Chapter 383: Chapter 382: Wither, Fragile Life!

“Ah, this…” Upon hearing Ji Burlen’s words, Heidi stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening, she looked instinctively towards Suladi, then back at Ji Burlen.

She indeed had two cups of tea on her tray, because Suladi had told her earlier that a guest would be coming, but she had not expected this guest to seem like no good.

This…

“The remaining cup of tea in your hand, you can give it to me, right?” Ji Burlen asked again at this point.

Heidi didn’t know what to do.

“Meow!”

A completely black cat appeared at the study’s doorway, with green, oily light shooting from its eyes, as if sensing some danger, arching its body and crying out.

Hearing the cat’s meow, Heidi shuddered slightly and steadied her spirit, took a deep breath and calmed a bit.

“That…” Heidi looked at Ji Burlen, tried to muster a small smile, and spoke, “Sir… since you want tea… okay then… actually, the tea isn’t that tasty… I was planning to switch it with another cup for you…”

Heidi spoke, slowly approaching Ji Burlen. Just as she was about to reach Ji Burlen, she suddenly knitted her brows, flipped the tray, and hurled the tray, the teacup, and the scalding tea at Ji Burlen.

At the same time, she shouted, “You are a bad person!”

“Swipe!”

The “gunpowder” floating in the air ignited instantly, and in a flash of lightning, a series of chain reactions occurred.

First, Suladi shouted out, “Heidi, don’t! Run!”

Then the black cat crouched at the door sprang forward like an arrow, aiming to scratch at Ji Burlen’s body.

Last was Suladi standing up, hands that were hidden beneath the table earlier now donned with several shining Magic Rune Rings and firmly grasping an ancient, withered Short Wand.

Suladi aimed at Ji Burlen, the Magic Rune Rings on his fingers lighting up, ready to release the mightiest spell with the Wand to attack!

“Die!” Suladi yelled.

The “gunpowder” in the air was ignited, rapidly burning and spreading, and as the air expanded rapidly, an explosion seemed imminent, reaching the brink.

But in that instant, Ji Burlen made his move.

Ji Burlen made a move, or perhaps he didn’t, as he just slightly flicked his fingers, and everything came to an abrupt stop.

The tension that had climbed to its peak plummeted into a valley and then dropped into a terrifying abyss.

“Bang!”

Heidi, who attacked Ji Burlen, was sent flying backward and fell to the ground, immediately unconscious.

“Boom!”

As soon as the black cat attacking Ji Burlen made contact, it sprang back as if electrocuted, emitting a wretched scream, and fled the study at an even greater speed than it had charged in.

“Boom!”

The attack from Suladi on Ji Burlen was the most bizarre of all. Radiating a formidable aura, the magic in his Magic Rune Ring shone brilliantly, and the fluctuations of his mana peaked, signaling the imminent release of his spell. However, in an instant, it was as if a balloon had been pricked, and with a soft “pop,” all that mighty aura vanished into thin air. The Magic Rune Ring lost its luster, the mana fluctuations dissipated, and the powerful attack magic died within him before it could be unleashed.

Suladi’s body shook violently, and he collapsed backward into his seat, his complexion turning ashen gray. The wrinkles on his face deepened sharply, his eyes clouding over as if they were glass beads dredged from a mire–in an exceedingly brief period, he had aged twenty, perhaps thirty years, transformed from a normal old man into one clinging to life’s last breath.

“Clap!”

Ji Burlen caught the tray and teacup Heidi had sent flying with a steady hand, lifted the cup to take a light sip, and commented, smacking his lips, “Hmm, actually, it’s not bad… but it’s a bit not to my taste.”

With that said, Ji Burlen stepped forward, placed the tray and teacup on a nearby wooden rack, and turned to face Suladi.

At this moment, Suladi, slumped in his seat, trembled continuously as if in tremendous pain. Clenching his teeth, he looked at Ji Burlen and asked, “What… what have you done to me?”

“Actually, I haven’t done much,” replied Ji Burlen, stepping closer to Suladi, “Just cast a little spell, hmm, a very, very small spell, a Zero-Circle Low-Level Magic spell considered mere trickery.”

“How can… that be possible?” Suladi was in complete disbelief, his body trembling uncontrollably, his voice hoarse as he said, “A mere trickery… could cause me to end up like this?”

“The fact is just as so, and that is the source of my confidence,” said Ji Burlen. “I’m quite busy, have many things to do, yet according to schedule, I still have a few minutes of leisure today to explain to you:

Firstly, the spell I’ve cast upon you is indeed a Zero-Circle Low-Level Magic spell, but it is an exceedingly ancient one, lost in the passage of time, only preserved within our organization. It belongs to a type of Shape-shifting Life system magic called… Withering.

Yes, Withering, it can cause plants to wither, and also fragile lives to perish.

I know what you’re trying to say, ‘how can you be considered a fragile life?’ After all, you’re a Second-level Wizard who, at full strength, could level an entire street.

But you see, strength and fragility are not mutually exclusive, just as robustness and health are compatible.

You are a Second-level Wizard, but since we’ve discovered your organization’s existence, we’ve taken special care to learn about you and all your members. During our investigations, we’ve found that following the downfall of the Black Spirit Empire, you’ve inherited some rather particular spells, which beyond the more common Shape Energy Magic includes a small subset of Shape-shifting Life system magic.

And this small subset of Shape-shifting Life system magic has led your Council members to progress up a very skewed path when advancing in Wizard Levels–poor Talent, insufficient accumulation, but no matter, you can still push through by using life-draining methods, with the aid of special potions to forcibly modify your body, thereby allowing your Spiritual Strength to rise to the required level, your Magic Origin to be reshaped and perfectly accommodated by the body, and so on.

As a result, post-advancement, your bodies would be extremely fragile, more so than infants, but of course, you would have methods–using your inherited Shape-shifting Life system magic to gradually repair and eventually reach some state of Balance, returning to normal over an extended period, and extending life through specialized slumber; but… all of this is merely an appearance of normalcy.

You’re all too aware that while in this balanced state, you’re almost incapable of using Extraordinary Power for any extended time–once you do, you’ll disrupt the Balance and require a lengthy period of readjustment to recover.

To me, that makes you akin to a candle choosing to burn at a greater brightness, using up its wax prematurely, and then being remolded with clay, barely maintaining that last flicker of light, all the while convincing yourself everything is normal.

Laughable, truly laughable. Fragility, that really is extreme fragility.

The magic you’ve inherited has a deadly flaw which the Black Spirit Empire chose not to widely adopt for this reason. But you don’t know that, or perhaps even if you know, you don’t believe that anyone has mastered a counter-spell to this flaw, so you utilize it broadly.

Therefore, now, all I need is ‘Withering,’ an old trivial piece of trickery magic, aimed right at your Achilles’ heel, to shatter the precarious equilibrium you’ve been maintaining, causing your bodies to collapse, leaving you in the state you’re in now.”