Physical mage, challenge me to a solo duel!

Inside the low cave, the campfire crackled and flickered, casting shadows on the faces of the six people. The light and shadow shifted, creating a slightly somber atmosphere.

This is a cave at the bottom of a cliff. The entrance, about half a person's height, extends diagonally downwards, leading directly into the mountainside, and the cave becomes more spacious the further in you go.

It was spacious, dry, and clean, though the air was slightly murky.

Most importantly, no monsters live there, making it a safe place.

The six people sat in a circle around the campfire, holding a battle debriefing meeting.

"Therefore, our team composition is not reasonable, and we are still lacking a support player."

Jiang Yue used a stick to lift the burning wood in front of him, ensuring it burned completely and preventing excessive smoke, while saying:

"Putting aside the fact that none of us are support mages, defensive support magic that can directly affect teammates over a large area is mostly at least of the divine grade, which is far too far away for us."

"We need a shield, a shield to protect us and face the monsters head-on," Hu Lili said quietly.

"Lily's talking about Old Wang, right? Isn't that what Old Wang meant when he rushed over?" Qi Xiaohao sat casually on the ground, leaning back slightly, supporting himself with his hands on the ground, looking up at the dim cave ceiling, and replied:

"Among us, only Lao Wang has relatively high HP. Next time, Lao Wang shouldn't rush so quickly, or we can have Brother E apply a healing spell to him first before he rushes in."

The mentioned king remained silent. Even when Qi Xiaohao deliberately added a "ba" after his address to provoke him, the king was too lazy to retort.

"It seems that even a king can't withstand a few attacks from a mid-level magical beast." Jiang Yue frowned. "I only knew that magical beasts were physically strong before, but I didn't expect them to be this strong. Perhaps this is why magical beasts, which have long been suppressed by human mages in terms of magic, can still cause many casualties to human mages."

The Bone-Eating Fire Serpent spell, capable of burning through human bones, only managed to scorch the skin and muscles of the Fire-Patterned Black-Tailed Panther.

Of course, the Bone-Corroding Fire Serpent's remaining power was not fully unleashed before it was dispersed by the surrounding explosive flames, which is also a reason.

But this is enough to show how powerful the monster's physical body is.

Qi Xiaohao curled his lip upon hearing this: "Talking about this is useless. The six of us couldn't even take down a mid-level magical beast together. If there were a group of them, we'd be doomed. How would we train for the next few days? Were we only able to bully low-level magical beasts?"

Wang Yi chuckled and teased, "You're the only one here who's bullied a low-level magical beast, aren't you?"

Qi Xiaohao scratched his butt and said with pride, "At least I got the team's first kill, while your scores are still zero."

Wang Yi was speechless for a moment.

Hu Lili shrank back, hugging her knees with her arms, burying her face in her arms, her voice muffled: "It's all because I'm too weak, I couldn't play my part, otherwise I might have been able to keep that leopard alive. Maybe I shouldn't have come to participate..."

In the recent battle against the Fire-Patterned Black-Tailed Leopard, Wang Jiang inflicted the most damage, followed by Jiang Yue.

Wang Yi was able to control her milk supply, playing a crucial role.

Even Qi Xiaohao unleashed several rare-grade spells, making quite a splash.

She was the only one who followed behind the others and cast two spells, but she was only really part of the atmosphere-building group.

Hu Lili clearly sensed the difference in strength between herself and the others, even though they were all beginner mages.

According to the barrel theory, she is currently the weakest link in the team.

Hearing Hu Lili's self-blame, Chen Zhengkai opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

He was already an outsider in the team, and in the previous battle, he felt that his performance was even worse than Hu Lili's, and he was at the bottom of the team.

Seeing this, Jiang Yue gently comforted her, "Lily, don't say that. After all, we were facing a mid-level magical beast, and you've only just become a mage. You and Zhengkai have already done very well."

Hu Lili then realized that her earlier self-reproach had unknowingly put Chen Zhengkai in an extremely awkward situation, so she quickly looked up and chuckled twice.

"That's right, I just thought the atmosphere was too heavy, so I was just joking with you guys. Actually, everyone did a great job. After all, we defeated a mid-level magical beast, and it was a mid-level one, plus a huge leopard."

Hu Lili made exaggerated hand gestures, eliciting a few soft laughs, which immediately eased the tense atmosphere considerably.

"Cough cough."

Seeing that the atmosphere was no longer so heavy, Wang Yi coughed twice to draw everyone's attention to himself, and then said, "If the team needs a large shield at this stage, it's not like there's no way to deal with it."

Looking at Wang Yi's face, Jiang Yue immediately understood what Wang Yi meant: "You mean..."

"Not bad." Wang Yi took out the magic crystal that Jiang Yue had thrown to him earlier. It was a bargain he had found, and it belonged to a low-level magical beast, the Black-hoofed Leopard Bull.

After placing the magic crystal securely in front of him, Wang Yi continued, "Rare grade, Black Rock Heavy Armor. Wasn't it said that it could even withstand divine-grade attack magic? Is this shield big enough?"

The eyes of the group lit up slightly as they looked at the magic crystal that Wang Yi had placed beside the fire.

"That's indeed a good method, if we can absorb it successfully." Jiang Yue nodded in agreement, then asked everyone, "So, who wants to give it a try?"

"I say, do we even need to consider this? Among us brothers, only Brother E and Old Wang are suitable for this magic crystal. The others are all attack-type mages, so the probability of them absorbing it is very low."

Qi Xiaohao gently turned his slightly thick neck, looked around, lingering on each person's face for two seconds before finally settling on Hu Lili's petite figure, and continued:

"Besides, absorbing the Black Rock Heavy Armor means I'll be on the front lines in future battles, even facing monsters face-to-face. Are you suggesting I do it? Or should it be Old Jiang? Or Old Chen? Surely we can't let Lily take the hits, can we?"

Jiang Yue knew who was more suitable for the magic crystal, so he first turned to Wang Yi and asked, "Shall we give it a try?"

Wang Yi naturally wanted this magic crystal, but unfortunately there was only one.

Currently, they do not have the capability to hunt Blackhoofed Yak, even though these yaks are only low-level magical beasts.

However, in order to maximize the team's strength, Wang Yi thought for a moment and finally said, "General Wang, why don't you give it a try? You have the best physical fitness and are also good at close combat, so you are more suitable than me."

After saying that, he picked up the magic crystal and threw it towards the king.

The magic crystal swept past the heat of the campfire and was precisely caught in the king's hand.

Wang Jiang stared at the magic crystal in his palm, pondered quietly for a while, and then tossed it back to Wang Yi.

Wang Yi hadn't expected this turn of events. After hurriedly catching the magic crystal, he looked at Wang Jiang with a puzzled expression.

"You are more suitable than me," the king explained.

"But I'm a medical student!" Wang Yi was speechless.

"Medical Department? You didn't seem like a medical student when you were beating up Wu Guan," Jiang Yue said.

"When you were holding off the Fire-Striped Black-Tailed Leopard just now, you didn't seem like a healer at all," Wang continued, adding insult to injury.