Water Mage in the Flame Realm-Chapter 413 - 398: I Am Not Rei

"Alright, eat up! Feel free to eat, just remember to share a bowl of soup with me." Andrew shrugged, speaking nonchalantly.

Arid: "??"

— Just kidding, Andrew didn’t actually say that.

In any world, be it the Flame Realm, Water God Realm, or the pre-travel world, throughout the ages, only one person could truly say "share a piece of the pie" in front of a battle.

Facing Arid’s threat, Andrew’s real reply was: "They’re not useless."

As he spoke, his gaze swept over all the Water Mages held hostage by Arid.

The tone was incredibly serious.

Arid was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh out loud: "Ha! Not useless?" He made no attempt to hide his disdain: "Absolutely no use, can’t help in any way, they’re just a bunch of burdens—isn’t that still useless?!"

"Not useless." Andrew repeated again, as if making this clear was extremely important to him.

Arid fell silent, and after a moment of silence, spoke again: "This is the most annoying thing about people like you and Li."

For Arid, losing to Andrew one-on-one wasn’t that hard to accept.

He’s not the type of person who places much importance on one-on-one victories.

Whether narrowly escaping a fatal strike from Li in human form or being suppressed step by step by Andrew’s reactive tactics in one-on-one confrontation just now, Arid thought it was no big deal.

What truly enraged Arid was:

"Whether these useless beings are truly useless—is that such an important matter? Why, even after winning one-on-one, do you act as if you’re not wholeheartedly focused on confronting me?!"

Arid could accept being defeated one-on-one by a powerful opponent who was fully committed.

However, Andrew’s repeated emphasis that the hostage Water Mages were "not useless" made Arid feel that: Andrew wasn’t fully focused on dealing with him and was fighting with distracting thoughts. The key is while Andrew cared about this trivial matter of whether those Water Mages were useless, he still managed to suppress Arid!

Being defeated one-on-one by an opponent with distracting thoughts—this is the infuriating and unacceptable point for Arid.

"Li was like this before, and now you, kid, have the same attitude?" Arid gritted his teeth, "You beat me, but in your eyes, I don’t exist at all!"

He suddenly burst into manic laughter, "Alright, fine! You value the lives of these worthless beings so much, it’s just as well—I’ll kill one now to show you!"

The Fire of Greed on Silver surged violently.

At the same time, a layer of viscous black flame appeared on the bodies of the other Water Mages.

Silver’s face suddenly twisted and convulsed uncontrollably; people couldn’t imagine what kind of pain she was experiencing at that time.

Yet, despite this, Silver gritted her teeth and didn’t let out a single scream.

"Ahhh! It hurts so much!"

"Help, help!"

Not everyone possesses the same endurance and strength of will as Silver.

Some of the younger, lower-tiered, or unstable Water Mages eventually couldn’t withstand it; after gritting their teeth for a moment, they succumbed and cried out in pain.

It couldn’t be blamed on them, as the pain of being burned and consumed by the "Fire of Greed" was no different from being skinned alive—it was only natural to be unable to endure it.

Once someone started, the cries of pain spread like a virus.

The pain was so intense that many Water Mages quickly became almost unconscious due to it.

Until they heard Andrew’s voice ring out again.

This time Andrew no longer said "not useless," but rather said: "I’m not Li." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

I’m not Li.

The exceedingly brief statement, clearly not containing any magical power, miraculously pulled back the heart and mind of every Water Mage whose consciousness was nearly overwhelmed by pain, restoring their calm.

I’m not Li.

This wasn’t a recognition of Arid’s previous statement of "you’re not as good as Li."

Instead, Andrew’s words contained unparalleled self-confidence:

"Lord Li is indeed amazing when it comes to protecting and leading everyone! But I’m not bad either." Andrew thought, "I’m not Li, not because I acknowledge I’m inferior to Li, but because he has his way, and I, too, have mine!"

Within an extremely short time, Andrew had broken through from Tier Six to the Realm of Magic, definitely feeling an immense change.

Yet he didn’t forget, instead, he constantly remembered one thing: "I’m not a traditional Water Mage but rather a... Magic Lord!"

The so-called Lord is naturally meant to lead and guide everyone.

In Andrew’s view, Arid’s judgment was entirely inverted:

In terms of utmost one-on-one combat power, Lord Li, who transformed into human form at the last moment, is indeed phenomenal, beyond what Andrew can aspire to.

Conversely, the ability to lead and rally everyone is Andrew’s real forte and advantage!

A child present, the youngest there, was crying helplessly and innocently with streams of tears and snot.

Andrew’s phrase "I’m not Li" pulled everyone’s consciousness back, allowing them to stay awake.

But the pain from being burned and consumed by the Fire of Greed remained.

The pain even became more acute and unbearable with clearer consciousness.

"Mama, sob sob sob, I want mama..." The child cried out.

Yet precisely at this time, the child’s eyes suddenly widened, seeing: before them, who knows when, a teardrop-like droplet appeared, emitting a soft, clear, reassuring light. Arid’s crab-like clone behind the child seemed to see no such droplet, making no response to it.

Swish! The droplet quietly merged into the child’s brow.

At that moment, the child’s entire body trembled slightly, feeling an unprecedented and hard-to-describe force, originating from the brow, instantaneously circulating throughout the body.

This feeling bore a few similarities to being within Lord Li’s black whale’s body.

Yet there was some essential difference!

If Lord Li, when leading everyone, felt more like—Lord Li fighting at the frontline in the form of a black whale, while everyone supported safely from the rear—that kind of feeling.

Now, it seemed more like being at the frontline oneself, directly facing the enemy, yet without fear because one could sense a mighty force, as solid as a mountain, as a backing, simultaneously like a mountain stream, continuously flowing into the body.

And the medium through which this force channelled was exactly that teardrop-like droplet that had just entered the body!

Upon regaining awareness, the child suddenly realized: the pain was gone.

The pain that was formerly unbearable subtly disappeared without a trace!

Not only did this young child, with nearly no foundational training, feel suddenly empowered, no longer in pain.

All the Water Mages present actually at the same time, teardrop-like droplets entered their brow, instantly filled with a strong sensation of power, naturally dissipating the original unbearable pain brought by the Fire of Greed.

—"Enlightenment," Andrew gently recited in his heart.

Yes, Enlightenment.

The teardrop-like droplet merging into everyone’s brow is precisely a spell of "Enlightenment."

Initially, it was through "Enlightenment" that Andrew established bonds with his followers, leading him onto the "Magic Lord" path, based on traditional Water Mage yet advancing to a higher tier.

This is the original starting point of the Magic Lord’s path!

As Andrew broke through to the Realm of Magic, his understanding of "Enlightenment" became more profound—