Coiling Dragon_Book 1 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  “Training?” Austoni started.

  Austoni knew quite well that magi of the fifth and sixth ranks were qualified to engage in real world field training. The Ernst Institute also strongly encouraged this practice.

  Austoni couldn’t help but sigh.

  He didn’t expect that, despite rushing to the Ernst Institute so enthusiastically, this would be the end result.

  “Then, milords magi, I will take my leave.” Austoni bowed respectfully. Those magi all nodded casually towards him, signifying acceptance, and no longer paid him any heed. All of them began to excitedly chat amongst themselves.

  “I didn’t imagine that this kid Linley was so formidable…”

  All of these magi instructors were unable to stop praising Linley who, without anyone knowing, was able to qualify to have a private booth at the Proulx Gallery.

  34

  The Journey

  Let us go back in time a few weeks, to June 5th.

  This afternoon, Linley bid farewell to his three bros. Carrying a leather sack on his back, Linley headed down the road to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts.

  “Squeak squeak!” The little Shadowmouse squeaked happily from his perch on Linley’s shoulders.

  “Boss, we’re finally headed to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Wow, I’m so excited!” The little Shadowmouse’s voice rang out in Linley’s head. Linley just smiled. At this time, a white ray of light shone out and transformed into Doehring Cowart.

  Doehring Cowart instructed, “Linley, when travelling alone, you must be careful. Perhaps you will meet with bandits.”

  “I know, Grandpa Doehring.” Linley laughed.

  Grandpa Doehring had already repeated his warnings about the dangers of traveling alone over and over. Right now, Linley was dressed in sturdy cloth slacks and a sleeveless shirt. Just judging from his bulging muscles alone, anyone would definitely be certain that he was a warrior.

  Per Grandpa Doehring, in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, a mage’s robes would be rather unwieldy and get in the way.

  Linley moved very quickly. Although the road from the Ernst Institute to the mountain range was rather rough, based on Linley’s stamina as a warrior of the fourth rank, he easily traversed forty kilometers in a single hour. Just at this time, he suddenly saw three people up ahead.

  “Hrm?” Linley’s gaze focused on one person in particular.

  That person was actually dressed in the robes of a student of the Ernst Institute. Of the other two, one was extremely muscular and bore a giant warblade on his back. The other man was extremely skinny, and had a shortsword sheathed by his side. That skinny man alertly turned his head and stared at Linley.

  Linley couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to them, and just sped up, preparing to pass them by.

  “Linley, is that you?” A voice suddenly said.

  Linley turned his head questioningly. The man dressed in the robes of a magus of the Ernst Institute smiled and called out, “Linley, I’m Delsarte, remember me?”

  “Oh, Delsarte, it’s you!” Linley came to a halt.

  Linley actually knew this Delsarte.

  Delsarte, like him, was a wind magus of the fifth grade class. Although they couldn’t be considered to have a deep friendship, they were classmates after all.

  Delsarte brought the two warriors over, smiling as he warmly said, “Linley, I didn’t expect that you, a magus, would be dressed like this. I barely recognized you. Only when I saw that little Shadowmouse on your shoulder did I realize it was you.”

  “Kava, Matt, let me introduce you. This is Linley, one of the two ultimate geniuses of our Ernst Institute. He’s only fifteen years old, but he’s already a magus of the fifth rank.” Delsarte enthusiastically introduced Linley to his companions.

  Kava was the muscular warrior, while Matt was the skinny warrior.

  “I’ve long heard Delsarte talk about the two ultimate geniuses of the Ernst Institute. I didn’t expect that we would have the good fortune to meet you today,” Matt said courteously, while Kava’s eyes widened as round as an ox. “You are a magus? Why do you look like a warrior to me?”

  Linley didn’t explain. “All of you are heading to the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts?”

  Delsarte nodded. “Right. Kava and Matt travelled with me last year for field training. We have good teamwork. This year, we plan to do some exploration around the borders of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. Linley, you should come with us. In a group, we’ll all be safer.”

  Linley nodded.

  “I’ll travel with them for now. Delsarte is a classmate of mine, so he should be trustworthy. When we reach the mountains, we’ll split up.” After making his decision, Linley and Delsarte’s trio all headed towards the mountains together.

  The four of them travelled at very high speed.

  Even the physically weak Delsarte was able to move rapidly through the usage of the wind-style spell ‘Supersonic’. Thus, their group moved quickly along the barren roads.

  Kava’s loud voice rumbled, “Linley, if you join us, then we would have two magi of the fifth rank. When the four of us work together, we might even be able to kill a magical beast of the sixth rank. The magicite cores of magical beasts of the sixth rank are worth around a thousand gold apiece. If we kill a few of them, we won’t have to worry about our living expenses for a century.”

  For most people, in a year, ten gold pieces was more than enough for living expenses.

  A thousand gold coins was an enormous sum.

  Linley’s heart was swayed. In the back of his mind, he was suddenly reminded of the books regarding magical beasts he had read. These books had discussed the energy core all magical beasts had within them; the magicite cores.

  “These magicite cores will solidify in the bodies of beasts of the third rank and higher. But for beasts which have not reached the sixth rank, the value of their cores is not high. They probably aren’t even worth as much as one of my sculptures,” Linley thought to himself.

  However, the magicite cores of magical beasts of the sixth rank were still only worth about a thousand gold.

  Based on Doehring Cowart’s calculations, Linley’s sculptures were definitely qualified to be displayed in the hall of experts, with a valuation of around a thousand gold or so each. Killing a magical beast of the sixth rank, in terms of difficulty and danger, was something that was far deadlier than sculpting.

  “At the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, my primary goal is to train myself. Acquiring magicite crystals? That’s just a side benefit,” Linley said to himself as he looked at the other three.

  Delsarte and the others were engaged in enthusiastic speculation. Clearly, they were very excited about acquiring magicite cores.

  “The magicite cores of magical beasts of the third, fourth, and fifth ranks aren’t worth much. Even cores from beasts of the sixth rank are just worth a thousand or so,” Delsarte said, shaking his head unconcernedly. “If we can kill a magical beast of the seventh rank, then we will be rich.” When he said these words, Delsarte’s eyes gleamed.

  Just like humans, where there was a huge gap between magi of the sixth and seventh ranks, magical beasts of the sixth rank also had a huge gap in power compared to magical beasts of the seventh rank.

  The magicite cores of a magical beast of the seventh rank were worth tens of thousands of gold pieces.

  If they could kill just one, in the countryside, they would be considered extremely wealthy and not have to worry about money for the rest of their lives.

  “A magical beast of the seventh rank? Based on our ability, that would be a deathwish,” Linley said casually.

  Linley had witnessed the power of the Velocidragon, a magical beast of the seventh rank. Linley, at his current rank, probably couldn’t even break through the Velocidragon’s terrifyingly protective scales. If he couldn’t even pierce its defenses, how could he possibly try to kill a magical beast of the seventh rank? How was that possible?

  Th
e sly-looking fellow, Matt, nodded. “It’s hard to say if the four of us would even be able to defeat a magical beast of the sixth rank. Fighting with a magical beast of the seventh rank would be suicide.”

  “I’m just making small talk.” Delsarte rubbed his head as he pursed his lips.

  Just as the four of them were talking and laughing, in a mountain forest a hundred meters behind them, a man wearing green clothes and with leaves all over his face was staring coldly at them.

  This man’s mouth was moving nonstop, apparently mumbling the words to a magical spell.

  At the same time, the longbow in his hands had been pulled to the limit. Suddenly, the arrow shot out, flashing with a cold blue light. It tore through the air at a terrifyingly rapid speed, traversing the hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

  Linley, who was engaging in idle talk with the group, suddenly felt all the hairs on his body stand up. His heart immediately reached a maximum level of tension.

  “Danger!”

  Linley quickly dodged to the side. “Whooosh!” The high-speed arrow shot past him like a bolt of lightning, piercing through the body of the robed Delsarte. It pierced through his torso, leaving a gaping hole behind as it flew another few dozen meters before halting.

  Clutching his throat, Delsarte’s eyes turned round. Some indistinct words gargled in his mouth as fresh blood spewed forth from the wound in his chest.

  “Urg… urg…” Delsarte’s eyes were filled with a longing for life. They were filled with horror and fear, but as the blood continued to pour from the gaping hole in his chest, quite quickly, all life fled from Delsarte’s eyes, and he collapsed.

  Linley, Kava, and Matt all quickly flattened themselves against the grass as they alertly looked behind them.

  “A wind-element magus-archer. Based on how that arrow of his melded both the ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Precision’ spells, this wind-element magus-archer must have at least reached the fifth rank.” Doehring Cowart’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind. “Based on this fellow’s prowess, if he gets within fifty meters of you, even if you are able to dodge, you will still suffer a severe injury. Flee!”

  Linley’s heart trembled.

  “Give up all your valuables, and I’ll spare your lives.” A cold voice rang out, and then over ten men dressed in dark green burst out of the forest. All of them were wielding longbows, with shortswords at their waists. These ten people stared coldly at Linley and the other two while pressing closer and closer.

  But the speaker did not appear.

  Linley and the others glanced at each other. They didn’t hand over their valuables. They only watched warily as the archers approached.

  “Fire!” The cold voice rang out again. The wind-element magus behind them was quite decisive. Since Linley and the other two didn’t immediately surrender, he immediately issued the order to kill.

  “Twang” “twang” “twang” “twang”.

  Abruptly, the archers all shot their arrows, and the arrows soared towards Linley’s group, who hurriedly dodged. In addition to dodging, Kava also used the huge warblade in his hands to block some arrows.

  Linley executed the wind-style spell ‘Supersonic’, allowing himself to dodge aside easily while still maintaining enough presence of mind to watch the other two. Matt was dodging nonstop, quite precise and quite careful, while also using his shortsword to deflect arrows.

  But Kava was not as agile. While wielding a giant warblade, he clearly could not move very quickly. He was primarily using his giant warblade, as well as a thin layer of battle-qi, to defend himself. And indeed, the threat of those arrows was not too high; a warrior of the fifth rank could withstand them.

  “Raaawr, die!” Kava roared furiously, charging forward towards the archers with his warblade in hand.

  Seeing this, a killing gaze appeared in the eyes of the wind-style magus-archer hiding in the forest. He once more drew the bowstring to his longbow and began to chant the words to the ‘Supersonic’ and ‘Precision’ spells, causing his longbow and arrow to glitter with gold and blue light.

  Roaring furiously, Kava continued charging towards the archers, but halfway there, he suddenly sensed a blue gleam flash before him. Before he was able to react, the arrow was right there, in front of him, terrifying him to the point that cold sweat instantly drenched his clothes. He immediately lifted his giant warblade to block. However…

  “Argh!”

  The arrow pierced straight into his skull.

  “Ah…” Kava stood there stupidly, his eyes filled with disbelief. He had clearly been able to use his warblade to block the arrow. How did it kill him? His eyes filled with disbelief and questions, all the light faded from his gaze and he toppled down, like a collapsing mountain.

  The faraway Linley felt his heart tremble.

  “The wind-style supportive spell, ‘Precision’. It really is precise!” As a wind-style magus, Linley knew very well that this supportive spell, ‘Precision’, when used to support an archer, could cause the archer’s arrows to undergo minute course corrections en route to its target.

  For example, just now, Kava did indeed get his warblade up in time to block, but just by adjusting its direction slightly, the arrow went straight through Kava’s skull.

  “Wind-style magic, when paired with a longbow, really is terrifying.” Linley felt secretly shocked, but in the next instant, he immediately began to chant the words to a magical spell.

  “The two of you had best surrender obediently.” The cold voice rang out once more from the forest, and the ten or so archers also laughed arrogantly. A wind-style magus-archer required both powerful magical abilities as well as sufficient physical strength to utilize a longbow properly.

  A wind-style magus-archer was an extremely terrifying long-range attacker.

  A murderous gaze flashing through Linley’s eyes, as he stared at those ten archers as though they were just corpses.

  “Crack!” “Crack!” “Crack!” “Crack!”

  Suddenly, the earth trembled, and one earthen spear after another erupted from beneath the ten archers. One sharp, gleaming stone spear after another pierced into the legs and chests of the archers, filling the ground with fresh blood and the air with their screams.

  Earth-style spell of the fifth rank – Earthen Spear Array!

  “Ahhh!” Miserable cries split the air.

  Dozens of earthen spears had erupted simultaneously from beneath them, each spear over a meter high. In the blink of an eye, the troop was pierced by the dense array of spears, which had caught them unawares, like a devastating ambush. All of the ten archers entered a state of pain and despair.

  “Leader, save us, save us!” A man who had been impaled in the stomach cried out miserably.

  “Ah, ah!” Another archer who had been pierced through his thigh also cried out with pain.

  Of the troop of archers, four died on the spot, while nearly ten of them were severely injured. Their combat ability had essentially been destroyed.

  “An earth-style magus!”

  The archer hidden in the woods felt greatly shocked. He and his men had been hidden here, on the outskirts of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, for quite some time now, ambushing and killing travelers, and had accumulated quite a bit of treasure.

  Generally, when he launched his ambush, he would first kill the enemy’s magus!

  An enemy magus, after all, could also launch long range attacks. Therefore, they posed the greatest risk. He didn’t expect that after killing one magus, another one would show himself.

  “Let’s go.”

  Taking advantage of his opponents being caught off guard, Linley immediately utilized the ‘Supersonic’ spell to increase his speed to its maximum limits, hurriedly scurrying away and disappearing off into the distance. Linley knew quite well that he had no way to attack the magus-archer hiding in the woods.

  The distance between them was too great, and even magic had range limitations. But if he closed in on the magus-archer, he per
haps wouldn’t be able to block the assault of a wind-element magus-archer.

  Running away at maximum speed, Linley fled nearly thirty kilometers.

  “Boss, why’d you run away? That magus-archer might’ve posed some risk to you, but if I were to attack, I would’ve killed his ass easy. Why didn’t you let me kill’m?” The little Shadowmouse ‘Bebe’ mentally grumbled angrily to Linley.

  Linley knew quite well how powerful the little Shadowmouse ‘Bebe’ had become.

  When Linley was just eight years old, the little Shadowmouse already had a speed surpassing that of a warrior of the sixth rank. But seven years later, with Linley now fifteen years of age, although Bebe’s physical size had not changed, his speed was almost on par with that of a warrior of the ninth rank!

  Based on the little Shadowmouse’s speed, that magus-archer probably wouldn’t even be able to aim at him.

  “This is my training excursion. I should try to resolve everything based on my own ability,” Linley explained.

  Jumping onto Linley’s shoulders, the little Shadowmouse scratched at Linley as angry squeaking sounds came from his sharp teeth. Mentally, he was angrily shouting at Linley, “Boss, you are going too far! I also need to train, I also need to fight!”

  Looking at the little Shadowmouse, Linley couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine, when we reach the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, if we run into any powerful monsters, I’ll let you fight them, deal?”

  “That’s more like it.” The little Shadowmouse sat up, folding his little paws over his chest. His little nose wrinkled as he beamed happily.

  Just at this moment, the dark, grim sky was shattered with a ‘crash’ as bolts of lightning lit up the world, followed by echoing thunder.

  “Looks like it’s going to storm hard soon.” Linley frowned.

  Linley immediately sped up, hastening towards the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts. By the time Linley was just ten or so kilometers away from the mountains, the first drops of rain began to fall, followed by torrential showers which flooded the land.