Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Translator: True Detective
Chapter 24: Lan Qi's Strange Ability
"Very well."
Flat’s expression remained neutral, neither happy nor angry, but the vein on his forehead twitched twice.
He nodded.
Flat wasn’t sure whether this boy was truly ignorant of the danger he was in or if he was deliberately provoking him.
But it didn’t matter.
He would simply erase him.
High in the sky, Chief Examiner Flat slowly opened his palm, every movement of his fingertips as absolute and unchangeable as a law of nature.
In an instant, his eyes deepened like the starry sky, and the overwhelming magic around him began to gather, preparing for a grand opening ceremony.
As Flat’s lips parted slightly, he recited an obscure incantation in a loud, clear voice. The air around him suddenly heated up, filled with the violent essence of flames.
A surge of invisible magical energy swept across the entire grassland, roaring as it stirred up waves of air.
In that moment, the tips of the green grass beneath him began to wither and char, as if being scorched by Flat’s intense magic.
Even without using magic cards, the spells that Flat wielded himself were more than enough to instantly kill the two before him.
However—
Underestimating a weaker enemy was never a wise move.
Flat knew this well.
For lower tiers to defeat higher tiers, the only way to turn the tables was through "special mechanics."
For example, high-damage reflection effects that could result in an instant counter-kill—even high-tier opponents could easily fall into such traps.
Before coming here, no matter how many intelligence resources he tapped into, Flat couldn’t find a single record of Lan Qi having any real combat experience.
Like a blank sheet of paper.
On top of that, Lan Qi's thought process was often unusually different, making Flat instinctively wary.
That was precisely why he hadn’t attacked Lan Qi outright at first—one major reason being the possibility of triggering some kind of magic card with a counter-effect.
If he could persuade him to back down with words, that would have been ideal.
But since this kid was dead set on stirring up trouble, there were plenty of ways to deal with him.
For example, he could give this so-called Lan Qi an excruciatingly painful death, letting him slowly burn alive in the flames.
Besides, Flat was quite certain that this Duke’s daughter was the type who would rather die than admit defeat.
In this artificial Shadow Realm, where dying didn’t mean true death, once he incinerated Lan Qi—this unpredictable factor—he’d have all the time in the world to deal with her one-on-one.
On the distant grassland—
Feeling the searing danger approaching and seeing that Flat had finally made his move, Huperion’s eyes flickered, as if realizing something.
"Flat was probably guarding against you having a counter-damage ability, but we can’t withstand his Tier 3 magic for long either!"
Huperion quickly whispered.
She noticed that the spell Flat was currently chanting wasn’t a Tier 5 large-scale offensive spell.
Instead, it was a sustained Tier 3 area-effect spell with lower direct damage!
"Relax, I told you, I’m a function-specialized White Mage."
As Lan Qi spoke, a magic card had already appeared in his hand.
From the moment Flat started casting, Lan Qi had already prepared his countermeasure.
This spell card, crafted using the principles of demonic toxins that Talia had taught him, was finally about to come into play.
…
Inside the conference room—
Even though most of the teachers hardly saw any suspense in the outcome of this exam, they were still fixated on the battle unfolding before them.
"Is this guy Lan Qi finally going to make his move?"
The teachers had long been curious about what kind of abilities Lan Qi would display.
White Mages were recognized as such because healing spells made up more than 70% of their spell composition, classifying them as specialized healers.
The remaining limited number of spell slots were typically used to provide various forms of support for their team.
If a mage’s spell composition leaned too much toward specialized functions, they often wouldn’t even be classified as White Mages, but instead as some other type of support role.
So while the teachers knew Lan Qi carried a large number of healing spells, they had no idea what kind of combat style he followed, or what the remaining spell slots were used for.
"Even if he has a spell with a strong control effect, it can only interrupt Flat’s casting once."
"And given his tier, it’s very likely he won’t be able to affect Flat at all."
The teachers discussed as they intently watched the magic screen.
Generally, the stronger the control effect, the harder it was to apply.
For instance, hard controls like 【Stun】 and 【Freeze】—there was no way a mere Tier 2 Lan Qi could make them work against a Tier 5 Flat.
The only soft control that might have a chance of interrupting a spell was 【Silence】.
But if Lan Qi could even manage to silence Flat, it would only last for an instant—Flat would just start casting again immediately.
On screen, the battle continued.
The teachers all knew that this was likely the decisive moment.
If Lan Qi and Huperion could make it through this, there would still be room for further maneuvering.
But if they had no way to counter it, then this would be the end.
"O Spirit of Flames hidden deep within the earth, grant us the wrath of the molten—"
Just as Flat recited his incantation in the ancient human magic language—
The chanting suddenly stopped.
His gaze, cold and sharp, shifted downward, only to see Lan Qi holding a magic card emanating a purplish mist.
Clearly, it was this 【Purple (Epic)】 spell card that had cut off his chant.
Flat’s expression was icy, but there wasn’t the slightest trace of emotion in his face.
…
"So he really did use a Silence spell."
"It’s true that it can interrupt Flat once, but this is just a desperate move."
The senior professors watching in the conference room sighed.
Even a Tier 2 epic-quality card could only silence a Tier 5 Flat for an instant before the effect wore off.
And spell cards that inflicted 【Silence】 usually had long cooldown times.
Flat would be able to cast again in no time.
When that happened, the outcome wouldn’t change in the slightest!
Just as the teachers were about to stop paying attention—
One second passed.
Two seconds.
Five seconds!
Flat still couldn’t speak!
Lan Qi, standing off in the distance, didn’t seem the least bit rushed. With one hand on his hip, he looked up at Flat like some kind of veteran supervisor watching a new recruit struggle.
"???"
"Why is the Silence lasting this long?"
"What kind of card can apply such a powerful【Silence】? Impossible!"
It was just a Tier 2 Purple (Epic) spell card—no matter how absurdly overpowered it was, there was no way it should be able to control a Tier 5 Flat like this!
At this moment, it wasn’t just Flat on the screen who looked utterly shocked.
Even in the conference room, the teachers watching from behind the scenes finally realized the severity of the situation.
“I—※!!”
With a chorus of exclamations,
The teachers finally saw it—
The exam terminal had successfully identified and displayed the attributes of the card Lan Qi had just used!
On the projected magic screen—
“Ugh—ugh!!”
Flat wanted to question Lan Qi, but all that came out were strange, garbled sounds.
In that moment, he understood.
The reason he couldn’t continue his incantation was because of that strange spell card Lan Qi had just used to interrupt him!
It wasn’t Silence at all.
It was—
【Gag Order】!
【Friendly Exchange】【Type: Spell Card】【Grade: Purple (Epic)】【Attribute: Curse/Poison】【Tier: 2】【Effect: Inflicts minor curse and poison damage to the enemy’s throat, applying the “Gag Order” status: Causes throat pain as if slashed by knives, preventing speech. Cooldown: 15 seconds.】【Note: You have violated the user agreement. You are permanently muted.】