Facing Ronan's "charge," the wizard remained calm, even smiling, seemingly bemused by Ronan's audacity.
Ronan realized halfway through his charge that wizards typically fought by maintaining distance to cast spells effectively, unlike his reckless approach.
He was a complete novice, but at this point, he couldn't afford to worry about that.
The [Charged Weapon] required close combat to be effective; without closing the distance, he'd just be a sitting duck.
"Seize the chance while he's chanting a spell!" Ronan thought, but the next moment left him almost dumbfounded.
The wizard casually raised his hand, and a ring on his left ring finger flashed. Immediately, a transparent barrier enveloped him.
"Damn!"
Ronan couldn't help but curse.
"A protective artifact?!"
No wonder the wizard wasn't fazed by Ronan's approach—he had backup ready.
Artifacts with protective abilities needed to be at least zero-level mid-grade, as the simplest [Protection] rune was zero-level mid-grade.
Could Ronan, a mere Level 3 wizard apprentice, break through the defense of a zero-level mid-grade artifact? He didn't know, but he had no choice but to try now.
"Whoosh!"
When Ronan was about five meters away from the wizard, he raised his right hand and uttered a short incantation.
Instantly, his mental energy surged like boiling water, vibrating at a specific frequency.
Expert-level...
[Energy Missile]!
As Ronan chanted, the wizard within the protective shield wore a mocking expression.
But as Ronan completed the incantation, energy particles surged, distorting the air, and a deep blue orb, the size of two fists, materialized and spun in the air.
The wizard froze in shock.
"Uh... so fast?!"
The deep blue orb, trailing a terrifying whistling sound, was upon him in an instant. The wizard's face changed drastically as he hurriedly raised his hand.
"Boom!"
A terrifying shockwave erupted, causing Ronan to take a step back from the force.
"What kind of spell is that?!"
A distorted, sharp voice rang out amid the shockwave.
Looking up, Ronan saw the gray-robed wizard staring at him in disbelief.
Before him, the transparent white shield was marred with visible cracks.
Ronan was taken aback.
Then, a wave of exhilaration and joy washed over him.
"An expert-level [Energy Missile] is this powerful? It shattered a zero-level mid-grade artifact's shield with one hit?!"
With renewed vigor, Ronan took a swift step forward, chanting again, and launched another [Energy Missile].
The expert-level proficiency shone again.
Ronan's mental energy resonated like transparent strings, the incantation flowed smoothly, and energy particles gathered.
The entire spellcasting process was seamless, like a flowing stream.
As Ronan raised his hand for the second time, the wizard snapped out of his shock and tried to chant a spell.
But before he could finish half the incantation, the second deep blue orb was already upon him.
"Boom!—Crack!"
With the sound of something shattering, the orb exploded, its energy particles rushing forth like a turbulent stream.
As the chaos settled, Ronan cautiously stepped forward, discovering that the wizard's body was reduced to half, his upper torso obliterated by the [Energy Missile].
Ronan's first reaction was relief.
Then surprise and joy—he had won?! And seemingly easily?
Lastly, a wave of nausea rose from his stomach.
Though he had practiced spells on various animals like wolves and deer, often leaving them in pieces, they were just beasts. Facing a mangled human corpse, especially one he had caused, triggered a visceral discomfort, akin to the emptiness, numbness, and disgust of a hangover.
It took Ronan a while to calm himself and reflect on the battle.
First, he was pleasantly surprised by the expert-level [Energy Missile]'s power.
He knew its power had increased significantly after reaching expert level, surpassing typical zero-level low-grade spells.
But he hadn't expected it to be so potent, breaking the mid-grade artifact's shield with just two hits.
"Usually, a zero-level mid-grade spell wouldn't achieve that."
"And this is just expert level—imagine reaching beyond expert level..."
Ronan's heart raced, feeling as if he'd discovered a treasure.
He resolved to rigorously train [Energy Missile], curious to see how this seemingly ordinary zero-level low-grade spell would evolve at max level.
After a moment of excitement, Ronan prepared to leave, but then remembered something and turned back.
"Almost forgot to loot..."
With mixed feelings, Ronan approached the wizard's corpse.
He turned his head to avoid looking at the upper half, carefully removing two rings and quickly stepping back to examine them.
Both rings emitted magical energy fluctuations.
One was black, set with a plain turquoise stone.
The other was red, more visually appealing than the first.
Ronan infused mental energy into the black turquoise ring, quickly identifying traces of enchanted runes inside.
The ring contained two zero-level mid-grade [Protection] runes.
Ronan was delighted.
A mid-grade artifact with dual mid-grade runes was a cut above the rest, more valuable than most mid-grade artifacts with a single mid-grade rune and a couple of low-grade runes.
And having two [Protection] runes made it a true gem.
Reflecting on his assessment of the expert-level [Energy Missile]'s power, Ronan realized he needed to reevaluate.
The dual rune shield was much stronger than a single rune, yet it shattered with just two hits—its power was nearing zero-level high-grade spells.
"The quick spellcasting, two hits in rapid succession, left no room for recovery..."
Ronan mused, turning his attention to the other ring.
The remaining red ring looked fancy but was just a zero-level low-grade artifact.
It was enchanted with a [Fireball Spell] rune and two other low-grade runes Ronan didn't recognize.
He guessed that the three fireballs the wizard had used against him, especially the third one following the second, were likely from this fireball ring.
The wizard had probably intended to catch Ronan off guard and finish him off, not expecting Ronan's quick reflexes and agility, allowing him to evade.
So, the wizard had stopped to drink a restorative potion.