Chapter Seventy-Three: A Test of Skill (Bonus Chapter for Reaching 3,000 Recommendation Votes)

[Traveler Mage profession level increased to Lv9 (5/1300)]
[Health +5]
[Mental Power +9]
[Skill Points +16]
[Profession level reached Lv9, gained 3 free attribute points.]
[Reminder: Advancing to Lv10 will grant a random spell reward.]

Chu Yun allocated all the free attribute points to Intelligence as usual, instantly raising his mental power to 104 points and further enhancing his spell strength.

This time, he did not rush to increase his Meditation level. At this stage, his total mental power was sufficient, so there was no need to worry too much about recovery. He could always improve it next time. Instead, Chu Yun chose to invest his skill points in Spell Identification, still somewhat dissatisfied at his earlier failure to recognize Hardy’s spell.

Spending 15 skill points, Chu Yun raised Spell Identification from Lv7 to Lv9, leaving two skill points in reserve.

With the advancement in Spell Identification, a wealth of magical knowledge flooded his mind. Now, he could identify most first-tier spells simply by their incantations, and with their effects, recognizing second-tier and some third-tier spells was no problem.

Chu Yun finally understood what kind of spell Hardy had used.

“Enslave Human”—a powerful second-tier spell, an upgraded version of the first-tier “Charm Human.” It allowed for long-term effective control of a target. As long as the spell was recast before expiring, the duration could be extended indefinitely, effectively granting permanent control. This was a particularly malicious spell favored by warlocks and dark sorcerers.

In truth, Hardy wasn’t entirely at ease; he planned to imprison Lysa once everything settled down to prevent the spell from failing.

Chu Yun breathed a quiet sigh of relief, quickly grasping the logic behind it. Hardy, being a slave already bound by a slave contract, was forbidden and unable to form contracts with any other living being, so he could only control Lysa in this manner.

As long as it wasn’t a slave contract, things would be manageable—Chu Yun wouldn’t have to worry about Lysa dying if Hardy was killed.

Having removed this concern, Chu Yun left his room to search for Hardy and conduct his first kill test.

However, he was somewhat frustrated—Hardy had already gone far, and Chu Yun had no idea where he’d run off to.

The kill test needed to happen quickly; Chu Yun still needed time to recover his mental power. If he couldn't complete his preparations before nightfall, Lysa would likely be in danger.

Although, strictly speaking, her fate had little to do with him, Chu Yun was still irked at the thought of a fine girl falling into the hands of a pig. Better to eliminate the trouble early, if possible.

The viscount’s mansion was neither too large nor too small. Room by room, Chu Yun broke in and searched. With his mental power now exceeding a hundred points, he could cast Mana Burst to his heart’s content—explosions were art!

“Boom!”

Eventually, Chu Yun found Hardy in Karl’s study. At the time, Hardy was rummaging through the cabinets for documents, humming an unrecognizable tune from the Infernal realms—his tiefling heritage granted him native fluency in that tongue.

Life for the tiefling race was truly harsh—unwelcome among devils in the Hells, and equally unwelcome among humans in their world. In contrast, half-elves were much more favored.

Chu Yun’s arrival was detected by Hardy’s mirror image, who casually hurled a ball of green fire at him.

Dodging the flames, Chu Yun retreated from the soon-to-be-restored door. The fire struck the door, corroding it into nothingness, only for it to reappear again moments later.

Hardy burst through the door in pursuit, but Chu Yun might have been the fastest and most agile mage in the world even without magic. Hardy couldn’t match his speed.

Reaching the limit of the mirror image’s range, the duplicate was forced back toward its original body by an invisible pull.

Chu Yun withdrew sulfur, white phosphorus, and a fire crystal from his spatial belt and began casting. This time, he opted for a second-tier fire crystal to see how a higher-grade crystal would affect the summoned fire elemental.

Second-tier fire crystals had a much higher elemental concentration than first-tier ones and could even be used as explosive devices like those favored by the Dragon Cult. The flames they produced were white and far hotter than ordinary fire.

“This could be a problem. If this keeps up, the viscount’s mansion might end up like the Lionheart Tavern—burned to the ground.”

Fortunately, fire elementals could control their own flames, so as long as there was no battle, there was little danger. After a fight, they could quickly absorb flames to put out fires—they were the elite fire brigade of the magical world.

The fire elemental slowly took shape. The Law of Distortion couldn’t be used now—using it would mean he couldn’t use it again tonight.

The last time Chu Yun summoned a fire elemental, he was only Lv5. Now, at Lv9 and with his Intelligence boosted twice to 27 points, the fire elemental he conjured this time was a towering giant at Lv36—many times stronger than the previous one.

Lv36 classified it as a fourth-tier magical creature, and it cost him 36 points of mental power to summon.

Still, Chu Yun knew this wasn’t the limit of the spell inherited from the divine shard. The level could rise to Lv50, and there were materials of even higher grade that could be used.

The white-flamed fire elemental still had much room to grow.

A fire elemental of Lv36 required Chu Yun to maintain at least 36 points of mental power to keep it fully under control; otherwise, it could go berserk and backfire. But with his “Elemental Commander” specialty, even if the elemental went rogue, it wouldn’t attack him before eliminating all other targets.

“Go, my servant—cleanse him with your flames!”

At Chu Yun’s command, the nearly four-meter-tall fire elemental giant strode toward Hardy’s office, leaving flaming footprints with each step.

Sensing the overwhelming elemental force, Hardy’s mirror image knew he couldn’t escape and had no choice but to fight.

He first attempted a “Spell Counter” to sever the connection between Chu Yun and the fire elemental, but unfortunately, he was only a third-tier caster and hadn’t countered the spell during its casting.

So, although he caused some turbulence in the spiritual link, he could not break it.

“Damn it!”

Communication in the mirror world was difficult, but the duplicates could express simple words based on their emotions.

The fire elemental attacked—a massive fireball hurtled toward Hardy.

Growing anxious, Hardy hastily threw up an energy shield, barely blocking the assault.

Normally, an elemental shield would work best for a mage, but Hardy was not proficient in such spells; his strengths lay in illusion.

Chu Yun noted that when Hardy cast his warlock spells, the magical elements in the area became highly unstable.

It was this very wild magic surge effect that had once whisked Xiya’s master off to another world—the risk of encountering bizarre effects was ever-present when fighting a warlock.

After casting two spells in quick succession, Hardy began to feel the effects of a magical surge. Sometimes beneficial, sometimes detrimental—this time, Hardy was lucky: he only grew a third eye and several feathers on his face, effects that would fade in time without major impact.

Knowing most of his spells were useless against the fire elemental, Hardy began activating his magical equipment.

Though he’d been a tormented slave under Viscount Karl, as a third-tier warlock, Hardy still had powerful magical gear at his disposal for the viscount’s missions.

He activated the magic array on his bracers, and as the second fireball shattered his shield, he took out a pinch of dust and a drop of water to trigger the magic in the bracers.