Gin had found the challenge oddly enjoyable, both as a mental exercise and for the insights it provided into his observers.
The true reason behind the probing was clear: concern for Owen.
The elders had sought to evaluate Gin's intentions and capabilities, unwilling to let someone so close to their young heir go unchecked.
Though Gin did not know their final assessment, he had a good idea.
'They'll probably keep a closer eye on me,' he thought with amusement.
But for now, he brushed the thought aside.
Today's events had already given him plenty to think about.
Abby stood thirty meters away from Runewrights shield-bearers.
For a sorcerer of his caliber, that distance was negligible.
His opponents had only one task—defend, not attack. It was a situation tailor-made for his enjoyment.
'It was the right choice to handle this myself,' Abby thought with satisfaction.
This was not the kind of opportunity he would entrust to anyone else. The anticipation was exhilarating.
His gaze lingered on the tightly clustered shield-bearers.
Their formation left little room for his magical shockwaves to penetrate.
'Tch. Clumping together like that… how annoying,' he thought. However, it wouldn't be enough to stop him.
Drawing on what he had learned from the Dark Workshop's extensive tests, Abby swiftly recalled the most efficient spell sequence.
A direct magical attack would be useless against those shields—they would absorb and reflect it effortlessly.
Still, he had a plan: overwhelming physical force delivered through a shockwave.
'I can't break those shields, but I can push the bearers back.'
He let out a low breath and extended threads of mana from his core.
With practiced precision, he conjured a fiery explosion spell, one designed for maximum area impact.
As he prepared the spell,
he activated two enchanted bracelets on his wrists—artifacts specifically crafted for this moment.
One bracelet unleashed a fierce windstorm to amplify the fire's spread, while the other triggered a kinetic force shockwave to magnify the blast's destructive power.
Everything was in place.
With a final push of will, Abby unleashed his combined spell.
BOOM!
A whirlwind roared to life.
KRA-KOOM!
Flames erupted in a blinding explosion, searing through the battlefield.
WHAM!
A concussive shockwave followed, rippling outward with bone-shaking intensity.
The ground trembled, and an ear-splitting roar echoed across the field, leaving many spectators stunned.
Even Abby himself couldn't help but clench his fist in triumph.
The spell had fired at maximum efficiency.
He half-expected to see a few shields shattered or at least some shield-bearers hurled backward.
But when the flames finally subsided, a shocking sight greeted everyone.
The Runewright shield-bearers stood firm, entirely unharmed. They hadn't taken a single step back.
For a moment, the entire field fell into stunned silence.
Even Abby found himself speechless. The immense power he had unleashed had failed to move them an inch.
'They really blocked it… completely,' Abby thought, shaking his head in disbelief.
With a bitter chuckle, he muttered under his breath, "They've created something extraordinary."
Still, this display taught him something new. When the shield-bearers clustered tightly together, the shield's effectiveness increased dramatically.
There was likely an additional synergistic effect built into the enchantment.
He quickly relayed this information to Shine Workshop's team, instructing their shield-bearers to adopt a similar formation.
It was now Runewright's turn to attack.
Abby glanced at Gin, who stood at the far end of the field. Gin exuded an infuriating calm, as though the outcome had already been decided.
"Damn him," Abby grumbled, his jaw tightening.
He felt a sudden wave of irritation as Ban turned his gaze toward him, as if he had heard the insult.
'What the hell... Did he hear me?'
Gin's eyes remained locked on him, and just before Abby could look away, Gin smiled—a slow, knowing grin that only deepened Abby's frustration.
"That bastard's mocking me,"Abby muttered, clenching his teeth. He crossed his arms and retreated to his seat, glaring daggers at Gin.
'Let's see what you can do,' he thought bitterly.
Gin, meanwhile, chuckled softly as he observed Shine's shield-bearers adopting a tighter formation. He had anticipated this reaction.
'Of course they'd copy us,' he mused. 'Any competent mage would recognize the advantage.' Sёarᴄh the Nôvelƒire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
What Shine Workshop didn't realize, however, was that the shields' design included a secondary mechanism.
When grouped together, the shields generated a synergistic effect that amplified both defense and energy transfer. Gin had built this feature into the sulsik for strategic versatility.
Now, it was time to demonstrate what else the shields could do.
Gin waited for the signal.
A city official standing at a safe distance raised his hand high, signaling the start of his attack.
Unlike Abby, Gin didn't need elaborate preparations. He calmly extended his hand, palm facing upward.
A faint, quiet hum filled the air as mana began to gather in his hand.
He didn't draw on the ambient magical energy—this power came entirely from within, the magic that naturally surrounded and infused his body.
For most, such a technique was impractical.
Even skilled mages rarely relied on pure mana attacks; the control and concentration required were daunting.
But Gin knew this was precisely why Shine Workshop hadn't anticipated it.
No one used pure mana in combat anymore—it was seen as inefficient and archaic.
But Gin had no intention of following conventional wisdom.
Once enough mana coalesced in his hand, he flicked it forward.
The ball of energy, deceptively small and unassuming, glided through the air, moving with eerie grace toward the clustered shield-bearers.
A slow-moving, shimmering orb of condensed mana glided gracefully across the battlefield, trailing faint waves of energy.
Its speed was almost leisurely—intentionally controlled by Gin.
All eyes were drawn to the glowing mass as it hovered through the air. Thanks to the vivid color he had imbued it with, even those without magical senses, including government officials, could clearly see the phenomenon unfolding.
The orb made its way unerringly toward the fifth shield in the tightly packed formation. The moment it touched the surface—
BOOOOM!
An explosion ripped through the field.
The shock didn't end there.
The shields began to resonate with each other in a deadly cascade, triggering a series of chain explosions.