Chapter 279 : Dual-Talent Apprentice
Chapter 279: Dual-Talent Apprentice
【Today's Quest: Complete an apprentice-level duel;
Quest Reward: 100 Talent Experience Points, 500 Skill Experience Points, One Random Reward.】
Upon seeing the contents on the quest panel, Janna’s expression showed a hint of eager anticipation.
Thanks to her high 【Perception】 attribute, which sharpened her spiritual sensitivity, Janna had sensed an unusual magical fluctuation from Richard-Eva at first glance earlier that day.
It wasn’t until the two sat inside a private room at Acorn House, and Richard-Eva casually cast a 【Soundproof Barrier】, that Janna finally pinpointed the source of the unusual feeling—【Law】 power.
Just like Janna herself, after she obtained the 【Growth Law Fragment】, whenever she used plant-elemental magic, a unique magical magnetic field would naturally manifest.
Janna understood this magnetic field as a resonance between magical particles and the Law—a very faint, yet distinctly extraordinary phenomenon.
However, when Janna obtained the 【Purification Law Fragment】 and the 【Law of Beauty Fragment】, such phenomena did not occur.
Although the books in the library related to 【Law】 provided no clear explanation, Janna surmised—
It was most likely because the 【Purification Law Fragment】 and the 【Law of Beauty Fragment】 were incompatible with her own 【Witch Talents】 and even her 【Mana Attributes】.
Precisely for this reason, before mastering the 【Growth Law Fragment】, if Janna did not deliberately activate the power of those two 【Law Fragments】, even official witches would have difficulty detecting them.
Just like Grace-Eva—had she not learned in advance from Anthony-Blackcrow that Janna had mastered a 【Law Fragment】,
Then until Janna actively wielded the power linked to the 【Law Fragment】, Grace might not have realized that Janna possessed one.
Of course, for certain witches with strong soul-perception abilities—such as Anthony-Blackcrow—they could sense the presence of 【Law】 power from the subtlest soul fluctuations.
And just now, Janna had deduced that Richard-Eva possessed a 【Law Fragment】 from the magnetic field ripple triggered when he channeled mana.
Such ripples would be imperceptible to other witch apprentices.
But for an apprentice like Janna, who already held three 【Law Fragments】, detecting them was not difficult.
Thus, Richard-Eva likewise deduced from this interaction that Janna possessed a 【Law Fragment】.
"Alright then, I accept your reason for challenging me."
Also curious about the 【Law Fragments】 Janna possessed, Richard-Eva agreed to the duel after only a moment's thought.
"For the sake of fairness, I’ll try to refrain from using any Third-Tier Apprentice abilities during this duel."
Between Second-Tier and Third-Tier Witch Apprentices, aside from differences in mental and mana capacity, the greatest disparity lay in their lifeforms.
Bloodline-side apprentices, upon advancing to Third-Tier, would develop biological traits stemming from their "Bloodline Origin," affecting both body and soul.
In other words, they no longer truly counted as "human."
For instance, Soro-Flame, after advancing to Third-Tier, could freely switch from human form to his 【Lava Dragon Lizard】 form.
Beyond his body’s ironclad defenses, the innate control over fire and the regenerative ability to regrow severed limbs made the 【Lava Dragon Lizard】 an exceptionally fearsome bloodline power.
On the other hand, element-side apprentices, upon reaching Third-Tier, would undergo an elemental infusion, evolving into semi-elemental beings.
Like Janna, Richard-Eva, who specialized in blood magic, was also an apprentice with dual talents.
His two talents were: the B-rank talent 【Blood Affinity】, which lay between the elemental and mystical sides, and the 【Vampire Bat】 bloodline, which he awakened later in life.
Due to the extreme compatibility between these two talents, when Richard-Eva advanced to Third-Tier, his 【Blood Affinity】 talent and 【Vampire Bat】 bloodline perfectly fused.
This allowed Richard-Eva to freely switch between his 【Vampire Bat】 bloodline form and his 【Blood】 form.
The ability to switch between these two forms at will granted him the combined combat strengths of both bloodline-side and element-side apprentices.
Not only was his physical body powerful, but the characteristic of 【Blood Form】 to ignore physical attacks made Richard-Eva a top contender among same-year apprentices at White Coral Academy.
However, even this strength and these talents were not exceptional across the whole Dordogne-White Tower Trial region.
Neither his B-rank 【Blood Affinity】 nor his relatively unremarkable 【Vampire Bat】 bloodline placed Richard-Eva on par with true prodigies.
For example, in Black Bone Forest Academy, the ghostly prodigy Padding-Green, who possessed the A-rank talent 【Phantom Perception】 and the B-rank talent 【Dark Affinity】, was one who could, like Janna, take on many opponents single-handedly.
Compared to Padding-Green at the time, Richard-Eva was on an entirely different level in both talent and strength.
"Then I’ll be in your care, senior."
Janna gladly accepted Richard-Eva’s voluntary restraint.
After all, there was indeed a massive power gap between a Second-Tier and a Third-Tier Apprentice. If Richard-Eva went all out, Janna wouldn’t be able to withstand it.
But then again—maybe not.
As a summoning-type apprentice, Janna naturally relied most on her Contracted Creatures.
To date, both the Hundred-Eyed Mirror Demon and the Thorn Flower Fairy had reached the level of a Third-Tier Witch Apprentice in terms of strength.
So, if they fought seriously, the outcome would truly be hard to predict.
After Janna paid the bill at the Acorn House front desk, the two who agreed to duel left the library together and headed to the outdoor combat training grounds.
"Are you sure you want to fight here? Isn’t this a bit too conspicuous?"
Looking at the empty training ground, Richard-Eva seemed slightly troubled.
"It’s fine. On Sundays at this hour, everyone’s out on field missions. Hardly anyone comes here."
"Is that so—"
Seeing how familiar Janna was with the place, Richard-Eva couldn’t help but feel a bit skeptical.
"What’s wrong, senior? Worried someone might see us?"
Seeing the troubled look on Richard-Eva’s face, Janna—who had already leapt onto the training ground—spoke with complete nonchalance.
"Of course I’m worried—"