Dimensional Codex System I m really not a cultist

Chapter 106: Chapter 105: Promotion

Just as Rex said, the Sky Arena was indeed a great place for Fang Zheng to hone his skills. According to Rex, the entire Sky Arena was divided into three areas: primary, intermediate, and advanced. The primary area had ten subsections, the intermediate had five, and the advanced had only one. In Fang Zheng’s view, this was very similar to the servers in online games.

Now, Fang Zheng was in the last “newbie server” of the primary area, where most were Mage Apprentices who had just entered the White Tower not long before. The intermediate level was for regular Mages who had left their apprenticeship behind, while the advanced was reserved for powerful Mages.

Although Fang Zheng often heard the saying “There is no such thing as a useless spell, only useless Mages,” the reality was not so. Some spells, only when utilized in actual combat, revealed their strengths and weaknesses, and thus could be chosen or discarded to complement one’s own combat style.

Even though Fang Zheng specialized in Spellcraft, he cunningly chose the Prophecy System as his initial combat approach because the spells of the Prophecy System could complement and enhance his Time Ability. Among the Prophecy System spells, Fang Zheng’s top three favorites were Clear Defense at Level One, Invisibility Detection at Second Rank, and Suppress Good Luck at Fourth Level.

“Clear Defense” was a spell that allowed the caster to understand the target’s special defensive abilities. This was incredibly useful for Fang Zheng, who was both a Templar and a Mage. It was much like detection in games; if you encounter an enemy with unknown attributes, you throw a detection spell, figure out their attributes, and then target their weaknesses for attack. This was a common tactic in games, and now Fang Zheng was using it in his combat as well.

Invisibility Detection naturally needed no explanation. Although Fang Zheng could keenly sense his surroundings using Zerg sensory abilities, the Invisibility Technique of Mages wasn’t so simple. Furthermore, many Mages liked to strike only from an unbeatable position, so Invisibility Detection was very useful to him.

As for Suppress Good Luck, that was just Fang Zheng’s wicked sense of humor.

The effect of Suppress Good Luck was straightforward: it suppressed the target’s luck to the lowest point for a certain amount of time, making every action they took result in the unluckiest outcome. As this was not considered an “attack action” but more like a “curse” or “blessing,” few Mages cast protective spells against it from the start. The result was that many Mage challengers inexplicably sprained their ankles or stumbled on flat ground, or even mispronounced spell texts causing backlash of magic power in front of Fang Zheng…

So now, Fang Zheng’s basic process for battling other Mages was first to use “Future Sight” to check whether the opponent’s initial move was to attack or defend, and then start casting spells accordingly. He would either defend against the opposing Mage’s spell or directly break their defense, and then raise his hand to send over a lesser Magic Missile Storm. Basically, with this sequence, the opponent would almost always surrender; if there were any who had a “rather die than submit” attitude, Fang Zheng would just kick them away—he was a Templar, after all, wasn’t he just as slick in close combat as a Mage?

As Fang Zheng’s ranking in the Sky Arena rose, many Mages began to recognize the existence of such a person, and he became the focal point of discussion among the Mage contestants. The reason was simple: to other Mages, this challenger was too bizarre.

With the double boost from “Time Stop” and “Future Sight,” Fang Zheng’s initial spell in each fight was almost always a Quickened Spell. Additionally, as no one had ever seen Fang Zheng chanting, many Mages believed that Fang Zheng had mastered both “Quickened Spell” and “Silent Spell” superpower skills. But these were skills only Advanced Mages were qualified to master, and yet Fang Zheng had never cast a spell above Fourth Level in the arena.

Furthermore, what other Mages found most unbelievable was that at the start of each battle, this young Mage could perfectly counter the opponent’s spells, whether they were offensive or defensive. While it’s true that the Prophecy System does have spells like “Clear Defense” and “Preemptive Strike,” according to the rules of the Sky Arena, everyone must start spellcasting only after the battle begins.

That meant if Fang Zheng and his opponent began casting spells at the same time, Fang Zheng’s spell had to be one that nullified the opponent’s first spell.

This was very interesting indeed.

What’s more crucial, up till now, Fang Zheng’s record in the Sky Arena had been undefeated!@@novelbin@@

Wow, how could one tolerate that?

A previously unknown young Mage had maintained a full winning streak? Among the participants of the Sky Arena, many were seasoned apprentices from the White Tower. Of course, they knew that the young man wasn’t a member of the White Tower but… that couldn’t mean he could just come in and beat up their members, right?

To know that Fang Zheng’s every fight was almost always a one-shot, how could these Mages accept it? Could it be that they were all weaklings, easily dealt with by a casual attempt from their opponent?

And in fact, this had to do with Fang Zheng’s way of fighting.

After researching magic, Fang Zheng realized that if a Mage is likened to a gun, then spells were the bullets. Damage-dealing spells were regular bullets, penetrating spells were Armor-Piercing Shells, and wide-range AOE spells were Incendiary Bombs. In theory, a Mage could fire bullets endlessly until a jam or overheating occurred. However, in reality, a Mage’s “carry weight” was limited. Much like a special forces soldier, you can’t go to battle with an endless supply of bullets. Before every fight, you can only choose a few magazines. This was the “preparation” a Mage had to do each day; they had to consider what kind of battle they’d face that day to decide whether to prepare more regular bullets, Armor-Piercing Shells, or Incendiary Bombs.

After all, there is a limit to the human body.

Through the battles in the Sky Arena, Fang Zheng found that almost every mage had a common problem: they all particularly liked to first put themselves in an invincible position, and then attack each other slowly and steadily before securing their victory.

This was like in the movies where the protagonist and the BOSS shoot at each other. In the end, all bullets are spent, and neither side has a single hair harmed. Then, they end up grappling with each other, and finally, the protagonist unexpectedly grabs a handgun and delivers a fatal blow to the BOSS… Who plays like that in real life?

If most mages were compared to machine gunners, then Fang Zheng was a sniper. Striking lethally and quietly withdrawing was his creed; throwing bullets around wildly, causing a huge commotion, was not his style. Precisely because of this, each of Fang Zheng’s battles ended especially quickly, so much so that the mages watching couldn’t even react in time.

“Number 652 has been defeated; number 684’s ranking has risen to that of 652.”

“Looks like that guy has won again.”

Watching Fang Zheng turn and leave the arena, a mage sitting in the audience spoke up with a chuckle. He had fiery red hair, meticulously combed back, and despite being young, he gave off a very mature vibe. Following that, the red-haired mage turned his head to look at his companion.

“I heard he came from Thunder Tower; it seems that the instructor has found a worthy successor.”

“But he’s not an apprentice from the White Tower.”

Upon hearing the red-haired mage’s comments, the black-haired mage sitting next to him, wearing glasses, huffed and watched Fang Zheng’s retreating figure.

“A mere wild mage making it this far is already impressive… but that’s as far as he goes. This is the hunting ground of the White Tower apprentices; we’re not here to be hunted.”

“Oh?”

The red-haired mage looked at his companion with curiosity.

“Don’t tell me, you’re planning to enter the fray yourself?”

“Of course.”

As he spoke, the bespectacled mage stood up.

“I will show him with my strength who is the hunter and who is the prey.”

Watching the bespectacled mage leave, the red-haired mage curled his lip.

“Ah, that kid is still so arrogant. But…”

Speaking to this point, the red-haired mage revealed a smug smile.

“Since he has encountered the new player killer, let me see what this little mage is truly capable of.”