Full-Time Magister: The Ruler of Wind and Rain

Wang Yu did not pursue the heavily injured Ironbone Black Shark, not because he was unaware of the principle that "if you don't cut the weeds at the root, they will grow back in the spring breeze," but because the wind blade attack had just depleted eighty percent of his wind-type magic energy, leaving him with significantly reduced combat power and an urgent need to go ashore for meditation and recovery.

It's important to understand that there's no such thing as a free lunch. The Elemental Blade spell, learned from the notebook given to him by Zhan Kong, the leader of the Bo City military, is a good spell—simple to cast, powerful, and usable across different elemental types—but the cost is a massive drain on mana. With Wang Yu's current cultivation level, without considering the amplification from his spirit seed, he can unleash Elemental Blade with three times the power of a normal mid-level spell, but at the cost of ten times the mana consumption of a mid-level spell.

The Iron-Boned Black Shark's tough bones were no joke; ordinary wind blades would have no chance of cutting through them. That's why Wang Yu gathered most of his wind magic energy to create the strongest wind blade he had ever made.

Perhaps it was out of habit, or perhaps it was a gamble to kill with a single blow, but in any case, Wang Yu's first reaction in battle was to clash with demons. This characteristic of a mage was harshly criticized by Lingling after they came ashore. Wang Yu himself also reflected on whether his moves and routines were too unconventional and that he had not mastered the basic skills of an ordinary mage.

Fortunately, at this moment, Director Zhang, who had previously been in charge of receiving the two, brought food to reward Wang Yu and Lingling. Director Zhang had a smile on his face as he unfolded the picnic table and invited the two to come and eat.

"Experts, take a break and try my wife's Nanjing roast duck and duck blood vermicelli soup. Let me tell you, she's a hotel chef, and you can't find such authentic Nanjing flavors anywhere else."

Wang Yu and Lingling didn't stand on ceremony and sat down to enjoy the fragrant duck. At this moment, Director Zhang raised a glass of wine and said, "Experts, I, Zhang Shengqiang, apologize to you both. I'll punish myself with a drink." After saying that, he downed the wine in his glass in one gulp and continued, "When I picked you up at the station, I was worried that you two experts, being so young, would return empty-handed like before. I didn't expect that you two, at such a young age, would be so adept at this formation. I, Zhang, admire you."

Lingling snorted and didn't continue the conversation, but Wang Yu heard a key word: Jinling.

It should be noted that Jinling in this world is not the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties of the previous life. Although it is not small in scale, it is still considered a medium-sized city. It is not comparable to Shanghai, let alone Suzhou and Hangzhou.

This small city suffered misfortune more than ten years ago. Due to overpopulation, rampant demons, organized by the Demon Lord, attacked the city in large numbers. With no way to defend it, the Magic Association decided to evacuate the people. Not long after, Jinling City was completely turned into a demon's lair and was erased from the map of Anjie.

"Director Zhang, are you from Nanjing?" Wang Yu asked with a hint of curiosity.

"Yes," Director Zhang said with a sigh, "Jinling, few people remember this name now. It's rare that Expert Wang still knows this place. My wife and I were among the first to be evacuated. Time was very tight, and we didn't pack anything. We arrived in a new place empty-handed to start our struggle. But we were considered lucky. The later batches, especially the fourth batch, reportedly suffered heavy casualties, with both mages and civilians failing to stop the demon tide."

At this point, Director Zhang poured himself another drink, then continued, "If Jinling had had this kind of protective formation back then, more people would have survived, and it's entirely possible we could have defended the city. It was with this thought in mind that I was the first to sign up to cooperate with Mingzhu Academy on this water elemental circulation formation project. If it succeeds, I'll be completely satisfied. Alas, my brother was the military mage who guarded Jinling back then. If we had this formation, would he… would he be able to come back?"

Director Zhang choked up a little as he finished speaking.

Wang Yu poured a glass for Director Zhang and himself, raised his glass and said, "To Master Jun."

Director Zhang clinked glasses with him, saying, "Respect to Master Jun."

The casual conversation ended for the time being. After the meal, Wang Yu sat down cross-legged beside him and, relying on the Star River Magic Artifact (which Old Man Bao hadn't taken back and Wang Yu hadn't returned voluntarily), quickly restored his magical energy. It's important to understand that a mage's meditation, besides forging mental strength, largely involves repeatedly absorbing and exhaling elements to fully enrich the elemental energy within the body. This Star River Magic Artifact, possessing the ability to accelerate cultivation, naturally also has the function of gathering energy.

Two hours later, Wang Yu's magic power was fully restored, and he went back into the water.

Following his memory, Wang Yu quickly located the lair of the Iron-Bone Black Shark. Upon seeing Wang Yu approach, the two Lesser Warrior-level Black Sharks launched an attack. One of them whipped a torrent of water with its steel-whip-like tail, lashing out at Wang Yu.

This strike was powerful and covered a wide area, making it impossible to avoid.

"Well done!"

A bright blue light shone in Wang Yu's eyes, and he quickly drew a star trail with his hand.

"Tranquility, Water Control, and Recycling!"

The water shield that was originally circulating around Wang Yu was reshaped by his shaping technique, piling up in front of him to form a four-layered shield. Combined with the double power boost from Jingbo, a low-level spell actually blocked the attack of a warrior-level demon.

At that moment, another black shark saw an opening in Wang Yu's defenses and prepared to charge and ambush him from his undefended side. But the Iron-Bone Black Shark, who had previously been praised for its cleverness, was now much smarter. Wang Yu once again crushed a water shield beside him, using the water flow to push himself away from the black shark's charge. With a backhand slash, he unleashed a wind blade that had been charging for a long time, slicing the little warrior in two vertically!

Wang Yu mentally berated himself for his wasted self-reflection; his first reaction upon encountering an enemy was still Wind Blade. Fortunately, this time he was able to counter magic energy output and didn't deplete his mana in one strike. Next time... he would definitely be more careful next time.

Seeing its companion perish, the remaining black shark turned and fled... no, it turned and fled by tail. But Wang Yu was prepared. With a reverse turbulent wave expulsion, he pushed the iron-boned black shark back in front of him and slashed down with his sword again.

Finally, there was the Great General-level Iron-Bone Black Shark in the lair, its belly ripped open and already severely injured. This thing had no ability to struggle anymore. Wang Yu had no humanity when it came to demons, especially those in Anjie. With a swift stroke, a hideous fish head rolled and flew out of the water. The headless corpse was still thrashing wildly due to nerve reflexes, turning the surrounding lake water crimson.

In less than a minute, all three-headed, warrior-level demons were beheaded.

"Hmm, not bad, my combat skills are becoming more and more proficient," Wang Yu thought to himself, praising himself.

On the gradually cooling corpse of the black shark leader, a faint green light was slowly rising.

That's... a spirit?!

Wow, not bad luck! Last time I got a Great General-level spirit in Cangshan, and now I've gotten another one?

He quickly pulled out the necromancer's vessel and pocketed the Great General-level essence. He had already entrusted Zhao Manyan to display the last one in his shop, but it hadn't sold yet. Now that another one had arrived, he might as well put both of them up for auction later.

However, this time the essence might not be as valuable as the Wind-Eroded Demon from Cangshan. I estimate it will be around ten million. It's quite difficult for a general-level essence without any special properties to sell for twenty million.

Wang Yu did the mental calculations, but his hands didn't stop. He dragged the corpses of the Iron-Boned Black Sharks towards the shore.

Whoosh!

The calm lake surface suddenly broke open, and Wang Yu's figure leaped out of the water, landing steadily on the boardwalk, with his spoils being pushed and pulled by water magic behind him.

"Wang Yu!"

Lingling, who had been waiting on the shore, immediately ran over, looked him up and down, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he was not injured except for his clothes being soaked.

"How's the situation down there? The instruments just showed very intense energy fluctuations underwater."

"It's done." Wang Yu shook the water droplets off his hair and revealed a bright smile. "The repaired formation wasn't damaged a second time, and those three troublemaking demons have also been dealt with."

Director Zhang, standing to the side, swallowed hard as he looked at the several black shark carcasses, each several meters long, on the shore. His legs felt weak. Those things, just their scales alone, were as big as washbasins!

After dragging the demon corpses ashore, Wang Yu skillfully conjured wind and water blades to act as scalpels, collecting the spoils. The hardest scales of the Iron-Bone Black Shark were excellent materials for crafting mortal and even spirit-level armor and magical artifacts. There were also other strange bones, and even the eyeballs were good alchemical materials. After dissecting them, Wang Yu removed the most valuable parts, cut off a piece of flesh, and then turned to Director Zhang, saying:

"Our mission is complete. These three demons are extra to be dealt with. I think their meat looks good; we can drag them back to your canteen for an extra meal."

Director Zhang nodded repeatedly, and even asked Wang Yu to peel off the most beautifully patterned scale from the remaining less valuable ones, saying he wanted to take it home as a souvenir. Afterwards, Director Zhang uploaded a series of task completion documents to the Pearl Academy project team, which was the employer's side. Soon, the nine million reward for identifying the cause and resolving the array problem was deposited into Wang Yu's account.

After receiving the text message, Wang Yu and Lingling got into the car that Director Zhang had called to go back to the high-speed rail station. He turned his head and saw a crane lifting the largest of the three black sharks onto a truck, and an ice mage casting a spell, apparently to help keep them fresh.

"The lives of ordinary people in this world aren't so bad," Wang Yu thought to himself.

"Let's go, Lingling, back to Shanghai." Wang Yu gazed into the distance, his eyes becoming deep. "There are more important things waiting for me to do."