Chapter 28 Counter-Damage Upgrade: Your Standard is Five Minutes

The weekend's competition laid bare the strength of all the new students. Eve's team garnered the most attention, followed by Ancia's team.

Although Ancia's performance as a two-star priest was commendable, many people still believed that they would at most reach the fourth round of the semifinals. In the past, the best result of a team with a new priest was only the third round.

“I’ve heard a lot of talk about this lately. They all say that your team won that match because of the advantage of the Sun Valley environment. What do you think?” Airan drank the throat-soothing potion provided by Teacher Yesika. The cool liquid made his throat, which had been commentating on the match for two days, feel much better.

“We do have some advantages, but what do their opinions have to do with us? Let them talk, all I care about is the final victory,” Ancia said lazily, basking in the sun. They were resting on the balcony of Villa No. 12 in Heligaluo.

“Even if the simulated environment isn’t Sun Valley, Ancia won’t be eliminated.” Heligalo didn’t even look up, quickly flipping through the intelligence in his hand and approving the documents that needed processing.

"Although the competition is divided into team battles and individual battles, it has only been team battles for two days and we haven't seen any individual battles yet," Ancia said thoughtfully.

"Because the team battle score is already enough to decide the winner, the conditions for a draw are too stringent, and it has never happened since the competition began." Erlan placed the empty crystal bottle on the table and explained lazily, "First of all, there's the time limit. Normal battles end in about three minutes, but a draw requires the team to go through the maximum time limit of ten minutes. Secondly, there's the number of players. Only when both sides have the same number of players remaining after the time limit expires will it be considered a draw."

“From the moment the mental link arrives on the stage until the end of the battle, even including the time spent searching for and probing the opponent in the early stages, the match rarely lasts more than five minutes,” Heligalo added. “Gracia students all have their own pride, and the match will be watched by the entire academy’s faculty and students as well as invited experts. Even for the sake of their future reputation, they will not act cowardly.”

"Can magical items be brought in through a mental link?" Ancia suddenly wondered.

"What are you thinking about?" Ellan glanced at her casually. "Due to the limitations of the magic device, the mental link can only copy the body, ordinary clothing, and weapons. Other items with attached magic circuits cannot be copied. Didn't you notice you weren't wearing earrings during the competition?"

“No.” Ancia shook her head honestly. “How did you find out?”

“I…” Airland choked, “I’m a commentator, of course I have to pay attention to the players’ condition on the field.”

Ancia looked at Heligalo, who was working diligently, and said, "I remember there was a magic circle on Heli's robe."

"I changed into my ordinary priest's robes before the match." Heligaluo paused, a faint blush rising on his face, and said helplessly, "Don't look anymore, Ancia."

Ancia withdrew her almost direct gaze amidst Ellan's cold laughter and sat up straight.

"If you could bring it along, do you think your resources are comparable to those brother and sister from the royal family?" Airan curled the corner of his mouth and mocked, "The royal family will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. You might end up facing half of the royal treasury."

“The Vatican has a sufficient stockpile of magical items,” Heligalo said calmly.

“My advisor has many too.” Ancia raised an eyebrow with confidence, thinking of her seemingly cold but warm-hearted advisor, Cheryl.

After Heligalo finished processing the documents, he transmitted them all back through the Vatican's secret communication system, and the time came just in time.

"Ancia, it's time for the Radiant Inscription class. Shall we go to the Tower of Light now?"

Erlan waved to his two friends, picked up his teacup, and watched them go to class, but Ancia's smug expression flashed through his mind.

If Anciya's confidence came from him, that would be great.

“I have quite a few magical items too…” Ellan’s whisper melted into the wind, only the autumn wind could hear it.

*

The recent course in the Radiant Inscription class involves etching a Starshine Protection Array onto stone slabs. Even if some students have already completed their first practice session, they will still receive a new stone slab.

“One success doesn’t guarantee continued success. Keep practicing until you can etch successfully within ten minutes.” Cheryl remained serious, not relaxing her standards even when facing Ancia, and was even stricter.

The students at the top of the tower were all engrossed in etching. Cheryl slowly walked to Ancia's side. "Ancia, your standard is five minutes."

The older students who were nearby picked at their ears. Did they hear that right?

Five minutes?

Ancia nodded briskly, "Okay, mentor."

After completing the etching task of the Gathering Magic Array, she can now stabilize her speed at around seven minutes for the temporary Starry Protection Array. With diligent practice, five minutes is not out of the question.

Players need to challenge themselves with high difficulty!

Ancia repeatedly increased her speed, and finally reduced the time to six and a half minutes by the end of the class.

"Mentor, can you take me to the mage tower? I want to practice some magic circles that explode." Ancia left until the very end and asked Cheryl.

A fleeting smile crossed Cheryl's face, and even her nasolabial folds seemed to fade slightly.

“Okay, I’ll take you to the Mage Tower. Next time you need to do dangerous training, you should also come to me. Before you have the ability to protect yourself, dangerous training must be carried out under the supervision of your instructor,” Cheryl said solemnly.

Cheryl casually drew a teleportation array diagram in the air. The array for two people was more complex than that for one person, and it took shape smoothly under her hands.

With a flash of golden light, Ancia was directly transported to Cheryl's mage tower.

Last time she came, Ancia only saw the reading room on the top floor. Now, all the floors of the mage tower are open to her, and she can enter the core research floor.

"What kind of magic array do you want to study?" Cheryl asked, visibly more relaxed inside the mage tower, as she sat down at a research table piled high with blueprints.

“Does the instructor remember the accident I caused during my first class? The magic circuit that caused the explosion—I want to try it again.” Ancia clenched her fist nervously, waiting for Cheryl’s reaction.

“Okay, first draw out the original magic circuits, and we’ll take a look together.” Cheryl prepared brand-new parchment and a pen for Ancia.

"Didn't my mentor say I was too greedy, thinking of running away before I could even walk steadily?" Anxi asked, tilting her head instead of immediately starting to write.

“Every attempt has its significance, and it can eliminate many wrong answers. Since you are so fixated on that magic circuit, it must be very important to you,” Cheryl said calmly.

“This is it.” Ancia finished drawing the magic circuit for the damage reflection shield with a smile that she herself didn’t even realize.

Cheryl took the parchment and cast a counter-damage shield directly according to the magic circuit; a familiar golden light flashed around her.

“This is the shield skill you used during the match. Unlike common shield skills, it has a damage reflection effect. Can you see the difference between it and the magic circuit of the Light Shield?” Cheryl took out a blank piece of parchment and drew the magic circuit of the Light Shield directly.

Ancia placed the two pieces of paper side by side and examined them carefully.

A moment later, she dipped her brush in the different colored ink and circled several runes. "The damage reflection shield has more conversion runes and channeling runes, but fewer stability runes."

Cheryl nodded approvingly. "That's right, that's the key to its ability to convert damage and return it to the attacker. Do you want to research increasing its shield value, or enhancing its damage reflection effect?"

Anciya was perfectly clear-headed; as her mental attributes increased, she could clearly feel the healing power of the Intermediate Healing Spell changing as well.

As an upgradeable skill, the shield value of the damage reflection shield will also increase. However, unless it is upgraded to the intermediate level, the maximum value of the damage reflection shield will remain at 30%.

In the first match, the damage reflection shield was quite effective, but the opponent quickly came up with a solution: as long as two three-star classes attacked Ancia together and broke her shield, each would share 15% of the damage, which would not cause her health to drop rapidly.

She doesn't know about others, but Princess Eve will definitely study her skills. With two four-star mages on top of that, she must improve her self-defense capabilities.

Healing and Damage Reflection Shield both require a certain number of effective casts to upgrade. After practicing for so long in the Monster Mountain Range without any signs of upgrading, Ancia couldn't gamble that it would reach the intermediate level just before the finals. It would be better for her to research the magic circuit herself and achieve the upgrade effect ahead of time.

“Enhance the damage reflection effect,” Ancia said firmly.

"Then, based on expanding the magic circuit, increase the conversion runes and guiding runes, and continue to reduce the stabilizing runes. However, the expansion of the magic circuit will inevitably be accompanied by more stabilizing runes. You will have to decide how to modify it yourself." Cheryl gave a brief thought and gave a direction for the research.

Instead of rushing to take action, Ancia took out the two types of Star Protection Array blueprints she had drawn and quietly observed them.

Similar upgrades, but different directions; complex and intertwined magic circuits; inscriptions each performing their function at the intersections.

The flow state returned, and Ancia's pen suddenly moved, sketching different possibilities on the blueprint of the damage reflection shield.

“Expansion, stabilization…conversion, guidance…” Ancia muttered to herself, her gaze focused, drawing a hundred possible blueprints in one go, then repeatedly crossing out half of them. “No, this isn’t stable enough, it’ll explode…this conversion attack isn’t strong enough…the guidance is misaligned…”

In the end, five magic circuits that were successfully deduced on the blueprints were left behind.

Ancia gripped her staff, and golden magic activated the gem at the top of the staff, slowly building a damage reflection shield that she could now cast instantly.

The magic circuit spread out from the center, quickly reaching the boundary of the primary counter-damage shield. The magic power paused for a moment before continuing to expand outward.

When the third transformation inscription appeared at the intersection, the entire magic circuit trembled, and the stable connection instantly became precarious.

Cheryl skillfully raised a light shield, separating Ancia from the magic circuits.

boom--

The light shield was covered with dense cracks, and a huge absorption array appeared on the walls of the research room, absorbing all the energy from the explosion.

Unaware of what was happening, Ancia calmly retrieved the second drawing.

boom--

boom--

boom--

The fifth time the magic circuit was constructed, the speed was even slower than the previous times, and the magic power spread outward with great difficulty to form the circuit.

Cheryl was prepared to comfort her apprentice, but the magic circuit that seemed to have the lowest success rate miraculously stabilized at the intermediate level.

A bright golden light appeared on Ancia's body, adhering to the surface of her skin.

Congratulations to the player for achieving the achievement [Self-taught].

[Congratulations to the player for mastering the skill "Reflect Damage Shield - Intermediate".]

The player receives 10,000 gold coins, 15,000 experience points, and reaches level 23.