Book 1, Chapter 21 – Earth-Style Magic (part 2)

Linley ran directly back to his room, and then tightly shut the door behind him.

He quickly removed his shoes, then jumped onto the bed and sat down. “Grandpa Doehring, come out now. Help me test my magical aptitude.” Linley was extremely impatient. When he was eating dinner just now, all of his thoughts were turned towards this.

A misty ray of light shot out from within the ring, falling onto the floor and transforming into Doehring Cowart.

Grinning, Doehring Cowart said, “Linley, don’t be so impatient. First, I must tell you that because I don’t have any specialized magical aptitude testing equipment with me, I can only test whether or not you have any talent for earth-style magic. Since I have no tools, there’s no way for me to test and see if you have aptitude for any other magic.”

“You can only test for my aptitude for earth element magic?” Linley felt a little disappointed.

He had also heard that in order to test for magical aptitude, special tools were needed, but since Grandpa Doehring was a Saint-level Grand Magus, Linley had been hoping Doehring might have some special methods.

“What’s wrong with the earth style? Linley, let me tell you, amongst the elements of earth, fire, water, wind, thunder, light, and darkness, earth is the mightiest style of them all.” A look of pride was on Doehring Cowart’s face. Clearly, he was filled with confidence. After all, he was a Saint-level Grand Magus of the earth element style.

Linley found this somewhat hard to believe.

Each style should be equal. How could the earth style be the mightiest?

“Grandpa Doehring, I heard that fire-style elemental attacks are the most powerful? And that darkness-style elemental attacks are the most unpredictable? How could the earth style be the mightiest?” Linley frowned.

The formerly amiable Grandpa Doehring suddenly turned angry as he grumbled, “Linley, let me tell you that when it comes to attack power, each elemental style has its strengths!”

“For example, the forbidden fire-style spell of ‘Heavenly Fire Burning the Fields, Earthly Fire Burning the Cities’ can burn an entire city to ashes, true. But the water-style has the forbidden spell of ‘Absolute Zero’, which when unleashed can freeze to death hundreds of thousands of people. Thunder-style’s ‘Heavenly Lightning of Absolute Destruction’ can unleash tens of thousands of lightning bolts, which no one can survive. Wind-style’s forbidden spell, ‘Annihilating Tempest’, can fill the entire sky with blade-like gusts of wind...”

Doehring Cowart let out a long sigh.

Linley’s heart was trembling.

He had thought that the fire-style’s attacks were the most powerful, but from the sound of it, that was an absolute joke. Every single elemental style, at the level of forbidden spells, contained astonishing destructive power.

“And earth-style?” Linley didn’t forget about the earth-style elemental magic.

Doehring Cowart self-confidently said, “How could the earth-style be weak? When the earth-style’s forbidden spell, ‘Heavenly Meteor’s Descent’, is executed, countless enormous boulders will rain from the sky and reduce a city to rubble in the twinkling of an eye. It also has the forbidden spell, ‘Heaven Collapses, Earth Shatters’. When this spell is used, the earth itself will begin to roil about like waves in the ocean. Houses will collapse, the earth itself will split apart, and magma will spew out from the cracks, killing countless people.”

Linley didn’t dare to even breathe.

“Simultaneously, the earth-style also has the wide-ranging protective spell, ‘Pulsating Guard’. Once the Pulsating Guard is used, the area above, below, and around an entire city will become protected from all attacks. Even if an opponent uses the ‘Heavenly Lightning of Absolute Destruction’, this spell can fend it off.”

Doehring Cowart began to speak faster and faster while laughing. “But of course, I’m just speaking of wide-range destructive spells, and not one-on-one battle magic.”

Linley nodded.

He could tell that Grandpa Doehring was exclusively talking about wide-range, castatrophe-level magic.

“Grandpa Doehring, it seems like the earth-style has lots more forbidden spells? Why is that?” Linley said curiously.

Doehring Cowart said confidently, “Linley, there’s something you aren’t understanding. Actually, each elemental style is roughly balanced, but in different environments they will have different effects. For example, in the water-rich environment of the ocean, water-style magic will be extremely strong. In some places where the wind blows powerfully, wind-style magic will be very powerful as well.”

Linley began to understand.

“Linley...in the entire world, isn’t it true that most battles and most magi are on the earth? And when used while standing on the earth, earth-style magic is extremely effective.” A smile was on Doehring Cowart’s face. “As you stand firmly on the boundless earth, an earth-style magus will have an extremely effective assistant.”

Linley now understood!

Each elemental style of magic was more effective in certain places.

But the battles fought by the magi of the Yulan continent were virtually all on land, meaning that earth-style magi were almost always at an advantage.

“Amongst all the styles of magic, as the earth-style allows us to absorb earth elemental essence into our bodies, earth-style has the most benefit for improving your physical form. Mother Earth is most benevolent towards us.” A look of veneration was on Doehring Cowart’s face. “When we earth-style magi sit upon the ground, we can feel the vastness of the earth, feel its pulse, and feel Mother Earth’s love for us.”

“When it comes to attacks, earth-style magic has the one-on-one ‘World Protector’ forbidden battle spell, and also the destructive spells of ‘Heavenly Meteor’s Descent’ and ‘Heaven Collapses, Earth Shatters’. When it comes to defense, amongst the forbidden spells, there is the wide-ranging protective spell, ‘Pulsating Guard’, as well as the personal protective spell, ‘Earthguard’. When it comes to personal protection, nothing beats earth-style elemental spells!”

Doehring Cowart appeared very confident.

“Personal protection? Grandpa Doehring, you’re saying that the earth-style has the strongest personal protection spells?” Linley looked questioningly at Doehring Cowart.

Doehring Cowart laughed as he said, “At the earliest levels, earth-style magi have access to simple spells such as a shield of earth, or a wall of earth. Upon becoming a magus of the fifth rank, you will gain access to the ‘Earthguard’ spell, which will continuously grow in power along with you.”

“When utilized by a magus of the fifth or sixth rank, it will cover your entire body with a layer of stone armor. But upon reaching the seventh rank, it will transform into an armor of jadeite. Upon reaching the eighth rank, this Earthguard armor will be made up of crystal jade. And upon reaching the ninth rank, it will be composed of platinum. Finally, when a Saint-level magus executes the Earthguard spell, the protective armor will be made out of diamonds. The defensive power of this spell...” as he spoke, a smile appeared on Doehring Cowart’s face.

Linley couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

This earth-style element really was a mighty one. When the Earthguard spell reached the Saint-level of power, it was composed entirely of diamonds! Linley knew that diamonds were an extremely hard and unyielding substance. And the ‘diamonds’ composing the Earthguard were no ordinary diamonds, but ones formed from magic, making them even tougher than real diamonds.

“Oh, right...”

Linley suddenly remembered the two Saint-level combatants who were fighting in the sky. He remembered how the green-robed man had landed that huge hazy sword-tip attack on the gray-robed man, whose robe shattered and revealed a diamond-like armor beneath it.

That Saint-level magus named ‘Rudi’ had relied on that diamond armor to block the attack by Dillon.

“That must have been a Saint-level Earthguard spell.” Linley felt secretly shocked.

It was powerful enough to take a direct blow from a Saint-level combatant. From this, one could tell how powerful it was, defensively.

“This is why I told you that earth-style magic is the mightiest elemental style of them all.” Doehring Cowart’s white beard fluttered about, making him look all the more self-satisfied.

After all, all men survived by living on the earth. They lived on the earth, and they made war while on the earth. Naturally, earth-style magi would always have an advantage.