The third day at the Kane Mansion.
Lis lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
God knows how he had endured these past three days.
Standing there as a maid smeared his face with scalding hot fruit pie, he tried to use magic to block it but encountered the rarest elemental dispersion accident.
Now, he was a complete package of internal and external injuries.
Even eating wasn't peaceful, choking every three bites, and most absurdly, even drinking water could make him choke. Lis started suspecting that he might have mutated somehow.
Fortunately, the subsequent misfortunes were relatively mild, like stubbing his little toe or getting slightly burned.
However, to be cautious, Lis had not engaged in arcane research or physical exercise for those three days. At a time like this, any small mishap could be life-threatening; he didn't want to end up missing an arm or a leg.
During these days, Lis had mostly been lying in bed meditating, since there was nothing else to do and Arsen had been informed. Practicing meditation, gathering some experience points was always good.
Lis leaped from the bed and stood on the floor, glancing at the leg of a nearby chair with lingering fear.
It reminded Lis that no matter how well you exercise, your little toe remains vulnerable.
"Right, I think there are some system notifications I haven't checked yet."
Lis called up the system panel.
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[Limited Challenge Quest Triggered]
[Objective: Defeat Silver Mage Camus]
[Rewards: Will be based on task completion]
...
[You dealt a lethal injury to the target using Death Ray!]
[You have slain Silver Mage Camus LV51!]
[You gained 200,000 experience points]
...
[Your victory over the Silver Mage Camus, in an underdog battle, has completed the limited challenge quest]
[Judgment: Cross-level Challenge...Judgment passed, rewards increased]
[Judgment: All-out Battle...Judgment passed (70%), slight increase in rewards]
[Judgment (Hidden): Formidable foe of the same profession...Judgment passed, rewards significantly increased]
[Task Completion 200%, Reward Distribution in Progress...]
[You gained 600,000 experience points]
[You gained 200 gold coins]
[You gained the specialties [Intermediate Fire Element Affinity], [Casting Genius (Basic)], [Concentration]]
[You gained the skill [Advanced Elemental Shield]]
[You have reached the milestone [Strongman's Second Step (Gold Level)]]
[You gained the blueprint [Short Distance Oriented Magic Transmission Array (Basic)]]
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Holy smokes, it's a gold mine!
Huge burst ah!
Lis's eyes nearly popped out with the brilliance—the rewards for single-handedly completing a limited challenge quest were just too sweet.
Lis now wished he could extract the system from inside him and plant a big kiss on it!
"Ha ha, thank goodness I didn't open the panel during the unlucky fellow effect, or the rewards drawn would have been rubbish."
Lis thought somewhat idealistically as he happily clicked to check each reward.
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[Intermediate Fire Element Affinity]—Your affinity with Fire Element particles has further increased, granting you a 30% damage bonus when using Fire Magic, while also providing immunity to Fire Poison, Fire Element Infection, and other negative effects.
[Casting Genius (Basic)]—You possess a unique talent in the domain of casting spells, reducing spell casting time by 10%, increasing spell power by 10%, and slightly speeding up your spell learning and mastery.
[Concentration]—Challenging experiences have tempered your mind. In states of meditation and arcane research, your mana recovery rate increases by 20%, and it becomes easier for you to reach a state of focused concentration, free from distracting thoughts.
[Advanced Elemental Shield]—A Four Rings Spell, which forms an elemental shield around you, blocking damage equal to (300% Intelligence + 10% Mana Value), while the shield's value is proportionately increased by the caster's Elemental Affinity. Cooldown time: 2 minutes, Cost: 5% Mana Value.
[Strongman's Second Step (Gold Level)]—A proof of strength, you have surpassed your enemies based on your own power, advancing significantly on the legendary path. Reward: 20 free attribute points, 20% probability to resist negative statuses.
[Short Distance Oriented Magic Transmission Array (Basic)]—Records a special Magic Array blueprint, which allows you to learn the magic array recorded in it, or use it as a one-time tool.
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Worthy of a Silver Mage's rewards, these are far more exciting compared to the rewards from Dison's mission, each significantly enhancing my own strength.
[Intermediate Fire Element Affinity] and [Casting Genius (Basic)] obviously need no further elaboration, as they directly enhance the power of Lis's fire-related spells, manifesting every mage's spell-casting talent.
Speaking of which, all of Lis's Elemental Affinities are currently low-level. There's a long road ahead.
[Casting Genius] is a specialty capable of directly enhancing my combat power, especially the effect that reduces spell casting time is quite useful even at a basic level.
[Concentration] is a rather special specialty. It seems like the one Camus acquired during his devoted study when he first entered school, enhancing his efficiency in meditation and spell research.
This specialty definitely deserves a thumbs up for Camus's diligence, and Lis acknowledges that such a specialty would be tremendously helpful in his own arcane research.
[Advanced Elemental Shield] is a must-learn skill for every Silver Mage due to its very practical and powerful effects —this saves Lis the trouble of learning it.
[Strongman's Second Step (Gold Level)] and [Short Distance Oriented Magic Transmission Array (Basic)] are effects that are very straightforward, and Lis really likes them.
Oh, Camus is such a good person!
I should have spoken more gently back then.
Lis felt somewhat guilty, completely unaware of how excessive it was to completely clean out Camus.
(Camus: Get lost!)
Opening the panel again, Lis delightedly admired the fresh and hot specialties and skills, gathered his thoughts, and began to ponder his current situation.
This time, learning from Camus that the perennial mastermind behind the scenes was Second Prince Yatean Fis of the Feis Kingdom was indeed a surprise to Lis.
After all, since the elder prince died accidentally, Second Prince Yatean, as the heir to the kingdom, should not be involved in such highly sensitive matters at this time.
A smooth transition and assuming the throne should have been the princes's main focus.
As for the subsequential counterattack by the Rose Princess, that was completely beyond anyone's control.
The fact is, before Taya emerged, Yatean's position as the crown prince was incredibly stable, and he had already begun helping the aging king manage some of the state affairs.
Because of this, although the prince did not control powerful factions directly, his influence was substantial enough to impact nearly half the kingdom.
For instance, the Feis Kingdom's top guild, the Feis Guild, being a private property of the Fis family, had robust financial and influential power that could affect the prices of major commodities like food and weapons without arousing suspicion from others.
The prince was usually quite low-profile, which is why Lis initially did not consider this prince.
Moreover, after the total war had ended, Prince Yatean ceased to appear in public.
But why is he targeting me, arranging for Camus to come and test me specifically?
With his current power and influence, there surely was no need to worry about any complications in the assassination, right?
Could there be more to the assassination during the Sacrificial Festival?
Lis's fingers drummed lightly on the table, alternating the motion.
Although there were still many inexplicable aspects, Lis felt he was getting closer to the truth!