Chapter 86: The True Mage Lord
Due to his Law-Destruction Shadow class, even with his Intelligence attribute reaching 79 points, Su Xiao couldn’t perceive any elements. Therefore, he had no idea what ‘Elemental Connection Strength’ or ‘Elemental Perception Sensitivity’ meant.
Although he didn’t know, someone he knew might—Yanchen.
He had worked with Yanchen before, and the two had been through life-and-death situations together, so they had exchanged contact information.
Su Xiao contacted Yanchen. Dozens of seconds later, a virtual screen appeared before him, showing a sleepy-eyed Yanchen.
“It’s early in the morning. Can’t you let a man sleep in?”
Yanchen had clearly just woken up. As the leader of a group of lunatics, he had quite a temper when roused.
“What’s the use of Elemental Connection Strength and Elemental Perception Sensitivity?”
Su Xiao got straight to the point. He had tried asking Reincarnation Paradise earlier, but the damn thing charged for that information—10,000 Paradise Coins per piece.
“That’s your question? I thought you were inviting me to breakfast.”
Yanchen was a bit annoyed, but he still answered Su Xiao’s question, and at great length. It was this lengthy explanation that resolved a puzzle Su Xiao had been pondering for a long time.
“Elemental Connection Strength is something every mage needs. You can think of it this way: there’s a line between a mage and the elements. The thickness of that line is the value of their Elemental Connection Strength. The thicker the line, the faster and more stable their spellcasting.
As for Elemental Perception Sensitivity, that’s rarer. For example, a mage with 50 Intelligence can sense the concentration of elements around them in TC grams. As for what a ‘TC gram’ is, just treat it as a unit—a measurement exclusive to Mage Lords. If you’re not a Mage Lord, you won’t sense it. The higher the TC grams of elements sensed, the lower the mana cost of spells. In simple terms, it reduces mana consumption. But this reduction only applies to Mage Lords, not ordinary mages.”
Yanchen emphasized the distinction between ‘Mage Lord’ and ‘mage’ twice, suggesting there was some difference between the two.
Yanchen cleared his throat and continued:
“Spellcasting involves several steps. First, you sense a certain concentration of TC gram elements, then you mobilize those elements, convert mana into the same type of element, manipulate, shape, fission, reshape, compress, reshape again, followed by silent chanting plus mana resonance, and finally, you hurl it out. In short, it’s a pain in the ass. That’s the path academic mages must take.
Also, don’t lump academic mages together with those who rely on skills. The title ‘Mage Lord’ in Reincarnation Paradise was earned by academic mages. At the same rank, an academic mage is several times, even dozens of times, stronger than a skill-based mage. But academic mages are rare. Most so-called ‘Mage Lords’ nowadays are just trash relying on fixed skill circuits.”
After Yanchen’s spiel, Su Xiao concluded that if he could find a real buyer for [Moon Essence], it seemed quite valuable—specifically, an academic mage.
“What, did you get some equipment that boosts ‘Elemental Connection Strength’ and ‘Elemental Perception Sensitivity’?”
Yanchen didn’t seem very interested in [Moon Essence]; he was a fake mage himself.
“A potion. Do you have a market for it?”
“Of course… I do.”
Yanchen’s drowsiness faded.
“7%.”
“3% at most.”
“I’ll help you drive up the price, so 6%.”
“Deal.”
Su Xiao and Yanchen struck a deal. Clearly, Yanchen knew academic mages.
Su Xiao had been wondering before why mages in Reincarnation Paradise were called ‘Mage Lords.’ Yet most mages he encountered weren’t overwhelmingly powerful—they just recklessly spammed skills. The stronger ones only used their skills more reasonably. The title ‘Mage Lord’ seemed somewhat undeserved.
Now he finally understood that ‘Mage Lord’ wasn’t a term for all mages, but an exclusive title for academic mages.
Academic mages also learned skills, but they studied the skills they already had, analyzed their principles, and then incorporated their own insights.
This was like how Su Xiao, after using Soul Crystals + Paradise Coins to upgrade his Blade Master skill, still meditated for 1 to 3 hours daily, rain or shine. Not only that, but he also deeply analyzed his Azure Steel Shadow energy, which led him to develop godly techniques like the Counter Shield.
Yanchen needed some time to contact an academic Mage Lord. According to Yanchen, those Mage Lords were basically homebodies, spending most of their time holed up in their exclusive rooms studying magic.
For academic Mage Lords, studying magic was the most interesting thing. They pursued knowledge, then armed themselves with that knowledge to gain higher-level knowledge.
Su Xiao left his exclusive room and headed to the Trade Market. He planned to sell [Malicious Roar] tower shield first; it could fetch a decent price.
A main tank might not be able to afford it, but the adventure group behind them would definitely foot the bill. An excellent main tank was like a ‘giant panda’ in Reincarnation Paradise—an endangered protected profession.
Normally, leaders of various adventure groups treated their main tanks like treasured sons, even more precious than their own children. But during battle, sorry, the main tank had to stand in front and take the beating until they fell. In most cases, a fallen tank meant a party wipe.
Su Xiao arrived at his ‘designated’ stall, one he used frequently.
Sitting behind the stall, he hesitated for a moment, then priced [Malicious Roar] at 600,000 Paradise Coins. This price wasn’t high; in fact, shield prices were much lower than staff prices, since the number of main tanks was far fewer than mages.
When supply exceeds demand, prices naturally drop. This was the case with shield-type equipment. As for staff-type weapons, they were always in short supply because there were too many mages. Mages were already safe in a team, plus they had flashy spells and the title ‘Mage Lord.’
As soon as Su Xiao’s stall opened, the golden glow attracted a large crowd of contractors. But upon seeing it was a shield, they admired it briefly and dispersed. Of the nearly hundred contractors, only one burly man remained crouched in front of the stall, staring longingly at the golden shield.
“Sir, can you lower the price a bit?”
“Yes.”
Su Xiao didn’t want to lose this rare customer.
“Uh… how about 210,000?”
The burly man gave an awkward smile.
“That’s a bit low. At least 550,000.”
Su Xiao smiled. The guy clearly wasn’t here to cause trouble; he just wasn’t well-off.
“Sorry to bother you. But… could I feel the shield?”
Seeing that Su Xiao didn’t show any contempt, the burly man breathed a silent sigh of relief.
“Sure.”
The burly man excitedly picked up the shield. Even though his attributes and skills couldn’t activate its abilities, holding a golden shield felt great. He couldn’t help but chuckle foolishly.
“Thanks.”
He carefully set the shield down, silently vowing that one day he would wield a shield of the same quality and stand before his teammates.
Contractors came and went in a steady stream. Soon, a burly man in a red shirt with a thick patch of chest hair stopped at the stall. His robust build was typical of a main tank.
The chest-haired man didn’t immediately ask the price. Instead, he started contacting someone. Seeing this, Su Xiao knew the real buyer had arrived.
A few minutes later, a gloomy-looking middle-aged man with triangular eyes walked over.
“Captain, over here.”
The chest-haired man waved. Seeing him, the gloomy middle-aged man smiled, but it looked worse than crying—he clearly didn’t know how to smile.
The gloomy captain examined the shield on the stall, hesitating for a long time.
“548,620 Paradise Coins. How does that sound?”
For an item worth hundreds of thousands of Paradise Coins, this gloomy captain had calculated it down to the tens digit.
“Not bad. But that precision down to the tens…”
“It’s a personal quirk. Just treat me as having OCD.”
The OCD captain’s offer was a balanced judgment between market price and his team’s affordability.
“Fine, but let’s drop the 20-coin odd number.”
The other party’s offer wasn’t high, so Su Xiao naturally wouldn’t let him off easy.
Sure enough, as soon as Su Xiao spoke, the OCD captain looked as if he’d eaten something foul. Still, they completed the transaction.
“Gangdan, come have breakfast with me immediately. Right now. The price must be exactly 20 Paradise Coins.”
The OCD captain left with the speechless main tank, Gangdan, to have breakfast costing exactly 20 Paradise Coins. If the breakfast price exceeded 20 Paradise Coins, the OCD captain would be miserable for days.