Chapter 158: Chapter 158: Receiving the Reward and a Great Increase in Strength

After everyone had come out, the Magic Association announced the successful conclusion of the 28th Young Mage Exchange Tournament.

"The champion of this tournament is Armor!"

"The runner-up is Savis!"

"Third place goes to Lilith!"

"Now, let’s have the three winners come on stage to receive their awards."

The Magic Association didn’t waste any time and proceeded directly with the award ceremony.

The main hall of the Magic Hall was arranged just as it had been on the first day.

Everyone sat below, watching the ceremony.

Li Wei, Savis, and Lilith walked onto the high platform to receive their prizes.

Li Wei was still in his full suit of Armor.

Savis glanced at Li Wei and whispered, "What kind of Armor is that? How is its Defense Power so high?"

Li Wei glanced back at him but said nothing.

Seeing this, Savis also fell silent.

The president of the Mage Association came on stage to present Li Wei with his award.

"So young and promising. Keep up the hard work, and strive to become a Grand Mage soon."

The president offered a few words of praise to Li Wei before handing him the box containing the Elf Spring and the Golden Commemorative Medal.

Li Wei accepted it with both hands. "Thank you, President."

Next, the president presented awards to Savis and Lilith.

One received a Mithril Staff, and the other, a Mithril Magic Robe.

Although the Mithril Staff and Mithril Magic Robe were both quite valuable, they were nowhere near as enticing as the Elf Spring.

Everyone’s eyes were on Li Wei, hoping to get a glimpse of the Elf Spring.

Unfortunately, after receiving his prize, Li Wei showed no intention of opening it. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

The president said a few more words and then declared the exchange tournament officially over.

The president left, but the crowd had yet to disperse.

Someone shouted, "Are you selling the Fire Spirit Pearl?"

"I’ll pay five thousand Gold Coins for the Fire Spirit Pearl!"

"Armor, can you take off your helmet and let us see who you really are?"

"Where are you from?"

Seeing the situation grow chaotic, Li Wei quickly beat a retreat.

"Hey, hey, hey, don’t go!"

"Leave the Fire Spirit Pearl behind!"

Inside the Magic Hall, no one dared to cause any real trouble. Seeing Li Wei leave, they could only sigh in frustration.

"What a shame!"

Li Wei found a deserted corner, swapped places with his Illusory Body, and they went their separate ways.

He returned to Gu Ze and Rota’s side.

The Illusory Body, in the form of Armor, left the Magic Hall.

The main doors of the Magic Hall were right there.

As soon as Armor stepped outside, everyone saw him.

Seeing him leave, many people followed him out.

Li Wei glanced toward the main doors and asked, "He won’t be in any danger, will he?"

Gu Ze replied, "No one should dare to touch him within Flying Flower City. If he leaves the city, however, he might run into trouble."

"But a genius like him usually has someone protecting them. It’s unlikely he’s acting alone."

"You don’t need to worry."

"Come on, the tournament is over. We should be heading back," Gu Ze said.

Li Wei asked, "Teacher, when are we going back?"

Gu Ze said, "It depends. If nothing else comes up, we’ll leave in a couple of days."

"The exchange event itself continues until the end of the month, but we probably won’t stay until the end of July."

Li Wei nodded. "Okay. Just let me know before we go. I might need to buy a few things to take back with me."

"No problem."

Wicks saw the Armored Man leave the Magic Hall and followed him out.

After walking for a while, he suddenly realized the Armored Man’s figure had vanished.

He tried to sense his Wind Spirit.

But he couldn’t perceive the Wind Spirit’s location.

A look of confusion crossed Wicks’s face. ’What’s going on?’

He was unable to sense the Wind Spirit on Li Wei through the Magic Hall’s Barrier.

Wicks assumed the Armored Man had discovered him.

’What a pity. You got lucky this time, escaping with your life!’

Li Wei, Gu Ze, and Rota left the Magic Hall and returned to their inn.

Back at the inn, Li Wei eagerly opened the Treasure Box.

Inside a Crystal Bottle was a small vial of azure liquid that shimmered like a starry sky.

This was the Elf Spring.

The legendary Magic Spring.

Li Wei glanced around, then released his Spiritual Power to envelop the entire room.

This was to prevent any fluctuations from the Elf Spring from causing anomalies and being detected by others.

He didn’t even glance at the Golden Commemorative Medal, tossing it back into his Spatial Ring.

With a feeling of excitement, Li Wei opened the Crystal Bottle.

Instantly, he felt a surge of incredibly pure Mana emerge.

Li Wei’s expression turned to one of surprise.

’The Elf Spring actually contains Mana.’

He carefully absorbed the Mana from the bottle.

He discovered that it was naturally formed Mana.

The formula for creating Mana is Magic Elements plus Spiritual Power.

’Natural Spiritual Power?’

After absorbing a little of the Elf Spring, Li Wei suddenly understood.

’It’s not Spiritual Power, but Elemental Spirit.’

When an Element develops spirituality and consciousness, it becomes an Elemental Elf.

The Elf Spring is precious because its water contains a pure, natural Elemental Spirit, one that lacks the consciousness which usually develops alongside it.

Any living creature can perfectly absorb the Elf Spring Water, which is infused with this Elemental Spirit.

This is because the Elemental Spirit automatically transforms the absorber’s constitution, making them more attuned to Magic Elements.

This is why Elf Spring Water can improve a Mage’s aptitude.

Li Wei drank the Elf Spring, closed his eyes, and began to meditate and cultivate.

His Shadow Guard stood watch at his side.

This Cultivation session lasted for a full day and night.

It wasn’t until the evening of the next day that Li Wei emerged from his meditative state.

It had taken him an entire day and night to fully absorb the small bottle of Elf Spring.

The improvement was immense.

His Mana directly reached the Tier One Perfection Realm.

[Crystal Meditation Method (Tier One)] 10000/10000

A moment later, it changed.

[Crystal Meditation Method (Tier One Awakening)] 0/10000

Li Wei’s Mana had reached the Peak of Tier One.

He was now a Mage at the Peak of Tier One.

He only needed to awaken his Tier Two Extraordinary Traits to become a Tier Two Mage.

Furthermore, after absorbing the Elf Spring, Li Wei’s Sensing Ability for all kinds of Magic Elements had greatly increased.

During meditation, he could clearly sense a feeling of intimacy from the surrounding Magic Elements.

This was especially true for the Fire Element, which was as passionate as a blazing fire and clung to him like glue.

Li Wei didn’t even need to enter a meditative state anymore; he could sense the active Fire Elements in the air just by releasing his Spiritual Power.

He could now summon the Fire Element at will.

Consequently, the power of his Fire Element Magic had also improved considerably.

With his enhanced Elemental Sensing Ability for all elements, Li Wei could now properly unleash the power of other elemental Magic as well.

However, without the bonus from Extraordinary Traits, their power was far inferior to his Fire Element Magic.

’My Cultivation speed has probably doubled, and my Mana recovery speed has tripled.’

A smile spread across Li Wei’s face. This was a massive gain.

This trip had not been in vain.

After calming the excitement from his huge increase in strength, Li Wei began to think about his awakening.

Initially, he had fumbled his way into discovering an extremely crude advancement ritual.

It involved feeding Mana and Spiritual Power to the Fire Element.

Now, however, he had obtained a more formal and effective advancement ritual—the Fire Spirit Ceremony.

Li Wei first tried the advancement ritual he had figured out on his own.

He used his Spiritual Power to feed the Fire Element.

After a while, he opened his eyes.

[Crystal Meditation Method (Tier One Awakening)] 3/10000

’HISS! Why is the progress so slow?’

’At this rate, it’ll take a year or more to awaken.’

’Looks like I have no choice but to use the Fire Spirit Ceremony. I wonder how effective it will be. I hope it won’t be too disappointing.’