Versatile Mage

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

The sky was clear that night. A whole moon was hanging in the sky. Its brilliance shone down upon Lunar Fang Mountain and sprinkled on the blue moths that were dancing in the air. The mountain looked like it was glowing, a stunning sight from the distance.

Mo Fan was sitting beside a giant cocoon. The Moon Moth Phoenix had degenerated after the battle. Most Totem Beasts were imbued with the same spirit, and some would even say they were the same entity over thousands of years. When they approached the end of their lifespan, they would degenerate and return to their younger stage and grow slowly again. They would lose their memories, too.

The Moon Moth Phoenix was that kind. Her soul and flesh were severely injured. She had been enduring pain for many years. It felt like she had long waited for this moment.

The moonlight descended. The giant cocoon of the Moon Moth Phoenix began to emit the same light as the blue moths. Mo Fan recognized it as the power of the Totem Beasts that he was looking for without needing Yu Shishi’s explanation. This power would normally dissipate as the Moon Moth Phoenix entered the reincarnation cycle…

As a matter of fact, it was the Moon Moth Phoenix’s cultivation, built up over the years she had lived in the current cycle. Mo Fan had always wanted to verify if the power of the Totem Beasts was enough to upgrade Little Loach. It was a once in a blue moon opportunity!

Mo Fan took off the Little Loach Pendant and slowly placed it beside the giant cocoon. The fluorescent light began to scatter, yet Mo Fan’s Little Loach Pendant did not show any sign of reacting. However, after a minute or two, Little Loach seemed to grasp the traits of the power. The Pendant began emitting a similar light!

As soon as its light appeared, the Totem Power dissipating into the surroundings started gathering toward the Little Loach Pendant at an increasing speed.

“It really works!” Mo Fan was overjoyed.

Mo Fan looked into the world inside the Little Loach Pendant and discovered that the Nether River containing countless Soul Remnants was crazily absorbing the Totem Power. Its width was increasing, too…

The truth was, Little Loach Pendant’s Nether River was already a huge river to begin with. The calm and clear river reflected the lights of souls as if they were tiny lanterns. The Totem Fairy Light scattered across the Nether River. The still surface of the river reflected its brilliance.

The spacious Nether River was slowly filled up by the light. It went from several dots of light to as dazzling as carnelian jewelry; a spectacular glowing diagram formed in the world inside the Little Loach Pendant!

Mo Fan had seen something like it before when he was killing a vast number of demon creatures, but the light of the Soul Remnants was nowhere as pure as the Totem Fairy Light. Since the Soul Remnants contained the hatred, grudges, and unwillingness of the demon creatures, the Nether River would have a foul atmosphere. It needed a long time for the water to clear them up before Little Loach could refine the Soul Essences that Mo Fan needed to strengthen his spells.

The Totem Power was like several high-quality Soul Essences, without any negative emotions. When the Little Loach Pendant was absorbing them, they soon accommodated themselves to the new environment!

The expansion of the Nether River showed that the Little Loach Pendant had upgraded. Mo Fan had clearly felt his cultivation rate decreasing significantly after reaching the Advanced Level. The energy of the Underground Holy Spring was no longer enough to enhance his current level of cultivation. He needed a new energy that would allow him to improve rapidly in the Advanced Level, especially considering the number of Elements he had to look after!

“The surface of the water is glowing! It seems the Totem Power is indeed good enough to help the Little Loach Pendant evolve!” Mo Fan blurted out in excitement.

Little Loach had always been picky. He had not eaten much food recently. It was not like Mo Fan had forgotten about him, but he was having trouble finding things that were suitable for Little Loach. The little creature only bothered to lift his eyebrows at extremely rare resources.

Mo Fan had finally found something that suited Little Loach’s tastes!

For some reason, Mo Fan could tell that Little Loach was extremely fond of pure energy like this Totem Power.

“By the way, why weren’t you reacting like this before, when I was with the Black Totem Snake?” Mo Fan suddenly recalled as he observed the Little Loach’s transformation.

“Oh, the Black Totem Snake was only going through ecdysis; he wasn’t entering another reincarnation cycle, so he did not give up his Totem Power,” Mo Fan answered his own question.

However, Mo Fan soon thought of another question. If the Totem Power of a Totem Beast would only dissipate when the Totem Beast was entering the next cycle, wouldn’t that mean he would have to find the rest of the Totem Beasts and kill them for Little Loach to keep growing?

After that wild thought, Mo Fan sat down on the ground and prepared himself for a breakthrough of his cultivation after Little Loach was done absorbing the power.

Fire Element: Second-tier Advanced Level.

Lightning Element: First-tier Advanced Level.

Shadow Element: First-tier Advanced Level.

Summoning Element: First-tier Advanced Level.

Space Element: First-tier Advanced Level.

Mental strength: the fifth stage.

Mo Fan decisively focused on the Lightning Element. At the current stage, his Lightning Element had the highest chance of having a breakthrough. His Lightning Element had been stuck at the first tier for quite some time…

Normally, a Mage would focus on certain Elements as their cultivation continued to increase. Even Mo Fan was unable to improve his Lightning Element for such a long time, let alone the Mages that lacked resources!

—

Mo Fan easily broke through the barrier of the Lightning Element; it was smoother than he had anticipated. The Lightning Element had long been in a saturated state, so it easily reached the second tier with a little push from the energy Little Loach had provided.

Every tier of advancement would grant the Mage a new branch of the respective spell at the new level. The Mage’s control and mental strength would improve significantly, too. The mental strength development was essential for Mo Fan’s Space Element, and it also played an important role when resisting spells targeting his mind, so it was very important to keep improving his mental strength!

The Lightning Element had a successful breakthrough, but it was clearly not enough. His other Elements desperately needed some improvements too, be it the Space Element, the Shadow Element, or the Summoning Element. They were all extremely useful to Mo Fan, as any improvements to the Elements would improve his overall strength too!

—

“So your cultivation isn’t really that impressive at all,” Yu Shishi commented, after observing the whole process.

“Why? Do you want to try avenging your little moths now?” Mo Fan raised his eyebrows at her.

“Humph!” Yu Shishi responded with a snort.

She was in fact quite surprised. Mo Fan’s cultivation was weaker than she thought, yet he was almost unbeatable among Advanced Mages…

If he achieved the highest tier of the Advanced Level for all his Elements, how terrifying would his strength be?