The atmosphere in the Blue Demoness Mercenary Corps' council hall was oppressive and low, as if a storm was about to erupt at any moment.
Standing in the middle of the hall, Arthur bowed his head deeply, a tattered leather armor hanging on his body like bits and pieces, the wounds on his face and chest to have healed long ago. For a mercenary group with a wood mage, this kind of trauma is the easiest to deal with.
Arthur clenched his fists, not daring to look upwards.
Outside the council hall, there were quite a few mercenaries poking their heads in. Although Arthur had used a magic scroll to kill the black-backed tusker in the end, the fact that a mercenary who had just entered the first rank of human martial artist had killed two magical beasts of the same rank in his first battle had immediately caused a huge sensation within the mercenary group.
"Who told you to learn magic?" It was Randall who spoke first, anger forced into his tone.
"I taught Arthur his magic, he is now my magical apprentice." Adeline, who was on the side, said lightly.
"No, it's not Ms. Adeline, I'm the one who's been pestering Ms. Adeline to request that she teach me magic." Arthur hurriedly waved his hand and explained.
Randall turned his head and gouged hard at Adeline, he didn't care about anyone within the mercenary group.
Adeline didn't have any intention of continuing her explanation, still sitting expressionless.
"Before formally teaching you martial arts, did I tell you that once you chose to become a martial artist you could no longer learn magic, why didn't you listen?" Randall yelled, his anger finally exploding.
There was a clear boundary between martial artists and magicians in the Beland Continent, and very few people practiced both. The reason was simple, whether it was becoming a high-level martial artist or a great magician, it required a lot of time and energy to cultivate.
A martial artist needs to absorb fighting qi night after night, and then use it to refine his body, while also needing to constantly hone his martial arts skills. A magician needs more time to meditate and refine his spirit, communicate with the magic elements in space, and at the same time memorize a large number of magic construction formulas.
"A martial artist cultivates his body and a dharma artist refines his spirit" is the most basic theory of the cultivation world.
"I just want to learn more." Arthur whispered, still not daring to look up.
"How far have you learned?" The question was asked by Chief Cairns, who was on the sidelines.
"I have been able to communicate with the magical elements that wander through space and keep a small portion of them in my body." Arthur answered truthfully.
"What about constructing magic formations?"
"Can't do it yet, always comes up short in the end."
"What magical element do you communicate with most easily?"
"It seems like all the magical elements can communicate." Arthur raised his head slightly in a slightly proud manner.
"Phew~" Cairns whistled and said slightly teasingly, "I thought the mercenary group would be able to harvest a future Grand Wizard?"
Arthur showed a look of surprise, as if Cairns had not appreciated his ability to communicate with the elements of magic.
Arthur's expression fell into Cairns' eyes, and he twisted his head to look at Adeline on the sidelines, and hemmed and hawed, "You don't seem to be teaching your magical apprentice as much as you should, oh?"
Adeline's face blushed slightly, "Arthur doesn't have any of the magic elements that are close to any of his lineages, in fact he is not suitable to become a magician. But I had promised to take him as an apprentice at the Nightingale Bar, and that Explosive Fireball Magic Scroll was my meeting gift as a teacher, I just didn't expect him to be able to catalyze magic so quickly."
This actually involves another fundamental theory of the cultivation world, "Only those who are favored by the magical spirits can become magicians."
To become a magician, the prerequisite is that the spirit should be able to establish contact with the magic elements wandering in space. But what kind of physique can communicate with magic elements seems to be random, so far the scholars of the various races in Beland continent haven't found any pattern, even the children of magicians, the chance of communicating with magic elements is not any different from the children of commoners.
Even if you are able to communicate with the magic elements, you may not necessarily be able to become a magician, the next step is to look at the affinity of the magic elements, if you are able to be extraordinarily close to a certain department of the magic elements, only then can you be considered to really have the qualifications to become a magician. Ordinary people who can eventually become a magician can be said to be one in a thousand, but also because of the extremely high threshold to make the continent's status of the magician is more respected than the martial artist.
Of course, there were magicians who would be close to two or even three systems of magical elements at the same time, but none of these magicians ended up achieving as much as a single-system magician, and the history of the continent had never seen a full-system magician.
Arthur couldn't hide the disappointment on his face and turned his head to look at Adeline, "So I'm definitely not going to be a wizard?"
Adeline smiled bitterly, then shook her head gently, "Theoretically all those who are able to communicate with the magic elements can become wizards, it's just that they will be many times slower in gathering and manipulating the magic elements than wizards who have a strong affinity for single-element magic, and the higher you go the more pronounced this gap becomes, and many people still remain at the level of junior wizards for the rest of their lives. "
Arthur's gaze, which had just dimmed, instantly lit up again, "So I can still learn magic from you?"
Adeline laughed bitterly again, this time for real, "Of course you can, it's just that you're better suited to be a martial artist, you'll go farther down that path!"
"Uh-huh!" Arthur nodded heavily, "I'll become a powerful martial artist sooner or later, but I won't give up learning magic either!"
"Little bastard, give up this stupid idea before it's too late! Don't think about any magic-martial dual cultivation, that's simply impossible!" Randall threw a pot of cold water over his head.
Arthur's steely gaze met Randall's, "Teacher, you want me to give up practicing magic, always tell me why?"
Since Randall started teaching Arthur martial arts, he took the initiative to change his name, and at first Randall wasn't very used to it, but after a long time he just went along with Arthur's name.
"A martial artist's path of cultivation is like a long race, a martial artist who seeks to be powerful has no room for mistakes along the way, and once they go astray, their lifelong realm stops there! And wasting energy on cultivation that you know is fruitless is the greatest folly!" Randall seemed to have remembered something, and his gaze was a little lost in thought as he said these words.
"Thank you, Mr. Randall, for your teachings, but I still want to learn magic, and I promise I won't delay my martial arts training!" Arthur still didn't give up.
This was the first time Arthur had contradicted Randall since he entered the mercenary group.
"You!" Randall's eye brows stood up, and a powerful fighting aura was about to erupt in his body.
A large hand landed on Randall's shoulder at just the right time, suppressing the fighting qi that was about to spew out back down again, "Still so angry, always listen to the little one's explanation first."
Cairns raised his chin slightly signaling Arthur to continue.
"When I started learning magic I just wanted to learn more to make myself stronger. But when I put all my spirit into communicating with the magical elements, I would forget the pain that 'Danyang Refining God' brings to my body."
"What? Say that again!" Cairns and Randall exclaimed at the same time.
Once a martial artist steps into the first stage realm, there will be an automatically rotating cyclone in the dantian to absorb the fighting qi in the space, expanding the meridians and refining the flesh and bones. The biggest drawback of Danyang Refining God is that when the fighting qi cyclone is running, it brings the whole body, flesh and spirit like a burning pain in the fire, therefore, the military warriors they trained before can't practice for a long time at all, and they have to stop and take a rest every half an hour, otherwise, that kind of continuous, frying pain is enough to drive a person's spirit crazy, and Arthur said that he can even ignore this kind of pain!
This meant that Arthur could cultivate both fighting qi and magic at the same time, which was an unprecedented miracle! Moreover, the time to cultivate fighting qi using "Danyang Refining God" would be several times longer than the warriors he had trained before!
"Impossible, how is it possible for you to meditate and tranquilize your mind to communicate the magic elements in that kind of pain?" Randall excitedly stepped forward and grabbed Arthur's shoulder, grinning from the pain from the excessive force.
"At first I just hoped to relieve the pain by diverting my mental attention, but I didn't realize that the pain made those magic elements feel clearer and more real to me, and I forgot about the pain once I gave it my full attention!"
"Impossible, impossible, how could this happen?" Randall still shook his head in disbelief.
"How is it impossible, except that none of those warriors we brought before were foolish enough to practice magic at the same time as they would practice fighting qi!"
Cairns couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Haha ... Our Blue Siren has really picked up a treasure this time!"