Chapter 0147

Although it seems like a lifetime to Yu Li Ming - wait a minute! Yu Li Ming. Yu Li Ming doesn’t want to be called Yu Li Ming anymore. It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was only a few seconds in reality that she watched her lived her life from a different perspective - twice.

What she viewed as a harsh mental attack from Tempest was but a mere pinch. It was also the rude awakening she needed. She had received the ‘truth’ yet she still didn’t know what to do.

Of the four problems, Tempest said she had, two of them are solved. Engagement and reputation. Who cares about her engagement and her reputation! She doesn’t.

As for the matter of trust, she trusts in herself. Until others are proven trustworthy, she would only trust in herself. It is a start.

The most problematic issue she is facing right now is the question of her identity. Who is she? She doesn’t want to be Yu Li Ming right now. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to be Yu Li Ming later. As one poet wrote, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The spirits told her the quote. She didn’t know where they got it from but she likes it. She is still sweet. She was once called a rose. Now she wants to go by another name until she feels like being called a rose again.

What was it that Tempest had said? “I could call you Li Ming, Ming Ming, Ling Ling, Ling a bing bing bing, Ting Ting, Ting a ling ling ling and it wouldn’t make a difference. Yu Li Ming was raised to be a tool. Calling the tool Li Ming, Ming Ming, Ling Ling, Ling a bing bing bing, Ting Ting, Ting a ling ling ling doesn’t matter because the tool doesn’t have the will to protest. It can’t protest. So why bother?”

Indeed, why bother. Might as well call herself Li Ming until she feels like changing her name. Ming Ming and Ling Ling aren’t bad either. Ling a bing bing bing, Ting Ting, Ting a ling ling ling is out of the question!

“Ah!” the newly self named Li Ming yelled.

“I told you she was alright. You don’t have to get your panties in a twist Fenix.” Tempest said after shaking Li Ming like a rag doll.

“How can I not worry? You already did a number on Bei Ting Mao and Graden. Now you turn your cursed mouth onto poor Yu Li Ming.”

“So my mouth is cursed is it eh? I was going to say you were the best among this group of rabble. Your mastery of the fire element is amazing. You inject enough mana into the spell circle to kill the magical beast without overdoing it. The corpse of the magical beasts you killed is mostly intact, especially the hides. Due to the good conditions of the hides, we can sell it for more money. Not only that, you have precise control over your spell. You can control the path of the fireball after you launch the spell. If a moron were to jump between you and the magical beasts, you would be able to veer your spell to go around the moron. Better yet, you can do that for multiple spells.”

Fenix didn’t realize it but she puffed up her chest more and more after each praise. Even since she was a child, she had been training with her fire magic. She knew she had a disadvantage. She could only use so much mana before the residual mana seeps into her body, burning her from the inside out.

Her mother had told her the problem will rectify itself once she steps into the sensory stage. She had begged her spirits to change her cultivation order. Instead of starting from the outer stage of cultivation, she wanted the spirits to start from the inner stage of cultivation then go on from there.

The spirits refused. They had their reasons. Reasons they refuse to divulge to her. They told her she needed to work within her limitations. It would be more beneficial for her to learn her limits early and work around it instead of trying to plow through it and dying in the process.

Fenix figured out her limits early on. Her pain was excruciating after a certain mana saturation level. Knowing she can’t overpower her enemies, Fenix started working on precision and control.

If every spell was going to contribute to her pain, then she’d make every one of them count.

The first aspect of spells casting she worked on was her aim. A spell that miss should not have been cast in the first place. Fenix started from a stationary target, widening the distance once she was able to hit the bullseye with any and all of the spells she casts. Then she started working on moving targets.

Once she was able to kill any target she set her mind to, she changed her focus to control. She needed to control the amount of mana she poured into the spell circle. She trained herself to be as deadly as possible using the least amount of mana.

Fenix knew at a young age any weakness she had would be used against her. Worse, she could use it against her mother.

Of all the people in the world, Fenix loved her mother the most. Her father might have been the second person Fenix loved the most if she knew who her father was. Either her mother didn’t want to tell Fenix his name due to complications with his identity or she didn’t know who her father was in the first place. Her mother revels in the sexual freedom women have in the Magus Alliance.

Because of her mother’s position in the kingdom, Fenix had to train in secret. She couldn’t let on she had a mana backlash issue.

Throughout her training, she’d never been praised for her efforts.

Fenix felt a sense of pride from Tempest’s praise. She gave a tongue lashing after tongue lashing to the others and she praises her. It might not mean much to others, but it means a lot to Fenix.

“Why, thank you. There is a soft heart under the vicious, greedy, money grubbing, abrasive personality of yours.”

“Don’t be so happy. I ain’t finished.” Tempest barked out. “Fire, fire, fire. All you know is fire. Burn, burn, burn, that’s all you do. You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. Once your opponent catches on you are a fire mage and only a fire mage, they’d know you suffer from the backlash of your element. They’d immediately enter a battle of attrition. After all, they can take their time and recover their energy without suffering while you have to bear the pain.” Tempest sneered at the once proud peacock Fenix.

“All single element fire mages -”

“Ack! Don’t go about saying all single element fire mages suffer from this. So what if they suffer from it. They don’t advertise it as you do.”

Dutifully chastised, Fenix asked Tempest, “What do you mean?”

“What other reasons are there for a mage who only cast fire magic to be a draconian demon with their mana expenditure. You are more of a miser with your mana than I am with money and that is saying something since I’m a ‘vicious, greedy, money grubbing’ person.” Tempest vented some of her anger when she threw those words back to Fenix.

Hehe.

The best way to humiliate someone is for them to eat their words. Okay, it might not be the best way to humiliate someone. There are a thousand and one other ways to make them grovel beneath your feet, but letting eat their words sure feels good.

Tempest decided when she had the spare time to practice in the art of debate. She isn’t a protagonist in a story nor is she the big villain but she sure can be the irritating nuisance.

Fenix sighed in defeat and answered, “A weak mage who has only one element.”

“Exactly. Once you know the element of a mage, then you can devise countermeasures.”

“Then what should I do?”

“Fenix, how many single element mages are there?” Tempest asked. Really, why the hell did Ventus and the others stick her with this group of oddballs.

The answer to Tempest’s question is because she is the oddest of the bunch, but since Ventus loves Tempest and wants to get on her good side, she kept quiet.

“Not that many,” Fenix answered.

“Wrong!” Tempest smacked Fenix on the head. Ah, that’s why some people take up the teaching profession. It is because they can legally and with a clear conscience discipline their students. “There are more single element mages than you realize. They are very good at covering their weaknesses. Here take these.” Tempest handed Fenix a bunch of Wind Blade charms. “Learn how to create a fake spell circle release the spell stored in the charm instead. Viola, instant fire wind mage!”

At Tempest’s word, Fenix felt her world open. She had been working within the confines of a single element fire mage that she didn’t realize there are ways to overcome or hide her weakness.

Being efficient is all and well, but it exposed her glaring weakness. She has only one element. With charms supplementing her powers, she can easily confuse her opponent.

“Thank you for guiding me,” Fenix said with deep gratitude.

“Take these too. You said you needed water element, water mana, whatever to ease the side effects of your magic. You might be able to use water charms as a substitute.” Tempest generously gave Fenix the water charms she couldn’t sell earlier. There is no buyer. Might as well put them to good use. “Ah right, Yu Li Ming, work with Fenix here in discovering her limits. Yu Li Ming? Where did she go off to?”

Tempest looked around, trying to find the fainted princess.

“Li Ming heard you. Li Ming will work with Fenix discovering her limits after we finish the expedition.” Li Ming answered Tempest from behind the male wall that is Graden and Bei Ting Mao.

These bastards didn’t help her when Tempest ‘educated’ her. They might as well be good for something. A nice wall between her and Tempest is a good start.

“Li Ming?” Tempest asked, puzzled.

“Yu Li Ming can’t be in the Magus Alliance. Li Ming can.” Li Ming answered simply.

“Oh, good. You understand my lecture. Glad someone got something out of it.”

“Sis Tempest, you can’t praise others without praising me. I did a good job too.” Starm protest the attention Tempest was paying to the others.

What is a good teacher to do but work overtime to enlighten her students, especially when they are earnestly presenting themselves on the chopping block?

Oh yeah, before she forgets. “That’s 900 silvers for the charm Fenix. Thanks for your patronage.”