Close Combat Mage

Chapter 33 – Ice Sphere Technique

Drawing the magic diagram was no longer a problem. With the new model Suo Jia had previously invented, he was able to completely activate the Ice Sphere Technique. Although the Ice Sphere Technique had an extra symbol compared to the Swamp Technique, combined with his new casting method, he was definitely able to draw the diagram in time.

While thinking, Suo Jia excitedly recalled the three symbols needed to cast the Ice Sphere Technique. Again and again he drew the outlines for these symbols. After about two hours, Suo Jia could finally successfully draw the diagrams for the Ice Sphere Technique.

Excitedly swallowing, Suo Jia knew that it was time to test his theories. If he followed this pattern and it could even cast ice magic, then to Suo Jia, magic really couldn’t be simpler. Before long, he would be able to perform the forbidden water spell — Absolute Zero!

Suo Jia took a deep breath and gently shut his eyes, trying to calm himself down. After a short period of time, Suo Jia suddenly opened his eyes and stretched out his right hand. The glowing blue Six Pointed Star Array was completed in an instant, fast like lightning. Soon after, he precisely stacked the symbol representing the water element on top of the Six Pointed Star Array, as well as the three symbols that represented the Ice Sphere Technique!

Finally all the patterns were finished in a stroke. The entire process only took four seconds. After all, when compared to the Swamp Technique, the Ice Sphere Technique only had one additional symbol.

The magic formation and the pattern floating in front of Suo Jia lit up one after another in quick succession. A blue, crystal Ice Sphere appeared in front of Suo Jia’s palm out of nowhere!

“Whoosh!” With a whistling sound, the blue, crystal Ice Sphere launched out from Suo Jia’s palm. The completed Ice Sphere was unlike the teacher’s. The surface was very smooth and there were no spikes present at all. Suo Jia suddenly felt slightly dizzy as he looked at the Ice Sphere, as if something had been pulled out from his body.

Suo Jia felt that his body was very weak and swayed left and right. He felt powerless, and fortunately, he was already on top of his bed. He fell directly onto the soft bedding and managed to avoid injuring himself.

Weakly looking at the ceiling , Suo Jia suddenly realized a problem. He completely ignored the prerequisites of casting a spell: magic power!

Using the previous method to activate the Moisture Technique required the user to completely deplete all of their spirit power before using magic power. Because of this resulted in a lack of spirit power, the user will naturally become unable to activate magic.

Although the new model Suo Jia was currently testing required very little spirit power (to the point where it allowed Suo Jia to have a surplus of spirit power left over), his magic power was still completely exhausted.

Moreover, Suo Jia had discovered that although it wasn’t necessary to use much magic power while drawing the spell array, the spell still required spirit power for initiation. When Suo Jia first activated the Swamp Technique at school, he had previously felt a bit dizzy. However the feeling had been subtle, so Suo Jia had not paid much mind to it. Now that he was trying to activate the Ice Sphere Technique, the dizziness became a lot more overwhelming.

Low spirit power causes people to experience dizziness, and even unconsciousness at times. If you are extremely injured, it will cause irrecoverable damage. On the other hand, a deficit in magic power can cause one’s body to become weak as well. But extreme deficit can cause the physical body to collapse in a flash, rendering one unable to have magic power ever again.

People stress the importance of the traditional activation model because for good reasons. Using the traditional model guarantees that there is absolutely no chance of encountering such dangers. On the other hand, the new model that Suo Jia researched is actually one that people had researched millennia ago. However this model has undetermined limits that can cause mages to die prematurely, so it was abandoned years ago.

The traditional model, although slow, was very safe. The new model, although fast, was extremely dangerous; a single mistake could kill even a skilled mage. The usage of spirit power could injure one to the point of becoming an imbecile, or even eliminate one’s ability to use magic all together. Considering these points of magical theory, the traditional model’s most outstanding benefit was definitely its safety!

Although many people chose to use this method millenniums ago, by now this type of method has already died out. The mages from the ancient times, in order to warn their apprentices of impending risks, emphasized order when passing down magic knowledge. Everything has to be progressed step by step, and nothing can be rushed.

In order to make their argument more credible and authoritative, the ancestors made up many stories about how magic had been bestowed to the people by God. Therefore, it could not be altered without permission, or else one would be punished by the Heavens.

As time passed, activation models like Suo Jia’s essentially disappeared. Until now, even if an individual thought of it by chance, they would not try to test it. After all, the traditional model has an irreplaceable advantage.

Feeling exhausted and powerless, Suo Jia allowed himself to fall into a deep sleep. Only after the second morning had arrived did Suo Jia tiredly wake up. Even though he had slept for the whole night. Suo Jia’s whole body was still drained of strength, and he was tired to death. If he could have, he would have continued to sleep for another 3 days and 3 nights.

However, Suo Jia would not let himself do so. Gritting his teeth, Suo Jia resolutely forced his sore body up. He had to go eat and attend school like he was supposed to. Although it wasn’t obvious on the outside that Suo Jia was not feeling well, there was no way that they could have possibly imagined exactly how much pain Suo Jia was going through.

The whole day was very peaceful and passed by with few incident. However Suo Jia naturally would not just let the day pass like that. After school, he arrived at the school’s library. He had to research a bit. What exactly was with his current state?

After some effort, Suo Jia found some relevant books. After looking through them carefully, he finally realized that his rash attempt at skipping steps in activating magic had such a large risk factor.

Reading the warnings in the books, Suo Jia’s whole body began to tremble. The books stated clearly that skipping steps to activate the magic not only could cause permanent damage to his spirit power, it could also cause him to become an imbecile. Moreover, his body could also collapse as a result, and become a normal person that would never again be able to use magic.

In fear, Suo Jia used the Moisture Technique on himself. It was still fine; Suo Jia discovered that he could still use the Moisture Technique with no problems. In other words, he had not lost his abilities of magic and perception.

Gently closing the book, Suo Jia silently began to ponder. With respect to spirit power, he had already achieved the level necessary to activate the Ice Sphere Technique. Although he had gotten dizzy for a moment, he had recovered quickly. After resting for a whole night, Suo Jia could clearly feel that not only did his spirit power not suffer from any major harm, it had also increased by a lot.

Since his spirit power wasn’t a problem, the main problem was his magic power. Thinking up to this point, Suo Jia returned the books in his hand to the shelf, and began to look for books on how to increase magic power.

After asking the librarian, Suo Jia soon found the book he was looking for. The first method of increasing one’s magic power was to naturally allow it to grow with the body. As one grew older, one’s magic power would also gradually increase. This was a natural process, not something that one can control.

The second method was through meditation. This was a mage’s specialty; only those who could meditated could be considered a mage. Through meditation, not only can one’s magic power increase rapidly, but to a certain level, one can also raise their spirit power. Moreover, meditation was also the best method for recovering lost magic power.

Besides these two methods, the last method was a bit more unique, known as the Exhaustion Training Method. The so-called Exhaustion Training Method is simply to strive to completely exhaust/deplete one’s magic power and spirit powers. Afterwards, when one naturally recovers his/her spirit power and magic power, the levels will increase slightly.

The previous two methods could not help Suo Jia in any way. The last method, however, was one that Suo Jia had already personally experienced. In terms of magic power, it had not yet recovered so nothing could be determined yet. However in terms of spirit power, Suo Jia had definitely felt its growth.

Of course, the third method wasn’t without faults. Although the method of exhausting did indeed result in increased powers, it only showed clear results in the beginning. The more it was used, the less effective the result became. This type of training method had strict limitations and could only be used for a short period of time, and cannot be used for a whole lifetime. To a mage, the best and most basic method of increasing magic power and spirit power was still meditation!

After reading the books in front of him, Suo Jia was so excited that he wanted to shout out loudly in happiness. Even though this third method could not be used forever, Suo Jia had not expected to use it his whole life anyways. In Suo Jia’s point of view, he would spend the next half a year using the Exhaustion Training Method to quickly raise his magic power and spirit power levels. Achieving the Meditation Technique, as well as the level of the Ice Sphere Technique, would be his main objectives.

Within half a year, if he was able to freely enter the meditative state and freely activate the Ice Sphere Technique, then the competition in half a year would be within his grasp. With this, Suo Jia gained more confidence in the upcoming competition.