Chapter 916: Chapter 690: Rhythm Issue
"Magic Missile!" Long Yi also chose to start with three Magic Missiles. Among all offensive spells, Magic Missile is the simplest and is cast the fastest. It often appears in a mage’s combo attack sequence.
Seeing Long Yi’s attack begin, Peter didn’t dare to be careless. He activated a Magic Shield for defense and fired off two Magic Missiles to intercept Long Yi’s, while the third hit Peter’s shield. The shield, having calculated the exact power of Long Yi’s Magic Missile, dissipated at the same time as the missile.
Then, like Peter, Long Yi followed up with a Thunderstrike—a move exactly like Peter’s. Peter had already prepared for this, and as soon as he saw Long Yi raise his hand for Thunderstrike, immediately cast a Static Field to redirect the lightning into the ground, successfully resolving it. And, as expected, following Thunderstrike was the same Dazzling Blast Bomb Peter had used.
Peter cast a Silence Barrier, at the same time shutting his eyes tightly.
Dazzling light and thunder roared, but Peter suffered no damage.
It should be known, all of this was actually preparation for the final strike: Darkness Descending. If the Dazzling Blast Bomb failed to have an effect, the opponent would surely escape the range of gravitational pull before Darkness Descending took effect.
As expected, since the Dazzling Blast Bomb was unsuccessful, Darkness Descending did not appear. But Long Yi reacted incredibly fast. In fact, as soon as he had cast Dazzling Blast Bomb, Long Yi had already made his move.
Another three Magic Missiles!
Then another Thunderstrike!
Another Dazzling Blast Bomb!
This textbook triple attack sequence reappeared, but this time much faster than before. Although Peter had to speed up, he still successfully defended against all attacks.
However, the triple attack came again! And this time, it was even faster!
Peter was almost flustered in blocking this sequence of attacks, but he managed without any mishaps.
But then, the triple attack came yet again!
This time, Peter was hit by two Magic Missiles, and the Thunderstrike hit him, causing his body to twitch uncontrollably—the Dazzling Blast Bomb practically exploded right in front of his eyes.
By the time Peter emerged from his dizziness, a black crystal’s immense gravity had already pinned him firmly to the ground.
What to do? Cast a Mana Flip? You’re joking! Mana Flip is an elective subject! Why elective? Because it’s difficult! The principle of Mana Flip is simple, but who dares try it?
"I concede!"
Peter shouted.
Although one wouldn’t truly die here, being hit by dark matter was certainly an awful feeling!
To be honest, this duel didn’t have much to commend it, especially since the combat tactics used by both sides were basically straight from the first Chapter of combat training textbooks. At first, Long Yi seemed to be at a disadvantage, but it felt more like he didn’t care...
Later on, Long Yi’s counterattacks were like he was just playing around, using the same triple attack against Peter over and over, each time faster than the last. In the end, Peter was overwhelmed and could only surrender.
Everybody saw that Long Yi’s strength was completely suppressed to Peter’s level, but yet Long Yi still heavily pressured Peter.
This was the most surprising part—how could Long Yi’s casting speed become faster and faster? Logically, if Long Yi’s strength was suppressed, shouldn’t it be the same as Peter’s?
"Strange, isn’t it? Why did I win?" Long Yi asked Peter.
"Yes, I really can’t understand," Peter honestly replied, even though he had been instigated to come here by two Crown Princes, harboring dreams of making a name for himself in one battle. Yet, he hadn’t expected the gap between him and Long Yi to be so large. It would be fine if he were simply inferior to Long Yi within a normal range, but to not even be a match for Long Yi in this absolutely fair arena was quite strange.
Not just him but everyone present, including Dean Saint Andrews, wondered how Long Yi managed this explosive spellcasting.
"Casting rhythm," said Long Yi.
"Casting rhythm?" Peter repeated this unfamiliar term, confused.
"Right, casting rhythm. Let me ask you a question first—why is there an interval between our spell casts? Why can’t we cast a second spell right after casting the first one?" Long Yi queried.
"That’s because of interference between manas. If the next spell is cast immediately, the interference will lead to a failed spellcast," Peter explained.
"Correct, it’s interference. How do you resolve interference?" Long Yi continued asking.
"Naturally, we wait for the interference to end," Peter responded.
"So, do you agree with that, Dean Saint Andrews?" Long Yi called out to Dean Saint Andrews in the spectators’ stand.
"Yes, we have no way to deal with interference," Dean Saint Andrews said.
"Look, this is the difference between you and me, I can make use of this interference," Long Yi said.
"What? That’s impossible!" Dean Saint Andrews exclaimed loudly.
"Who told you it was impossible?" Long Yi smiled.
Dean Saint Andrews fell silent. In the study of magic, nothing was ever truly impossible, was it?
"I think that each spell’s interference pattern varies after it concludes, and different interference patterns can cause cyclical effects on subsequent spells. The duration of these effects also varies, and if an interference period coincides exactly with the start of the next spell, then not only will it not hinder the casting of the spell, but it could actually speed up the casting of the subsequent spell," Long Yi expounded.
"Can it really work that way?" Dean Saint Andrews was quite hesitant.
"Of course it can work. What do you think allowed me to do it?" Long Yi smiled again.
In truth, this was a problem that the Human Realm had already solved over a hundred years ago. There was a detailed list for the effects of all spells and their activation points, and one could easily find out which spells followed most efficiently after others. Any mage could forge their own unique combo of spells according to their needs.
To Long Yi’s surprise, what seemed like such a basic issue was still troubling this plane that prided itself on its mastery of magic.
"Could you explain these details to me?" Dean Saint Andrews finally softened his tone.
"Unfortunately, I cannot," Long Yi replied.
Dean Saint Andrews’s face immediately turned even uglier; he had not expected Long Yi to refuse so bluntly.
Long Yi hastened to explain, "It’s not that I don’t want to explain it to you, but rather that I don’t know how to explain it, because it is merely a feeling, after all. However, I have shared the principle with you, so you and the experts in magical research might explore it further in this direction."
Hearing Long Yi explain in this manner, Dean Saint Andrews’s expression eased somewhat. It appeared that Long Yi was one of those who knew how it worked but not why it worked. With that being the case, there was nothing to be done.
Did Long Yi not understand?
How could Long Yi, a certified top student, forget such things? It was just that explaining this knowledge, which involved a lot of foundational topics, bit by bit would take an enormous amount of time, and Long Yi simply couldn’t be bothered to do so.
Despite not being able to challenge successfully, Peter received guidance from Long Yi, and it looked like he might even spur an entire transformation in spellcasting!
All the students present were excited; however, two individuals were the exceptions. At this moment, both Saint Karen and Saint Ailun felt close to exploding with rage. They couldn’t believe Long Yi’s power was reduced to such a level, and yet they still couldn’t defeat him!
After the incident, Dean Saint Andrews’s attitude toward Long Yi improved significantly. He took Long Yi on a tour of the entire academy, but Long Yi was particularly interested in the library within the academy.
Knowledge comes from accumulation, and what place in the world could hold more knowledge than a library?
The knowledge Long Yi sought was not about the study of magic, but historical knowledge, about the Giants and the Dragon Clan. Long Yi always wanted to figure out just what was going on with the Giants, this race shrouded in all kinds of mysteries, and what secrets they truly hid.
Long Yi expressed his desire to find some books in the library, and Dean Saint Andrews agreed immediately. Little Zi and her thirteen Female Demon avatars flew out at once, beginning their search among the bookshelves. They pulled out book after book that seemed to contain relevant information, flipping through them quickly. If they found nothing of interest, the books were put back, but if there was something useful, they would pass it to Long Yi.
In a little while, Long Yi had collected over a hundred books.
"I would like to borrow these books to read, is that possible?"
Dean Saint Andrews glanced at the books and noted that they were all related to history – topics not regularly perused by many.
"No problem, you can take as long as you like to read them."
That very night, Saint Linde couldn’t wait to report the process of Long Yi’s visit to Emperor Saint Danze. When he heard that Long Yi had brought forth novel concepts of spellcasting, the emperor was very pleased.
"I suspect that this time, Peter’s challenge to Mr. Long Yi was instigated by my two foolish brothers," Saint Linde said.
"However, it turned out to be a service. Without them, we might never have gotten Long Yi to share his insights," said Emperor Saint Danze, in a very good mood.
"That is indeed true!" Saint Linde laughed as well. He could see that the emperor didn’t intend to hold Saint Karen and Saint Ailun responsible. Being a clever man, he knew when to advance and when to retreat; hounding the emperor relentlessly would be a foolish act.
Returning to his residence, Long Yi immediately began to sift through the historical documents at hand, looking for records of events that dated back ten thousand years.
There, he indeed found some intriguing details.
For example, it was recorded here that there was once a dispute among the Giants over whether to seek out a god or not. The Giants decided to settle the dispute with rock-paper-scissors, and in the end, those who opposed the quest for a god won. Of course, this part of the content was just an anecdote and not necessarily true; it was merely mentioned in passing with a single sentence.
And then another time, a Giant played a little game with another race, and the Giant lost the contest. As a result, the Giant challenged the contest repeatedly for over a dozen times, but still ended up losing in the end.
Viewed from the side, it seemed the Giants were just Giants after all – although powerful, they were not gods and couldn’t win at everything. (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you are welcome to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
