Lord Hadrian was renown across the entire plane. The man had lived for more than 3 centuries, and in those centuries, his name was both feared and venerated. Looking at Barda as he went out of the compound, many could not help but shudder.
However, they understood that this man was not an enemy they could face easily.
Arabella had been a fearless matriarch and powerful mage, but she was no match for the Arch-Mage. As a Grand Mage herself, she could cause him a severe headache before he brought her down. As such, there was a truce that existed between the 2.
Arabella had been born a lady, but she denounced her claims over lands and titles and started this small compound for the sole purpose of taking in mages.
As a Mage herself, she had experienced severe stigma associated with all things magic. Moreover, she witnessed as several mages were persecuted for the sole crime of awakening their magical abilities.
She had privilege and protection, but many did not. She decided that she would not stand by idly and watch as her people were systematically eradicated, especially the poor.
In sharp contrast, those born from well-off families could even receive training. Even Lord Hadrian owned a magic institute but was terribly overpriced and highly selective of the applicants.
***
Barda knew that this would be a fight the moment he got out. He had to admit that he had been dying to test his strength with a worthy opponent. Up till that moment, he had yet to meet anyone or anything that made him strain to deal with.
On his part, Lord Hadrian decided to have fun with the little fool seeking to challenge him. Moving his hands leisurely, he managed to pull a sizable chunk of the ground and tossed it at Barda. Seeing the attack, Barda conjured up a Fire Shield, negating the attack.
"Seems you have some skill," Lord Hadrian's attack was mostly meant for probing. He didn't want to kill the challenger too quickly. However, seeing Barda's response, he was pleased indeed. "Let's see how good your fire skills are."
The Arch-Mage lifted his palm and aimed it at Barda. A small fireball formed on his hand. With dizzying speed, the fireball transformed into a behemoth with a diameter of nearly 2 meters.
As it grew, the ball was flying at Barda at great speed as well. It seemed he intended to compete with Barda with the skill he had just used.
While Barda had been grinding in the hall, he had encountered extremely powerful Magical beasts, many controlling the Fire Element.
On one occasion, Barda had been hit by an Elemental blast. To his shock, instead of being hurt, he had received a notification instead:
[Affiliated Magical Element detected, Absorbing power.]
Instead of hurting him, the blast had powered him up, acting like some sort of field charging unit. Barda could passively absorb power from the environment, but that did not mean he was immune to any attacks.
In the case of a bullet, Barda could absorb the kinetic energy in the bullet, but not fast enough to negate the power of the blast. Barda found that since he was affiliated with the Fire Element, he could absorb while negating its power.
Now, as then, Barda decided to meet the Fireball head-on. He didn't offer any resistance and allowed the ball to consume him.
A dark cloud fell over anyone who was watching. To see the mage die so easily, even Lord Hadrian was distraught. He hadn't used his full attack, and the boy should have offered some level of defense or counter-attack. Meeting his power full-on was just dumb.
Clarissa could not believe her eyes. All her life, she had been told about the wonders of the heroes that dared to cross the chasm that separated their planes. It was said to be extremely dangerous and anyone who crossed it had to be powerful.
Truthfully, she found it hard to see how such a reckless person could pass through such trials. Could it have been a hoax? Similar thoughts were running through the minds of those that knew Barda to be a confessed traveler across planes.
As the Fireball died down, however, they were met with an unexpected sight. There stood Barda, buck naked. Small fires could be seen on parts of his skin as though he about to burst into combustion.
[Affiliated Magical Element detected, Absorbing power.]
[Power Absorption exceeds the recommended amount, diverting power to Main reserves.]
[Maximum Magical Energy level increased by 354%. Recalibrating parameters to suit new Power levels.]
Barda did his best to absorb as much power as he could, but even his reserves were overflowing. However, what happened gave Barda the same feeling he got while absorbing an essence. He could feel a qualitative increase in his Magical output.
The next moment, Barda conjured a fire sword with 100% Magical power and leaped into the air, hacking away at the Arch-Mage.
Following his attack, Lord Hadrian had been too shocked upon seeing Barda survive. He had yet to survive by the time Barda struck. This had been what he intended to do, catch the mage while he was off-guard.
Barda's plan was sound, but his opponent was an experienced veteran, not dropping his guard down even the least. With a swing of the staff, a powerful gale blew Barda from the air, sending him sprawling.
Before Barda could get up, the Arch-Mage shot out a powerful bolt of lightning at Barda. On seeing the coming strike, Barda braced himself by lifting his fire sword to meet the attack.
The next moment, excruciating pain stabbed at Barda starting from his hand and then extending to the rest of the body. Unexpectedly, a notification popped up.
[Maximum Energy level increased by 3%. Recalibrating parameters to suit new Power levels.]
Looking at the new pop up, Barda realized this had nothing to do with magic. He was a machine that ran on some form of electricity. As such, he too should have control over Lightning, which was static electricity.
Barda understood that his body had recognized Electricity as an Affiliated Element and converted it into Energy. What's more, Barda noticed that it was not his Magical Energy but his overall Energy. This meant he had grown stronger overall.
He didn't get a chance to enjoy this new feeling. Suddenly, massive vegetation sprung up around him. 7 Gigantic tree trunks were coiling around him like tentacles of a large cephalopod.
Moving like a snake, the tentacles launched massive attacks at Barda. Judging from their approach, they had surrounded Barda, without leaving him a way out.
As the target of this attack, instead of panicking, a small smile appeared on his face. Barda understood that it was time to get serious.
Part of the reason for his overconfidence was that all this while, he had been operating at 8% power output. Despite that, he had been invincible almost everywhere he went. This time, he boosted his Power Level to 50%, the highest he had ever put.
It is noteworthy that this was his Power Level, not his Magical Energy. Even at 8%, he could still channel 100% of his Magical Energy.
Suddenly, time seemed to stand still. His increase in Power Level came with an increase in his basic attributes such as Speed and Strength.
Similarly, his reaction speed and brain processing capabilities were boosted, making the once superfast trunks appear to be moving in slow motion.
Testing a theory, Barda channeled his Electrical Energy into the Conjuring Rod, and to his delight, he was able to conjure a sword as he had intended. Alas, he was not a Fire and Electrical Mage.
In his left hand, he conjured a Lightning Sword and with his right a Flaming sword. He met the oncoming attack with his 2 swords, slicing at any tree trunk that dared to get near him.
Lord Hadrian was very shocked by now. His initial impression of Barda was that he was just an upstart Mage trying to show off. He had come to put him in his place.
Even though he had yet to launch a full attack, he was very much impressed by the power of this man. However, something else stood out. This was not just a mage, but a warrior mage.
Usually, a mage would be stranded when fighting at close range, but warrior mages happened to be the exception. Instead of using magic to fight, they used magic to support their fighting. In essence, magic was not their weapon, but a tool they used to fight with.
Looking at his opponent, he saw that he used magic to conjure his weapons. Moreover, the man must have used magic to reinforce his body in some way, otherwise, how else could he fight with his monster vegetation and even gain an upper hand.
After making his deductions, he had a wry smile as he made his next attack. It had been a long while since he fought such an opponent. However, he may be old, but that did not mean he was any less than he had been. He knew of the perfect way to deal with such people.
Suddenly, Barda's interface flashed red, indicating imminent danger.