Chapter 10: Snowman Knight (Recommendations Please!)

Chapter 10: The Snowman Knight (Please Recommend!)

Watching Guze effortlessly cut down snow sprites, Li Wei voiced a question.

"Why can ice arrows kill snow sprites? Aren't snow sprites elemental spirits? The textbook says elemental spirits are immune to damage from their corresponding element."

Guze lowered his staff and rested for a moment.

He smiled and said, "Ordinary snow sprites are merely embryonic forms of elemental spirits. Even greater snow sprites aren’t truly elemental beings."

"True elemental spirits possess self-awareness. Snow sprites are just conglomerates of ice and snow elements—mindless, fragile in structure. A light strike can scatter their bodies apart."

"And no, elemental spirits aren’t completely immune to elemental magic. Everything has its limit. If the magical force exceeds their threshold, even an elemental spirit can be destroyed."

"Still, as a mage, one should always choose the most suitable spell for battle."

Li Wei nodded thoughtfully.

He gazed down at the battlefield. After watching for a while, he felt an itch in his fingers—an urge to slay a snow sprite himself, just for the thrill.

Unfortunately, the snow sprites were too far away. His fireball spell might not reach them.

Then it struck him—he finally understood why Guze had used Ice Arrow.

Ice Arrow was more stable than Fireball, and could fly much farther.

Looking around, Li Wei noticed that all the other apprentice mages were also using solid-form spells: Thorn Vine, Earth Spear, Flying Stone…

"Snowman Knight!"

A cry rang out across the battlefield. Li Wei quickly turned his gaze into the distance.

A figure came charging through the blizzard.

The warriors on the ground, seeing the knight appear, immediately turned and fled toward the city walls.

The Snowman Knight was a second-tier intermediate monster—an elemental spirit born of instinct.

Elemental spirits could wield magic, and naturally fought at a rank higher than their level.

This second-tier intermediate Snowman Knight possessed the combat strength of a second-tier advanced magical beast.

Most fighters on the battlefield were first-tier. Second-tier warriors were few and far between. None dared face the Snowman Knight alone.

The knight pursued them relentlessly, driving them all the way to the foot of the city wall.

Li Wei now saw the creature clearly.

The Snowman Knight was encased in crystalline ice armor, beneath which writhed four semi-ethereal elemental tendrils.

From afar, it seemed to float above the ground.

With the knight’s arrival, the previously suppressed snow sprites lifted their heads in triumph, surging forward to assault the walls once more.

Li Wei’s eyes lit up. *Perfect chance!*

Glancing left and right, he saw everyone focused on the knight. Quietly, he began casting.

The city lord stared down at the Snowman Knight and said to the mage beside him, "Mage El, it's your turn now."

Mage El nodded, raised his staff, and began chanting.

Half a minute later, intense magical ripples surged along the battlements.

Countless fire elements coalesced into a blazing serpent. At El’s command, it shot forward like a comet, streaking toward the knight below.

Sensing danger, the Snowman Knight whirled to flee.

But the fire serpent moved faster—far faster. In an instant, it overtook its prey.

*Boom!*

Flames exploded. The Snowman Knight melted in a flash, leaving behind a circular patch of bare earth five or six meters wide.

Guze stared at the spot where the knight had vanished, awe written across his face.

"A second-tier spell… Fire Serpent!"

One strike—one kill. Mage El became the center of admiration.

Even the few third-tier adepts on the wall looked at him with envy.

They murmured among themselves: *Mages are simply absurd!*

Not only could they easily crush peers of the same tier, but defeating enemies above their rank was as effortless as drinking water.

For them, taking down the Snowman Knight would have required great effort—and possibly injury.

After all, it was an elemental spirit. Not easy to deal with.

Now that the knight was dead, those who had fled beneath the walls launched a counterattack.

Suddenly, a small fireball arced from the battlements and slammed into a cluster of snow sprites.

*Boom!*

The fireball detonated, engulfing three sprites in flame.

In moments, they dissolved into nothingness.

Li Wei caught a glint of icy blue light falling within the flames—then vanishing into the snow.

"Huh? What was that?"

Guze, noticing the fireball, instinctively turned toward its caster.

When he saw Li Wei, shock slowly spread across his face.

"Was that fireball… yours?" Guze asked, stunned.

Li Wei scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah… I failed the first time. Got it right on the second try."

"Haah…"

Guze sucked in a sharp breath. How long had Li Wei been learning Fireball?

Only two months.

And he’d already succeeded?

Even if his success rate was only fifty percent, mastering a zero-tier spell in two months was extraordinary talent.

Guze himself had taken half a year to cast his first spell successfully—and for another six months after that, his success rate never rose above fifty.

Nearby apprentices noticed the commotion. One who had taught Li Wei before recognized him.

"Wait… weren’t you just a novice apprentice?" someone blurted in disbelief.

Others turned, equally astonished.

It wasn’t shocking for an apprentice to cast a spell.

But for a mere *novice* apprentice to do so? That defied all expectations.

Guze explained, "Two months ago, he awakened mana and became a true apprentice."

Silence fell. Then uproar.

From awakening mana to successfully casting a spell—in just two months? Such progress was unimaginably fast!

It was hard for everyone to take in, a blow to their very spirits.

An apprentice mage, noticing the youthful innocence on Li Wei’s face, asked curiously, “How old are you?”

Li Wei replied, “Fifteen.”

The group stared in utter astonishment. The younger one was, the greater the potential.

At only fifteen, Li Wei’s cognition and understanding were still rapidly blossoming—his future brimming with promise.

One person took a deep breath, envious, and said, “If you become a mage within five years, you’ll be the youngest mage in Maple City in a century!”

Hearing this, others too wore expressions of longing.

If age measured a mage’s strength,

then youth was a mage’s greatest wealth.

Mastery of magic demanded years of relentless study.

The earlier one became a mage, the more spells one could learn, the farther one could journey, and the greater one’s destiny might become.

Apprentice disciples, novice trainees, probationary mages—none differed in essence; they remained ordinary.

Only upon becoming a true mage did one step beyond the mundane, entering the ranks of the extraordinary.

To become a mage was to take that first real step into the mysteries of magic, into the realm of the transcendent.

Unnoticed, the Winter Festival had come to an end.

The snow sprites that had arrived with the blizzards were all eradicated, the storms’ fury greatly diminished. This winter would bring no more great tempests; the people of Maple City could now rest through the cold months in peace.

And this was precisely why the Winter Festival was held faithfully each year.

Li Wei followed the crowd, preparing to return to the Mage Tower.

A soldier hurried over, hands cupping a shimmering blue crystal, offering it to him.

“Master Mage, this is the ice crystal dropped by the snow sprite you defeated.”

(End of Chapter)