Chapter 580: The Priest Who Was Emptied
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Following his roars, the Golden Halo was emitted from his body once again. Like deadly smog, it slowly spread towards Benjamin and the others.
But this time, Benjamin showed no fear.
The Halo diffused until it was inches in front of him before it suddenly stopped. It was as though there was now a magical force field that surrounded Benjamin; as the solid Spiritual Energy neared, it began to dissipate. Benjamin’s shield stopped the deadly entity from getting anywhere close to the crowd behind him.
Upon seeing this, the students and guest hiding behind him were all shocked.
"How is this possible? This is wonderful!"
"Is this magic? Why is it that even though he didn’t even move and there was no sense of magical power, the Halo dissipated just like that?"
"This is too great, I’m going to survive..."
The people were showing all sorts of reactions. Both the students and guests had conflicting feelings at the scene they were witnessing before them.
This was a live example of Benjamin’s claim of "the Church not letting any of the mages go".
Some students were shaking in fear at the battle. How could such a scene take place during the opening ceremony?
However, the enemy was still before them, and they knew they would have to save the criticisms for later.
As Benjamin looked at the Golden Halo that was constantly pouring in before dissipating, he let out a calm sigh.
Although the fused runes took away his ability to cast magic, the Spiritual Energy coming from the elemental plane was likewise also losing its threat as it came at him. With the naked eye, the Halo looked like it was dissipating into thin air, however, Benjamin could clearly feel that they were returning to where they belonged.
Even though he didn’t know where that feeling was coming from, the huge change in the Space of consciousness gave him new insight into the world.
It felt like everything had been refreshed and renewed.
Fortunately, the water elemental induction magic was still there. In addition to that, he had also suddenly become sensitive towards Spiritual Energy with a unique background and could now even track its orbit.
"I’ve said this before; your power is nothing against me." He gazed upon the Priest and tried to converse telepathically, "I don’t know what method you used to sync yourself with the elemental planes, but it’s obvious that you can’t control this power. It should return to where it belongs."
Upon hearing this, the Priest’s body began to twitch violently.
"Return... No! Can’t return... task from the master Bishop... Fulfilling God’s will... Purging sin... Leave... The contract has ended..."
He looked like a malfunctioning robot. The bright runes in his eyes kept on flickering as he spoke incoherent words, trying hard to regain control of himself.
However, Benjamin was not going to let him do so.
After some thought, he suddenly pulled out a dagger and walked towards the priest. Then, he brutally started engraving some runes on the priest’s chest.
Benjamin was clear that the Priest could recover from any kind of injury regardless of how bad they were. So, under the circumstances, the only way he could affect his opponent would be with the same runes that he was trying to wield.
The System had said that even though the Spiritual Energies could not be controlled, they could still be guided.
In a blink of an eye, Benjamin had carved a circle with a gap. After the rune was completed, the Priest’s body trembled and the gibberish that sounded like machine errors were gone, only to be replaced with mournful roars.
Upon seeing this, Benjamin slowly backed off a safe distance into the crowd. When the other mages saw what this, they got the message and conjured a solid shield in between the crowd and the priests.
After all, looking at the Priest, it was very possible that he would self-destruct!
"Mage Benjamin, excuse me but may I ask you... What was it that you carved on his chest?" An old-looking mage with profound spiritual energy asked as he stared nervously at the blank face of the wall.
"Those are runes."
"Runes? What are those?"
"It’s a kind of... to be honest I don’t really understand myself, but I do know it can be used to communicate with the elemental planes. It can even induct magic to a certain extent.
Upon hearing this, the old mage looked as if though he had hit the jackpot.
"Runes... Elemental plane... So, it’s true that these things exist...." He mumbled for a while before adding, "Mage Benjamin, please excuse my abruptness. My magic had reached its peak a while back but has never improved since then. The truth is, a lot of mages of a similar level with me are facing the same problem. After achieving the so-called maximum strength in the mage world, we have lost our direction to move forward."
As he reached this point, he paused and stressed on as he said, "I think that the runes and elemental planes that you are talking about may be the answer to our problems."
After hearing this, Benjamin raised his eyebrow.
Even in the internals of the high-power end of the magic realm... something like that could still happen?
The elderly mage was a guest that he had invited from Icor; he was a renowned mage in the borders of Icor and well admired by the president of the Mage Guild. He could be considered one of the pinnacle figures in the mage world.
However, when faced with powers from the elemental plane, he was no different from a commoner.
At that moment, Benjamin realized that the current system to nurture and develop magic was still hugely imperfect.
He was neither sure about how a normal mage would train, nor was he certain about how far they could grow and what their limits were. However, it was obvious that the vast majority of the mages were basing their growth on luck and talent, blindly hoping for the best. Only a handful of them who were ridiculously talented would be able to push boundaries and achieve something amazing, but, the rest of them would probably turn out something like him, at a plateau in their abilities and unable to go higher.
Benjamin felt that elemental planes and runes should be the ultimate pursuit for all mages. However, it seemed that almost nobody knew about their existence.
Therefore, he seized the opportunity, "Actually, regarding runes and elemental planes, I too do not have much understanding of them. However, I have personally experienced their effects."
The elderly mage was shocked at the news and let his mouth gape, "Really?"
Benjamin nodded and said, "If you are interested, how about you stay for a period of time in the Mage Academy. We will be conducting research on runes and elemental planes and you are welcome to join us."
Busy roping in more powers from the mage even before the enemy was even settled – the grind really never stopped.
He felt that the man before him had the qualities become a great professor and was hoping to recruit him as a member of faculty.
"Can I, really? Alright, I’m willing to join you and your research team!"
Benjamin smiled.
He had successfully pulled in another great mage for the academy.
At the same time, the Priest who had been constantly screaming had finally stopped.
Unlike what the mages had expected, the Priest did not self-destruct; nor did he evolve into a greater form. As the glow from his body faded, he looked like a candle that was at the end of its life.
Benjamin watched as the final bits of energy left his body and he softly fell to the ground.