Chapter 188: The Compatibility of the Mage

When the snake popped out, Li En still thought the situation would be terrible.

A big shot of this caliber would cause countless waves with even a slight move. Li En thought the snake would bring him many new troubles.

"Perhaps he is a good snake?"

Li En is a typical result-oriented person. The snake's summoning time has already passed halfway, yet he unknowingly spent the most comfortable week since arriving in this world.

No cultists causing trouble, no sudden assassins attacking, and even Miss Shaliman seemed entangled by something. Li En read books and practiced swordsmanship every day, spending nearly retirement-like days in ease.

"Truly, too happy." Looking at the blue sky and white clouds outside the window, Li En was strangely moved.

For three or four days in a row, he actually encountered no emergencies; he just had to stay at home honestly and play with the children.

He vaguely sensed the core of the problem; the biggest change should be his own mindset.

When the Heroic Soul existed, he feared wasting a single day. He needed power to protect himself in this dangerous world.

And now, barring accidents, he is already able to protect himself.

When the Heroic Soul was present, Li En wished to use one day as two, learning more and practicing more.

Now that the Snake God appears and disappears mysteriously, occasionally showing up at home, Li En only asks that he not cause trouble. He wishes to use two days as one, to send off this pest as soon as possible!

"Tsk tsk tsk, ungrateful little one, do you think Uncle would cheat you? That's right, I would." The snake smiled happily as usual.

He had already seen the fun approaching the battlefield.

Li En didn't take it seriously; this guy loved being a riddler most of all, especially enjoying teasing you into asking questions before saying nothing.

Besides, if the snake really wanted to do something, Li En couldn't stop him anyway; it was better to pretend he didn't exist.

Of course, Li En didn't do nothing.

The adaptability training for the new armor was completed quite well. Even without combat spellcasting, the armor's "weight reduction" alone gave it too many new tactical options.

He even learned from other knights to get a small alchemy bomb pouch and a hunting bow to compensate for his short legs' weakness.

But soon, he threw away the hunting bow. With his near-zero marksmanship, even the best magic arrows given to him would be wasted.

Missing the target was one aspect; even if he hit, the power couldn't compare to his already combat-ready Heat Ray. If higher power was needed, he could use Dragon Speech spells.

He did keep and use the alchemy bomb pouch, after all, many effects were quite interesting. Small pouches of lubricant, dust bombs, alchemy fire, and lime powder could enrich his tactical choices.

Li En got this directly from Vitoria. She even planned to give Li En a twelve-poison gift box, but he refused.

However, the adventure party's expression toward Li En became increasingly subtle. Ordinary knights and warriors used all kinds of tools, but a paladin using these things had a bit of an aberrant flavor.

At the same time, Li En fully digested the magical knowledge left by Kukku and completed the analysis of his second 2nd-tier spell.

"Wearing heavy armor while performing spatial drift, how is this so outrageous?!" He had already successfully used it in actual combat, stunning and even frightening all the spectators.

Through actual combat, Li En tested the new armor's spellcasting-through-armor characteristics. It wasn't completely without effect, but the effect was negligible.

Besides its near-flesh-and-blood spellcasting precision, this "Dragon Armor" possessed the magical penetration and adaptability of a giant dragon's body, completely hindering no mana flow.

Even during the spellcasting process, Li En vaguely felt a certain mana amplification effect and elemental damage increase effect!

Unfortunately, the Black Dragon was, in a sense, a "corrupted Water Dragon" and a "dragon of destruction bringing ruin." Its shadow adaptability and strong acid spell adaptability were excellent, but Li En had no corresponding spells.

On Li En's learning list, acid-type spells were nearly at the bottom. The highest priority was always spells needed for actual combat, such as the famous

"Mist Step. I never thought you would already be a 2nd-tier mage."

The little gnome illusionist Geshim looked at Li En with an admiring gaze. But actually, he himself was a 3rd-tier mage.

"It's different. I spent over ten years, couldn't stand this boring and dull life, and felt I couldn't climb any higher, so I came out to see. Heh, my companions always complained that I lacked offensive spells." Geshim sighed. Even an optimistic surface gnome still suffered from the slow advancement of spellcasters.

But before Li En could chat a few more sentences, the topic shifted to the bad-tempered black cat at the manor entrance. Chatting along, he found Li En boring, so he happily ran to his teammates to chat about the lunch butter and beef.

Gnomes aren't incapable of anger or sadness; they just tend to become happy again very quickly. They seem to instinctively avoid any topic that makes them sad and always manage to observe amusing things that make them happy.

"Mist Step? Not bad. Isn't this the most difficult among 2nd-tier spells?" Even the snake was somewhat surprised.

Reality isn't a game. Just because a spell list is laid out here doesn't mean a mage can learn a spell by copying a scroll. A scroll is actually a triggerable spell model.

Mages can restore the spellcasting process by analyzing scrolls to acquire relevant knowledge and spell models.

But whether one can learn it depends on one hand on having corresponding knowledge accumulation, and on the other hand on having corresponding talent. The higher the tier of the spell, the more compatibility is needed.

The "Mist Step," a super-short-range teleport, is a typical example. It requires spatial perception ability (Conjuration talent) to master, and to use it well, corresponding talent is also needed.

Some people's Mist Step looks like phantom drifting; only the shadow is seen, not the person.

Others rush straight like a train to hell, crashing into the middle of rocks and wall crevices. In fact, even a slight deviation in teleportation can be fatal. There are quite a few mages who used Conjuration teleportation to send themselves away.

Li En's talent in this aspect was good. "Short-range teleportation within the field of view" had already been incorporated into his combat system.

With this long-awaited spell, he finally compensated for his short-leg weakness.

This also meant that his mage abilities were finally beginning to feed back into his combat system!

"It seems my spatial talent line is okay. No wonder Kukku previously suggested I also study Conjuration."

Conjuration and Evocation are considered inseparable brother systems. Much knowledge is fused between them, and many high-tier spells look like they belong to both. The most direct examples are various summoning of elemental creatures and elemental attacks.

But this doesn't mean that if you learn Conjuration well, you can learn Evocation. There is a clear example right in front of Li En.

"I only know Fireball, but the power seems a bit weak." For a mercenary mage to make a living, the prerequisite for getting decent pay and treatment is knowing Fireball.

But if the spell's power doesn't reach the standard intensity, there is a big problem.

Being able to shape a complete spell model but failing to achieve the standard effect basically means the caster has a shortcoming themselves.

Teammates didn't despise him for this. It was common knowledge that a gnome illusionist learning Evocation spells poorly was just a fact.

They could accept this flaw naturally because gnome illusionists were truly extremely strong in support, especially various illusions that swapped falsehood for truth.

Besides playing good illusions, gnomes were often very skilled in Conjuration. Gnome illusionists often performed a bunch of "summoning pigeons" tricks and were all good at escaping.

"I am quite skilled in Evocation over here. Especially fire."

Spellcasters have compatibility, and it is quite obvious. Li En's current performance showed good compatibility in Evocation, Conjuration, and Transmutation, and the ones he learned first were also from these systems.

"Conjuration, Evocation, Transmutation... Pure turret mage?! Preparing to become a battlefield mage?"

And this system combination seemed to enhance the power of Fireball, and could combine into quite strong and varied elemental magic.

"I haven't considered it yet. I haven't taken a master. I should probably find a Fire Mage master." At this, the adventure party's expression toward Li En became even more subtle.

Even the short-tempered dwarves spoke more quietly to Li En.

Finding this strange, Li En cornered that lizardman Wu Seng and asked for the full story.

"Uh, this is actually a gnome stereotype; he mentioned it while in the party." For some reason, this lizardman Wu Seng, though clearly strong, always felt instinctive fear and unease when facing Li En.

He shared some "interesting anecdotes," but the content wasn't just gnome racial stereotypes; it was the mages' private legends and unwritten rules.

"Different schools often have affinities; a certain personality type suits a specific school. For instance, Evocation is basically for hotheads and straightforward folks." Well, the case was solved quickly.

In gnomes' words, Illusion specialists are often sensitive and emotionally rich, while Divination seers are introverted and pessimistic. If a school's affinity is high, it can to some extent reflect the caster's personality.

"Is Conjuration good at running away?"

"No, the Conjuration school is either the rigid and cautious lawyer personality, or a trickster and prank master; both are hard to deal with. Gexim said the common trait of Conjurationists is that you can't believe a word they say; if you meet one, run as far as you can."

Li En fell silent. It didn't seem like a very good review, but considering the Conjuration masters' notorious reputation across the multiverse, it apparently wasn't easy to refute.

"Are all Evokers hotheads? Not necessarily. I've met some seniors who were very easy to deal with." Li En thought of seniors like Luo Yisi and others; they were all quite easy to get along with.

"Besides being hotheads, Evocationists also particularly pursue and worship power. They show great respect for those stronger than themselves. Violent maniacs only respect stronger violent maniacs."

Li En wanted to refute, but it seemed helpless; what was said sounded too much like the truth.

He became a bit curious about the other schools; wouldn't they have similarly subtle reviews too?

"What about Transmutation? Are all Alchemists very patient?"

"Transmutation is for the insane; all kinds of personalities exist, but basically none are normal!" The gnome mage happily took over the conversation.

"Transmutation is especially prolific in producing schizophrenic perverts; every Alchemist is a potential madman."

Li En thought of Lord Lord Kuku and instinctively nodded.

Wait, does that mean all eight schools have such low reviews? Are mages all a reserve force for madmen?

"No, the notoriously difficult ones are the Conjuration, Evocation, Transmutation, and Necromancy schools; all four are famous for producing madmen, maniacs, and the insane." The gnome, who knew no fear, happily educated the junior mage on the long-circulating mage affinity divination anecdotes.

He didn't notice that Li En, whose affinity for three schools was maxed out, was already smiling in a rather dangerous way.

"Miss Lana, come ride the horse; a friend is offering to play with you!"

(End of this chapter)