Chapter 21: Numerous Troubles (1)

Jiang Zhe was no stranger to the term “compression.” At least in his past life, he had used it frequently—such as in decompression software.
But clearly, what Professor Hodde meant by compression wasn’t any software, nor were the files to be compressed—rather, it was elements—more specifically, the periodic arrangement of elements!
After spending three full months in Riox, Jiang Zhe’s understanding of magic and elements had clearly improved significantly compared to when he first arrived.
When a magician casts a spell, it can be seen as using the fluctuations of magical energy within them to manifest certain external elements in a specific arrangement. The power and speed of the spell depend on the caster’s own magical energy fluctuations and their affinity for that element—the stronger the magical energy fluctuations and the greater the affinity, the more powerful the spell and the faster its execution.
As is well known, the process of casting a spell generally involves three steps: concentrating magical energy, chanting incantations, and forming the spell. Great magicians can reduce or even omit the first two steps, but we won’t discuss that here.
The first step, concentrating magical energy, also involves focusing one’s attention—it is a prerequisite for casting any spell. Even great magicians, if unable to concentrate, will produce spells that fall far short of their usual power.
The second step is chanting incantations, which may include using gestures and tools. Its main purpose is to connect the magical energy fluctuations within the caster with external elements, thereby leveraging their power. Incantations serve two purposes: calming the caster’s mind and accelerating the process of communication with external elements. For experienced magicians, this step can often be ignored.
Speaking of this, it’s worth mentioning that many magicians once believed incantations could enhance the power of spells—this is actually a misconception.
We all know that the power of a spell depends on the external elements being concentrated, and this process is directly related to the caster’s magical energy and their affinity for a particular element.
Why do great magicians cast spells with far greater power than apprentices? That’s because great magicians can “communicate” with many more external elements than apprentices!
Similarly, a magician skilled in both earth and fire elements, compared to one who specializes in fire elements, will have a significantly different speed in concentrating fire elements—this is because the fire-specialized magician has a much greater affinity for fire elements.
Therefore, Riox generally advises beginners to learn only one type of magic.

Of course, once you become a great mage and your affinity for an element reaches an astonishing level, you can also study another type of magic. What Scott referred to as a “container” doesn’t just mean magical power; the same applies to affinity for elements.

Enough digressions—let’s get back to the topic. The final step is the formation of the magic, but it’s important to note that this step varies depending on the type of magic:

Some, like barriers, illusions, curses, or spirit spells, are actually cast the moment they take shape. To increase their power, additional incantations must be used afterward—these can be called persistent magic.

Others, such as the ring spells in Blue Magic like Fire Ring or Ice Ring, are also cast at the moment of formation. However, unlike the former, these spells cannot have their power enhanced with additional incantations once they’ve been cast. Such spells can be called rapid-attack magic—most of the magic used by mages to save their lives falls into this category.

There’s also the ordinary type, like fireballs or ice arrows. When these spells take shape, they can maintain that form indefinitely—just as Jiang Zhe could maintain a fireball spell for 24 hours. This is a characteristic of such spells. Yet, they aren’t considered persistent magic. And it’s this type of magic we’re talking about now.

Professor Hodde’s concept of compression refers to compressing elements to make the cast magic more powerful. This theory actually emerged long ago and is widely used by mages.

Theoretically, any type of magic can have its power increased through element compression. However, this method isn’t very effective for persistent magic, like barriers, which focus not on power but on creating a magical environment favorable to the caster—as long as it isn’t destroyed by the opponent. Can you really kill your opponent with a barrier? If you can kill an inexperienced opponent with a barrier, wouldn’t it be simpler and faster to use a small fireball?

Similarly, compression isn’t very applicable to rapid-attack magic, which emphasizes speed of casting. It’s generally used by mages in dangerous situations to buy time—when your life is at stake, do you still have the energy to compress elements?

Thus, the theory of element compression is usually applied to ordinary magic, which is typically in the form of balls or arrows. Well… impact-based magic can also use it.

Take Jiang Zhe’s most proficient spell, Fireball, for example. The formation of the magic merely indicates that you have successfully cast it—a valid spell that passes the test. But as for the spell itself, it’s not yet over… The Fireball can be further strengthened, indefinitely… Of course, this is only possible if you have enough magic power and control. Compression also falls under black magic. Theoretically, you can compress a fireball the size of a house to the size of a child’s fist, or even a pellet. Of course, ordinary magicians wouldn’t do this, as it’s too dangerous. If out of control, such a fireball is like a one-way ticket to heaven—with no refund. After countless black magicians died from fireballs they created, the Imperial Magicians’ Association unanimously set a compression ratio of one to four: if you can compress four normal-sized fireballs into one, you have enough ability to protect yourself in case of mistakes. If it’s more than four, it depends on your mastery of magic. Of course, you can also pray to the gods for salvation. Of course, this isn’t absolute. At least one great magician in history managed to compress ten fireballs into one, with flames appearing as white mist. The terrifying energy contained within made the magicians watching shiver with fear. After countless experiments, black magicians concluded that compression is feasible, especially for fire magic, as the arrangement of fire elements is generally loose. High-intensity compression can greatly enhance the power of fire magic. Meanwhile, the art of compression itself belongs to black magic. In terms of danger, it’s not much different from extracting negative elemental energy. But only those who master this technique can be considered true fire magicians.
※※※
Compression isn’t an easy task. It’s like two cups of water—can an ordinary person combine them into one? Of course, some might say, use a bigger cup… Seriously, this isn’t funny… For fire magicians, they don’t focus on the burning properties of fire elements; to them, that’s not entirely advantageous. I believe many fire magicians wouldn’t want to fight in a forest but rather die from their own flames in a vast desert—a truly ridiculous idea. What fire magicians really value are the high temperature, burning power, and explosiveness of fire elements.

The third factor is directly related to the affinity with the fire element; other than that, it’s the density of the arrangement of fire elements. The fireballs that Jiang Zhe is using now can at most make them see stars and get disheveled, and they can’t even penetrate the basic defensive arrays on the mage’s robes. This is related to Jiang Zhe’s magic power and his control ability, but most importantly, it’s due to the loose arrangement of fire elements. After all, experienced mages can even disperse a fireball or break apart a water ball with their breath, but they can only avoid ice arrows or defend against them with magic. Of course, if they’re confident enough, they might choose to withstand it directly, but ordinary mages won’t do that. The reason is that ice elements are composed of water elements and wind elements, and their arrangement is much denser than that of fire and water elements, making them harder to disperse. No one fears a fire mage who doesn’t know the techniques of compressing elements—this is the main reason Professor Hodde taught Jiang Zhe, as he was very optimistic about this boy named Sos. No other freshman had such a dense presence of fire elements within three months of enrollment. “Compressing elements…?” Lying on his bed in the dormitory, looking up at the five fireballs lined up on the ceiling, Jiang Zhe weakly blew away the hair falling across his eyes. After being bombarded countless times, Jiang Zhe concluded that compressing elements was more difficult than controlling five fireballs at once… Three months later, he could already control six fireballs at the same time, but it was strenuous and he couldn’t maintain it for long. Unless he was training his mental strength, Jiang Zhe usually summoned only five fireballs for “entertainment.” Of course, this put a lot of pressure on his two roommates. Scott often suffered from insomnia lately, while Allen slept with his knight’s shield—both of them fearing that they might be hit by a fireball at any moment. Although it wasn’t life-threatening, it was… very painful! For first-year freshmen, there were already few classes, and aside from the required courses, Jiang Zhe only chose the basic fire magic, so he had plenty of time to train his control ability. Perhaps it was related to his past life of multitasking—chatting on QQ or playing games—Jiang Zhe was able to control several fireballs at once, making them move along different arcs, just like some experienced fire mages.

As for controlling them with hands… A magician once said that if one could control two fireballs at the same time, it made no difference whether to use hands or not. Of course, using hands could increase the speed of the fireballs, but for Jiang Zhe during his training, that wasn’t the focus—he needed to improve his affinity with the fire element.

When not in class, Jiang Zhe was used to sleeping in the dormitory. He also liked to summon five fireballs before bed as “entertainment” until he fell asleep—five fireballs floating aimlessly around the room, on the desk, bookshelves, bed… It was something you could never imagine.

Scott had gone to his illusion magic class and hadn’t returned yet. To be honest, he was the most diligent among the three in the dormitory, having taken almost all the courses in the first year, and he even planned to apply to take additional courses in the second year.

Allen had gone to his enhancement magic class. Like Scott, he also applied to Riox to take additional courses, but unfortunately, his application was rejected by the academy because he wanted to take swordsmanship and close combat courses, which Riox didn’t offer…

By the time they finished talking, the two had returned, but strangely, they didn’t go in instead discussing something outside the door…

“Scott, I still feel a bit… How about we come back later?”

“Stop talking nonsense and go in! Call Sos too—the potion magic class is about to start. If I fail this class, I’ll—” The thought made Scott fume with anger.

“Hey, it’s not all my fault, right?” Allen was clearly upset, muttering under his breath, “It’s just that I know a few simple illusion spells…”

“What did you say?” Scott lowered his head and pushed up his glasses, speaking in a serious tone.

“Uh, I said I’ll go in right away!” Though he said that, Allen didn’t make any move.

Scott clearly grew impatient and frowned, saying, “What’s the problem? What are you afraid of? Think about it—Sos is still asleep!”

“Nonsense!” Allen swallowed hard and said unhappily, “It’s because he’s asleep that I dare not go in! How about you go first?”

“…” Scott rolled his eyes helplessly and waved his hand, saying, “Stop talking nonsense and open the door!”

“Okay!” Allen said reluctantly, took a deep breath, and whispered to the door, “Theo Orio!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a creak, and the door opened. Allen pushed it slightly to peek inside. Scott behind him grew impatient and pushed it open…

“Ah!” A cry was heard as Allen, who had been pushed into the room, suddenly saw a fireball flying toward him. Instinctively, he raised his hands to block it. “Hey!”
But the fireball just flashed in front of Allen, turned, and disappeared.
“Good control!” Scott said smilingly to the figure standing by the window in the room. “How’s your sleep, Thors?”
“Not bad, just a bit groggy from sleeping too long,” the figure by the window rubbed his face. Raising his right hand, several fireballs flew above his fingers, spinning in the air. “Are you okay, Allen?”
Allen, obviously noticing this, lowered his hands and said in a dissatisfied tone, “I’m used to it!”
At that moment, Scott noticed the fireballs in Jiang Zhe’s hands and said oddly, “Any progress? Regarding what Professor Hodd said…”
Jiang Zhe shrugged and shook his head. “That requires strong control…”
Scott and Allen exchanged a glance, secretly relieved. They thought that if they were blown up by ordinary fireballs, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but if it were high-compression fireballs, it would be catastrophic.
“Get ready, Thors. We have a potion-making class this afternoon!”
“Oh? Really?” Jiang Zhe blinked in confusion.
“Did you sleep through it?” Allen laughed and put his arm around Jiang Zhe’s shoulder. “Of course! The old guy said that once you learn potion-making, you can create a potion that’s very valuable among the upper class of the empire…”
“Slam!” A thick book smashed straight into Allen’s head.
“What the hell?”
Scott pushed up his glasses and said, “Lunch time!”
“Okay, okay…”
Jiang Zhe casually picked up a magic robe from the sofa and put it on. When he looked up, he saw Scott pointing behind him. Turning around, Jiang Zhe immediately understood. With a snap of his fingers, the five fireballs disappeared.
“Wow!” Allen said with wide eyes. “Even though it’s not the first time I’ve seen it, I still find it… incredible!”
Jiang Zhe shrugged and smiled. “If summoning were this simple too, that would be great!”
“Haha, it will be, after you become a great mage!”
“Let’s go, Thors… Hey, Allen!”
“Got it!”
※※※
It must be said that Scott is the epitome of all the nobles Jiang Zhe has ever met—punctual and polite.
Thanks to him, Jiang Zhe and the others were always among the first to arrive at the cafeteria, enjoying hot meals. Without him, Jiang Zhe could hardly imagine it.

After lunch, Jiang Zhe and the others took a short rest before heading to the underground garden behind the castle—where the potion-making class was held. The professor teaching potion-making was a mature woman in her thirties, Ms. Vera Covetti. She had once been a student at Riox and had worked on potions for the empire. Three years ago, she was invited by Dean Keynes to teach at Riox. Her husband was a royal mage of the empire. Potion-making was one of the required courses at Riox, so like Defense Against Dark Magic, it was crowded with students. Fortunately, this place was much larger than that dim classroom, though the lighting was similar—probably because the plants here did not like sunlight. The garden was filled with all kinds of flowers and vines, but one thing was common: beneath their vibrant appearances lay certain dangers. If you didn’t want to suddenly have your hand bitten by a flower covered in sharp teeth, I advised you not to provoke them too much… “It’s great to see you all again, dear children!” Ms. Covetti smiled at each child in the garden. When she passed by Jiang Zhe, her expression froze for a moment. This child had such dense fire elements around him… “That student, don’t get too close to that light yellow plant on the long table!” Coming back to her senses, Ms. Covetti pointed at Jiang Zhe with a smile. Huh? Being the focus of all the students for no reason, Jiang Zhe was stunned. He glanced at the plant Ms. Covetti mentioned, feeling a bit puzzled. What was that plant she was talking about? That thing that looked like a sunflower? It had to be said that it would have been better if Ms. Covetti hadn’t warned him; instead, her warning piqued his curiosity. While Ms. Covetti was teaching, Jiang Zhe approached the plant and bent down to examine it closely. The moment he did, the “sunflower” suddenly opened a mouth full of fangs and bit at him fiercely. Startled, Jiang Zhe stepped back quickly. After muttering a few incantations, his right hand swiftly formed a fireball… “Stop, child! Stop!” Ms. Covetti, who was still teaching, flashed in front of the plant upon seeing this and shook her head. “Didn’t I tell you not to get close to this plant? You little rascal… quickly dispel that fireball!” Hearing the laughter from the students in the garden, Jiang Zhe shrugged helplessly and said, “Professor, I didn’t do anything!”

“I know!” Ms. Koviti nodded, saying helplessly, “Child, this is a ‘Sunflower’—it survives by devouring fire elements. And there’s a very strong presence of fire elements on you. Do you understand what I mean, child? Dispel the fireball, or this ‘Sunflower’ won’t calm down…”
Ugh!
“Okay, Professor!” Amid Allen’s sneering laughter beside him, Jiang Zhe weakly dispelled the magic.
“What’s your name, child?”
“Sos!”
“Quick reaction,” Ms. Koviti nodded and smiled, “I think your instructor will be very satisfied…”
Unfortunately, Professor Hod was not satisfied…
With a forced smile, Jiang Zhe said, “Thank you, Professor Koviti!”
“Alright, children, let’s continue today’s lesson.” After telling Jiang Zhe to keep a distance from the plant, Ms. Koviti clapped her hands and continued, “In the previous lessons, we discussed the steps for making potions. I’ve already repeated the basic theoretical knowledge many times. In the next few lessons, we’ll try to make an energy potion. Who can tell me what plants are needed for its formula?”
“I know…”
“Ms. Koviti, it’s…”
……
“Hey!” During the potion-making process, Allen nudged Jiang Zhe with his elbow and laughed, “You know what, buddy? That move you just made was awesome—really amazing! A lot of people were stunned…”
“Yes!” Unusually, Scott agreed with Allen, saying with a strange expression, “Look, Sos—there are still eyes staring at you!”
“Hm?” Jiang Zhe turned in surprise and followed Scott’s gaze.
It was a pair of bright emerald-green eyes, and Jiang Zhe was definitely familiar with those eyes…
They could be considered his ‘rival’ in the Fire Magic class…
A girl named Ravia Fahuaria…
Ugh!
Staring at those hostile eyes, Jiang Zhe blew on his messy hair on his forehead speechlessly, filled with hatred toward Professor Hod…
Meanwhile, that girl bit her lip and muttered while looking at Jiang Zhe.
Speed… so fast… really fast…
So skilled…
Rude commoner…
Detestable guy…