160 Battle Matrices (1/2)

The discussion between Jouyi and Lin Yun wasn't complicated.

It was just that the information revealed was too shocking. This was like saying that this 5th Rank Great Mage was equal to a 9th Rank High Mage. This was truly preposterous. The first reaction of any regular person hearing this would be to burst out in laughter before praising the joke.

Even a fool would know that the gap between a 5th Rank Great Mage and a 9th Rank High Mage could be described as almost unbreachable. This wasn't something that skills or tactics could make up for. The difference in power between both sides was something set in stone, and there would be no fluke in such a battle.

But no one in the lobby of the Gilded Rose was laughing.

Because the one who said that was none other than the master of the Cloud Tower, the strongest Archmage, Star Sage Jouyi.

Even the one involved, Hoen, could only stand there and grind his teeth. Although there was disbelief on his face, he didn't dare to say anything.

”Looks like you are still not convinced…” Jouyi laughed after seeing Hoen's expression.

”Sir Jouyi…” Because of Sir Jouyi's smile, Hoen regained some courage, and after some hesitation, he clenched his teeth and said, ”It's not that I'm not convinced by your assessment, but…”

”Okay, no need to say anything more.” Jouyi didn't even let him finish and waved his hand to interrupt him. ”Since you aren't convinced, then let's show you. Merlin, come with me for a moment…”

After saying that, he ignored Hoen's expression and gave Lin Yun a pat on the shoulder before finding a table to sit on.

”Weren't you going to head for Oddrock City?” Lin Yun slowly sat next to Jouyi while hoping to find a way out of this situation.

Unfortunately, Lin Yun's struggles were ignored by Jouyi. This old man called the most powerful Archmage of the kingdom picked up a piece of paper and then divided it into two in front of Lin Yun. ”You are in charge of Hoen, I'll be in charge of you.”

”Okay…” Lin Yun nodded, resigned to his fate, as he took a quill from his pocket and started writing.

Jouyi and Lin Yun wrote in Nesser Runes as the tips of their quills streaked across the papers, leaving one rune after the other on them, one formula after the other. The two looked extremely focused, and everyone present seemed to be influenced by them, controlling their breaths as they stared at the pieces of paper in front of the two men.

'Those are battle matrices!' Cadgar was the first to discover, and that discovery made him feel startled.

To a mage, establishing a battle matrix for combat analysis was an essential skill. But usually, this kind of analysis would only be done partially, it would be at most an exchange of one or two spells, because that kind of analysis needed countless details and possibilities, and the calculations required could only be described as endless.

If a mage could establish a complete battle matrix of a fight lasting thirty seconds, he would already be described as a genius. Even in a place like Okland it would be enough to make a few major forces fight over him.

Furthermore, the difference in rank between both sides couldn't be too high. If one side exceeded the other side's rank, the analysis would become incomparably difficult. Let alone a battle analysis, even one spell exchange would have errors that were difficult to predict due to the difference in strength.

But now...

There was no problem with Star Sage Jouyi. As the strongest Archmage of the kingdom, he could establish the battle matrix of any mage. But Mafa Merlin...

Mafa Merlin was only a 5th Rank Great Mage!

How could he establish the battle matrix of a 9th Rank High Mage? Moreover Jouyi had said that the fight would have lasted five minutes!

At that time, Cadgar finally understood why the two would use Nesser Runes...

Because regardless of whether it was Jouyi or Lin Yun, they would reach astronomical figures while calculating. These huge numbers would make countless mages feel despair, and Cadgar felt that if they didn't use Nesser Runes, their papers would fill half of the lobby.

Only Nesser, that language which mixed Draconic and Elven, praised as characters with mystical mana, could possibly complete this frightening battle matrix.

But could Merlin really do it?

He was only a 5th Rank Great Mage, after all.

Cadgar looked at those pieces of paper spread on the table with worry that was hard to conceal...

And Hoen, who was next to Cadgar, had already put away his disbelief and was now frowning.

At first, Hoen simply didn't believe that a 5th Rank Great Mage that wasn't even twenty was able to establish a battle matrix, but the longer he looked, the stranger he felt.

Because the dozen characters and three formulas written on the piece of paper already amounted to seven spells. These seven spells were seven options he had considered back then, but due to the arrangement of elements, he chose the Wind Python spell, and the remaining six spells had naturally not appeared.