Solar Mage

Chapter 22: Advancement

In the next instant, a torrent of magic erupts from Blaine's palm—a massive, relentless surge of water that roars forth with overwhelming force, as if he had unleashed an entire ocean in a single spell.

If I get hit by that, I will definitely die; the pressure of that water will surely crush my bones and flatten me! My spell isn't designed for defense; it has too many gaps. I need to compress all the hundreds of solar rays into a single, immense ray. I must confront his spell head-on to counter it.

All the miniature sun-like orbs scattered across the sky begin to converge, drawn toward my outstretched hand.

It's working! I can win!

I glance up abruptly and see the towering pillar of water hurtling toward me, its sheer size and force about to engulf me.

Shit! Daybreak hasn't fully gathered into one spot yet. Am I really going to die like this?

***

The orbs of Daybreak come to a halt.

Damn it, did I use too much power? It didn't seem like he was able to complete his spell to counter mine—is he really dead?

Wait, what's this?

An insanely bright light emanates from the end of the water pillar. The fiery orange of the sun meets the water pillar, which has now stalled, as if it's clashing with an equal force.

My specialized spell, Deep Sea Surge, is being countered by a 2nd circle mage? How is this possible? His imaginary power is the highest I've ever seen! With the greatest imaginary power I've witnessed, he will undoubtedly become the greatest mage of this era in a decade or two.

The orbs of Daybreak resume their movement as the light from the end of Deep Sea Surge grows brighter, seemingly drawing closer.

Wait, no—I'm not just being blocked; I'm being pushed back! How is this happening? I should have the elemental advantage over fire! There's no way I could possibly be pushed back, unless—his flame is so intense that it's boiling my water on impact!

Blaine chuckles, his grin wavering as sweat drips down his face, his eyes filled with anxiety. "Heh, this brat is an absolute monster."

The Deep Sea Surge is pushed back further, the number of Daybreak orbs in the sky dwindling.

Hoh, this situation is getting quite dangerous.

Blaine glances at his left hand, relaxed at his side.

Should I—use Twin Water Dragons?

Then, Blaine starts sweating profusely, at a dangerously high rate.

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Is it just me, or is it getting kind of hot, haha...

He looks up and sees that all the orbs are gone from the sky, leaving only a beam of light as bright as the sun rapidly approaching.

Damn it, there's no time to cast Twin Water Dragons! I'm sure I told him the sun was bad for my skin; that inconsiderate bastard.

***

Did I- Did I do it? Did I win? I can barely feel any mana left in my body...

I drop down to the ground and lay flat on my back.

Haha, so this is what the other swordsmen felt after they used the mana blade for so long. It feels like... shit.

I cover my eyes from the blinding sun.

"Ugh, I feel like shit."

I close my eyes and bask in the sun.

Well, I guess I should be thankful for the sun. I can feel my mana slowly returning to me. The solar mana gathering technique is pretty useful

Then, a figure walks into my vision as they stand over me, casting their shadow over me.

What's going on? My mana isn't regenerating anymore!

I open my eyes and see a man with gray hair greeting me with an evil smile and the sun now blocked by some kind of water construct.

"Hey there F Rank, I'm sure I told you that the sun was bad for my skin, yet you tried to kill me with that.

He falls to the ground and begins acting like a frail young noble lady.

"How terrible! How could you try to kill a frail old man like me."

"Get up you old man! You tried to kill me first without giving me any warning! Besides, you look fine!

He gets up and fixes his clothes, brushing the dirt off of his clothes and changes into a serious tone.

Wait, how did he get out of that unscathed?

"Wait, Aquafield, how did you survive that attack anyway? I was certain it hit you."

He smiles while he points upwards to his weird water construct.

"It was because of this, it's a magic artifact created from a water dragon mana core back when I was adventuring with my party."

"Woah, a water dragon? What rank were you when you were adventuring?"

He slightly shows anger.

"Don't you know it's rude to ask a retired adventurer what rank they were in their prime!

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't aware of that."

He must be sensitive about something, I must find out! I am, after all, the collector of sad backstories!

He notices his sudden outburst of anger and calms himself.

I turn on my serious mode.

"Please tell me your story sir Blaine."

He hesitates but eventually sighs and agrees.

"Sigh- alright, I was once one of the strongest and most famous adventurers. You might've heard of me, I was called the Hidden Water Dragon.

Wait, the Hidden Water Dragon? I've heard of that before!

"The Hidden Water Dragon? As in, the S rank, genius 7th circle Grand Wizard of Water in the legendary party from 40 years ago, Crystal Dragon?"

Dustin keeps a straight face, without emotion throughout the entire story, as if none of it mattered to him.

"Yeah, I joined at the age of 28, impressive right? I became a 7th circle at the age of 30 and retired at the age of 40. I say retired but actually, I was fired after I got in an argument with the party leader Durandal who was seduced by a 7th circle mage who practiced black magic and changed her appearance. After they fired me, they went into a dungeon and fell into her trap. In the end, most of the party including the leader died and I went on to train without looking back, so that I would not have to be under anyone ever again. But, as you can see. I'm 80 years old now. It's been 50 years since I've become a 7th circle and I will probably die before I reach the 8th so when the Guild executives offered me the position of Vice Guildmaster, I took it."

I never heard about that in the stories, it was said that the party disbanded after they killed the water dragon. He doesn't seem sad, but not happy either. I should lighten the mood.

"Wait, does that mean the Dustin you were talking about when I knocked, you were referring to the Barbarian GreatAxe!?!?!"

His expression seems ro soften.

"Yeah, that old bastard has been trying to push the work of the Guildmaster along with the position onto another old man like me. I want to. Adrink now, do you want one too? - Haha, I'm just kidding, you're too young to drink. Let's go back, you passed."

"Wait, there is still something we haven't talked about yet. How is all of this necessary for just an E Rank Advancement!?!?"

He seems to need to vomit as he keeps his mouth shut, trying to hold something back before he coughs and clears his throat

"It wasn't necessary for the E rank exam. All you had to do was survive the first attack to pass."

He says with a straight face.

Why is it that every old man I meet has gone senile...

"So you tried to kill me for no reason?"

"What do you mean? Of course there was a reason, you said you were in a hurry didn't you? Even if you became an E rank, you would be given last priority for the warp gate to the Monster Territories."

"So, am I going to be given a higher rank to receive higher priority?"

"What? Why would I do that? You need to get merit points in order to rank up, not just have combat abilities, otherwise, we would just revert to the old ranking system.

I clench my fist.

This senile old man keeps wasting my time! Lets just keep calm, maybe there's something else he'll give me for higher priority.

"So, why did you bring up my low priority?"

"Huh? No reason."

THAT'S IT, I DON'T CARE IF I DIE FIGHTING, I'M KILLING HIM HERE!

I began casting Daybreak.

"Woah calm down, I was just kidding, don't be so stiff haha... I am going to give you the Vice-Guildmaster's token that gives you the highest priority."

I release my spell and calm down.

"So, did I pass? Are you going to give it to me now?"

"You didn't need to pass for me to give it to you, I'm the Vice-Guildmaster, I can give it to whoever I want and they will treat you as well as they treat me.

So, you could've just given me your token without needing to try and kill me!

"Sigh- well, thank you."

I outstretch my hand.

"What are you doing? I don't have it with me, I didn't think you were going to be able to pass!"

This fucking bastard.

"Phew, okay. Let's go then. And get that water construct away from me, I like the sun."

"Geez alright, you're just calling me old in multiple languages now. I'll keep it to myself then.

Why does this old geezer keep trying to act young?

The sun shines on me and I can feel my body become stronger as well as the mana start regenerating within me.

"Oh, I have your new adventurer's ID because you met my expectations and survived the first attack."

He hands me an iron card with my information written in engravings.

Yes, I did it, I'm finally a real adventurer!

***

This kid, he's more happy about receiving an E rank ID than my token. Oh Pyro, what has this world come to?

***

We walk out of the battle torn arena with the barrier shattered and other examiners running to restore the broken barrier as they head to the Examiner's room without looking back.