Lu Mingfei, become the King of Elden!

Chapter 374 Why is this person resorting to personal attacks?

A ray of golden light emanated from Lu Mingfei's eyes, then slowly condensed into a pupil-shaped gold coin in his hand.

【Golden Rune】.

Lu Mingfei flicked his finger, and the golden rune containing the power of 10 runes drew a beautiful arc in the air before landing precisely in the bald mage's hand.

The bald man impatiently crushed the rune, the light dissipated and finally condensed into a point, which also flowed into his eyes, like a traveler who was about to die of thirst in the desert.

After absorbing 10 runes, the bald man's previously haggard and listless expression improved significantly.

Lu Mingfei naturally knew what was going on.

Without the guidance of the Finger Witch, ordinary borderland inhabitants are unable to convert the plundered runes into their own use to enhance their strength.

However, they still need these blessed powers derived from the Elden Ring to maintain their sanity as fuel for their souls. Once their runes fall below a certain value, they become mindless wandering madmen and undead.

It seems this unfortunate fellow was on the verge of "death," if he hadn't passed by today.
"Thank you, friend."

The bald man said sincerely:

"My name is Tops, and I am a magician. Despite my appearance, I once attended the Realucaria Academy, where I studied Radiant Stone Magic."

I have nothing to repay you with right now, but if you're interested in learning, I'm willing to teach you magic.

Lu Mingfei looked at the weathered, bald man with some surprise.

This guy sounded simple and honest, nothing like the kind of mage he had in mind.

According to Seren, the mages who come out of the magic academy are all proud, stubborn and rigid. When they encounter a faded person like Lu Mingfei, who is hated by everyone, they either give him a disdainful look or raise their hand to greet him with "Hey, where did you get your brilliance stone?"

Lu Mingfei scratched his head:
"Magic, of course I'm interested. But I did study under a magic master, and the results weren't very satisfactory."

He recalled with some helplessness Teacher Serenity's "simple and brutal" teaching methods, as well as his own slow progress in learning magic.

Upon hearing this, Tops paused, his overly bright eyes dimming for a moment. After a long silence, he spoke softly, with a tone tinged with bitterness and sympathy:

"So... you're also someone who has no talent in magic?"

Lu Mingfei: "???"

He wondered why this person was resorting to personal attacks.
Although his magical talent was indeed not very good, it was still a bit embarrassing to be bluntly told off by someone who had just recovered after receiving 10 runes from him.

Tops seemed to immediately realize that his words had been too blunt and impolite, and hurriedly waved his hands, his face showing embarrassment and apology:

"Ah! I'm sorry, friend! I didn't mean to belittle you! Really! It's just... it's just..."

His voice lowered, carrying a deep-seated self-mockery and loneliness:

“But… I’m also a talentless guy. At the academy, they all call me ‘Waste Rock’ Tops… So, hearing you say that, I… I feel like you’re a lot like me.”

"Waste rock..."

Lu Mingfei kept repeating this nickname.

In the magical world where "shining stones are supreme," "waste stone" is undoubtedly an insulting nickname.

He subconsciously looked down, his gaze sweeping over the ground in front of Tops. It was covered with dense, scribbled marks—magical formulas and complex geometric figures.

Tops had been keeping his head down, clearly engrossed in studying these things. The lines were somewhat messy, some had been repeatedly modified and erased, but they conveyed a sense of unwavering effort.

I see……

Lu Mingfei sighed softly to himself.

He suddenly remembered his past self, the one who felt out of place at Shilan Middle School. Although he attended a prestigious private school, he was penniless and his presence was as faint as air. His grades were terrible, and he was secretly called "the weight" by his teachers and classmates because he could single-handedly drag down the class average by a significant margin.

"Weight weight"... "waste stone"...

What a similar situation, both of them being labeled as "useless".

But as Lu Mingfei looked at the calculation marks on the ground, soaked with painstaking effort and dedication, and at the down-on-his-luck mage before him who, even on the verge of collapse, still hadn't put down his research, a thought clearly surfaced in his mind:

This guy is better than I used to be...

He had seen brilliant and almost fanatical magic masters like Seren, as well as cold and ruthless mages like Seria. Tops, on the other hand, was clearly at the very bottom of the magic hierarchy, ostracized by his peers, deemed lacking in talent, and even on the verge of becoming a living corpse due to the lack of runes to maintain his sanity.

Even so, he did not give up magic, did not give up thinking, and did not give up his research.

This gave Lu Mingfei a strange feeling of being touched and...respected.

"Don't say that, Tops. People who stick to their own path are never useless."

Lu Mingfei's tone softened. He sheathed his greatsword and sat down on a relatively clean rock next to Tops.
"Besides, talent is sometimes unpredictable. My name is Lu Mingfei, a... traveler."

He pointed to the complex and messy formulas on the ground, his tone sincere:
"Why don't you tell me what you're researching right now?"

Tops smiled sheepishly, a hint of embarrassment showing on his weathered and slightly aged face because of the attention he received.

He rubbed his hands together and spoke somewhat awkwardly:
"Oh, that... that was just a little fantasy of mine, it shouldn't be taken seriously, it shouldn't be taken seriously..."

He spoke modestly, but his gaze unconsciously drifted to the formulas on the ground, revealing an undisguised enthusiasm:

“I…I’m working on a, um…force field magic that can deflect all ‘spells’.”

"A force field spell that repels all 'techniques'?" Lu Mingfei was taken aback, and subconsciously asked, "What kind of 'technique' are you referring to...?"

Tops' voice lowered even further, almost as if he were whispering, as if afraid of being overheard:

"It's...it's all magic and prayer."

Lu Mingfei's first reaction was—this guy is definitely daydreaming!

Magic and prayer, though different in origin and form, are both techniques that drive the fundamental power of this world.

The magic of radiant stones draws upon the power of the stars, the golden prayer begs for divine favor, and the dragon feast directly seizes the power of the dragon... These powers are vastly different and of distinct natures.

How could a single force field simultaneously repel all types of "techniques"? It's like talking about building a wall that can simultaneously block floods, fires, lightning, and hurricanes—it sounds like pure fantasy.

This idea seems a bit...unrealistic.

(End of this chapter)