Reader Mage 93-Activate Reader Mage

rlin was unable to co to an understanding concerning what had just happened.

He focused intently on the figure approaching him, the thick fur on his body, the golden eyes, and the proud gait in which he walked with.

Was he really staring at the sa Nikolai that he had fought during Grimoire sparring class? There was no way. Nikolai had been slower, and his strikes had carried basically no weight. It was practically impossible for soone to go from that to whatever he was at the mont.

Sothing was wrong. It was either Nikolai had been hiding his strength during the sparring class, or his abilities had been significantly boosted by sothing. And rlin was not leaning towards the forr, because he saw no reason as to why Nikolai would hold back, and he was well aware that the lad had been giving it his all during their fight. Which was why he was more inclined towards the latter being the more plausible reasoning.

rlin stood up. “Nikolai,” rlin called. “Is that you?”

Nikolai chuckled and stretched his arms outwards. “Who else would it be, rlin?”

“Is there a problem? What’s up with you?”

Nikolai halted and frowned. “What do you an?”

Okay, rlin wasn’t exactly sure how to put his thoughts into words. He couldn’t just go around accusing soone of using mysterious magical steroids now, could he? So he kept his mouth shut.

Nikolai sighed. “I’ve never felt better, rlin. So which is it? Want to chat, or do you want to take one more shot at ?’

rlin shook his head. “Hey, man, I’m just trying to defend my flag here. I’m not really a battle maniac. If a fight can be avoided, I’d prefer to avoid it.”

Nikolai shrugged. “Sad. Well, this can’t. I need to take the flag.”

rlin knew there would be no more words exchanged as Nikolai lunged forward. He readied himself and swerved out of the way, barely escaping Nikolai’s swipe at him. If the claws had connected, they would have left crazy scars on his chest. Not enough to kill him, but enough to incapacitate him.

Was this right?

Well, it didn’t matter. For now, he had to focus on protecting the flag. He couldn’t let the rest of his team down.

“Are you looking down on again, rlin?” Nikolai growled as he sent slashes after slashes, forcing rlin into defence.

“I never looked down on you,” rlin replied through gritted teeth as he pounced back, away from Nikolai, but was only allowed a mont to catch his breath as the boy covered the distance between them in a flash.

“You say that, but you aren’t attacking,” Nikolai noted. “You’ll lose if things keep up this way.”

Did the lad think he didn’t know that?

rlin wasn’t attacking because he wasn’t sure how exactly to strike. Last ti, he had held back his strength because he was well aware of Nikolai’s limits. Now, however, he wasn’t so sure. What if he struck too hard and broke the boy’s ribs?

Nikolai slamd his hand down to the ground where rlin had been standing a second ago and sprayed debris and dust into the air. A small crater had ford right where he had hit.

rlin frowned. Well, if I don’t strike, it’ll be my own ribs breaking…

rlin channeled his mana to his fists and took his stance.

“Finally taking things seriously, heh?” Nikolai took a deep breath in and exhaled. rlin gave no reply, so he dashed forward imdiately.

rlin, however, was more prepared this ti. Ever since he had realized that he could use his mana to create his own personal skills, like [Mana Whip], he had been coming up with different ways to make use of it to bolster his fighting capabilities. One of the ways he had co up with was by modifying [Flash Step] from relying solely on his instincts to the input of his mana.

Mana was an extension of himself, and delving deep into it had given rlin a deeper understanding of its structure. In other words, he was more attuned to it than he had been previously. And since mana was an extension of himself, then it reacted to his thoughts faster than his body did.

Since he was yet to put the concept into practice, considering he had only co up with it the previous night, he was unsure how well it would work, but he had never been scared of trying before. He imdiately channeled his mana to the soles of his feet, covering them in a way that it was as though they were cloaked by a gelatinous liquid.

Nikolai was not concerned with what was going on; all he had on his mind was to attack rlin, which was why he continued his onslaught without questioning what rlin was up to. He sliced the air, heading straight for rlin’s midsection. But rlin saw the attack. However, he didn’t dodge out of his own will. After all, his body moved a lot later than his mana had reacted by sliding him backwards out of the range of the attack.

Nikolai’s brows fell and rlin smiled.

It worked.

“You always have sothing up your sleeve, don’t you?” said Nikolai as he straightened himself.

For a mont there, rlin was sure the boy had sounded bitter. There was definitely sothing going on? rlin decided to ask.

“You know you can talk about it if there’s sothing on your mind,” he said.

Nikolai blinked and sighed. “Don’t worry about , rlin. I can take care of myself just fine. I’ll be going harder now, so prepare yourself.”

Huh? He had been going easy all this ti?

Nikolai proved those words of his correct, because his speed suddenly doubled and his attacks carried even more weight. Even with [Mana Slide] being used, rlin was finding it hard to evade the attacks being thrown his way. After all, the skill depended on one being able to see the attacks with their eyes. When things all beca a blur, it was hard to keep up.

It seed there was only one way he would be able to end this battle once and for all.

rlin’s eyes sought out Nikolai’s Grimoire.

Compared to Choi Sangook, Nikolai most likely wouldn’t be able to get a new Grimoire over to him on ti if it was ripped, but rlin had no choice here. In return, he would ask for Kim Yiseo’s help.

rlin evaded another of Nikolai’s strikes and propelled himself around the boy, bringing him to where Nikolai had been keeping his Grimoire safe from the fight.

Nikolai, though, was expecting that action. Because he spun around in the blink of an eye, taking the initiative of rlin’s actions to initiate a pincer attack with both his hands. This way rlin wouldn’t be able to escape.

He was caught.

However, rlin knew better than to put all his eggs in one basket. After his fight with Choi Sangook, he had put it at the back of his mind that the rest of the students would grow cautious as to how they handled their Grimoires in battle. That was only common sense. Which was why he had readied a contingency plan.

rlin imdiately dropped his center of gravity and fell to a squat. Nikolai’s beast arms slamd together and a loud boom echoed throughout the woods. rlin, though, only had his eardrums to worry about, but he didn’t let the vibrations plaguing his ears stop him. He channeled as much mana as he could into his fist and slamd it into Nikolai’s belly, the thickness of the boy’s fur trying its best to keep the force of his attack out.

But rlin ca out on top.

Nikolai flew away like he had been hit by a truck at full speed and slamd into one of the trees a few feet away.

Without wasting a second, rlin deactivated his skills and outstretched his palm towards Nikolai…

Activate Reader Mage…

[Perk: Reader Mage Activated]

[Analyzing spell…]

[Analysis complete]

[Spell: Partial Beast Transformation.

Category: Novice, Tier III.

Spell Wielder: D-Class Mage.

Spell Description: A spell ford by shaping the nucleotide sequences present in the Mage’s modified deoxyribonucleic acid to correspond with a certain aspect of the knowledge their mana possesses. In this Mage’s case, the knowledge of the cellular structure of the partial structure of beasts of the panthera genus.]

[Deconstructing Process: Disrupt the bonding between the weakest of the rung base pairs of the Mage’s deoxyribonucleic acid, which is the adenine to the thymine pair, by channeling your mana into the construct of their hydrogen bond.]

[Deconstruct?]

[Yes?]/[No?]

rlin’s brows narrowed slightly there.

A Tier III spell? The last ti Nikolai had only been able to use a Tier I spell, now he was suddenly using a Tier III spell? If rlin had been having doubts as to Nikolai’s sudden boost in abilities, the words hovering before his view did well to dispel that.

For now, though, he just had to render the boy capable of using magic. And this was his chance.

Ye—

His scalp prickled and his focus was dismantled as a blast of air slamd into his side, blinding his view and filling his lungs with dust. rlin had managed to evade the attack, but Reader Mage was no longer active as a result.

He turned his attention to his attacker. The witch was high up in the sky, wings of air flapping gently.

“Uh-uh…” Nora shook her head. “No, you don’t.”

rlin clicked his tongue. He glanced at Park Yuri. She was completely exhausted and out of it. He turned his attention towards Kim Yiseo. She was engaged to her fullest of capacity with Lee Jaehyun, and her stoic expression was slowly crumbling.

Unlike back during the Grimoire sparring class, she couldn’t make use of the limited space to trap Lee Jaehyun, so a dragged out battle of attack and defense was unfavorable to her in her current situation. And reaching for Lee Jaehyun or Nora’s Grimoires were basically out of it. That was probably their reason for remaining in the sky.

The situation was bad. rlin was confused as to how they could get over their current hurdle.

“That hurt,” Nikolai said as he walked towards rlin, cracking his neck gently. “You hit like you were trying to kill .”

rlin’s troubles skyrocketed. Nikolai was back on his feet. He wondered if he could catch the boy off guard again, but his instinct told him that such wouldn’t be possible.

So how could he take on both Nora and Nikolai at the sa ti, while protecting the flag? There was still one more ballista, maybe he should try using that to cause so distraction. However, that would leave the flag unguarded.

rlin clenched his jaw.

What could he do?

Park Yuri coughed at that mont, and rlin turned in her direction to see her rising to her feet. He frowned.

“What do you think you’re doing? You’re out of commission.”

Park Yuri stood up straight. “Not yet.” She glanced over her shoulder at him as he Grimoire took flight once again. “Is there a plan?”

None that would make them victorious directly, if that was what she was asking about. The only one he could think of was…

“Defending the flag for as long as our teammates are fighting.”

Nora snorted from high up. “You should prepare sothing better than that, nerd. You’ll be defending the flag forever.”

Did she think he didn’t know that? That was why he was thinking hard, but defending was the only thing he could do here. Park Yuri was out of it, Kim Yiseo had her hands full, and Nikolai was giving him sothing of a tough ti. There was no one present they could switch with, so that left them with only one choice.

Or maybe not? If they couldn’t switch with an outside party then?

rlin glanced between Nikolai and Nora and an idea snapped into place in his head.

It was better than nothing.

“Yuri,” rlin called, his gaze hardening. “Switch with .”