De with a condescending posture.

This posture made him instinctively occupy a high posture psychologically, as if he were already the winning side.

But at this moment, he was surprised to find that the other party's eyes were too calm, even calm to the point of being somewhat indifferent, without a ripple.

He didn't understand why Gao De could be so calm, but in his heart, a wave of inexplicable anger surged subconsciously. Whether it was Gao De's calmness or silence, in his view, it was a kind of disrespect to him.

And according to the rules, after Gao De entered the field and the two sides completed eye contact, it meant that the assessment could begin.

Metis looked rough and honest, but in fact, his personality was completely inconsistent with his appearance.

He was inherently violent and petty.

Therefore, Metis had already launched an attack without any politeness.

The muscles on his arms tightened instantly, like tight ropes, and at the same time, magic spiritual light flashed.

The next moment, the flesh and blood hands burst out with gray-white rock thorns, and the magic spiritual light covered the flesh and blood with a layer of granite, turning into stone blocks like fists.

【Stone Fist】, 1st Circle Transmutation spell, can make both hands become living stones, making unarmed attacks abnormally fatal.

"Fighting with me, and daring to be so close to me, is simply looking for death." Metis thought in his heart while smashing his fists at Gao De's head without any politeness.

The fists carried a whistling wind, like two cannonballs. If hit, the consequences would be unimaginable.

For mages, the lower the mage rank, the greater the advantage of mages who are good at melee combat.

Because with the increase of mage rank, the mage's means will only become more and more abundant, and melee combat will become more and more difficult to exert its advantages.

Therefore, in the first circle, Metis's combat power was recognized as powerful in the Sea Sentinels, but it was not highly valued. Because of the stain record, he was stuck in promotion, which was a manifestation that the higher-ups did not look favorably on his potential.

Otherwise, for true talent, where would it be so harsh.

Metis used all his strength in this punch.

Although he looked like he had no brains, he was actually very sensitive inside.

Gao De's calm eyes brought him some bad feelings, so he did not underestimate this battle at all, and even had a few hints of sneak attack.

With this cannon punch, as long as it hits, even if Gao De reacts and casts Abjuration spells to resist, he will fall into a passive situation and cannot find time to counterattack.

At this level of mage, casting spells, where is he faster than his punch?

Under his attack of one punch after another, Gao De could only act as a sandbag.

And with this performance, even if Gao De had many means and abilities, he could not display them. The assessment would inevitably fail, and even, he would not have time to admit defeat and be seriously injured by him...

This was Metis's original plan.

It was just that what surprised him was that, facing his sudden attack, Gao De seemed to have expected it, and 【Wolf's Speed+】 had already been cast in an instant.

Gao De moved his feet quickly, a side-shift step, and dodged this heavy punch from Metis.

In fact, it was indeed expected.

【Sense Emotion+】 (Divination, 1st Circle): You adjust your senses to receive the emotions of others within the duration (up to ten minutes).

Gao De cast 【Sense Emotion+】 the first time he saw Metis to confirm the nature of this assessment.

And through 【Sense Emotion+】, Gao De received Metis's full malice and violence.

Therefore, he did not respond to the other party's greeting.

People full of malice are enemies. For enemies, Gao De felt that even perfunctory was unnecessary.

At this moment, Gao De had entered a state of extreme concentration.

This is the double superposition of the training he underwent and the effect of 【Mage's Body of Patience】.

In this state, Gao De possessed extremely skilled mobile casting ability.

His fingers pointed forward.

A point of light lit up under the clothes on Metis's chest, and then spread rapidly to the surroundings, turning into a strangely shaped and mysterious complex totem.

1st Circle Rare Spell, 【Hunter's Mark+】.

Just under the cover of clothes, others did not find the appearance of this totem.

And at this time, Metis had turned his fist into a hammer and was hammering towards his neck side.

Facing this hammer blow, Gao De seemed to be unable to react and did not make a dodging action.

Metis saw this and had already revealed a ferocious smile.

Hum!

The next moment, Metis felt that his punch seemed to have hit an iron shield.

It was 【Mage Armor】!

At the first moment, Metis reacted, and at the same time was surprised by the other party's speed of casting and good luck, actually just in time to cast 【Mage Armor】 before his palm was about to split.

Looking dangerous, but in fact, it was all under Gao De's control.

His Li Oumeng magic vein network had not been fully constructed, but the magic veins connecting the body's limbs and the spell star sea had already been constructed first.

Therefore, his casting speed was now a few points faster than before.

Moreover, the 【Mage Armor】 he cast was not ordinary, but 【Mage Armor+】!

Extra: During the effect of Mage Armor, the force field will be like real armor. When the subject receives direct contact physical attacks, the attacker will receive corresponding physical counter-shock.

Metis used all his strength in this hammer punch, so the counter-force fed back by the Mage Armor was also abnormally fierce.

His palms were as hard as granite under the blessing of 【Stone Fist】, so he would not suffer any harm, but that violent counter-shock force spread from his palms to his arms and then to his whole body, making his head slightly dizzy.

But even so, his movements only paused slightly, and the next moment he had already skillfully adjusted his breathing, ready to exert force again.

Metis's combat ability, at least at this level of the first circle, was recognized as strong.

However, in such an extreme gap, Gao De's next spell had already been cast.

A small area of ground centered on Metis's feet suddenly flashed with swamp-like dark brown oil light.

【Grease+】.

Under the effect of the Grease spell, the ground in that ten-foot area was instantly activated, rippling with translucent gelatinous ripples.

Metis's feet sank into the oil layer, making movement inconvenient.

"Little trick!" Metis thought in his heart.

【Grease】 is a very common 1st Circle spell. If this could trap him, he wouldn't have a reputation in the Sea Sentinels.

And there are really many ways to restrain Grease.

The most commonly used is 【Jump】.

Because the range of Grease is very small, only a small area of ten feet.

Under the blessing of Jump, a mage can easily jump out of the range of Grease.

And Metis did just that.

He blessed himself with Jump at an extremely fast speed, and then jumped out of the range of Grease with an extremely flexible posture.

But just as he wanted to take the next step, he saw Gao De reveal an extremely weird smile at him.

What are you laughing at!

The angry Metis took a step forward, wanting to launch an attack again, but his footsteps slipped, and he staggered, almost falling.

After finally stabilizing his body, the next moment, the still confused Metis saw Gao De snap his fingers.

What does it mean?

Before his brain could turn around, Metis felt a strong burning pain coming from under his feet.

Looking down, his shoes were actually burning.

What happened?

【Grease+】.

Extra: The grease in the area will stain the objects entering the area and last for one hour.

Although Metis jumped out of the range of Grease, the grease still stained the soles of his shoes.

That's why he almost fell just now.

And the flammable grease allowed Gao De to easily ignite Metis's feet with just a single 【Ignite Spell】.

Originally, this bit of fire damage was not very fatal.

But the problem is, Gao De had previously placed a 1st Circle Rare Spell 【Hunter's Mark+】 on Metis to increase damage.

In other words, the damage Metis is currently receiving, in addition to the fire damage from 【Ignite】, also includes the extra damage from 【Hunter's Mark+】.

This was abnormally fatal.

And Gao De was not prepared to stop there.

His heart moved, and another spell model was triggered.

【Insect Swarm+】.

Swarms of tiny insects suddenly appeared on Metis, like a black tide.

These insects caused only trace amounts of poison damage, mainly winning by bringing negative effects, such as paralysis.

But under the blessing of 【Hunter's Mark+】, these trace but high-frequency poison damages instantly became not to be underestimated.

In just the blink of an eye, Metis felt severe pain all over his body, and his consciousness became blurred.

To this point, Gao De had actually won.

But he didn't stop, took a step forward, and his fingernails extended, becoming abnormally sharp.

【Cat Claw】.

Brush!

Brush!

Brush!

Several claws brushed across Metis's face in succession, directly scratching his facial skin until it was bloody.

All this happened too fast, so Metis couldn't find a way to say anything.

It was also until Metis's face had been scratched by Gao De that the three examiners reacted.

"Stop!" The examiner in the middle shouted.

That is, at the moment he made a sound, Gao De, whose attack had been abnormally fierce a moment ago, immediately stopped his movements and put down his hands.

"Ah!!!"

And Metis's burly body fell with a bang, covering his bloody face and wailing painfully.

"My name is Gao De, and I am also heavy-handed. I didn't hold back and hurt you. It is definitely not intentional. Sorry, don't hold a grudge against me."

Gao De lifted his spell, patted the sleeves of his arms as if organizing his slightly wrinkled clothes, and then "apologized" calmly to Metis, who was rolling on the ground.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 343 =====