Grinding EXP From Fireball Skill-Chapter 32: Small Success Level Magic

Li Wei returned to the Mage Tower.

Several men and women stood by the Mage Tower’s main gate, looking around.

Suddenly, they spotted Li Wei and hurried over to him.

"Mage Li Wei..."

...

Seeing this, Li Wei wasted no time. He quickened his pace and dashed straight into the Mage Tower.

The group was stunned.

Seeing that they hadn’t followed him inside, Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief.

On his way back, several people had enthusiastically invited him to their homes as a guest.

’How am I supposed to stand this?’

’I just want to be a homebody; I really can’t stand socializing with strangers.’

He had finally managed to shake off the people he’d met on the road, only to find a few more lying in wait for him at the entrance to the Mage Tower.

Back home, Li Wei made a decision. ’I’m absolutely not leaving the house for a while.’

’I’ll wait for this whole thing to blow over.’

’I haven’t even shown my true strength, and they’re already this enthusiastic.’

’If I’d revealed the strength to completely crush Lair, the consequences would have been unimaginable.’

’Oh, right. I can’t keep the Magic Book for the Invisibility Armor Spell. I need to return it to Orn soon.’

Li Wei could predict that, from this day forward, Mage Aier would start harassing Orn even more frequently.

’I need to get rid of this headache and pass it back to him.’

’I can’t let Mage Aier know I have the Magic Book.’

That afternoon, Li Wei sent a letter to Reina, inviting her to meet in the small alley where they had first met.

Li Wei wasn’t sure if Reina would receive the letter.

To his surprise, he soon received a reply from Reina.

That evening, Li Wei, hooded and cloaked in a long robe, met with Reina.

He returned the Magic Book to her. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Reina took the Magic Book and said, "You became an Apprentice Mage?"

Li Wei nodded. "Yeah, I got lucky."

Reina said, "Congratulations."

She looked at Li Wei and said earnestly, "When you become an Official Mage, I want to have a real fight with you!"

Li Wei was speechless. "Why do you always want to fight me?"

Reina hesitated for a moment before saying, "My master taught me a Combat Skill designed to be used against Mages. I can’t go around fighting other Mages, so I have to come to you."

Hearing this, Li Wei’s curiosity was suddenly piqued.

After a moment’s hesitation, he said, "Alright, I agree."

"Great. It’s a deal, then."

Reina raised her palm. Li Wei saw this and raised his right hand, slapping it against hers to seal their pact.

Li Wei was very interested in the anti-Mage Combat Skill that Orn had created.

He hoped he could learn something from it, lest he encounter a similar enemy in the future and find them difficult to handle.

The two parted ways.

As he was leaving, Li Wei thought of Susan and wanted to ask if she had returned.

But on second thought, he decided against it to avoid stirring up trouble.

’Since nothing has happened to Reina or me by now, Susan is probably fine too.’

’If it had been some unspeakable secret, I would’ve been silenced long ago.’

Returning to the Mage Tower, Li Wei finally let out a sigh of relief.

’Phew! I finally got rid of that headache.’

’Hehe, Orn...’

Li Wei couldn’t wait for El to cause Orn more trouble.

He had no fondness for Orn, who had threatened him before.

Before starting his Cultivation, Li Wei went to the Treasure Vault on the third floor of the Mage Tower and donated nine Gold Coins.

He received 9 Contribution points in return.

Added to his original point, he now had a total of 10 Contribution points, which he exchanged for two bottles of Basic Level Magic Potion.

Buying these two Magic Potions nearly wiped out Li Wei’s savings.

He now had only 3 Silver Coins to his name.

’Looks like I’ll be eating the free meals in the Mage Tower cafeteria for the rest of the month.’

In his study, Li Wei looked at the two bottles of Magic Potion before him and smiled.

These two bottles of Magic Potion would be enough to support a month of intensive Cultivation.

Fortunately, now that his Basic Meditation Method had reached the Great Success stage, he could enter a meditative state within a minute even without using Calming Incense.

His need for Calming Incense had been greatly reduced.

Otherwise, the cost of using one stick of Calming Incense every day would have been a huge headache for Li Wei.

For the next several days, Li Wei remained in the Mage Tower, diligently focused on his Cultivation.

He spent four hours a day cultivating his Mana, using the rest of his time to practice Magic and study the required courses for a Mage Apprentice to shore up his foundational knowledge.

「Five days later.」

Li Wei stood in the Magic Training Ground.

He cast the Small Fireball Technique.

A Small Fireball appeared in his hand, but Li Wei didn’t immediately launch it.

Li Wei stared at the Small Fireball in his hand. With his full concentration, he carefully infused more Mana into it.

As he channeled more Mana, the Small Fireball gradually grew larger.

A moment later, Li Wei stopped. The Small Fireball in his hand was now three times its original size.

This was the limit; infusing any more Mana would upset the balance of the Small Fireball Technique’s Magic Model and cause the Fireball to explode prematurely.

With a wave of his hand, the thrice-enlarged Small Fireball shot out and struck a wooden dummy.

BOOM!

The fiery blast engulfed the wooden dummy, instantly blowing it to smithereens.

Looking around, he couldn’t find a single splinter larger than his palm.

The wooden dummy had been completely obliterated.

Li Wei’s face lit up with delight.

The wood chips on the ground gradually coalesced into lines of text.

[Basic Meditation Method (Great Success)] 1023/4000

[Small Fireball Technique (Tier Zero Small Success)] 16/4000

[Invisible Armor Skill (Tier Zero Mastery)] 301/2000

After his Small Fireball Technique reached the Small Success Level, Li Wei’s understanding of the spell deepened considerably.

He could now control the power of his Small Fireball Technique.

He could reduce his Mana consumption to cast a weaker version of the Small Fireball Technique.

Or he could increase his Mana consumption to enhance the spell’s power.

Li Wei thought of the Tier One Fireball Technique that Mage Aier had cast, and his face filled with anticipation.

’Maybe one day, I’ll be able to make my Small Fireball Technique as powerful as a Tier One Magic spell.’

Li Wei left the Magic Training Ground, pondering something.

He was now an Apprentice Mage, which meant he could learn Tier One Magic.

However, learning a Tier One spell required at least fifty Contribution points.

The Magic Model for a Tier One spell was far more complex than that of a Tier Zero spell; an Apprentice Mage typically needed to study it six to eight times to memorize it completely.

At fifty Contribution points per session, this meant most Apprentice Mages spent three to four hundred Contribution points just to learn a single Tier One spell.

Li Wei considered whether he should start taking missions to earn some Contribution points.

’Otherwise, I’ll never be able to afford a Tier One spell.’

After some thought, he decided against it. For now, he didn’t have the extra energy to cultivate a new spell.

’My Small Fireball Technique and Invisibility Armor Spell haven’t even been cultivated to their limits yet.’

He was also looking forward to seeing what would happen when his Invisibility Armor Spell broke through to the Small Success Level.

Li Wei decided he would see how much his manuscript payment was next month before deciding whether to take on missions for Contribution points.

Jimmy had mentioned that the Xinghuo Literature Society was expanding its market into other towns, which meant his royalties would likely skyrocket.

Before he knew it, March had passed.

Li Wei had been engrossed in his Cultivation for a month, paying no mind to the outside world, and the commotion caused by his outstanding performance at the Apprentice assessment had finally died down.

The attention of Maple City’s nobles had been captured by new events, and they no longer had time to focus on Li Wei.

Li Wei sat in Gu Ze’s room, watching the new class of Mage Apprentices returning home from their lessons.

"It seems there aren’t many new recruits this year," Li Wei remarked.

Gu Ze replied, "A lot of nobles have sent their children to Extreme Night City. They intend for them to learn how to become Ring Mages."

"In that challenge, the Maple City Mage Tower won because of you. But in another sense, it also lost."

He sighed.

After a moment, Gu Ze continued, "There’s news from the border. The Beastman Kingdom is massing its troops, preparing to march south and plunder the Macher Kingdom."

"Maple City is in the northern part of the Macher Kingdom, so it’s very likely we’ll be affected by the war."