Chapter 150: The Essence of Fire Is Destruction!

High above, the thunderclouds gradually dispersed.

Sunlight spilled once more across the plains.

Lin Mo looked down at the massive craters blasted open by Lei Ting, and at the white pillars of light, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Not bad, not bad."

"Truly worthy of a high-tier skill — this power, this clearing efficiency, tsk tsk tsk…"

【【Earth Shield】's voice trembled with excitement: Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!!!】

【【Earth Shield】stared at the deep crater below, completely turned into a little fanboy: Third Brother! Third Brother, you're a god! Isn't this too exaggerated?! The earthen flow wall cast jointly by so many people, and you just smashed right through it?!】

【【Earth Shield】, eyes full of stars: That's way too domineering! Third Brother, from now on you're my idol!】

Facing Second Brother's wild flattery, 【Lightning Strike】simply maintained its cool composure.

【【Lightning Strike】replied coolly: Once you understand the true essence of lightning, this is nothing.】

In a corner.

【【Fireball】said nothing.】

The flames that had originally burned with extreme vigor now looked somewhat withered.

Although it had a hot-tempered and tsundere personality, it wasn't blind.

The power of that strike just now had indeed far surpassed its 【Flame Howl】and 【Firestorm】.

It was jealous, it was going crazy, but it had nothing to say.

Because Third Brother had truly done what it couldn't — instantly killing the earth-element defense that countered it, and taking out five hundred people along the way.

【【Earth Shield】scratched its head, turning into a curious baby: Third Brother, how exactly did you do it?! Isn't it… earth counters lightning? So why was Big Brother's fire completely blocked by water, yet your lightning just — crack! — shattered the earth shield in one strike?】

【Fireball】, hearing this, immediately pricked up its ears.

Clearly, it also very much wanted to know the answer.

【【Lightning Strike】said coolly: Following the rules, you can only be blocked by elemental counters.】

【【Earth Shield】, head full of question marks: Huh? What does that mean?】

【【Lightning Strike】seemed utterly disdainful of explaining such low-level questions: Without understanding the essence, no amount of piling on elements will help.】

After saying this.

【Lightning Strike】said no more.

Lin Mo, hovering in midair, heard these two brief words from Little Lei, and a sharp gleam suddenly flashed through his eyes.

Following the rules?

Without understanding the essence, piling on more elements is useless?

Lin Mo's mind raced at full speed.

He keenly seized the core logic behind those two sentences.

"So that's how it is…"

Lin Mo was suddenly enlightened.

Put plainly, beginner and intermediate skills were merely mobilizing surrounding elements, following the rules.

Water extinguishes fire, earth insulates — these too are rules.

So no matter how much Xiao Huo stacked fire elements, growing bigger and hotter.

As long as it was still following the rules, it would inevitably be blocked by the water curtain cast jointly by a hundred and fifty people!

Because a change in quantity cannot overcome the suppression of the rules.

But high-tier skills were different.

Understanding the essence of elements, truly breaking free from the shackles of the rules.

Having figured this out, the corners of Lin Mo's mouth curved up slightly.

Although he himself was a blank-slate mage with no elemental affinity whatsoever, completely unable to understand what the essence of elements meant.

But it didn't matter.

This was something the skills themselves needed to do.

As their master, he only needed to do one thing…

"Xiao Huo, did you understand what Little Lei meant?"

Lin Mo spoke slowly in his heart.

【Fireball】in the corner trembled slightly, saying nothing.

Clearly, it didn't understand.

"You, you've gone down the wrong path."

Lin Mo, like a mentor, began to teach:

"You're always thinking about making the fireball bigger, raising the temperature higher, but that's all just following the rules."

"No matter how fierce your fire is, as long as it's within the rules, then as long as the opponent has enough water elements, the fire will still be extinguished — that's the rule."

"And Little Lei…"

"It transcended the rules, touched something beyond them, forcibly overstepped the rule that earth counters lightning — or rather… forcibly altered the nature of the earth element."

Lin Mo went on talking to himself.

Although he didn't know if what he was saying was right, anyway he was just talking casually — whatever they comprehended from it was that.

"Xiao Huo, think carefully on your own — what is the true essence of fire?"

"Is it just getting hotter?"

Lin Mo paused, his tone turning somewhat deep, carrying a hint of provocation:

"If you only mindlessly get hotter, get bigger, get extinguished the moment you meet water, rendered helpless the moment you meet a counter…"

"Just based on this level, and you still say 'Forbidden Spell' every day?"

"This counts as becoming a Forbidden Spell?"

In the corner,

The originally listless flames of 'Fireball' stiffened sharply upon hearing the words "Forbidden Spell."

Seeing this, Lin Mo pressed the advantage:

"The essence of fire is not about getting hotter, or getting bigger."

"The essence of fire should be destruction!"

"It is the destruction that reduces all tangible things completely into nothingness!"

The moment these words came out,

even 'Earth Shield' slightly parted its mouth.

【'Earth Shield': What Master said… makes so much sense, feels so awesome…】

'Fireball' on the other side also fell into deep thought.

Destruction?

Right, the essence of fire is destruction.

The destruction that reduces all tangible things completely into nothingness!

It recalled every single one of its own explosions.

Recalled every time it met a strong enemy, its obsession with desperately stacking temperature, wanting to become bigger.

Recalled the gaze of the Flame Demon phantom that looked upon all living things with indifference when activating the Elemental Body…

So it turns out…

This sovereign has been walking the wrong path all along.

As long as I'm still within the rules, this sovereign's fire can never burn through everything!

To become a Forbidden Spell, one must break out of the rules!

【An unprecedented enlightenment surged wildly within 'Fireball's' heart.】

【Your skill 'Fireball' has received immense theoretical inspiration, seen through the illusion of quantitative change, and struck directly at the essence of the Law of Fire!】

【Your skill 'Fireball' has entered a deep state of epiphany… High-tier skill brainstorming, intensely simulating…】

"…This works too?"

Lin Mo was stunned for a moment.

Damn, I'm really a genius.

Just spouting some nonsense, and it actually hit the mark.

As long as Hearing Xiao Huo doesn't get stuck in a rut, with his grind-king personality, mastering a high-tier fire skill is only a matter of time.

"Let's go, tear down the main city!"

Lin Mo stretched lazily.

The Blazing Wind Wings on his back fanned sharply, continuing to speed toward the direction of the Brave's Main City.

……

……

At the same time.

The central plaza outside was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Thousands of upperclassmen and upperclasswomen stared dumbfounded at the enormous display screen.

Five hundred people.

Five main squads.

Just like that… gone?

"Holy shitfuckingshit!!!"

Suddenly, a male student stood up abruptly.

"What the hell was that just now?! Thunderstorm?!"

"Doesn't earth counter lightning? Lin Mo fired off one lightning skill and just pierced straight through? And wiped the whole team along with it?"

"Mid-tier skills have this kind of power?"

"Did he just use the Lightning Elemental Body? Did anyone see?"

The spectator stands instantly erupted in noise.

Everyone was discussing it.

"No… that move just now wasn't a mid-tier skill, it was high-tier! I'm not mistaken, that was purely a high-tier lightning skill!"

"High-tier?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Lin Mo is only level 27!"

"I'm not kidding you, I'm not mistaken, that was a high-tier skill, Lei Yun Purgatory!"

"Crazy, this world has gone crazy—a freshman under level 30 mastering an Elemental Body is one thing, but even a high-tier skill has been unlocked…"

"And uh, it's a different element too…"

"Shit! Stop talking, stop talking, I want to drop out."

"Sigh, I thought Lin Mo was a top-tier fire mage, but his lightning is even more top-tier…"

"Right, what's the point of this sophomore regular class even fighting, with fire magic and lightning magic like this, just steamrolling would already work…"

The wind direction on the spectator stands instantly shifted.

Before this, most people thought Lin Mo was seeking death.

Now it seemed, the ones waiting to die were the sophomore regular class.

Most of the people fell silent.

They seemed to feel the despair of the second-year regular class.

The kind of despair you feel when you run into a completely unreasonable monster.

Just then,

a girl caught sight of a figure not far away.

"Huh?"

"Look over there… isn't that… Han Laoshi?"

"Hmm?"

At those words, the people around all turned to look.

In the aisle between the stands stood a woman wearing a long blue windbreaker.

She looked to be around thirty, and was exceedingly beautiful.

But she radiated an extreme, bone-chilling cold that kept people a thousand miles away.

Even her long hair was snow-white.

She simply stood there quietly, and the temperature of the surrounding air seemed to drop by more than ten degrees, sending a chill down everyone's spine.

"Hiss—"

"It really is Han Laoshi. Why is she here?"

A fourth-year senior drew a sharp breath. "Hasn't she been missing for three years? Why has she suddenly appeared?"

A curious third-year student beside him asked:

"Han Laoshi? Who's that?"

"Oh, Han Laoshi disappeared three years ago, you hadn't enrolled yet back then."

The fourth-year senior glanced at his junior beside him and explained:

"Han Xue, Han Laoshi, is one of the top ice mages of our Dragon Nation, a top-tier ice mage known as the 'Ice Emperor'!"

"But she's been missing for three years now. Why would she suddenly show up here?"

The fourth-year senior rubbed his chin, his face full of puzzlement.

"Senior, why did she disappear for three years?"

The junior asked in confusion.

The senior shook his head. "I don't know either. I heard from the grapevine that three years ago Han Laoshi's younger brother died on the Ten Thousand Nations Battlefield, and then Han Laoshi vanished…"

Hearing this, the junior guessed:

"Senior, Han Laoshi suddenly showing up here—could it be that she's taken a liking to big shot Lin Mo? Wants to take Lin Mo as her student?"

"Take Lin Mo as her student? Isn't Lin Mo fire-type and lightning-type? What's that got to do with ice-type?"

The senior frowned and objected.

The junior thought for a moment and said:

"But, big shot Lin Mo is level 30 now, isn't he able to learn new skills? His fire-type and lightning-type are both so top-tier, his ice-type potential should be pretty huge too, right?"

"Uh…"

The senior paused. "Seems like there's actually some sense to that."