Going to the archmage of the Transmutation School for so techniques?
That’s a good idea, but Garrett thought it might be better to talk to his teacher first.
What if the teacher already had what he needed? What if the teacher could give him so pointers?
At worst, if the teacher didn't have the best techniques, the people the teacher could introduce him to would definitely be stronger than those he could find on his own. If it didn't work out, the most he would lose was a trip, and he could still go to the alchemy workshop to find soone.
At worst, he’d just get scolded by the teacher again… Since he started, how many tis had the teacher scolded him? Insufficient combat power, lack of battle awareness, thinking too much like an ordinary person, not at all like a mage...
The teacher's scolding was like a breeze brushing over the mountains;
after being scolded, he'd go back to doing what he needed to do.
Once he thought of it, he acted. Garrett sorted through his recent research and the next morning, he climbed to the top of Igor Peak. The Lord of Thunder listened quietly to his needs, and with a flick of his finger, a lightning ball appeared in mid-air.
Silver-white, dazzling, and unsteady, it was only the size of a fist. As soon as it appeared, it began to split continuously: one into two, two into four, four into eight...
Garrett blinked twice, and the lightning ball had already split into 32, floating and bobbing in front of him, performing Brownian motion.
The way these lightning balls floated everywhere, splitting and occasionally exploding, reminded him of the stories told by the big shots in the chemical industry, about those solutions of tert-butyllithium floating chaotically in factories.
"Try using your ntal power to envelop the lightning balls and extinguish them," the Lord of Thunder said faintly. Before the words had even fully left his mouth, one of the lightning balls was already drifting towards Garrett’s face.
Crackling sounds constantly erupted. As it floated within a foot of him, Garrett felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and his eyebrows and eyelashes prickled upwards.
He didn't dare to argue with his teacher and quickly extended his ntal power to envelop the lightning ball. He got close, failed, got closer, and still failed...
This cunning lightning ball had too strange a movent pattern, deliberately playing hide-and-seek with him.
Garrett increased his ntal power and rushed at it rapidly. Alright, it didn't dodge this ti and was pushed along by his force!
Was this like catching butterflies?
Or swatting mosquitoes?
Even a tiny bit of his ntal power could push the lightning ball aside!
Or perhaps, was this the observer effect in legend, where simply observing would inevitably cause changes?
Garrett silently changed his tactic, expanding his ntal power into a sphere to envelop the lightning ball. Ah, he caught it! Now, tighten, wrap it up, adhere—
Ten centiters, five centiters, two centiters, one centiter. Before the outer layer even touched the lightning ball, he heard a crackle, and the lightning ball shot out a tiny bolt of lightning, striking the outer barrier.
Garrett didn't even have ti to react. The lightning hit the barrier, bounced back, and struck the lightning ball. With a contraction and expansion of light, the lightning ball exploded on the spot...
The portion of ntal power Garrett had extended was torn to pieces. The lightning ball split into two, one moving left, the other right, continuing to float.
Was my speed too slow… If I had enveloped it and adhered faster, would it not have exploded?
"Keep going!"
Garrett steadied himself and quickly extended his ntal power again to envelop the lightning ball on the left. This ti, he increased his speed, but in the face of the lightning’s discharge, it was of no use...
With a crackle, the lightning ball he attempted to envelop exploded again, splitting into two. Great, now there were three, floating towards him in different trajectories. Moreover, the movent patterns of the three lightning balls were completely different...
Envelop!
Wrap it up!
With a crackle, the lightning ball he finally managed to envelop was squeezed into seventeen or eighteen pieces by his rapidly contracting ntal power. A small portion was extinguished, while the majority escaped through the gaps, transforming from the size of cherries to small cherry-sized fragnts.
Then, they continued to float.
Continued to float.
Continued to float.
Ah, the local cherries, only slightly larger than soybeans, bright red and orange, sweet and sour, juicy and succulent. He used to love them. When they were in season, they were only three to four yuan per pound, and he could eat as much as he wanted.
The only downside was their thin skin, which made them difficult to store and transport. They had to be picked, transported to the city, bought, and eaten all on the sa day... If kept until the next day, even in the refrigerator, half of them would spoil.
His thoughts drifted away, and a lightning ball suddenly exploded on his shin, causing Garrett to yelp in pain and jump up. How unlucky was he! He felt safe today and forgot to wear his protective suit!
Garrett didn’t even dare to complain. He quickly cast a healing spell on himself and sped up:
Envelop the lightning balls with ntal power!
Spread out and envelop them!
Tighten quickly!
Thank goodness, he finally extinguished a small one. Garrett glanced forward quickly, seeing that there were still seventeen or eighteen small cherry-sized lightning balls forming a net a foot ahead of him.
There were also thirty or forty larger cherry-sized lightning balls, floating up and down, filling the five or six square ters of space between him and the Lord of Thunder.
The lightning balls floated leisurely, occasionally colliding and rging into one, sotis splitting again...
The only good thing was that these lightning balls were under the teacher's control and wouldn’t float around the factory like tert-butyllithium solutions, requiring you to chase them with a mop. If you missed one, there would be an explosion.
And then you, your colleagues, and your factory would all be gone.
"Teacher... how many more lightning balls do I have to extinguish..."
Garrett asked with a pained expression. From the other side of the sea of lightning, the Lord of Thunder's voice was faint:
"Extinguish all of these first. You're already an eighth-level mage! It shouldn't be difficult for an eighth-level mage to extinguish several tis the number of lightning balls!"
...So what you an, teacher, is that my ntal power should be able to do this, but I lack practice...
Garrett obediently started to envelop one ball after another with his ntal power, chasing, blocking, and trying to wrap them. The first one was round, the second one was also round, and by the third, it had turned flat, causing him to almost lose control.
By the fourth one, as soon as his ntal power touched it, it suddenly developed a hole, transforming into the shape of a doughnut.
"Teacher, can I..."
Garrett wailed. Opposite, the Lord of Thunder said faintly:
"No."
Alright, a doughnut was better than a twisted cookie. Moreover, the Lord of Thunder, a legendary mage, was personally controlling the lightning for his training. As an old saying went:
Don't be ungrateful when you are fortunate!
Garrett persevered and extinguished three lightning doughnuts, sweating profusely. As he approached the fourth, the lightning ball morphed again:
From a hollow disc, it turned into a bamboo dragonfly, with three blades unfolding, each curved and rotating! When his ntal power touched it at different points, it floated in different directions!
Garrett chased it twice and felt dizzy, as if caught in a propeller.
"Teacher, I really can't..."
He shouted with a pale face. Those were propeller blades, teacher! Propeller blades!
They were curved! Curved surfaces were different from flat surfaces and spheres. Calculating the envelope lines seed to require finite elents or so other complex mathematical tools, and processing required five-axis CNC machines!
You want to touch this with bare ntal power! If I get even slightly off, it would float or explode!
I really can’t handle this...
"Your ntal power training is still too lacking, stuck at a level below the fifth. The myriad bolts of lightning suddenly retracted, leaving only a thin silver thread, winding back to the Lord of Thunder’s fingertip. Garrett collapsed, drenched in sweat.
Barely lifting his eyes, he saw that the silver thread was actually a tiny snake made of electricity. The sesa-sized scales were faintly visible even from five or six ters away.
The Lord of Thunder's fingertip released a small lightning ball, and the little electric snake lowered its head, extending a forked tongue to lick it. The Lord of Thunder played with the little snake and faintly raised his chin. From the bookshelf behind him, a box and a booklet flew over and landed in front of Garrett:
"These are little toys I made when I was young to train ntal power. Take them back and try. When you can light up all the gems and maintain it for thirty minutes, co back for the next training thod."
"Yes, teacher..."
Garrett bowed obediently, holding the box as he left. Back in the tower, he examined it carefully. The box was half a foot square, dark and dull, with no luster.
Only a circle of vine-like patterns was embedded on the lid, with more than ten flowers of various sizes blooming in different stages. On both sides of the box, five gems were inlaid, their colors dull and murky, seemingly not of
high quality.
After reading the ntal power training thod his teacher provided and confirming his understanding, Garrett tried pressing the first gem. The surface of the box suddenly lit up, and from the center of a flower’s pistil, a pea-sized lightning ball wobbled out.
Garrett quickly enveloped and extinguished it with his ntal power. As soon as the first one was dealt with, the second appeared, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth...
Garrett dashed left and right, constantly chasing with his ntal power, feeling exhausted. Finally extinguishing all the lightning balls, the second gem silently lit up, and two lightning balls floated out simultaneously.
Garrett: !!!
What was this?
Was this a magical version of Whack-A-Mole?
If I miss, I get blown up?!
Teacher, you're too harsh! This ga isn't fun at all!
Even if it were a match-three ga, no, even Tetris would be better than this lightning Whack-A-Mole!
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