80: Chapter 0080 Gambling Battle

Seeing both of them looking at him, Payne looked closely at the hidden confidence in Li Size's expression, wanting to see what his future daughter-in-law, who was highly praised in the outside newspapers, was really like.

With a hesitant look, he nodded and said in a deep voice, "I really can't manage you lawless young people anymore. But if anyone dares to use lethal force, don't blame me for being impolite. Also, if the outcome of the fight is certain, I will step in to end this duel."

Li Size and Gil both nodded and looked at each other. Li Size smiled confidently, "I originally didn't want to keep crushing you, a love-lorn loser; but since you just spoke rudely to me, I must teach you a lesson. How about this, just fighting is boring, let's add a wager?"

Gil looked at Li Size with disdain. He had secretly probed Li Size's aura just now; he was only an Elementary Wizard Apprentice, probably not even having learned a few spells: "Oh? What do you want to bet?"

Li Size thought for a moment and took out a thumb-thick, silver-white large pill: "This is a high-grade swift spirit that can permanently increase Agility by 0.55. I'll bet this? I wonder if you, Gil, dare to accept?"

Gil, who was originally unconcerned, froze. He could hardly believe his eyes. This unassuming fellow just took out a permanent attribute potion!

This is a permanent attribute potion, for crying out loud! Does he treat it like a snack?

This seems a bit difficult to handle. I don't seem to have anything comparable on me. Should I just admit defeat?

Not just Gil, but Gelia's parents and Gelia herself were also shocked when they saw Li Size take out such a precious potion. This kid was playing too big of a game!

Gelia looked anxious and called out with slight worry, "Li Size, forget it. Let's change the stake?"

Li Size turned his head, smiled at her confidently, and said, "It's fine, it's just a swift spirit. I'll give you another one later..."

Hearing this, Payne and Christine silently exchanged a look, becoming even more pleased with their son-in-law. Seeing this, Gil felt even worse, thinking to himself not to cry later when he lost the permanent attribute potion. He gritted his teeth and said, "Fine! But I don't have that kind of permanent attribute potion. I... I have a recipe for a Zero Ring Mental Energy Recovery Potion."

Li Size was overjoyed upon hearing this, as this was exactly what he needed right now. As everyone knows, casting sorcery consumes Mental Energy, which can generally only be recovered through rest, meditation, or medicine. Among these, recovery via medicine is the fastest. Taking a Mental Energy Recovery Potion during combat allows one to cast more sorceries than others, providing a huge advantage.

And the Zero Ring Mental Energy Recovery Potion is a potion for recovering Mental Energy. This thing is mine, no doubt about it.

Li Size chuckled. He felt the cold aura of the black magic iron armor close to his body. This armor, forged during his brief rest at Gray Mist Mountain a few days ago, gave him a sense of security.

The Alchemy Runes and sorceries Li Size had learned so far were not many. This black magic iron armor had only fused a 'Sturdiness' rune and solidified the Zero-Ring Sorcery 'Resistance Enhancement'.

It must be mentioned here that in the field of alchemy, there are two ways to manifest the extraordinary abilities of wizard artifacts:

One is the Alchemy Rune. This effect is generally long-term. As long as the ambient energy particle concentration meets the requirement, it can continuously take effect or be activated. Alchemy Runes can be combined in multiple ways to exert different stacked effects.

The other is solidifying a sorcery. This effect is generally triggered temporarily and requires charging, with a limit on the number of times the sorcery can be cast within a certain period.

These two effects cannot be said to be better or worse; it just depends on what functional need the Wizard has for the item.

Don't look at Li Size's 'ordinary' black magic iron armor only solidifying the 'Sturdiness' rune. Li Size used the Proficient-level 'Metal Refining Art' to smelt the black demonic iron, increasing its purity by 35%. The material's inherent limit increased from 4.0 to a level of 4.8, a 20% increase.

Next, Li Size used his ancestral Forging secret technique to trigger the generous special effect of the Stingy Meditation Method. Unexpectedly, the generous special effect could increase the chance of inspiration bursts for the ancestral Forging secret technique, raising the basic effect of the Proficient-level Sturdiness Rune from an enhancement level of 3.6 to 4.2. After consuming 1.8 times the Mental Energy and Materials, under the 40% effect boost from the Stingy's Generosity special effect, the Sturdiness Rune's effect directly exploded:

It increased the armor material's limit level by 5.88!!!

The Zero-Ring Sorcery 'Resistance Enhancement' solidified on the armor, while it couldn't enjoy the bonus from Li Size's Mental Energy, it could provide an additional increase in resistance of 0.84 levels due to the combined effects of the ancestral Forging secret technique and the meditation method's special effect, and could be cast 3 times a day!

The basic level of protection for this armor Li Size crafted for himself reached 10.68 levels. After casting 'Resistance Enhancement,' it could provide an additional 0.84 levels of resistance, reaching 11.52 levels.

According to the level evaluation standard designated by the Wizard Council, 12 levels is the standard threshold for a First Ring level!

Li Size felt he was over the top himself. He wondered if he was the number one in defense among Wizard Apprentices. As for this fellow who clearly looked like an Intermediate Wizard Apprentice...

Ahem...

Would this make Gil question his life?

In the training room of Payne's villa, Li Size stood with his hands in his pockets, glancing sideways at Gil: "You strike first. My defense is a bit high, don't worry."

"Pfft," Liya covered her mouth and snickered upon hearing this. Payne and Christine on the side exchanged glances. This kid was quite interesting, weren't they?

Gil's face flushed red upon hearing this. He drew the long sword at his waist and cast a Sharpness Spell on his knight sword. This spell could provide an extra base power level of 2 or more, lasting for over 30 minutes.

Gil was actually a melee Wizard too. His combat power would receive a dual boost from Strength and Physique based on Mental Energy. If both his Strength and Mental Energy reached six, based on the empirical formula of [Strength × 0.3 + (Base Level + Mental Energy × 0.3) × Rank Coefficient (1.6)], his attack would reach 7.88!

Gelia was also a melee Wizard, and she was especially clear about this point. She immediately became worried, but seeing Li Size looking so relaxed, she was filled with confidence in the boy who had solved problems for her many times.

Gil charged forward like a swift wind. His Agility had clearly also reached level 6 or higher; however... it was useless...

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

...

The continuous attacks struck the armor, emitting dull collision sounds repeatedly...

This knight sword was clearly also forged from a wizard alloy, otherwise it couldn't withstand such high-frequency and high-energy attacks, but it only managed to slice through a few pieces of cloth on Li Size's clothes, revealing the dark, cold alloy color underneath.

The five people present were all Wizards. Payne and Christine were both Wizards of High Master level or above. Being well-informed, where would they not know what this was...

black demonic iron?

This is black demonic iron?!