The Villain Who Invests in a Witch to Survive Chapter 91 : Chapter 91

Chapter 91: The Burning Decision

"Good boy! Now that's more like it!" Barton growled, no longer holding back.

The fluctuations of his mana beca much more apparent. A thicker, faint silver aura enveloped his body, and with each step he took, the ground beneath his feet seed to slightly recoil.

The wind from his punches grew heavier, occasionally accompanied by a sudden, disorienting shockwave infused with a slight Stun effect, or a sudden change in his grappling techniques.

The pressure on Ryan increased dramatically. He felt like he was facing a nearly impenetrable wall of iron that was continuously strengthening itself, with almost no weaknesses.

The effect of his spells against Barton’s shield was greatly diminished, and Barton’s attacks beca increasingly unpredictable and harder to block.

His force field shield frequently shattered, and Ryan’s mana consumption spiked sharply.

He tried to use more complex compound cantrips to disrupt Barton’s advance, such as Frost to slow him and a ntal Shock, but Barton’s battlefield instincts and experience were far too rich. He either used faster bursts to escape or employed steadfast willpower along with protective magic to brute-force his way through.

Finally, in a mont where Barton feigned an aggressive attack, only to create a subtle visual distraction using silent Illusion magic, Ryan’s judgnt experienced the slightest delay.

Barton seized that fleeting opportunity. With a sudden burst propelled by a force from his feet, he charged forward, his left hand glowing with magical tricks that interfered with the trajectory of Ryan’s hastily fired electrical arcs, while his right fist, infused with a faint, disruptive glow of mana, pierced Ryan’s weakened force field shield and stopped just an inch from his nose.

The mana disturbance from Barton’s punch made Ryan’s hair on his forehead stand slightly on end.

The room fell silent in an instant.

Ryan panted, sweat dripping from his forehead, his mana reserves nearly exhausted. He looked at the faint mana glow still lingering just in front of his nose, slowly exhaling a breath.

Barton withdrew his fist and dispersed the faint glow around his hand. There was no smug satisfaction on his face; instead, his expression was filled with excitent and the heated gleam of discovery, like uncovering a gem.

"Dammit!" He slapped Ryan on the shoulder with such force that Ryan almost staggered. "Good boy! You’re a real good one! The way you’re playing with those spells is better than many who just stand there! Almost got with those fancy little combos!"

Barton circled around Ryan, quickly analyzing him:

"I’ve figured out your problem! Your spell combinations are clever, and your mind works fast, but what you’re missing is the understanding and experience with magic-based combat! You think that once you’re in close range, you can only dodge? Or that you just have to take hits? Wrong!"

He pointed at himself:

"See ? From start to finish, I’ve been using low-level, one-ring tricks—strengthen, protect, accelerate, a little bit of interference. But I weave them into every movent, every block and attack, and the results are a hell of a lot different! You’re too focused on using spells to hit others, but you haven’t thought about how spells can also be used to hit yourself—make yourself faster, tougher, and more resilient!"

"What you’re lacking is this awareness, and how to use the simplest and quickest spells in combination with physical movents for close-range defense and even counterattacks! If you keep thinking about running away and using big spells from a distance, against soone who’s really into magic combat, or soone with good endurance, you won’t last long!"

He waved his hand toward the nearby equipnt and area:

"From now on, make ti to co here every day! I’ll start giving you so magic-combat basics—you don’t have to turn into a muscle monster, but you’ve got to learn how to use magic to strengthen your body’s perception, how to combine short-distance burst movents with magic, and how to use low-ring spells for defense and counterattacks in close combat! After the selection tournant, we’ll start working on fancier stuff!"

Ryan wiped the sweat from his forehead, his gray-blue eyes reflecting the lights of the training hall. Though he had lost, he now had a much clearer understanding of magic-combat integration. This wasn’t just the overlap of two fields, but a fusion of tactical thinking.

"Understood, Professor Barton," he nodded, his voice slightly out of breath. "I’ll co on ti starting tomorrow."

After this battle, Ryan had a clear understanding of the areas he needed to strengthen, and he imdiately restructured his schedule.

Saint Roland Academy’s titable was relatively flexible, with most of the general and professional courses held in the mornings. In the afternoons, there were occasional experints or seminars.

After carefully checking his schedule, he made an arrangent with Barton to spend a fixed two hours each afternoon, without fail, at Rockhold Training Hall.

No matter how complex the external appearance of the combat system in this world, the foundation was always mana.

Mana was the energy, the source. How one applied that energy led to different paths.

There were two main mainstream paths. One was the traditional path of a mage, focusing on fine and grand external control of mana.

Mages studied elental mysteries, constructed complex incantations, and were skilled in using wands or magic circles as diums to unleash powerful long-range spells, becoming formidable artillery and strategic deterrents on the battlefield.

Their power was undeniable, but their weakness was also clear—once a lee-oriented opponent closed the distance, they were often forced into a passive position.

The other path was magic-combat integration, or more accurately, magical martial arts.

The core of this path was to internalize mana and integrate it closely with the body.

Rather than casting destructive large-scale magic, it focused on using instant or sustained basic magic and elental magic to enhance oneself: using wind elents for speed, using earth elents or pure mana barriers for defense, using fire or lightning elents to temporarily enhance the explosive force of punches and kicks, using ice elents to create interference... They essentially transford magic into a natural part of their combat instinct, using their body as the most direct and flexible vessel for magic.

This path might not require as high a level of spellcasting precision as the traditional mage path, but it demanded exceptional combat intuition, body coordination, and a high degree of fusion between mana and the physical body.

Ryan’s combat style seed quite unusual to Barton.

On the surface, he resembled a traditional mage, using various elental tricks to attack, control, and set up, with a fluid tactical mindset.

However, his close-range combat ability, keen reactions, and awareness of using minor spells to create combat opportunities showed a deep understanding of magical martial arts.

His swordplay with Eleanor and his confrontation with Barton both proved this—he wasn’t like a typical artillery mage who feared close combat. Instead, he used limited resources and quick adaptability to maintain a dangerous balance in lee range.

However, as Barton pointed out with precision, Ryan’s body was still based on the traditional mage template, lacking systematic magical martial arts training.

His clever little spells were effective against opponents who weren’t well-versed in this style or were at the sa level, but against those who truly mastered magical martial arts, who knew how to layer magic to continually reinforce their attacks like a flood, relying only on agility and reactions would not be enough.

Barton hadn’t truly gone all out yet. Even using the skills of a nearly advanced magical martial arts student, he had already pushed Ryan to the point of mana exhaustion. If Barton had gone all in, the outco would have been even quicker.

Thus, for the next month before the tournant, Ryan’s goal was clear: to establish the foundation of magical martial arts and enhance his physical fundantals.

The training was grueling and systematic. Initially, it focused on the basic, yet necessary, physical conditioning—shock absorption exercises to help the body adapt to impacts, force application training to improve overall body strength, even for dodging or blocking, and short-distance burst movent combined with the simplest wind or muscle vitality-based spells to sense subtle changes when mana infused the body.

Soon, Barton began teaching Ryan the Burning Decision techniques for close combat.