Chapter: The Violent State
As the saying went: smoke means no injury.
The thick smoke from the explosion dissipated. The third-tier Black Armored Pig wasn't dead. Its head and back were severely injured—flesh and blood exposed. In some places, bones could even be seen.
Cheng Yu and Joyce were shocked. This thing has really high defense. It didn't die.
The Black Armored Pig was at low health. Its eyes were full of rage. It entered a violent state. The surrounding magic power gathered toward it.
Its body exuded a light blue glow. It roared to the sky and rushed toward Cheng Yu and Joyce on four thick pig legs—faster than before.
How is this hurting it? It's just like giving it a violent buff.
Cheng Yu and Joyce saw the situation was bad and ran.
The increase in strength wasn't only in punch power but also in leg muscle strength.
The increase in leg muscle strength meant Cheng Yu could run faster.
Compared to Cheng Yu, Joyce was much slower. He'd barely run fifty meters before being almost caught by the Black Armored Pig.
The bloody mouth bit toward Joyce's rear.
There was no choice. To save his rear, Joyce made up his mind, summoned his magic staff, and threw it into the Black Armored Pig's bloody mouth to resist temporarily.
The crystal magic staff was bitten into fragments by the Black Armored Pig. The attack momentum weakened.
After biting through the crystal magic staff, the Black Armored Pig charged at Joyce again. The long pig snout with fangs swayed left and right—determined to crush Joyce's delicate rear.
Just when Joyce was in danger, Cheng Yu turned back, picked up Joyce, and ran.
"Cheng Yu, why can you run so fast?"
Joyce was shocked to discover Cheng Yu's running speed was even faster than a third-tier Black Armored Pig in violent state.
This is eye-opening.
"I'm good at running."
"Attack it quickly," Cheng Yu said.
"Oh!"
After Cheng Yu's reminder, Joyce realized this was a good opportunity to attack the Black Armored Pig.
He was carried on Cheng Yu's shoulder, upper body facing backward. He summoned a spare magic staff, chanting magic incantations while releasing fire magic to attack the Black Armored Pig.
Second-tier magic: Flame Cone!
The massive flame cone shot at the Black Armored Pig behind them, causing the already severely injured pig to bleed profusely.
Cheng Yu carried Joyce like a mobile turret. Cheng Yu was responsible for moving. Joyce was responsible for releasing long-range magic to attack the Black Armored Pig.
The Black Armored Pig chased Cheng Yu, but its speed couldn't catch up—and it would be attacked by Joyce's magic.
The Black Armored Pig ran away. Cheng Yu chased the Black Armored Pig in turn—and it still had to endure Joyce's magic attacks.
The Black Armored Pig chased the two for a while, then ran in the opposite direction—caught in a dilemma.
The two repeatedly pulled the Black Armored Pig, staying on the edge, constantly wearing it down.
Finally, the Black Armored Pig lost too much blood, collapsed to the ground, and died.
Cheng Yu set Joyce down. Joyce sat on the ground, panting with exhaustion. His magic power was almost depleted.
"Cheng Yu, thanks to you. I almost died."
If Cheng Yu hadn't carried him just now, he might've been killed by the Black Armored Pig.
It really is too difficult for a third-tier mage to kill a third-tier monster.
"The magic crystal from this third-tier Black Armored Pig belongs to me."
"You saved me and helped me defeat the Black Armored Pig. The magic crystal should naturally belong to you."
As Barney said, though Joyce looked fierce and sinister, he was kind and upright.
Cheng Yu put on plastic gloves. A Dragon-Pattern Golden Knife appeared in his hand.
He walked over to the Black Armored Pig's corpse, cut open its belly with the knife, removed the Black Armored Pig's intestines, dumped the waste inside, packed them in a sack, and stored them in the system warehouse.
Then he rummaged in the Black Armored Pig's abdominal cavity and found a light blue crystal the size of an egg—like a beautiful sapphire.
This was the Black Armored Pig's magic crystal.
A third-tier magic beast's magic crystal was worth dozens of gold coins.
Cheng Yu only made four or five gold coins a day selling barbecue. Killing a Black Armored Pig could be called a huge profit.
The two left the woods and walked back.
"Joyce, why is all the magic you release fire magic?" Cheng Yu asked curiously.
The fireball, flame cone, and fire serpent Joyce had released were all fire magic.
"The magic array structure of all fire magic shares commonalities with the basic logic of magic operation. Specializing in fire magic makes it easier to learn and more powerful," Joyce explained.
"I see."
Cheng Yu's magic talent was exactly the same as Ivennie's—most suited for learning plant magic.
However, the two types of magic Cheng Yu was currently learning weren't plant magic.
One was first-tier magic: low-level freezing. The other was the inferior fly-swatting magic.
Compared to the ordinary one-punch instant kill of enemies, Cheng Yu still preferred magic—sometimes fire, sometimes ice. Flashy. Very cool.
"Can you teach me the magic for conjuring fire serpents? Let me show off," Cheng Yu asked Joyce.
"Becoming a mage requires talent. Do you have mage talent?" Joyce asked in surprise.
"A little bit."
"Fire serpent magic is third-tier magic. Only mages with a professional level of third-tier or above can learn it."
"Well, I don't even seem to be a first-tier mage yet."
Cheng Yu didn't know if his strength had reached first-tier mage level.
Next time, I'll go to the Magic Association in Snow City to get tested.
"If you haven't reached first-tier, you can only learn first-tier or below magic."
The higher the tier of magic, the more powerful magic power was needed to support it.
Low-tier mages' magic strength wasn't strong enough. They weren't suited for learning high-tier magic.
"Then teach me first-tier magic."
"First-tier fireball—the most basic magic. Do you want to learn it?"
"Yes. I can use it to make fires in the future."
Cheng Yu learned magic more to improve his standing. He wasn't focused on learning plant magic specifically.
"I have a magic book on fireball magic. I'll lend it to you. If you don't understand, you can ask me."
"Okay."
Back at the Northern Fortress, Joyce and Cheng Yu came to the area where the magic corps was located.
There were many mages wearing magic cloaks here.
Joyce returned to his dormitory, found the magic book for first-tier magic fireball, and lent it to Cheng Yu.
"Take your time reading it. It may be obscure and difficult to understand when you first encounter magic," Joyce said.
Ordinary mages could achieve some proficiency in first-tier magic in one or two years without a teacher's guidance, and could become proficient in three to five years.
Cheng Yu had high magic talent. When he'd learned first-tier freezing magic before, he'd basically mastered it in about ten days.
He estimated this fireball magic book wouldn't take long either.
After saying goodbye to Joyce, Cheng Yu returned to his quarters.
In the room, Mina—dressed in a black and white maid outfit—was lying on the ground doing push-ups to strengthen her body.
Ivennie, wearing a green dress, sat on the windowsill using plant growth magic on the potted plants there.
Seeing Cheng Yu return, Mina stood up from the ground and smiled. "Cheng Yu, where have you been?"
"I went to the mountains with someone from the magic corps."
"Are you going to sell barbecue today?"
"I'll go in the afternoon."
It was almost noon. He'd go sell barbecue after lunch.
Cheng Yu had gained over 4,900 positive emotion points yesterday. Combined with the few points left before, his total positive emotion points were now 5,011.
He could add some points to himself again.
"System, exchange 25 strength points and 25 defense points for me."
[Host has spent 5,000 Positive Emotion Points. Strength +25, Defense +25]
Cheng Yu opened the system panel. The number 11 was displayed in the positive emotion value column in the upper right corner.
Host: Cheng Yu
Cooking Level: Max
Strength: 627
Defense: 627
Skills: Silver Moon Shockwave, Magic Mastery (Passive)
Equipment: Dragon-Pattern Golden Knife, Ordinary Magic Staff
Cheng Yu clenched his fists and swung two punches forward. The fist wind whistled. He'd become stronger.
"Ivennie, do you want to learn fire magic? I got a magic book. We can learn together."
Cheng Yu waved the fireball magic book at Ivennie.
Ivennie jumped down from the windowsill and looked at the magic book in Cheng Yu's hand. "Where did you get a fire magic book?"
"Someone from the magic corps lent it to me."
"Forget it. I don't want to learn fire magic."
Ivennie belonged to the forest elves and preferred plant magic.
"Alright."
Cheng Yu sat down at the table and roughly flipped through the magic book. The difficulty of first-tier magic—Fireball—was about the same as Freeze. Not very difficult.