Chapter 68: Absence

“This power …”

Looking at the turbulent waves on the sea, the shock in Ron’s eyes faded away, and it was replaced by a sense of joy and accomplishment.

Third-level magic!

Finally, it has been unlocked!

The power displayed by this third-order magic exceeded his expectation, it was at least ten times stronger than the second-level magic. Even the second-level combination of wind and fire couldn’t be compared with this Vortex Storm.

Such ability, Gumir wouldn’t be able to stop, and neither any HQ rear admiral. Even HQ vice admiral’s ability to resist it was still questionable!

One blow, hundreds of meters, the sky collapsed!

“I can finally…fight like a real magician.”

Ron had a wide smile on his face.

Flying ability, defensive magic, were all needed before because he didn’t have enough attack power to end any enemy with one strike, instant kill.

The close-ranged fights were a disgrace to all magicians!

Because of his lack of strength, Ron was forced into close combat. Like when facing Gumir, his strongest attack could only wound him lightly.

For a magician, what really mattered, was not defensive magic, nor his ability to escape, but it was the distance between him and his enemy, whether he could successfully release magic!

Dodge?

Shouldn’t exist in the dictionary of any true magician opponent.

Powerful magic should cover at least a radius of 100 meters, and reach even a kilometer. The highest level of ancient magics could even destroy islands, countries, and continents with a single blow. There was no concept of escaping at all.

As long as the magic was released, it should be a one-shot strike. That’s the real magician’s characteristic!

“The release time… a little bit long.”

Ron looked around and found that because of commotion he just made, he already attracted some marines’ attraction. So, he left the coast to find another location. He flew away until the headquarters became looking like a tiny black spot.

The ruckus of the third-level magic was too much. It was no longer suitable to practice such ability near the marine HQ.

Floating over the sea, in the middle of nowhere, Ron began to exercise.

He gradually started to understand the characteristics of the Vortex Storm magic aspects.

With the aid of the elf wand and the elemental affinity, the cost of releasing a third-level magic was almost one-tenth of his total mental strength.

This consumption was considerably low in Ron’s opinion. It was, after all, the third-degree magic was his current strongest attack, and even if it was consuming one-third of his mental power, it would be an acceptable thing.

One-tenth of his total mental strength was quite too much for Ron to say it was trivial, but at most average consumption. It shouldn’t be considered as a hidden ace that could be brought out in tire situation. If it was one-tenth, even if the first blow didn’t finish his opponent, a second one could be released!

Compared to second-level magic, the third-level magic was formed by nine runes instead of just three runes. It might seem logical to think that the complexity only tripled, but it was actually increased by ten times! That was due to the fact that controlling nine runes at once requires so much concentration.

Fortunately, when Ron’s mental power exceeded the 100 points barrier, his thinking speed increased several times, that he could release his second-level magic in 0.3 seconds. As for the third-level magic, Ron managed to deduce its releasing speed to less than 1.5 seconds.

Because of his current spirit power, Ron was able to reach the highest level of third-level magic proficiency after merely releasing it ten times. That releasing time was actually his limit, and further enhancements could be brought only with the improvement of his mental strength.

“1.5 seconds…”

Ron pondered slightly as he looked at the sea below.

He was thinking about the speed of the marine officers using the Soru technique.

Among the new recruits in the newcomer camp, the strongest ones, took them only four seconds to cross a hundred meters using Soru, as for a rear admiral like Gumir, the needed time could be shortened to almost two seconds.

Following this logic, it would take a vice-admiral around 1 second or maybe less.

For Ron, the minimum distance to keep before releasing his vortex storm was about one hundred and fifty meters, without considering the use of magic barriers and stone armor defense.

If a vortex storm strikes, it could hurt and limit the movement of a vice admiral. Hence, as long as he keeps a distance of 150 meters, he could surpass an HQ vice-admiral!

After simulating some battle scenes in his mind, Ron shook his head slightly and stopped the deduction.

He thought to himself that he never witnessed vice admirals in action once. So, he could only infer their strength from Gumir, which should not be so accurate, to really determine their actual strength.

In addition, the vice admirals were so different, their abilities…swordsmanship or more…

“it would be great if I could test a vice-admiral strength myself…”

Ron thought, for a while…He wanted to face a vice admiral to try out his vortex storm and see what he was capable of, but for the time being, it was just a desire…not possible.

After he had mastered the third-level magic, Ron returned to the marine HQ.

In a few days.

The Marine headquarters.

It was that day of the month, the physical assessment day in the newcomer camp.

The marine HQ had certain restrictions on the supply provided to the recruits in the boot camp, such as the high-quality meat, the use of various advanced equipment, etc. For the official marine officers, the supplies distribution was based on their ranks, while for the recruits, it was based on physical assessment results.

The better a recruiter performs in the physical assessment, the more resources he got access to. The most outstanding among the recruiters, also get an opportunity to go out in missions with the Marines.

For recruits, the opportunity to accomplish achievements was so rare. Except while being picked by one of the rear or vice admirals to join them during missions, or with Zephyr, when going out in missions made especially for recruiters to test their advancements.

For the marine recruits, sufficient achievements were a necessary condition for applying for the graduation assessment.

New recruits could stay in the HQ camp for a maximum of three years, and within these years, they should get enough military merits and strength to apply for their graduation assessment.

New recruits who failed to get to show their worth, would be compulsorily graduated as the lowest-ranking seamen and start from the bottom.

Therefore, for recruits, monthly physical fitness assessment was extremely important.

The assessment didn’t start yet, and the four instructors were assembled together, facing a total of forty teams of marine recruits, lined up at the square.

Soon,

Zephyr-san wore his marine coat with the word “Justice” embedded on its back, and came to the front of the square, screaming at the four instructors: “Did you count them all? How many people are absent this time?”

In the monthly physical fitness assessments, there were always absences. Most of these absentee recruits were outstanding recruits, who had the opportunity to sail on a marine warship, to carry out some mission, that they didn’t come back yet. In addition, obviously, they were injured and sick people who asked for permission.

“Report! Zephyr-san, a total of 14 people are absent.”

“Well!”

Zephyr nodded and took a list handed over by one of the instructors. After a brief glance, he frowned at the last name.

[Marine recruit Ron, the reason for his absence: unknown]

Zephyr looked away, twitching his mouth, and cross-popping veins appeared.

“Is he… Is Ron absent even for the assessment?!”

Gumir, who noticed the change in Zephyr’s expression, could not help but whisper: “He may be sick, and didn’t have time to ask for leave.”

Zephyr looked at Gumir coldly and said: “You don’t need to defend him! That brat, so undisciplined! Even If he gets down on his knees, begging, I won’t teach him a thing!”

Seeing the reaction of Zephyr, Gumir couldn’t help but smile.

It seems that Zephyr was really angry about Ron’s behavior. It was normal for young people to be strong and arrogant, but still, they should listen to their superiors’ words.

With Ron ’s age and strength, if he would follow Zephyr’s instructions, it might only take him two or three years to have the strength equivalent to that of a vice admiral. And in the following years, about five, six years, his strength would go further, and even become a candidate for the admiral position.

Zephyr was so annoyed at the waste of such talent…With many detours in practice, it would take him 6 years to just reach a level of an average vice admiral…

For him, Ron was wasting his time, his chance to become one of the people standing at the peak of these seas.