Above the mage

Chapter 733 The Top Spot Changed

Gao De sat in the shadows, stroking the gold card Liu Ying had given him, feeling confident.

But having a strong foundation doesn't mean being taken advantage of.

He watched as bids rose and fell in the room, but instead of making a move, he patiently waited.

The bidding gradually subsided after the price reached 170,000 gold coin, indicating that Gao De made a decisive move when the final transaction price was approaching.

"175,000 gold coin".

He immediately added 5,000 gold coins to his bid, demonstrating his determination to win and scare away his competitors.

This tactic worked!

After his large bid, the room fell silent instantly.

The customer who initially offered 170,000 gold coin hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided against raising the price further.

175,000 Golden Bird Coins is already close to the upper limit of the transaction price for low-level fire elemental species.

Adding any more than that results in a clear premium.

Unless it's absolutely necessary, there's really no need for it.

Seeing this, the white-haired old man on the stage did not try to stir things up further. Instead, he announced loudly and generously: "One hundred and seventy-five thousand gold coin once! One hundred and seventy-five thousand gold coin twice! One hundred and seventy-five thousand gold coin three times!"

"Sold! Congratulations to this customer for successfully bidding on [Heart of Ember]!"

【Heart of Ember】is the main course for Gaode, but for this high-class auction, it can only be considered a minor interlude.

Therefore, its auction did not cause much of a stir.

After successfully bidding for "Heart of the Burning Blaze", Gaode didn't leave immediately but stayed to watch for a while longer.

Many of the auction items were rare and precious, and many of them were things he had never even heard of before.

However, most of these are skills he doesn't need at this stage and are suitable for mages at or above the fourth rank.

So he quickly lost interest.

I don't need it and I don't have the money to buy it, so there's no need to waste my time.

He gestured to the staff member waiting nearby, explaining that he wanted to leave early to handle the handover of the auction items.

Upon seeing this, the staff immediately bowed respectfully and led the way.

Guided by staff, Gaode arrived at the handover room backstage of the auction.

The staff member in charge of the handover carried in a specially made crystal box, which contained the [Burning Heart].

After Gao De confirmed that the [Heart of Ember] was intact and without any abnormalities, he took out the Golden Bird Gold Card given to him by Liu Ying from his pocket and handed it over.

Still brimming with excitement after leaving the Mithril Auction House, Gao De carefully tucked the crystal box containing the [Heart of Ember] into his pocket and immediately returned to the inn.

He needed to hurry up and refine this low-level fire element seed.

【Heart of Ember】(Fire Elemental)

Rank: Low

Basic effect: Increases the power of fire spells of level 3 and below by 1-2 times, and increases the power of fire spells of level 4 by 30-50%.

The amplification effect is particularly focused on spells with the attributes of "instant burst" and "energy impact" (such as [Fireball], [Flame Arrow], and [Scorching Ray]), while the amplification effect is slightly weaker on spells with continuous burning or spreading effects (such as [Burning Hand]).

Although this elemental seed is not of high grade and does not have other additional effects like [Sleeping Spider Web], in terms of amplification effect, it is a perfect match for Gaode.

Its enhancement focuses precisely on the [Fireball+] skill that Gaode values ​​and excels at most.

This means that with [Fireball+], the amplification of [Heart of Ember] will reach the upper limit of its base effect.

"Double the increase—" A burning glint flashed in Gao De's eyes.

He could already imagine the terrifying power that the amplified [Fireball+] would unleash.

At that time, it will surely bring unexpected surprises to his opponents in the knockout stage, and may even make up for some of the gap between him and the fourth-ring mage.

The entire refining process went even more smoothly than he had expected.

Lower-level elemental species naturally have lower spirituality and are easier for mages to tame.

Although Gao De possesses a True Ice Star Core Magic Crystal that fire elemental beings dislike, he also has a Wood-attribute Green Wood Magic Crystal that fire elemental beings greatly favor.

With such a clash, coupled with Gao De's strength far exceeding that of an ordinary third-ring mage, refining a low-level elemental seed was a piece of cake.

A moment later, deep red veins gradually lit up on his body, like flames running through his skin.

A surge of scalding heat flowed through my limbs and bones, enveloping everything in its warmth.

Before long, the red veins on his body gradually faded, and the scalding heat subsided, indicating that the refining process was completely complete.

Looking at the [Heart of Ember] obediently residing beside the [Sleeping Spider Web] within his body, Gao De opened his eyes with satisfaction, even somewhat impatient for the start of the elimination rounds.

Then there will be a ready-made "target" for him to test the true power of [Heart of Ember - Fireball+].

The next day, just as dawn broke, Mithril City was already bustling with activity.

Today is the first day of the knockout stage.

The first match was highly anticipated, featuring the Holy Empire Mage Team against the Vilan Duchy Mage Team.

Although the Golden Flower Mage team's elimination match was on the last day, Gao De still chose to go to the Dragonspine Arena to watch the game.

He also wanted to see the strength of the Holy Empire's mage team, even though their opponents in this round were not strong enough.

There are also differences between the principalities.

The Duchy of Vilan is not a small, weak duchy like the Duchy of Sien, which is huddled on the edge of the continent. Instead, it is an extremely powerful duchy on the continent of Nolan, and it also has considerable influence in the central continent.

Unfortunately, its strength is only comparable to that of a duchy.

In the face of the vast Holy Empire, it was essentially no different from the Duchy of Sien.

If the Holy Empire wanted to, it could easily take the capital of the Duchy of Vilan in a single day.

Then, in a very short time, the Duchy of Vilan was transformed into the Vilan Province of the Holy Empire.

That's a bit of a tangent.

In short, the gap in national strength is also the gap between the two teams.

When Gaode arrived, the stands of the Dragon Ridge Arena were already packed with people.

Spectators from various countries were buzzing with discussion, their eyes all focused on the central arena.

The members of both mage teams have also arrived.

According to the elimination tournament rules, the Duchy of Vilan submitted its ace player to the Holy Empire, which was naturally Ellie Warwick, the captain of the Holy Empire's mage team.

However, Gaode believes that this application is somewhat unnecessary.

Judging from the expressions and pre-match strategy of the Holy Empire team members, they clearly did not intend to give Ellie Warwick a chance to make a move.

Just like in the first round of the Plantagenets' elimination tournament, Fritz didn't arrange for Flowing Fire to play.

The absolute difference in strength allowed them to easily secure victory without even needing to use their core combat forces.

In the first round of the capture the flag battle, the Holy Empire sent out not only two substitute members who were the main force in the group stage, namely Beatrice and White Nord, but also a regular member, Herbert, who was also in the early stages of the fourth ring.

On the other hand, the Duchy of Vilan, limited by the strength of their team, could only send three mages at the late third ring.

Putting everything else aside, the sheer difference in mage levels alone destined this to be a one-sided, crushing defeat.

The gap between the Third Ring Road and the Fourth Ring Road cannot be bridged simply by tactical coordination.

The mana reserves and spell power of a fourth-circle mage far exceed those of a third-circle mage, not to mention that the Holy Empire also has two fourth-circle mages on its side.

The outcome of the battle was exactly as everyone had predicted, with no suspense whatsoever.

As the match officially began, Beatrice and Whitenor launched their attacks almost simultaneously.

It wasn't any powerful spell, just simple wind blades and lightning arrows.

The wind and thunder complemented each other, overwhelming the three mages of the Duchy of Vilan.

The three mages of the Duchy of Vilan quickly activated protective spells, barely managing to block the first wave of attacks.

They wanted to fight back, but Beatrice and Whitenor's offensive was relentless.

They alternate between casting Wind Blade and Lightning Bolt, and occasionally use mental attack spells to disrupt their spellcasting.

This left them with no room to fight back, forcing them to struggle and run for their lives.

On the other hand, Herbert disappeared from the audience's sight at the very beginning, like a ghost.

The three mages from the Duchy of Vilan naturally noticed Herbert's disappearance and immediately became wary.

They knew that Herbert's target was inevitably their own battle flag.

But they simply didn't have time to look for Herbert's location.

The sheer force of Beatrice and Whitenor's frontal assault was enough to overwhelm them.

The ending was already decided the moment it began.

Just seconds later, as the three mages of the Duchy of Vilan were struggling to defend against Beatrice and Whitenor's attacks, Herbert suddenly appeared beside their battle banner.

The moment he revealed himself, he easily severed the ropes securing the battle flag and unceremoniously pulled it out.

He didn't even glance at the three mages from the Duchy of Vilan before turning and flying towards the direction of his own battle flag.

The three mages from the Duchy of Vilan were alarmed and tried to break away to stop them, but Beatrice and Whitenor, who were providing cover, intensified their attack at that moment.

The three mages could only watch helplessly as Herbert, holding his own battle flag, calmly flew back to the starting point of the Holy Empire.

"Holy Empire, capture the flag successfully! Holy Empire wins the first round!" The referee's voice echoed throughout the arena through the rune amplification array.

The audience supporting the Holy Empire erupted in cheers, while those from the Duchy of Vilan looked utterly dejected.

This capture-the-flag battle lasted less than a minute from start to finish, incredibly simple, perfectly showcasing the difference in strength between the two sides.

After a short ten-minute break, the second round of 2v2 matches began in earnest.

The Holy Empire sent out Beatrice and White Nord as their replacements.

On the other hand, the Duchy of Vilan was clearly betting everything on this match, hoping to win back a point.

The team consisted of Raysen, the only early-stage fourth-ring mage in the Vilan Duchy's mage team, and another late-stage third-ring mage who performed well in the group stage.

When it comes to the mage level alone, the two sides are evenly matched.

One is from the early stage of the Fourth Ring Road, and the other is from the late stage of the Third Ring Road.

This immediately roused the somewhat listless audience on stage, and discussions gradually began to rise.

Many people believe that this will be a closely contested and exciting match.

After all, only viewers from the winning country are happy to see a one-sided match; other neutral viewers find it too boring and uninteresting.

Only a contest where the two sides are evenly matched can provide enough entertainment.

However, this match, which most neutral viewers had high hopes for and thought would be evenly matched, turned out to be one-sided, even more brutal than the first game.

The reason is simple: although both are early-stage fourth-ring mages, the strength of Leisen and Bainord is worlds apart.

Leisen had clearly upgraded his ring level temporarily by investing a large amount of resources in order to participate in the Unparalleled Fighting Tournament.

Although he had broken through to the early stage of the fourth ring, he had not yet mastered any fourth ring spells and could only rely on ring-ascending spells to fight.

Bai Nord, though only a substitute for the Holy Empire, is a seasoned early-stage fourth-circle mage who has mastered many fourth-circle spells.

He deliberately slacked off and concealed his true strength during the group stage, never revealing his real power.

In this round, facing Rayson in the early stages of the fourth ring, he knew that Beatrice couldn't carry the team alone, so he finally stopped hiding his strength.

At the start of the match, Bai Nord was the first to activate a spell, casting a unique [Stone Skin] spell on himself.

After being blessed, his skin instantly turned like rock, gleaming with a dark gray luster, and his body was surrounded by a thick earth elemental power.

Immediately afterwards, Beatrice stepped forward and cast a support spell on White Nord that greatly increased his movement speed.

After casting two spells, Bai Nord pushed off with his feet, his figure shooting out like an arrow, charging straight ahead of the two contestants from the Duchy of Vilan.

Bai Nuode was clearly a melee mage!

His opponent was shocked and unleashed a barrage of spells at Bai Nuode in an attempt to stop him from getting closer.

However, these spells only left a few marks on White Nord's rocky skin, and could not break through his defenses at all.

Not to mention Beatrice casting spells from afar to provide support.

White Nord, like an unstoppable warrior, easily approached the two mages of the Duchy of Vilan.

As normal ranged damage dealers, their fate is predictable once they are approached by melee mages.

However, Leisen was a fourth-ring mage after all, and with his own abilities, he managed to hold out for five or six minutes in this game, providing quite a few highlights.

Their most promising game was crushed, and in the third game, a series of matches, the Duchy of Vilan had little chance of resistance.

Beatrice, who was the first to fight on the Holy Empire's side, took down two opponents who were both at the late stage of the third ring, until she was defeated by Rayson, who was at the early stage of the fourth ring.

Then, Bai Nuode once again crushed Leisen in the 1v1 duel.

Finally, the Holy Empire easily won three straight games, advancing to the next round of the knockout stage with overwhelming force and entering the quarterfinals.

After today's elimination rounds, something related to Gaode Maps happened.

He held the top spot on the power rankings for the entire group stage, but was finally dethroned.

In the 2v2 duel and gauntlet battle, Bai Nuode, forced by his opponent Leisen to stop holding back and show his skills, directly took the top spot with a combat power score advantage of nearly 200.

Gaode, on the other hand, was pushed down to second place.

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