Chapter 23: Basic Training (Part Two)

After Shanna completed the "Gold Flying Thief Training," the siblings entered the second training room.

This training room was the same size as the previous one, but it contained various facilities for practicing and testing spells, including targets, round stones, etc. Most notably, there were numerous magic statues in this room. These magic statues came in five types: Shield Soldiers, Spear Soldiers, Archers, Cavalry, and Stone Golems, covering various attack types such as melee, ranged, assault, and aerial attacks, grouped in sets of five, totaling 20 sets.

"Shanna, why don't you go first? Remember not to rush your attacks; find the right opportunity to gather power," Bell said to his sister.

"Yeah."

After casting a protective spell on herself with her domesticated sprites, Shanna activated one set of the stone golems.

As the stone golems' eyes glowed red, they immediately launched their attacks upon entering the field. Shield Soldiers guarded Spear Soldiers as they approached Shanna, while Archers maintained distance from the Shield Soldiers, ensuring they could provide support and simultaneously shoot at Shanna. Cavalry circled around Shanna, ready to charge at any moment, while the Stone Golems flew into the air, ready to attack as soon as Shanna revealed a vulnerability under the attacks of the Archers or Cavalry.

As usual, Shanna first cast a shield on herself. While deflecting incoming arrows, she prevented the Shield Soldiers and Spear Soldiers from getting too close, all the while keeping an eye on the movements of the Cavalry and Stone Golems.

Soon, the Cavalry launched a charge. Shanna tried to disrupt the charge by manipulating the ground, but the Cavalry easily leaped over the obstacle. Prepared for this, Shanna attempted to create a pit at the Cavalry's landing point, but before she could finish, arrows from the Archers and attacks from the Stone Golems arrived in succession.

Faced with no other option, Shanna had to abandon her attack on the Cavalry. She dodged the arrows with a backward leap and simultaneously cast a spell to knock the Stone Golems out of the air.

However, these stone golems were magically reinforced and possessed self-repair functions. With Shanna's current spell power, breaking through their cores was not easy.

Bell watched Shanna's fighting figure attentively.

Undoubtedly, Shanna's skills far surpassed those of her peers. Even adult wizards might be defeated if they were careless and underestimated her. Bell had never mentioned this to Shanna; he felt the current situation was good enough, and he had never detected any signs of pride or complacency in Shanna.

Shanna always regarded her brother as her pursuit and was unaware of the true abilities of other young wizards. She often felt frustrated by her own clumsiness. Whether Shanna genuinely felt frustrated or just wanted her brother's comfort, only she knew.

The glow of spells continued to flicker in the training ground, with flames, hurricanes, lightning, and ice weaving through the air. Powerful forces shook the ground slightly.

Perhaps due to her frequent childhood snowball fights with her brother, Shanna excelled in using ice for both offense and defense. However, against a group of insensitive stone golems, the cold and slowing effects of ice had no effect. Furthermore, the hardness of the ice arrows she could conjure was insufficient against the stone golems. Thus, Shanna had to resort to more explosive attacks in an attempt to destroy the stone golems.

The battle progressed quickly, and within fifteen minutes, Shanna had managed to knock the Cavalry off their horses by setting traps. Then, by infusing Iron Armor spells with a large amount of magic, she withstood the attacks of the Archers and Stone Golems, successfully pinning down the Cavalry with ice spears. Seizing an opportunity when a Stone Golem dived down, she used an explosion spell to shatter its wings. Unable to fly, the incapacitated Stone Golem was buried underground by Shanna.

However, the remaining three stone golems, with their strong defense, were beyond Shanna's ability to break through. After trying various spells, Shanna finally seized an opportunity, using a hurricane to restrain the Shield Soldiers and then smashing the Archers.

But that was as far as she could go. After a prolonged battle, Shanna's remaining magic power was low, and the Shield Soldiers and Spear Soldiers couldn't approach her. Continuing was pointless.

"Brother, I still can't defeat a set of stone golems."

After the training ended, Shanna felt somewhat dejected. Although it was expected, she still hoped to show her brother her impressive side.

Bell smiled reassuringly. "You're almost there. With just a bit more power in your attacks, being able to inflict effective damage on the stone golems will make it much easier. Soon, you'll be able to handle three sets at once."

As Bell stepped into the training ground, a total of ten sets of stone golems were activated. Fifty stone golems entered the field with imposing strides, a sight that could even make ordinary people collapse in fear.

The fighting style of ten sets of stone golems differed greatly from that of one set. If one set of stone golems resembled a team of adventurers, then ten sets of stone golems were like a small-scale war. Arrows rained down continuously, cavalry charged in groups, and the sky was obscured by the shadows of stone golems.

A wall of earth rose, blocking the rain of arrows and the sight of the cavalry. Bell suddenly appeared in an illusion above the cavalry, throwing a powerful explosion spell into their ranks, blowing up two cavalrymen.

Seizing the opportunity, the stone golems closed in. A whirlwind appeared around Bell, blocking the stone golems' attacks and deflecting the arrows.

Compared to Shanna, Bell's flying shoes made him much faster. Faced with the encirclement and pursuit of the stone golems, he always managed to escape at critical moments. Even if he couldn't escape, it didn't matter; he had the ability to teleport with his illusions. So, Bell's figure flickered in and out of sight on the field. One moment he was in the air, dodging the stone golems, and the next he appeared above a Shield Soldier, crushing its head with a kick.

The first to be eliminated were the cavalry, all blown to pieces by Bell. Subsequently, the other four types of stone golems were defeated one after another. After twenty minutes, only twenty stone golems remained on the field.

Taking advantage of the moment when the field was clear, Bell accumulated a wave of magic power and cast a large-scale transmutation spell. Earth surged from the ground, turning into solid rocks, which then assembled into a giant stone golem.

The stone golem sent the stone golems flying, and before Bell's magic power ran out, it knocked down all the magic stone golems.

"You're amazing, Brother!"

Shanna jumped up happily, applauding vigorously.

The domesticated elves began to clean up the battlefield, responsible for repairing the stone golems, analyzing the battle situation, and updating the combat program of the magic stone golems to continue exerting pressure on Bell and serving as a means of training.

For this purpose, Bell specially arranged for the domesticated elves to learn about spells, and he himself often discussed battle tactics with them.