Chapter 128: The Hydromancer Sherin

"Oh my, oh my!" Inside the second building, that blob of translucent red monster suddenly recoiled in surprise, then gazed at the figure of Xie Lin, who had appeared out of thin air, with an excited expression: "What am I seeing? Is this magic?"

Xie Lin looked at the playful creature, his demeanor remaining gentle and patient. "Yes, it is magic."

"Ah, ah, we are colleagues then." The creature seemed delighted, drifting in the air like a bubble. "I am a mage too!"

"Heh..." Xie Lin looked at it with a hint of amusement. "Is that so? I don't believe you. Why don't you prove it?"

"Oh, prove it, you say!" The creature, floating like a bubble, saw its playfully cute expression suddenly twist into something ferocious. "Then what is the price of watching?" As it spoke, it suddenly transformed into a deluge of blood and lunged toward Xie Lin. Xie Lin’s smiling expression did not change; he simply stood there quietly.

As if time had frozen, the liquid stopped abruptly just two centimeters from Xie Lin, as if blocked by an invisible barrier.

"Oh? What is this?" The monster flowed strangely, yet it could not find any gap to push further. It then asked with curiosity: "Is this mental power? What an excellent mage you are!"

With that, it reformed into a humanoid shape in front of Xie Lin and performed a polite, gentlemanly bow: "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kevin, a Blood Mage of the Undead race!"

"A Blood Mage..." Xie Lin’s expression turned peculiar. "Haha, well, it is a pleasure to meet you!"

"Hahahaha!" The creature laughed triumphantly for a moment before its head suddenly swelled up like a balloon, its face twisted into a sneer: "You are hypocritical, mage. You say it is a pleasure to meet me, yet you disdain to give your true name. Do you look down on me? Or... do you not recognize me as a mage?"

"Tsk, tsk..." Xie Lin rubbed his forehead, looking helpless. "Don't be so blunt... If you insist on putting it that way, then I suppose so." He smiled at the creature. "You still need to prove it, though. Since you are a mage... your attack shouldn't just be that, right?" He flicked his hand, and a piece of a soldier's uniform stained with blood drifted up from the ground. "The extent of my mental power is only this much—moving objects or blocking rain is fine, but faced with a powerful attack, say, a bullet... or perhaps a cup thrown by someone, I might not be able to catch it. It is actually quite easy to break through. You... surely you don't only have the trick of splashing water, do you? Mage?"

"Hmm, do you want to see?" Kevin suddenly flopped onto the ground, his entire body stretching out along the floor like rubber. Seeing this posture, Xie Lin chuckled. "What is the meaning of this? A human meat cannonball attack? That doesn't seem like a mage at all."

As he spoke, the creature launched itself forward, wrapped into a ball of flesh. Xie Lin dodged its attacks several times with some difficulty. Although he looked disheveled, he was uninjured. Human attributes were balanced; although he was a mage focused on mental power, his agility was not too bad—at the very least, he could pass for a level 3 archer.

"Oh, why doesn't it seem like it?" Kevin asked as he pursued him, transformed into a meat projectile. "There isn't just Evocation in magic; there is Transmutation too. Isn't what I'm doing just that?" He continued, "Look at how undignified you are, running away so clumsily. Where is your miraculous sorcery? I want to know which category you belong to... Necromancy? Enchantment? Conjuration? Transmutation? Illusion? Evocation? Or Abjuration? Watching your professional escape route, could it be Divination? Predicting the trajectory of my attacks and then judging your positioning?"

"Heh..." Xie Lin was speechless. "You certainly know a lot!"

"Of course... I am a mage, too, so I must be well-learned!" The creature boasted naturally, then mocked, "As for you, honorable Mr. Mage, where are your miraculous spells? Surely you aren't just capable of running away?"

"Don't be in such a hurry..." Xie Lin suddenly steadied his stance and pointed a finger at Kevin. A drop of black liquid appeared out of thin air. "Haven't you played games? Mage skills require casting time..."

When Kevin made contact with the black liquid, the point of contact immediately began to turn black and rot. Seeing this, Kevin’s pupils shrank, and he recoiled violently, the red liquid on his body shedding rapidly to detach the black substance that was quickly infecting him. The discarded blood hissed on the ground, clearly highly corrosive. Kevin himself had shrunk a size due to the detachment. He stared coldly at Xie Lin: "That is a truly insidious ability!"

"Ah... is that so..." Xie Lin looked at it with amusement. "Then what kind of spell is considered 'upright'? A laser cannon?"

"It is of the water attribute, yet it can alter the form and material properties of objects... You are a Transmutation mage, aren't you?"

Xie Lin shrugged. "You figured that out already? Tsk, tsk, should I give you a round of applause?"

"Hmph!" The creature's expression turned cold, and it launched itself again, but this time its speed was much faster. Xie Lin frowned as he watched it. "The same trick again?" He beckoned, and the black liquid struck out directly.

But in the next moment, the unexpected happened. The liquid that should have corroded the creature instantly had no effect at all. Xie Lin’s pupils contracted, and he dodged violently. *Boom!* The ground where he had been standing was smashed into a deep crater!

"Interesting... how did you do that?" Xie Lin asked with a smile.

"I told you I am of the Transmutation school. My cells analyzed the components of your liquid, and I altered my own physical composition to develop an immune resistance. Naturally, it can no longer hurt me!"

"You speak so loftily, as if you can control the material properties of your body!" Xie Lin looked at it with amusement. "Is it really okay to lie to yourself like that? It’s just that your natural constitution and cells are of the highly adaptive type. You've likely pushed the basic attributes of your cells to the limit, allowing them to instantly produce targeted antibodies. Tsk, tsk, the undead's biotechnology is truly excellent. To be able to create something like you at only the Bronze stage is indeed interesting!"

"Technology? Creation?" The creature paused, then roared ferociously: "This is magic! Could technology create such a magnificent masterpiece?" As it spoke, its body expanded rapidly, reaching the same size as the Tyrant outside the plaza!

"That is why I say you don't really understand magic..." Xie Lin adjusted his glasses. "So-called magic... is just another type of technology!"

"Shut up!" The creature roared and slammed a fist toward Xie Lin, but suddenly realized the opponent hadn't dodged. Even more shocking, its fist passed right through the body, but there was no sense of touch. The figure then dissipated like wind before its eyes!

"This is..." Its face showed shock as it looked around, finally spotting the figure on the other side: "Illusion? You are proficient in two schools?"

"That is why I say... an outsider is an outsider. No matter how well you pretend to be an expert, you are still an outsider!" As Xie Lin spoke, he beckoned, and several soldiers in military uniforms rose from the ground, lunging at Kevin with ferocious expressions. Kevin’s eyes widened; it saw clearly that these soldiers were the ones it had devoured at the beginning!

"Hmph, another illusion? You..." Before it could finish, it stopped abruptly. One of the soldiers had pulled out a combat knife and suddenly pierced through its body. Strangely, though it felt no pain, it still sensed that its body had been damaged!

"This... this isn't an illusion. You also know Conjuration? And aren't you of the water attribute? How can you summon undead of dark matter?"

"I said, an outsider should not pretend to be an expert!" Xie Lin said coldly. "We are at the Bronze stage, divided only into Yin and Yang—in terms of the education level here, that is like high school students. High school curricula don't divide subjects that finely; they only split into Arts and Sciences. Whether you choose Arts or Sciences, you still have to study Chinese, Math, and English!"

As he spoke, the spot where Kevin had been stabbed began to turn black, spreading to the surrounding area at an alarming speed. It tried to decompose, but the toxic infection spread too quickly; almost as soon as it began to fission, the new cells were already infected. Before long, its entire body turned pitch black!

"W-why?" It stared at Xie Lin, confused. "I had already developed immunity..."

Xie Lin sighed, looking somewhat helpless. "Can't I just change the prescription?"

"Damn it!" Before it died, Kevin wanted to extend a middle finger, but its rapidly rotting body clearly couldn't manage that. It could only watch helplessly as it turned into a puddle of black sludge!

Xie Lin gazed at the puddle on the floor and said softly: "This death feels familiar, doesn't it? Tsk, tsk, no wonder you like playing like this—it feels quite satisfying, doesn't it?"