-"Flame of the blazing leaf, step forth from the page into the world — from a fictional legend become the power of destruction, bringing boundless burning to the endless life behind it..."
With the chant, a crimson magic array slowly appeared in Tran Lac's palm. The array's lines lit up one by one, its arcane patterns growing clear, and the red light grew brighter and brighter against the surrounding scene.
He did not stop there, continuing with the second incantation:
-"Lightning of the thunder-sphere, born of divine authority — the power of annihilation, the golden bolt that makes the ignorant kneel before absolute strength..."
A violet array also appeared, radiating a light entirely different from the first. Two Tier IV spells formed in his two hands, their energies surging and thrumming, and then began to fuse into one another.
Red light and violet interwove, line by line the arcane patterns connected, and the two separate arrays began merging. The rank-up process unfolded right before Tran Lac's eyes, raising the two Tier IV spells up to a higher combined rank.
At last, an array glowing with brilliant gold-violet light appeared in his left hand. The energy within it was no longer merely two separate streams of power, but had become one, ready to unleash its might.
-"Blazing Leaf Thunder-Aegis — Shatter!"
The moment Tran Lac's shout rang out, the spell activated.
Streams of electric sparks, wrapped in raging flame, poured down onto the pack of monsters below. The gold-violet energy exploded in waves, carrying tremendous destructive force, sweeping across the area where the monsters had gathered.
The thunder-aegis, a power of pure yang, possessed a spreading property — in the blink of an eye the entire pack of pursuers was paralyzed stiff. They could not even react before the bolts of lightning struck their bodies in succession. Right after, the flames of the Blazing Leaf swallowed the area whole, burning the helpless targets to nothing.
The fusion of the two powers took effect quickly. Over seventy percent of the monsters below were wiped out, and the rest could no longer maintain their original pursuit formation.
Yet Tran Lac had no heart for celebration.
The mana consumed by this single cast was enormous — it had even gone into the negative. Not only that, he had lost 80 HP to fire the skill. With his current blood, one more hit of 30 damage or more would kill him for certain.
This was no longer something a few more spells could fix. If he kept burning HP without proper recovery, he would be nothing more than a target waiting to be knocked down.
-"Honestly, so I have to burn blood too?"
Tran Lac sighed helplessly. In the end he stopped dwelling on the waste and pulled out a recovery potion bought from the system shop, downing it in one go.
If not for the fact that he had not yet gathered enough materials to brew his own potions, he truly would not have wanted to burn through shop-bought items like this. After all, every item had its own value, and relying too heavily on the system shop was not the path he wanted.
But in the situation just now, he had no better choice.
Hina, running beside him, had watched the entire battle from start to finish. Her eyes went round, brimming with astonishment. She had never seen Tran Lac fight with magic before, and never dreamed he could cast Tier IV spells directly and then fuse and ascend them.
Though she was not a magic specialist, Hina still understood what kind of serious consequences burning such a massive amount of mana could cause. Given Tran Lac's state after that strike, the possibility of him losing his life was no empty threat.
Thinking of this, she was angry and terrified at once, and finally could not hold back a jab:
-"Hey, you blockhead of a master! What on earth did you just do? If you want to die, don't drag me along with you!"
That was the scolding on her lips, but deep down Hina had been thoroughly frightened. If Tran Lac kept doing reckless things like this, she did not dare imagine what would happen next.
And if he got into one of his moods and fired off two more Tier V spells, that would be the moment she would truly bawl her eyes out.
Just then, the system's notification suddenly rang in Tran Lac's head, cutting off both their trains of thought.
-"Congratulations, player, on reaching Level 30! You receive 180 free attribute points, 30 skill points, and 15 potential points for reaching Level 30. From random attribute allocation, the player receives: 8 Mana, 6 Magic Damage, 9 Armor, 16 Magic Resistance, 8 Lifesteal, 10 Magic Lifesteal, 6 Auto Regen HP, 9 Auto Regen Mana... and 9 Knowledge."
The cascade of notifications drew Tran Lac's attention. Thanks to the mana replenished on level-up, the fatigue from the powerful spell gradually eased. At least, he was no longer in the drained state he had been in right after that strike.
But when he turned back to look at the area that had just been bombarded, he went dead-still.
Rows upon rows of buildings had been destroyed; structures that had once stood tall now lay collapsed, leaving a scene of utter devastation. The scars left by the spell stretched across the whole district, and he could not help but sag his face.
He had only wanted to quickly wipe out the monsters behind him — he had never dreamed that the spell's power could devastate the surrounding environment on such a scale.
If he had never used Tier IV magic before, he might not have been able to picture its true destructive force. Even a Tier III spell was already capable of devastating a wide area — and this time he had fused two Tier IV spells and ascended them.
The result alone was enough to teach him: the next time he wanted to use magic of this class, he had to think far more carefully about its area of effect.
Even so, now was not the time to stand and think too long. After checking the situation, he had Hina speed up again for the return to the base.
At Hina's galloping speed, the number of monsters appearing below gradually dwindled compared to before. For Tran Lac this was obviously a good thing — he no longer had to keep dealing with dense waves of pursuit like at the start, and could focus on moving without spending so much strength clearing the road.
The journey home was still not short, but thanks to Hina's speed and the enhancement potion, the two of them finally completed the trip in six hours.
When the base gradually appeared within sight, Tran Lac truly felt the weight lift. After a long trip full of danger, being able to return to a safe place at least let him temporarily set down part of the burden.
After all, Hina belonged to a high-tier race, so it was entirely natural that her constitution was better than his and that she handled the enhancement potion's effects better.
Still, Tran Lac did not assume this gap would persist forever. As his level climbed higher and his Stamina attribute steadily improved, the gap between the two of them would be closed sooner or later — even considerably narrowed as time went on.
And so he had nothing to be envious of.